Yi Chen, who had left the Fetal Heart Church, had a slightly strange expression on his face.
Due to a series of simple tests,
He was reminded of a series of experiences at the orphanage before his death… Such reminiscence was like opening a Curse Secret Box hidden deep in a cellar, carelessly unleashing long-sealed ancient curses.
His whole being suddenly turned ice-cold, exuding an inexplicable aura of death, and even the color of his eyes dimmed.
However, this state did not last long.
"Thinking about it now, it's quite good~ If it weren't for the 'special environment' of the orphanage, if it weren't for the 'new principal's' strict management rules, if I hadn't survived in such an environment.
Even if I had transcended here,
I would have been completely killed by the undead of burial ground number 4 and my physical body drained dry, not even ashes would remain."
In just five seconds,
He returned to normal,
Re-sealing those wildly overflowing memories back into the deep vault of his memory.
Little Grape naturally noticed Yi Chen's subtle change during that short time, but it said nothing and only found it all the more interesting.
...
Looking around
The dormitory buildings symbolizing the "intestines" surrounded the Fetal Heart Church.
The dormitory buildings did not possess an overly intense Gothic style, but rather leaned towards a Victorian era architectural mood.
Red brick walls, gable roofs, bay windows, and iron railings.
They imparted a sense of warmth, contrasting other Gothic buildings' austerity, they were more suitable for living.
The height of the dormitory buildings was uniformly set to four stories, not housing many.
Yi Chen made a simple analysis:
"There are only seventeen of us who passed the assessment.
Among them, the gentlemen who chose the 'Black Letter' will receive a completely different type of training, and the number of people entering the school is originally very small.
Moreover, the school has a [two-year] limitation, the total number of students is kept within a small range… I estimate that these dormitories are likely to all be single rooms."
His guess was not wrong,
After verifying the identity of the new gentleman under one of the dormitory buildings, Yi Chen was directly assigned a room with a [two-bedroom, one-living room] design, featuring a Nordic minimalist and natural décor style.
The most favored among them was the 'study'.
Large windows faced the Twin Towers, and if he ever felt tired at his desk, he could simply get up for a panoramic view of the campus's Star River night scene.
He took out the 'schedule' set by Professor Qian Bosen,
Except for an empty slot on Sunday night,
The rest of the time schedule was fully arranged with various targeted training, cramming almost every day's sleep time within six hours.
To such an arrangement,
Yi Chen was not worried at all; in fact, he looked forward to tomorrow's Pathology class and the mysterious teacher with great anticipation.
Being busy for the sake of interest, no matter how busy he was, it was always joyful.
Having a clear goal,
With expected gains and growth,
Being able to directly observe and feel the improvement of oneself.
This was much better than his previous life, stuck in a cramped laboratory, writing papers day and night,
Even if he graduated successfully, there was no guarantee he'd find a satisfactory job, and even after finding work, he'd still face various pressures in an ordinary day.
...
Monday morning was the teaching time for Pathology.
All students needed to reach the foot of the mountain where the Twin Towers were located before 8:00 a.m., waiting for the elevator to operate.
The giant elevator could transport everyone to the door of the Viersman Teaching Building at the top of the mountain in one go.
Of course,
One could arrive earlier and choose to hand-climb the nearly vertical columnar mountain to strengthen their physique… Indeed, a few new gentlemen intent on developing their Physique would make such a choice.
The venue for the Pathology class—the Viersman Teaching Building—was named after the discipline's Founder and Vice Principal, George Wirstman.
It was a multi-storey structure, an enclosed building with basically no windows,
Appearing more like a huge gray block standing at the summit of the mountain.
The reason for [enclosure] was simple.
The interior of the building housed some Pathological teaching materials, the bodies of Patients, and various plants and inorganic materials infected with Pathogens.
Furthermore,
For safety management and efficient teaching, small class sizes were adopted here.
The same batch of gentlemen who passed the assessment were in one class (if the number was less than ten, classes would be combined)
Yi Chen's batch passed a total of seventeen people, thus forming their own class.
What needs to be mentioned is,
The duration of teaching Pathology is [one year]. After the final exam, unless in some special circumstances, there will be no need to set foot in this building again.
...
Early morning [07:50]
In front of the large elevator, over a hundred and thirty gentlemen had already gathered.
When Yi Chen approached the crowd here, he immediately heard a familiar greeting.
"William, that suit of yours is really nice!"
The one who greeted him was Blond Edmund, who had been looking around for Yi Chen ever since he arrived.
The gentlemen who had passed the assessment together turned their heads at the mention of Yi Chen's English name, curious about just how special a suit made from the 'First Gentleman's' skin could be.
Clearly,
The ancient aura from Yi Chen's suit was somewhat heavier, and the various supportive effects the clothing provided were notably better.
Edmund squeezed through the crowd and quickly came to Yi Chen's side.
He grabbed his seemingly restless right wrist with his left hand and asked with a tense face, "Can I touch it?"
"Hmm."
Touching the suit was no issue; it had a self-cleaning function.
Edmund merely brushed it with his fingers and a tingling sensation, like an electric shock, spread throughout his body.
"What... what is this level of completeness? Even within my family, I've never seen such a perfect early-stage suit... Where did you have it tailored?"
"At a friend of Professor Qian Bosen."
"It seems it's a private tailor shop I'm unaware of, I'm envious."
Yi Chen then sized up the blond young man before muttering low,
"Your suit isn't bad either."
Edmund's suit was in deep blue, with a design featuring double-breasted peaked lapels, six buttons, and high gorge lines—a traditional suit with a blend of nobility's dignity and an unorthodox zest for life.
As for the other two members of Edmund's squad, their main colors were coincidentally one black and one white.
Juliana's black suit had a leisurely look with narrow shoulders and a slim fit that accentuated her figure.
Dagbert looked like a suit thug, his white suit fitting perfectly to his physique, the well-defined muscles discernible even through the fabric.
Besides,
Jin, with his colorful mask and floral suit, was not present here,
It was almost certain that Jin had chosen the black letter.
Time was up, with a thunderous roar~
The giant elevator carried everyone up towards the summit,
Edmund moved close to Yi Chen's ear and whispered,
"Hey~ I heard some rumors through the grapevine.
The school, due to staffing issues, has assigned us a 'Pathology' teacher with... some problems.
He once caused the direct death of a student due to inappropriate teaching methods.
As a result, he was severely punished and subjected to Zion's trial... but due to his irreplaceability and uniqueness, he was still kept at the school.
How about we watch out for each other during the class?"
"Hmm."
...
Entering the Vilsterman Teaching Building required passing through a straight, dim corridor for a thorough check.
Next, they ascended the turning stairs inside,
and could hear the humming of multiple generators in the corridor—the teaching building used a self-generating system, completely isolated from Zion City's power supply, to prevent pathogen leakage.
It took nearly twenty minutes to finally reach the floor where the classroom was located.
It resembled the structure of an old floor designed specifically for confining severe mental patients,
with narrow and sealed passages,
iron doors with small windows,
and tungsten lamps that continually emitted a hissing, dying sound.
[#203#]
This was the special classroom where Yi Chen and the others would study 'Pathology' for the coming year.
He pushed open the iron door.
Inside was a completely sealed old classroom,
with twenty rust-spotted metal desks placed haphazardly,
The so-called podium was more like a metal dissecting table,
Just as everyone chose a spot and started to arrange the messy desks in order, there was a tap~ the sound of footsteps could be faintly heard outside.
Everyone instinctively thought the teacher had arrived and promptly sat up straight.
However,
As the footsteps drew closer, everyone's expressions began to sour.
It wasn't the steps of one person but of a crowd, quite dense at that.
Creak!
The moment the iron door to the classroom was pushed open, the already unstable tungsten light bulbs simultaneously went out.
In the darkness,
Groups of deformed living beings, squeezing the narrow doorframe, flooded into the classroom like a tide.