ACIFITFDB – Chapter 27

“By the way, you need to go through security to get in. You must have brought a lot of prohibited items.”

Before they entered, Yuan Fengying reminded him, “Also, if you fail once, you’ll be rejected the second time. The security guard will say they’ve seen you before. So, we’d best get it right the first time.”

Qin Xian nodded and asked, “Have you tried climbing over the wall?”

Yuan Fengying replied, “Of course, we tried. But climbing over the wall led to an empty campus with nothing. We probably only need to get past the security guard. Speaking of which, we checked, and that security guard isn’t on the school’s hiring list. He appeared out of nowhere. If we try to catch him, we’ll immediately black out and return to the school entrance.”

Recalling their previous failed attempts, she crossed her arms and snorted.

“I’ll try in a bit… What are you dressed as, by the way?” Qin Xian inquired.

Yuan Fengying had changed her clothes a few minutes ago and returned, but her outfit and hairstyle… it was clear she was trying to dress up as a teacher. It just felt like a rural teacher from the 1960s…

Yuan Fengying looked at her old floral dress and said awkwardly, “I don’t have any clothes like a teacher wears, so I only found what my mom used to wear… The wig is for when I do plainclothes surveillance… Doesn’t this look like a teacher?”

Qin Xian said, “But teachers nowadays are quite trendy. If the gatekeeper rejects you, you can try saying you’re a cafeteria worker.”

Yuan Fengying gave a dry laugh, thought for a moment, and actually found the cafeteria worker option to be feasible.

“If I can really get into the cafeteria, at least I won’t have to worry about weapons.”

Qin Xian gave her a thumbs-up, “Clever. Remember to get me two.”

Yuan Fengying nodded and walked towards the school gate first.

Ten minutes later, she hadn’t returned. It seemed she had successfully entered the school.

Qin Xian didn’t clear the prohibited items from his backpack and walked directly towards the guardhouse.

The moment he stepped into the guardhouse, the surrounding environment clearly changed. The city’s noise completely disappeared, and it was eerily quiet, as if he had walked into a giant glass dome.

The windows and doors of the guardhouse were tightly shut, and it was pitch black inside, even though it had been lit from the outside just moments ago. This place was already the entrance to the domain.

“What are you here for?”

A hoarse male voice sounded, and a burly security guard suddenly walked out of the guardhouse. His cap obscured his eyes, but there was a foul, fishy smell about him. It wasn’t noticeable at first, but once detected, it became increasingly nauseating.

Qin Xian replied, “My college entrance exams are coming up, and my family kicked me out to go to school.”

As he spoke, he put his hands in his pockets with an arrogant air, looking like a complete troublemaker, a typical school bully.

But the security guard said, “You’re not a student of our school. We don’t need students like you.”

Qin Xian leaned closer to his face, pointed at himself, and asked, “Don’t I look like a student? Well, I’m actually 27.”

“Unauthorized personnel, leave immediately!” The security guard’s voice was as cold as a dead man’s.

Qin Xian smiled, “Can I really not go in?”

After saying that, he calmly tore off a bandage from a wound on his body and used his fingernail to pick at the still-healing wound. Blood scabs got under his nails, and blood welled up from the wound, dripping down.

Qin Xian raised his blood-stained fingers and offered them to the security guard, waiting for its reaction.

The security guard immediately inhaled greedily, swallowing repeatedly. Ah… what a wonderful scent. This human is strong. The stronger they are, the more delicious they are. But unfortunately, at its level, it couldn’t touch such a delicacy.

It forced itself to endure and said, “You can go in. However, you need an identity.”

Qin Xian countered, “Then what do you think I look like?”

The security guard slowly uttered two words: “A teacher.”

“A teacher? Then what will I teach?”

“You’ll know when you go in.”

The gatekeeper grinned, wagging his tongue as he opened the door for Qin Xian.

“I wish you a long life, hehehe, but dying would be good too…”

Qin Xian ignored him and walked straight into the campus with his backpack.

The school within the domain was completely different from the outside. The sky above the teaching buildings was an ominous dark red. Occasionally, the wind blew through the school, carrying a faint smell of blood.

There were many杂乱 (chaotic) sounds within the school, mostly the slightly immature voices of teenagers. Some were crying, some were arguing.

Qin Xian walked along the road to the first building, which was labeled “Comprehensive Building.”

Alarmingly, the building had police tape around it, and there was a large bloodstain at the base of the building, along with drag marks.

Someone had died here, but their body had only been hastily disposed of. The remaining bloodstains had been left unattended, turning black-red. There were also messy bloody footprints nearby.

The third-year students were mostly concentrated in the third teaching building. Qin Xian walked for seven or eight minutes across the vast campus to get close.

Just as he was about to enter the building, two people dressed as security guards suddenly blocked his path.

They were identical to the security guard at the school gate, seemingly mass-produced minor monsters. The two looked Qin Xian up and down and asked, “Are you a new teacher?”

Their voices were strange, not coming from their mouths or throats, but seemingly from under their hats.

Qin Xian’s expression remained normal, and he replied, “Yes.”

“Do we still need teachers?” one of the security guards asked his companion.

The companion replied, “Of course, we do. Two died last night, and nearly twenty were arrested. They didn’t support the current teaching philosophy and were thinking of resisting, heh.”

“Outdated educational ideas. Do you think society still buys into that? Our current teaching philosophy and content are the most suitable, the ones that will best help children not get taken advantage of in society in the future!”

“Exactly, exactly.”

Seeing the two “people” start rambling about the current education system, Qin Xian interrupted, “Oh? I’d really like to see that.”

The two security guards immediately shut up and looked at the human who had interrupted them with dissatisfaction.

“Heh, well, I hope you can really learn and teach well, otherwise, we have a punishment system.”

“Everything is for the sake of educating outstanding individuals, hehehe. Follow us. You need to see the dean first.”

Qin Xian followed the two, tilting his head to carefully observe the teaching building beside them.

At this time, the students were all in their classrooms, and noisy sounds emanated from the teaching building.

Municipal No. 1 High School was a century-old school with very ancient buildings. The camphor trees beside them spread their branches, covering more than half the sky.

The campus environment was originally quite good, but now, the white walls of the teaching buildings were newly painted with crudely written slogans: “Stingy, mean, live a happy life; selfishness is human nature; the strong allocate resources, the weak obey the strong.”

Qin Xian frowned.

What kind of terrible slogans were these? But at a glance, they fit some of the dark remarks on the modern internet. Some people would support such claims, but if everyone truly lived by these principles, the entire society would become a living hell.

“Alright, we’re here. This is the academic affairs office.”

The two security guards led Qin Xian to the office door and then turned to leave. Qin Xian didn’t knock and walked straight in.

He saw a boy, who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old, sitting by a desk in the office. He had a cigarette in his mouth and his feet were casually placed on the desk. His still-young face was trying hard to imitate the demeanor of a superior from a malicious adult.

Seeing Qin Xian enter, he didn’t even bother to put his feet down and directly asked, “Oh? Are you a new teacher?”

Qin Xian asked, “Are you the dean?”

The boy’s face immediately turned sour. He threw the cigarette butt at Qin Xian and cursed, “Fck your mother, what? I don’t look like it? You’re underestimating me?! But now you have to listen to me!”

This kid was like a gasoline barrel, ready to explode at any moment. Impatient, rebellious, and self-centered.

Qin Xian didn’t feel like educating him, nor did he want to cause too much trouble that would bother him from the start. In fact, kids like this were actually very easy to deal with. He calmly replied, “Oh, so what are your arrangements? What subject will I teach?”

As expected, seeing that he wasn’t arguing, the boy immediately felt bored.

“Whatever you want, just pick one of these subjects yourself.”

He threw a course schedule at Qin Xian.

Qin Xian opened it and saw:

Compulsory: Internet Language Arts, Interpersonal Relationships, Aesthetics of Violence, Art of Crime, Religion.

Elective: Fraudology, Unspoken Rules, PUA Methodology.

Wow, these courses were really…

“So which one are you choosing to teach?” the boy asked. “Let me warn you, you have to teach according to the course standards. If we find out you’re teaching anything positive, you’re dead.”

Qin Xian pointed at the words “Aesthetics of Violence” and said, “This suits me well.”

The boy leaned in to look and clearly didn’t believe him, “You can teach this? You, a pretty boy, can fight?”

However, the moment he finished speaking, Qin Xian’s leg kicked his stool.

With a bang, he fell directly off the chair, clutching his backside, his face contorted in pain.

After a few seconds, he finally stood up furiously, swinging his fist at Qin Xian, “You fcking want a fight!!”

However, Qin Xian easily blocked his fist with one hand, then gripped his wrist and twisted it hard.

“Ah!” The boy’s arm immediately drooped, dislocated.

“Shh,” Qin Xian put his hand over the boy’s mouth and said, “Don’t scream. Can I be qualified to teach this subject now? If you agree, I’ll put it back for you.”

The boy nodded frantically without hesitation.

With a “click,” the dislocated bone was successfully reset.

The boy collapsed on the ground in pain, wanting to curse again, but seeing the look in Qin Xian’s eyes, he immediately cowered.

“Okay, okay, you can teach this. You can go to class immediately! Class 2212 on the third floor. That class has no teacher, just go!”

Qin Xian didn’t move. He stood in place and continued to ask, “Who appointed you dean? How did you become dean?”

The boy’s face was sour, but he didn’t dare to have any objections to Qin Xian and obediently replied, “They said they needed someone to manage students and teachers here, to be the dean. I said I wanted to, so they let me stay.”

“They?”

“I don’t know them. They must be the ones who took over the school. They all wear masks and are very mysterious…”

He looked bewildered, and even if Qin Xian pressed him, he couldn’t provide any useful information. Moreover, it seemed this kid was just randomly assigned here…

Qin Xian glanced at the boy’s office. There was a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on the desk.

Seeing him eyeing his precious items, the boy immediately stuffed the cigarettes into his pocket, “What! I’m the dean now, so me smoking isn’t against the rules.”

A ridiculous child, a baffling arrangement.

Qin Xian asked, “You’re the dean here, do you know what your job is?”

The boy looked a bit lost, “Uh, I arrange the course schedule, and if there are new teachers, I just assign them a subject. Also, I can punish students who break the rules…”

“Oh,” Qin Xian suddenly put on a friendly expression, “From now on, unless something life-threatening happens, don’t leave this office easily. If I see you outside, I’ll smash your face in front of your classmates.”

After saying that, he punched a nearby desk, and the wooden surface immediately cracked and dented.

“Holy sht! Superman!” The boy exclaimed, but immediately shut up under Qin Xian’s terrifying gaze.

After disciplining the brat, Qin Xian left the academic affairs office. He went up the stairs to the third floor and first stopped at the back door of classroom 2211, choosing a vantage point that others would hardly notice to observe.

A middle-aged man with a bulging belly stood on the podium, lecturing the students below about physiological knowledge.

However, unlike normal sex education, the content he spouted was obscene. Most of the students below had grim expressions, and some were covering their ears tightly.