Yuying University
Chapter 495: Graduation Thesis
In the pitch-black corridor, surrounded by countless cold auras, the young man’s slender figure seemed particularly out of place.
Wen Jianyan raised his eyes and silently swept his gaze across the few club members in front of him.
Compared to their last meeting, their attitude this time was much more respectful, and the degree of their fear seemed to be growing and expanding—although it felt good to see, Wen Jianyan knew this was not a good thing.
It only meant that he was gradually shedding his human identity and getting closer to being the true “Club President”.
“Have you found who I asked you to find?”
Wen Jianyan asked lightly.
“…”
The club members exchanged glances. Their previously expressionless, sinister faces now showed looks of difficulty.
Wen Jianyan had already guessed as much.
After all, only half an hour had passed. It would be strange if there were any results. If Orange Candy were that easy to find, he wouldn’t have needed to resort to using the club members’ abilities.
He lifted his eyelids and said coolly, “Then what are you waiting for? Get going.”
“But—”
A club member turned his head, glancing at the tense, ready-for-a-fight anchors not far away, seeming to hesitate.
Wen Jianyan: “Hm?”
The club member shuddered and lowered his head: “Yes.”
As his voice fell, the surrounding monsters retreated like a tide, disappearing into the darkness in the blink of an eye.
“…”
The anchors remained standing blankly, watching the scene unfold, seemingly not yet recovered from such a rapid change.
Until Wen Jianyan raised his eyes to look at them.
“?!”
The anchors all held their breath, their nerves tensing up again. They stared intently at the young man before them, looking even more vigilant than when they were surrounded earlier.
Although they hadn’t heard of a so-called “Club President” position in this instance before, just from the title alone, they could tell that the person opposite them was no simple character.
What was about to happen was definitely going to be a tough fight—
“How did you guys get in?”
The young man suddenly spoke.
“…?”
The anchors, who had been secretly preparing for battle, were all taken aback.
…Huh?
Looking at the group before him, Wen Jianyan patiently repeated, “How did you get in?”
More than twelve hours had passed since he had led his teammates into the swimming pool.
He didn’t know if it was because of the isolating effect of the Memory space, but even the Nightmare system broadcasts had gone silent. Even though the instance outside should have already progressed to the third academic year, Wen Jianyan had not received any notifications or any new tasks.
Therefore, during this period, Wen Jianyan knew nothing about the instance outside.
Generally speaking, there was only one way to get here.
Wen Jianyan glanced not far away.
At the back of the lobby, mirror shards were scattered all over the floor.
It had clearly been completely destroyed.
Wen Jianyan didn’t know how the only way in had been destroyed, but he keenly sensed that something was wrong.
Normally, such a crucial existence wouldn’t just disappear so easily, unless…
Some kind of subversive event had occurred.
“We just came in like this.”
Unexpectedly, it was Chen Cheng who answered first.
His gaze was locked on Wen Jianyan’s face as he spoke slowly.
Wen Jianyan frowned: “Nothing else happened?”
Chen Cheng: “Right.”
Another person cautiously chimed in at this moment: “Uh, so what is it that you want to know?”
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes in thought for a few seconds, then looked up and said:
“Tell me everything that has happened since the beginning of the third academic year.”
The moment he said “third academic year”, the group knew that the “Club President” before them was most likely human.
Although they didn’t know how he had managed to secure this position as a living person, or why he was asking such questions, out of courtesy and their own private interests, they still answered Wen Jianyan’s questions in great detail.
As Wen Jianyan listened, he began to sort through the clues in his mind.
After the ideological and moral education class ended, just like in the previous academic year, all the anchors who had completed the matriculation procedures logically entered the third academic year.
But unlike the second academic year…
The third academic year was only one day long.
And the instance’s mission was updated accordingly.
Only… this time, the mission was no longer Advance to the next academic year, but had become Complete the graduation thesis.
Hearing this, Wen Jianyan’s brow twitched.
Graduation thesis?
He quickly realized the origin of this task.
In reality, the fourth year of university generally has very little coursework. Correspondingly, in the instance, the third academic year was only given one short day, which meant the fourth academic year would be even shorter, perhaps only consisting of a Graduation Ceremony before it ended.
This was probably why their mission for the third academic year was no longer Matriculation, but had become Complete the thesis.
“From the moment we received the mission,” the anchor opposite him added, “the instance began to change.”
Wen Jianyan pressed, “What kind of change?”
“The sky in some areas started to change color, and people who went deep into those areas disappeared without a trace.”
Hearing the other’s answer, Wen Jianyan fell into deep thought.
According to his previous conclusions, the entire Yuying Comprehensive University instance was a dual space intertwined with each other. And in every building area of the instance, the two spaces had their intersection points—like the running track on the sports field, the mirror in the administration building, the swimming pool in the gymnasium, etc. As long as you found it, you could travel between the two spaces.
Of course, there didn’t seem to be so many restrictions for the members of the Student Union. They seemed to be able to move freely between the two spaces.
“So, you didn’t look in the mirror?”
Wen Jianyan pressed again.
“No.” The other person shook his head.
He added.
“When we came in, the mirror was already shattered.”
“…”
I see.
Now, the situation the anchor had just described finally had a reasonable explanation.
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, hiding the solemn look in their depths.
If he wasn’t mistaken, what happened after entering the third academic year was Invasion and Replacement.
The dark world that had been hidden was released and began to gradually invade the surface world of the instance in reverse. The shattering of the mirror, which served as an entrance, was likely due to this as well.
After all, since the dark world was suppressing and even replacing the surface world, the mirror that served as a passage would naturally be crushed in the process.
While inside the instance, under the control of the rules, neither the club members nor the Student Union members should be able to directly harm them, the “ordinary students.” And based on the club members’ reactions just now…
After the darkness invaded and replaced the original world,
Following this trend…
It shouldn’t be long before this instance no longer has an inner and outer layer.
And the time they entered their fourth year, about to graduate from university, should be when the surface world completely disappears.
And what would happen then?
Wen Jianyan dared not imagine.
After all this was said, the first-floor lobby of the administration building fell into dead silence again.
The anchors had varied expressions, staring fixedly at the young man before them, waiting quietly.
Under the dim light, the other party’s eyes were lowered, his face so pale it seemed he would melt into the darkness behind him in the next second. Even though his human identity had been confirmed, the aura around him was still cold and strange. Coupled with his bizarre hair and eyelash color, he looked even less like a living person.
After a long while, Wen Jianyan seemed to pull himself out of his thoughts.
He looked up at the people before him: “You want to leave here, right?”
The group exchanged glances and nodded cautiously.
Wen Jianyan walked past them, heading straight for the tightly closed main door of the administration building.
“Hey, that door—”
One of the anchors called out to remind him.
But before he could finish his sentence, the rest of his words were stuck in his throat.
The young man gripped the doorknob, gave it a light twist, and in the next second, the door that had been as heavy as a mountain in front of them was pushed open gently, as if it had no weight at all.
“…………”
The anchors stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded.
Wen Jianyan looked up at the sky.
The sky was blackish-red.
But in Wen Jianyan’s eyes, it was a different scene.
In the pitch-black firmament, countless blood-red fleshy tubes spread out. They were bent and twisted, extending downwards from above, their connections below unknown. They intertwined and overlapped, covering the entire world beneath them.
And this was a side effect of his low SAN value.
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze. He propped the door open with one hand, standing at the entrance and turning his head back. The young man’s side profile was coated in a layer of red light, outlining the smooth lines of his nose and jaw.
He looked at the few people who were stunned not far away and asked:
“Not leaving?”
The group seemed to finally react.
They walked forward in a daze. But just before they were about to pass Wen Jianyan, the anchor with the injured left arm suddenly froze—he had been silent from the beginning, staring at Wen Jianyan’s face, seemingly searching for some clue.
“Wait a minute…”
Until now, seeing Wen Jianyan’s face up close, the man seemed to awaken as if from a dream.
He stared at Wen Jianyan’s side profile, his expression twisting slightly.
“It’s you?!”
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[?]
[??]
[What? He knows the anchor? Why don’t I have any impression of him?]
[Me neither!]
The anchor clutched his left arm. The sleeve hanging down was empty, and the fingers below were scorched black and withered, as small as a child’s.
He said through gritted teeth:
“It was you who tricked us out of the lecture hall and into the Student Union’s encirclement—!”
If it weren’t for that incident, he wouldn’t have overdrawn his talent, almost exhausting half of his body!
As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of more than half of the anchors present changed slightly.
Clearly, they were also victims of that incident.
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[Oh oh, that incident!]
[Hahaha, I remember now; the anchor did remove his disguise in front of everyone back then. He probably made a lot of enemies at once, huh?]
Wen Jianyan held the door with one hand and said flatly, “You’re welcome.”
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[…]
[…]
[Huh? What did you just say, you punk?]
[In a sense, it’s correct… If the anchor hadn’t tricked them out of the lecture hall, they probably would have had to attend this ideological and moral education class. Don’t forget the purpose of this class, the more you attend, the more miserable your death.]
[Hahahaha, that’s true, but the others don’t know that!]
[…]
This remark silenced everyone present.
Suo Suo, who had been hiding in the crowd from the beginning, trying to shrink himself and not be noticed, took a sharp breath and averted his gaze with a twisted expression.
…You really know how to talk!
You’re welcome?!
The anchors silently stared at Wen Jianyan. Their gazes still held the fear and vigilance from before, but in addition, there was now a hint of unconcealable resentment.
“Isn’t it because you’re all useless?” Chen Cheng, at the side, suddenly interjected without warning.
In an instant, everyone else’s attention was drawn to him.
“To not even notice the class time during such an important lesson, what are you if not useless?”
Chen Cheng crossed his arms and sneered.
Wen Jianyan looked over.
His gaze fell on Chen Cheng’s face, and he retrieved the memories related to this person from his mind.
This person wasn’t among the first wave of anchors who entered the instance. He should have entered after the instance’s difficulty was upgraded to double-S and expanded.
And, if he remembered correctly…
When everyone else was tricked out of the classroom by him, this person had remained seated, doing nothing, neither stopping the others nor following him out.
He’s an experienced, ruthless character.
Wen Jianyan made a silent judgment in his heart.
Chen Cheng stood behind the others, motionless. From the start, it seemed he had no intention of leaving the administration building with the others.
He looked at Wen Jianyan:
“What courses did you take in the previous semesters?”
Wen Jianyan paused, then recited the courses he had taken.
“Alright.” Chen Cheng nodded, indicating he understood. He lifted his chin, “Come with me, I know how to do the graduation thesis.”
He glanced at the few people not far away, a cold smile touching the corner of his mouth:
“Let these losers get lost.”
Being called that by Chen Cheng, the faces of all the other anchors turned shades of green and purple, looking very unsightly.
They stood where they were, in a dilemma.
—Before he spoke, they had no idea that this guy knew information related to the graduation thesis, let alone that it was right here in the administration building!
No wonder he was so sure about going upstairs just now, so that was his purpose!
If they didn’t know this, they would have definitely left the administration building without a second thought. But now that they knew the key information for the graduation thesis was right here, they couldn’t bring themselves to leave.
There was less than half a day left before the end of the third academic year.
If they didn’t complete the graduation thesis within this time, the consequences awaiting them were imaginable.
Looking at Chen Cheng not far away, Wen Jianyan blinked.
—For him, this was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Although Wen Jianyan’s task list hadn’t refreshed yet, it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t refresh once he left the administration building and returned to the surface world.
Moreover, compared to the other anchors, he had already lost more than half a day’s time and was missing more than twelve hours of clues.
So, at this time, someone offering to lead him to complete the graduation thesis, why not?
Most importantly, while waiting for his teammates to leave Memory and for the club members to find Orange Candy, he indeed had nothing to do for the time being.
Plus, if there really was a way to alleviate the side effects of the badge in this instance, it would most likely be in the administration building… If he could really find it, it would be killing two birds with one stone.
With this in mind, Wen Jianyan quickly made a decision.
He maintained his posture of holding the door open and looked at the few people standing before him: “Are you still going out?”
The faces of the few anchors in front of him were a mixture of red and green, seemingly caught in a struggle.
At this moment, Suo Suo finally couldn’t hold back.
He braced himself and interjected:
“Uh, I guess the big shot had his reasons for doing what he did before. Since everyone is fine now, why don’t we just forget about it? This administration building should be fraught with danger. I think there’s strength in numbers; why don’t we just act together?”
These words were spoken quite skillfully, giving both sides a way to back down.
Wen Jianyan looked in the direction the voice came from.
Suo Suo was startled and reflexively wanted to step back, but he managed to restrain himself. He stood his ground and gave Wen Jianyan an awkward and fawning smile:
“Haha, big shot, we meet again.”
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, his gaze circling him. He had clearly also recognized this anchor with whom he had a one-sided acquaintance, who had been beaten up by Orange Candy in the movie plot, and who had almost managed to trap him in the cafeteria.
He also smiled.
“Yeah, what a coincidence.”
“…”
The moment their eyes met, Suo Suo shivered, and the smile on his face stiffened.
Seeing that the other few anchors had given up the idea of leaving the administration building, Wen Jianyan no longer propped the door open and simply withdrew his hand.
Without support, the main door of the administration building closed again.
“Let’s go.” Wen Jianyan smiled, a hint of white teeth showing between his slightly parted lips, “There’s strength in numbers, after all.”
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[…]
[…]
[I’d believe a ghost before I believe you!]
After speaking, Wen Jianyan turned and walked towards Chen Cheng: “Where can we complete the graduation thesis?”
Chen Cheng gave a cold look to the other anchors who had followed again. Although he still wore that universally hated arrogant look, he didn’t say anything to stop them this time.
He turned around: “Follow me.”
Suo Suo followed at the back of the group, watching Chen Cheng’s back and pondering to himself.
He didn’t know if it was his imagination…
He just felt that this rising star of Evernight had a pretty good attitude towards this teammate of Orange Candy’s???
Strange, the two of them didn’t seem to know each other.
He shook his head, shaking off the thoughts in his mind, and quickly followed.
The group passed through the first-floor lobby of the administration building and arrived on the second floor.
The layout here was the same as in his memory. Red light enveloped the deathly silent corridor, and the doors on both sides were tightly shut, emitting an extremely cold aura.
Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but lighten his steps.
He knew that the second floor was the Student Union’s territory.
Even though his current identity was the Club President, it was a fact that he had previously broken school rules. Once caught, he would be immediately sent to the vice principal’s office on the third floor… The Student Union couldn’t directly punish him, but the vice principal definitely could.
Wen Jianyan had no desire to walk into a trap this early.
Chen Cheng walked not far ahead. He took out a worn piece of paper from his pocket and looked at its contents as he walked.
Wen Jianyan was not close enough to him to see the specific content on the paper.
He didn’t ask; he just followed.
The other anchors had even less right to comment and also followed silently behind.
Soon, Chen Cheng stopped.
Wen Jianyan followed his line of sight and looked at one of the offices.
The office door was tightly closed, looking unremarkable from the outside.
Even Wen Jianyan couldn’t tell what was different about it compared to the other offices.
“Here. This is it.”
Chen Cheng folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
He lifted his chin and said nonchalantly.
Wen Jianyan glanced at him, roughly guessing the contents of the paper.
It was probably a map.
One had to know that on the second floor, apart from the matriculation office, none of the other rooms had any labels. Without a prophet’s guidance or some other means, they had no way of knowing what was inside an office or how many Student Union members were in it before opening the door.
He didn’t know how the other party had obtained it, or what price was paid in the process. In any case, it was a huge help.
After all, trying to find a specific office without any guidance was like finding a needle in a haystack.
If someone wanted to try them one by one, they would almost certainly die.
“Is… anyone inside?” One of the anchors stared at the closed door, swallowed, and asked cautiously.
“Who the hell knows?”
Perhaps because the person speaking wasn’t Wen Jianyan, Chen Cheng reverted to his previous nasty attitude.
He rolled his eyes impatiently:
“If you don’t want to go in, then don’t.”
With that, Chen Cheng stepped forward first. He placed his hand on the doorknob and pushed down.
With a “creak,” the door hinge turned, and it swung inwards.
Without looking back, Chen Cheng strode straight inside.
Wen Jianyan followed closely behind.
The other few exchanged glances, seemed to have made up their minds, and followed cautiously.
The office door closed silently behind them, blocking out the red light from the corridor.
Unlike what they imagined, the office was much larger than expected.
Wen Jianyan looked up, staring at the office in front of him with some astonishment—compared to the other few offices he had entered before, this one was almost three times larger, if not more.
Several desks were neatly and sparsely arranged throughout the room, each one far from the others.
Wen Jianyan seemed to realize something. He quickened his pace and walked towards one of the desks.
A rusty metal plate was nailed to the corner of the desk, with two words written on it:
Literature.
It was one of the elective courses.
…As expected.
Wen Jianyan stood where he was, slowly letting out a breath and gently flexing his somewhat stiff fingers.
It seemed that, just as he had guessed, this office was the so-called elective course teachers’ office.
This was probably why Chen Cheng had asked him that question earlier.
It was to accurately find the office corresponding to the courses he had chosen.
The so-called ‘Graduation Thesis’ should be derived from the elective courses they had chosen—after all, in the ‘Yuying Comprehensive University’ instance, their major courses had no real substance, merely serving to have their life force fed to the corpses in the classrooms.
If that’s the case, then couldn’t he…
Staring at the desks before him, Wen Jianyan’s heart pounded, and he subconsciously quickened his pace.
After reaching the far end of the office, he stopped abruptly.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze rested on the desk not far away.
A metal plate was also nailed to the corner of the desk, with four mottled, unclear characters written on it:
Film Appreciation.
This was it.
Wen Jianyan held his breath slightly and walked forward.
In the very center of the desk, there was a yellowish-gray piece of paper that exuded a cold aura. A pen was placed next to it, seemingly waiting to be used.
At the top of the paper, two words were written:
Roster.
Wen Jianyan knew that according to real-world rules, as university students, they had to find a supervisor for their graduation thesis. Once they wrote their name on the roster, it meant they had chosen this supervisor.
He didn’t do anything immediately, but averted his gaze and began to search the desktop.
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s gaze froze.
He stared intently at the bookshelf on the desk. Under some premonition, he felt his heart thumping, as if it would break free from his chest.
Wen Jianyan walked over.
On the bookshelf, four cassette tapes were neatly arranged.
On each tape, there was a yellowed, old piece of tape with messy handwriting in red pen.
“Brave Richard”.
“A Day in the Life of Wang Ni”.
“First Love: Our Eternal Love”.
“Thank You, Teacher.”
These were the four films shown in the film appreciation class, even including the other two that Wen Jianyan hadn’t come into contact with before—and, clearly, they were all original copies.
Wen Jianyan’s heart pounded.
He subconsciously reached out his hand, but the moment he touched the tape, a strange, cold feeling suddenly came over him without warning, making him shiver and quickly withdraw his hand.
Wen Jianyan held his still slightly cold fingertips, frowning, and stared uncertainly at the four unremarkable tapes in front of him.
Was it an illusion?
Or…
Wen Jianyan frowned slightly, his gaze moving thoughtfully between the paper on the desk and the four tapes not far away, as if he was thinking about something.
Not far away, a familiar voice sounded.
“You have to sign up first.”
Wen Jianyan paused and looked over.
It was Chen Cheng.
With his hands in his pockets and an impatient look on his face, he reminded in a less than friendly tone:
“Don’t touch the things on the desk. Sign up first.”
Chen Cheng… estou de olho em voce!