CNC: Chapter 73

Mosaic School (24)

Chi Nan pursed his lips. “Brother, you are the one who designed the characters and plot. Don’t blame me.”

He was very serious and didn’t mean to joke around at all. It made sense.

229 in the mirror started to re-examine Chi Nan. Now that he stopped bleeding, he had meticulously redressed and returned to that neat and emotionless appearance. It was as if nothing could break his expressionless face and arouse his interest except for the physical contact that made him shed physiological tears.

Chi Nan stood there quietly and seemed like a special existence that was harmless.

Yet this little guy finally started showing his fangs…

229 in the mirror seemed quite satisfied with Chi Nan’s counterattack and he hid the pleasure in his eyes.

“You’re right. Since this is the case…” The person in the mirror smiled with You Yu’s face and his next words were replaced with the system’s notification.

[Congratulations to the ‘sadness’ theme group for successfully maintaining the emotional theme of the performance class. 10 favorability has been obtained and the accumulated favorability is 100.]

[Congratulations to the two students for their perfect interpretation of the ‘sadness’ emotion. The performance class has been successfully passed and they have been rewarded with ‘Boarding School Rules’ Hint x1.’ This will be given by the special guest.]

Chi Nan looked at the person in the mirror. “Is that it?”

Sure enough, the dream makers had a privileged position. After Chi Nan found the loophole in the plot, 229 ignored the interpretation of the tearful scene and directly distributed the favorability, forcibly completing the acting class.

229 seemed to guess what Chi Nan was thinking. “I’m not reneging on a debt. I owe you.”

“You owe me a chance to see you cry in a live performance?” Chi Nan asked again in confirmation.

229’s lips curled up. “It is the kind where no tickets will be charged. How about it?”

Chi Nan was very straightforward. “Okay, you owe me.”

Then Chi Nan asked, “Are you the special guest?”

He had already reached out his hand to the man in the mirror, waiting for this person to give him the clue for tonight.

“It is already in your pocket.” 229 leaned forward through the mirror. “There is still a minute until class ends. Do you have any questions about the plot?”

Chi Nan felt the folded note in his pocket and the pair of glasses that had disappeared from the bridge of his nose at some point.

229 continued, “If you have no questions, then you can leave class early.”

Chi Nan thought about it before looking at 229, who hadn’t changed back in the mirror. “Why do you want to appear as You Yu?”

The expression on 229’s face froze for a moment before he smiled like nothing had happened. “It is because I’m lazy and find it too troublesome to do the character modeling. I directly used the face data of the participants themselves i.e. your face.”

229 shrugged. “It was presented like this according to the character design of the script. You can say that this is the face of the owner of your body, or you can also say that it is…”

He paused and stared at Chi Nan, his eyes a bit more complicated than usual.

Chi Nan couldn’t understand what he meant all of a sudden, but he intuitively thought that this was very important to 229.

It was a pity that Chi Nan couldn’t hear the next words because the bell rang to signal the end of the class.

229 in the mirror smiled again. “I’ll tell you when I get the chance.”

The moment he finished speaking, everything in front of Chi Nan disappeared. Chi Nan and Tang Yu were once again standing in Classroom 103.

The 229 apartment building full of bloody secrets and the corpses of the couple whose heads were intertwined seemed to have never existed.

“It is amazing! The two of you succeeded!”

“Quick! See what the rule is tonight!”

The two of them hadn’t fully recovered when the nine sleepwalkers in the classroom had already gathered around and supervised Chi Nan opening the rule reminder paper in his hand.

After the last round with Guo Xian’s manipulations, everyone stared closely out of fear that Chi Nan would make some small moves to cover up the clues.

The note contained a short sentence.

[The oldest student will say goodbye at night.]

Guo Xian’s face turned white and he was as stiff as a stone carving the moment he saw the note.

Chi Nan glanced at him indifferently, but didn’t speak.

“So the oldest sleepwalker among us will die tonight?”

“It should be the meaning of the note…”

“There is no doubt that tonight’s rule is the same type as last night’s room number. We don’t need to do anything to trigger it, and it is equivalent to directly announcing that a sleepwalker will trigger the taboo,” Tong Yu concluded.

“But…isn’t this a dead end? Previously, Guo Xian said that dream makers don’t like unsolvable situations…” Liang Han questioned it.

Tang Yu thought about it. “It doesn’t necessarily mean there is no solution. Chi Nan used changing the dormitory number to escape the punishment of the school rules. I think this type of rule is more like a test of a sleepwalker’s adaptability…”

Liang Han nodded first. Then he shook his head. “But…Chi Nan’s dormitory number could be changed. One’s age can’t be changed.”

Everyone was silent. No one could come up with a way to break the rule.

There was a short silence. Then, in the tense atmosphere, everyone started to report their true age. Finally, Tong Yu lowered her head. “I am 23. It seems I am the oldest here…”

Before she could finish speaking, the youngest looking Guo Xian sneered. “It isn’t you.”

Everyone looked at Guo Xian doubtfully. Only Chi Nan was looking at the note in his hand.

“It is me.” Guo Xian frowned and cursed with irritation. “I am 46.”

“What?” The sleepwalkers who didn’t know the truth looked at Guo Xian in shock. He looked at most 17 years old.

“I am the one who will break the rule tonight,” Guo Xian repeated it again.

Tong Yu looked at him questioningly. “What tricks are you playing?”

Due to Guo Xian’s act of deliberating hiding the rule reminder yesterday, Tong Yu suspected that he was deliberately falsely reporting his age to try and hide the truth. Then the real oldest sleepwalker would be inadvertently obliterated by the school rules. This way, he would avoid a random sacrifice and reduce his own risk of death.

“It doesn’t matter what you think. In any case, I am the unlucky person.”

Tong Yu murmured, “But you look…”

“Is there any benefit to lying about this? There is no way to change my age and I have to die.” Guo Xian’s eyelids twitched fiercely and he gritted his teeth. “I take back my previous words about the dream makers not liking a dead end. This f*king dream maker just wants me to die!”

The angry and frustrated Guo Xian finally couldn’t control his emotions. He slapped the chalk box on the podium and white chalk shattered on the classroom floor.

Chi Nan opened his mouth. “Guo Xian previously told me about his age. It should be true.”

Everyone looked at each other before their eyes finally fell on Guo Xian, whose face was ashen. They remained silent.

This rule hint was indeed a dead end.

“This student, please don’t destroy the teaching aids of the classroom or there will be a new school rule and punishment,” the teacher, who hadn’t left the classroom yet, reminded them coldly.

Everyone: “……”

Guo Xian had to crouch down and pick up the chalk box he knocked over. He picked them up one by one before his movements suddenly stopped. He curled up and intermittently let out a whimpering sound.

It felt like the floor beneath his feet had suddenly collapsed and he couldn’t stop falling into the abyss of fear and despair.

Everyone was a bit startled and their expressions finally became a bit different as they exchanged looks. Finally, Tong Yu sighed and crouched down to help him pick up the chalk.

She might hate a person like Guo Xian, but she felt very sympathetic at the moment. Who wasn’t afraid of death? Nothing was crueler than knowing their own bad news in advance.

The people were deeply trapped in the nightmare and their fears and couldn’t help but empathize. Some people in the group helped pick up chalk for him like Tong Yu. Meanwhile, Shu Yanfan looked down at Guo Xian, whose shoulders were twitching. “Uncle, you didn’t shed a tear when you hid the clue about Room 208’s death.”

Today’s death rule made her feel more happy than pity. The one who disrespected the lives of their companions finally received the same punishment.

Guo Xian wiped his tears without lifting his head. “Shut up. No matter what relationship you have with the two boys of Room 208, I can only say that I don’t regret what I did yesterday.”

Shu Yanfan: “……”

“Don’t forget, if it wasn’t for my decision yesterday, the person who died randomly last night might’ve been you.”

Shu Yanfan’s face was red with anger. “Then I thank you in advance for giving us the opportunity to live tonight. Goodbye, Uncle!”

Chi Nan looked at the female teacher who was supervising them picking up the chalk. He asked, “Teacher, can I ask a question about tonight’s hint?”

The female teacher nodded. “Yes, you can ask any questions.”

Everyone looked confused. Tonight’s school rule was written very clearly and they couldn’t think of anything to ask.

Chi Nan wondered, “If two classmates are the same age and they happen to be the oldest, how will the school impose the punishment?”

The female teacher paused for a moment. It was as if no students had mentioned this situation before and there was no corresponding answer procedure in her database. Then after a long time, her stiff eyes rolled slightly. “If the oldest students happen to be two students, then this night will be Christmas Eve.”

The group’s expression froze. In other words, the school rule would be invalid if there were two sleepwalkers of the same age who were the oldest!

The female teacher looked at the people with different expressions. “Do you have any other questions?”

The group was silent. Finally, Chi Nan said politely, “No. Thank you, Teacher.”’

“Then I wish you a good night.” The teacher confirmed that the chalk box was neatly placed on the table again and walked out on high heels.

“I’m like Guo Yaoyao…I am 22 years old this year,” Tao Le said after the teacher left, “As long as it is our turn and we don’t die…the school rule will stop.”

It was impolite to emphasize the ages of girls, but Tao Le couldn’t care about that at the moment.

“However, it is Tong Yu’s turn after Guo Xian…” Guo Yaoyao was Tong Yu’s roommate and she was very sad.

Tong Yu sighed. “Let’s talk about it after tonight.”

As usual, the process of giving the little white flowers was done. This time, everyone gave their white flower to Guo Xian. He looked at the large number of flowers symbolizing death behind him and smiled coldly. “I really thank you.”

Shu Yanfan replied, “You’re welcome.”

Everyone: “……” They might not hate Guo Xian to the point of wishing he would die, but they couldn’t miss out on the credit points for giving the white flower correctly.

Guo Xian carefully examined everyone in the group. He had woken up from the sudden despair and repeatedly gave himself psychological hints. He was someone who had exchanged favorability for a wish. He didn’t believe that he would die in this school due to a seemingly unsolvable death.

There must be something he had ignored… His eyes had always been the sharpest. Not only could he distinguish anything that the sleepwalkers had exchanged in the Nightmare World, but he could even see the items they had obtained.

Finally, his eyes narrowed slightly and his gaze stopped on Chi Nan’s body.

Proofreader: Kat