Lin Ye looked around and focused his search on the paintings.
If there were any clues hidden in the art classroom, the most likely place would be in the paintings.
He glanced again at the portrait of the black-haired, straight-haired beauty among the many paintings. Even as an outsider, he thought it was very beautiful and detailed.
Whether it was the expression, skin, hair, or the details of the clothes and sleeves, everything was perfectly painted.
The artist was definitely someone who paid attention to detail and pursued perfection.
Ryou Fujibayashi stood next to Lin Ye, her eyes methodically scanning each item nearby.
She was doing her best to contribute.
Otaku and the blonde girl went to the other side of the art classroom.
The only one who remained still in the classroom was Kyozaki. This made Chiharu, the blonde girl, feel uncomfortable. She thought her boyfriend really lacked intelligence.
In the current dangerous situation, even though he despised and opposed Lin Ye in her heart, he shouldn't be showing it now. Instead, she should be actively contributing and proving her worth.
With her boyfriend acting like this, Chiharu had no doubt that if anything went wrong, Kyozaki would be the first one to be abandoned.
When she thought about it carefully, this might not necessarily be a bad thing.
Chiharu couldn't help but think.
Anyway, since she planned to break up after returning, and now Kyozaki was her first priority to be discarded, if anything went wrong, Kyozaki would be the first to be abandoned. Her chances of survival were actually much higher.
After coming to this realization, the blonde-haired girl shifted her attention to the nearby art classroom, focusing on the desks, drawing boards, and other items, searching for possible clues.
The otaku closest to her noticed something strange with the curtain by the window. Filled with confusion, he walked over and reached out to pull it open.
Shua!
A figure appeared, with long black hair...
Ahhh!
The otaku was so scared that he stumbled backward several steps and fell heavily to the ground.
It was a female ghost! A female ghost!
That female ghost was already in the art classroom!
The blonde-haired girl, startled by the sudden scream and panic from the otaku, immediately turned and ran.
When she unconsciously glanced at the figure, her pupils contracted, and she ran even faster, heading straight for Lin Ye. On the way, she passed Kyozaki and completely ignored her boyfriend.
"Lin-kun, run!"
Although it seemed like she was asking him to run, in reality, she hoped Lin Ye would take her and escape. She knew about Lin Ye's amazing ability to help people flee.
Lin Ye patted the panicked Chiharu, signaling her to calm down, then stepped towards the direction of the figure.
"It's a doll, probably a real-life doll," Lin Ye said as he poked it.
The fallen otaku, still trembling, looked towards the figure again.
"It seems... it really is a doll."
The otaku supported himself to stand up and walked over to Lin Ye's side. He looked around and couldn't help but compliment, "It's really well made, at first glance, I thought it was a real person!"
He reached out to poke it, but Lin Ye stopped him with a "slap."
"What are you still doing here? Go find some clue or item."
"Uh, right away, I'll go look for it."
Under Lin Ye's urging, the otaku awkwardly smiled and quickly moved to another side to start searching. Chiharu took a deep breath, calming her fear, and continued her search.
The blonde-haired girl quickly glanced at her boyfriend, but saw that he was indifferent, even a little disgusted. She immediately realized that her unconscious plea for help had irritated him.
You're so useless. How can I rely on you for protection?
She couldn't help but think bitterly, but she knew she couldn't voice it.
Once they survived and left, she would break up with him immediately.
Lin Ye searched around but couldn't find anything useful on the doll's clothes or body.
The presence of the doll in the art classroom was strange. His first instinct was that it might hold some clue or key item, but now it seemed he was wrong.
"Lin-kun, I found the key,"
Ryou Fujibayashi is excited voice sounded as she pulled out a set of keys, the metallic clinking echoing.
"Where did you find it?"
The blonde-haired girl asked, surprised.
"It was inside a black suit."
There was a wooden clothes hanger holding three items of clothing: a blue shirt, a black suit, and a white short-sleeved shirt.
Clearly, they were clothes worn by an adult male teacher.
Looking at it now, this combination of clothes and hanger seemed particularly conspicuous, but before, it had been quite inconspicuous, and she lamented how she had missed an opportunity.
If she had found the key, her contribution would have been much better than that of the otaku!
Knowing that Lin Ye had a hidden ability, Chiharu couldn't help but want to cling to him, even if it meant offering more than just her presence.
She stole a glance at Lin Ye. His tall figure, well-built body, and face weren't exactly handsome, but the more you looked, the more attractive he became. Most importantly, it was his courage, ability, and strength to survive in this eerie school building!
Such a man…
She wasn't losing out; in fact, she was making a great deal.
But as she looked at Ryou Fujibayashi, she immediately felt that her chances of being noticed dropped drastically. Compared to her, Ryou Fujibayashi was much more attractive. She didn't stand a chance.
Chiharu quickly walked over to Ryou Fujibayashi, focusing on searching the nearby area, though she didn't find anything else useful.
After about ten minutes, the four of them had thoroughly searched every inch of the art classroom, even checking the hidden compartments behind the drawing boards for any notes.
And indeed, they found a piece of paper with some clues.
It was hidden behind a portrait of a girl with long black hair.
The contents were similar to the previous notes but gave them two additional pieces of information.
"Bones,"
The different wording seemed to suggest that the author of the message wanted to tell them: "Bring her bones to the art classroom."
"Bones, human bones, her bones are in the teaching building."
Ryou Fujibayashi swallowed nervously, her heart racing.
She had thought it was something like a ring or a necklace items that could be kept but it turned out to be bones.
"How do we find them?"
"At worst, we can search the classrooms one by one. I suspect the girl's bones are in those classrooms with closed doors. Now that we have the keys, we can go straight to those rooms, open the doors, and search for the bones inside."
With Lin Ye there, the otaku wasn't worried about safety.
"You make it sound easy. Are you going to search yourself?"
The blonde-haired girl rebutted with a single sentence.
"I'll go with Lin-kun."
"Heh, I thought you could handle searching three or four classrooms on your own!"
She laughed.
There were ten identical keys, with no differences.
Now, there were nine left.
Earlier, when Lin Ye and the others went to the next door's music classroom to experiment, the key could open the classroom door directly, but once the door was opened, the key would disappear.
They had nine chances to open the classroom doors.
In other words, they had nine attempts left.
The entire teaching building had four floors. The first, second, and third floors housed classrooms for each grade, along with the corresponding staff offices. The first floor also had a physics lab, the second floor had a chemistry lab, and the third floor had a biology lab.
As for the fourth floor, besides the art classroom, there were a music room, a library, a study room, the administration office, the principal's office, and the student council office.
"If I remember correctly, there are still 12 classrooms in the entire teaching building that are closed and require a key to open."
Lin Ye thought back, recalling the status of the classrooms as he searched the art classroom. He had made a mental note of the classrooms on the first, second, and third floors, and during the recent test, he quickly counted the situation on the fourth floor.
"The fourth floor has the principal's office, the student council office, the library, and the administration office four rooms in total."
"The third floor has the biology lab, a staff office, and two classrooms from Class 1B and 1E four rooms."
"The second floor has classrooms for Class 2D and 2G, while the first floor has a physics lab and Class 3F."
At this moment, everyone was silent.
Is this what high-level players are like?
Experienced veterans who have gone through terrifying and bizarre games?
They could at most remember four or five classrooms, but Lin Ye had memorized all of them and could clearly and orderly recite the names of the classrooms.
When comparing people, the difference is truly vast.
If it weren't for Lin Ye's earlier memorization of the status of each classroom, they would have definitely needed to go out and explore again, confirm the specific closed classrooms and their total number, and then return to discuss. But now, that's no longer necessary.
How much time does this save? No, the key isn't time; it's how much risk has been reduced. The longer they're outside, the more likely they are to be attacked by the female ghost!
"12 classrooms, 9 keys left."
Which 9 classrooms to choose?
The gazes of Ryou Fujibayashi and the others fell on Lin Ye.
Up until now, Lin Ye had always been their brain. Occasionally, it was the otaku and Ryou Fujibayashi who provided some ideas, but the others had little useful advice.
"Lin-kun, you decide! I trust you."
After Ryou Fujibayashi expressed her opinion, the otaku immediately spoke up.
"Lin-kun, whatever you choose, it's fine, Lin-kun's choices are always right."
As for the blonde-haired girl, she didn't need to be mentioned.
The only one who didn't react in the art classroom was Kyozaki. At this moment, he was standing far away, becoming the only member of a small group.
"I think we need to search the four rooms on the fourth floor: the principal's office, the student council office, etc."
"On the third floor, we need to check the staff office and the biology lab."
"And on the second floor, since it's the grade she attended, we need to search the second-year classes, Class 2D and 2G."
"The first floor should have the physics lab."
"Altogether, there are nine rooms. To simplify, we'll give up searching the first-year B and E classrooms and the third-year F classroom."
Because the female ghost is a second-year student, the likelihood of finding the target item in first and third-year classrooms is low.
Ryou Fujibayashi pursed her lips, as if she wanted to say something.
"Fujiki, do you have any thoughts?"
"Well... could the third-year F classroom be special, since it's Class F?"
That letter is indeed quite unique she herself is from Class F.
Lin Ye then looked over at Kyozaki, who had been treating him like air, and spoke:
"Kyozaki, what do you think?"
"No."
He coldly rejected, completely excluding himself from Lin Ye's group.
"Kyozaki-kun, Lin-kun asked for your opinion, you don't have to be so cold about it!"
The blonde-haired girl suddenly felt her value in the conversation.
"Everyone is discussing and trying to find a way to survive and leave here. We're about to go out and search for the hidden bones. You're acting like this..."
"Heh."
Kyozaki laughed.
"What's wrong with me? I'm not participating in your discussion, not giving any opinions what's the problem?"
Of course, there is a problem!
You've excluded yourself from this group!
This would greatly reduce their survival chances.
The blonde-haired girl was even more impressed by Kyozaki is intelligence.
"I'll just say it here! I'm not going out to look for clues, and I definitely won't go looking for any bones,"
"I don't want to be killed by that female ghost. Right now, all of us are in this art classroom, and she hasn't shown up yet. I can now be sure that this place is very safe, and we won't encounter any ghostly attacks. I'll stay here until dawn, and then leave."
His words made everyone think of another way to "leave here."
Once the sun rises, they can leave.
The blonde-haired girl suddenly felt like a fool. Her boyfriend was actually quite smart; he had already thought of a way to survive and clear the situation long before.
But it was undeniable, what her boyfriend said was right. This place was safe.
The female ghost hadn't shown up so far, and there was a very high probability she wouldn't return. The art classroom was safer than the staff office, even an absolute safe zone.
"Chiharu, as your boyfriend, I advise you to stay here,"
The blonde-haired girl couldn't help but glance at Lin Ye,
"Unless he threatens to kill us, we don't want to go out. Do we really have to leave here?"
In an instant,
The atmosphere in the art classroom changed.
This place was very safe, the female ghost wouldn't come, and once it was daylight, they could leave and return to reality.
This place was safe!
"But what if daylight never comes?"
"Isn't it fine to go looking then?"
The blonde-haired girl suddenly understood and widened her eyes.
"Lin-kun, we…"
"You can choose to stay here, I won't force you. Everyone can make their own choice."
The first to speak was Ryou Fujibayashi.
"I'll stay with Lin-kun,"
She trusted Lin Ye.
The otaku hesitated.
For safety reasons, he definitely thought staying here was safer, but choosing to stay here also meant splitting ways with Lin Ye. If any danger came, Lin Ye would definitely not step in to help him.
And he still had issues with Kyozaki.
What should he do?
Lin Ye started walking toward the art classroom door, and Ryou Fujibayashi immediately followed, the two quickly leaving.
"If you stay with me, you'll encounter the female ghost,"
He said to the girl beside him.
"But I trust Lin-kun, he will protect me, I'll be fine."
"You're really confident,"
"W-Well, not exactly confidence…"
Ryou Fujibayashi is face turned red in embarrassment.
"Wait for me, Lin-kun."
Eventually,
The otaku came running out.
After some internal struggle, he decided to act with Lin Ye.
The art classroom was safe for now, but would it stay that way? Maybe there was a time limit!
That was his guess.
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