The class passed by very quickly.

When Gu Mian's class ended, he ran into Chu Changge, who was waiting at the classroom door.

As he approached the classroom door, a wave of heat washed over him. Chu Changge had clearly been waiting for a long time, evidenced by the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead.

By this time, the other students had already left one by one. They had all gone to lunch, and perhaps because they had the afternoon off, they all looked remarkably relaxed.

Chu Changge blocked Gu Mian's path, glanced at the empty classroom behind him, and then said, "You saw me just now, didn't you?"

Gu Mian nodded. "Yes, I saw you, and you saw me too, right?"

Chu Changge admitted, "Yes."

He hesitated, then looked towards the classroom behind Gu Mian. "Aside from me, did you see anything else just now?"

Hearing this, Gu Mian also looked back. "There was only you downstairs."

"I'm not talking about downstairs."

Gu Mian furrowed his brow. "You mean inside this classroom?"

Chu Changge nodded slightly. "Right in front of your seat."

Speaking of the seat in front of him... The student with the bitter-melon face, who sat there, had already vanished, probably in a hurry to get food.

Was the ghost in this instance invisible?

If it was invisible, the "Strange Camera" in Fatty's hands could capture the true appearance of these ghosts. Although the images it captured didn't look as good as selfies, Gu Mian figured the ghosts wouldn't mind.

As Gu Mian pondered this, he averted his gaze. "If the ghost is invisible, staring at the spot won't make it appear. Let's go find Fatty and get the camera first."

As he said this, he started walking towards the stairs.

Chu Changge followed closely. "Have you two met?"

"Yeah," Gu Mian nodded. "He's in the classroom in the middle of the floor below."

The teaching building's hallway wasn't long. The two of them quickly descended the stairs and arrived at the classroom in the middle of the hallway.

Gu Mian glanced at the nameplate on the classroom door—[Year Two, Division One, Class Shiba].

"It should be here."

Since high school students didn't have long lunch breaks, they usually returned to their classrooms early in the afternoon, so the doors were typically left unlocked.

Although it was a rest period that afternoon, some diligent students might have returned for self-study, so the door was unlocked.

Gu Mian stroked his chin. "But it's a bit odd."

Technically, even if Fatty hadn't managed to come upstairs to find him, he should be waiting at the classroom door by now.

Could he have decided to wait in the classroom because it was too hot in the hallway?

While pondering this, Gu Mian pushed the door.

With a CREAK, the door swung open. The students had already left, so the central air conditioning had been shut off. The last wisp of cool air from the classroom rushed out, meeting the hot air in the hallway and instantly evaporating. Two seconds later, the final trace of coolness in the room had vanished completely.

Gu Mian stood by the door, scanning the empty classroom. "No one's here."

Never mind a two-hundred-pound Fatty, even a slim and frail girl would have nowhere to hide in this classroom.

This was the centermost classroom in the hallway, but Fatty wasn't inside.

Perhaps he's in an adjacent one?

Gu Mian moved quickly, searching the two adjacent classrooms, but there was still no sign of Fatty.

How strange.

Although he didn't find Fatty, Gu Mian did discover something else.

The hallway had fallen silent again when the sound of a classroom door opening at the far end broke the stillness. Then, someone snuck out.

Given Fatty's distinctive physique, Gu Mian recognized at once that this slimmer, more youthful-looking person wasn't Fatty, but another familiar face.

Gu Mian remembered this face, but he couldn't quite recall the name.

He remembered this face belonged to a player who had participated in the same instance with him before. Although the person looked much younger now, Gu Mian, who had a good memory, still recognized him, even if he'd forgotten the nickname.

Gu Mian also recalled that the name of that instance was something like the "Spirit Car Test Center." He wondered if that instance had been repaired yet.

The person who slipped out of the classroom obviously recognized Gu Mian as well. He froze, seemingly wanting to approach.

But then, he seemed to see something terrifying. Staring at the space behind Gu Mian, he abruptly retreated several steps, his mouth slightly agape in terror.

Before Gu Mian could react, the man spun around, stumbled towards the nearby stairs, and fled headlong without looking back.

What happened?

Gu Mian also looked behind himself, puzzled.

Chu Changge was standing not far behind him, his face expressionless.

By now, Chu Changge seemed to have adapted to the scorching heat. Even though he was fully exposed to the sun, his forehead was no longer beaded with sweat, and he looked quite refreshed.

Gu Mian looked at Chu Changge behind him. "Was there something behind me just now?"

What could have frightened the man so much?

Chu Changge paused for a moment. "No."

He then added, "Perhaps he saw something out the window."

Though, the direction he was looking in earlier was nowhere near a window.

"Speaking of which," Gu Mian moved a step into the shadows of the hallway. "Do you remember that guy? He was with us in the Spirit Car instance."

Chu Changge nodded. "I remember him. His nickname is Hao Laoshi."

That was it. It was a rather unique name. As soon as Chu Changge said it, Gu Mian recalled it.

But why had Hao Laoshi run away, frightened and flustered like that just now?

Gu Mian glanced down the hallway. It was empty now, with only him and Chu Changge standing there alone.

"Let's find the others first," Gu Mian said, taking out his phone and looking at it. "Fatty came to me this morning and gave me a crucial clue. We're short on time, so I'll keep it brief. The gist is that others have downloaded this game before, but they all mysteriously disappeared. One of the missing upperclassmen left us some valuable information—our registered characters sometimes move on their own. If we don't follow them, we die."

Fatty had learned about this in the morning. If he wasn't here now, it was probably because his little avatar had moved, and he'd had no choice but to follow it.

Just then, Gu Mian noticed another little avatar enter the scene on his screen. It came from the stairs Hao Laoshi had just used.

This little avatar had long hair and was clearly female.

The game developers, likely fearing that short skirts would be censored for being too risqué, had given the female avatars trousers instead.

Above the little avatar's head were three words: 'Willow not supporting wind'.

Liu Ruyan?

Immediately after, Gu Mian heard the THUMP THUMP of rapid footsteps ascending the stairs ahead, as if a player was hastily chasing their little avatar. He had never seen the usually laid-back Liu Ruyan rush upstairs so frantically before.

As it turned out, the person making the sounds wasn't Liu Ruyan, but another female player.

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