65: Chapter 65 Hunger Inducement

The last syllable from the stiff female voice on the broadcast fell, dragging out a long echo in the deathly silent campus.

"Click."

Inside the classroom of Grade 12 Class 2, all the ghost students rose at the exact same moment, producing a uniform, dull thud, without a single excess friction between the chairs and the floor.

They turned stiffly, taking precise and lifeless steps.

The ghost students ignored Fang Che and his group of living humans, walking straight out of the classroom and merging into the hallway.

From upstairs and downstairs, monotonous footsteps with perfectly synchronized beats could be heard.

The ghost teachers also floated out of the office, mixed into the student ranks, and walked toward the Cafeteria.

Every ghost in the entire Teaching Building was moving toward the same destination at the same rhythm.

"Treated as truancy..." A surviving girl's lips trembled, her eyes turning red, "Do... do we have to go too?"

"What are you crying for."

Fang Che's voice was not loud, but it instantly silenced the few girls who were about to cry.

Fang Che stood up and casually shouldered the fire axe.

He opened the team channel and quickly issued a command.

[Fang Che: Everyone, gather at the third-floor stairwell immediately, prepare to go to the Cafeteria.]

[Fang Che: Listen up, stay close on the way, blend into the ghost crowd, keep your heads down, don't look around, and especially do not make eye contact with any student or teacher.]

[Su Qingxue: Received.]

[Mu Waner: Understood.]

Teacher Qin Bing steadied herself by holding onto the podium and walked quickly to Fang Che's side, her voice no longer trembling in the slightest: "I'm going with you."

The death that had been so close just moments ago, and Fang Che's sudden appearance, had completely changed Teacher Qin Bing's mindset.

"Mm." Fang Che nodded, wasting no words.

Soon, Su Qingxue, Mu Waner, Jiang Ning, and the others arrived at the third floor with the survivors gathered from various places, finally assembling the entire team again.

"Let's go."

At Fang Che's command, the group braced themselves and merged into the massive procession composed of ghosts.

Living humans mixed in a pile of the dead—the scene itself was bizarre enough.

The girls kept their heads down, clutching their sleeves tightly, trying their best to imitate the pace and rhythm of the ghost students around them.

In the air, besides that lingering chill, there seemed to be something else.

There was a sweet, cloying, pink mist in the air, almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

"Gurgle... gurgle..."

A loud stomach growl came from the back of the line.

It was Li Wei and her few followers.

Ever since they were deprived of the resource exchange qualification by Fang Che, they hadn't had a full meal.

After entering this dungeon, the hunger became exceptionally intense.

Bloodshot veins appeared in Li Wei's eyes as she stared fixedly at the back of Fang Che, who was walking at the front, her gaze as if wanting to tear him to pieces.

Why? Why did he get to decide who gets to eat? It was like this on the Train, and it was still like this here!

An absurd thought grew wildly in her heart: All of this was intentional by Fang Che. He just wanted to torture them in this way!

Just then, a small, cool hand gently tugged at the corner of Fang Che's shirt.

It was Mu Waner.

She had approached at some point, her face paler than usual. She adjusted her glasses and leaned close to Fang Che's ear, her voice lowered to the extreme: "Fang Che, there is... something in the air."

There was no need for her to say it; Fang Che had actually already sensed it.

His Spirit attribute had long since exceeded one hundred, and his five senses were far superior to ordinary people.

That faint, ethereal pink mist was quite clear in his field of vision.

The pink mist was actually tiny, nearly invisible worms, circling and dancing in the air, crazily burrowing into the mouths and noses of the survivors.

Every time a tiny worm burrowed into a body, those people's eyes turned a shade redder, and their expressions, twisted by hunger, became more pronounced.

"It's mental induction," Mu Waner's voice carried a slight tremor, "It is amplifying human hunger and desire."

The group followed the main force of ghost students across the playground and finally arrived at the independent Cafeteria building.

A rich aroma of food rushed out from the open doors of the Cafeteria, slamming into everyone's nostrils.

The sweetness of braised pork, the freshness of stir-fried vegetables, and the mellowness of rice—the aromas of various delicacies intertwined, forming a strong temptation.

"Gulp."

This time, the sound of swallowing saliva rose and fell.

It wasn't just Li Wei and her group; even several girls in the core team's stomachs began to growl uncontrollably.

"So fragrant..." a girl muttered to herself, her eyes beginning to glaze over.

"Slap!"

With a crisp sound, Su Qingxue slapped the girl's shapely buttocks.

The girl jolted, instantly waking up, and looked at Su Qingxue while covering her butt, her body trembling slightly.

"Wake up!" Su Qingxue hissed, "Have you forgotten how that thing in the classroom killed people?"

Everyone recalled the scene in the classroom, and the appetite stirred up by the aroma was finally suppressed a little.

[Fang Che: Su Qingxue, manage the front. Teacher Qin Bing, you are responsible for the back of the line. Don't rush to get food, go inside first and find a corner to observe.]

The inside of the Cafeteria was spacious and bright.

A long queue formed in front of the food serving window, hundreds of ghost teachers and students moving slowly with expressionless faces, eerily quiet.

In the dining area, a few ghosts who had already gotten their food sat scattered about.

On the trays in front of them were chunks of bright red meat. They were burying their heads, as if venting some primitive desire, tearing and chewing forcefully, sauce staining their featureless faces.

Only the middle serving window was open.

Behind the window stood a Cafeteria auntie wearing clean work clothes, her face kind, even carrying a smile; if it weren't for her face being as white as paper, she would look no different from an ordinary Cafeteria lady.

"Student, what would you like to eat today?" she asked a ghost student with a smile.

The ghost student extended a pale finger, pointing at the large platter of glistening braised pork in front of the window.

The auntie smiled and nodded, scooping a large spoonful, dumping it into the tray, making a sticky "plop" sound.

Fang Che's gaze was locked firmly on the few large trays at the window.

Two dishes of vegetables: stir-fried cabbage and mashed potatoes.

On the far right was the platter of braised pork exuding an overpowering aroma.

"Mu Waner." Fang Che commanded in a low voice on the team channel, "Use your talent to look at those dishes."

Mu Waner nodded, resisting the sweet, cloying aroma of meat, and activated her S-rank talent.

[Eye of Analysis]!

A layer of faint light appeared in her eyes.

The next second, she recoiled half a step, one hand covering her mouth tightly, letting out a suppressed retch, her face turning ghastly.

Jiang Ning quickly supported her: "What's wrong?"

Mu Waner didn't answer immediately; she forced herself to look for a few more seconds before speaking in a trembling voice on the team channel.

"The vegetables... the prompt for the vegetables is no obvious contamination, they should be safe to eat."

Hearing this, many people visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"But that platter of meat... absolutely cannot be touched!"

Fang Che narrowed his eyes slightly: "Explain."

Mu Waner took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the nausea in her stomach.

"It looks like braised pork on the outside, and the aroma is indeed very strong, even actively inducing hunger. But in my field of vision, that is not meat at all."

"Those black mists are constantly writhing, circling in the platter like snakes. Its contamination level is very high; eating it might cause problems."