Chapter 167: Red Maple Boarding School (IV) “It’s All the Witch’s Curse”

A special identity? So, there are special players in this instance?

After hearing the system prompt, the players’ eyes filled with calculation; a few looked warily at their companions, likely trying to judge from their expressions whether the other was a holder of a special identity.

People do not fear scarcity but inequality. Even if a special identity had no additional effects, the word “special” alone was enough to sentence its holders to death.

After all, this was a instance where rules had to be tested with human lives; someone always had to die.

Moreover, the fact that players assigned special identities had not immediately revealed themselves was enough to speak volumes: these identities either greatly increased survival rates or placed them in opposition to the majority… Zhang Yiyu stared at the word “Witch” on the system interface, a faint sense of doubt rising: Wasn’t this a school instance? Why would there be a Witch?

But before entering the instance, she had just been crammed with knowledge by Ning Xu, so she naturally knew that after obtaining a special identity, she couldn’t let others see any clues.

For the moment, she continued to empty her mind, reciting the “Three Hundred Tang Poems” to herself, though her gaze couldn’t help but drift again toward Qi Si, who was standing by the door.

Ugh, why is there such a terrifying anomaly right at the start, and why is it wearing such an innocent and harmless face?

In the silence, a raspy female voice rang out leisurely:

【This is a blood-soaked land, and also a land of magical bizarre; hunger, plague, and slaughter overflow everywhere.】

【They were brought here when the maple forest was lush, and buried in the earth in the season when red maple leaves drifted across the mountains.】

【Sailing ships on the open sea, fierce battles amidst thundering artillery, statues of illustrious achievements rise from grand horror.】

【Primitive prayers, frozen despair, the terrifying evil god descends amidst the wailing of gnats.】

【Children, welcome to Red Maple Boarding School.】

The narration was soft and slow, like an old grandmother’s whispers by the fireplace, but the sound of thick phlegm rolling in the throat added a sinister atmosphere, reminiscent of scary fairy tales told by forest witches.

During the recitation, the gray walls faded away piece by piece like they were being erased by an eraser, and the scene instantly became open.

By the time the voice fell, the players were already standing on a patch of black soil, surrounded by an endless maple forest. The hand-shaped leaves were still a tender green, overlapping in crowded clusters, full of life.

The weather here was quite humid and hot; the muddy ground beneath their feet was so soft it felt as if water could be squeezed out. Ferns and palms filled the gaps in the maple forest, and looking up, one could only see vast stretches of dense green.

The colors of the scene became more and more vivid—bright green maple leaves, pitch-black soil, dark brown trunks—as if they could turn into watercolor paint and drip down at any moment.

The sounds of insects and birds also gradually became distinct, carrying the earthy smell of fermenting humus, rendering a deliberate sense of reality.

The “rustle” of footsteps sounded from within the forest, approaching from far to near.

Under the players’ wary gazes, a gaunt woman walked step by step into the center of the crowd.

The woman wore a strange outfit made of black gauze; the long robe dragging on the ground and the crooked hood covered almost every inch of her skin, leaving only a pair of hawk-like gray eyes to observe everyone.

She seemed very old, her skin hanging in layers like curtains, almost loose enough to be pinched up with fingers. Her voice was also so raspy it was slurred: “Welcome to Red Maple Boarding School. I am your teacher. You can call me Ms. Medina.”

Qi Si couldn’t help but look at the woman a few more times.

To him, the name “Ms. Medina” had only existed in the narration. He was quite curious as to what kind of thing this NPC, who had put him in solitary confinement and almost let him starve to death at the start of the instance, actually was.

The other players were also sizing up Ms. Medina, their gazes filled with obvious doubt and deliberation.

Several players opened their mouths to ask questions, but after noticing that their companions were all as quiet as mice, they pursed their lips and did not say a word.

Ms. Medina continued: “I hope you follow the school rules and discipline, and accept reform seriously. Do not bring those backward habits into our school, and do not try to do any damn little tricks. If you violate the rules, you will receive the most severe punishment.”

None of the players spoke. Qi Si observed their expressions and decisively gave up on asking questions like “What are the school rules?”

Ms. Medina seemed very satisfied with this, and her voice softened: “Follow me. The students have prepared a welcome ceremony for you in the Auditorium.”

She turned her back to the players and walked slowly into the depths of the maple forest. The players did not dare to delay and followed one after another.

The maple forest on both sides became sparse as they moved forward. Looking around, they could see several gray crosses standing in the distance, with something seemingly nailed to them.

A sharp-eyed female player saw clearly what was nailed to the crosses and cried out.

She pointed tremulously at the crosses, her voice shaking: “There… there are bodies…”

Ms. Medina turned her head, revealing a sinister smile: “Nailed up there are all bad children who used Witchcraft to harm people. If you harbor bad intentions, you will end up the same way.”

Witchcraft… does this instance actually have such a magical setting?

Qi Si narrowed his eyes slightly, but what surfaced in his mind was a scene from many years ago.

Naive children had surrounded him, listing his misdeeds: “Yesterday I tripped on my way home, today Youyou didn’t come because of a cold, all of us have been so unlucky lately—it must be Qi Si using Witchcraft to curse us!”

Twelve-year-old Qi Si sat quietly in his seat playing with an eyeball specimen. Truly bored by their rhetoric, he lazily lifted his eyelids: “Yes, I know Witchcraft. If you disturb me again, I’ll curse you.”

The children looked at each other, and then chattered again: “You finally admitted it! We’re going to tell the teacher!” “To think the teacher trusted you so much, you’re just a lying cheat!”

“You’d better hurry—” Qi Si smiled, revealing glistening white teeth, “otherwise, I won’t be able to stop myself from killing you and throwing you to the ghosts to eat.”

…”Once you enter the grounds of Red Maple Boarding School, do not use Witchcraft. Otherwise, your end will be very, very miserable…” Ms. Medina’s cold gaze swept over every player, making them shudder.

The players hurriedly said “We won’t” in succession.

Only then did Ms. Medina nod in satisfaction and turn back to continue walking: “As long as you don’t violate the school rules, I won’t make things difficult for you. Listen well, be good children, and you can always survive.”

The group walked in silence. After walking for a short while longer, a four-story concrete building came into view; it must be Red Maple Boarding School.

This building had very few windows, only two on the first floor, and from the outside, they looked pitch-black, like eyeless sockets. The iron gate was wide open, revealing a bottomless black hole, like a monster with a gaping mouth.

The sky was clear; although the sun couldn’t be seen, the azure color was enough to prove it.

But the strange thing was that the entire concrete building was terrifyingly dark, as if separated from the surrounding environment by an invisible barrier, occupying a space of loneliness and oblivion all its own.

The players instinctively lightened their steps and followed Ms. Medina into the building. After seeing the scene inside, their breathing hitched.

A hundred or so scrawny children stood densely in several rows, each wearing a gray school uniform, staring straight toward the entrance. Their dull, lifeless eyes did not look like they belonged to the living.

In the dim light of the first floor, the children’s faces were ashen, looking very much like photos on tombstones, or perhaps like the graves themselves.

Once all the players had stood still on the floor, these children recited a nursery rhyme in unison:

“Good children who won’t eat can only eat dirt,

Bad children’s bodies are covered in poisonous mushrooms.

Gods grow within rotten vegetables,

Yellow flower buds bloom at the bedside of the dead.

After the day the yellow butterfly flew by,

Everyone died and was buried in the earth.

Not a blade of grass grows on the children’s graves,

All of this is the Witch’s curse.”

Every line of the nursery rhyme was filled with an inexplicable eeriness. Combined with the children’s half-dead tone, it sounded like a malicious curse or a prophecy of disaster.

As they recited the last line, all the children moved their eyes, sweeping their gaze across every player, as if they were certain that the “Witch” who had brought down the curse and disaster was among the players.

Qi Si had already retreated to a corner after entering the floor, hiding his hands behind his back in the shadows.

He inconspicuously pulled a recorder from his inventory and recorded the nursery rhyme.

—Regardless of whether it’s useful, save it first.

The children only recited the nursery rhyme once, and the specific words did not refresh on the system interface.

A few players who hadn’t memorized it couldn’t help but show panicked expressions, then forcibly suppressed them, pretending to be calm and composed.

Ms. Medina made a gesture, and a child dragged a huge cardboard box from a corner and pushed it in front of the players.

“Please change into your school uniforms before dinner. At Red Maple Boarding School, you must wear uniforms.”

The players had known this rule for a long time and rushed around the cardboard box, grabbing clothes from inside and pulling them on without even looking.

In the chaos, Qi Si quietly walked over to Ms. Medina’s side, lowered his head, and said, “Ms. Medina, I already know I was wrong. I will never do those things again.”

Ms. Medina was stunned for a moment, her small eyes sizing Qi Si up as if she were recalling the circumstances.

After a long while, she finally remembered this person’s identity and said coldly: “No. 47, why did you come out of solitary confinement without permission? Did I allow you to come out?”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come out without your permission…” Qi Si quickly applied his experience of dealing with teachers in middle school, putting on an act of being terrified into silence, his voice growing softer and softer, “But… I haven’t eaten for three days. If I don’t eat, I’ll starve to death…”

Ms. Medina’s small eyes narrowed, flickering with a searching light, but her voice remained cold: “So, you took it upon yourself to run out?”

“Ms. Medina, I just wanted to ask a gentleman to help me fetch you, but that gentleman insisted on taking me with him…” Qi Si raised a finger to point at Chen Lidong, who was struggling to pull on a school uniform in the crowd, his voice sincere, “That gentleman said he is a Philanthropist representing the ‘Indigenous Peoples Charity Foundation’ here to inspect our school, and he said he would report everything you’ve done…”

Ms. Medina turned her head and stared fixedly at Chen Lidong in the crowd, a clear trace of ruthlessness appearing in her eyes.

She looked at Qi Si again and asked, “You didn’t tell him anything you shouldn’t have, did you?”

“No.” Qi Si shook his head. “I told him I don’t remember anything.”

Medina watched Qi Si’s eyes and broke into a grin: “Very good, you didn’t lie this time. I must reward you properly.”

Qi Si keenly sensed something was wrong, and then he heard this NPC pronounce: “Today, you will replace No. 16 and go to the kitchen to help with the cooking.”

Qi Si fell silent, really wanting to ask: “Are you sure?”

“What, are you unwilling?” Ms. Medina furrowed her brows, looking as if she were about to lose her temper.

Qi Si could only lower his eyes and reveal a pure, innocent smile: “Thank you, Ms. Medina. I definitely won’t let your trust down.”

On the other side, the players had finished dividing the school uniforms in the box.

There were only twenty-eight uniforms. A small mixed-race boy who hadn’t managed to grab one was indignantly clutching his own clothes, looking toward Qi Si.

He was undoubtedly eyeing the school uniform on Qi Si, but unfortunately, Qi Si was sticking too close to Ms. Medina for him to make a move.

Qi Si noticed his covetous gaze and gave him a gentle smile.

Mixed-race boy:…Fuck!

Ms. Medina walked over, her gaze scanning the players: “Today is the first day. Considering you’ve just arrived, I won’t punish those who violated the school rules yet. You can move around freely and familiarize yourselves with this place—tomorrow, I won’t be so good-tempered.”

She walked slowly toward the depths of the floor.

The children who had been standing in formation reciting the nursery rhyme also scattered, disappearing into various gaps like ghosts.

Qi Si, well aware that he was an “NPC with no human rights,” quickly followed Ms. Medina.

The latter stopped and turned back to command: “No. 47, you stay here and tell the new students the rules. After the sun sets, someone will take you to the kitchen.”

Qi Si: “Yes, Ms. Medina!”

With Ms. Medina’s words, at least the players wouldn’t dare to casually give him trouble.

Qi Si didn’t know any of Red Maple Boarding School’s rules, but he also knew that the more lies one tells, the easier it is to be exposed.

Under the expectant gazes of the players, he recited the nursery rhyme the children had said earlier once more and said solemnly: “All the rules are in there. Please make sure to remember them.”

The group didn’t dare to be careless. Several players who hadn’t heard the rhyme clearly before even borrowed pens from each other to record it on their palms.

After they finished recording, they were completely confused: What exactly did this nursery rhyme say? Where did it mention any rules?

Qi Si leaned leisurely by the door, dutifully playing the role of an NPC who had finished his task and entered standby mode.

The players had seen with their own eyes his “familiarity” with Ms. Medina, so they didn’t dare to come forward and ask more about the school rules.

As the most famous and senior player among them, Jiang Junjue timely took on the responsibility of a leader. Narrowing his sleepy eyes, he announced: “As for this instance, I have already discovered several points of concern…”

The players gradually gathered into a group, but Chen Lidong had no intention of joining the crowd.

Seeing Qi Si standing alone to the side, he immediately approached and asked in a low voice: “47, have you told anyone else about my identity?”

Given that Ms. Medina didn’t count as a person, Qi Si shook his head honestly: “No. Mr. Chen, what’s wrong?”

Chen Lidong breathed a sigh of relief and said sternly: “If anyone asks you what my identity is, just say you don’t know. Got it?”

Qi Si lifted his eyelids to look at him, revealing a confused expression: “But… I know that you, Mr. Chen, are not only a Philanthropist but also an Observer for the ‘Indigenous Peoples Charity Foundation’…”

“Just say what I taught you regardless.” Chen Lidong hurriedly interrupted him. “Don’t call me ‘Mr. Chen’ out here either; just call me ‘Brother Chen’.”

As if realizing his tone was off, he added: “I have a grudge with some of them. Once my identity is exposed, I’ll lose my life. I helped you before; you wouldn’t want me to be killed by them, right?”

Qi Si nodded obediently: “I understand, Brother… Chen.”

He paused and asked with concern: “Brother Chen, who do you have a grudge with? I wonder if I can help…”

“That’s none of your business. Protecting yourself is enough.” Chen Lidong waved his hand with feigned depth, finally setting his mind at ease.

Zhou Datong, who knew his identity, was one of his own, and the NPC named “47” was also set as someone who was both sensible and grateful. He was also quite confident in his own expression management.

Unless he took the initiative to lay his cards on the table, where would the other players find out about his identity?

Qi Si looked at Chen Lidong, who was now completely at ease, and his eyes curved into a smile.

He was essentially certain that his “Bad Kid” and Chen Lidong’s “Philanthropist” were both special identities.

There was at least one more special identity that had been loaded only after he and the players met. Regarding this, he also had a suspect in mind.

—47 is just a weak, pitiful, and helpless NPC; what bad intentions could he have?

—47 just wants to help the players eliminate barriers and enhance trust.