The driver was startled by his own thoughts, but since he had never been to a contaminated area, he had no idea what had happened.

He looked at the school building before him, almost as if he could see a group of students playing in the open yard.

These children were carefree, untouched by too much darkness. They were wholeheartedly devoted to their studies, waiting for the day they could get into a university and secure a good job.

They gathered in small groups, some in twos and threes, and some even called out to him, inviting him to join them.

The driver quickly refused. "No thanks, I'm too old to play with kids."

A student with an indistinct face responded, "If you can't play kids' games, then let's play something for adults?"

Just as the driver was wondering what "something for adults" meant, he saw the indistinct-faced students suddenly break out in dense clusters of tiny black dots. The dots grew larger and larger.

Terrified, the driver fell to the ground with a thud.

The students stopped what they were doing. From the black holes covering their bodies came a chilling voice:

"Come play with us!"

The driver’s eyes gradually turned bloodshot.

Fu Gui immediately screamed, "Pollution alert!"

The driver convulsed and collapsed. Something wriggled beneath the skin of his neck. Then, with a sickening burst, blood sprayed out, and a long, trembling tentacle emerged. At its tip was a woman’s mouth, painted with red lipstick and smeared with blood.

This was one of the rare times Ruan Xing witnessed a polluted human being. The sight made him hesitate for a brief moment.

The half-formed mouth on the driver’s neck opened and closed.

"Since our dear audience members don’t seem interested in listening properly, why don’t we change the format of our broadcast?"

Without waiting for a response, the crimson lips curled into a sinister smile.

"Now, let’s tune in to our third guest’s story. This one is a bit... intense. A certain gentleman from a contact list—what kind of experiences has he had?"

A timid male voice slowly began to speak:

[I—I’m a zero. On a dark, rainy night, I opened a hookup app to search for prey...]

At the same time, more and more black holes appeared on the driver’s body, which stopped growing when they reached the size of eyeballs. As the woman’s mouth continued speaking, the black holes began to twitch.

Looking closer—those weren’t black holes at all. They were countless tightly shut mouths.

As the story reached its climax, the mouths began to open and close, revealing flashes of red and black.

[I found a group. Driven by desire, I joined them...]

Ruan Xing aimed his gun at the driver, but Pink Hair rushed forward and yanked him back.

"Are you crazy?! He’s still human! That’s murder!"

Without a wristband, Ruan Xing had no way of knowing the extent of the driver’s pollution—until Fu Gui nodded.

[He’s still human. I’d estimate his contamination level at around 55%.]

Just a little more, and he would be entirely polluted.

Pink Hair shielded the driver, dodging the snapping woman’s mouth. He grabbed the tentacle, flicked two fingers, and tossed something into the mouth.

The mouths shrieked and snapped shut. The once-thrashing tentacle trembled violently before collapsing, withering away under the effects of the drug.

Soon, the black spots on the driver’s body shrank, reducing to the size of a pinky nail—too small to sustain the mouths, too small to make any sound.

Fu Gui: [Pollution level: 40%.]

The driver slowly opened his eyes and asked with a confused expression, " What happened to me?"

Pink Hair: "You almost became a permanent guest, old man. If that happened, you might’ve ended up telling your own story. Maybe we’d hear about your past escapades on some late-night broadcast."

The driver's face changed drastically.

Ruan Xing reassured him, "He gave you the medicine. You’re safe now."

The driver let out a long sigh of relief.

Pink Hair glanced at him. "Boring."

Ruan Xing crouched down. "Can you still walk?"

The driver smiled bitterly, "No strength left."

Ruan Xing looked at the pink-haired guy.

Pink Hair bristled. "Why me?! Why don’t you carry him?!"

Ruan Xing spread his hands. "I’m just a rookie. I don’t have the kind of superpowers a senior like you does."

The driver turned his pleading eyes toward the pink-haired guy.

With an exaggerated sigh, the pink-haired guy finally gave in and hoisted the driver onto his back.

Of course, he didn’t rely on brute strength alone. Snapping off a piece of the railing, he fashioned an exoskeleton to support himself and save energy.

With all the extra gear clanking against him, he was practically a walking metal contraption.

The three of them didn’t enter the classrooms. Instead, they walked along the hallway.

The school’s hallways were connected to the outside world, so rain could easily sweep in. To the left lay a garden shrouded in darkness, and to the right were restless classrooms.

The corridor’s lights were motion-activated. Though no one knew how they still had power, they flickered to life with each step.

Tap. Tap. Tap...

Their footsteps echoed through the empty school.

"Wait."

Ruan Xing stopped.

The pink-haired guy shot him an impatient look. "What now? You wanna take turns carrying him?”

Ruan Xing frowned. The driver was on Pink Hair’s back—so why were there three sets of footsteps?

He turned around, but the corridor was empty.

Silence swallowed the far end of the hallway, which was now lost in darkness. But as soon as the footsteps stopped, the darkness surged toward them, rapidly closing in.

"Let’s go."

Ruan Xing kept moving. This school was far too large. They had been walking down the first-floor corridor for ages, yet there was still no end in sight.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap...

Four sets of footsteps.

Ruan Xing stopped again. It wasn’t his imagination. Something was following them.

Pink Hair groaned. "Come on! You stopping and starting like this is exhausting. I’m actually trying to be nice here, so don’t make me regret it! Otherwise, who knows what kind of crazy thing I might do?"

Fu Gui’s voice chimed in. [Footsteps are behind us.]

Ruan Xing turned. "Shut up. Something’s trailing us."

The ahoge (阿呆毛 ā dāi máo, Foolish Hair) on the pink-haired head stood up.

He turned his gaze downward. Their footprints were still visible in the rain-dampened corridor. There were two sets: a heavier one from him carrying the driver and a lighter one from Ruan Xing and his crow.

But... wasn’t that second set too thin? And why was the shape so strange? It didn’t look like footprints at all. More like... the trail of something slithering, winding, and twisting.

It reminded Pink Hair of that long, grotesque mouth that had emerged from the driver earlier.

If that thing had detached from its host and crawled along the ground, it might have left tracks like these.

Pink Hair turned to look at Ruan Xing—

But there was no one there.

Only an empty corridor stretched before him. He was alone with the driver he was carrying.

The motion-sensor lights flickered out, and darkness crept closer.

The pink-haired man couldn't help but swallow hard.

No way... There weren’t actually ghosts here, right?

Just as the shadows were about to reach him, a faint laugh echoed through the air.

The driver shuddered. "That voice—I heard it when I was unconscious!"

Pink Hair narrowed his eyes.

Not a ghost? Good. That made things simpler.

"Classmate, what are you doing here? The class has already started. Hurry, come with me to the classroom!"

The lights suddenly flickered back on.

A girl in a pleated skirt now stood where Ruan Xing had been. She had straight-cut bangs and a student’s bob, but her limbs were deathly pale. The upper half of her face was shrouded in darkness, and only her blood-red lips were visible.

"Classmate, aren’t you going to class?"

She reached out to grab him.

Pink Hair dodged in a flash. "Men and women should keep their distance! I don’t like you, big sis!"

The girl chuckled softly. "You sure love to joke, classmate."

Her scarlet lips curled into a smile, revealing countless spiraling, jagged teeth inside.

"If you don’t hurry, you’ll be late."

The figure urged him forward, licking its lips with its tongue.

Still carrying the driver, Pink Hair found it inconvenient to argue, so he clicked his tongue and said, "Lead the way."

—

When Ruan Xing turned around, Pink Hair and the driver were gone.

In their place stood a male student, his face shrouded in darkness, revealing only a single mouth.

"Classmate, it's time for class," the figure urged.

Fu Gui tilted its head. [This voice sounds familiar…]

Ruan Xing tightened his grip on his gun. "It's the protagonist from the story earlier."

A random thought popped into Fu Gui’s mind: When two zeros meet, one must attack (*be 1).

Ruan Xing: [What the hell are you thinking? Why is your mind just a mosaic of censorship?]

Fu Gui coughed. [I was thinking about a bloody scene. It’s not something you need to see.]

"Classmate, if you don’t hurry, you’ll be late."

The male student was actually half a head shorter than Ruan Xing, which meant Ruan Xing could easily see inside his mouth—pitch-black saliva pooling up and overflowing as time passed.

Ruan Xing raised his gun. "If I kill you, will I get out of here?"

The male student acted like he hadn't heard, but the saliva surged even more. A tongue lined with barbs flicked out, licking at the air, clearly even more excited than before.

Fu Gui: Wow, this guy’s an M.

Ruan Xing lowered his gun. Killing this thing seemed to be precisely what it wanted. Better not cause unnecessary trouble.

"Let's go."

The male student led Ruan Xing into a classroom.

The room was brightly lit, but the light failed to pierce the darkness obscuring the students’ faces. Ruan Xing couldn't see their expressions, only the exaggerated curves of their crimson mouths, which gave away their emotions.

Seeing the new student arrive, the mouths stretched into exaggerated grins.

"A new classmate is here!"

The boys and girls alike beamed unnaturally wide. From a distance, their mouths stood out in stark red against the void of their faces.

They were delighted by the newcomer’s arrival.

"New student, introduce yourself!"

Pink Hair was ushered onto the podium.

"What’s that on your back? Is it food?" a female voice asked.

Pink Hair turned his head slightly. "It’s my old man."

The female student: ???

Pink Hair sighed dramatically.

"I grew up in a poor household. My mother passed away early, and my father was paralyzed. I studied hard, worked multiple jobs, and finally got accepted into my dream school. After years of suffering and hardship, it was all worth it. Thanks to my excellent grades, I was given the opportunity to attend Ellingston Business School. Through sheer willpower, I will carve out a place for myself in this world!"

With ease, Pink Hair crafted an inspiring persona of a struggling student from humble beginnings who fought against adversity.

"Classmate, you seem quite inspirational—"

"No! It’s not just about me!" Pink Hair interrupted with a voice filled with passion. "It was my father’s guidance that shaped me. He taught me to be a good person, a strong and upright man! I stand here today to tell him—I did it! Dad! I didn’t let you down! I brought you onto the world stage—do you see it?!"

Tears welled up in Pink Hair’s eyes as he clutched his chest and gazed dramatically at the ceiling.

"Uh… this isn’t exactly a world stage—"

"No! It is! The place where I realize my dream is the world stage!" Pink Hair jabbed a finger at the female student who questioned him.

"The size of your heart defines the size of your dreams, and the size of your dreams defines the size of your stage!"

"But this is a school, for crying out loud! Get a grip!"

The student with straight-cut bangs bared her mouthful of spiraling, rapidly rotating teeth, roaring at him.

Pink Hair wiped the black saliva off his face. "Sorry, I got a little emotional meeting my classmates for the first time."

"This classmate sure has a good sense of humor, hehe. You can take a seat in the last row with your father on your back."

The driver was already numb. Ever since he'd been polluted, nothing in this world seemed normal anymore.

—

On the other side, Ruan Xing was led to the second-to-last row after a brief self-introduction. As soon as he sat down, the surrounding red mouths leaned in close.

"Classmate, how old are you?"

"Classmate, you smell amazing!"

"Classmate, wanna hook up?"

Ruan Xing: ???

Did something strange slip into the mix?

"Alright, start the class. Today’s lesson is on using quantum theory to explain the origins of the universe…"

At the podium, the male student who had led Ruan Xing inside spoke fluently, his words a blur of complex concepts that Ruan Xing barely understood.

"The two fundamental theories of modern physics are the Standard Model and General Relativity… We can also approach this from the perspective of Superstring Theory, or what some call M-Theory…"

Once on the podium, the student seemed like a completely different person—no longer eerie or sinister but rather scholarly and refined. Even his teeth didn’t look as terrifying anymore.

"Wow, Classmate Wang is so handsome!"

The female students in the front row barely contained their excitement. They pressed their hands to their cheeks, and their crimson lips opened and closed as they gushed.

"Seriously, he has a good family background and is incredibly smart!"

"I just don’t understand why he’s dating some commoner!"

"Ugh, it's because she's pretty. But honestly, she is really good-looking. You haven't seen how well he treats her—if I were that girl, I'd be over the moon! He even put her shoes on for her!"

"That’s straight out of a fairytale!"

"He’s so devoted to her that he doesn’t even care about his fiancée anymore!"

The overlapping voices of the red mouths layered together, forming a relentless tide of chatter—so dense and incessant that it became a white noise hum that lulled people into sleep.

Ruan Xing pinched Fu Gui, pulling him back from the brink of slumber.

Fu Gui: [This kind of contamination is impossible to guard against! It feels like I’m back in college—some professors had voices that were just as hypnotic.]

"Alright, that’s the end of my lesson," the male student said with a gentle smile. "Now, let’s have the new student come up and teach a class. If everyone acknowledges your lesson, great. But if they find it too simple—"

He licked his lips. "Then there’s no place for useless fools in this school~"

"Anything is fine?" Ruan Xing raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, anything." The male student walked up to him and extended his pale hand. "Come, let’s welcome our bright new classmate."

"Alright then."

Ruan Xing stepped onto the podium and swept his gaze over the room.

The scarlet mouths licked their lips, some even extending their tongues and waggling them at him—especially the one that had asked if he wanted to hook up earlier.

The male student took Ruan Xing’s seat, propping his chin on his hand, and watched leisurely.

"If your lesson covers something we’ve already learned, then there’s no reason for you to exist, is there?"

Ruan Xing took a deep breath.

"Then today’s lesson will be on ‘Advanced Theoretical Magic: Combined Research and Practical Applications.’"

The students: ??? What the hell???

Ruan Xing: Teaching? That’s my specialty.