When Tang Jizhi climbed over the wall, the livestream comments burst into laughter.

 

Ever since entering this new theme, nothing particularly dangerous had happened. However, Tang Jizhi had repeatedly taken action personally. Logically speaking, this was what a survival streamer’s footage should look like—other streamers had gone through far worse.

 

Yet somehow, watching him still felt oddly pitiful.

 

Our Tang Tang has actually fallen to the point of climbing walls. At a time like this, we strongly summon the Magic Vine—capable of going anywhere, above the heavens or beneath the earth.

 

The Tyrannosaurus would work too. Just smash the iron gate open.

 

I prefer the Monkey King. Once he appears, one equals ten.

 

Too bad none of them are awake. So tragic.

 

Wait, aren’t you focusing on the wrong thing? Shouldn’t we be praising Boss Tang’s wall-climbing skills? With his ability, climbing so smoothly means he must have done it plenty when he was a kid.

 

Hahahahaha.

 

…

 

Tang Jizhi glanced at the iron gate. It needed a key to unlock. He searched around but couldn’t find one.

 

Turning to the three behind him, he said,
“You guys figure out how to climb in yourselves.”

 

The three of them obeyed his words without hesitation now. Considering Xia Qingqing was a girl and might struggle to climb the wall, the two boys worked together to first help her over, then climbed in themselves.

 

By the time they finally struggled over and looked up again, Boss Tang had already walked deeper into the campus, clearly having no intention of waiting for them.

 

“Hurry, hurry, follow the boss!”

 

The two boys believed that Xia Qingqing, the original author, was only useful for explaining a bit of the plot. The only way to survive was to stick close to the protagonist.

 

“Brother Tang, what do we do next? How do we find the monster? Do we absolutely have to find it? What happens if we don’t?” Chen Lei caught up to Tang Jizhi and fired off a string of questions.

 

Tang Jizhi replied, “I don’t know.”

 

Chen Lei froze.

 

Then he realized—even if Boss Tang was the protagonist and supposedly knew the plot, right now none of them knew who the monster was or what exactly they should do.

 

“Hey! You lot! Where did you come from?!”

 

Suddenly, a shout rang out in the distance.

 

A security guard in uniform hurried over, one hand resting at his waist where a baton hung. His gaze was wary and hostile as he looked them up and down.

 

“You’re not students from our school. Where did you crawl in from?!”

 

With a sharp motion he pulled out his baton, while the other hand grabbed a walkie-talkie.

 

“Come to the east sports field immediately. Intruders on campus—four of them. Three men and one woman.”

 

The situation didn’t look good.

 

Tang Jizhi turned to the two boys.
“Do either of you usually get into fights?”

 

They scratched their heads.

 

Chen Lei said, “I used to fight in middle school, but not anymore.”

 

Wu Huafei said, “Whenever I fight someone, I’m always the one who loses.”

 

“Until your identities are verified, no whispering among yourselves,” the guard barked, raising his baton threateningly.

 

Seeing that fighting wasn’t an option—and Xia Qingqing obviously couldn’t fight either—Tang Jizhi thought for a moment and said to the guard:

 

“No need to be nervous. We’re parents visiting the school. These three are my cousins. We came together to visit my younger brother.”

 

The guard didn’t believe a single word.

 

“If you’re parents, did you submit a visitation form beforehand? Did you scan your faces at the gate?”

 

“And besides,” he said darkly, “the gate was locked. Without a key it can’t be opened. So how did you get in?”

 

Tang Jizhi replied innocently,
“The gate was open. No one was there, so we just came in.”

 

“If you don’t believe me, ask them.”
He pointed at Xia Qingqing and the others.

 

“…”

 

Facing the guard’s intense stare, the three could only nod awkwardly.

 

They had clearly climbed over the wall. Wasn’t Boss Tang afraid of getting exposed saying that?

 

Tang Jizhi continued:

 

“I heard my younger brother is often bullied at school. Young people can be hot-tempered, so occasional arguments are understandable. As parents, we can accept that. But a child shouldn’t be constantly beaten up. So we came to check on him and understand the situation.”

 

“Bullshit!” The guard’s face changed immediately. “Students in this school are all honest and well-behaved. How could they fight?! Which class is your brother in? Let’s find him and ask him directly.”

 

Without realizing it, the guard’s focus had already been completely diverted by Tang Jizhi’s words—he had forgotten about asking how they got in.

 

Tang Jizhi frowned slightly.

 

“My brother was crying so hard on the phone that his words were unclear. Since I trusted the teachers here to educate the students properly, I didn’t interfere much. To be honest, I really don’t know which class he’s in.”

 

“Then what’s his name?!”

 

Tang Jizhi said worriedly,
“Mr. Guard, you’re so eager to know who my brother is… what if after we leave you go and take revenge on him?”

 

“Bullshit!” The guard nearly jumped in anger, saliva flying everywhere. “Our duty is to maintain campus security and protect students. How could we bully them? Even if you’re a parent, you can’t slander us like that!”

 

Tang Jizhi calmly stepped back to avoid the spray.

 

“Don’t be angry, I was just saying it casually.” He smiled. “Alright then, Mr. Guard, you continue maintaining order. I’ll go find my brother. If he exaggerated things on the phone, I’ll definitely discipline him.”

 

The guard stared blankly as Tang Jizhi walked past him and headed deeper into the campus.

 

After a moment, Xia Qingqing and the others hurried to follow.

 

“Brother Tang, what were you doing just now?” Xia Qingqing asked.

 

Tang Jizhi answered with two words:
“Bluffing.”

 

Xia Qingqing: “???”

 

“He’ll definitely realize it soon,” Wu Huafei said. “He has a baton and probably other weapons. He looks strong too. The four of us probably can’t beat him.”

 

“And two more guards are coming,” Chen Lei added quietly after glancing back.

 

“If they catch us, we won’t survive even one move.”

 

“They won’t,” Tang Jizhi said firmly.

 

“Why?”

 

“Instinct.”

 

“…”

 

Isn’t that instinct a bit too arbitrary?

 

Yet when the guards gathered together, they actually didn’t chase after them at all, as if they had accepted Tang Jizhi’s explanation.

 

The three were stunned.

 

It actually worked?

 

Meanwhile, the guards were talking among themselves.

 

“That kid was lying through his teeth. Who knows where he came from? Let’s hurry and drive them out.”

 

Guard B looked around.
“What people?”

 

Guard C said, “Yeah, there’s nobody here. Old Li, are your eyes playing tricks on you?”

 

Old Li looked toward the direction Tang Jizhi had left—but there was no one there.

 

His gloomy expression turned confused.

 

Did he really imagine it?

 

“But…” Old Li frowned. “That kid said he was some kind of parent… what did he say again?”

 

He couldn’t remember at all.

 

A few seconds later, the confusion disappeared from his face. He never mentioned Tang Jizhi again.

 

Guard C suddenly said,
“Do you guys hear singing?”

 

---

 

Xia Qingqing and the others looked at each other. The guards truly hadn’t chased them.

 

“You three! Why are you wandering around instead of studying in class? Which class are you from?”

 

Just as they turned a corner near a teaching building, a woman dressed like a teacher walked out and frowned when she saw them.

 

Tang Jizhi met her gaze.

 

“Teacher, how can you be sure we’re students?”

 

The guard had recognized them immediately as outsiders, yet the teacher didn’t notice anything strange at all.

 

Even Xia Qingqing sensed something odd.

 

The three quickly moved closer to Tang Jizhi.

 

“Could she be the monster in disguise?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“I think it’s possible.”

 

“Her expression looks weird.”

 

“What should we do?”

 

“If you’re in a school and not students, then what are you?” the teacher said impatiently. “You look like seniors preparing for the college entrance exam. This is the final sprint stage—you should be giving it 120% effort to make all these years worthwhile. Hurry back to your classroom and study.”

 

Then she hurried away.

 

“So she wasn’t the monster after all,” the three sighed in relief.

 

Xia Qingqing asked,
“Brother Tang, are we going to check every classroom one by one?”

 

Dongsheng High School had over a thousand students. Checking classrooms first, then dormitories—how long would that take?

 

Did the boss have no better way to identify the monster?

 

“You each find a classroom,” Tang Jizhi instructed. “Walk in and introduce yourselves as transfer students. Ask around about any student being bullied.”

 

“Your task is to gather information. Only report to me if you find something useful. Otherwise, don’t act recklessly.”

 

“???” The three were shocked.

 

“Brother Tang, you mean… we pretend to be students and attend class?” Xia Qingqing asked.

 

“Good comprehension,” he said. “As expected from the author.”

 

“But we’re not students. We don’t have proof. Will teachers and students believe us?” they asked.

 

Tang Jizhi looked at them and sighed softly.

 

He missed Blue Eyes.

 

When Blue Eyes was around, Tang Jizhi only needed to begin explaining something and Blue Eyes would immediately understand.

 

“You didn’t notice? Once we entered the school and passed the guard, we already became ‘students.’”

 

The three nodded.

 

Tang Jizhi didn’t even bother raising his hand. He said slowly:

 

“Clothes.”

 

They quickly looked down.

 

Only then did they realize that at some point their original clothes had disappeared. In their place was a set of British-style school uniforms.

 

“What the hell—when did this change happen? I didn’t feel anything!”

 

“Well, we didn’t even feel ourselves getting transported here. Clothes changing without notice is normal.”

 

“It actually looks pretty good.”

 

“But… why didn’t Brother Tang change?”

 

“What’s this?” Chen Lei noticed a badge on his chest. It had his name and behind it: Senior Year Class 2.

 

“It looks like a name tag.”

 

Xia Qingqing checked hers nervously.
Senior Year Class 1.

 

Seeing she had been assigned to a different class alone, with no one beside her—and realizing she would have to go by herself without Boss Tang—she started trembling in fear.

 

“Brother Tang, I want to…”

 

She looked up hurriedly.

 

Tang Jizhi hadn’t changed into a school uniform. He was still wearing his original clothes.

 

However, a pair of glasses had appeared on his nose. They sealed away much of his striking looks, making him appear like a gentle and refined professor.

 

There was also a badge on his chest.

 

It read:

 

Art Teacher Tang.

 

Tang Jizhi took off the glasses and examined them. The suddenly appearing badge clearly informed him of his new identity.

 

He then put the glasses back on and said calmly:

 

“Split up.”

 

Xia Qingqing: “……”

 

Could she say no?