After breakfast, the nine of them went to the morning pharmacology class together.
This was their first time meeting the other eleven students in the class. Last night, just as the lights were about to go out, they heard a commotion in the dormitory. The students on that floor seemed very lively, but today in class, they were very nervous and silent.
The teacher didn't seem to notice the students' attitudes. He wasn't very excited and just blandly explained the contents of the lesson plan.
The nine of them didn't completely understand the content of the class; they could understand about 30 to 70 percent. The other eleven students didn't seem to understand it either.
The closer the pharmacology class got to the end, the more nervous the students became.
When the bell rang, the teacher packed up his lesson plan and left without even finishing the sentence he had left.
"Ugh!"
A student in front of Xia Bai and Lin Xiang leaned on the desk and vomited, a thick layer of sweat oozing from his forehead.
The students around him didn't find it strange. Perhaps because they were all so nervous, no one paid attention to this student for a while.
Lin Xiang handed him a piece of paper and asked, "What's wrong with you? Are you okay?"
The student waved his hand. "Nothing, just... I'm just too nervous. That's what happens when you're nervous."
The nine players didn't know what they were nervous about, but they were all somewhat affected by it, and several of them looked uneasy.
Just then, everyone's phone rang.
Xia Bai noticed that when their phones rang, the students subconsciously tensed up. Perhaps that was the source of their anxiety.
In the class chat, the counselor tagged everyone.
The counselor said: "For the afternoon's anatomy lab class, we need two students to go to the anatomy lab to help Professor Liu prepare for the lesson."
Going to the anatomy lab to prepare for the professor's class didn't sound like a good job. The most basic thing was, the anatomy lab class required cadavers, right? Where would they get them? Would they bring them from the morgue?
And let's not even talk about how nervous these students were. Students studying clinical medicine already had their cadaver dissection teachers, and it was unlikely that such simple preparations would cause them to be restless throughout the morning class, or even to the point of vomiting.
They stared at their phones, holding their breath.
Counselor: [Today it's Dai Liangyuan and Song Mingliang. After lunch, please go and prepare for the anatomy lab 203 in advance for the afternoon. Next, I will tell you how to prepare and what you need to prepare.]
Some people are relieved, and some people are devastated.
After seeing the message from the counselor, a classmate immediately grabbed another classmate's hand with tears in his eyes, "Head of the dormitory, I really have a bad heart. Can you go in my place this afternoon?"
This person should be Dai Liangyuan.
Several of the players looked at Song Mingliang. Song Mingliang, as always, lowered his head slightly, and his thick bangs covered his eyes. His father, Song Qiang, picked at the burrs around his nails, looking very panicked.
At lunch, Song Qiang pulled Song Mingliang to their table again.
Song Qiang looked at Hua Haoming flatteringly. "You've played the game before, so you must be quite skilled. This is your first time in the anatomy lab, so there are many unknowns, but it's also an opportunity to discover new clues."
Hua Haoming asked directly, "What did you want to say?"
Song Qiang said quickly, "I just heard from that classmate named Dai Liangyuan that someone could go in his place. Could you please go in Song Mingliang's place this time? We'll be very grateful to you, and next time it's your turn, we'll let Song Mingliang go in your place."
Hua Haoming: "Sorry."
Song Qiang, still smiling, gave Song Mingliang a push.
Song Mingliang didn't react.
Song Qiang angrily slapped him on the head. "You're not going to talk properly now. Who are you going to piss off?"
He pulled Song Mingliang forward and said, "Talk nicely. Beg Brother Hua to make an example of you."
Song Mingliang finally spoke, "I'll go by myself."
Song Qiang: "What?"
Song Mingliang took a deep breath, his voice a little louder, the veins in his neck bulging. "I'll go by myself!"
Song Qiang was stunned for a moment, about to lose his temper when Hua Haoming interrupted him. "Uncle Song, no matter how much you beg me, I won't go for him. But after dinner, we can go with him to the anatomy lab ahead of time to find out why they're so scared." He
didn't achieve his goal, but it did put him at ease. Song Qiang reluctantly thanked him and sat at the table next to them.
After lunch, the nine of them went to the anatomy lab, bringing along a nervous Dai Liangyuan.
Hua Haoming comforted Dai Liangyuan on the way, "Don't worry, it might be okay this time."
Dai Liangyuan nervously rubbed his hands. "How can it be okay? Several people have had accidents before. This is no longer just a campus legend. So many people who have been to the morgue have gone crazy and died!"
He was so nervous that he was a little neurotic. His hands were red from rubbing. If he rubbed any more, the skin would probably be rubbed off. "Why are we two so unlucky to be chosen the first time?"
Several people looked at each other and grasped the key point: the campus legend.
Xia Bai asked, "What campus legend?"
Several players looked at him in surprise. Hua Haoming had previously reminded them that when speaking and acting in the game with NPCs, they must be consistent with their identities. Now they are Dai Liangyuan's classmates, and they are not freshmen. In other words, they should also know the campus legend that everyone in the class is nervous and afraid of.
Dai Liangyuan sighed, "Xia Bai, why are you still like this? You're always daydreaming when we're gossiping, aren't you? Everything else is fine, but you don't even know this. I don't know what to say to you."
"..."
Hua Haoming glanced at Xia Bai. How could he have known that the game would completely scan players' lives, that their in-game identities would reflect their real-life personalities and traits?
So, was he really just daydreaming at school? Then how did he get into Heping Medical College?
Xia Bai noticed Hua Haoming's gaze, and seeing the suspicion in his eyes deepen as he looked at him, a look of bewilderment crossed his face.
Dai Liangyuan had already started talking to this classmate, who wasn't on the same wavelength: "There's this legend about a ghost in the morgue. It's terrifying. I heard several seniors who saw it there went crazy and tortured themselves to death. The school probably has this tradition of having students prepare for teaching because of this legend. Many of our class dropped out because of this campus legend."
Even the most clueless person could tell that the key to winning this game lay in this ghost.
"I've heard that rumor, too, but don't worry," Hua Haoming said, his expression unfazed. "I heard that not everyone who goes to the morgue to prepare dies."
The others, sensing his probing, pricked up their ears.
"That's what you say, but how do you know we're the lucky ones?" Dai Liangyuan was still in agony.
However, Song Mingliang and Song Qiang breathed a visibly relieved sigh. Not everyone who went to prepare dies, which meant there was still a chance.
They walked along the artificial lake to the morgue. Green algae grew wildly in the lake, swaying happily, and the green was misty. The humidity seemed heavier than other places, with the unique fishy smell of water plants.
The anatomy laboratory and the morgue were in a four-story red building, far away from the living area, shaded by lush locust trees, secluded and cool, with no one in sight.
Standing outside the door, they smelled the strong smell of formalin, so strong that it was pungent and stinging.
As soon as Dai Liangyuan arrived here, he took paper money and burned it next to him, muttering to himself.
Meng Tianyou said, "I said the core key is in the morgue." Lin Xiang
: "Come on, you are talking about the anatomy laboratory."
Meng Tianyou: "The two are one, is there a difference? Your words immediately expose that you are an outsider."
Lin Xiang sneered loudly.
Meng Tianyou was irritated. He was about to say something else when Song Qiang enthusiastically interrupted, "Yes, yes, you're right, Meng. The core NPC is right here, and there's a crucial clue here. So, why don't we have a few more people go in this time? The sooner we find the truth, the sooner we can get out."
He made a compelling argument. "Dai Liangyuan just said that some of the people who went to the morgue were fine, while others were in trouble. We all need to go in, depending on the situation. Going in alone might trigger a death, but going in together with a few people and discussing things might help."
He had a point, but the counselor chosen today was Song Mingliang. Who would want to go into such a dangerous place, with so much unknown?
Xia Bai took a quick step forward, but was just as quickly pulled back by Hua Haoming and Lin Xiang.
Lin Xiang whispered, "Xia Bai, don't be so kind."
Hua Haoming: "..."
Song Qiang looked at everyone one by one. No one came out, no one spoke. The warmth of his smile gradually cooled, stiffened, and then shattered.
In the end, it was Song Mingliang and Dai Liangyuan who went. Under the gazes of a group of people with different expressions, they walked slowly and helplessly into the anatomy laboratory building.
The other players were waiting at the door, wondering what he had experienced in there.
Half an hour later, the two came out. They looked fine, just a little tired, with some unknown liquid splashed on their bodies.
"How is it?" Meng Tianyou walked quickly to Song Mingliang and asked, "What did you see, what happened?"
Song Mingliang lowered his head and said nothing as usual.
For the first time, Song Qiang did not scold him for not speaking.
Meng Tianyou was stunned.
Wen Qiu frowned. "Song Mingliang, don't be so petty. If you don't tell us any clues, do you think you can find the truth on your own? We might accidentally violate some death rule. If we don't find the truth quickly, everyone else will die in the game, including you and your son."
Song Qiang hesitated, then nudged Song Mingliang. "Why are you so silent at this critical moment? Tell us what happened."
"Nothing really happened. I just did what the instructor said. I moved the cadaver onto the test bench and equipped myself with the dissection tools. Nothing went wrong. Aside from the corpse, I didn't encounter anything strange or scary."
This was the longest sentence he had ever spoken, and he said it with such earnestness that he didn't sound like a lie.
Wen Qiu asked, "Really?"
Song Mingliang stopped talking and looked up at Dai Liangyuan.
Dai Liangyuan had already left, no longer the nervous and fearful look he had when he arrived. He walked happily, his smile brighter than the sun. He looked like a truly lucky man.
"How could that be?" Meng Tianyou said, "Something should have happened."
Lin Xiang snorted, "You're really hoping for something to happen to someone else, since it wasn't you who went in, right?"
Meng Tianyou's eyebrows shot up in anger. "You're looking for trouble, aren't you?"
Lin Xiang put his hands in his pockets, turned around, and whistled.
"..."
Meng Tianyou's idea was a bit questionable, but in fact, he wasn't the only one among them who thought something would happen if Song Mingliang went to the morgue. The students in the previous class had made it clear that there must be something wrong with the morgue, something crucial.
But, in fact, nothing happened. According to Song Mingliang, it was just an ordinary morgue and laboratory inside.
Wen Dong: "Are we going in the wrong direction? Isn't this the right place?"
Hua Haoming: "Let's wait until we have class, or come here tonight to check it out."
The college stipulates that the anatomy lab is open until lights out Monday through Friday evenings, so that students, especially those about to enter their internships, can practice here.
Song Mingliang spent over half an hour preparing inside, and the rest of the time was not worth the trip to the dormitory, so they waited outside.
Classmates came over one after another, and it was almost time for class. Lin Xiang was getting more and more nervous.
For someone who had never thought about studying medicine, it was really too much for him to take an anatomy class in a horror game right from the start, not to mention that he was afraid of these things.
He saw Xia Bai sitting next to him, his face looked as calm as always, as if he was wandering in space, but the fingers on his legs were shaking not very obviously.
He never showed panic, but after all, he was just the most innocent boy who had not been online for 18 years and had not been polluted.
Lin Xiang felt soft in his heart when he saw this. At that time, Xia Bai ignored his fear and carried him out of the cemetery. This time he also had to suppress his fear and protect Xia Bai well.
Lin Xiang asked: "Xia Bai, are you afraid too?"
He patted his chest and said righteously: "Don't be afraid, if the teacher asks you to touch a dead body, I will be in front of you."
Hua Haoming: "..."