ACIFITFDB – Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Conspiracy

The passionate athlete’s march continued to play from the teaching building, adding a touch of vitality to the originally eerie school. Even the oppressive teaching building seemed to regain some of the unique liveliness and rebelliousness of students. From many classrooms, shouts of students and curses from adults could be heard.

Meanwhile, in the principal’s office of the comprehensive building, a man wearing a mask angrily smashed an ashtray onto the ground.

“What’s going on! Who’s messing with the broadcast?! Where are the people I sent? All dead?!”

Someone replied, “It’s those police officers who came in later. I didn’t expect them to be so capable. We created four monsters and didn’t kill a single person, only disabled one…”

The masked man was furious, “We shouldn’t have let those people in!”

“That’s not something we can control. These strange entities naturally have an instinct to attract other humans into their domain.”

“Then we should have killed them the moment they came in!”

“We can only follow the rules within the domain. It’s hard enough to prevent it from eating us.”

“Damn it, so in this situation, it’s okay to take action and kill them, right?”

“Of course.”

“Get the guns and shoot them dead!”

—

On the other side, Qin Xian sat calmly in front of the microphone in the broadcast room, organized his thoughts, and began his speech.

“Hello? Hello, students, I am Teacher Qin, the one who just beat up the monster in the front plaza.”

“Woah!!!!”

“Teacher Qin is so cool!!”

Even in the broadcast room, Qin Xian could hear the fan-like cheers outside. He awkwardly scratched his face. However, this kind of reaction was better; it would be easier to stir up the students’ emotions.

“We are currently facing a serious and chaotic incident. You have left reality and entered a strange space, where there are monsters called ‘Guǐyì’. Guǐyì grow stronger by utilizing negative human emotions like fear, selfishness, suspicion, and madness. However, as long as everyone can maintain their true selves and encourage each other, the Guǐyì will become weaker. They can be defeated and eliminated. I believe everyone saw what happened in front of the teaching building just now. Please wait patiently, and you will be able to return to the real world soon. Remember, do not trust the enemy, trust yourselves, and above all, protect yourselves. Of course, if your life is threatened, then unite and defeat the enemy!”

As soon as his voice fell, the previously silent teaching building immediately became noisy.

There were loud shouts from students, scolding from adults, and the sound of tables being smashed.

Qin Xian directly turned on the athlete’s march on his desk. The familiar music resounded powerfully throughout the campus.

But… Qin Xian faintly heard a few gunshots.

He immediately got up and walked out. Before he could leave the room, he saw the Student Council President scramble in with hands and feet, and a bullet “bang” hit the doorframe.

After darting into the room, the Student Council President immediately stood up straight and ran a hand through his messy hair, saying, “Guns are quite powerful. If I get hit, I’ll be uncomfortable for a long time.”

Qin Xian ignored him, immediately crouched by the door, lowering his body as much as possible.

The enemy opposite was clearly someone who hadn’t used a gun much. He kicked open the door in a startled manner, imitating actions from movies, stood up straight, raised his gun, and roared, “Don’t move!”

However, he was clearly focusing on the upper body and neglecting the lower. Qin Xian, crouching by the door, raised the sturdy microphone and smashed it towards the man’s knee.

A crisp sound immediately came from the broadcast, followed by a man’s scream and the sound of a gun falling to the ground.

The huge commotion startled Qin Xian for a moment. He quickly turned off the microphone, picked up the gun on the ground and put it away, then took out his folding knife and pointed it directly at the enemy’s head.

The man on the ground broke out in a cold sweat, begging, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!! Please! You, you police can’t just kill people!”

Qin Xian leaned down and whispered, “Do I look like a police officer?”

After speaking, he moved the folding knife, scraping it across the man’s face and plunging it down. The tip of the blade stopped a millimeter or two from the tiles. A wound more than two centimeters long was scraped on the man’s face, and blood flowed down the blade, connecting the tip to the floor.

The man’s mouth hung open in terror, but he couldn’t utter a single word.

Qin Xian retracted the knife, forcefully pressed his knee into the center of the man’s back, and pinned him down tightly.

“Hmm… if I kill you directly, you might turn into a ghost and cause trouble, but I can’t just watch you, so…”

The man felt a moment of relief at the first half of the sentence, but before he could hear the second half clearly, Qin Xian raised the gun and smashed its butt hard against the man’s right hand.

“Ah!!!” the man screamed, but then it was his left hand. The bones in both hands were smashed, and he flailed on the ground like a zombie, his hands crooked.

“Tsk tsk tsk, how cruel, Teacher Qin.”

The Student Council President suddenly spoke from the side. Qin Xian then remembered there was another person in the room.

But Qin Xian, uncharacteristically, responded to his statement: “Too cruel? Alright, I’ll be kind then.”

After speaking, he lightly tapped the back of the man’s head again, and the other party immediately fell silent. This way, he wouldn’t have to wish for death more than life.

The Student Council President leaned against the doorframe and clapped his hands.

Qin Xian glanced at him from the corner of his eye, and his handsome lips uttered cold words: “Trash.”

The Student Council President still had a playful smile on his face, “Hey, Teacher Qin, that’s suppressive education. And I completed your task very well. You didn’t ask me to deal with these people with guns.”

Qin Xian slipped the gun into his pocket, then walked out. Before leaving, he said to the President, “I like people who take initiative, understand?”

“Initiative? Okay, I understand.” The Student Council President’s cheeky smile deepened.

Qin Xian’s expression was impassive, but he thought to himself:

I shouldn’t have said that just now. I should have ignored him.

—

Occupying the broadcast room was to inform the students of the general truth before the enemy did, reducing the effect of their brainwashing.

Qin Xian could see by now that the purpose of these people causing trouble was not to kill all the students to create panic, but to strengthen their own power, expose and distort the invasion of the Guǐyì, thereby causing social panic.

Of course, creating a certain degree of death was definitely part of the plan.

However… for an event of such immense impact, the overall planning was chaotic.

If he were to design it, he would first slowly let the Guǐyì spread and control the entire school. For example, using the common school rule-based horror stories to create accidents, step by step causing student panic and suspicion. Or, if he wanted to be more disgusting and dark, he could try to corrupt the thoughts of the school teachers and leaders.

After all, with such a large school, when the accident first occurred, someone would definitely try to “resolve the matter peacefully.” Once others compromised and did not publicize the accidents happening within the school, then from this moment on, everyone would step by step into a quagmire.

Within a week, the entire school could completely turn into hell. Without even him lifting a finger, most people would descend into madness.

At that time, this school would brew a terrifying monster.

Something’s not right…

Qin Xian stopped and hid in a dark corner to think.

An organization formed by Infinite Flow players, an organization striving for the ultimate expansion of influence, would send such a bunch of trash to organize this operation?

He and several other police officers had been doing well so far, constantly disrupting and succeeding. Indeed, people came to stop them, but they were all pathetically weak, lacking unified command.

“Bang! Bang bang!!” The gunshots from downstairs snapped Qin Xian back to reality.

He quickly rushed downstairs and found Yuan Fengying engaged in combat with the armed enemy. However, the Student Council President had already subdued the person and snatched the gun. Seeing Qin Xian approach, he smiled and held up the gun, looking like he was seeking praise.

Qin Xian immediately looked elsewhere.

Not far away, Yuan Fengying was panting, holding a strange board.

Seeing Qin Xian, she ran over, looking warily at the Student Council President beside him.

This strange student had ambushed the enemy from behind and subdued him in two moves. This was not something a high school student could do.

Yuan Fengying couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you?”

However, the Student Council President didn’t even glance at her. Instead, he looked at Qin Xian and said, “Was I proactive?”

Yuan Fengying’s expression was strange. She turned to Qin Xian and asked, “Do you know him? Are you together?”

“Yes, we are together.”

“No, we’re not.”

Both of them gave completely different answers at the same time.

Yuan Fengying scratched her head, “Never mind, I won’t dwell on who you are. I trust Mr. Qin’s attitude.”

Qin Xian: “?”

What attitude of his? What attitude did he show that made this mysterious Student Council President gain the trust of the police?

The Student Council President, on the other hand, seemed very happy. His radiant smile at that moment truly matched his appearance as a high school student.

Never mind, there were more important things at hand.

Qin Xian asked Yuan Fengying, “Tell me the truth, do your police have information on the members of the Tongguidao organization?”

Yuan Fengying was stunned and hesitated, “Why are you asking this? Our internal information might not be convenient to disclose…”

Qin Xian yanked off the mask of the nearby enemy and asked, “Is this person on your wanted list?”

The man stared with terrified eyes. He was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with little distinguishing features.

But Yuan Fengying recognized him at a glance, “This person is here, he’s a squad leader of Tongguidao!”

“Tie him up and hold him properly,” Qin Xian pointed at the Student Council President, then beckoned to Yuan Fengying, “You come with me.”

He led them to the teachers’ office on the first floor. Several teachers who had been proselytizing were unconscious inside. Qin Xian pulled off their masks one by one. Yuan Fengying’s expression also became solemn, “These people are indeed all wanted by our police. We started arresting them two days ago, but we couldn’t find them.”

Qin Xian frowned, “Then my guess has probably come true. The main objective of this organization is not the students. The students are just collateral. The real target is these members who have been exposed by you police.”

Yuan Fengying said, “Are you saying… these people might have someone who holds key information about the organization? If they are caught, they might reveal it to us, so… this is a setup to clear out these personnel!?”

Qin Xian nodded.

Yuan Fengying pondered, “Then we have to save these people? Or act immediately to try and force out valuable information?”

Qin Xian shook his head, “It’s probably too late to ask. These people are bound to die. If this organization is even slightly intelligent, they won’t give us a chance to extract information. They just want to squeeze the last bit of value out of these doomed individuals and create a grand spectacle to attract enemy attention. If these trash can complete the mission, that would be great. But even if they fail, they will have successfully tested the police’s strength… and even discovered potential threats.”

Yuan Fengying clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, “Although I really wish I could refute what you’re saying, but… I think you’re telling the truth.”

—

Author’s note: Doggy: Wags ears and tail to signal he proactively snatched the gun to help.

Cat-Xian: Looks away.

Doggy: Ears disappear.