June 27, 2023 by Wyrd
Ruan Qing remembered what ‘Xia Baiyi’ said during the day, that if one received a blessing, they would become very intelligent and almost always score full marks on exams.
Could a person suddenly become very intelligent overnight?
Ruan Qing thought it was impossible.
Whether a person’s brain was intelligent or not was determined by genetics and brain development. Perhaps the environment could influence intelligence to some extent, but it was not possible to suddenly become intelligent.
The feeling of becoming smarter was often attributed to the gradual accumulation, subtle influences, and sudden improvement in comprehension. However, in reality, it was merely the outcome of one’s own diligent efforts.
But in the case of ‘seeking blessings’, as described in the legend, it’s completely different. In this legend, it didn’t matter what one’s intelligence was before or how much effort one put into studying; obtaining blessings directly resulted in being smart enough to become the top scorer in the provincial exams.
This was impossible unless...
Unless... a person had already been replaced.
Just like ‘Xia Baiyi.’
No, Ruan Qing didn’t notice how much smarter ‘Xia Baiyi’ was compared to the Xia Baiyi in his memory.
Moreover, ‘Xia Baiyi’ was replaced by a monster after going to the toilet, and it was broad daylight. It’s clearly unrelated to this midnight twelve o’clock blessing.
One was a monster in the mirror, with a body that was not human, while the other was most likely just possessed by some entity but still had a human body. They should not be the same situation.
But... why did she want him to seek blessings?
Ruan Qing didn’t believe that she simply accompanied him out of curiosity about the midnight twelve o’clock legend. Obviously, she had a clear objective in wanting him to come.
If she wanted to kill him, there would be no need to deceive him into coming here. She could just find him alone, which would be more than enough. It’s completely unnecessary.
Yet, she insisted on him coming.
It’s strange.
Could there be some connection between the monster in the mirror and seeking blessings at midnight twelve o’clock?
Mirror...
Ruan Qing looked around. Class 1-1 didn’t have any mirrors, and they were sitting far away from the windows. The light from the white candles was not strong enough to reflect their appearance on the windows.
Ruan Qing’s gaze settled on his shadow reflected on the wall.
Shadow shouldn’t be considered a reflection, right...?
Xiao Shiyi had no idea what Ruan Qing was thinking. After listening to Ruan Qing’s words, he nodded and said, “Yes, three minutes is not enough time to leave the school.”
“So it’s best to protect our own candles and not let them be extinguished.”
Ruan Qing remained silent, withdrawing his gaze and quietly watching his own candle.
The white candle burned slowly. Since it was of the usual size, it’s estimated to burn for about two hours.
Mo Ran, standing beside them, didn’t speak. His face carried a hint of indifference, and he even began to play with his own candle. His posture indicated that he had no fear of the candle going out, as if he didn’t care at all about this unscientific legend.
Mo Ran’s candle held up surprisingly well, not extinguishing even when he spun it like a pen.
However, if someone paid close attention, they would notice that although Mo Ran seemed unconcerned about his own candle, he constantly kept an eye on Ruan Qing’s candle from the corner of his eye.
Even Xiao Shiyi did the same. While casually observing the front row where Xia Baiyi and Li Shuyang were sitting, he occasionally glanced at Ruan Qing’s candle.
Xia Baiyi, who was usually lively, didn’t speak to Ruan Qing, whether out of fear or nervousness. She kept her head down, lost in her thoughts.
As for Li Shuyang, he had been watching Ruan Qing all along. When Ruan Qing looked over, he would even give him a shy smile.
Outside the window, it was pitch black, abnormally so. The candlelight couldn’t illuminate anything, as if the entire classroom was an isolated island, disconnected from the outside world.
At that moment, many people felt as if the classroom had become distorted. Their shadows on the wall swayed with the flickering candle flames, appearing strange and terrifying.
As the top high school in the province, the First High School had clocks in the classrooms, ensuring that the concept of time was not lost to the people inside.
And those clocks were not electronic ones; they were analog clocks with hour and minute hands. Every small tick of the second hand would produce a “click” sound.
The sound was particularly faint, but at this moment, everyone could hear it clearly—the “click” sound tightened their hearts. The rhythm was too frequent, making the people in the classroom even more uneasy.
Even the effects of the previously comforting words started to fade away. Terror, darkness, and fear slowly breed and spread, generating all kinds of negative emotions.
Perhaps it was too quiet, as some classmates began whispering and chatting with each other. Although their voices were kept low, it diluted the tense atmosphere to some extent.
Unbeknownst to everyone, half an hour had already passed, and during this time, nothing else happened, and no one’s candle went out again.
Everyone relaxed a little, seemingly realizing that a student indeed made this blessing legend up in order to do well on the exams.
After all, high school students prioritize their studies, and the pressure was undoubtedly high. So even though not many of them believed in superstitious beliefs, they still wanted some good luck.
The ordinary classmates in the classroom relaxed a lot, and the sound of conversations became lively. The fear from before was gone.
Clack.
A sound interrupted the soft conversations among the classmates.
A few people looked down at the white candle that had fallen on the ground and was already extinguished. They glanced at each other, asking, “Whose is it?”
“It’s mine, mine. I just placed it on the desk. I guess I couldn’t hold it steady and it fell.” One of the classmates raised his hand, his expression not as nervous as when the first white candle went out. In fact, he seemed quite cheerful.
After speaking, he picked up the fallen white candle and placed it back on the desk.
The second white candle went out, but the other classmates were no longer as nervous as before. Instead, they jokingly said, “Wow, you’re really careless. You can forget about becoming smarter now. Just work hard and don’t get kicked out of the class 1. After all, we’re all going to get smarter.”
That classmate rolled his eyes and said, “Becoming the top scorer is not that easy. If getting blessings really worked, all students would be ranked first, but in the end, someone has to be at the bottom.”
Another classmate laughed out loud, “Hahaha, there’s nothing wrong with that. Look, tonight it’s probably only your two candles that went out. Can’t the rest of us receive blessings? But there can only be one top scorer, right? It’s not like we’re all going to score the same.”
However, right after he finished speaking, his white candle suddenly went out.
Other students felt uneasy and nervous for unknown reasons.
“Alright, now we have three.” The student shrugged indifferently, placing the extinguished white candle on the table.
Unfortunately, nobody responded after he finished speaking. He looked at the silent individuals, assuming they were frightened. He smiled at them and waved his hand, saying, “Hey, why do you have those expressions? Don’t be too nervous. I guess it’s because I laughed too loudly and accidentally blew out the white candle.”
The other students didn’t relax because of his words. When the white candle went out just now, the flame seemed to tilt... towards the left.
They were facing the student directly. If it was his own laughter that accidentally blew out the candle, the flame should have tilted towards them.
Instead, it tilted towards the left, as if someone was standing on the right and blowing out the candle.
But there was no one on their right.
When the third white candle went out, the others looked over.
The classroom was mainly divided into three groups. One was led by Su Qing, the school bully. Another was composed of players, and the last one consisted of ordinary students.
Among the group of ordinary students, three candles had already been extinguished, leaving... two candles.
The light in their area was noticeably dimmer compared to the other two areas.
Their previously relaxed mood started to feel uneasy again with the third candle going out.
The student who had just dropped the candle on the ground and watched it went out looked at the candle on his table. It seemed like he remembered something and stammered, “Did anyone touch the table just now?”
The other students immediately shook their heads, indicating that they hadn’t touched the table.
The student was on the verge of tears and said, “I just remembered that I dripped some wax oil before placing the white candle on the table. After I placed it, I even shook it a bit to make sure the candle wouldn’t fall.”
After all, they had been quite scared earlier, so everyone made an effort to protect their candles. It was impossible for him to casually place it on the table.
So how could it be possible to fall to the ground due to instability?
After those words from the student, the classroom quieted down, so quiet that they could hear the ticking sound of the second hand of the clock once again.
Just when everyone was in a state of nervousness, the candles in the hands of the other two students went out once more.
This time, it happened without any warning, right in front of everyone’s eyes, instantly going out.
The five students could no longer remain calm this time. They screamed in fear. One of them abruptly stood up and even threw the white candle in their hand to the ground with force.
It was as if that white candle was something ominous.
“I’m done playing! I’m going back to the dorm!” said the student, full of fear and terror. After speaking, they rushed to the door, opened it, and ran out.
The remaining four students looked at each other with fear. After swallowing hard, they said a word to Xiao Shiyi and eventually left the classroom as well.
The extinguishing of the five candles made the atmosphere in the classroom even more eerie, but those who remained were not ordinary students.
Only Ruan Qing felt that there was not much difference between himself and those ordinary students.
Now, those who stayed in the classroom were either players or special NPCs like Mo Ran and Xiao Shiyi, or entities like ‘Xia Baiyi’.
He was the only one who was just ordinary.
Ruan Qing tightly held his phone, feeling uneasy. He constantly reassured himself that everything would be fine.
However, the next moment of upheaval occurred. Xia Baiyi’s candle... went out.
She let out a frightened scream, abruptly stood up, and because she was sitting too close, she collided directly with the desk in front of her.
The desk tilted sharply towards Ruan Qing due to the impact, and Xia Baiyi, in fear that the desk would hit Ruan Qing, grabbed it and forcefully pulled it towards her side.
As a result, the white candle belonging to Ruan Qing on the desk dropped directly because of her actions.
Moreover, it fell towards Xia Baiyi’s side, making it impossible for the person on this side of the desk to catch the white candle.
Ruan Qing’s pupils contracted, his eyes widened, and his heart was instantly gripped with fear.
The white candle slowly fell, and at this moment, time seemed to slow down.
Ruan Qing could only watch helplessly as the white candle fell, and in that moment, he became acutely aware of one thing.
His white candle... would be extinguished...
June 27, 2023 by Wyrd
Ruan Qing remembered what ‘Xia Baiyi’ said during the day, that if one received a blessing, they would become very intelligent and almost always score full marks on exams.
Could a person suddenly become very intelligent overnight?
Ruan Qing thought it was impossible.
Whether a person’s brain was intelligent or not was determined by genetics and brain development. Perhaps the environment could influence intelligence to some extent, but it was not possible to suddenly become intelligent.
The feeling of becoming smarter was often attributed to the gradual accumulation, subtle influences, and sudden improvement in comprehension. However, in reality, it was merely the outcome of one’s own diligent efforts.
But in the case of ‘seeking blessings’, as described in the legend, it’s completely different. In this legend, it didn’t matter what one’s intelligence was before or how much effort one put into studying; obtaining blessings directly resulted in being smart enough to become the top scorer in the provincial exams.
This was impossible unless...
Unless... a person had already been replaced.
Just like ‘Xia Baiyi.’
No, Ruan Qing didn’t notice how much smarter ‘Xia Baiyi’ was compared to the Xia Baiyi in his memory.
Moreover, ‘Xia Baiyi’ was replaced by a monster after going to the toilet, and it was broad daylight. It’s clearly unrelated to this midnight twelve o’clock blessing.
One was a monster in the mirror, with a body that was not human, while the other was most likely just possessed by some entity but still had a human body. They should not be the same situation.
But... why did she want him to seek blessings?
Ruan Qing didn’t believe that she simply accompanied him out of curiosity about the midnight twelve o’clock legend. Obviously, she had a clear objective in wanting him to come.
If she wanted to kill him, there would be no need to deceive him into coming here. She could just find him alone, which would be more than enough. It’s completely unnecessary.
Yet, she insisted on him coming.
It’s strange.
Could there be some connection between the monster in the mirror and seeking blessings at midnight twelve o’clock?
Mirror...
Ruan Qing looked around. Class 1-1 didn’t have any mirrors, and they were sitting far away from the windows. The light from the white candles was not strong enough to reflect their appearance on the windows.
Ruan Qing’s gaze settled on his shadow reflected on the wall.
Shadow shouldn’t be considered a reflection, right...?
Xiao Shiyi had no idea what Ruan Qing was thinking. After listening to Ruan Qing’s words, he nodded and said, “Yes, three minutes is not enough time to leave the school.”
“So it’s best to protect our own candles and not let them be extinguished.”
Ruan Qing remained silent, withdrawing his gaze and quietly watching his own candle.
The white candle burned slowly. Since it was of the usual size, it’s estimated to burn for about two hours.
Mo Ran, standing beside them, didn’t speak. His face carried a hint of indifference, and he even began to play with his own candle. His posture indicated that he had no fear of the candle going out, as if he didn’t care at all about this unscientific legend.
Mo Ran’s candle held up surprisingly well, not extinguishing even when he spun it like a pen.
However, if someone paid close attention, they would notice that although Mo Ran seemed unconcerned about his own candle, he constantly kept an eye on Ruan Qing’s candle from the corner of his eye.
Even Xiao Shiyi did the same. While casually observing the front row where Xia Baiyi and Li Shuyang were sitting, he occasionally glanced at Ruan Qing’s candle.
Xia Baiyi, who was usually lively, didn’t speak to Ruan Qing, whether out of fear or nervousness. She kept her head down, lost in her thoughts.
As for Li Shuyang, he had been watching Ruan Qing all along. When Ruan Qing looked over, he would even give him a shy smile.
Outside the window, it was pitch black, abnormally so. The candlelight couldn’t illuminate anything, as if the entire classroom was an isolated island, disconnected from the outside world.
At that moment, many people felt as if the classroom had become distorted. Their shadows on the wall swayed with the flickering candle flames, appearing strange and terrifying.
As the top high school in the province, the First High School had clocks in the classrooms, ensuring that the concept of time was not lost to the people inside.
And those clocks were not electronic ones; they were analog clocks with hour and minute hands. Every small tick of the second hand would produce a “click” sound.
The sound was particularly faint, but at this moment, everyone could hear it clearly—the “click” sound tightened their hearts. The rhythm was too frequent, making the people in the classroom even more uneasy.
Even the effects of the previously comforting words started to fade away. Terror, darkness, and fear slowly breed and spread, generating all kinds of negative emotions.
Perhaps it was too quiet, as some classmates began whispering and chatting with each other. Although their voices were kept low, it diluted the tense atmosphere to some extent.
Unbeknownst to everyone, half an hour had already passed, and during this time, nothing else happened, and no one’s candle went out again.
Everyone relaxed a little, seemingly realizing that a student indeed made this blessing legend up in order to do well on the exams.
After all, high school students prioritize their studies, and the pressure was undoubtedly high. So even though not many of them believed in superstitious beliefs, they still wanted some good luck.
The ordinary classmates in the classroom relaxed a lot, and the sound of conversations became lively. The fear from before was gone.
Clack.
A sound interrupted the soft conversations among the classmates.
A few people looked down at the white candle that had fallen on the ground and was already extinguished. They glanced at each other, asking, “Whose is it?”
“It’s mine, mine. I just placed it on the desk. I guess I couldn’t hold it steady and it fell.” One of the classmates raised his hand, his expression not as nervous as when the first white candle went out. In fact, he seemed quite cheerful.
After speaking, he picked up the fallen white candle and placed it back on the desk.
The second white candle went out, but the other classmates were no longer as nervous as before. Instead, they jokingly said, “Wow, you’re really careless. You can forget about becoming smarter now. Just work hard and don’t get kicked out of the class 1. After all, we’re all going to get smarter.”
That classmate rolled his eyes and said, “Becoming the top scorer is not that easy. If getting blessings really worked, all students would be ranked first, but in the end, someone has to be at the bottom.”
Another classmate laughed out loud, “Hahaha, there’s nothing wrong with that. Look, tonight it’s probably only your two candles that went out. Can’t the rest of us receive blessings? But there can only be one top scorer, right? It’s not like we’re all going to score the same.”
However, right after he finished speaking, his white candle suddenly went out.
Other students felt uneasy and nervous for unknown reasons.
“Alright, now we have three.” The student shrugged indifferently, placing the extinguished white candle on the table.
Unfortunately, nobody responded after he finished speaking. He looked at the silent individuals, assuming they were frightened. He smiled at them and waved his hand, saying, “Hey, why do you have those expressions? Don’t be too nervous. I guess it’s because I laughed too loudly and accidentally blew out the white candle.”
The other students didn’t relax because of his words. When the white candle went out just now, the flame seemed to tilt... towards the left.
They were facing the student directly. If it was his own laughter that accidentally blew out the candle, the flame should have tilted towards them.
Instead, it tilted towards the left, as if someone was standing on the right and blowing out the candle.
But there was no one on their right.
When the third white candle went out, the others looked over.
The classroom was mainly divided into three groups. One was led by Su Qing, the school bully. Another was composed of players, and the last one consisted of ordinary students.
Among the group of ordinary students, three candles had already been extinguished, leaving... two candles.
The light in their area was noticeably dimmer compared to the other two areas.
Their previously relaxed mood started to feel uneasy again with the third candle going out.
The student who had just dropped the candle on the ground and watched it went out looked at the candle on his table. It seemed like he remembered something and stammered, “Did anyone touch the table just now?”
The other students immediately shook their heads, indicating that they hadn’t touched the table.
The student was on the verge of tears and said, “I just remembered that I dripped some wax oil before placing the white candle on the table. After I placed it, I even shook it a bit to make sure the candle wouldn’t fall.”
After all, they had been quite scared earlier, so everyone made an effort to protect their candles. It was impossible for him to casually place it on the table.
So how could it be possible to fall to the ground due to instability?
After those words from the student, the classroom quieted down, so quiet that they could hear the ticking sound of the second hand of the clock once again.
Just when everyone was in a state of nervousness, the candles in the hands of the other two students went out once more.
This time, it happened without any warning, right in front of everyone’s eyes, instantly going out.
The five students could no longer remain calm this time. They screamed in fear. One of them abruptly stood up and even threw the white candle in their hand to the ground with force.
It was as if that white candle was something ominous.
“I’m done playing! I’m going back to the dorm!” said the student, full of fear and terror. After speaking, they rushed to the door, opened it, and ran out.
The remaining four students looked at each other with fear. After swallowing hard, they said a word to Xiao Shiyi and eventually left the classroom as well.
The extinguishing of the five candles made the atmosphere in the classroom even more eerie, but those who remained were not ordinary students.
Only Ruan Qing felt that there was not much difference between himself and those ordinary students.
Now, those who stayed in the classroom were either players or special NPCs like Mo Ran and Xiao Shiyi, or entities like ‘Xia Baiyi’.
He was the only one who was just ordinary.
Ruan Qing tightly held his phone, feeling uneasy. He constantly reassured himself that everything would be fine.
However, the next moment of upheaval occurred. Xia Baiyi’s candle... went out.
She let out a frightened scream, abruptly stood up, and because she was sitting too close, she collided directly with the desk in front of her.
The desk tilted sharply towards Ruan Qing due to the impact, and Xia Baiyi, in fear that the desk would hit Ruan Qing, grabbed it and forcefully pulled it towards her side.
As a result, the white candle belonging to Ruan Qing on the desk dropped directly because of her actions.
Moreover, it fell towards Xia Baiyi’s side, making it impossible for the person on this side of the desk to catch the white candle.
Ruan Qing’s pupils contracted, his eyes widened, and his heart was instantly gripped with fear.
The white candle slowly fell, and at this moment, time seemed to slow down.
Ruan Qing could only watch helplessly as the white candle fell, and in that moment, he became acutely aware of one thing.
His white candle... would be extinguished...
