[Welcome to the Eerie Realm. This round's theme is—Haunted Night School]
[Game Objective: Survive until 4:44 AM. Leaving the school before then is strictly prohibited.]
[Number of participants: 10]
[The game will start in 3 minutes. Have fun…]
The eerie announcement echoed in Emmett's ears, leaving him staring blankly at the nightmare-like exam paper in front of him.
He had just finished his college entrance exams today, celebrated by tossing all his books and stationery, and even set his Algebra 1~5 on fire for good measure.
And now, he was back in school again???
Was this karma?!
Though a bit bewildered, Emmett wasn't entirely surprised by the creepy announcement.
The Eerie Realm was a well-known curse in this world.
It had appeared out of nowhere ten years ago, randomly selecting people from all over and sending them to a ghost-infested world to struggle for survival.
The timing was unpredictable, the participants were random, and the purpose was unknown.
Every time someone entered the game, a live stream would pop up online, revealing the in-game situation.
When the game first appeared, it caused massive panic, with an almost total death rate making people think the apocalypse had arrived.
However, as the game continued, some patterns were discovered, and things settled down a bit.
If it was your first time entering the game, the difficulty would be the lowest. But if there were experienced players in your group, the difficulty would balance out accordingly.
Once you cleared a level, the chances of being selected again would drop significantly. Of course, you could also choose to enter the game voluntarily.
As the information about the Eerie Realm surfaced in his mind, Emmett took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
With the game yet to start, he glanced around.
He was in a classroom, surrounded by students. Most of them had their heads down, faces pale as if all blood had drained away.
The seats were all splattered with blood, as if someone had been brutally killed there multiple times.
Their hands, holding pens, were covered in fresh blood, yet none of it stained the exam papers.
At the front of the room, the exam supervisor teacher sat silently. His mouth was slit widely open like a creepy smile, and his eyes had been gouged out, still bleeding.
Even without eyes, Emmett could feel his smiling gaze fixed on him, sending chills down his spine.
The words "make-up exam" on the blackboard behind him were written purely in blood, making it incredibly creepy.
Even though Emmett had watched a few live streams of the Eerie Realm, experiencing it firsthand was a whole different level of chilling, those cold shadows, like warm nibbling bones, wouldn't leave him.
[Darn, the classroom doors and windows are sealed tight. Breaking out was impossible. Do I really have to finish the test first?]
Emmett's gaze returned to the test paper in front of him. After glancing at the questions, his face darkened. Who on earth could answer these questions?!
*Question 1: Which dish in the school cafeteria is the most nutritious?
*Question 2: What caused the death of the students at the sports meet?
*Question 3: What are the characteristics of the school security guards?
...
Looking at these questions, not only did Emmett feel a headache coming on, but even the viewers who had squeezed into the live stream showed sympathetic expressions.
"Starting off this intense? How's this newbie supposed to get through?"
"And the classroom doors and windows are locked. There's no way to verify the answers."
"Can he use the excuse of going to the bathroom to check?"
"Forget it. There was a similar case before where someone tried to verify a ghost's characteristics. The ghost's killing pattern was triggered by being seen, and all twenty-plus participants were wiped out. It's a trap waiting for you."
"This game is such a troll!"
…
Just as the viewers were losing hope, Emmett's eyes suddenly widened. Next to the questions in his field of vision, a few words slowly appeared—
[For Question 1, choose C: Eyeballs]
"Hiss—"
Emmett took a deep breath, his pupils shaking wildly.
Did he just get a cheat code?!
Tentatively, he looked up at the proctor again. The hint reappeared in his vision and echoed in his mind.
[The school's exam supervisor had his eyes gouged out by the principal for negligence. He vents his resentment on the students. If caught cheating, the consequences are unimaginable.]
[You can't leave your seat during the exam, but you can request to go to the bathroom three times, with intervals not exceeding 3 minutes. The security guard will appear on the second trip. Seeing the guard means instant death. Not recommended.]
It really was a DAMN cheat code!
All of Emmett's remaining tension vanished, and he looked at the test paper with newfound confidence.
With these hints, I can ace this test!
Compared to Emmett, the other players without any hints were already freaking out, desperately looking to their companions for help.
"Hey hey, do you know how to solve this?"
"Not a ghost of a chance!"
"Anyone got the answers? Help a brother out, and you'll have good karma for life!"
With just a few seconds left before the game started, a few players began to shout, hoping to find some miracle teammate.
Unfortunately, all they got in return was silence.
[Game Start]
As the game prompt sounded again, the players who had been jumping around were instantly forced back into their seats.
They trembled like quails, not daring to make a sound.
As the proctor stood up, a bone-chilling cold enveloped the entire classroom, making the players stiffen in fear.
A few players, unable to come up with any answers, decided to just guess on the multiple-choice questions. Who knows, they might get a few right!
Only Emmett, almost like he was speedrunning, quickly started writing down answers on his test paper with a look of focused confidence that left the viewers in the livestream chat stunned.
"Hoho~ I can see my younger self in him. I had no clue what I was doing, but I was just as cool when guessing on multiple-choice questions."
"Same here! With so many options, you're bound to get one right by chance!"
"This guy's definitely guessing. He's picking all C's. Bold move."
"I did that once too, betting on luck. My parents bet on whether they'd kill me for it."
Emmett, looking at the cheat sheet hints, felt a bit uncertain.
All the multiple-choice answers were C. That just didn't seem possible!
[Do not doubt the accuracy of the hints. If even one is wrong, I'll take your last name.]
"..."
Hearing this very human-like response, Emmett's mouth twitched, but he still obediently wrote down the answers as prompted.
After all, he had no idea what the real answers were anyway.
[Warning: The ghost student at the right desk is about to lose its eyeball and is trying to dig out yours to replace it. Be careful.]
Emmett's eyelid twitched as he slightly turned his head, just in time to meet the gaze of the student at the right desk.
The student's left eye suddenly exploded, with bits of blood and flesh splattering onto Emmett's desk. The hollow eye socket stared at Emmett as a small hand reached out towards him.
A shadow of death instantly loomed over Emmett's heart, causing his heartbeat to skip a beat.
In a moment of panic, Emmett had a flash of inspiration and shouted out, almost drawing the entire class's attention—
"Sir, this guy is trying to copy my answers!"