Chapter 1: Ivywood Girls’ Academy (1)
The golden thread embedded in the clouds gradually faded away, and the starlight of the night stepped onto the misty mountaintops.
The moonlight falls on the isolated school.
"What kind of thing are you! Why don't you let us go!"
The Muscular Man grabbed the collar of the smiling tiger and pressed his shiny dagger against its abdomen, glaring fiercely at him.
Smiling Tiger still maintains a fake smile: "The players are gathering, please be patient and wait."
"What nonsense player." He shouted loudly while making a gesture to stab the dagger at the smiling tiger.
At this moment, a girl's voice sounded from behind him: "If I were you, I wouldn't do this."
The Muscular Man looked back and saw a girl with short hair, about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing the school uniform of the Crestwood Third High School. Her eyes had a maturity and coldness that rarely belonged to her age.
The girl glanced at him and said, "If you anger an NPC, there won't be a good ending."
Under the moonlight, the school monument of Ivywood Girls' Academy stood tall in the square. To the south were the main school building and the sports field, looking no different from an ordinary high school.
"What did you say?" The Muscular Man raised an eyebrow.
Just as he was about to question whether this girl knew something, a sharp pain shot through everyone's heads. A blue light illuminated the scene, and a mechanical female voice echoed in everyone's ears.
"Welcome to the Gods' Horror Game. First-level dungeon— Ivywood Girls' Academy. Players, do your best to survive until the seventh day!"
There were more than thirty people present, and some were visibly shocked by the system that had just appeared before them.
"Gods' Live Broadcast Room is launching… Automatically connecting to the live stream pool."
"Players, please enjoy the game to the fullest. Entertainment comes first—gain the gods' attention!"
The Smiling Tiger spoke up, "Classmates, welcome back to Ivywood Girls' Academy. It's time for night study."
"What night study? I've already graduated! Why should I attend night study? Where is this place? I don't want to be here! I want to go home!"
The Bald Man looked panicked, his guilty conscience written all over his face. He began shouting and struggling to leave.
With one person resisting, others followed. More and more voices rose in protest, shouting that they don't want to go to school.
Since...…
From the very beginning, people had been jumping off the building of Ivywood Girls' Academy.
Corpses fell to the ground like discarded trash, piling up into a small mountain of bodies.
"Tsk, so noisy."
Suddenly, a deep, slightly hoarse voice—like someone who had just woken up—rang out.
Though the voice wasn't loud, it somehow caught everyone's attention at once.
The sheer indifference and impatience in his tone stood in stark contrast to the fear and panic around him.
When they turned to look, they couldn't help but gasp.
The face before them was so strikingly beautiful that it was almost unreal—once seen, impossible to forget.
Rowan's slightly pale face bore a pair of dark red eyes that lazily swept over the crowd, irritation flickering within them, as if he had just been rudely awakened.
He stood up from behind the school monument and stepped into the crowd.
It was clear—this man had been sitting behind the monument, sleeping the entire time. Everyone had been too preoccupied with their own panic to even notice his presence.
He had a tall, lean build, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist. As he walked forward, the atmosphere unconsciously shifted.
All eyes were drawn to him.
They held their breath, waiting to hear what he would say next.
After a moment, Rowan turned to the smiling tiger and casually spoke:
"Teacher, I lost my uniform. Can I get another one?"
The Smiling Tiger froze for a second before his lips curled into a seemingly kind, but obviously insincere smile.
"What a good student. Of course, you can. After all, it's the schools rules."
As soon as he finished speaking, a wardrobe appeared out of thin air, filled with JK-style uniforms in shades of blue and pink.
Bald Man: ...
Muscular Man: ...
All the men present: ...…
As men! How could they wear women's clothing?!
Under everyone's gaze, Rowan unhesitatingly picked out a pink JK uniform, slipped it over his pants, and casually draped the Ivywood Girls' Academy jacket over his shoulders.
Once done, he even yawned.
"???"
Where was his male dignity?!
Muscle Man's eye twitched at the sight.
A man over six feet tall, wearing a girl's skirt—wasn't this just plain perversion?!
"Night study is about to begin! Hurry upstairs, students! Class 44 will surely achieve the best results in this semester's exams!" The Smiling Tiger raised a fist in a confident pose.
This game instance had 34 players in total, with an even split between men and women.
Rowan had been sleeping since he arrived this world.
In his dreams, a voice had repeatedly told him he must wear the school uniform. So, upon waking, he simply went to ask the Smiling Tiger for one.
As for whether it was a girl's uniform or not? He didn't care.
But deep inside, he had a vague feeling—if he didn't wear the uniform, something bad might happen.
He didn't remember why he was here. He had no past memories.
So he opened the system interface, casually browsing through it, trying to find information about himself.
So far, only two things stood out:
[Gods' Live Broadcast Room: 1 viewer]
[Item Inventory: God's Tear]
[God's Tear]
• Passive Effect: Increases the favorability of non-player characters (NPCs) in the instance by 10%.
• When carried, NPCs will feel an indescribable warmth and care toward the holder, making them more willing to support and help them.
[Note: Your existence makes the gods weep. The earth trembles for you. The universe goes mad for you. Don't cry—your crown will slip, and the gods will ache.]
Rowan closed the system screen, hands in his pockets, lazily following behind the Smiling Tiger.
The two headed toward the teaching building.
The others still hadn't fully grasped the situation, but they had all heard the system's announcement—survive for seven days, and they could leave.
They couldn't stand this eerie place any longer.
Outside the teaching building, people kept jumping from the windows, their bodies hitting the ground with sickening thuds. The scene was horrifying.
It was safer inside.
One by one, they followed behind Rowan, not caring anymore if he was some kind of cross-dressing lunatic.
They avoided looking at the ground.
Thick, dark blood had already stained the earth red. Warm streams of blood flowed toward the entrance of the teaching building.
The five-story structure was brightly lit, and faint sounds of students studying could be heard from inside.
The Bald Man stuck close to Rowan.
Sweat poured from his forehead, his lips pale. Every time he saw a female corpse, his body shuddered violently as he shook his head frantically, muttering under his breath:
"It wasn't me… It wasn't me…"
When they were just five meters from the entrance—
The Bald Man suddenly went berserk!
As if possessed, he shoved Rowan aside and bolted toward the door.
But the moment his foot touched the ground—
A flash of silver light.
A sickening slicing sound filled the air.
Before anyone could even react—
The Bald Man's body was split in half.
With a wet, squelching sound, blood sprayed everywhere. His intestines spilled onto the ground in a gruesome heap.
For a brief moment, he wasn't dead yet.
His screams of agony tore through the night.
"AAAAHHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS—!"
But his suffering didn't last long.
His head was sliced off.
Silence.
A suffocating, absolute silence.
Not a single sound could be heard—not even a pin dropping.
The killer stood right before them.
A figure still smiling pleasantly, as if nothing had happened.
Fresh, crimson blood dripped from his cheek.
His grin—as eerie as a demon's.
"Oh, I forgot to mention—"
"Don't break the school rules, okay? No loud noises in the hallway."