Chapter 239 - 4: The 3rd Exam

The students’ eyes were wide as they commanded their Deceitful Objects to constantly harass Duan Fei.

But they could stare until their eyes were bloodshot and still not lay a finger on him.

Finally, Duan Fei glanced at the clock on the wall and kindly reminded them, "Five minutes left."

Wails of despair instantly filled the classroom. The students scrambled to look at their test papers, only to realize with hopelessness that they couldn’t answer a single question.

The only thing they could write was their own name—and some couldn’t even manage that.

When the clock hit 4:10, Duan Fei cheerfully collected the test papers and gave every single person a zero.

"I don’t know how important this exam is, but I’d advise you all to just give up. Try again in your next life."

Having offered the students his thoughtful advice, Duan Fei felt his opinion was quite reasonable. But one female student’s eyes immediately welled up with tears.

The female student was actually quite cute, with delicate features. Her crying face was a picture of tragic beauty, enough to make anyone’s heart ache.

Tears streaming down her face, she rushed for the door. As she passed the teacher’s desk, a few teardrops even splashed near him. Then, as if in slow motion, she shot Duan Fei a look that was three-parts resentment and seven-parts misty-eyed longing.

After running out the door, she looked back tearfully at Duan Fei, who was still at his desk. "Teacher, aren’t you going to come after me?" she asked.

"I’m not allowed to leave," Duan Fei replied calmly.

"What’s more important, me or the rules?!" she yelled resentfully.

"The rules."

"Have you forgotten what happened between us last night?! When you needed something, I was your little sweetheart, but now I’m just a regular student! If you don’t come out here right now, I’m going to tell everyone all your secrets!"

"Go ahead. I’ve never been one to care."

The student outside the door glared at Duan Fei, but in the end, she walked back in, her face full of resentment.

Watching her return, Duan Fei noncommittally tidied up the test papers and glanced at his main mission.

"Ensure the students in your exam hall pass the test without cheating."

He lowered his head in thought. ’Considering all the rules, there’s only one that truly matters.’

’Don’t let the students cheat.’

’The other rules are just supplementary to this main one. The rule about the proctor not leaving the room is probably to prevent students from pulling any tricks, but as long as they’re caught, it shouldn’t be a problem.’

Since the next exam hadn’t started yet, Duan Fei walked to the far end of the classroom, knocked on the wall, and called out to the player on the other side. "Hey, you in the next room! What’s your name?"

"Whether I’m standin’ or sittin’, my name don’t change! I’m Lin Daiyu!"

"...So, uh, do you bury flowers?"

"Burying a few two-meter-tall man-eating flowers? Not a problem."

"You’ve got style."

"Thanks. What’s up? I was just in the middle of taming... er, I mean, *educating* the kids in here."

"Nothing major. I just need you to step out of your classroom for a moment."

"Are you pullin’ my leg?"

"If we fail, I’ll transfer you one thousand Abyss Coins."

"My good sir, just a moment! I’ll be right there!"

A normal instance run netted about five hundred Abyss Coins, and even with the highest contribution, you’d barely make a thousand. Duan Fei’s offer was a great deal.

Upon discovering that walking out the door and into the next room wasn’t against the rules, the player with the "Lin Daiyu" ID sighed in disappointment. "Oh, so we *were* allowed to leave."

"It’s not a total loss for you. At least you got a key piece of intel, right?"

"That’s true."

Lin Daiyu was a petite player dressed in a pale green Hanfu. The only thing that broke the image was the giant hammer she dragged behind her, which crackled with lightning that occasionally made her hair stand on end with static.

Noticing Duan Fei staring at her hammer, Lin Daiyu explained, "I have a bit of a thing for objects. I just don’t feel right without my hammer."

"You’ve got style. Jinghong, come on out. Let’s discuss this."

Jinghong emerged from the classroom next door.

Seeing Duan Fei chatting with a loli, her pupils contracted slightly. She sidled up to Lin Daiyu and whispered, "Be careful with this one. He’s a pervert who’s only into mature women. Can’t get excited unless they’re over sixty."

"Jinghong, why are you making things up to slander me! Miss Lin, don’t listen to her!"

"Plus, he likes to cross-dress, and he’s not picky about gender."

"You’re ruining my dating prospects! And Miss Lin, why are *you* getting all excited?!"

After getting them to quiet down, Duan Fei checked the time. "The sole objective in this instance is to prevent the students from cheating *and* make sure they all pass. Remember, *all* of them. I don’t have much information right now, so I want to hear what you two have gathered. It’ll make it easier for us to clear this together."

Jinghong, of course, agreed completely with Duan Fei’s proposal, and Lin Daiyu had no objections either.

She set her hammer down, leaning on the handle for support. "There are Deceitful Objects, but they aren’t very tough. A good wallop with my hammer is all it takes."

Jinghong added, "The questions are super simple, basically kindergarten-level stuff, but the students don’t seem to get it."

Lin Daiyu shot Jinghong a confused look.

’Super simple?’

’Then why can’t I understand some of the questions?!’

Before she could ask, Duan Fei spoke up. "That’s weird. I thought they were simple too. Why wouldn’t they understand?"

Lin Daiyu immediately swallowed her question. "It’s probably one of the instance’s mechanics. That’s a classic feature of the Abyss. I suggest we discuss it again after the next exam and pool our information then."

"Alright."

The next exam could start at any moment, so the three of them agreed on a plan and prepared to get back to it.

But just as they were about to split up and head back to their classrooms, Jinghong called out to stop Duan Fei. Before he could react, she gave him a quick hug, then pulled away a few seconds later as if she’d received an electric shock.

Blushing and looking away, Jinghong mumbled, "Chalk dust... on your shoulder..."

"Oh, you could have just brushed it off. Thanks."

As she watched Duan Fei walk away, Jinghong shot a look at Lin Daiyu that clearly said, ’He’s mine.’

Lin Daiyu, however, was wiping away a nosebleed and giving her a big thumbs-up.

’Two guys! So hot!’

Not long after he returned to his classroom, the third exam began.

This time, the exam ran from 4:20 to 5:00. As before, the test papers appeared directly on the teacher’s desk for Duan Fei to open and distribute.

Instead of opening the packet right away, Duan Fei picked up the eraser, wiped the blackboard clean, and then pointed at the students. "Stop your little tricks. They don’t work on me."

"Dammit! Even a super-hot Fox Immortal stripping naked didn’t work?!" one student snarled, gritting his teeth.

"Alright, stop messing around and get on with the exam. By the way, is there a picture of this Fox Immortal? I can’t really approve without a picture."

After seeing the stick-figure drawing a student made, Duan Fei glanced regretfully at the teacher’s desk. The side effects of his Talent were quite potent, he felt.

He knew that even if he could see it, it would just be a blob of Holy Light, but knowing something was there and not being able to see it at all just made him want to look even more.

Tossing aside these distracting thoughts for the moment, Duan Fei went back to watching the students make fools of themselves.