Little Black Room? Garbage Dump!

"Hurry up and come back!"

Teacher Yao really didn't want to argue with the strangely dressed student in front of him anymore. The kid had somehow steered the topic toward the coexistence of diverse genders, which was quite a culture shock for the fifty-something teacher.

"That might be a bit difficult," Wu Wang said. "I have frequent, urgent, and incomplete urination…"

"Alright, alright! Just be back before class ends!"

The outlandish excuse made Teacher Yao feel like he'd forgotten to check the almanac before leaving home.

He watched the student cheerfully skip toward the classroom door, and his voice suddenly turned sinister.

"You'd better maintain your grade ranking on tomorrow's test…"

Wu Wang ignored the old codger's threat. He was already outside.

The long corridor stretched on endlessly. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but white ceramic tiles and the green plants outside the hallway windows. Its pristine condition felt strangely out of place.

The direction to the restroom was marked on the wall. But the sign didn't just show the restroom's location. It held other information as well.

【Third Year, Class One is a twenty-second walk from the restroom】

"Time, huh…"

Wu Wang recalled the directory sign downstairs. It not only marked the locations of all the buildings on campus but also thoughtfully noted how long it would take to get to each place.

It was as if someone was constantly reminding you not to loiter and slack off.

He didn't linger outside the classroom, heading straight for the restroom. After about twenty seconds, he arrived.

The bathroom was just as clean and odorless as the hallway. But the most eye-catching feature was the timer hanging on each stall door.

With a curious gaze, Wu Wang walked into a stall. He really did need to use the restroom.

Ding-dong!

A piercing notification sound suddenly came from the timer.

Tick-tock.

The number 300 appeared on the screen. With each maddening tick-tock, the number decreased by one.

Five minutes in total.

"Give me a break. You're putting a countdown on using the toilet?"

Wu Wang was a little speechless. He hadn't expected to find the first school rule in the bathroom.

Pasted on the stall door was a small notice.

【Restroom use must not exceed 5 minutes】

【For special circumstances, apply for a leave slip from the class teacher. Otherwise, it will be treated as a violation of school rules】

So I can get executed just for taking a shit?

After quickly using the restroom, Wu Wang left.

He returned to the directory on the first floor and found the location of the building labeled "Little Black Room." Luckily, it was right next to the Third Year Teaching Building.

It would only take about three minutes to run there. That way, he could get there and back without being too late for class. It wasn't like he planned to challenge the school rules head-on.

Wu Wang was very cautious. He always believed his 【Undying】 was just a safety net for errors, not a license to do whatever he wanted in front of a ghost.

The ghosts in the Novice Instance that caused direct harm were one thing. Wu Wang was more worried about encountering a supernatural situation that would simply trap him.

Like this Little Black Room. What if it didn't kill him directly?

Or what if, upon discovering he couldn't be killed, that old codger just locked him in the Little Black Room for a lifetime?

That would really be game over.

"Damn it, it's shattered all over the place. Takes half a day to clean up every time."

As he approached the Little Black Room, Wu Wang suddenly heard cursing from nearby.

He ducked behind some cover and crept closer, getting a full view of the place. It was a small, single-story building, completely black. The wild weeds growing around it stood in stark contrast to the neatness of the rest of the campus.

Even from a distance, he could smell a rotten stench.

The Little Black Room was the only structure on this patch of open ground. It stood there, solitary and utterly eerie.

Two people were talking in front of the building. They were both wearing thick, white protective suits that made their figures look unusually bloated.

"How about next time we have the teachers tell them to jump into the river?" the one on the left said. "Jumping off buildings is just too hard to clean up."

His companion responded with a cold smile.

"Sure, you go suggest that to the principal. I'll prepare a burial plot for you here in advance. Don't worry, it'll be a Feng Shui Treasure Land!"

"Hehehe, just kidding, just kidding! Let's get to work!"

As they spoke, the two men pushed open the door to the small building. Hoisting a huge black bag from the ground, they didn't go inside. They just heaved it through the doorway.

Thump!

The black bag was tossed into the Little Black Room. The motion was so violent that something slipped from its opening and landed in the tall grass.

The two men didn't notice. Clicking their tongues in disgust, they quickly left.

After confirming they were long gone, Wu Wang emerged from his hiding spot.

Completely ignoring the foul smell, he reached into the tall grass and began to search. A few moments later, his fingers found the object that had fallen out.

"Hiss… This is…"

Wu Wang's pupils contracted.

It was a bloody school ID. The name on it was Li Yang.

Was that Li Yang's body in the black bag?

The possibility struck Wu Wang with the force of a physical blow. He stared at the Little Black Room, his expression one of shock, and took another whiff of the air.

"I can't be wrong! This is the smell of a rotting corpse!" he whispered. "The Little Black Room is just a place to dispose of bodies?"

But as he thought about it, something felt off.

If it were just a place for disposing of bodies, it shouldn't have made the students so terrified, right?

They could remain detached when Li Yang jumped off the building, yet they were scared pale by Teacher Yao's mention of the Little Black Room. Clearly, something more terrifying than death was frightening them.

Mere corpses were nothing to be afraid of.

"Should I go in and see?"

Wu Wang hesitated. Based on the Side Quest, this place was almost certainly haunted. This was different from the Novice Instance. There was no microphone to provide an Accusation. If a ghost latched onto him, things would get messy.

If the ghost could follow him out of the Instance, it would be even harder to deal with.

"Want to know what the Little Black Room is for?"

An abrupt voice sounded from the other side of the open ground.

Wu Wang tilted his head to look. A familiar mask came into view.

The masked woman, 【Qinghe Yikan】!

"You know?"

"What intel will you trade for it?" Qinghe Yikan said coldly. "Even if you're a newbie, I won't provide clues for free."

Wu Wang stared into her eyes. After a moment, he spoke.

"I'll trade the cause of death for the guy who was just thrown in. Don't tell me you didn't know that was a corpse they just tossed in."

"Alright! Deal!"

This was a cooperative team Instance. Everyone's rewards were calculated as a whole, or at least, that's how it seemed to the others. No one knew that Wu Wang's main quest was slightly different.

But there was no need for him to lie. Since Baili Dao also knew how Li Yang died, Wu Wang simply told her what had happened in the classroom.

After listening, Qinghe Yikan nodded to herself.

"The Little Black Room is a place for disposing of ‘garbage,'" she explained. "It's not just for getting rid of corpses. If a normal person goes in and comes out alive, they become more obedient, single-mindedly focused on studying."

She continued.

"I know because a student from my class, Class Three, came back after being sent there. Our teacher was thrilled, already celebrating how much his test scores were going to improve."

"There are two students in the top ten of our year in Class Three. They've both been to the Little Black Room at least five times, but their condition is very strange…"

At this point, Qinghe Yikan paused, seeming to search for the right words.

Finally, she said coldly, "They look like tireless learning machines. They have no reaction to anything around them, not even pain. They only show extreme fanaticism when it comes to studying."

"I suggest that before we figure out what's inside, we'd better not enter rashly, unless we want our minds altered."

Cognitive alteration was a terrifying thing. It had nothing to do with death; it simply changed who you were as a person. This meant that even after leaving the Instance, the effect wouldn't disappear.

No one wanted to return to reality with an abnormal mind. This was just a Side Quest. Ignoring it wouldn't affect the completion of the main quest.

"By the way, why did you come to the Little Black Room?" Qinghe Yikan suddenly asked.

She had thought Baili Dao would be the one to investigate.

After all, this guy is just a newbie. How could Baili Dao let him investigate alone?

To this, Wu Wang smiled.

"Because the class teacher told me to go in."

"?"

Hearing this, Qinghe Yikan's head filled with question marks. Even with her mask on, Wu Wang could practically see her jaw drop.

Is this newbie out of his mind?! How long has he even been in this Instance?! He's already offended the class teacher?