After the Evil God Pretends to Be a Player [Infinite] - Chapter 8

After leaving the School History Museum and conducting a head count, the Keeper led them straight to a teaching building.

It seemed to be recess, as the corridors were filled with students. However, with the female streamer’s previous misfortune serving as a cautionary tale, no one dared to strike up a conversation with the student NPCs this time.

After surviving several previous scares, Meng Luo felt her courage had grown significantly. She observed the NPCs curiously for a long while before whispering, “Strange.”

Lalae glanced at her and asked, “What do you think is wrong?”

“It’s just too quiet,” Meng Luo replied. “Normally, even in the high-pressure senior year, students would take advantage of the break to come out, get some air, and fool around. But here, let alone noise… these students aren’t making a single sound.”

In the corridor, students were heading out to get water or use the restroom, but there was no interaction between them. They seemed like individuals distributed across different dimensions, oblivious to one another’s existence. Upon closer inspection, their movements were stiff, like puppets controlled by strings.

The “Smart-Ass” (Shamate) punk uncharacteristically agreed: “When I was in school, a ten-minute break was enough time to have a turf war with the ‘Green Dragon Gang’ from the school across the street. This place definitely feels off.”

Wang Kai asked curiously, “So, big brother, which organization were you from back then?”

The punk replied with dissatisfaction, “What organization? That sounds so weak. We called it a ‘sect.'” He then added sullenly, “The Fire Snake Sect.”

Wang Kai’s girlfriend, Zhou Wen, burst out laughing. “No wonder you guys were always fighting,” she mocked.

The punk was about to lose his temper when he suddenly felt the atmosphere shift. He couldn’t tell if their voices had been too loud and disturbed the silence, or if something else was happening…

At that moment, every student those getting water, those in the restroom, and those returning to classrooms stopped in their tracks. They twisted their necks, staring at the group with unblinking eyes.

A small gasp from the female streamer caught in her throat. Inches away from her, a girl with long, disheveled hair had turned her head 180∘ and was staring straight at her. The streamer could almost see the pale teeth and scarlet tongue inside the girl’s slightly parted mouth.

A second later, that scarlet tongue flickered as she uttered a cold evaluation: “A face that is uncoordinated as a whole, but the parts look decent. Can I help you reshape it?”

As if triggered by a chain reaction, the gaze of every student then shifted to Wang Kai and Zhou Wen. The same expression appeared on every variety of face, and they spoke the same words in unison: “Ah, a sticky-sweet little couple. Perfect for a double mask.”

Next was the punk.

The students were silent for a long time this time. When they spoke, they were no longer in unison: “Ugly in a strange way.” “Ugly with a unique character.” “A very retro style from the last century.” “I wouldn’t want it even if you gave it to me.”

The punk: “?” He was furious but dared not speak.

The students’ gazes then shifted collectively to Meng Luo’s face. This time, the malice in their eyes was almost tangible greedy and envious: “You are so young. Your skin is hydrated and smooth, and your pupils are clear and pure. Could you… let me be youthful again as well?”

Their eyes moved to Li Zhu’s face. No one spoke this time, but the word “Want” was glued to everyone’s eyes.

Finally, their lecherous gazes landed on Lalae.

This time, their gaze lingered for a very, very long time. Like a snake’s tongue, their eyes licked from her forehead down to her jaw, from the tip of her nose down to her neck, as if they didn’t dare miss a single spot.

After an unknown amount of time, a sharp, thin female voice said, “I want her…”

Before she could finish, she was interrupted by a stern male voice: “No, she is mine!”

It was as if these students had a communication system independent of the outside world, allowing them to understand each other’s meaning before a full sentence was even spoken. However, this also caused them to devolve into a chaotic argument within seconds, using fragmented words.

“Mine!” “You lost to me in the last exam… she’s mine!” “…”

At this inappropriate moment, Meng Luo inexplicably remembered the Dormitory Matron’s words: “They will like you, too.”

Lalae, however, remained expressionless, appearing not at all like the heroine at the center of the storm.

Just then, a voice rose above the rest: “Whoever catches her, gets her!”

This is bad, Meng Luo thought. In the next heartbeat, all the students suddenly took off, sprinting toward the group with a momentum that suggested they intended to tear them apart alive!

Though their movements had looked stiff like puppets moments ago, once they started running, they were like agile athletes, capable of joining the national team for the 110-meter hurdles on the spot.

Wang Kai panicked, “Where are we supposed to run?”

Lalae looked around. As expected, the Keeper had already vanished. However, his voice was transmitted to everyone’s ears: “Room 404. I will be waiting for you in the art studio.”

Surrounded by a tide of crazed students, it was impossible to see where the stairs were for a moment.

“The stairs are over there!”

Zhou Wen, Wang Kai’s girlfriend, was closest to the stairwell. She was the first to spot the railing and charged up, with the others following closely behind.

The scene was spectacular: seven people sprinting for their lives in the lead, pursued by a literal army of “zombie” students. More students continuously poured out of various classrooms to join the chase.

Li Zhu was the last to reach the stairs. Just as he was about to step up, he felt a sudden drag from behind. He turned his head to see a student biting down on his expensive black designer coat.

Expressionless, he reached out to tear the student away, but at that moment, he felt a gaze upon him. He looked up and saw Lalae standing on a step above him, looking down slightly.

The light on the stairs was dim. Li Zhu couldn’t see Lalae’s expression clearly; he could only see the flickering shadows dancing across her face.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Li Zhu felt several more pairs of hands grabbing his clothes, pulling him down with all their might. A look of helplessness appeared on his face—and if one looked closely, a hint of entreaty. He reached one hand out toward Lalae.

Despite the lack of clarity, Li Zhu felt that Lalae’s frozen expression shifted slightly. But Lalae did not immediately reach out to pull him up.

Just as Li Zhu thought that if he didn’t take drastic action, his life would end right here today, Lalae finally extended her hand and yanked him up onto her step.

Then, her beautiful, thin lips uttered cold, heartless words: “I’ve saved you once. Remember my grace, and don’t bother me again after this.”

Previously, Li Zhu had been blocking the stairwell entrance. Now that everyone was up the stairs, the army of students behind them still hadn’t given up. Those who could fit took the stairs; those who couldn’t climbed over the railings. The whole scene was so chaotic that even the punk would have called it a “street riot.”

Finally, the seven of them reached the fourth floor out of breath. They burst through the door of Room 404, and Li Zhu, the last to enter, slammed it shut.

Strangely enough, the second the door closed, the sounds of running and crowding in the hallway vanished instantly, as if those students on the brink of madness had returned to their previous states.

Meng Luo risked opening the door a tiny crack to peek. It wasn’t an illusion; the student NPCs had indeed reverted to their puppet-like behavior, performing their fixed tasks.

She breathed a sigh of relief, only to turn around and find the Keeper leaning against a desk with his arms crossed, watching them all with amusement.

A moment later, when she saw the layout of the room next to the Keeper, that hard-won breath caught in her throat again.

The punk cursed, “Holy sh*t, what is all this?”

A typical art studio would have canvases and easels, perhaps with excellent student works hanging from the ceiling. Normally, that would be fine. But when landscapes, portraits, and still lifes are replaced by eerie masks, the atmosphere changes entirely.

As the wind whistled through the window frames, the various masks hanging from the ceiling shuddered in unison, looking as if countless human faces had turned to stare at them. The subtle sound of the wind and the friction sounded like whispering in the deathly quiet classroom.

The mask on the Keeper’s face almost blended into the background; the unmasked players seemed like the anomalies here.

For a moment, they couldn’t tell if it was the Keeper speaking or the countless masks in the room:

“Welcome to the art studio. This is the second stop of your tour and the most critical test for obtaining enrollment qualifications. You must create your own masks within two days and display them at the masquerade ball in two days’ time. At that time”

You will truly become students of Pretty Middle School.”

As soon as the Keeper finished speaking, his figure gradually became transparent and disappeared on the spot.

Meng Luo asked in shock, “How can he just disappear like that?”

Lalae reached for the doorknob, her eyes dark with unreadable thoughts. “What kind of thing did you think an announcer in this kind of game would be? Did you really think he was human?”

Meng Luo shrank back. Then she heard Li Zhu ask, “Oh? Then what do you think he is?”

Li Zhu’s expensive-looking black coat had been torn to shreds by the biting and pulling. He discarded it with great regret. He was now wearing the same school uniform as everyone else. For some reason, while the uniform looked baggy on others, it perfectly outlined his tall, sturdy frame. The faint outline of his abdominal muscles was even visible beneath the thin fabric.

When he had been walking in his black coat, he looked like a calculating, “refined scumbag” CEO. Now, in the school uniform, he looked like a young, handsome college student.

Lalae gave him a cool glance and replied cryptically, “How should I know?”

A feeling of resistance came from the wrist holding the doorknob. As expected, the door had been locked from the outside.

Zhou Wen held her boyfriend’s hand, her voice weak: “Do we have to stay here and paint masks?”

Anyone could tell there was something wrong with painting the masks. No one knew if becoming a “student of Pretty Middle School” meant they would never be able to leave.

The wind blowing through the cracks of the window grew stronger. Several masks were blown to the ground. Lalae picked one up and found it was the same as the one on the mannequin’s face thin as a cicada’s wing and warm to the touch, like human skin.

As she stood up, she suddenly noticed several shallow and deep carvings on a nearby craft table, as if someone had carved words stroke by stroke using a tool like a utility knife.

[Investigation] Check/Result: 70/57  Success

She studied them for a moment before she could make out the words: “Don’t do this to me.”

The moment she saw those words clearly, it felt as if someone had squeezed the breath out of her. The classroom, the other players, and the eerie masks hanging from the ceiling all vanished…

She seemed to have returned to the suffocating depths of the ocean. A voice full of laughter spoke in her ear. The moment she turned her head, a pale, slender hand wrapped around her waist.

That voice was incredibly tender, like treating a most beloved treasure: “How is it? Are you satisfied with everything you see?”

She heard her own voice echoing in the void: “Why… why are you doing this to me…”

“Are you okay? Did you find something?”

The vision faded like a receding tide. Meng Luo was looking at her with concern.

Lalae exhaled slowly and said, “It’s nothing.”

To an outsider, Lalae looked no different than usual—cold and devoid of any emotional fluctuation. She was always like this; those intense, unspeakable emotions were always suppressed beneath a frozen sea. Only in extremely rare circumstances would they break through the ice, but she would quickly push them back down and put on her indestructible mask again.

Lalae calmly told the others about the words she found on the craft table.

The moment she finished speaking, the Keeper’s voice rang out: “Will all players please roll for Inspiration.”

[Inspiration] Check/Result: 80/14  Success

Her vision went black, then bright again. When she opened her eyes, she found she was still in the craft room, but the layout had undergone an earth-shattering change.