She Was Sentenced to Life Imprisonment [Unlimited] - Chapter 67

Chapter 67: The Studio (9)

◎There are no more rules, you’ve been sacrificed.◎

The dense crowd of students stood on the academic building. Countless pairs of eyes were fixed on Jiang Nan, like countless surveillance cameras, leaving her with no place to hide.

Jiang Nan calmly looked up. The once clear and boundless sky was now shrouded in black mist, its oppressive atmosphere filling her with a sense of dread.

The elevator door slowly closed, blocking her view.

In the last second before it completely closed, a hint of shock flashed in Jiang Nan’s eyes. She suddenly wanted to step forward and leave the elevator.

She saw Fang Yuan, wearing a bl00d-stained school uniform jacket, blending in with the other students and looking at her.

But Teacher Liu, who had noticed her actions, immediately stared at her with a grim expression, as if he was afraid she would escape. He scolded her.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

He raised his hand, trying to stop Jiang Nan.

After Jiang Nan subtly dodged his hand, she gave him a cold look. Her slight frown of displeasure was like that of a high-ranking person looking down on an ant beneath her.

The elevator suddenly stopped, making them stumble. In the flickering light of the elevator, the slender figure stood steady. A faint, enchanting purple appeared in her light-colored eyes. The lazy and relaxed demeanor made her seem like a completely different person.

Teacher Liu, who had been thrown to the floor by the rocking of the elevator, looked up with a stream of curses and met the pair of eyes looking down at him. A chill went down his spine.

“Teacher, I wasn’t trying to run away.”

Her pale lips parted slightly, but every single word was like a boulder hitting his heart, making him tremble uncontrollably.

“Devil… devil, she…! Rules, rules, save me!”

He instinctively tried to scurry back in a pathetic manner. But with no way to retreat, he unconsciously revealed something. He was pleading in fear, but he couldn’t get a single response.

“Teacher, what are you afraid of?” A clear and pleasant voice sounded, but every word made the person on the floor feel as if he had fallen into a bottomless abyss.

【There are no more rules, you’ve been sacrificed.】

A sinner being abandoned by the rules and sacrificed by the Main God—that was the proper path.

A calm, emotionless voice appeared in his mind, carrying a hint of a beguiling tone and a warning. It made the depths of Teacher Liu’s eyes turn hollow and vacant.

With a “ding,” the elevator reached the sixth floor and slowly opened. The pathetic Teacher Liu slumped to the floor. The two students’ eyes darted outside, at a loss. A student with an indifferent expression walked out.

“Come out.”

The commanding tone carried a presence that could not be refused. It made the teacher on the floor tremble like a sifter. With a pale face and trembling legs, he walked out of the elevator.

Jiang Nan’s lazy demeanor faded. Her expression was once again replaced by a gloomy one. The oppressive presence around her subsided. The freezing air returned to normal at that moment.

Teacher Liu also returned to normal the moment the oppressive presence disappeared. But he wasn’t completely normal. Like a puppet following a pre-planned route, he led them forward.

Jiang Nan put her hand into her pocket. When her fingertips touched the cold, hard walkie-talkie, her head ached. She frowned and raised a hand to rub the space between her eyebrows.

She blinked her sour eyes a few times. By the time she had recovered, she was about to step forward to follow them, but she paused.

In front of her was a terrifying bloodstain that had formed a path wide enough for one person to walk through.

In a trance, a vague and ethereal voice struggled to enter her ears. The terrified crying made her heart tremble. Endless fear surrounded her.

“S… save me… I’m scared…”

But it was obvious that the pleading words didn’t make the person holding her feel any sympathy. Instead, the dull thud of a heavy object hitting her sounded.

As the intermittent words fell, Jiang Nan blinked again. The bloody path was gone. The clean floor made her wonder if she had just imagined it.

Jiang Nan walked through that spot in silence and followed them. The stench of bl00d that lingered in her nose was particularly pungent. It also confirmed to Jiang Nan that something had happened here. And because she knew, her expression grew a little more grim.

The person they had seen before, who had been called the principal, was standing kindly at the entrance to the art studio. He was talking to another teacher inside. His approachable demeanor made it hard to believe that this was the same person who had been so cold to the students on the first floor.

The principal saw Teacher Liu bring the three students over. A hint of disdain immediately flashed in his eyes, but he still politely nodded at them. His gaze lingered on Jiang Nan for a moment.

“You’ve all arrived. Come on in.”

The principal said with a smile, stepping aside to let them in.

After they had all entered, the principal’s eyes, filled with sinister calculations, gave a few instructions to the teacher on the sixth floor and then left.

The art studio on the sixth floor was spacious and bright. It was so spotless that it didn’t look like a place for painting. But the paintings hanging around it added an artistic atmosphere. The clay pots and plaster busts for imitation were neatly arranged on shelves and covered by glass. No matter how many years had passed, they were still as good as new.

Before they had entered the art studio, including the teacher, there were a total of four people.

The three students in the art studio stood up with arrogant expressions. One of them lifted their chin and said.

“The rewards you get won’t be small.”

Jiang Nan raised her eyes and looked directly at them. The indifference in her eyes reflected their sanctimonious appearances. She spoke.

“If I die, will you still give me the reward?”

They seemed to have not expected that someone would question them. Their faces looked ugly for a moment. Then the teacher stood out and said.

“How could we not give it to you…”

Jiang Nan mercilessly cut off the teacher. A hint of sarcasm was in her eyes. She didn’t give them any respect as she said.

“Are you going to burn paper money for me?”

They had never expected that someone would dare to be so headstrong with them. The faces of the few people grew grim again.

One of them was unhappy with Jiang Nan’s attitude. He was about to step forward to argue, but he was stopped by his companion, who shook his head and stopped him.

“If you behave, you might not die.”

Right now, they needed these scapegoats, so they could only try to appease them first.

“If you don’t come, we can always find someone else,” another person threatened her.

Jiang Nan shook her head calmly. Her eyes were fixed on them as she said.

“You won’t be able to find anyone else.”

Because every batch was specifically selected from orphanages based on their birthdates. They had been meticulously trained and brainwashed to achieve their goal.

The few people whose secret had been exposed had their faces darken. Just as they were about to say something else, they saw Jiang Nan walk past them and sit down on a folding chair in front of an easel.

Her temperament was melancholic. Sitting quietly in front of the easel, she looked like a true artist.

Seeing that she was sensible enough not to cause any more trouble, the few of them breathed a sigh of relief.

“I knew it. There’s nothing that money can’t solve. Let’s go. I’m exhausted from staying here for so long.”

That person complained, then walked out of the art studio with the other two, laughing and chatting.

The teacher on the sixth floor seemed to have remembered something. His face went pale for a moment. He opened his mouth to try to warn the figures who were leaving, but it was as if his mouth had been covered by a cold hand, making him unable to make a sound.

A strong stench of bl00d filled his nostrils. The teacher was terrified but unable to move. A cool breeze was blowing by his ear. He only heard one sentence, which made his hair stand on end.

“What do you want to remind them of?”

“N-nothing…”

The teacher’s voice trembled as he spoke. Like Teacher Liu before, he was trembling like a sifter. Fear filled his entire body.

With the rules broken, everyone was on their own. But the school was still saying big words to appease the students’ fear. Only the ones who knew, knew that that person’s revenge was only a matter of time.

Jiang Nan looked over, but she only saw a severed hand clutching the teacher’s neck.

The clean cut on the severed hand made it easy to see the white bones wrapped in flesh and bl00d, which was both terrifying and horrifying.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Nan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Teacher.”

The sudden voice made the teacher’s body tremble violently. He turned around stiffly and said hoarsely.

“What is it, Fang… Classmate Jiang?”

In the teacher’s eyes, he didn’t see Jiang Nan’s appearance. It was unknown whether it was because of his guilty conscience or something else, but he saw a hideous-looking person. The lips, stained with bl00d, were smiling grimly at him.

“I need to use the bathroom.”

The floors above were not as strict as the ones below. There was a lot of freedom.

Hearing that she just had a simple request, the teacher tightly closed his eyes and didn’t dare to look at her, but he still breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

“Go ahead.”

With permission granted, Jiang Nan put her hands in her pockets and walked out calmly.

When she passed the teacher, she stopped and feigned a puzzled expression as she said.

“Teacher, what are you afraid of?”

The teacher shook his head violently. He denied it with his eyes tightly closed.

“No, no, I’m not afraid… Classmate Fang, I didn’t hurt you…”

By the end of his sentence, fear had taken over, and he almost let slip more information.

“Then who was it?”

Jiang Nan said faintly. Her gaze watched as the severed hand on the teacher’s neck tightened. The teacher’s face turned purple from suffocation.

“It was, it was… I don’t know…”

The teacher slumped to the floor, shaking his head blankly, repeating “I don’t know” over and over again.

Jiang Nan stared at him from above. Her gaze shifted back to the severed hand, which she scrutinized carefully.

The severed hand’s skin was grayish-blue. There were fine, white powder on the neatly trimmed nails.

She pondered for a moment before leaving the art studio. But the teacher, who hadn’t heard any footsteps, thought she hadn’t left and continued to tremble on the floor.

Meanwhile, the other players were huddled together. They had turned the walkie-talkie’s volume to the lowest setting and were listening to the faint sounds coming from it. Their expressions had changed.

“He’s talking about… the rules?” Yang Yi said, pondering for a moment and frowning.

Why would an insignificant NPC pray for the protection of the rules?

The rules were the Main God.

Yan Xin also frowned and said coldly.

“How is this the simplest instance? It’s been having problems one after another since we came in. And it wants us to find a safe exit in three days. It’s really crazy!”

They continued to listen to the sounds coming from the walkie-talkie. Suddenly, Jiang Nan’s clear voice sounded.

“She…”

Before she could finish, she heard the static from the walkie-talkie and immediately changed her words.

“Luo Ning.”

“She’s not here,” Lin Jia said quietly, holding the walkie-talkie to her mouth.

“She suddenly ran to the music building and got caught. She’s in the principal’s office writing a self-reflection.”

They also didn’t know why Thanatos had run there and deliberately gotten herself caught.

Hearing where Thanatos had gone, the Jiang Nan on the other side was silent for a moment.