Chapter 240 - 5: Duan Fei’s Action

The results of this exam were, as always, a complete disaster.

Looking at the test papers he collected from these people, Duan Fei felt he didn’t need to look for any more jokes. Just these papers alone provided enough material to laugh at for the rest of the year.

The students before him were tormented to the brink of insanity. The difficult exam made every single one of them feel an impulse to die.

A rather attractive female student finally couldn’t take it anymore.

She took off her school uniform jacket, revealing her smooth shoulders and the black tank top she wore underneath.

Wrapping the jacket around her slender waist, she swayed her willow-like hips as she walked over. Bending down at the podium, she whispered, "Teacher! Please let me pass. I’ll agree to anything you say."

"Really?" Duan Fei said, glancing at the Holy Light with considerable interest.

Sensing she had a chance, the female student deliberately pushed her chest out a bit more and said, "Really."

"In that case, could you please finish the exam without cheating?"

The female student burst into tears and shouted, "...Teacher! You’re an asshole!"

After quickly giving everyone a score of zero, Duan Fei was about to leave the classroom with the test papers when a broadcast announcement sounded:

"This is the Dean of Discipline speaking. I am announcing that some teachers have been disqualified and expelled from the examination hall for assisting students with cheating. I understand your desire to finish your work quickly, but I’m sorry, such opportunistic methods are not permitted."

’As expected, helping them cheat won’t work.’

Taking the papers with him, Duan Fei left and found that Jinghong and Lin Daiyu had the same idea; they had also brought the test papers out.

They traded papers and leafed through the tests from the other classes, and soon, they all started laughing.

"These questions are really something else," Duan Fei laughed.

Jinghong looked where Duan Fei was pointing and couldn’t help but laugh as well. "Indeed. They can’t even find the limit? Just use L’Hôpital’s rule to differentiate the numerator and denominator, and you can see the answer at a glance."

Duan Fei stared at the obvious "5+4=?" on the question and fell silent.

Lin Daiyu, meanwhile, crossed her arms and pretended she wasn’t completely lost, bluffing, "That’s right. I saw it at a glance, too."

Duan Fei glanced at her and could tell with a single look that she was just putting up a brave front.

Rubbing the paper, Duan Fei pointed to a question and said, "Jinghong, can you read the question you see here out loud?"

"Sure."

As Jinghong read the question aloud, Duan Fei realized that what she saw was completely different from what he saw.

To make sure Jinghong wasn’t a special case, Duan Fei also had Lin Daiyu read the question. He found that she read the exact same thing as Jinghong.

Since this was a preset dungeon where everyone’s Attributes were the same, there shouldn’t be such a huge discrepancy.

The only explanation, then, was that his Talent was at work.

His Talent was that supernatural phenomena had zero influence on him. It stood to reason that these test papers were also under a supernatural influence, which allowed him to ignore it and see their true nature.

In other words, it wasn’t that the students were too dumb. It was that they were seeing disguised test papers, which was why they couldn’t solve these impossibly difficult questions.

’Of course, that student Wang Yun might actually be dumb.’

As for why Jinghong could solve the problems... ’It’s best not to compare a top student of her caliber to normal people. It’s just asking for an inferiority complex.’

Glancing at Jinghong, Duan Fei felt that heaven truly was unfair.

Some people were born at the finish line—good-looking, smart, and without a single flaw. They probably wanted for nothing in life.

’So, Jinghong, what on earth do you even lack?’

’Your birthday’s coming up. At least tell me one thing you want so I can satisfy you.’

He sighed, filled out the test paper, and handed it to Jinghong. "Help me check this. Are the answers correct?"

After looking it over carefully, Jinghong nodded. "They’re correct."

"Mm, I get it now."

It seemed each exam had only one test paper, but it was actually testing two different things.

Either you were smart enough to complete all the disguised questions...

Or you were powerful enough to see through the paper’s disguise and view the normal questions.

Now that he understood the dungeon’s purpose, Duan Fei already knew how to solve it.

The simplest method was to write the correct questions on the blackboard. That way, every student could see them and write down the answers.

But leaving the dungeon so easily felt a bit too simple. Duan Fei still wanted to investigate and uncover more.

Before Duan Fei could come up with a rough plan, the broadcast announcement sounded again.

"It is now almost 5:20. Will all teachers in the hallways please return to your classrooms to invigilate as soon as possible. Thank you."

Hearing this announcement, the voices of other players echoed from the other classrooms in the building, each one demanding to know why some people were allowed to go outside.

Back in his classroom, Duan Fei took out the test paper that had appeared out of thin air and watched the students start scratching their heads.

After a moment of contemplation, Duan Fei finally realized there was a flaw in his thinking.

The word "cheating" was highly misleading. It had instinctively placed him and the students on opposing sides.

Moreover, the player’s role was that of an examiner. This identity naturally made him feel that he should be aligned with the Dean of Discipline and other school administrators, leading him to oppose the students.

The initial rules were the same. All those deliberately mystifying rules were actually just explanations for the system’s mission.

Except for the sixth point, nowhere else was there any mention of conflict between players and students. The so-called conflict was actually just implicitly suggested.

’So, who are the players’ real enemies?’

’There’s no need to think too deeply about a five-hundred Abyss Coin dungeon. Besides, this dungeon doesn’t look like it has any special rewards, so there’s no real need to be so serious about it. Just writing the correct questions on the blackboard should be enough.’

But Duan Fei just had to know.

As a player, one should never be satisfied with just clearing the game. Investigating the hidden content within the game was an even more critical part of the experience.

However, the break between each exam was only ten or twenty minutes. That wasn’t nearly enough time to explore the entire school and search for hidden secrets.

Drawing his crowbar, Duan Fei knew what he had to do.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, he first activated his Summoner Skill, [Substitute].

Because his current Spiritual Power was only 10, the summoned entity wouldn’t be very strong, and its duration would be very short.

The moment he finished casting, he saw his crowbar turn a darker shade of black. A voice that was just begging for a beating rang out from within it: "Who did I think it was? So it’s you, Duan Someone, you little guppy! Just my luck, this young lady has some time to kill, so I’ll play with you, okay? How much are you offering as tribute today? Ah-le-le!"

He viciously slammed the crowbar against the wall, causing the Shadow Person inside to let out a heart-rending scream: "Murder! Someone’s trying to murder a Shadow Person! Don’t be so rough, I’m gonna puke!"

With each strike, some Void Energy was unleashed upon the wall, causing it to begin to crumble.

A few minutes later, the solid wall was broken through. On the other side, Jinghong looked at Duan Fei and unfurled her yo-yo.

"What’s wrong, Duan Someone?" Jinghong asked through the hole.

"Help me keep an eye on my classroom. I’m going to gather some intel."

Jinghong glanced at Duan Fei’s examination hall and nodded. "Don’t worry."

"Thanks."

Leaving things to Jinghong, Duan Fei dashed outside, dragging the dizzy crowbar behind him.