Chapter 59: Encounter

"Teacher Guo?"

Hearing this familiar name, Xiaoying immediately recalled something, "Could he be the academic teacher from Class 1? Why is he here? Could it be..."

As the two of them stood at the entrance of the athletic field discussing each other's identities, the dark shadow standing before the metal container finished its immediate, vital task, and abruptly turned its head to look in their direction.

Hum!

A wave of intense dizziness struck their brains.

Xiaoying felt the world spin uncontrollably, as if the entire reality had plunged into a vortex, and she collapsed directly onto the ground.

Beside her, Rodi staggered and fell to one knee, relying on sheer willpower to keep from fully collapsing.

This lingering dizziness in their minds did not last long.

The moment the vertigo faded, and the two of them quickly rose to their feet, Teacher Guo, who had previously been in the middle of the athletic field, was already standing right in front of them.

Rodi instinctively gripped the zombie blade in his hand. Yet, constrained by the bond between teacher and student, his respect for the instructor, and a rapid assessment of the current situation, he did not swing his weapon immediately. Instead, he addressed him with a student's respectful title:

"Teacher Guo."

Of course, his tightly clenched right hand was poised and ready; at the slightest sign of hostility from the other, Rodi would strike without hesitation.

He had expected Teacher Guo to be like other impostors, completely abandoning their human nature under the influence of the "Whispers in the Corner," treating the slaughter of humans as some sort of reward or the gratification of desire.

To his surprise, Teacher Guo nodded just as he usually did, his gaze toward Rodi even tinged with a hint of appreciation.

"Ah, Rodi from Class 5, Senior Year. I remember you, a student with a lot of personality.

Working overtime before the formation of the 'Interstices,' I graded the exam papers of all the students from a somewhat subjective perspective. You scored 93, a significant improvement compared to the past.

Moreover, in the final essay question concerning the philosophy of life and death, besides what was written in the textbooks, you expressed your own insights—very interesting insights at that. I even learned a thing or two from your answer.

It seems you must have experienced moments of genuine life and death, and you often ponder this question.

Very good."

"Thank you, Teacher Guo."

"By the way, where is monitor Wu Wen, who usually walks with you?"

"She..."

Rodi wanted to tell the truth, but a sudden hypothesis flashed deep within his mind, causing him to immediately change his story.

"On our way here, we encountered a powerful impostor and were forced to separate.

I don't know where the monitor went either. We were hurrying to the sports center to seek the physical education teacher's help in tracking down her whereabouts."

Teacher Guo did not doubt Rodi's statement. "Can you describe the characteristics of the impostor you encountered?"

"A parent of a senior high school student, whose entire body is skinned, moves quickly, and excels at concealment."

"Hmm." Teacher Guo nodded and offered an earnest warning: "You two shouldn't go to the [Gymnasium] right now. The spatial complexity in there is currently the most chaotic in the entire school; you'll get lost in an instant.

In return for the information you just provided, I'll share a piece of intelligence with you as well.

There's a rather troublesome 'fellow' using sovereignty over space to hunt flesh and blood in there. It's a flesh-type impostor capable of easily stripping away human bodies.

That creature is definitely beyond your ability to handle. If you run into it, you're dead for sure.

Go to the dormitory building and find a dorm room to hide in.

That should be the safest place in the school, without exception. The vortex will ensure you remain unpursued. Hiding there until it's all over shouldn't be a problem. I will shorten the duration of the interstices as much as possible, end all of this early, and minimize unnecessary casualties among teachers and students."

"Thank you, but we must find our monitor."

"That certainly fits your style of answering exam questions. Then I can only wish you good luck. While I also appreciate student Wu Wen, I have other matters to attend to."

"Goodbye, Teacher Guo."

Teacher Guo brushed past their shoulders.

Even though no oppressive aura emanated from him, Rodi felt an unprecedented sense of danger, his tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth involuntarily.

Danger was danger, however; Teacher Guo harbored no hostility.

When the two of them turned around, Teacher Guo had already departed through the exit behind them.

As for the grass on the ground where Teacher Guo had walked, every single blade curled in a regular pattern, forming swirling vortices of varying sizes.

Even the sleeve on Rodi's right arm showed vortex-like creases.

Xiaoying was completely bewildered, whispering in a trembling voice: "Rodi... is Teacher Guo an impostor or not?

Why didn't he kill us, and why did he point us toward safety? I remember the textbooks stating very clearly that the older an impostor is, the deeper they are influenced by the corners, and their entire mindset undergoes a radical transformation, exhibiting extreme antisocial personality traits."

"He is an impostor, but I don't know why Teacher Guo can maintain his humanity—or rather, why he upholds a certain [principle]. If my academic scores had been terrible, or if my answers didn't align with his values, I might have been killed as well."

There was no doubt that Teacher Guo was an impostor, and a rather unique one at that. Judging by the power he displayed, the vortex theme enveloping the entire campus was directly related to him.

Xiaoying's mind raced, and she suddenly arrived at a conclusion:

"Right! I know what's going on here! Based on the intelligence provided by Teacher Guo, two [mature impostors] have appeared at the sports center.

The first is Teacher Guo.

The second is the flesh-type impostor Teacher Guo warned us about, which is currently slaughtering people inside the gymnasium.

In order to win the 'interstice screening,' that flesh-type impostor rushed straight to the sports center where people were most densely gathered, intending to consume the flesh and blood of teachers and students to further strengthen itself.

It might have even disguised itself as a student early on, or perhaps it was a student to begin with, hiding among the classes.

Taking advantage of the influence brought by the interstices and the massive mutations of students on the athletic field, the chaotic scene served as the best opportunity for it to strike—rapidly hunting down living students on the scene and devouring their flesh to empower itself.

With the scene in utter chaos, even the physical education teachers would find it difficult to suppress the situation in a short time.

Just as this flesh-type impostor was slaughtering wildly, absorbing students, and clashing with the physical education teachers, Teacher Guo arrived here in his capacity as an impostor.

Two powerful, special impostors gathered at the sports center, coupled with the complete chaos, leaving the physical education teachers no choice but to retreat temporarily with the remaining students toward the gymnasium, trying to regroup with the classes inside and consolidate their combat strength.

As for that flesh-type impostor, it must have sensed Teacher Guo's 'danger,' chosen not to confront him head-on, abandoned the scattered corpses on the outermost track, and immediately pursued them into the interior of the gymnasium.

Only after this creature absorbs enough flesh and blood and becomes strong enough will it initiate the final showdown among the impostors."

Listening to Xiaoying's comprehensive deduction, Rodi nodded. Such an explanation certainly made sense.

Yet, analyzing the entire process still left one lingering question: "What is Teacher Guo doing?"

Xiaoying tapped her head with her finger, unable to figure out the answer to that question.

"He hasn't absorbed corpses, nor has he launched an overt massacre across the school, nor has he attacked other impostors. It seems he's just 'strolling around.'

No, he was just standing in front of that container, seemingly communicating with whatever is inside?

I don't know... Still, since Teacher Guo has no intention of harming us, we can leave him be for now. What do we do now? Should we still go into the gymnasium to meet up with the teachers?"

Rodi was pondering as well. According to the intelligence provided by Teacher Guo, the gymnasium was currently the most spatially complex area in the entire school, with the effects of the interstices concentrated mainly within it precisely to trap the most troublesome physical education teachers.

Entering it meant risking deep entrapment, total disorientation, and potentially becoming fodder for that flesh-type impostor.

Even if they managed to find the main force inside the gymnasium and rendezvous with head teacher Ruan Zhijun, there was no telling how much time would be wasted.

Moreover, the head teacher wouldn't have the bandwidth to worry about the class monitor, given that the immediate threats hadn't even been dealt with.

"We'll go straight to the teaching building to find the monitor. Perhaps the monitor has already reached the security office; joining forces with the security team should enable us to deal with that skinned woman."

"That's what I think, too."

Having determined their objective, the two of them sprinted across the athletic field along the outer track, which would minimize their distance and get them to the teaching building in the shortest possible time.

However, just as the two of them reached the middle section of the athletic field,

Boom!

A deafening crash echoed from the gymnasium doors.

The steel doors and the surrounding walls were shattered by immense force, sending up clouds of dust and broken rubble.

Through the dim dust, Rodi and Xiaoying could only make out the shadowy silhouette of some gigantic creature.

As the behemoth stepped outside, its form seemed to shrink continuously, eventually transforming into a human shape.

A man dressed in a school uniform, though clearly too old for it, appeared within their field of view.

Beneath a disastrously balding head of hair, he sported a protruding belly acquired from a lifetime of avoiding exercise.

Though separated by a hundred meters, his voice carried over clearly:

"Rodi! I've finally found you!"