The female anomaly's hair, which could become long enough to completely wrap and bind an adult male, was able to free some strands to entangle and catch them without much trouble.
Since the female anomaly didn't do that at the time, the reason could either be that she didn't want to, or she couldn't.
Comparing the two possibilities, they were more inclined to believe the latter.
This strange teaching building certainly had some kind of restriction or rule. Otherwise, humans like them would never be able to stand up to the female anomaly!
"I need to know everything that happened before and after you encountered the female anomaly. No detail should be left out,"
Lin Ye spoke up.
With the tall man Zeyano already dead, the remaining three had no intention of arguing.
At this point, they had placed their hope in Lin Ye, the calm man who faced the terrifying female anomaly without panic. He was the one among them most likely to survive until the end.
He was also the one most likely to successfully leave this place alive.
Honda was the first to speak,
"We... we four ran up to the fourth floor, looking for rooms to hide in. In the end, we found a classroom on the far west side of the building with the door open, so we hid inside."
"Did you hear the sound of the intercom after entering the classroom?"
Lin Ye asked directly.
Honda shook his head in confusion,
"No,"
It seemed that the intercom only played in classrooms that were originally closed.
"How many classroom doors on the fourth floor were closed?"
"Uh, a lot. We went down the hallway, trying to push open the doors, and found that many of them couldn't be opened,"
Honda continued,
"Afterward, we hid in that classroom for about seven or eight minutes, then we heard footsteps coming from the hallway, getting closer and closer. We panicked, and Zeyano carefully went to take a look. The female anomaly was really coming straight toward our classroom."
"And then…"
But Honda is words were cut off by the yellow-haired girl, Chiharu, who spoke angrily.
"That bastard man, to save himself, actually, actually threw me toward the female anomaly, using me as a shield to create an opportunity to escape. Damn bastard, he deserved to die, hahaha."
Chiharu, angered and frightened, mocked the tall man's tragic end.
Her boyfriend, Kyozaki, echoed her, constantly expressing his anger and dissatisfaction with the tall man.
Honda wanted to say something but swallowed his words. He knew Zeyano had done something wrong, but at least, Zeyano had always taken care of him and had tried to keep him alive.
"Alright, describe in more detail the female anomaly's attack methods and the way it manifested."
Chiharu, who had physical contact with the female anomaly, said it felt very cold, cold like ice.
The hair could grow longer, hook people's feet, and continuously bind them until it swallowed the entire person.
The three of them stammered as they described the details they saw, adding to the missing information from each other.
No one held anything back. They knew that the more they knew now, the higher their chances of surviving and leaving here.
Lin Ye reviewed the information.
The one thing that bothered him the most was the female anomaly's physical form.
When it first appeared, the female anomaly was in an intangible state, and he couldn't touch it at all.
As time passed, did the female anomaly become more solidified?
"Ryou, share the information we've gathered with them."
The purple-haired girl, Ryou Fujibayashi, who had been silently standing by Lin Ye's side, was stunned.
"Uh, oh, right, okay, so I'll talk about the... the broadcast, right?"
"Mm."
The three of them immediately focused their attention on Ryou Fujibayashi.
"Lin-kun and I entered a classroom that was originally closed and couldn't be opened by force, the second-grade class A classroom. When we turned on the lights, the intercom started playing,"
Ryou Fujibayashi shared the content of the broadcast.
The three of them had expected it to be important information for survival, but it was completely useless!
"This didn't even have a single useful piece of information."
Kyozaki muttered angrily, frustrated after having gotten their hopes up.
Lin Ye didn't rush to speak, instead, he observed the reactions of the three.
"Lin-kun, I think we should start with this 'Heidao' girl,"
Honda hesitated for several seconds before speaking.
"Isn't she the female anomaly? How do we go about that? Are you going to kill her?"
Kyozaki sarcastically said.
"Once we know her name, we can specifically search for related information and items."
Honda ignored Kyozaki is attitude.
Although he was obsessed with anime, now, his desire to survive had skyrocketed. He was trying his best to prove his value.
If someone had to die, the one most useless and without value should be the one to be abandoned. Honda didn't want to be that person. Now that he had lost his friend Zeyano, he could only cling to Lin Ye, the boss in front of him.
"Tell me your thoughts."
Lin Ye looked at Honda calmly.
Honda realized that he was right, and now he was even more sure that Lin Ye had been testing them, judging their analytical and thinking skills.
Someone like Kyozaki, who was clearly marked as a failure.
People without brains die the quickest.
Honda suddenly remembered his friend, and a sense of discomfort hit him.
"We should go to the staff office. We should be able to find the attendance records there. By looking at the student roster, we can find out which class she's in and her full name. I believe there will be more clues in her classroom, especially her desk."
These were all the ideas Honda could think of.
"Good, calm thinking is key to surviving in this strange teaching building,"
Lin Ye patted Honda is shoulder.
"This task is yours now."
In an instant, Honda was stunned.
It was his responsibility? Weren't they going together?
Kyozaki almost laughed out loud. It was so funny. Now you get to show off your IQ, and look where you ended up! You have to go search for the office and the attendance records!
"You're going too,"
Lin Ye's one sentence made Kyozaki is eyes widen.
"What? I'm going too?"
"Don't you dare?"
"No, no... I, I'm worried about Chiharu. What will happen to her if I go with you?"
"I'll take care of your girlfriend,"
Kyozaki was dumbfounded.
"I guarantee she'll be alive when you return."
Lin Ye actually used this as a further test to gauge how much the anomalies attracted people.
If the strange woman prioritizes finding him this time, it can basically be concluded that "the more people, the stronger the attraction to the female strange entity."
"But..."
"Then you can go with us!"
However, as soon as these words were spoken, the blonde-haired woman immediately flared up, walking to Lin Ye's side.
"No, no, I'll just stay with Brother Lin. Kyozaki, are you still a man? You want me to go on an adventure with you?"
"I just want to protect you, Chiharu. It's dangerous to stay with him!"
"Brother Lin can protect me better."
Kyozaki is unnamed anger flared up.
"Then what, what are you going to do? We're going to look for clues. You're not just going to stay here and wait for us to bring them back, right?"
He could no longer suppress his emotions. His words directly confronted Lin Ye, expressing his dissatisfaction and anger.
This guy is acting all high and mighty, commanding them to search for clues, while staying in a safe place and waiting for them to return with the clues? What's that supposed to mean?
"Who do you think you are? Why do you think you can order us around?"
Otaku also remained silent, but he had the same thought in mind.
He had thought they would act together, but now he had to accept that they would go alone, which he definitely couldn't stomach.
"Shoe cabinet."
Suddenly, one sentence made everyone stop in their tracks.
"The shoe cabinet in the teaching building. Knowing her last name is Kuroshima, we can find her shoe cabinet."
Everyone immediately recalled a segment from the video before they entered.
The female lead had received a letter from her shoe cabinet.
They had overlooked this detail!
Was this the difference?
"We, we'll go to the shoe cabinet,"
Kyozaki immediately said.
Rather than searching through each office on every floor of the staff building, which would require checking office by office, he preferred to go straight to the shoe cabinet at the entrance of the teaching building.
It was just a short distance; even running there wouldn't take half a minute.
Although there were many shoe cabinets, now that they knew her name, it would be much faster to find it. They wouldn't waste too much time.
"Okay, the shoe cabinet is up to you guys."
To Kyozaki is surprise, Lin Ye agreed without hesitation. This wasn't normal.
Could the shoe cabinet area be more dangerous?
Kyozaki felt a bit uneasy.
"The search of the staff offices in the teaching building will be handled by me and Ryou..."
His gaze landed on the blonde woman, Chiharu.
The woman hesitated and struggled for a moment before making her choice.
"I… I'll stay with Brother Lin,"
Instantly, Kyozaki is face darkened.
His girlfriend trusted a stranger more than him?
He felt like he had just been handed a green hat.
Before he could say anything, Lin Ye had already stepped forward, causing him to swallow his words.
Kyozaki recalled the scene where the tall guy had been beaten and collapsed, clutching his stomach in pain. He wanted to act, but he feared he would be the one to suffer in the end.
Sigh!
"Otaku, let's head to the shoe cabinet,"
The two of them set off, but their eyes kept darting around, constantly scanning the surroundings. The moment that strange female entity showed up, they would flee as fast as possible.
Finally,
They reached the shoe cabinet area at the entrance.
In the dim light, the worn-out shoe cabinets were pitted and seemed like they might collapse at any moment.
"I remember the video showed it was this spot. Let's start looking here,"
Kyozaki and Otaku each began checking the name tags on the shoe cabinets.
Kuroshima,
Kuroshima,
But they couldn't find Kuroshima's shoe cabinet anywhere.
"Hey, did you find it?"
"No."
"Hurry up! No one knows when that thing will show up."
Finally,
When Otaku spotted the surname "Kuroshima" on one of the shoe cabinets, he shouted with joy.
"I found it!"
They had found it!
Kyozaki rushed over, and the two looked at the half-open shoe cabinet.
"You do it, I'll stand guard,"
Kyozaki urged, pushing him slightly.
If he couldn't deal with Lin Ye, could he not handle this otaku?
At this moment, Kyozaki felt confident.
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