The World Tree was surrounded by a domain-like mist, thick enough to thwart anyone from approaching its center. On the pedestal outside the mist, there was a mysterious symbol.

It resembled an ancient and tattered badge, with complex lines and scratches that looked like a pattern resulted from the fusion of weapons and the moon—reminiscent of symbols on tarot cards or those older ritual symbols.

This pattern, though mostly smoothed out by the passage of time, still emitted an aura that could stir one's soul.

"These murals here contain some sort of information—sacrifices, epics, wars, or something else... Ancient people had limited ways to express themselves, so they always liked to use the simplest murals to explain as much as possible... Damn it, they couldn't even omit a little detail to expound on one thing more thoroughly. That way, at least one thing would be preserved instead of this mess overloaded with information," Mu Daxian complained.

"I know what you want to say, but don't ask me; I don't know much more than you do," he added.

Mu Daxian shrugged, "The teachers definitely know, but they never speak of it and don't let us stay here too long, so... let's go. If you want to know anything, you can ask them directly, and they will tell you if they're willing."

"Let's go, let's not linger here too long," he urged.

Mu Daxian led Mao Feiyang toward the exit of the hall.

Mao Feiyang followed him silently. Suddenly he thought of something and couldn't help but ask, "By the way, what will happen to those students... the ones brought here by the sketchy teachers?"

What Mao Feiyang was referring to was the group of students, including the girl wearing a sailor uniform with a hair clip.

Without hesitation, Mu Daxian said, "They are beyond saving."

Mao Feiyang felt a jolt of shock.

So did Lin Yi.

"The contamination of cognition that takes hold first, is more deep-rooted than any kind of revolutionary change," said Mu Daxian calmly. "That group was brought by pseudo-human art teachers from the school area. They accepted everything immediately, without even experiencing any wavering of will."

"Do you know them?" Suddenly, Mu Daxian turned to Mao Feiyang.

Mao Feiyang hesitated before saying, "We were part of the same group when we entered the school..."

"That can't be, can it?" Mu Daxian was puzzled. "Your appearance here makes sense, how could you be in the same group as them?"

"Ah? Why not?" Mao Feiyang, not understanding Mu Daxian's confusion, thought to himself how simple the answer was, wasn't it just a matter of this and then that, followed by thus and so, which is why in the end it was what it was...

What's there not to understand?

But Lin Yi furrowed his brow.

Mu Daxian and Xu Shunkang shared a similar logic in their thinking, meaning they would think within the bounds of what made sense to them. And Mu Daxian's confusion suggested that the likelihood of these two events happening at the same time was virtually nonexistent.

"So... when did your group enter the school?"

"Just yesterday. We arrived at the school by bus..."

"Hiss..." Mu Daxian couldn't help but draw a sharp breath, looking at Mao Feiyang with an extremely odd expression and couldn't help but mock, "So, you lost your student ID card just after receiving it, and then the homeroom teacher arranged for you to come here?"

Mao Feiyang: "Ah?"

"Not really..." He shook his head rapidly, about to explain something when Mu Daxian, as if anticipating his response, suddenly changed his expression and interrupted, "Did you... not even receive your student ID card?"

Lin Yi's face changed, thinking to himself, damn Maozi, Mu Daxian exposed you so quickly!

Mao Feiyang's face changed, and he hurriedly said, "No, I..."

"You didn't receive the student ID card... so you didn't meet with any teacher... and since you were part of the same batch..." Mu Daxian muttered under his breath, completely ignoring Mao Feiyang's feeble excuses.

"That means you encountered problems as soon as you got off the bus..."

"They were led away the moment they got off the bus..."

"And you probably entered the Teaching Building under abnormal weather conditions... but got contaminated along the way, hence you were unable to find the Teacher's Office using the directions from the building's billboard..."

"What you should've done was reach the basement level of the Teaching Building and then go up the stairs... and through that 'axis,' you entered the Dormitory building... where the Dormitory Supervisor brought you here..."

"Meanwhile, your companions were whisked away by pseudo-human art teachers the moment they left the bus. Their path would have been quite troublesome, so after a few back and forths, they arrived here around the same time as you..."

"Am I right?"

Mu Daxian looked at Mao Feiyang.

Mao Feiyang felt cold from head to toe and, at that moment, couldn't keep his balance, staggering back several steps before falling onto the ground.

"You... you... you..." he stammered in terror, unable to articulate anything coherent as he looked at Mu Daxian.

"Looks like I hit the nail on the head." Mu Daxian shrugged again, tried to help Mao Feiyang up, but Mao Feiyang's eyes were filled with fear as he peered at him.

Lin Yi was equally startled, looking at Mu Daxian as if seeing a ghost, thinking, damn, did you plant a bug on Maozi or something? How could you know all this?!

Not only did he know, but it was also spot-on. Even if it was logical deduction, how could he deduce the entirety of events based just on one sentence from Mao Feiyang?!

Seeing Mao Feiyang's evasive gaze, Mu Daxian had no patience for it and grabbed the collar at Mao Feiyang's chest, hoisting him up and said, "Don't be afraid, I'm not a deity, nor do I have any Mind Reading Technique. The reason I could guess this is because I've encountered the same situation as you before."

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