Chapter 242 - 7: The Truth Isn’t Always Beautiful

In Love City, the Otherworld Machine is the Black Tower. It can convert love into Energy and be used to summon Descenders.

The Otherworld Machine here is smaller, but it should have a similar function: converting a certain type of behavior into Energy and summoning Descenders to this place.

At this moment, the boiler-like Otherworld Machine was running continuously. An indicator bar representing its Energy level was rising, which meant some kind of behavior had triggered the machine’s logic, causing it to start gathering Energy.

’So, what kind of Energy is it gathering?’

Just then, footsteps sounded behind him. A panting, middle-aged man appeared behind Duan Fei, blocking the only exit with his body.

The Husky and the white cat stood by his side, doing their best to look fierce as they glared viciously at Duan Fei.

’It seems they saw me rushing to the basement on the security monitors, so they left the fourth floor and came straight here.’

"You saw it?" the man said harshly.

Duan Fei pointed at the Otherworld Machine behind him. "Are you talking about this?"

"So, you saw it?"

"Uh-huh."

"In that case, I’m done hiding it! Fierce Wolf, White Tiger, get him!"

The Husky and the white cat charged at Duan Fei with a series of yelps, mercilessly unleashing their Mad Dog Fist and Meow Meow Fist on him.

Seeing the two creatures charge at him, Duan Fei couldn’t be bothered to do much. He simply raised his Crowbar and gently tapped the Otherworld Machine beside him.

"Wait!"

The man barked out an order, stopping his pets.

With a sneer, he looked at Duan Fei and said, "Descender, a clever move. You actually figured out my weakness! But I’d advise you to know what’s good for you. Back away from my machine quietly, and I might still..."

CLANG~

The crisp, melodious sound echoed through the air, and it was so devastating that the man felt his heart break, nearly collapsing to his knees.

He scrambled back a step and said to Duan Fei, "Sir, please stop! I have five hundred Abyss Coins here. Take them as a... a welcome gift!"

When he saw Duan Fei was about to strike again, the man immediately yelled, "Another five hundred! I can’t go any higher! I really can’t give you any more!"

Duan Fei leaned against the Otherworld Machine, fiddling with his Crowbar. He looked at the man and asked, "So you’re saying you only have one thousand Abyss Coins?"

The man laughed awkwardly. "That’s all I have. I scrimped and saved to put that thousand away. I really don’t have anything else."

"Alright then. Explain to me what this Otherworld Machine converts into Energy."

"So you know about Otherworld Machines."

The middle-aged man sat down with a sigh of resignation and said to Duan Fei, "Anxiety."

’Just as I thought.’ Recalling how he and the others had become exam proctors the moment they arrived, Duan Fei wasn’t surprised by the answer.

Stroking the Husky’s head, the middle-aged man continued, "This is the Ghost Hunting School. I used to be just an ordinary janitor, my whole day was spent cleaning toilets. Then one day, this thing fell from the sky and smashed the whole school into... well, here."

Gesturing in a wide circle, the middle-aged man said, "Have you noticed? It’s completely dark. It got dark at three in the afternoon and has been like this ever since. There’s no light, so I have no idea where we are."

Duan Fei nodded. ’This must be somewhere in the Void,’ he realized.

According to the information he’d gathered recently, the Void was like the empty space surrounding every world, filled with all sorts of unpredictable dangers.

It was like the space between worlds, an area countless times larger than all the known worlds combined. All sorts of peculiar forms of Power and emotion flowed within it.

The origins of the Otherworld Machines were unknown. They would occasionally emerge from the Void, pulling whatever they came into contact with back into the Void and then drifting along with it.

The exact reason for this, the specific mechanism, was still a mystery.

After Duan Fei shared what he knew with the middle-aged man, the man gave a bitter smile. "Just as I feared. I always suspected we’d ended up in an Otherworld. No wonder no rescue has ever come."

"How long have you been here?"

"About nine years. Those students were all first-graders back then. Now, they’re in the ninth grade."

"Are you the only staff member?"

"There were a few of us at first. It would’ve been impossible to handle a group of elementary school kids otherwise. But never mind that. Since you already know the secret, come with me. Don’t worry, I knew a Descender would find out eventually."

Following the man across a plaza and up the hill behind the school, Duan Fei noticed several mulberry trees growing amidst the weeds.

The trees were already bearing purple mulberries. A soft breeze rustled through their leaves, making a SHHH sound, as if the trees were welcoming the two of them.

The man plucked a mulberry, ate it, and then said to Duan Fei, "There were a few of us in the beginning. But the Otherworld Machine wasn’t running back then, and all sorts of Deceitful Objects would pop up constantly. Luckily, we had a gym teacher. Man, that guy could catch Deceitful Objects like it was a game. We also had the cafeteria cook, who could turn the Deceitful Objects into food. It tasted awful, but it filled our stomachs."

Duan Fei looked at the mulberry trees, silent. He could vaguely imagine what had happened to those people.

The man didn’t avoid the subject. "It’s a shame, but they’re all dead," he said directly. "Things were so difficult back then. There were too many kids to protect and too much that needed to be done. The Energy from the Void seeped in and took them down, one by one. I was just the janitor. How could I have ever thought I’d be the last one standing?"

Stroking the rough leaves of a mulberry tree, the man continued, "They entrusted their Deceitful Objects to me. Fierce Wolf and White Tiger were their Deceitful Objects. To make sure the children could grow up healthy and safe, they cast an illusion on them, making them believe this place was actually wonderful."

"What happened then?"

"Later... Later, just when I thought I was done for too, the Otherworld Machine started working. And it’s a funny thing—the moment it activated, I understood exactly how to use it. It converts human anxiety into Energy, and then turns that Energy into sunlight, food, and other things. And for students, what could possibly cause more anxiety than an exam?"

Duan Fei nodded, feeling a deep sense of shared understanding.

To any student, the people who invented exams and homework deserved to be executed by firing squad. Their ashes should be thrown into a septic tank and then smeared on a wall, and even that wouldn’t be enough to quell the public outrage.

The man shrugged. "But as you can see, we have a lot of students. And if there’s one thing they’ve got, it’s a ton of sly tricks. If no one’s watching them, they’ll definitely cheat. So, I used the Otherworld Machine to bring you all here to help me proctor their exams."

"So that’s what this is all about. I get it. But why did you modify the contents of the test papers?"

"That’s one of the conditions for using the Otherworld Machine. I have to provide you with an objective, a path to victory. So I hid those details in various places to meet that requirement."

"So you pitted the Descenders against the students because you didn’t want to pay the Abyss Coins and hoped to drive us away?"

"Yes." The man, who was also the dean, scratched his balding head in embarrassment. "I’m broke. Anyway, now that you know the truth, I have a favor to ask you."

Looking at Duan Fei with a solemn expression, the dean said, "Please, don’t tell anyone the truth about this place. Some things should not be known by others."