Ch83 – Index 1’s heart rate is accelerating

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At seven on the dot, everyone went to their classrooms and prepared for evening self-study.

Unfortunately, one student happened to be two minutes late and was stopped by the stairs by a teaching assistant. 

His guttural wails echoed throughout the entire teaching block.

Everyone found out then; First High’s minor infraction was dealt with by flogging.
A demerit was a brutal beating followed by being stripped naked and tossed into a confined dark room, where they’d be locked up for seven days.
During this time, pig food would be shoved through a narrow opening, and they’d eat, drink, and shit inside.

 

 

No one had committed a major violation before, but it was expected to have consequences much more horrifying than the previous two.

Punishment would be dealt for any violation of the school rules, and it was the same if one was caught in the hostel. 

What was most terrifying was the lengthy duration of this instance.

 

A whole hundred and twenty days; in other words, they would be unable to return to the trainee dormitories for the next four months.

In the past, it didn’t matter how grievously injured a contender got in an instance.
As long as he was still breathing, he could simply cash in 500 survival points with the system for full recovery.
Now, if a student was injured within the school compound, unless he was lucky enough to have healing props at hand, he’d have to lick his wounds himself.

There wasn’t an infirmary in this school, and injuries healed at a regular person’s pace.

 

Under such arduous circumstances, the few B-ranks with healing abilities would surely be treated like treasures.

During evening self-study, each class went to move schoolbooks, collecting the textbooks and workbooks across the nine subjects.

There weren’t many class periods today, but with their lives hanging on the line, every trainee had their noses in textbooks, reading the questions.
They didn’t care whether they could make sense of them on their own, but started by going through the placement exam’s answer key question by question.

 

The security cameras suspended from the ceiling swivelled like heads. 

Occasionally, a patrolling teacher or teaching assistant would wander down the hallways during evening self-study.
Their dark shadows pulled infinitely long, and their faceless countenance reflected on the window outside caused the skin of anyone who glimpsed it to crawl.

[Too painful… As an old corporate slave who has graduated more than a decade ago, just thinking about having to go back and relearn my high school syllabus has me lying serenely in the ICU.]

[There’s still a month to go.
I wonder how the results will turn out; has anyone done an estimate?]

[Learning the entire high school syllabus in a month… ermmm I don’t think that’s very likely, not to mention that there are Olympiad questions as well.
I reckon that you can probably get first in the year as long as you pass every subject.] 

[I think so too.
It’d already be outstanding to get a passing grade for every subject after just one month.
Wipes specs and waits in anticipation~]

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Let alone the bullet chat, even the trainees themselves were still reeling.

Who hadn’t slacked off back in school? While studying was hard, there was still joy to be found in striving amidst adversity.

Furthermore, high school was a sacred place in many people’s minds.
Everything that occurred during this time would be cloaked in a veil that, while maybe beautiful or painful, was still a faraway dream during the sensitivity of their adolescence years. 

Now, this instance completely shattered any allure of high school.

Studying was no longer about getting into their dream tertiary institutions, but simply for survival’s sake.

 

They’d die if they didn’t study.

There was no lack of students who didn’t work hard back in school, or those like Tsuchimikado who weren’t cut out for studying at all.
There were even those who hadn’t participated in China’s entrance examinations in the first place.
But no matter how rebellious they once were, they were presently being forced to pick up their books and reread every question in the difficult reading materials. 

This was only the first day, yet the fiery learning environment was completely charged.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

No one wanted to end up last.
No one wanted to die.

Zfjcktlif, Ibcu Ale, jr mijrr wbclabg, tjv wbgf bc tlr tjcvr.

Ljnlcu ujlcfv atf ylbibus ifrrbc qijc ogbw atf Gfnli, tf qglbglalrfv ufaalcu Dlbibus ragjluta veglcu atlr fnfclcu’r rfio-raevs. 

Pa kjr bynlber ja j uijcmf atja atf ifrrbc qijc kjr j qgbq qgfqjgfv ys atf rsrafw obg RUJr.
Ktf kbgvr qglcafv bc la kfgf qfgofmais qgbqbgalbcji.
Qtlif Ibcu Ale tjvc’a rffc atf Gfnli’r tjcvkglalcu yfobgf, jcsbcf klat fsfr mbeiv afii atja atlr kjrc’a kglaafc ys tlw.

Besides that, he also had to consider the situation within the class.

Because of No.
1’s unexpected interruption, the effect of Zong Jiu’s harsh words received a huge debuff.

Even so, the trainee who had raised his dissent, index 53, didn’t seem to dare to have any more objections against Zong Jiu. 

Zong Jiu wasn’t asking everyone to listen to him.
He only asked that they would focus on their studies in the remaining days.

Under such a conducive studying environment, two periods of evening self-study quickly passed.

“Ringggg—”

A shrill bell ripped across the deep night. 

Trainees got to their feet, not forgetting to bring their books back to the hostel with them.　

Though First High didn’t have the concept of homework, no one dared not to take their books back with them to drill.

Zong Jiu also picked up his books and got ready to leave.

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Seeing his actions, a trainee hesitantly called hold of him. 

“What is it?”

The young man turned his head back slightly, his white ponytail spilling on his shoulder, the perfect side profile faintly visible under the incandescent light.

 

[Though I’ve said it countless times, I still want to howl again—the Magician is a true beauty!]

[Sobbing, I concur.
He’s too good-looking.
In my eyes, his attractiveness index has shot up to the ceiling.] 

[I’m already screenshotting it.
Same old, I’ll be posting it on the forum; those who want it as a screensaver, help yourselves ^^]

[Thank you sis!]

[Who would have thought that I became his fan because of his looks at the start? He can clearly rely on his face, yet he insists on relying on strength.]

The trainee paused, faltering.
“About that… didn’t Mr.
Nan ask you to find him in his office after school?” 

If the break in the afternoon didn’t count as the end of school, then evening self-study had got to be it, right? Furthermore, the third period of evening self-study was given for them to make their own arrangements—so shouldn’t he make the trip?

Zong Jiu expressionlessly dropped a sentence.
“Right, that.
Not going.”

To tell the truth, Zong Jiu had never considered going obediently to the office.

Did he have to go just because the Devil asked him to? Wasn’t that just rubbing it in Zong Jiu’s face? 

Did he seriously look like someone who’d obediently listen to a teacher?

Even if he did, he most assuredly wouldn’t listen to Mr.
Nan.

With that said, the white-haired young man did exactly that, breezily turning around and following the crowd to the hostel, whilst trainees gaped at his figure, lightly tripping along.

After returning to his room in the hostel, even the three S-ranks chose to light a lamp to read, forging on until midnight. 

Van Zhuo, as a half-vampire, had an enviable natural advantage in this aspect.
He got more invigorated the later it became.

It was almost two in the morning by the time Zong Jiu put his books aside.
He hopped down from his bed to fetch a cup of water.
When he looked back, he saw that the grey-haired man was still holding a fountain pen, seriously tackling Physics.

Revisiting and reconstructing high school knowledge easily gave people the sensation of breaking through the fourth wall.

Zong Jiu shook his head.
As he readied for bed, he saw that man set down his pen, quietly telling him goodnight. 

The white-haired young man set down his stainless steel cup and replied goodnight in kind.

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Leaving aside that illusory marriage contract, they were still distant relatives after all.

 

Zong Jiu believed that Van Zhuo saw this ‘childhood sweetheart’ through rose-tinted glasses.
Despite his reticence and aloofness, he did genuinely regard him as a younger brother.

He stepped on the ladder, climbing up to his bed with this thought in mind, not noticing that on the lower bunk, Black Shaman’s green eyes were still open. 

—

With no Biology class in the following three days, Zong Jiu was practically able to kick back and relax.

But he didn’t expect that after No.
1 blatantly skived work, he was thrilled to be back a few days later, with a vengeance.

The class schedule was packed during these days, rotating between the nine subjects.
The knowledge imparted through lectures in class was limited, and more of it still fell upon the students to self-study. 

In addition to these classes, there was even a period of art class and P.E.
class every week.

This week’s P.E.
class had been replaced by Math, and Art was certainly not immune from being replaced as well.
Sure enough, just before class started, they were informed by a teaching assistant that class had been replaced by Biology.

Zong Jiu, “…”

Ominous vibes… 

At the ring of the school bell, the black-haired man stepped into the classroom, smiling as he announced that today’s class was about human anatomy.
And so, Zong Jiu’s ominous vibes intensified.

Especially when the Devil said merrily, “In order to let students gain a better understanding of the human body, I will select a student to assist me.”

As expected, the next sentence was “Index 1, come up to the podium for a demonstration.”

Under the unsurprised gazes of everyone in class, Zong Jiu gritted his teeth, walking up to the podium. 

A human anatomical model was fundamentally different from a real human.
It was only natural to use a student as a model to teach.

“Strip.”

Slowly and deliberately, the man drew out a teacher’s pointer; it was difficult to discern delight or rage from the low voice.

The tip of the steel pointer fell on the jacket zip on the white-haired young man’s chest, nudging the clasp.
The hint was unmistakeable. 

Zong Jiu threw daggers at it with his eyes.

The blue and white uniform also comprised a thin T-shirt.

 

The white-haired young man stood on the podium, his hair tied in a high ponytail, wearing only a thin shirt that accentuated a slender, attractive figure.

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In sharp contrast to this was Zong Jiu’s stormy face. 

If the Devil dared to get him to strip further, he’d dare to openly assault the teacher in class.

[This… is clearly a normal teaching demonstration, so why does it feel strange to me?]

[What did the Magician do to provoke No.
1.
This is too tragic, no?]

[Not quite, I just think that the atmosphere between the two of them is very weird…? Think about it.
If anyone really pissed No.
1 off, there’d be not a corpse to be found.
How can he still let the other party strut around in front of his eyes?] 

[Right? Rather than being diametrically opposed to each other, it looks more to me like little schoolboys trying to aggravate each other on purpose.]

To Zong Jiu’s surprise, the other party didn’t intend to go there.

Even the pleasant smile the Devil usually wore was absent from his face.
Instead, he looked more like a proper teacher, giving a proper lecture.

Gradually, the trainees in class also concentrated.
With death hanging over their heads, no one would pay attention to these other things, and all that could be heard in the silent classroom was the soft scratching of pen tips across paper. 

Only Zong Jiu was deeply aware of the true intentions concealed beneath the affected ‘polished scoundrel’ image that the other person put on.

“This is the pharynx.”

The icy pointer slid down the young man’s graceful jawbone, circling the notch on his throat, tracing along the edge of his T-shirt to reach his attractive collarbones.

“The bronchial tubes lead down to the left and right lungs.” 

Despite being separated by a layer of clothing, the prodding of the hard steel tip brought Zong Jiu discomfort all over his body.

The next move nearly made him leap.

Because that teacher’s pointer unerringly landed right on Zong Jiu’s heart.

The heart was undoubtedly one of the most crucial and dangerous areas of the human body. 

Just this one action made all of Zong Jiu’s hairs stand on end, blood rushing straight to his head.

“This is the heart.
The organ that pumps blood in the human body, weighing approximately two hundred and fifty grams.”

 

The male’s deep and low timbre rang from beside him, carrying a clearly perceivable note of teasing.

“Oh? Index 1’s heart rate is accelerating.
Its beats are fast and strong.
We can deduce from this that the student’s body is perfectly healthy.” 

The white-haired young man’s gaze was ferocious.
Using the cover of the podium, he stomped down hard on No.
1’s black leather shoe.

And even made sure to grind his heel in with deadly force.