CNC: Chapter 65

Mosaic School (16)

“What numbers do ordinary people use as their mobile phone password?” Chi Nan confirmed it with Tang Yu next to him.

Tang Yu thought for a moment. “It is hard to say. It is most likely your own or an important partner’s birthday, a special anniversary, or a habitual number.”

Chi Nan nodded. He lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment. Tang Yu was keenly aware of something and carefully asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Jiang Boming’s password is 0229,” Chi Nan simply stated his findings.

Tang Yu immediately grasped this important clue and whispered, “So 0229 might be a very important number for him.”

“0229 is February 29th and my birthday is also February 29th.” Chi Nan didn’t continue to reveal that the number of the dream maker of this instance was also 229. Too many coincidences could no longer be called coincidences.

Tang Yu frowned slightly. “Speaking of which, my birthday is also February 29th…”

The morning after they came to this boarding school, Chi Nan had discussed this situation with Guo Xian. If a nightmare mostly consisted of newcomers, then it was likely that the dream maker had a special recruitment need and the existing sleepwalkers were seriously insufficient. This was why a large number of eligible newcomers were needed to fill up the number.

It was likely to be the breakthrough point if they found the common ground among the sleepwalkers.

Now it seemed that breakthrough was likely to be the date of February 29th.

Today was February 27th and there were still two days left until the 29th.

They soon synchronized the new discovery with everyone. As Chi Nan expected, the birthday of everyone present was February 29th.

“What…what does this mean? Is the dream maker so perverted that he wants to choose the ‘lucky one’ who comes every four years to enter and die?”

Liang Han wondered in an incredulous manner. Then he shivered after speaking. The idea of his birthday becoming a death day was too much.

“Wu wu, I’ve been looking forward to my birthday for four years. Why is this…”

Chi Nan thought about it. “The school motto clearly mentioned that ‘death shouldn’t exist as a fear. It is the beginning of beauty.’ The opposite of death is life. It makes sense to use our birthday as the criteria for recruiting new students.”

He paused before adding, “I suspect that the covered up part of the school name is the number 229.”

Dawn City’s 229 Boarding School. The numbers 229 hid an important clue so the explanation made sense.

“So February 29th is the key time point for us to clear the dream!” Tang Yu suddenly said.

Ever since Guo Xian was exposed, he had been silent, but now he had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Chi Nan stated, “Maybe after this day comes, we will be trapped in the boarding school forever if we can’t get out on that day.”

He spoke these creepy words calmly and several newcomers shivered in unison.

Chi Nan continued, “This will last until countless death school rules are overlapped and we won’t be able to avoid dying.”

The group: “……” Why was this man so calm when saying this?

The silent Guo Xian finally spoke, “In the remaining two days, we should pay more attention to the clues related to our ‘birthday.’ However, compared to February 29th, we should still worry about how to spend tonight.”

He smiled sarcastically, waiting to see what ridiculous choice this group of people who talked about fairness and humanity would make when their lives were threatened.

“I have given you the answer just now. You can decide for yourself.” Guo Xian sneered with this declaration. Then he turned around and left the classroom on his own to find clues.

The people who were left in the room suddenly lost their voices and several newcomers were troubled due to his words. They felt an unprecedented anxiety and fear. They weren’t only afraid that they would be chosen by the school rules, but also afraid that if everyone successfully avoided the punishment of the school rule, they would become the random sacrifice.

The unknown and having to make a choice could multiply human fear.

“What should we do now?” Tong Yu asked Chi Nan, who had more experience than them.

Chi Nan thought for a moment. “Go to the cafeteria for lunch?”

Everyone: “……”

After the meal, Chi Nan went to 211 as usual. He had just wanted to knock on the door when the door opened in front of him in an automatic manner.

There was no one in the infirmary. There were only the dead trees reflected through the glass near the snow-white bed. The table in front of the bed had a bowl of medicinal juice that was still steaming with white mist.

Chi Nan was stunned for a moment and hesitated whether to enter without permission.

Then the female teacher’s voice was heard behind him. “The doctor has something to do today. He explained before he left that the medicine is ready and you can drink it yourself.”

Chi Nan was a bit surprised. “The doctor isn’t at school?”

The female teacher smiled in a noncommittal manner. “I have already said what I should say. I hope you will drink the medicine on time according to the instructions.”

Chi Nan looked at the medicine in the room and said politely, “Okay, I understand. Thank you for informing me.”

The female teacher nodded at him and left.

Chi Nan was suddenly a bit curious. 229 had always had a leisurely look of not doing work. Unexpectedly, he would be busy enough that it would take up the lunch break.

After drinking the medicine, Chi Nan and Tang Yu searched for clues in the school for a while. The snow stopped during the day, so they also went outside.

In the snow-covered pine forest behind the school, there were countless gravestones. This land was filled with the bodies of sleepwalkers who violated the school rules or were forced to be sacrificed on Christmas Eve. The birthdays on the gravestones were all February 29th so it basically confirmed their guess.

At 2:00 p.m., the afternoon class started on time in Classroom 103.

This time, the position where the podium was supposed to be was vacated. Five vertical lines were drawn with chalk to divide the room into four areas. In order to see more clearly, the group stood up and looked around. They found that the four words ‘joy, anger, sadness, and laughter’ were written in chalk in front of each of the four areas.

“Good afternoon students. Today’s class will be the most interesting one since the school year started. I believe you will like it,” the female teacher said while standing in front of the chalk line. She saw everyone’s expression of nervousness and fright and smiled. “It is also my most anticipated acting class.”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. “Acting class?”

Only the corners of Chi Nan’s lips moved imperceptibly. He remembered that in You Yu’s Dream, 229 liked to let them seek their own death through acting.

This guy was an expressive, abnormal actor.

“As we all know, the most important thing in acting is to integrate yourself into the character and the story. Regardless of skill or talent, emotion is the most important thing in shaping the character, and it is the part you need to think about the most.”

“So in today’s acting class, I have divided the basic emotions of human beings into four blocks for you: joy, anger, sadness, and laughter. According to these four emotions, the eleven students will be divided into four groups for acting training.”

“Of course, in addition to releasing the emotions of the characters, acting also requires the students to cooperate with each other to shape the story and finally present the story perfectly.”

The female teacher paused deliberately and Tang Yu raised her hand impatiently. “There are 11 of us. We can’t be evenly distributed into four groups.”

The female teacher smiled stiffly. “I didn’t say that the performance needs to be evenly distributed.”

“The upper limit for each emotion is three students and there is no lower limit. The students can choose the emotion they want to express the most.” She scanned the group and added, “You can get tonight’s taboo rule as long as one group of students successfully passes. This is similar to the process of yesterday’s physical education class.”

Everyone fell into a tacit nervousness. Among the four emotions of joy, anger, sadness, and laughter, the most taboo one using common sense was sadness. Anger didn’t sound that comfortable, but it was much better compared to the association brought about by sadness. Meanwhile, joy and laughter were the most pleasing.

It wasn’t fair to divide these emotions into four categories and then determine the performance of the sleepwalkers. This was because they were in the Nightmare World where anything could happen.

“If the maximum number of each group is three people and there are more than three people who want to show the same emotion, how will you decide it?” Guo Xian asked, “Or how will you determine the order of choosing the emotion?”

His question was as sharp as always and aimed at the key point.

The female teacher took out something similar to a grade sheet. “The order of selection is based on the credits you have accumulated from when you enrolled to the present.”

There was an uproar the moment she finished speaking.

The order of priority was based on the accumulated credits. This meant that the lower the student’s ranking, the narrower their range of options. The last students would be forcibly assigned to the ‘sadness’ group. This ominous word caused them to feel chills…

“The student who ranks first in credits, Chi Nan, please make your emotional choice first.” The female teacher smiled at Chi Nan and made a gesture of invitation.

Chi Nan nodded politely at her. Then he walked toward the word ‘sadness’ without hesitation and finally stood within range of the chalk line.

The group sighed and Guo Xian couldn’t help sneering and complaining. “Chi Nan, are you mistaken? Kindness should have a bottom line, right? Why choose this unfortunate word with your good ranking?”

He didn’t mind giving a reminder. After all, he was now ranked very high based on his credits and he didn’t have to worry about Chi Nan occupying his quota at all. He even thought that doing the acting class with Chi Nan would improve his success rate.

Chi Nan didn’t know what this person was talking about. He just knew that he couldn’t express the remaining three emotions of joy, anger, or laughter. He rationally chose sadness, which was similar to crying.

Choosing sadness was obviously the most accurate choice he could make. This was stupid and kind in the eyes of others?

Well, it didn’t matter what people thought.

“This student, you won’t change it?”

The female teacher and everyone in the classroom stared at him. To be honest, the students ranked at the bottom had been feeling a bit expectant for a miracle to happen. Now it seemed that Chi Nan was likely to be their miracle.

Chi Nan shook his head firmly. “I won’t change it.”

In any case, he couldn’t express any emotion other than crying.

The female teacher smiled approvingly. “Then I will ask Guo Xian to make his choice.”

Guo Xian stood up quickly and chose ‘joy’ without hesitation. His choice was expected by everyone, but the atmosphere in the room couldn’t help tensing a bit.

Soon, the sleepwalkers took to the podium one by one to choose their emotion.

Unexpectedly, Tang Yu wasn’t at the bottom but she also chose sadness. She stood with Chi Nan at the chalk line and made the poorly ranked students completely relieved.

15 minutes later, the female teacher turned to face the sleepwalkers standing in four rows. She raised her hand and a slow and low melody filled the closed classroom. This was the hypnotic tune Chi Nan had heard in 229’s reception room.

“Students, once the music starts, your performance has begun.”

Proofreader: Kat