Chapter 820: Lighting the Lights

820. Lighting the Lights

About twenty minutes later, Lin Ye saw Kamen climb back up to the window.

"Your companion is fine. She does have some issues, but we explored this area. Only the sports field and this side of the teaching building are safe. Everywhere else, we couldn't get close. I'm planning to check the rooftop. If I don't come back, that means the rooftop is dangerous too."

Two of Kamen's fingers were missing, presumably used for scouting the way.

"Alright, don't rush. I can hold on for a long time yet."

Even without food or sleep, Lin Ye could last at least a full day.

"I'm heading up, then."

Kamen climbed toward the rooftop. Her movements were incredibly practiced, as if she did this kind of thing all the time.

All Lin Ye could do was watch Kamen climb to the rooftop. Unless someone could take his place inside the classroom, he could only watch others take action.

Before long, Kamen climbed back down. She circled the rooftop but found nothing particularly unusual.

Lin Ye glanced at Kamen outside the window, and saw a pair of colorful eyes staring back.

................................................

[Remaining Simulation Attempts: 6]

'...So I died just like that?'

Lin Ye sat inside the classroom, not expecting Kamen to get him killed so quickly.

'The rooftop is off-limits too, which means I can only stay in the classroom and hold out until dawn? Does dawn even exist here?'

This simulation mission was proving more troublesome than Lin Ye had anticipated.

Lin Ye left the classroom through the back door. This time, he didn't head straight for that classroom. Instead, he took a detour to check out the restroom first.

The restroom on the third floor looked perfectly normal. Nothing strange about it.

He also checked the fourth-floor restroom. Before the corridor became dangerous, he slipped into that classroom.

After that, he repeated the same routine as the previous simulation. Before long, only seven students remained in the classroom.

Lin Ye first helped the other students dodge the invisible attacks for a while, then spoke up:

"I'm going to teach you how to use the relic fragments to avoid attacks. The principle is quite complex, and you won't be able to master it in a short time. All you need to know are some obvious signs of an incoming attack."

This time, Lin Ye had no intention of protecting these students the entire time. That was a dead end. He needed these students to help him keep the lights in the classroom burning.

Through these several simulations, he had identified the colorful light patterns that might appear inside the relic fragments when an attack was incoming. All these students needed to do was memorize the fixed patterns to dodge the invisible attacks.

"Thank you! This way, we can dodge attacks on our own!"

Gao Ping said with some excitement.

"I hope you can learn quickly."

Lin Ye began describing the shapes of the light patterns while providing corresponding examples. He was very good at this kind of simplified translation work.

Half an hour later, Kamen and the others finally learned how to use the relic fragments to avoid the invisible attacks.

These people weren't dull-witted, which was why they could pick it up so fast.

"Next step, we're going to climb through the windows to light up the other classrooms. I'll go scout ahead to the other classrooms. Whoever stays behind must keep the lights maintained."

This wasn't something Lin Ye could accomplish alone, so he had to teach the others how to dodge the invisible attacks.

"Wait a moment! Isn't the pace a bit too fast? Can you first explain what's going on?"

Nancy could follow Lin Ye's train of thought, but she didn't know what he was planning.

"I am a Master of Ritual Studies. This teaching building and the starry sky above are part of a large-scale ritual. We must maintain enough lights to... unlock the Relic Vault."

Lin Ye didn't actually know what the ritual was pointing toward, but since these people said it was the Relic Vault, then the Relic Vault it was.

"But so many people have already died, and their relic fragments were destroyed as well. At most, we can light up seven classrooms. Is that going to be enough?"

Gao Ping had also caught up with Lin Ye's reasoning. He didn't see any problem with the plan itself, just that the numbers were too far off.

"It's fine. I'm a Master of Ritual Studies. I know which classrooms are the key nodes. Seven nodes is more than enough."

Lin Ye wasn't actually all that certain, after all, he couldn't use his mental energy right now.

But if he let these idiots run around aimlessly, his remaining simulation attempts would run out before long.

"I have no problem with it. I can maintain the lights in this classroom. Leave this place to me."

Outside the window was pitch black. Kamen had no desire to go wandering out there.

"Alright, one person stays with Kamen for a while. The rest of you, follow me."

Lin Ye opened the window, stepped onto the windowsill, and climbed out. Then he leaped to the windowsill of the adjacent classroom.

The other students followed behind Lin Ye, moving along the outside of the teaching building via the windowsills.

Lin Ye kept jumping until he reached the classroom at the very center of the fourth floor. Using the force technique of Heavy Strike, he jumped straight up from a standstill and grabbed the windowsill of a fifth-floor classroom.

Considering the information he had gathered from previous simulations, he had no intention of getting close to the rooftop.

Lin Ye opened the classroom window from the outside. He extended the relic fragment into the classroom, and a massive jumble of chaotic light patterns appeared inside it.

"Damn, there's something dangerous in there. How about I go in first and test it out?"

Gao Ping could see multiple attack warnings appearing simultaneously.

"It's different this time. To use a math analogy, before, you were just memorizing middle school formulas. But a classroom with its lights already out is far more complicated. At minimum, this is university level."

Lin Ye kept extending the relic fragment into the classroom, studying it for a while before finally leaping in through the window.

The relic fragment displayed a chaotic storm of light patterns. Lin Ye hopped around the classroom like he was dancing, jumping this way and that for a full five minutes before he finally reached the door and pressed the light switch.

The lights flickered a few times before stabilizing completely. During that process, Lin Ye made several twitchy, convulsive-looking movements and even rolled once on the floor.

"Come on in. My turn to go out."

A student jumped into the classroom, and Lin Ye climbed back out the window, ready to go turn on the lights in the next classroom.

It took Lin Ye forty minutes to get all the students into their classrooms and flip the last light switch.

After lighting up the seven classrooms, there was no obvious change in the surroundings. Just as Lin Ye was about to conclude that this attempt had failed, the relic fragment in his hand suddenly went dark.

A colorful sphere of light appeared in the center of the classroom. It expanded at breakneck speed, and before he could even react, it passed straight through his body.

'Huh? I actually didn't die this time...'

Lin Ye had assumed he was about to restart from scratch. But after being pierced by the light sphere, everything around him turned colorful, and the environment began to shift.

He couldn't tell whether he had been transported somewhere else, or if this was simply the teaching building's true appearance.

"At least those idiots didn't get me killed this time."

Lin Ye observed his surroundings carefully, making no rash moves.