pjbooks Chapter 44 Principal, let me tell you a story...
Chapter 44 Principal, let me tell you a story...
Chen Yifan's voice was very soft, with a tremor characteristic of someone who had suffered a great shock.
"Principal, I...I really don't know anything."
Zhou Dehai's gaze, hidden behind his glasses, sharpened slightly, like the tip of a needle.
The air in the entire ward seemed to grow heavier as a result.
Beside them, Fatty Wang and Lin Xiaoyu both looked bewildered, not understanding why Chen Yifan said that.
Didn't do anything?
Did that SSS rating just fall from the sky?
"Child, you must understand that an SSS-level rating, a level 15... these cannot be explained by the words 'I don't know'."
Zhou Dehai pointed outside the door.
"The tragedy of more than two hundred families, and your miracle, both need a reason. A reason that can convince everyone."
The pressure was like a mountain and a sea overflowing.
Chen Yifan didn't panic, but the foolish look on his face, as if he had just survived a disaster, became even more pronounced.
He seemed to be trying to piece together fragmented memories, his voice broken and trembling like a dream.
"I remember……"
"Back then... I was buried in a pile of rocks by goblins, and it took a lot of effort to climb out."
"I was trying to go back to the entrance, but as I was walking, my foot suddenly slipped and I... I fell into a very deep crevice."
"under……"
"Corpses...all corpses."
His voice began to tremble, and even his teeth were tapping together slightly.
"There are goblins, and lots of terrifying monsters I don't recognize at all... They seem... they seem to be fighting in there..."
"There was blood everywhere. I was terrified and kept running inside, trying to find a place to hide."
Upon hearing this, everyone present felt a sudden pang in their hearts.
It is an unimaginable miracle that a person could survive such a hellish ordeal all by himself.
"I don't know how long I ran, and I can't tell which way I was going. I just heard a very loud fighting sound ahead."
Chen Yifan's breathing became rapid, and his chest heaved violently under his deliberate actions.
"I...I peeked out secretly."
"Then... I saw... two... two monsters!"
"One of them is the final boss, the goblin foreman, who wields a giant axe that's steaming."
"There's one more..."
Chen Yifan's pupils suddenly dilated, and fear took shape in his eyes.
"It's a giant made entirely of steel! Like...like a robot!"
"robot?!"
Zhou Dehai's eyes flashed with a terrifying light!
There is never any record of "mechanical creations" in any of the Goblin Mine's archives!
The only one was the goblin foreman who had transformed himself into a cyborg.
"Yes! It's a steel giant!"
Chen Yifan seemed to have found his only confidant, and his speech became extremely fast due to excitement and fear.
"They fought incredibly fiercely, the whole cave was shaking! Then...then the steel giant seemed to stop moving, and the goblin foreman also fell to the ground, covered in wounds, and looked like he was about to die..."
His voice trailed off at this point.
A complex expression appeared on his face, a mixture of shame, lingering fear, and a hint of greed.
"and then?"
Zhou Dehai's voice carried a subtle hint of seduction.
"I...I was so hungry and scared, my mind went completely blank..."
Chen Yifan's eyes began to dart away, like a child who had done something wrong, unable to meet the principal's gaze.
"I saw weapons lying all over the ground next to them, so... I picked up a pickaxe and... threw it at the dying goblin foreman..."
"I just wanted to...see if it was really dead..."
"And then... it really stopped moving."
"Then, I...I mustered up the courage...and...I took a bite each..."
"Then golden light kept emanating from his body, one after another, and it just wouldn't stop."
"After that... I don't know anything anymore."
He finished speaking in one breath, as if he had used up all his strength, and collapsed onto the bed, panting heavily.
His eyes were filled with sincerity and bewilderment, as if to say, "I really didn't mean it; even I think it's ridiculous."
The entire ward was deathly silent.
Fatty Wang opened his mouth wide, his jaw almost dislocated.
Is this how SSS ratings are obtained?
So... so it turns out that Fanzi wasn't just lucky...
He even... finished off the two bosses who had already perished together?!
Who the hell would believe that if I told them this?!
Zhou Dehai remained silent.
The brain is operating at an unprecedented speed.
He quickly pieced together Chen Yifan's fragmented and chaotic words into a complete, rigorous, and most advantageous logical chain!
The Iron Giant...
Hidden Boss!
This word illuminated all the darkness in his mind!
He suddenly understood everything.
Why has the highest rating for the Goblin Mine stopped at SS rank all these years?
Because everyone overlooked the true final boss hidden deep within the dungeon.
This time, an unknown change occurred in the dungeon, causing this hidden boss to be activated.
Moreover, among the other survivors, they learned that many elite monsters that shouldn't have been there had appeared on the first floor.
It seems that the two bosses have clashed.
This is why high-level monsters that wouldn't normally appear on the first floor not only showed up, but also did.
It also caused such heavy casualties.
Chen Yifan, an F-level thief, stumbled into the final battlefield by chance.
And in a way that was both comical and terrifyingly real, they delivered the final blow to the two exhausted bosses!
He was not simply a survivor.
He is the only... witness!
And the only one to achieve a "double kill"...
Terminator?
So that's how the SSS-level rating came about.
All the inexplicable doubts were perfectly connected at this moment!
Outrageous?
Outrageous!
But it is precisely because it is so absurd that it seems so real!
Zhou Dehuai felt that the breath stuck in his throat not only didn't get out, but became even more blocked.
Has this kid overdrawn the fortune of the Dragon Kingdom for the next hundred years?
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart, but his voice remained gentle.
"Child, don't be afraid, you haven't done anything wrong."
"In that situation, your actions were not only a survival instinct, but also... courage!"
He stepped forward, grasped Chen Yifan's hand tightly, and announced in an extremely solemn tone.
"You not only saved your own life, but also uncovered a secret that had been hidden for nearly ten years for the school and the entire city of Jiangcheng!"
"Good, good child, you've suffered."
Zhou Dehai stood up and patted Chen Yifan on the shoulder affectionately.
"Take good care of yourself and get well soon. The school is your strongest support."
"From today onwards, the school will take full responsibility for all your treatment, nutrition, and security."
"Once you are discharged from the hospital, I will personally apply for the highest amount of 'Special Contribution Scholarship' for you."
"If you have any difficulties at home, you can tell the school."
"We will never fail to reward any contributor who has brought honor to the school!"
He made one solemn promise after another.
Chen Yifan immediately nodded repeatedly, seemingly "tears of gratitude":
"Thank you, Principal! Thank you, Principal!"
Zhou Dehai turned to leave with satisfaction, but stopped at the door and turned back to Wang Pangzi and Lin Xiaoyu, saying:
"You two too, get some rest."
"Regarding what happened in the copy, the school and the education bureau will set up a special investigation team. Before the results are released, no one is allowed to discuss it privately, understand?"
"clear!"
Wang Pangzi and Lin Xiaoyu immediately stood at attention.
The door was closed as the principal and the teachers left.
The suffocating sense of oppression in the ward finally dissipated.
next second!
Holy crap!!
Like a spring compressed to its limit, Fatty Wang sprang up from the ground and rushed to the bedside in two steps.
His small eyes were wide open, like copper bells.
"Fanzi! You...you actually finished off those two bosses?!"
"SSS level! The SSS level student who got guaranteed admission to the three top universities!"
His voice was trembling, filled with an unreal quality, as if he were dreaming.
Chen Yifan looked at him like this, smiled, maintained his "foolish luck" demeanor, and said weakly:
"Luck, it's all just luck."
"What kind of godlike luck is this?!"
Fatty Wang rubbed his hands excitedly, paced back and forth around the hospital bed, and kept muttering to himself.
"My brother is an SSS-level master... My brother is an SSS-level master..."
On the other side, Lin Xiaoyu simply stood there quietly.
Unlike Fatty Wang, she didn't lose her composure; she simply looked at the boy on the hospital bed with an incredibly complex expression.
In her eyes, there was shock, admiration, and even a hint of distance that she herself was unaware of.
Just then.
The LCD TV in the corner of the ward, which had been silent all along, suddenly lit up.
A serious-looking female reporter is standing at the gate of Jiangcheng No.1 Middle School, broadcasting live.
"...Based on the latest data we just obtained from official channels."
"The final confirmed number of deaths and missing persons in this beginner's practice session for senior students at Jiangcheng No. 1 High School has reached 217..."
"Casualty rate: 47.3 percent..."
"This is the most tragic teaching accident in Jiangcheng's educational history in nearly ten years..."
On television, the reporter's cold voice continued.
The ecstasy on Fatty Wang's face froze.
Lin Xiaoyu covered her mouth, her eyes filling with tears again.
The smile on Chen Yifan's face gradually disappeared completely.
Two hundred and seventeen people.
So many?
He frowned, a genuine look of confusion on his face.
"That's not right..."
He looked at Fatty Wang.
"After I fell, I was mostly deep inside the dungeon and didn't see any other students. The highest level goblins on the first floor are only level 7, how could so many people have died?"
Upon hearing this, the sadness on Fatty Wang's face was instantly replaced by a fear of surviving a catastrophe.
He said in a trembling voice:
"Fanzi, you don't know... after you fell, layer upon layer... layer upon layer turned into hell!"
"Elite monsters are everywhere, those level 10 goblin captains, they're popping up in droves!"
"Several squads, I watched helplessly as they were surrounded and killed by three or four elite monsters, gone in seconds! We couldn't even gather their corpses together!"
Wang Pangzi's description caused Chen Yifan's pupils to contract sharply.
A chilling conclusion, so cold it sent shivers down his spine, suddenly exploded.
wrong!
has a problem!
Chen Yifan's eyes instantly became incredibly deep.
The copy... perhaps some fatal change has indeed occurred that he is unaware of.
But what exactly is it?