Chapter 108.1 Merfolk Shore
After this awakening, the Wandering Corpse’s hair grew longer and thicker than before. Even his skin color changed a bit.
The mutated pomegranate flower indirectly improved his growth conditions. It rooted itself in the zombie’s organs, and the heart, which had shrunk and lost all signs of life, regained a bit of false heartbeats due to external intervention. Heated blood moistened the pomegranate flower’s roots.
Despite this, various values in Wandering Corpse’s blood didn’t match what’s normal for humans. But the school nurse ignored those values and focused on one result that caught her attention completely: pregnancy!
The person who came was a mentor from Mingzhu Music Academy. Anyone who secured a mentor position, whether in looks or skills, stood out from the rest.
“Did you tell the school administrators?” he asked.
The school nurse found herself entranced by those captivating eyes, her heart racing like a startled deer. She nodded, “The hospital contacted the school directly.”
“So, the report has already been made.” There was a subtle shift in the newcomer’s tone, but the school nurse, who was absorbed in his attractive appearance, didn’t catch it.
While they were talking, the phone suddenly rang. When the newcomer looked up again, he said, “The opening ceremony has ended. The principal mentioned a meeting later. I’ll take care of these things.”
The school nurse waved her hand in infatuation, “Alright.”
Regular school teachers had endless reports to summarize, but Mingzhu Academy didn’t burden them with much. However, there were numerous meetings. Since mentors held high status, they had to attend almost all meetings.
Twenty minutes after the opening ceremony, the conference room in the Comprehensive Building was nearly filled.
The entire academy had thirteen mentors. This year, three of them—two men and one woman—were responsible for training new students. They were all well-known in their respective fields.
At this moment, the three of them sat in a row. The female mentor had fiery red, enthusiastic wavy hair. Her lazy expression became alert when the principal mentioned unusual results from the new student’s medical examination.
“Male, pregnant?”
She sneered, “As far as I know, among beastkin, only merfolk can achieve male pregnancy.”
Merfolk weren’t a taboo topic, but when mentioned, an air of tension seemed to fill the room.
“Instances of male pregnancy have occurred in the world.” The principal appeared quite understanding. “Observe further. Let’s not unjustly accuse our students.”
He pulled out another report and continued, “Then there’s this student, Aaron. His blood test is fine, but a student reported that he’s very interested in merfolk and seems to carry some sort of merfolk talisman…”
As this statement was made, the expressions of those present varied.
“Merfolk must die,” one mentor said.
The principal’s tone shifted, still gently smiling. “Don’t be too extreme. Young people like to chase novel thrills. We can’t conclude that he’s involved with merfolk just because of this.” After a moment of thought, he made a decision, “Quickly find a chance to confirm matters, including those students with problematic medical reports.”
The bald, obese man seated on the right side nodded, “I have no objections.”
The headmistress also nodded in agreement, without raising any objections.
The principal’s gaze finally swept over the perfect faces, and the mentors nodded one by one.
•
The disciplinary notice on the dormitory building’s small blackboard was erased, replaced with new information:
New students, please collect your campus cards and class schedules from the dormitory supervisor before the end of the day.
Whether day or night, the hallway inside the building remained unlit. The ground floor was particularly damp and eerie. Passersby always took quick strides, often overlooking the words on the blackboard.
The notice had already been posted on the blackboard in the morning. When Wen Shi entered and saw it, he didn’t pay much attention and instinctively continued forward. However, after a quick pass, he retraced his steps, and the people with him also halted.
Campus cards could only be collected in person, so the four of them squeezed into the dormitory management office.
“Get in line,” the dormitory supervisor snapped, “There’s only fifty yuan in the campus card. Remember to recharge it when it’s running low.”
Wen Shi was the first in line. After receiving his class schedule, he felt like he had gone back to the previous century. With old-fashioned mobile phones and no online course selection, all notifications came through small blackboards and announcements. It didn’t feel like a college. He seemed to have returned to the regulated mobile-phone days of middle school.
The institution seemed wary of students contacting the outside world. Now, they were in a phase of closed-campus teaching, where they couldn’t even leave through the school gates.
In short, nobody would know even if they died.
After collecting their things, when Wen Shi was going upstairs, he noticed that Song Yan had been scratching his arm. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Itchy.”
At a corner with a window, under the sunlight, Song Yan realized his arm was covered in a dense rash. After upgrading the mirror, his own skin had become more translucent, making these small rashes appear severe at first glance.
Wen Shi remained silent for two seconds before saying, “UV sensitivity.”
Song Yan was taken aback. The sun outside today wasn’t that harsh.
Wen Shi: “After getting your blood drawn this morning, did you keep your sleeves rolled up?”
Song Yan nodded.
Wen Shi pondered for a moment, as if he had understood the criteria for being selected as a special admissions student.
“They’re looking for merfolk,” Ji Yuanzhi began, “Sensitive skin, pain while walking on land, these could be characteristic signs of merfolk.”
Wen Shi nodded. “The situations among players may vary, but there are common qualities that align with merfolk.”
According to his previous observations in the auditorium, several players were of mixed race. Their blue eyes weren’t entirely pure blue. They resembled the misty blue he had seen in the cafeteria last night. There were also a very few players whose skin was even paler than Jian Qingrong’s, and their features could be considered blessings from the Creator.
Song Yan was itching all over, so he rushed back to their room and turned on cold water to relieve the discomfort. While rinsing, he asked, “So why do our feet hurt?”
“Bone spurs, plantar fascia inflammation…” Wen Shi listed several possibilities in succession before finally saying, “Or maybe, we’re actually the offspring of merfolk.”
Song Yan turned off the water and sighed. “The admissions office was way too hasty.”
Could these characteristics really indicate anything?
Wen Shi smiled. “Perhaps the selection criteria also involve having a pure soul or something like that.”
Song Yan’s expression turned somewhat strange. The adjective “pure” didn’t seem to apply to them.
Wen Shi: “For example, if you just pick up a sensing stone and it reacts… Of course, I’m just guessing, but we’re definitely different from the indigenous people.”
Especially the soul. Truly pure human souls were quite rare among instances, and they could be considered to carry a player’s aura.
Before long, the dorm room door was pushed open again. Xiao Li held a bottle of mineral water. Though he logically believed it couldn’t be poisoned, he remained cautious.
“Is your throat feeling better?” Wen Shi asked.
“It’s fine.”
Xiao Li’s brows furrowed so tightly they could crush an ant. He had just received his class schedule, and most of tomorrow’s subjects were related to music.
In order to heal his throat, he took his medicine and went to bed early with A’Zhuang.
Even as the lights went out, they didn’t receive a second quest. The advantage of having more people in the instance became apparent. Compared to ordinary instances with many people, there was a buffer period here. With the same difficulty level, the chances of survival were somewhat higher in medium to large instances.
In the quiet night, not a sound could be heard. Wen Shi lay in bed, contemplating when to summon his parallel world self.
“Let’s wait one more day.” Tomorrow, he would first check if the teachers would check attendance during class.
Besides, Jian Qingrong was right.
The dorm room didn’t need so many people. Since nights were relatively safe for now, those two troubles should be resolved to free up space for the new arrival.
Having set a plan based on the schedule, Wen Shi closed his eyes completely and drifted off to sleep, hugging his teddy bear.
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