Chapter 43: Hello? Is anyone there? Help me?

“Teacher wants to see me for what?”

Mo Yidong stared at the girl in front of him with a puzzled expression.

Seeing her urgency, he asked,

“I want you to help take a look.”

Back when Teacher Qiu was still in the girls’ dormitory, she had told the Medical Staff that there was a classmate in the class who was very good at solving problems ordinary people couldn’t handle.

If they really couldn’t resolve it, they should ask him to come take a look.

Xia Yu saw Mo Yidong frown, his expression turning slightly serious, as if he had thought of something bad.

“Let’s go.”

To facilitate caring for the ten unconscious girls, the Medical Staff had moved five Rooms on the first floor to place them.

The group arrived together at the girls’ dormitory.

Mo Yidong checked the condition of the girls in each of the five Rooms, then gathered with the Medical Staff at the door.

“I’m done checking. They’re all trapped somewhere in The Mountain; we need to go find them.”

“But The Mountain is so huge. Where exactly should we look?”

Mo Yidong thought for a moment.

“Maybe we can follow the path they took.”

Just as everyone was at a loss, a classmate who had seen them enter The Mountain suddenly spoke up,

“Yesterday, I also saw someone from the boys’ dorm enter The Mountain. It looked like a classmate from Class Five.”

It felt like a glimmer of hope.

The Medical Staff immediately asked a colleague,

“Go bring the boys from Class Five who went into The Mountain last night and ask them.”

While waiting, the atmosphere in the hallway was heavy and silent.

Several Medical Staff paced back and forth between the five Rooms, observing without rest.

“How does he know all this?”

Xia Yu leaned toward Zhang Wenshan, who was idly playing a matching game on his phone, and quietly asked.

“No idea. Mo Yidong has never said.”

Xia Yu seemed to know nothing about Mo Yidong—not his race, his hobbies, or that he had a non-blood-related older brother.

She didn’t know how he had lived all these years…

Xia Yu blankly stared at Mo Yidong, suddenly feeling a sense of unfamiliarity toward this person before her.

For the first time, she felt the urge to understand someone, to try to get close to them.

But would someone like him truly accept her kindness?

Xia Yu wasn’t sure.

There were so many things they didn’t know about each other.

“What’s wrong?”

Mo Yidong noticed Xia Yu staring at him, seeming distracted.

“Nothing.”

Xia Yu quickly shifted her gaze to the floor and answered slowly.

Mo Yidong was about to say something when urgent footsteps sounded from down the hallway.

The Medical Staff responsible for fetching the boys from the dorm hurriedly said,

“I’ve brought the boys from Class Five.”

The Medical Staff looked at the four boys before them, safe and sound, showing no adverse reactions, unsure whether to feel relieved or worried.

“What were you guys doing in The Mountain again?”

“Playing the Trial of Courage…”

The Medical Staff looked at the situation, confused.

“Could it be that the thing inside only targets girls, not boys? The training ground has been running for so long; why now is there a problem?”

“Years of accumulation, and we happened to hit it.”

The Medical Staff sighed helplessly, now having to figure out the next step.

“Should we send more people to search The Mountain?”

Mo Yidong shook his head.

“If more people go, that thing won’t come out.”

Since it happened at night, searching at this time might not encounter what the girls saw.

“Send another girl to look?”

Mo Yidong worried the girl sent might not come back and came up with a plan.

“It’s best to send a boy who looks like a girl, preferably one who can fight.”

“Understood. I’ll ask around in the boys’ dorm to find someone like that to enter The Mountain.”

The Medical Staff followed Mo Yidong’s advice and sent another worker away.

Mo Yidong lowered his head slightly and glanced at Xia Yu calmly.

“Actually, I have someone in mind.”

The surrounding classmates seemed to guess who Mo Yidong wanted to pick and showed shocked and fearful expressions, secretly watching the two of them.

Mo Yidong had only transferred to the school a few days ago and probably didn’t know Xia Yu’s temper.

For Mo Yidong to want Xia Yu to disguise herself as a girl—not only was that difficult, but saying it out loud could easily get him a beating.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Yu-ge, interested in accompanying?”

The classmates heard Mo Yidong ask Xia Yu directly, and when Xia Yu looked up and glared slightly, they were all too scared to meet their eyes.

Mo Yidong was daring enough to pull feathers from a tiger—that was bold.

“Sure.”

What!?

They couldn’t believe what they’d just heard, suspecting Xia Yu was being coerced.

They couldn’t accept this answer.

Xia Yu took off her hair tie, and her hair lengthened naturally.

She didn’t even need a wig.

“Do I need to borrow you a skirt?”

Xia Yu glared coldly at Mo Yidong.

From her eyes, it was clear she was telling him to

“get lost.”

“If Xia Yu is going, I’ll go too.”

Zhang Wenshan, hearing about the strange thing in The Mountain, suddenly became interested and volunteered.

Seeing Mo Yidong shake his head, he was decisively rejected.

“Don’t come. You’ll just slow him down.”

It wasn’t a hike in The Mountain.

With the limiter locking their racial abilities, Zhang Wenshan wasn’t suitable for this mission.

Before heading up, Xia Yu deliberately took a suppressant pill in the dorm and then met Mo Yidong.

Arriving at the entrance where the girls had taken the Trial of Courage, Xia Yu chose a loose, long outfit.

Her silver hair flowed down her waist.

From behind and the side, she looked every bit a girl.

“Leave your hair tie here. Remember to give it back later.”

“No problem.”

Mo Yidong took the hair tie from Xia Yu and recalled the scene in the dorm.

Since she was going in alone, he asked,

“Are you scared?”

“It’s just about finding people. What’s there to be afraid of?”

Mo Yidong looked at Xia Yu’s fake calm expression and reluctantly believed her.

“If you get bored on the way, you can call me. I can keep you company.”

“Forget it. If you keep pestering me, I’ll give you a wig to wear and you can go in yourself.”

Xia Yu saw a faint smile form on Mo Yidong’s face and deliberately teased,

“I look better in girls’ clothes than you do.”

“Yeah, right.”

Xia Yu glared at Mo Yidong, quickly turned, waved her hand, and leisurely entered The Mountain.

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

According to the boys who took the Trial of Courage last night, the ten girls had entered through this path.

Xia Yu followed the route they had taken.

Looking ahead, the forest paths were complex and intertwined, covered in moss and fungi.

The deeper she went, the damper and gloomier it became.

The air was heavy with the scent of moist earth.

The wet ground was covered with tangled vines.

Bird cries echoed mournfully through the woods, and Xia Yu’s unease grew stronger, her throat tightening.

The deeper she went, the stranger it felt.

Was The Mountain really this huge?

Suddenly, the feeling beneath her feet turned soft.

She looked down at the green vines—soft and elastic—that suddenly twitched.

“What the hell, snakes!?”

No…!

Xia Yu quickly pulled her foot back, but the vines on the ground suddenly grabbed her left ankle like a trap, unwilling to let go once they caught their prey.

Xia Yu bent down to untangle the vines immediately, when hissing sounds came from both sides.

Vines suddenly grabbed her wrists, tightly restraining her.

“Wait, didn’t you say you wouldn’t catch boys?”

Xia Yu struggled hard but couldn’t break free.

These things seemed to have crawled from farther away.

“Hey? Anyone there? Help!”

Xia Yu was good at fighting, but she hadn’t agreed to come beat up some unknown creature!

The vines wrapped around her waist and, seeming annoyed by her shouting, gagged her mouth.

Luckily, she had four Fang teeth and bit down hard.

The vines suddenly felt sharp pain and released her mouth.

“Damn! What’s that taste?”

It wasn’t grass or tree roots—hard to describe.

Her mouth was filled with an indescribable flavor.

Xia Yu suddenly felt her feet leave the ground as her body was swiftly lifted, about to be taken somewhere.

Not knowing if anyone could hear, Xia Yu shouted through the forest,

“Hey! Mo Yidong! Help me!”