92: Next

Jiang Ning gritted her back teeth, took a deep breath, and raised the fire axe, pausing in mid-air, her wheat-colored profile pulled tight.

"Damn it, it's just an arm, isn't it? Fang Che gave me medicine; one injection and it'll grow back. I'm going for it!"

Just as the axe blade was about to fall, Gu Nanzhi reached out and grabbed her wrist tightly.

"Wait!"

Jiang Ning's movements came to an abrupt halt. Covered in sweat, she turned her head to look at the quiet girl beside her, her eyes dazed.

"Are you crazy? Why are you pulling me? This thing requires a deposit!"

Gu Nanzhi's face was pale, and her breathing was heavy, but she raised her hand and pointed to the groove filled with minced meat and red light.

"The rules say a part of the body. Don't be hasty."

Jiang Ning shook her arm but couldn't shake her off, then irritably grabbed her hair.

"Nonsense, if arms and legs aren't parts of the body, what are? Fang Che is waiting over there; we don't have time to dawdle!"

"Hair."

Gu Nanzhi lowered her voice, staring intently at the bloody text on the door.

"Hair is also a part of the human body. Just pull out a couple of strands."

The few girls around them all froze in place.

Mu Waner realized it instantly and clapped her hands forcefully.

"Right, right, right! Hair is human tissue. The rules only limit the source, not which specific part is needed. We can totally exploit this bug!"

Jiang Ning looked at the heavy fire axe in her hand, then touched the short hair on the back of her head, her features contorting for a few seconds.

"Damn... this works too?"

Gu Nanzhi turned her head to look at the crowd huddled behind them, her gaze sweeping over the shivering girls.

"But don't get happy too soon. The rule says 'those who enter the Academic Affairs Office,' meaning everyone has to give something."

The hearts of the girls, which had just settled, hung in the air again.

"I... do I have to give something too?"

"It's just a few hairs. You won't die from pulling them out."

Gu Nanzhi's tone was dry.

Jiang Ning immediately turned the fire axe around and urged them impatiently.

"If you don't want to lose your hands or feet, hurry up and pluck them, make it snappy!"

She grabbed her bangs directly, pulled out a few strands with force, gripped them in her hand, took a few steps to the side of the disgusting pile of minced meat, held her breath, and stuffed the hair inside.

Hum~

The pile of minced meat lit up with a bit of red light, and a fine dark red line appeared on the edge.

"It worked! Hurry, keep going!"

Mu Waner shouted in surprise.

The girls behind them were no longer afraid; they hurriedly grabbed their scalps to pluck hair, not caring about the stinging pain, and scrambled to stuff it into the pile of meat.

Gu Nanzhi raised her hand, pulled out a few strands of hair, and threw them in.

Hum~

The red light flashed again, and a second dark red mark appeared.

Then it was Mu Waner and the rest of them.

Every time a bit of hair was thrown in, it would flash with light, and a blood mark would be added to the metal surface.

Finally, the girl whose finger was still dripping blood sobbed as she plucked a handful of blood-stained messy hair and stuffed it into the groove.

Hum~

The groove suddenly erupted with blinding red light, and the fine blood patterns on the metal door connected into a large web.

Click... click click...

The sound of heavy gears grinding emerged, and the door panel slowly retreated inward, opening a crack.

"Oh my god, it really opened!"

An excited, tearful voice came from the crowd.

Mu Waner let out a long sigh of relief, clutched her chest, and took a half step back.

Jiang Ning slapped Gu Nanzhi on the back hard, making her sway.

"You're amazing, Nanzhi! It was all thanks to your brain; that was fucking awesome!"

Gu Nanzhi let out a muffled cough from the slap and pushed up her black-rimmed glasses.

"Hurry, let's go. Don't waste time here."

A dozen or so people squeezed through the doorway.

The space inside was vast and dark, completely unlike a normal office.

Several meters high, broken wooden cabinets were lined up against the wall, stacked layer upon layer, stretching to the end of their line of sight, with the smell of rotting paper mixed with mold drilling directly into their nostrils.

The side white walls were covered with two-inch black-and-white ID photos.

The photos were all of students wearing school uniforms, their mouths all pulled upward in unison, their pupils pitch black, staring straight at the doorway.

"Over there, in the area at the very back."

A faint light welled up in Mu Waner's eyes, following the light band drifting in the air to point the way.

Everyone tried their best to lighten their footsteps, bypassing several rows of dusty, large cabinets.

Deep against the wall, a large red wooden table sat abruptly.

In the middle of the table sat a rusty bronze plaque.

The surface of the plaque was covered by a circle of translucent, flowing membrane, and a few red characters hung in the center of the membrane.

Only the Director of the Academic Affairs Office has the right to dispose of this item.

Jiang Ning stared at those characters and spat, pacing in circles in frustration.

"Where the hell are we going to find a dead director? Waner, see if there are any clues around."

"Don't rush, there must be another way."

Mu Waner lowered her head to rummage through the clutter on the table, her gaze quickly stopping at the corner of a half-open drawer, where a piece of hard bronze was exposed.

Jiang Ning squeezed over directly and reached out to pull out the bronze piece with blackened edges.

The metal surface was imprinted with the words "Director of the Academic Affairs Office" in black, peeling paint.

"Holy crap, it was waiting for us here!"

Jiang Ning pulled open the strap of the bronze piece and randomly looped it around her neck; the cold metal pressed against her collarbone, making her shiver.

She took a half step back to steady her footing and swung the fire axe high above her head.

Just as she was about to smash it down, the muscles in her arm suddenly went weak and trembled, stopping abruptly in mid-air.

Sweat dripped down her temples and into her collar.

Without Fang Che's unreasonable destructive power, could this layer of membrane actually be smashed open? Would the backlash cost her her life?

Mu Waner watched from the side, noticing her legs shaking.

"Jiang Ning, just hack it; it's no problem, the defense of that cover is very low now!"

"Fuck it!"

Jiang Ning roared out loud, using the pent-up anger in her chest to stomp heavily on the ground, the muscles in both her arms bulging with force.

The heavy fire axe brought up a gust of wind, and following the downward momentum, it accurately smashed into the weakest center point of the translucent membrane.

"Break for me!"

Crack~

A faint cracking sound emerged, and the surface of the membrane instantly burst into dense, fine cracks, exploding outward along the metal blade.

With a crash, the entire layer of light membrane exploded directly into dust that fell all over the sky.

The core plaque hidden underneath completely lost its barrier.

Jiang Ning pulled her wrist back with force, flipped the axe face, and smashed it down violently again.

Accompanied by the violent noise of metal colliding, the bronze plaque was shaken off the table by the huge impact force, tumbling into the air.

"It's not over yet!"

Breathing heavily, she stepped forward, swung the fire axe horizontally in a semi-circle in mid-air, locked onto the flying bronze piece, and slammed the heavy spine of the axe directly into the center of the metal.

The fragile bronze couldn't withstand the violent blow, disintegrating into several pieces of scrap in mid-air, which clattered onto the concrete floor.

A large cloud of dust fell from the ceiling, and the whole room, along with the floor, shook noticeably.

The eerie black-and-white photos originally stuck on the wall dimmed completely, and the suffocating air pressure stuck in their throats dissipated entirely.

Mu Waner slumped against the edge of the wooden table, breathing heavily.

Her fingers trembling, she pressed open the communication channel, her voice filled with uncontrollable ecstasy.

"Fang Che, how are things on your end? The Academic Affairs Office is completely cleared!"