[At midnight, the bells rang twelve times, and the corpses inside the coffins began to “come alive.”
Like puppets on strings.
They wildly lunged at anyone still alive. Though some tried to reason with them, most were mercilessly slaughtered.
Some even attempted to fight back! But the corpses seemed to have iron-like skin and immense strength. Humans before them were like plucked chicks, their small wings torn apart with a ripping sound.
The entire scene turned blood red.]
[You died.]
[Do you want to keep this talent: Virtue of Teacher (White)?]
[Virtue of Teacher (White): You are a teacher with faith. Although you occasionally impose harsh punishments like making students copy lines a hundred times, you believe that strict teachers produce outstanding students.
Normally, your approachable nature makes you well respected. Effect: Emotion Perception +1, Affinity +1, Maturity +1.]
[This simulation has ended. Survival time did not meet the minimum standard. During the Newbie Period, results are settled by the minimum standard.]
[This survival time was one day. Reward: Physical Training Pill ×1. Would you like to replace your previous talent with this one?]
No answer was given to the system’s question.
The students were fully engrossed in the lesson, paying no attention to Su Wanwan’s gloomy expression on the podium.
Trouble.
This was already her twenty-third simulation.
She never lasted more than a day in any of them.
At first, she thought it was some kind of prank and didn’t take it seriously.
End Times? Simulation?
Her profession was a teacher.
A self-proclaimed materialist.
No matter how many times the system’s voice rang out, she dismissed it as hallucinations caused by stress.
She even went to see a psychologist because of it.
But ten days later in Magic City, she couldn’t believe it was all true!
Mountain after mountain of coffins seemed ready to come alive, creaking and groaning eerily under the moonlight.
Coffins? Why were there so many coffins inexplicably appearing on the streets?
Before she had time to feel fear, she realized that although she was standing right there, her perspective was drifting further and further away.
It turned out she was already a headless female corpse.
She, who didn’t believe in the End Times, was dead.
Then, she returned to the podium.
She had lost count of how many times she’d come back to the front of the classroom.
But this time felt like the last.
Her Newbie Period was about to end.
After that, if she died in the End Times, it would be for real.
During the Newbie Period, she had tried many approaches.
For example, keeping talents that seemed powerful.
Martial Arts Expert and the like.
Once, during the Newbie Period, she even managed to twist a steel rebar with her bare hands.
She thought she was safe.
She didn’t believe anything inside those coffins could be harder than steel rebar.
That time, she did manage to rip off one of the strange heads.
But that head just sneered at her.
Then, she saw a heart still beating violently.
Her heart was ripped out.
Unwilling to accept defeat, she tried many more times.
Strengthening her body alone didn’t work, so what about something more fantastical?
Like a Magic Girl?
As a People’s Teacher, she went all out for survival.
After all, the Magic Girl Outfit—
Well, it was a little embarrassing.
That meant she had to mention the Magic Girl’s setup.
The fewer times you transformed, the stronger your combat power.
Until death, she believed she hadn’t unleashed her full Magic Girl potential.
She often felt out of place compared to other Magic Girls, not nearly as extreme.
Besides, she was twenty-three years old.
The Magic Girl image was a bit too embarrassing.
She still remembered how the students were stunned when she showed up in a low-cut battle suit, white stockings, and wielding a Fairy Wand.
“Wow! Teacher is a Magic Girl!”
“Awesome! We’re saved!”
But as soon as she charged out of the Teaching Building on her Fairy Wand, she was killed again.
After that, she tried even more.
If physical skills and fantasy powers didn’t work, what about firearms?
Was all the fear due to lack of firepower?
Once, she even upgraded her Gun Master (Blue) talent to Gun-Fighting Grandmaster (Purple), then to Light of the Mind (Orange).
She really thought she had it nailed.
Once Light of the Mind activated, she could see any creature’s “Death Line.”
No longer limited by guns, even a stone could become a weapon—just hit that invisible line and any creature would die.
She truly became the embodiment of “everything is a weapon.”
But when she confidently stepped out of the Teaching Building—
Girls rarely cursed, even if they did, it was in secret.
Especially since she was a teacher.
But even she couldn’t hold back.
“Damn your whole family! No cheating like this!”
Those things—didn’t have any Death Line at all!
Were they already dead or what?
It didn’t matter.
She died again.
And now, she had only one last chance.
Honestly, Su Wanwan no longer felt like teaching.
She really wanted to irresponsibly say, “Study hall, then.”
But the talent she chose to keep in this simulation—
Virtue of Teacher (White)—
Perfectly matched her profession.
It made it hard for her to act irresponsibly.
As for why she chose to keep a talent that seemed unrelated to survival—
Honestly, Su Wanwan wasn’t quite sure.
She lost track of how many simulations she had run, though she had recorded some data.
Like the correlation between talent choices and survival time.
After a while, she noticed that picking seemingly powerful talents only got her as far as riding the Fairy Wand out of the Teaching Building.
According to the game’s logic, she hadn’t even left the Newbie Zone.
Once, by chance, she almost managed to step out of the School Gate.
At first, she thought it was due to the talent Invisible Person (Purple): Extremely low presence, you barely have acquaintances in the city, but you don’t mind.
Effect: Appearance -3, Damage Taken -30%.
But in another simulation choosing Invisible Person, she didn’t even leave the Teaching Building.
It seemed unrelated to the Invisible Person talent.
With ten talent slots in total, which one had allowed her to nearly leave the Newbie Zone?
She scrutinized each one.
Eventually, she discovered it was the talent that seemed the most useless and inconspicuous.
Virtue of Teacher.
Why?
Virtue of Teacher was a white talent—the lowest tier.
Though she recalled upgrading Virtue of Teacher (White) once to Cold Beauty Master (Blue).
But the attributes from Cold Beauty Master (Blue)?
To Su Wanwan, they were basically useless.
Somewhat frustrating, even.
But it was this strange, inexplicable talent—
In repeated tests, it gave her the longest survival time.
This was puzzling.
She must have missed some important information.
She began analyzing every single simulation’s events after choosing Virtue of Teacher.
To her surprise, she found a recurring message in the simulations.
[Because you are a teacher with virtue, you are highly respected by your students. They do not run away immediately but instead protect you.]
In the past, Su Wanwan always ignored this message.
But after repeated comparisons, she realized—
Whenever this message did not appear, death came the moment she stepped out of the Teaching Building.
Whether she believed it or not—
It seemed that her class had some extraordinary students.