84: Chapter 84 They actually captured one of our core members?

On the lecture platform.

The air seemed to freeze, so suffocating that it was hard to breathe.

Principal Pang Ban stood before the microphone with his hands behind his back.

Today, his appearance was truly a bit frightening.

On his usually majestic face hung two massive, almost purplish dark circles, and his eyeballs were bloodshot.

Those were the marks left by staying up all night interrogating prisoners, combined with extreme anger.

He was surrounded by a low-pressure aura that was about to explode. He didn't look like a principal who had come to see them off, but rather a creditor who had just lost all his belongings.

Behind him stood a row of fully armed, solemn-faced instructors from the Shadow Department, each holding a detector and staring coldly at the students below the stage.

"Ahem!"

Principal Pang cleared his throat. His voice echoed through the venue via the loudspeaker, carrying a teeth-gritting chill:

"Students!"

"I know many of you are confused and even dissatisfied with this sudden special training."

"But let me tell you! This is necessary! It is of the utmost urgency!"

Principal Pang slammed his hand onto the podium, making the alloy tabletop let out a tragic groan:

"Just over these past two days! In our sacred Magic City Martial Arts University, a series of extremely egregious and despicable thefts have occurred!"

"Class A's spiritual pool was drained! The logistics warehouse was emptied! Even... even the old... ahem, the School-Guarding Divine Beast I raised in the back garden for many years has suffered a tragic fate!"

The crowd below broke into an uproar. The students looked at each other. Although they had heard rumors, hearing the principal confirm it himself still felt unbelievable.

Principal Pang took a deep breath, scanning the crowd with a sinister gaze. Then, his tone shifted, and a ferocious yet confident smile appeared on his face:

"However! Our Magic City Martial Arts University is no pushover either!"

"Just last night, through my personal deployment, we successfully captured the core backbone members of this criminal gang!"

Gasps and applause immediately erupted from the crowd.

Principal Pang thoroughly enjoyed this reaction. He waved his hand. Although those three unlucky bastards had only admitted to stealing rice and oil so far, it didn't stop him from bragging:

"These guys are tight-lipped and tough nuts to crack. But under my overnight interrogation, they are already on the verge of breaking!"

"Rest assured, everyone! Based on the current confessions, that Faceless Man is already a rat in a jar, with no way to escape!"

"As long as you clear out, I can drag him out immediately!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire crowd grew excited.

Except in the corner of Class F.

Inside the body of the youth sleeping against the coffin lid, a chaotic uproar instantly exploded, and panic erupted like a tsunami!

[Internal Chat Group (Level 1 Combat Readiness Alert)]

[Kidneys (screaming shrilly)]:

"Holy shit!!! This is bad!!!"

"Did everyone hear that? That old man said he captured our core member!"

"They're even interrogating them already!"

"We're doomed, we're doomed! Quick, roll call! Check yourselves!"

"Left Kidney! Are you there? You didn't get cut out, did you?"

"Right Kidney! I'm here too! Scared the hell out of me, I thought you were going to be used to make medicinal wine!"

[Legs (shivering)]:

"Reporting! Legs are still here! No amputations!"

"Just now, I was so scared my meniscus cramped. I thought the old man caught us to saw our Legs off!"

[Right Hand (clenching into a fist, a false alarm)]:

"I'm Right Hand! I wasn't caught either!"

"In that instant just now, I was even thinking that we'd have to practice left-handed swordplay from now on!"

[stomach (utterly dazed)]:

"I'm here too..."

"Then who is the core member he captured?"

"The appendix? Or the tonsils?"

The group fell into a brief and eerie silence.

A moment later, the most rational Brain issued a soul-searching question full of confusion.

[Brain (CPU running at high speed, emitting black smoke)]:

"Wait a minute..."

"Everyone is here, not even a single strand of hair is missing."

"The Slacker Ruler's body is also complete."

"So here's the question..."

"Where did we get an accomplice from?"

[Kidneys]:

"Yeah! We've always worked alone!"

"We didn't recruit any downlines either!"

[Brain]:

"Conclusion: That old man is bluffing us."

"Or... he caught a few innocent bystanders and is torturing them, insisting they are our parts."

"Heh, human tactics are truly filthy."

...

Principal Pang's voice rose an octave, finally revealing his true intentions:

"This special training is not just to test your survival skills!"

"It is also to clear the grounds!"

"From the moment you step onto the school buses, Magic City Martial Arts University will enter a state of complete lockdown!"

"I will lead the Enforcement Team to overturn and inspect every brick, every inch of soil, and every sewer in the school!"

"I refuse to believe it!"

Principal Pang clenched his fists, a fierce light flashing in his eyes like a hunter spotting its prey:

"Once the water is drained, let's see how this fish can still hide!"

"As long as you are all gone, any living thing left in this school, even if it's just a mouse, I will drag it out for interrogation!"

The students below shivered as they listened.

So the special training was a sham, and driving us away to make it easier to catch the thief was the real motive?

Is this principal going to tear down the entire school just to catch that Faceless Man?

Meanwhile, in the corner of Class F.

Lu Xingye felt his blood boiling as he listened: "As expected of the principal! This overbearing attitude of 'rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one go' is truly fitting for a strong expert!"

Gou Fugui, on the other hand, shrank his neck: "Fortunately, I packed up all my contraband last night and brought it with me. Otherwise, it would definitely have been found if left in the dorm."

Only Jiang You.

He leaned against Junior Zhong Wu's coffin lid, completely unresponsive.

Even when he heard "overturn every brick", he just sleepily rolled over in his dream, wrapping his school uniform tighter around himself.

"Overturn it... overturn it... just don't flip my mattress..."

However.

The moment the word "mattress" slipped from his lips.

Jiang You's originally chaotic Brain felt as if it had been violently struck by a bolt of lightning from the highest heavens.

Wait...

Mattress!

Search!!

"Buzz—!!!"

Jiang You's eyes snapped open. In that instant, his pupils went through the entire process from blurry to focused, and then to a violent earthquake.

A bone-chilling cold instantly rushed from his tailbone straight to his crown, making every hair on his body stand up in salute at this moment.

In his mind, like a revolving lantern, the terrifying scene from when he woke up that morning flashed frantically:

That colorful, lace-trimmed underwear that he had stuffed deep into the mattress, pressed down tightly...

And that dark green "large washbasin" covered in patterns, which clearly wasn't ordinary, that he had kicked deep under the bed...

"Oh no!!!"

Jiang You's Heart skipped a beat, and cold sweat instantly drenched the spongebob pajamas on his back.

"A school-wide search? Digging three feet deep?"

"Doesn't that mean... my dorm will be searched too?"

"My mattress... will also be flipped?"

Jiang You's face instantly turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled.

If this was discovered, could he even explain it?

"No! It's impossible to explain!"

"There's absolutely no way to explain it!"

"When that time comes, the entire school will think that I am that perverted Faceless Man! They'll think I'm the one who stole the underwear and the cultural relics!"

"This is a frame-up! This is a setup! This is a death trap laid out for me by that god-damned Faceless Man!"