She Was Sentenced to Life Imprisonment [Unlimited] - Chapter 61

Chapter 61: The Studio (3)

◎Without Fear, There Are No Desires◎

Yan Xin was actually right. This instance’s only requirement was for them to survive, with no hints given. It was as if it wanted to trap them to their deaths within the instance.

The purpose of the Main God’s actions might be unknown to others, but Jiang Nan and Luo Ning were certainly aware of it.

Thinking of how she had inadvertently implicated others, a sense of guilt welled up in Jiang Nan. She said.

“Before we came here, we were locked in the storage room. A girl named Fang Yuan opened the door. She led us here, and I think she might know something.”

Hearing her words, a flicker of doubt appeared in the others’ eyes.

Su Yue’s wire-rimmed glasses reflected the light, obscuring the emotions in her eyes as she said.

“We didn’t go to the storage room.”

That was because they had appeared directly in this art studio; only Jiang Nan and Thanatos were exceptions.

Upon hearing this, a subtle shift passed through Jiang Nan’s eyes. She felt that the way they were looking at her was particularly glaring, as if she were a freak, just like in the past.

Her hand, which was hanging down, trembled slightly. She frowned as if trying to hold something back. The strange atmosphere around her was almost getting out of control.

Thanatos’s hand clasped hers at this moment. The warmth from her palm brought a sense of calm. The sound of Thanatos’s voice echoed in her mind, seemingly real yet unreal, like a god looking down on the world from above, yet it was soothing her with extreme gentleness.

【Jiang Nan, don’t let it affect you. It’s targeting you.】

That’s right. From the moment the system threw her into this school instance with the pretense of it being the simplest one, it was intentionally targeting her.

Because it knew what she was most afraid of and what she detested the most, this place was created to disgust her!

Jiang Nan suddenly came back to her senses, and the turmoil in her heart gradually subsided.

This instance did not grant them the right to kill. The Main God wanted her to go crazy and break the rules.

Now that she understood, Jiang Nan clasped the other person’s hand back. She looked up at their gazes with indifference.

“If you don’t believe me, we… I can just go find her myself.”

Yang Yi thought for a moment. Seeing that the situation was getting tense, she immediately stepped in with a smile to smooth things over.

“We’re just curious. In a place like this, we have to be a little cautious.”

Thanatos scoffed at the system’s obvious “favoritism.” It wanted them to become the target of everyone’s animosity. Her profound eyes were like a deep pool, holding an unfathomable darkness, but a smile still hung on her lips as she said.

“Maybe it’s worried you won’t have anything to draw with, so it sent us to get supplies.”

Hearing this, although everyone had their own thoughts, the most important point of focus right now was on the “Fang Yuan” that Jiang Nan had mentioned.

“With so many students, they must be doing a roll call, right? So there should be a roster or something. We can find it and see which floor Fang Yuan is on.” Yan Xin’s gaze fell on the teacher not far away, but she didn’t see any kind of roster in his hand.

“The dean has a roster,” Jiang Nan said, looking out the window, the emotions in her eyes unclear.

She didn’t like it here. This place only made her feel so suppressed that she couldn’t breathe.

“Then that’s easy. We can sneak into the office after class and steal it.” Yan Xin’s eyes lit up. She was about to get up, but Yang Yi stopped her.

“Why hasn’t class ended after all this time?” Yang Yi asked, frowning in confusion.

They had clearly heard the bell ring for class dismissal and had vaguely heard the sounds of people playing from a distance. But when they thought they could go out, they looked up and found that the entire art studio was still only filled with the scratching sound of people drawing.

Lin Jia shook her head and quietly explained to them.

“Do you think an art studio’s schedule is the same as a regular class? In an art studio, you might only get half an hour for lunch. After they’re done, they have to continue drawing. And…”

She paused in her speech, her gaze falling on the listless students. After hesitating for a moment, she sighed and continued.

“And it seems to be even stricter here.”

Hearing this, everyone frowned.

They had originally planned to suggest going out during lunch, but they were quickly hit with a dose of cold reality by Jiang Nan.

“They each have a lunch box beside them. It looks like they’ll just obediently eat inside.”

If they went out, they wouldn’t be able to come back on time and would quickly be discovered.

“What about getting a punishment by standing in the hallway? Would that work?” Yang Yi pondered.

Lin Jia seemed to have remembered something. Her sweet face had a rare look of being speechless. After rolling her eyes, she pouted and said.

“Even if you get a punishment, it’s not standing in the hallway; it’s being forced to do dozens or hundreds of sketches. At that point, you can forget about leaving this place.”

In the end, their only plan was to sneak out after the students fell asleep.

According to Lin Jia, they might have to stay up until early morning and might even sleep in the art studio. But the teacher naturally wouldn’t stay in the art studio, so that would be their chance to go out.

“Everyone, stop what you’re doing.”

The teacher on the other side tapped the thin bamboo stick in his hand. He scanned the students in the art studio with a stern expression. A hint of disgust flashed in his eyes, but he continued to tap the stick in his hand and said.

“I just got three slots from above. This is a rare opportunity for you all. The promised amount is only going to increase.”

The students who had stopped drawing all raised their heads. Since they had been looking down for so long, the cracking sound of their bones could be heard.

Their faces were pale and lifeless, and they looked as tired as puppets being manipulated.

“The slots are limited. Who wants to go?” The teacher’s voice grew louder as he called out.

The students finally began to discuss quietly, making Jiang Nan and the others hold their breath to listen.

“Are you going?” Student A asked the person next to him.

That person shook his head, and his heavily-dark-circled eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of pride.

“I’m not going. I have a dream.”

Student A sighed: “Yeah, we’re all here because of our dreams. Didn’t someone get a slot on the fifth floor before? He never came back. We have to keep our lives to go out and make something of ourselves.”

When this was brought up, a bit more life appeared in their eyes.

“Don’t you need money? You should go,” Student B urged the person next to him.

Student C clutched the hem of his school uniform. He frowned, and a complex emotion flashed in his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something but was still hesitant.

“What are they doing?” Jiang Nan asked.

The others all looked at Lin Jia, who was probably the only person who knew what was going on. Lin Jia’s expression changed, and she said.

“They’re looking for ghost painters.”

In a less strict era, art was just a way for rich families to elevate themselves. But if their grades were decent and they wanted to get into a better school, their families would choose the path of art to get bonus points.

But if they only picked up a brush a short time before the art exam, if they had talent, that was one thing. But if they didn’t, they would look for an easier path, which was to find a ghost painter to take the exam for them.

They were a little surprised. This kind of thing was always done discreetly, but they didn’t expect them to be so openly looking for people.

So was this really a school?

Their expressions were all different. They looked at the students who had no choice and felt a little more pity for them.

The teacher saw that the students below him were just making noise and didn’t show any intention of standing up to sign up. He was a little angry, and he used a lot of force when he tapped the bamboo stick in his hand.

“You people are truly hotheaded. What’s the use of being good at drawing when you can’t even afford to buy brushes? I worked so hard to get these slots, and you’re not even appreciating them properly.”

After belittling them, the teacher stared at the roster in his hand and called out three names.

After choosing the people, a cold smile flashed in the teacher’s eyes, and he said.

“It’ll be you three. Get ready tomorrow and come up with me.”

Student C was among them. His face was pale. His lips moved as if to refuse, but in the end, he could only weakly slump down onto the dilapidated folding chair.

The people next to him breathed a sigh of relief that they hadn’t been chosen. They then comforted him.

“You won’t necessarily die, right? What if you succeed? You can just get the money and wait for next year,” they said.

Listening to the other person’s comforting words, Jiang Nan’s eyes narrowed slightly. Looking at them, Fang Yuan’s words suddenly flashed through her mind.

【They’re scapegoats.】

If these slots each had a corresponding person, then the people in the classes above weren’t just buying paintings; they were using money to buy lives.

Who were the scapegoats? It was these students who were still secretly pleased that they hadn’t been chosen.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure at the window. The person was standing at the window looking in, with a strange smile on her face. But she wasn’t looking at them; she was looking at the teacher.

That was the Fang Yuan they were looking for. Fang Yuan seemed to have noticed her gaze and slowly turned her head to look at her, giving her a chilling smile.

Jiang Nan was silent for a moment. She couldn’t help but clutch Thanatos’s hand, and she whispered.

“I saw Fang Yuan. She seems to dislike that teacher.”

Since she disliked him, then why were there so many statues on the sports field, but not a single one was the teacher?

Thanatos said “Mm” and then leaned in and whispered in Jiang Nan’s ear with a smile.

“Compared to that, it looks like we’re in a bit of trouble now.”

After she finished speaking, she gestured for Jiang Nan to look at the teacher who had already walked over. The bamboo stick was broken again. The next moment, the teacher’s angry voice rang out.

“What are you talking about?! Is it going to make you better at drawing or something?! You won’t be eating lunch. Everyone, hand in fifty sketches!”

They had no room to argue. The teacher quickly left with his completely broken bamboo stick.

“Do we really have to draw?” Yan Xin frowned, sounding a little unhappy.

Among them, not to mention drawing, they probably didn’t even remember the last time they had held a paintbrush.

They looked at the only person who could draw, but before they could even speak, Lin Jia gave them a sweet smile and mercilessly refused.

“No, that’ll kill me.”

Su Yue opened her mouth to say something, but Lin Jia also waved her hand and said.

“You can’t do it either.”

Jiang Nan looked at the teacher’s retreating back. She pondered for a moment and then said.

“He didn’t seem to say when we have to hand them in.”

Just now, he only said that they couldn’t have lunch. Although he had punished them afterward, he hadn’t mentioned a deadline for when the sketches had to be handed in.

“Then you don’t have to hand them in. If they ask, you can question the system,” Thanatos said, showing no respect for the so-called system and Main God.

Jiang Nan nodded in agreement with Thanatos’s point.

When they heard this, they looked at them in shock. Even Yan Xin seemed a little incredulous.

“You two seem to have a lot of issues with it.”

The system was connected to the Main God. At first, some people had questioned this place, but after the warnings didn’t work, they reportedly disappeared from the instance.

Before Jiang Nan could continue, a sound came from the system, which made everyone’s nerves immediately tense. They thought they were about to be warned, but after a long wait, only a scratching sound was heard, which was almost covered by the sound of the students drawing.

“Is something wrong with this thing?” Lin Jia muttered.

Jiang Nan’s expression was calm, as if this had nothing to do with her. But the bored Thanatos beside her squeezed her hand.

The intimate gesture made Jiang Nan freeze. She then realized that both before and after the teacher had come over, she had unconsciously moved closer to the other person.

Thinking of this, Jiang Nan’s face looked a little grim. But if she were to shake off Thanatos’s hand now, she would look difficult, which made her hesitate.

She stared at their intertwined hands for a long time. Finally, she pouted and didn’t make any other moves.

But she had forgotten that Thanatos could sense her emotions but couldn’t know the specific reason for them. She didn’t know about Jiang Nan’s current awkwardness, only that the hand she was holding had moved for a while and then stopped.

After a long time with no warning from the system, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then we don’t have to worry about this. We’ll just sneak out when they’re asleep. Why is this place so annoying?” Yan Xin complained one last time.

While Yang Yi was comforting Yan Xin, Lin Jia tugged at Jiang Nan’s school uniform. When the other person looked over, she spoke mysteriously.

“She’s that person from the last instance, right? I’ve never seen a second person who has nothing to fear.”

Hearing this, Jiang Nan fell silent, but it wasn’t because Luo Ning’s identity had been discovered. It was because of what Lin Jia had said about Thanatos having nothing to fear.

Without anything to fear, then what difference was there from having no desires?