After confirming the "size" of the five bottles of wine, the next steps were relatively simple.

As mentioned earlier, the rules of the Tower of Hanoi are easy to grasp, and Ruoyu had no reason not to solve it.

And so, three more minutes passed, and all five bottles of wine had been moved to the bottom row of the wine rack, having gone through the fewest possible steps in the process.

When the last bottle of wine was returned to its place, a sound of machinery and gears turning suddenly came from inside the wall beside Ruoyu.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue immediately stepped forward, saying, "Here... let me stand in front."

In places where danger might be encountered, Brother Jue usually rushed to the front. It wasn't so much that he had a great spirit of sacrifice, but that he believed this choice was more efficient and safer.

Squeak—

Just as Brother Jue and Ruoyu switched positions, the wall at the end of the wine cellar slowly opened.

Behind the wall, a dark, narrow tunnel appeared; the walls of this tunnel all seemed to be natural stone walls that had not been carved. The height and width were similar to that of the wine cellar, but... the depth was unknown. One could not see the end at a glance, only that it meandered forward...

"This road... isn't quite right," Ruoyu said after peering inside for a moment. "The wine cellar below the headmaster's office should be a space located between the first and second floors of the school, but this road..."

"It's okay. This means... from here on out, we're entering a kind of sub-space," Feng Bujue interjected, continuing her thought. "The settings before us are clearly all independently generated by the system, and no longer have much to do with the headmaster... If I'm not mistaken, continuing forward will bring us closer to the final plot..."

...

Meanwhile, on Xiao Tan's side...

Since Brother Jue wasn't present, An Yueqin, who had the flashlight, consciously took the lead.

After leaving the headmaster's office, the four carefully went downstairs to the first floor.

Since the "whoosh—" sound they'd heard sounded like a sliding door, their search target was naturally those rooms with sliding doors.

Fortunately, the school wasn't very big. After looking left and right from the stairwell, the players noticed something unusual...

At that moment, within their range of vision, the classrooms that had already been opened were still open, meaning... the doors hadn't changed.

However, the door to the "Faculty Office," which should have been closed, had been opened at some point...

"That... must've been opened by that guy on the playground, right?" Xiao Tan murmured to his teammates beside him, looking at the door and lowering his voice.

"Judging from the fact that he opened the door to the 'Faculty Office'..." Gui Xiao continued, "could he be a teacher at this school?"

"Maybe," Xiao Ling replied. "But he's definitely not the teacher of Class 2-A." She explained, "Because he's not one of the four adults in that group photo."

"I think... he might be Watanabe, the class monitor, all grown up," An Yueqin said, turning her head back.

"Mm, that's possible too," Xiao Tan nodded in agreement. "So far, all the NPCs... or rather, monsters, we've seen seem to be people from that Class 2-A group photo, right?"

"No... there's one... that can't be confirmed," Gui Xiao immediately interjected. "That's the guy who was initially趴 (pa) on the classroom window and later turned into black mist at the stairwell." He paused for half a second, recalling. "I saw his face... he wasn't one of the four adults in the photo." He looked up at his teammates again and said in a low voice, "If that guy is Watanabe, the class monitor..."

"...Then who is the man on the playground?" Xiao Tan finished his sentence and fell into thought.

"No matter who it is, let's move forward first..." An Yueqin took a deep breath and continued, "Hoo... not to mention there are still two people trapped upstairs, just the two flashlights we have probably won't last much longer, so..."

As she spoke, she had already stepped forward, heading towards the office. The other three didn't say anything else, just followed closely behind.

A few steps later, the group arrived at the door of the "Faculty Office."

What awaited them was...

"Sorry, I'm late." As soon as the players appeared, the man inside the room said this to them.

This man was the mysterious man who had been standing on the playground, looking up at the school.

He spoke quickly and didn't have the eerie feeling typical of ghosts. Moreover, he was holding a flashlight in his hand.

All these signs indicated... this guy seemed to be alive.

"Who are you?" An Yueqin asked, "What are you... doing?"

At that moment, the man was indeed busy with something. He had spread out several sheets of paper on a desk and was using a writing brush of unknown origin to write some strange characters that looked like ghost drawings.

"What?" Hearing An Yueqin's question, the man suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked up at the players suspiciously. "You... can't remember again?"

"What do you mean..." Xiao Tan also heard something from the other party's words, and asked tentatively, "'Again' can't remember?"

"Ah... I see." The man seemed to have confirmed something at this point. He continued, "After all, you've been 'lost' for too long. It's normal to forget."

"Then can you explain it to us?" An Yueqin, completely confused, asked again.

"My name is Tsukamoto Shota, and I'm an Onmyoji," Tsukamoto lowered his head again and began to busy himself with his work, continuing, "Although it may be rude to say so, I still have to inform you that you all died six years ago."

"What?" All four had the same reaction when they heard this.

Earlier, Feng Bujue's speculation that the players were actually "all ghosts" had unfortunately come true.

"Don't worry, let me explain slowly." Tsukamoto's attitude gave the impression that he was used to similar situations. He continued to draw talismans skillfully, saying, "This matter... has to start from Showa 47, which is 26 years ago..."

The players knew at once that the appearance of this NPC likely meant that the truth of the plot was about to be revealed, so they didn't interrupt and listened quietly.

"In May of that year, a fire broke out at Chongjiu Elementary School," Tsukamoto's narration began. "The fire wasn't too serious, but... it still killed one student, and that student was your classmate... Suzuki Takayuki." He paused for a second, seemingly wanting to give the players time to digest the information, and then continued, "Suzuki-kun was burned to death in the warehouse just one door away from the headmaster's office. Before he died, he desperately knocked on the door and cried for help, but... unfortunately, the headmaster, Miyamoto, was a drunkard. It happened to be lunchtime, and Miyamoto, who had no afternoon classes, was drunk and asleep in the headmaster's office.

"It wasn't until the fire truck drove into the school that Miyamoto woke up in shock, and by that time... Suzuki-kun across the hall had already gone into shock from inhaling too much smoke.

"Then, confused, Miyamoto instinctively fled the scene after seeing the smoke. He had no idea... that even at that time, if he could have opened the door across the hall, he would have still had time to save Suzuki-kun.

"However, these are all just assumptions... Suzuki-kun was eventually burned to death, and he also turned into a vengeful ghost because of it.

"The next day, he killed another student in your class—Noguchi Eiji. However, this case was treated as a general missing person case at the time. I only found out about these things through later investigations...

"Then, on the third day... it happened to be the day of the Sansha Festival. Although this small town is remote and not well-known, it still has a long history; since ancient times, the 'Mao Wang Shrine' here has always had its own Sansha Festival, and this custom has continued to this day.

"But the villagers didn't know that this festival, which the Mao Wang Shrine has passed down for thousands of years, isn't just for worshiping 'Amitabha Tathagata,' 'Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,' and 'Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva'... but to pray that the three bodhisattvas will help the villagers suppress 'its' resentment."

"'It'?" Gui Xiao reacted when he heard that keyword. "'It' is what?"

Note: In Tsukamoto's original words (Japanese), this "it" can also be translated as "that child (A-no-ko)."

"'It' is an evil god that is镇 (zhen) in the Mao Wang Shrine. Its name has been forgotten, but it is undoubtedly extremely evil and extremely powerful..." As he said this, Tsukamoto seemed to have thought of something, and his movements also paused slightly. "Ah..." For some reason, he sighed, "Later... on the night of the Sansha Festival, Miyamoto sneaked into the shrine. I think... at that time, he was likely already缠 (chan) by the vengeful ghost that Suzuki had become. He was running out of options because of fear... so he ran to the shrine, wanting to pray for the protection of the gods. But... what responded to Miyamoto wasn't a god, but...'it.'"

"Are you saying..." An Yueqin interjected when she heard this, "Miyamoto released 'it'?"

"That's right. Miyamoto destroyed the Dharma bodies of the three bodhisattvas and tore up the seal that镇 (zhen) 'it,'" Tsukamoto replied in a deep voice, "And 'it,' having regained its freedom, also fulfilled its promise and helped Miyamoto resolve Suzuki's vengeful spirit. But... Miyamoto soon realized that what he had released was far more terrifying than Suzuki's vengeful ghost.

"'It' first descended upon this school at the foot of the shrine mountain. The next day, your homeroom teacher, Mr. Sato, encountered 'it' and went insane because of it.

"Miyamoto didn't last long. Two days later, he committed suicide at home out of excessive fear..."

Up to this point, what Tsukamoto had said corresponded one-to-one with the information that Brother Jue had found in the old newspapers.

However, the content of the newspapers ended there, but Tsukamoto's story... wasn't over yet.

"'It' wouldn't just stop there. Its massacre had only just begun..." Tsukamoto continued, "Two days after Miyamoto's suicide, a bloody case that shocked all of Japan occurred at this school, known as the '520 Massacre'; that day... several teachers and a dozen students at this school were killed with extremely cruel methods. When the police arrived at the scene, they saw a scene like a living hell, and... seven survivors."

Speaking of this, Tsukamoto seemed to have finished what he was doing. He took the opportunity to look up and glanced at the players: "Those seven were all students in Class 2-A, which is... you."

"Wait..." Xiao Ling replied, "That's not right... there are... only six of us."

"To be precise, six ghosts," Tsukamoto corrected, "I know... you'll know why there were only six of you left in the end if you listen to me."

"Well..." Xiao Tan seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and said again, "About that massacre... you said 'it' killed everyone, but... how did the police close the case?"

"That case... had no outcome," Tsukamoto replied, "The police ultimately closed the case with the conclusion that 'the murderer could not be found.' They... would rather bear all the pressure of social opinion than make 'the results of their investigation' public."

"Why?" Xiao Tan asked again.

"I... think I've guessed the reason..." At that moment, An Yueqin's expression became a little subtle.

"Oh? What reason?" Xiao Ling asked curiously.

"I think..." An Yueqin looked at Tsukamoto, "It's better for him to say it..."

"Hmm..." Tsukamoto breathed out through his nostrils and continued, "The truth is hard to accept, because the investigation results from that year showed that... the ones who carried out the slaughter were you seven surviving children, who were only eight years old."

...

At the same time, on Feng Bujue and Li Ruoyu's side...

The two had been walking quickly in the tunnel for five or six minutes, and then they saw a light ahead.

They quickly approached the light source and discovered that it was the exit of the tunnel.

So, the two turned off their flashlights and walked out of the oppressive passage.

The moment Ruoyu, who was walking behind, stepped out of the tunnel, the tunnel entrance behind them, which was like a mirage, disappeared. When they looked back, they could only see a few ordinary country roads.

The scenery that appeared directly in front of them... was the gate of Chongjiu Elementary School.

"Heh... another kind of illusion?" Feng Bujue said with a smile, looking at the bright sunlight overhead and the campus bathed in the sunlight in front of him.

"That's for sure," Ruoyu replied. "Not to mention the time factor (there's no way it could be daylight so quickly), in terms of space, we're already outside of Chongjiu Elementary School. If this isn't an illusion, then haven't we already cleared the level?"

"Then..." Brother Jue continued, "Shall we go in and take a look?"

"Let's go," Ruoyu replied.

After the two finished speaking, they started walking and entered this "daytime version" of Chongjiu Elementary School...