Lin Min was in a great mood today. After work, she was going to spend a lovely evening with her boyfriend.Even though April was still a bit chilly, she dressed lightly—after all, it was a date night.
But the moment she stepped into the classroom, her happy expression froze.
All of our gazes snapped toward her with unnatural speed, as if pulled by an invisible force.
Lin Min instinctively took two small steps back.She lowered her head, carefully checking her clothes.Finding nothing wrong, she asked in confusion:
"Did… something get on my face?"
"No.""No, you look pretty," a few scattered voices replied weakly.
Her brows knitted."Then why are all of you sitting in the back rows?"
No one answered.
Of course no one dared to.
Because our homeroom teacher always stood at the podium, no one ever sat in the front.We all squeezed ourselves into the back rows, even if it meant packing together like sardines.
The other subject teachers were annoyed by this too, but no matter what they tried,not a single person dared move to the front.
Halfway through class, Wang Wei suddenly raised his hand.
"Teacher, I have a question."
His voice instantly electrified the entire room.Everyone straightened up.
"Which question?"Lin Min walked over with no sense of danger.
"This one," Wang Wei said, pointing to his desk.
The moment she leaned down to take a look, a glint of cold light flashed in Wang Wei's eyes.
He grabbed her hair—hard.
In one brutal yank, he dragged her toward him, and with the other hand—
Produced a kitchen knife from God knows where and pressed it tightly to her neck.
"Don't move!"
His roar shook the entire classroom.
Chaos erupted.
No one expected timid, honest Wang Wei to do something like this.
Lin Min was completely stunned.Only when she felt the cold blade on her neck did she snap back to reality.
"Y-You… Wang Wei! Put the knife down right now! Do it, and I can pretend nothing happened!"Her normally elegant face was drained pale, but she still tried to regain her authority as a teacher, forcing calm into her voice.
"Pretend your mother's head!"Wang Wei glared at her viciously and began dragging her toward the door.
"Don't—don't do this! You… you want money? I can give you money!"Lin Min, after all, was just a woman.Seeing herself being dragged away, her dignity collapsed and she begged frantically.
"What do you think?"His eyes flickered dangerously. Combined with that twisted expression, he looked like a genuine criminal.
"Please… someone… help me, save me…"Realizing what might happen to her, her voice trembled with pure terror.She looked at us—the entire class—as if we were her last lifeline.
But Wang Wei warned coldly:
"No one move. You all know what's going on. I'm being forced too. I don't want to die."
His sudden calmness was chilling.
Step by step, he dragged her out.
Just as he wished—no one stopped him.
Because we all knew:
He was just trying to finish the assignment.Failing meant death.
And with the cost so high, he couldn't afford to make a mistake.If he failed once, he might never get another chance.
He dragged Lin Min into the boys' bathroom.
Two or three minutes later, Wang Wei returned.
There was a faint trace of excitement on his face—but far more fear.The terror that comes after doing something irreversible.
He dropped the kitchen knife into his desk compartment and held his head in his hands, trembling.
We knew about his family.His parents divorced early; his mother raised him alone with great hardship.He never wanted to create trouble—that's why he'd always been so honest.
But now, this incident would spread quickly.Even if he wasn't arrested,at the very least, he'd be severely punished.
Imagining how heartbroken his mother would be…Wang Wei lowered his head in anguish.
"Damn this homework…"Zhang Hao sighed.
Meanwhile—
When Lin Min was dragged into the bathroom, her mind went blank.She screamed, struggled, begged.Her cries echoed through the hallway—yet not a single person came.
Despair swallowed her.
Her innocence was about to be destroyed.
And just as she feared, Wang Wei began touching her—roughly, nervously.
Lin Min squeezed her eyes shut in pain and humiliation.
She thought of her boyfriend.Her parents.And she regretted dressing lightly today.
"Is beauty… a mistake?"she thought bitterly.
But two or three minutes later—
Wang Wei left.
She was stunned.
She had prepared herself for something far worse.In TV dramas, situations like this never ended so simply.
Not daring to move, she listened carefully until she was sure he wouldn't return.Then she slowly got up, took off her high heels to muffle her steps, and crept toward the door.
She peeked outside.No one was around.
Then—she fled.
Later, a boy returned from the restroom and said no one was there, so we knew she had escaped.
A few minutes passed—
Lin Min walked back into the classroom.
Seeing her, Wang Wei lowered his head even deeper.
But something was… wrong.
Her eyes were unfocused, her expression blank—as if her soul hadn't caught up.
She had no memory of what happened.
She felt something was wrong with her mind.One moment she remembered teaching in class—the next she found herself standing at the door of the principal's office.
The principal had looked at her strangely.She made up an excuse and left immediately.
Then she noticed—her shoes were gone.
Confused, she went to the office to change shoes before returning to class.
"Students, something came up just now. Let's continue the lesson," she said mildly.
Wang Wei's head snapped up in disbelief.
Seeing our expressions, she frowned."What's wrong?"
"Teacher… you don't remember what happened earlier?"Li Bing asked timidly.
Li Bing was one of those hardworking-but-struggling students—the kind who studied desperately but never ranked high.
"Li Bing!"Liang Yu snapped sharply.
She instantly covered her mouth.
"What happened?"Lin Min asked, confused.
"N-Nothing," Li Bing stammered, terrified she'd said too much.
"Li Bing, tell me. What happened just now?"Lin Min pressed.
Before Li Bing could speak, Gao Zhan quickly jumped in:
"Teacher, last Saturday was April Fool's Day, right? Since it was the weekend, we didn't get to celebrate. So we decided to make it up today—for memories, you know, since we'll graduate soon."
"Really? Then stop playing such pranks next time," she said.
She accepted it far too easily.Even Gao Zhan looked surprised.
But a few of us—with sharper eyes—noticed something chilling:
A faint wisp of black mist hovered above her head.
The same mist that appeared over Li Tianpeng's corpse—only weaker.
From the pattern so far, that mist's purpose was clear:
To erase traces.Erase corpses.Erase blood.Erase… memories.
Maybe that was why she had believed such a flimsy excuse.
This was far beyond anything I understood.
Did something exist in this world that could erase memories?
I shook my head violently, forcing myself not to think too deeply.
Whether it existed or not,it wasn't something I had the luxury to worry about.
A starving caveman doesn't study calculus.And right now, survival came first.
The only thing that mattered was finishing the assignments.Only if I livedcould I think about tomorrow.
At noon, we normally ate outside.The cafeteria food was terrible—sometimes you could even find "extra protein" crawling in it.
While buying lunch, I overheard the noodle vendor say:
"Today's damn weird. My knife for cutting cold noodles just disappeared out of nowhere. Must've been a ghost."
Later, I told Wang Wei about it.
Wang Wei whispered, embarrassed:
"I sneaked out after fourth period to find a weapon. Saw the knife at the noodle stall, climbed over the gate, and stole it."
Zhang Hao stared at him."Bro… you're hardcore."
Wang Wei scratched his head.
"The vendor chased me at first, but then… he suddenly stopped. No idea why. If he kept chasing, I never would've escaped."
I knew why.
His memory had been erased.
The thought made my brows tighten.
How were we supposed to fight something that could erase memories?
Even ghosts could be exorcised.But memory-erasing mist?
What power could oppose that?
And if our homeroom teacher had such overwhelming strength—why kill us using homework?
A god's game?A demon's game?
Either was possible.
But whatever the truth was,she had no reason to trick us about the assignments.With that kind of power, she didn't need deception.
If we completed the homework, we lived.If not, we died.
Simple, cruel, absolute.
The entire day, the shadow of Li Tianpeng hung over us.
His return shattered whatever sliver of hope we had left.
That night, I was distracted.Even when chatting with Yanyu, I barely responded.
She looked pitifully at me.
"Ge… why are you ignoring me lately?" she asked softly.
"Huh? I'm not ignoring you."
"You're lying," she said firmly.
I sighed and forced a bitter expression."I confessed to a girl in my class yesterday… and she rejected me."
"She rejected you? Who's so blind?!" Yanyu snapped angrily.
"That's what I said," I nodded seriously.
"Was it a boy or a girl?" she asked.