Chapter 7: Bizarre Phenomena

Ember ran down the stairs along with the two girls, Anna and Nina, heading straight for the utility room at the bottom of the stairwell. Before the three of them could even get close, Kalie abruptly pushed the door open, raised a black umbrella, and rushed out the building entrance without a word.

"Wait!"

Ember instinctively wanted to call out to Kalie, feeling that clearing the level this easily was completely absurd.

However, Kalie, whose mind was solely set on escaping as quickly as possible, ignored him entirely and plunged into the curtain of snow, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Ember frowned deeply, guessing what kind of consequences Kalie's reckless action might trigger. Meanwhile, Nina took advantage of the opportunity to search the utility room, eventually finding two black umbrellas and two pairs of rain boots.

"There are three of us, but only two sets of rain gear..." Nina's expression was somewhat complicated. "What should we do?"

"Don't panic. Things aren't that simple. Are these two umbrellas truly the snow umbrellas from the rumors?"

"You mean..."

"Look, Kalie is back!"

The taciturn Anna suddenly spoke up. Following her gaze, Ember saw the distraught Kalie returning the way he came. His condition was abysmal, looking as though he had been through a smoke-filled fire; most of his hair was singed, the umbrella was reduced to mere ribs, his clothes were barely enough to cover his body, and the soles of his rain boots were completely gone.

Kalie's appearance suggested he had just walked through a blazing inferno, not stepping through falling snow.

Boom!

Rushing back into the building entrance without any intention of slowing down, Kalie slammed heavily against the elevator opposite the door before finally coming to a stop, sliding down to the floor and leaving a glaringly obvious dark smudge on the outer elevator doors.

The three of them immediately checked on Kalie. Fortunately, he was still conscious, though badly frightened. Despite being severely burned, he shivered uncontrollably.

"Isn't it snowing outside? How did you end up like this?" Nina asked, puzzled.

"Fire... fire... it's all fire..."

Utterly flustered, Kalie collapsed on the ground, pointing in absolute terror at the snowy scene outside. "That's not snow at all! It's fire, a crushing sea of fire! The moment I rushed out, the temperature felt impossibly high. Before I could run more than a few steps, the soles of my shoes became boiling hot, and this umbrella was completely useless—the snowflakes burned the moment they touched it. Thank goodness I reacted quickly and retreated, or I definitely would have burned to death out there..."

"There's actually something like that?"

All three of them were somewhat surprised. Looking at Kalie's wretched state, Nina glared at him and complained coldly, "Serves you right! That's the price of running away alone! You selfishly snatched one of the three sets of rain gear. No wonder Ember told you to wait, you just ran even faster!"

"I... I just didn't want to die..." Knowing he was in the wrong, Kalie wore a dull expression, temporarily unable to respond to Nina's reproaches.

"Hmph! You brought this on yourself!"

"Alright, arguing is just a waste of time!" Ember shook his head and looked at Kalie. "Can you still walk? We need to search the building as quickly as possible and find the real snow umbrellas!"

"I'm fine..."

Kalie's spirits recovered slightly, though he stood up with some difficulty. Ember pulled him to his feet, accidentally brushing the back of his hand against the elevator door.

Hissss!

So hot!

[Prompt: High temperature failed to cause you any damage!]

Looking at the slightly reddened back of his hand, Ember was somewhat puzzled. Why was the elevator so scalding hot? He tried opening the door, but it didn't respond at all. Nina, who also sensed something was wrong, muttered in confusion, "This elevator is mainly used for hauling cargo. Wasn't it just repaired recently? Why is it broken again?"

Sensing that something was amiss with the elevator but having no idea how to activate it, Ember temporarily dropped the matter and joined the others in searching the rooms on the ground floor.

"The first and second floors are mostly classrooms and offices, which are definitely unlocked during school hours. Most of the rooms on the third floor are locked, and entering the fourth floor requires passing through a large iron gate, which needs a key to open. Fortunately, I know the headteacher keeps a key ring hidden in their office. Let's go check there first!" Nina's presence provided excellent guidance, giving their dungeon exploration a clear route.

The group arrived in front of the headteacher's office and found the door unlocked, but heavy objects were blocking it from behind. Nina pushed hard, but the heavy door didn't budge an inch.

"Let me do it!"

Ember stepped forward, grabbed the doorknob, and easily passed the strength attribute check of six points, forcibly pushing open the headteacher's office. He saw that the obstacle blocking the door was a fallen filing cabinet, with various documents scattered all over the floor, mixed with quite a few class photos.

"I had no idea you were so strong!" Nina was somewhat surprised. In her eyes, Ember was just an ordinary person—his living soft-tissue biomechanical arm was doubly disguised, and unless he entered combat status, he was indistinguishable from anyone else.

Noticing that Anna and卡列 (Kalie) were also casting surprised glances, Ember casually explained, "I've actually been strong since birth, as you guys know. I've only transferred here for half a year, so I haven't had many opportunities to show it."

"Once we all get out safely, you'll definitely have to show us!" Taking the opportunity to boost everyone's morale, Nina slipped into the adjoining room to search for the keys. Meanwhile, prompted by his perception, Ember shifted his attention to the scattered documents and photographs on the floor.

[Prompt: Your perception level of 5 allows you to keenly notice that something is strange about the items on the ground.]

After acquiring the anomalous accessory, Ember had raised his perception to 5 to meet the equipment requirements, successfully donning the four-piece Living Soft-Tissue set. His overall strength had improved by more than just a tier.

His health pool alone had reached a staggering 180 points! This was because characters automatically gained 50 health points upon advancing, the anomalous accessory provided another 50, and the set bonus added a further 50. Although his sanity cap was slightly lower, it still reached 120 points, firmly establishing Ember as the player with the highest health pool at the current stage.

Furthermore, the set bonus of the Living Soft-Tissue four-piece set not only enhanced all equipment effects but also granted Ember two powerful skills derived from the accessory and the set. At this moment, what he desired most was a fierce battle to truly experience the effects of these skills firsthand.

Returning to the matter at hand, guided by the prompt, Ember immediately noticed a problem with a particular class photo on the ground: two students in the picture were faceless, and the names recorded on the back of the photo were completely blank, perfectly echoing the urban legends of the snowy school.

"Ah..."

Having not yet fully recovered from his terrifying encounter outside, Kalie was once again frightened out of his wits. He kicked off the ground and fell backward, hitting his head against the door with his lips trembling uncontrollably. Consequently, Ember received another check prompt.

[Prompt: The accidental discovery subjects you to a sanity shock of intensity "10". A natural number within ten will be randomly drawn to determine the range of damage you will suffer!]

[Prompt: The draw result is "7". Because your willpower level has reached 5, you will suffer 20% sanity damage. This damage can recover automatically.]

Huh?

The sanity damage caused Ember's vision to darken momentarily, and his legs weakened by a fraction due to the shock effect. It immediately became clear to him that attribute checks now incorporated randomized elements; even if hard requirements weren't completely met, one could still potentially pass through sheer luck.

"It seems my previous way of allocating attribute points is no longer viable. I can keep a few attribute points in reserve, but not too many, otherwise, it'll be easy to suffer early on."

Realizing this, Ember began redistributing his free points. Despite losing the two-point bonus from the willpower talent, his character level had reached 12, and combined with the four bottles of evolutionary potions he had consumed, he possessed a total of 16 attribute points, surpassing all other players. Previously, to meet the attribute requirements after the anomalous keepsake was upgraded, he had raised his vitality and willpower levels to 6 and 5 respectively. This sudden mutation made him decide to spend 3 more points to raise both core attributes to 7, leaving only 2 points in reserve for emergencies.

"Previous prompts suggested that exploration-type dungeons have high attribute requirements. So far, willpower, strength, and perception have all triggered checks." Ember shifted his gaze to the wind and snow outside the window. "If I'm not mistaken, vitality level can resist snow damage, and agility is currently my weak point. I just hope I don't capsize because of it."

While he was deep in thought, Nina emerged from the adjoining room, shaking a ring of keys. "We're in luck! The keys were right in the headteacher's drawer. Now, no room in the teaching building can stop us! But the snow on the ground is already covering the tops of our shoes, so we have to hurry. I propose that the four of us each search a floor. If we keep moving together as a group, I'm afraid we'll run out of time."

Nina's courage was worlds apart from Kalie's, but her suggestion made Ember instinctively want to object. While group movement lacked efficiency, having him around guaranteed maximum safety. However, Kalie, desperate to leave, nodded eagerly in agreement, and even Anna silently stepped forward to take the key to the fourth-floor iron gate from Nina's hand.

"Alright then! Anna, you take the fourth floor. I'll take the third floor. Kalie... thoroughly search the classrooms on the second floor. Ember can stay on the first floor to check the conference room and offices. When we just walked past, I thought I saw firelight coming from the conference room windows!" The decisive Nina quickly assigned the tasks, and the three game characters immediately sprang into action, leaving Ember with no opportunity to voice his objections.

[Prompt: You have received the quest to search the first floor of the teaching building. Please follow Nina's request to search the conference room and offices as soon as possible.]

Strange!

Ember frowned, feeling that Anna's behavior was a bit suspicious. Her purpose in retrieving the key to the iron gate was far too strong, making him want to follow her and find out what was really going on. However, firelight was indeed flickering from the nearby conference room; if he left rashly, he might miss important items.

At this critical juncture, Ember had to make a choice. But right at that moment, his 5-point perception played its part once again, allowing him to spot a tiny crumpled piece of paper lying in the corner of the room...