Chapter 94: Death Class 7 (Part 18)

Shen Qingqiu reacted the fastest. She rushed toward the door the moment it slammed shut. Thrusting the dagger into the gap, she pried it with a twist. The iron-clad wooden door opened a crack but still wouldn’t budge.

Behind her, Xiao Muyu’s expression changed immediately. “I smell it again…” she sounded tense. “That burnt smell.”

Shen Qingqiu pulled the dagger out, her gaze falling on the door. She cautiously touched its surface with a finger but immediately withdrew her hand. Xiao Muyu quickly grabbed her finger and saw that the pad of her finger was burned bright red.

Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian blanched. “Are we locked in a burning room?”

No sooner had one of them spoken than they heard a sizzling sound. Choking white smoke began endlessly pouring into the room from thin air.

The four of them hurriedly backed away. Shen Qingqiu lifted her foot to kick the window’s glass with all her might. The window shook from the impact, yet the glass remained in one piece.

Outside, Chen Kaijie had been keeping an eye out. But he fell when Xiao Muyu and the others were shoved into the room. The smoke went up his nose and stung his eyes, making him roll on the ground in distress.

He realized something was wrong but couldn’t stand up or open his eyes. In a panic, he opened the group voice chat. “Leader Xiao… *cough, cough…* I… It’s so hard… to breathe…”

Xiao Muyu was about to ask Chen Kaijie for help. However, his voice immediately told her he was in the same situation as them.

“Leader Xiao, there’s fire!” Su Jin exclaimed frantically.

A spark flashed through the thick smoke, followed by crackling sounds.

Xiao Muyu was familiar with this. When a short circuit caught fire, it often produced crackling sounds.

Shen Qingqiu covered her mouth and nose, moving to extinguish the fire, but Xiao Muyu stopped her.

“It’s useless. You won’t be able to put it out. Don’t go over there yet. Chen Kaijie, we’re trapped in a fire. Stay calm, and don’t run around. Can you tell me your situation?”

“I don’t feel anything unusual here, but it’s so suffocating. I just tried to get up and run but got blocked by invisible walls. I can’t get out. *Cough, cough.*”

“Can you feel where the temperature is higher?” Xiao Muyu quickly asked. “Or is it the same everywhere?”

“It’s higher on the west, like there’s a fire.”

“Then head to the northeast corner, lie on the ground, and don’t move!”

Despite the tension on her face, Xiao Muyu remained calm as she pinpointed the fire’s origin and directed Chen Kaijie to safety.

After a while, the sparks turned into open flames that kept spreading.

“Quick, get to the bathroom!”

There wasn’t just white smoke in the air anymore. The smell of burning objects and thick black smoke mixed with toxic gases gradually filled the room, and the temperature rose.

The four of them could barely breathe. Following Xiao Muyu’s instructions, they bent down and rushed to the bathroom door. But it wouldn’t open.

Shen Qingqiu kicked the door several times with no result.

Xiao Muyu had no choice but to lead the others back to an area that hadn’t been affected yet. They covered their mouths and noses with clothes, then lay down on the floor.

“*Cough, cough,* this is a recreation of the fire back then. So, anything that couldn’t be opened then, we can’t open now. It wants us to experience the same pain she felt. So Chen Kaijie, don’t move around.”

“Got it.” Chen Kaijie roughly understood what was happening. The other four were trapped in room 409. Since they were a team, even though he hadn’t entered with them, this place had become an invisible 409 for him. Fortunately, they could still communicate via voice chat. Otherwise, he would have been as good as dead.

In Room 409, Shen Qingqiu looked grim after hearing Xiao Muyu’s words. “What does her pain have to do with us? I can’t stop her revenge, but if she dares to mess with us, I’ll make her pay the price, even if she’s a ghost!”

Shen Qingqiu could no longer suppress the anger rising within her. When she lost her temper, humans and ghosts alike would fear her.

Xiao Muyu watched Shen Qingqiu’s blurry figure through the thick smoke, her eyes dark and unreadable. She lowered her head, coughed a few times, then spoke to the air.

“You’ve locked us inside. Whatever tricks you have in store, hurry up and show them.”

Xiao Muyu paused for a few seconds, and then the system notification sound rang out.

“Players Xiao Muyu, Shen Qingqiu, Zuo Tiantian, Su Jin, and Chen Kaijie have triggered Instance No. 004’s key plot and hidden quest: Who is the Real Culprit? Please note that the system cannot stop revenge from NPCs. Your only chance is to complete the hidden quest.”

The system’s voice was mechanical and slow. By the time it finished reading a paragraph, a third of the dorm room had already caught fire. The four started to feel dizzy due to the thickening smoke.

Chen Kaijie had been speaking at first, but soon, they could only hear his coughing.

“Chen Kaijie, hang in there. Try not to breathe in too much.”

Shen Qingqiu was drenched in sweat, feeling anxious and powerless. For the first time in a long while, she realized there was nothing she could do.

However, the hidden quest immediately popped up after the system finished speaking. Its instructions were simple.

[The culprit who cast the curse in “Death Class Seven” is __.]

There was an explanation below.

[This quest is a quiz. Fill in the blank. You will get no points if the line has extra, less, or no words.

PS: Please make sure there are no spelling mistakes.

Answering time: Unlimited. You will have plenty of time to answer as long as your body is in good condition.]

Zuo Tiantian and the others wished they could chomp on the system. Unlimited time? It was mocking and provoking them. If the fire didn’t turn them into lumps of charcoal, they could take as much time as they wanted. But their mortal bodies could not last long.

“Luckily, we already have the answer.” Zuo Tiantian had barely any strength left. “Leader Xiao, hurry and answer the question. *Cough, cough, cough.*”

The fire hadn’t reached them yet, but the oxygen in the room was rapidly depleting, and the toxic gases were building up. They couldn’t hold on much longer.

Xiao Muyu’s eyes had swollen from the smoke. Although she tried to control her breathing, she had inhaled a lot of smoke. Her consciousness was beginning to fade.

She did plan to answer the question but hesitated at Zuo Tiantian’s words. She stopped moving and, with her eyes closed, tried her best to analyze the situation.

Lin Xue seemed to be the undeniable culprit. Xiao Muyu had thought so, too—until this strange quest from the system brought back her lingering unease.

If the answer were that simple, this quest might as well be a freebie. Based on previous experiences, Xiao Muyu had a vague feeling the system wasn’t on their side, so she didn’t dare jump the gun.

Most importantly, the system’s rule about no points for extra, less, or no words was also suspicious.

Shen Qingqiu noticed Xiao Muyu’s hesitation, and her heart sank. Without a second thought, she pushed Xiao Muyu into the corner before half-kneeling in front of her, shielding her in her arms.

Suppressing her coughs, she spoke in a low voice. “We can still hold on. Focus on solving the question, Muyu. Whoever the real culprit is—follow your instincts.”

Zuo Tiantian and Su Jin’s limbs were already weak. Still, their minds managed to register one crucial piece of information—Xiao Muyu wasn’t certain Lin Xue was the culprit.

That realization felt like a bucket of cold water. Right… The dorm mother seemed to be part of the ghost group, too. Could there be another culprit?

But their oxygen-starved brains couldn’t afford more complicated thoughts right now. Following Shen Qingqiu’s example, the other two struggled to move closer and surround Xiao Muyu.

“We’re a team, Leader Xiao,” one said. “Your decision is our decision. It’s okay.”

Xiao Muyu opened her eyes. The smoke stung so much that she couldn’t see the people before her. She could only feel her three teammates pressing close on her too-warm body.

Shen Qingqiu’s hand gripped hers. It was steady and strong, conveying trust and protection.

The fire had already spread in front of them, its scorching flames devouring everything in the enclosed space. The temperature was unbearable.

Realizing this, Xiao Muyu couldn’t help but reach out and touch Shen Qingqiu’s shoulder. It was burning hot.

Her fingers shrank back, and searing pain surged from her fingertips to her mind, shattering her self-control. As if dazed, she quickly pulled the half-kneeling Shen Qingqiu into her arms.

Shen Qingqiu had been enduring the searing pain in her back. Xiao Muyu’s sudden embrace made her tightly shut eyes fly open in surprise.

Pressed against Xiao Muyu’s chest, she could feel her wild, erratic heartbeat. Her eyes widened, and her mind blanked out for a moment.

She blinked, then reached up, gently pulling down the arms gripping her tightly. Leaning in, she whispered in her ear.

“Don’t reach out, you’ll get burned. Just focus on completing the quest. I’ll be right here with you.”

Shen Qingqiu’s voice was gentle, almost reverent, so close yet felt miles away.

Xiao Muyu didn’t let go, even though she knew this protection wasn’t much use. She simply couldn’t bring herself to let go. She kept thinking their chance would slip away if she hesitated any longer.

She couldn’t allow them to die here—she couldn’t.

Suddenly, the questions she and Shen Qingqiu had asked on the rooftop began to echo repeatedly in her mind, along with the system’s responses.

The culprit was connected to Liu Ya. After a long silence, the system had finally eased the sloping platform’s angle back, but not by much. Xiao Muyu figured their questions had thrown the system off, so out of reluctance, it was slow to respond.

The second time, she took a gamble and stated that the culprit wasn’t Liu Ya. She remembered the platform hadn’t risen or fallen. Yet, the angle lessened slightly when she added that the cursed individuals weren’t just from Class 7.

She had spoken the two sentences separately, and they should have decreased the angle twice. However, she only got one minuscule shift. So Liu Ya was not the culprit was neither right nor wrong.

Xiao Muyu confirmed her conclusion. She immediately pushed that memory aside.

The dorm mother. Frame after frame flashed through her mind as she pulled up all the memories of her interactions with the middle-aged woman. Then, Xiao Muyu opened her eyes wide, opened her interface, quickly typed two names, and hit [Submit].

*Crash!* They suddenly heard the sound of shattering glass. It seemed their confinement had unraveled.

Instantly, Shen Qingqiu felt the pain in her back vanish. The stifling heat dissipated even faster than it had come, and fresh air rushed into the four’s lungs, urging them to take deep, grateful breaths.

Outside the girls’ dorm, the unconscious Chen Kaijie almost had no movement in his chest. He looked deathly pale, but color soon returned to his face. His chest also rose and fell rapidly. Groaning, he flipped over and gasped for air.

Su Jin helped Zuo Tiantian up.

“Wake up, Tiantian.” She anxiously patted her face. “Come on, wake up.”

When she saw Tiantian slowly regaining consciousness, she wiped her face and smiled.

Everyone was okay.

The first thing Zuo Tiantian saw after opening her eyes was Su Jin, her face covered in large beads of sweat and her eyes red from the smoke, a visibly concerned Xiao Muyu, and the faintly smiling Shen Qingqiu.

Everything in the room had returned to its previous state. The smoke and fire were all gone.

“Chen Kaijie, are you still alive?” Shen Qingqiu sent a voice message to the group chat.

Chen Kaijie let out a long sigh after that close call. “I’m alive and doing well.” His breathing still hadn’t calmed down, and he sounded emotional. “Fresh air is so precious. I’m grateful to the resistance for letting me still fight invaders with Leader Xiao, Ms. Shen, Tiantian, and Ah Jin.”

The man felt a bit dejected because he couldn’t solve the problem with these four women during such a dangerous moment. But he held back his discomfort to lighten the mood with a playful tone. Yet, no matter how cheerful his voice was, it could not hide his emotions.

The four fell silent, then Su Jin disdainfully muttered, “What invaders? These ghosts are still Chinese. You can’t separate them!”

The others chuckled at the joke.

A smile flashed across Shen Qingqiu’s face but quickly disappeared. She stared at the door and quietly said, “Let’s hurry up and get out of here.”

Xiao Muyu nodded, her face full of vigilance. Without waiting for the others’ response, Shen Qingqiu kicked the door open. The force sent it crashing against the wall before bouncing back.

Shen Qingqiu darted out. There was no sign of the dorm mother.

Xiao Muyu went over and tugged at her. “She’s gone. Hurry up and rinse your hand with cold water.”

Shen Qingqiu hurriedly looked at Xiao Muyu’s hand. It was red and swollen due to the burn she got from holding her earlier. Shen Qingqiu quickly pulled Xiao Muyu into the washroom and carefully rinsed her hand under the faucet.

“I told you to let go because it was hot, but you wouldn’t listen,” she grumbled, frowning. “I’m tough, and besides, how much can your little hand protect? Does it hurt? Will it blister?”

“You two should rinse off, too,” Shen Qingqiu hurriedly added to Su Jin and the others.

Xiao Muyu didn’t say anything. She simply rinsed her hand a few times before pulling it out, then took off Shen Qingqiu’s jacket.

The back of her clothes hadn’t been burned, yet was discolored.

Xiao Muyu grabbed Shen Qingqiu and walked straight into the bathroom without a word. She didn’t even wait for Shen Qingqiu to turn around before pushing her against the wall, then lifted her shirt, exposing her pale… no, her red back.

Her hands, chilled from the water, gently pressed against Shen Qingqiu’s burned back.

Shen Qingqiu’s body immediately tensed.

The two outside exchanged a glance, suppressing a laugh. While rinsing their arms, they heard Shen Qingqiu’s voice, amused and flirtatious, from inside.

“Although you look captivating and dominant right now, could we not use this position?”

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Author had something to say:

Another test, more twists, and an urgent situation.

Xiao Shen: I really like it when you’re being dominant.
Xiao Xiao: Can you not be so… flirty?
Su Jin, Zuo Tiantian: Oh, this is so good.