156: Chapter 157 Gu Changye returned to the classroom and first chopped up his own class monitor's desk.

[ Countdown to the third class bell: 04:59 ]

The black school badge on Gu Changye's chest fully emerged.

On the east side of Jiangcheng, the abyss entrance he had just closed cracked open. Black chains shot out from within, wrapping around his wrists and neck.

[ Unfinished graduation exam detected ]

[ Recalling original monitor ]

[ Exam content: Eliminate all failed samples of the class ]

" Don't come over! "

Lin Jin roared into the communicator.

" If you come back, it's equivalent to filling in the last person for the exam! "

Gu Changye looked down at the abyss longsword in his hand.

Just a moment ago, he had traded Jiangcheng Combat Academy for the abyss on the east side. Now, the Containment School wanted him to trade twelve thousand, seven hundred, and sixty-two old students to exchange for his own "graduation".

" Even if I don't come back, the bell will still ring. "

" If I come back, at least I can touch the door of the Academic Affairs Office. "

He gripped the chains.

" Gu Changye, refuses recall. "

[ Monitor duties take precedence over personal will ]

" I am no longer the director of the Processing Bureau. "

[ The identity of Monitor is not a job title ]

[ It belongs to historical responsibility ]

The chains tightened abruptly.

The communication screen went dark.

In front of the underground school's Academic Affairs Office, that monitor school badge burst with black light. Gu Changye was thrown out from it, his longsword stabbing into the ground as he landed on one knee amidst twelve thousand, seven hundred, and sixty-two gazes.

The girl who woke up first walked out of the classroom.

" Monitor. "

" Will you kill this time? "

Gu Changye looked at her.

" No. "

" You said the same thing twenty years ago. "

" That's why we've been sitting for twenty years. "

She did not scold him.

Gu Changye's hand gripping the sword tightened even more.

[ Countdown: 04:18 ]

Seven keyholes emerged on the door of the Academic Affairs Office, with the center one perfectly corresponding to the monitor school badge.

[ Please, Monitor, enter the exam hall ]

[ Complete the exam, and the whole class will be granted graduation ]

Chen Ye sneered.

" If they are all killed, of course they all graduate. "

Lin Jin touched the seven keyholes. Six were mechanical locks, but the central monitor hole was connected to the abyss contract of the entire school.

" So it wasn't one person opening the door. "

" Seven holes should correspond to seven people. "

Gu Changye's old memories gradually resurfaced.

" Monitor, Discipline, Life, Study, Sports, Labor. "

Chen Ye frowned.

" That's only six. "

Gu Changye looked at the last keyhole, whose name had been scratched off.

" There is also The Rejector. "

The girl raised her hand, a black circular hole in her palm.

" Every time the school required us to accept reallocation, they would choose one person to represent the whole class and say no. "

" The person who said no would be eliminated separately. "

" The last time, it was me. "

[ Tang Qi: Tang Qi ]

[ Elimination incomplete: Monitor suspended execution ]

Gu Changye said in a low voice:

" I remember you. "

Tang Qi smiled.

" Twenty years, you finally remembered. "

" Where are the other six people? "

" Dead. "

" During the first exam, they stuffed their profession cores into the keyholes, trying to stop you from being forcibly executed. "

" The door didn't open. "

" The people were eaten. "

Lin Jin squatted down and dismantled the first lock.

Inside was not a school badge.

It was a profession core compressed into a key.

The abyss kept the sacrifices of the six people from twenty years ago until now, not for commemoration, but for continued use.

" After taking them out, the door will lose six keys. " Shen Tingxue said.

Gu Changye gazed at the central keyhole.

" Then let it lose them. "

" We are not here to continue the exam. "

[ Countdown: 03:21 ]

Lin Jin did not have the Hand of Rules, so he could only dismantle the lock core bit by bit. Zhou Heng provided illumination with fine lightning, Shen Tingxue froze the cracks, and Chen Ye blocked the black chains that kept reaching outward.

When the first core was taken out, a phantom of a boy appeared on the playground.

He raised his hand toward Gu Changye, like reminding the monitor that the teacher was coming before class back then.

Then he dissipated.

The second one.

The third one.

Six figures appeared one after another, neither accusing nor asking Gu Changye to complete anything for them.

They just took back themselves, who had been used by the door for twenty years.

The sixth core was taken out.

The door sank heavily.

[ Class committee member keys missing ]

[ Monitor can submit six new class committee members ]

Black threads shot toward the crowd.

[ Discipline Committee Member: Zhou Heng ]

[ Life Committee Member: Chen Ye ]

[ Study Committee Member: Shen Tingxue ]

Chen Ye smashed the black threads with a shield.

" Recommend your grandpa! "

Tang Qi walked toward Tang Qi hole.

" The door wants seven people, so let's give it seven living people. "

Thirteen grabbed her wrist.

" You waited twenty years just to wait for him to answer whether he would kill. "

" The person waiting for an answer should not be used as a key again. "

" Then who will open it? "

" No one opens it according to identity. "

Lin Jin pointed to the mechanical linkage on the outer ring of the keyhole.

" This door initially required seven people to prevent one person from deciding the life and death of the whole class. "

" Later, the school turned six people into keys and The Rejector into a procedure. "

" The original structure is not wrong. "

" What's wrong is that it fixed people into parts. "

Chen Ye, Shen Tingxue, Zhou Heng, Teacher Xu Wenzhou, Thirteen, and Tang Qi stood in front of the six linkages.

Gu Changye walked toward the center, but was stopped by Lin Jin.

" The monitor hole is connected to the elimination program, you cannot press it. "

Lin Jin inserted the rusty wrench into the central keyhole and pushed the handle toward Gu Changye.

" Don't be the monitor. "

" Be the seventh hand. "

[ Countdown: 01:42 ]

" At the same time! "

Seven directions exerted force together.

The mechanical linkages emitted a harsh friction sound.

The door did not identify the monitor, nor did it identify the new committee members.

It only detected that the original structure was fully triggered.

[ Seven-party joint opening ]

[ Single person responsible: None ]

Behind the door was not the Academic Affairs Office.

It was a classroom.

On the podium lay three pages of elimination lists.

The first page, twelve thousand, seven hundred, and sixty-two old students.

The second page, twelve thousand, seven hundred, and sixty-three people who had just lost their academy affiliation above.

The third page, only one name.

[ Gu Changye ]

Exam rules emerged on the blackboard.

[ The monitor must choose one page to eliminate ]

[ Refusing to choose, all three pages will be executed ]

[ Time remaining: 00:53 ]

Gu Changye walked into the classroom carrying his sword.

The abyss's voice sounded from the podium.

" I am fairer than the humans twenty years ago. "

" At least this time, you can choose to kill yourself. "

The blade was raised.

Chen Ye's expression changed.

" Gu Changye! "

Boom!

The longsword did not land on any list.

It split the monitor's desk.

An exam spindle hidden for twenty years was exposed under the desk.

" The mistake I made back then was not that I didn't kill you all. "

Gu Changye looked at those old classmates outside the door.

" It was that I thought the monitor really had the qualification to decide who should die. "

He overturned the split podium.

" Today's exam — "

" No one will answer! "

The third bell rang.

Ding —

The three pages of lists burned simultaneously.

The expected seat swapping and execution did not happen.

Under the exam spindle, an even earlier, original rule was revealed.

[ Graduation condition: All class members complete independent choices ]

[ No one may answer on behalf of others ]

In front of twelve thousand, seven hundred, and sixty-two desks, two options emerged simultaneously.

[ Leave the Containment School, enter reality ]

[ Accept abyss profession, enter the abyss ]

Tang Qi looked at the choice belonging to her, her fingers trembling for the first time.

But just as everyone was preparing to answer, the fourth bell rang from the deepest part of the school.

Ding —

All options turned gray.

[ Reality world has not completed reception preparations ]

[ Initiating final principal ruling ]

At the top of the teaching building, an office that had never been lit slowly opened.

Inside sat a man wearing an old school uniform.

He had no profession badge, but hanging on his chest was an early work permit from the Department of Education.

[ First Principal: Qin Shanhe ]

At the same time, on the chest of Qin Shanhe on the academy ruins, an identical permit emerged.

He looked down at the photo, his expression changing completely.

" This is not me. "

The man in the underground office raised his head, looking at him across twenty years.

" Of course not. "

" You are just the half that was left in reality — "

" After I escaped from here. "