Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1402: Chapter 1401: The Correct Strategy for Beating the Game (Almost Froze to Death After Forgetting to Close the Window at Night)

The short-haired girl named Nakajima Naomi was also a student of Kisaragi Academy.

However...

”Idiot, what are you thinking?!”

”Yeah, Naomi, why would you try to kill yourself?!”

”Huh? Suicide?”

Looking at Teacher Shishido and Mayu who were shouting at her, Naomi was totally bewildered.

”Who wants to kill themselves?”

”You don’t remember?”

The blonde-haired guy was also staring at her in surprise at this moment.

”We found you hanging in a stall in the girls’ restroom. If Haruno hadn’t saved you, we wouldn’t have known what to do!!”

”Yeah, yeah.”

”Me??? Hanging???”

The overwhelming amount of information nearly knocked Naomi over, but everyone was nodding in unison.

”That’s right, you don’t remember?”

”I...”

Naomi lowered her head, looking puzzled.

”I only remember arguing with Seiko, and then we split up... Right! Where’s Seiko?!”

Remembering this, Naomi suddenly jumped up.

”Did you see Seiko?”

”......”

Everyone exchanged glances and then shook their heads.

”No, we only heard noises and then came here to find you hanging...”

”I really wasn’t hanging myself...!!”

Naomi was almost going crazy; she didn’t remember hanging herself at all, and why would she ever do that? Hmm... come to think of it, her neck did feel uncomfortably sore... With this thought, Naomi couldn’t help but reach out and touch her neck, indeed feeling the traces of strangulation marks...

Could it be that I really did hang myself?

Naomi was utterly confused; she only remembered resting in the infirmary and encountering a terrifying ghost that nearly killed her, narrowly escaping. Then she met Seiko who was out checking the situation, but in her overwhelming fear, Naomi ended up yelling at Seiko, and they parted ways.

After that, Naomi wanted to apologize to Seiko, and then...

Huh? Why don’t I remember anything?

”Are you awake? Let’s go.”

Fang Zheng, who had been watching silently from the side all along, only spoke when Naomi came to her senses. Then he turned and walked away. Hearing Fang Zheng speak, the other three immediately stood up, leading Naomi as they followed Fang Zheng away from the third floor.

”Wait, who is he?”

Watching Fang Zheng walking ahead, Naomi looked puzzled. He wasn’t a student at Kisaragi Academy, and she didn’t know him. But why were the teacher and her friends all following his lead?

”You better not ask too much.”

The blonde-haired guy noticed Naomi’s apparent discontent and quietly pulled her aside.

”His name is Haruno, and he’s very skilled. Whether we can leave here alive depends on him. Also, he was the one who saved you just now.”

”Is, is that so...”

Hearing this, Naomi’s initial displeasure dissolved considerably. According to the blonde-haired guy, he had saved her...

”Huh?”

However, as they were walking downstairs, Mayu suddenly screamed.

”Did you guys notice that the school building seems a bit different from before?”

”Is it?”

”Now that you mention it... it does seem so...”

Hearing Suzumoto Mayu’s words, everyone curiously looked around, but most of them hadn’t been paying much attention to their surroundings before, so they didn’t notice anything different when Mayu mentioned it.

”Yes, look!”

Seeing the disbelief on everyone’s faces, Suzumoto Mayu nodded and pointed to the wall beside her.

”Earlier, before going upstairs, I saw a child’s graffiti here, but now there’s a notice posted here...”

”Come to think of it, the school’s atmosphere does seem different.”

As she looked at the dim corridor, Shishido Yui involuntarily shuddered. Being a woman, she was more sensitive and could sense that the school’s atmosphere was entirely different from before. If previously it felt like just an ordinary old school building, now it felt more like a lair of some ferocious beast...

”It seems we’ve entered another dimension of the school building.”

With that, Fang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, secretly praising himself for deciding to bring the NPCs along. Apparently, the building had some sort of mechanism, like an interdimensional labyrinth, where different spaces within the building would automatically rotate at intervals.

If he had come alone, he would’ve faced a headache later trying to find any other NPCs back in Class 1-A after the rotation. Fortunately, everyone was with him, so even if they changed spaces, he wouldn’t need to search for them.

This is the proper way to strategize a game.

Soon, not only Suzumoto Mayu, but others also noticed that the building was indeed different, with areas previously accessible now completely blocked, and places that were impassable now open...

”Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!”

However, as everyone continued down the stairs, intending to explore the building and find others, they suddenly heard a series of ”thud, thud, thud” sounds.

Wait, is someone else hanging themselves?!

”Haruno-kun?!”

”I know.”

Hearing Shishido Yui’s reminder, Fang Zheng nodded and quickly led the group towards the source of the sound. When they arrived, they found not a restroom, but a sealed classroom. The classroom door was tightly bound by long strands of pitch black hair from who knows where, making it impossible to open.

”Help... me... help!!”

Through the door, one could barely hear someone inside calling for help and banging on the door. Though it wasn’t clear, it was certain there was someone inside!

”Classmate Haruno!”

”Leave it to me!”

Fang Zheng waved his hand, motioning for the others to step aside, and then shouted.

”Everyone inside, move away!!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Zheng tightly clenched his right fist, and flames instantly shot out from his hand. Fang Zheng clenched his fist and swung forward!

Sato Hyakuhachi-Style, Orochi Child!!

”Boom!!!”

The blazing flames exploded instantly, turning the entire classroom door and the black hair entwined around it to ashes. Fang Zheng then swiftly dashed into the classroom!

Once inside, Fang Zheng immediately saw Yukina clinging to a curly-haired girl he didn’t recognize, surrounded by strands of pitch black hair that formed tentacle-like objects reaching towards the three. Touma was holding a chair from who knows where, confronting these strands of hair.

”Touma, get down!”

Seeing this scene, Fang Zheng shouted again, and hearing Fang Zheng’s voice, Touma immediately dropped the chair and ducked down. Fang Zheng then made a sudden sweeping gesture, and the burning Primordial Fire, directed by his command, roared and surged forward, crashing directly into the dense black hair.

”Ahhhhh!!!”

Amidst the terrifying screams, the hair covering the classroom ceiling was engulfed in flames. At this moment, Fang Zheng protected Touma, Yukina, and the curly-haired girl as they left the classroom.

”Ha... ha...”

Upon exiting the classroom, everyone displayed a look of survival from disaster, and Yukina was so scared that she directly jumped into Fang Zheng’s arms.

”Haruno, that was terrifying! I’m so scared... sob sob...”

Just moments ago, Yukina could barely keep calm facing the terrifying supernatural phenomena, but upon seeing Fang Zheng’s appearance, the string in her heart snapped, and she burst into tears in Fang Zheng’s arms. Feeling Yukina’s trembling in his embrace, Fang Zheng gently patted her head to comfort her.

”Alright, alright, I’m here, everything’s fine now...”

”.........”

Watching the scene, Touma’s expression was somewhat complicated. She too had intended to jump into his arms, but Yukina beat her to it.

Now...

Looking at Fang Zheng beside her, Touma remained silent for a moment, then reached out and lightly tugged on Fang Zheng’s sleeve.

After a while, with Fang Zheng’s gentle comfort, Yukina finally calmed down, sheepishly leaving Fang Zheng’s chest after wiping her eyes. At this moment, she inadvertently noticed Touma’s hand holding Fang Zheng’s sleeve, and her gaze slightly hardened upon realizing this.

It seemed that Touma also noticed Yukina’s gaze, and she awkwardly retracted her hand, turning her head to the side without saying a word.

At this moment, a different voice suddenly broke the somewhat awkward atmosphere.

”Seiko, it’s Seiko!!”

Naoko excitedly stepped out from the crowd and ran towards Seiko. She hadn’t expected to see her friend here, and now all Naoko wanted was to apologize to her friend. She wanted to tell Seiko she shouldn’t have argued with her earlier, believing they would reconcile and become best friends again.

However, to Naoko’s surprise, upon seeing her, Seiko turned pale with fright and suddenly hid behind Yukina and Touma. Both Yukina and Touma stood protectively in front of Seiko, watching her warily.

”...What’s going on?”

Anyone not blind could sense there was definitely a problem here.

”Seiko?”

Seeing Seiko avoid her, Naoko just couldn’t understand.

”It’s me, Naoko. Seiko, what’s going on?”

”.......”

But facing Naoko’s inquiry, Seiko didn’t even dare look at her. Naoko attempted to run to Seiko’s side, but Touma and Yukina blocked her path.

”What are you doing!”

Facing Touma and Yukina, Naoko was obviously upset. After all, they were strangers, and she was just trying to get to her friend, so why were they blocking her?

”You can’t go near her.”

Touma replied coldly.

”You’re too dangerous.”

”Huh?”

Hearing this, the others were also dumbfounded. Fang Zheng looked at both parties and asked.

”What happened?”

”It’s like this, Haruno.”

While speaking, Touma pointed at Naoko.

”When Komizo and I were sent here, we heard screams. Komizo and I went to investigate and found this person trying to kill Shihara behind me. She tied up Shihara’s hands and attempted to hang her. We rescued her.”

”What?”

”That’s impossible?!”

Hearing Touma’s words, Shishido Yui, Suzumoto Mayu, and the blond Guy were shocked.

”That’s absolutely impossible; Seiko and Naoko have always been good friends!”

However, regardless of the blond Guy’s argument, Touma remained unmoved.

”I don’t know what their relationship was before, but what we saw was this woman attempting to kill Shihara.”

”Yes, and I have evidence!!”

As she spoke, Yukina took out her phone. While saving Seiko earlier, she had turned on the camera flash, capturing a photo. Soon, everyone saw on the screen a clear image of Naoko with a fierce smile, pulling hard on a rope around Seiko’s neck under the flash!

Seeing this photo, Naoko was stunned.

”How could this happen?!”