Chapter 33: The First Survivor

The crimson sun dipped below the horizon, and twilight began to creep across the sky.

Within the teachers’ office, a lone figure sat in quiet solitude.

Mori Kajinosuke watched the fiery red clouds ignite the western sky, a silent testament to another day he had successfully survived.

“It truly isn’t easy,” he murmured, a sigh escaping his lips.

Involuntarily, his mind drifted back to a distant past. Then, too, the evening glow had been stunningly beautiful, a vivid, blood-red hue — just like his beloved classmates.

He tidied his lesson plans, then straightened his clothes before the mirror. The stern expression habitually etched upon his face softened, if only slightly.

“To live a meager existence, clinging to life—that describes someone like me, doesn’t it?”

A helpless sigh escaped him. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed two familiar figures standing at the doorway, students from one of his substitute classes.

He fixed his gaze upon them, instantly donning his usual rigid expression.

“Hey, what are you two doing in the teachers’ office? Don’t you want to study anymore?”

“I’ve come to ask you, Teacher Mori, about some homework.”

Bai Yuliang stepped forward, holding a notebook, and slapped it onto the desk.

“Death Homework.”

In an instant, Mori Kajinosuke felt as if he had plunged into an icy abyss, his blood running cold.

He hadn’t heard that name in a very long time, believing he had long forgotten it. Yet now, that terrifying memory returned like a lightning bolt, striking his heart with vivid clarity.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” he said, striving to keep his voice steady despite his trembling.

“You don’t understand? Very well, then you’ll understand after seeing this.”

Bai Yuliang flipped the student roster to a particular page, pointing at the photograph displayed there.

“Teacher Mori, you were already experiencing some hair loss even when you were young.”

“You—” Mori Kajinosuke stared at him, utterly astonished. “Where did you get this… No, I mean…”

Before Mori Kajinosuke could properly formulate his words, Bai Yuliang pressed him with a sharp gaze. “Is this photo you?”

“It’s not me,” Mori Kajinosuke emphatically shook his head.

“It’s not?”

“No.” Mori Kajinosuke pointed at the person in the photo. “Look, that person is so thin. I have a beer belly now.”

“That’s you!”

“You say that’s me?”

“I say that’s you!”

“I say that’s me, goddammit! That’s absolutely me, goddammit!”

Mori Kajinosuke shot to his feet, pacing indignantly around the office.

This outburst completely bewildered Bai Yuliang and Qichuan Feng, who stood behind him.

“I want to know what happened too! Ah, after high school graduation, there’s supposed to be a graduation photo, right? When I got my graduation photo, the photography studio gave me this one. I said this was me, but where were the other classmates? He said there were only these three students. I asked why only three students? He said there were only these three students…”

Mori Kajinosuke slammed his hand down, his expression filled with indignation.

“There was nothing I could do. Only these three students could be put on the student roster.”

“Oh… so that’s how it is.” Qichuan Feng’s expression shifted to one of sudden realization.

“‘Oh’ what? He’s clearly spouting nonsense!” Bai Yuliang’s face twitched. “I haven’t even asked him why there are only three students, and he’s already making up excuses. Isn’t that a guilty conscience?”

“Oh… I see.” Qichuan Feng once again looked enlightened.

“Sigh…”

Seeing his lie exposed, Teacher Mori knew he could no longer keep up the pretense.

He simply fled.

However, what he hadn’t anticipated was the sight of a large class of students standing right outside the door.

All the students from Class 3-D surrounded him, their expressions amiable.

“Teacher Mori, where are you off to?”

“We suddenly feel like studying hard.”

“Exactly! Teacher Mori, you’re a senior. Could you guide us with our homework?”

“But, it’s Death Homework, you know…”

Teacher Mori was utterly stunned, thinking to himself that this must be fate.

“Alright, it seems if I don’t say anything, you won’t let me leave.”

Adjusting his glasses, he turned to face Bai Yuliang, who was slowly approaching.

“How impressive. Was all of this your plan?”

“Half of it, perhaps.”

Bai Yuliang looked at him with a calm demeanor.

“While the plan to search for survivors of the Death Homework wasn’t my idea, I put a lot of effort into the entire process. I imagine you were the one who tore up the names in the student roster, Teacher Mori.”

“Indeed, I tore them up.”

At this point, Teacher Mori knew that denying it was futile.

“I thought no one would ever discover the truth about what happened back then. I never imagined you would be able to trace it all the way here. You are very capable, Yuliang-kun.”

“Stop talking nonsense! Quickly tell us about the Death Homework!” a student anxiously demanded.

“Death Homework…”

Teacher Mori adjusted his glasses again.

“That is truly a terrifying phrase. I haven’t heard it in such a long time. Hearing it from your mouths again, that same sense of despair from back then is still so vivid.”

“You really are one of the survivors from back then!” Bai Yuliang exclaimed with surprise. “You must have found a way to survive!”

“Survivor? Heh heh… Not quite.”

Teacher Mori wore a grim expression.

“I am merely a rat, barely clinging to life. The only reason I’m alive now is because I’m willing to constantly betray my conscience and cling to the victor.”

“The victor?”

“Haha… It seems you don’t know about that yet.”

Teacher Mori offered an enigmatic smile.

“No matter, I may as well tell you now, for you will all be informed by that person sooner or later.”

Everyone listened intently, afraid to miss a single word. After all, Teacher Mori was a senior who had survived the Death Homework in the past.

“The Death Homework isn’t endless. Through a series of tasks, it eliminates the weak and gradually sifts out the strong.”

“The first stage involves simple daily tasks. This stage primarily serves to domesticate and intimidate you. Anyone who fails to complete them will be executed.”

“The second stage will open up various extremely difficult zones, requiring the chosen individuals to enter them for life-or-death trials.”

“The third stage consists of extremely cruel killing tasks, where even deceased classmates will reappear. In short, this stage claims the most lives.”

“In the final stage, you will gain the qualification to directly challenge the mastermind behind the Death Homework. If someone wins, they will have the authority to replace them and control the Death Homework!”

Control the Death Homework’s authority?

Upon learning this information, everyone’s expressions varied. So the Death Homework wasn’t just about killing them; there was also a single path to survival. By continuously completing the assignments and ultimately defeating the mastermind, they could successfully live and even control the Death Homework.

“This is absolutely insane…” Bai Yuliang frowned deeply, then suddenly seemed to recall something. “Wait, Teacher Mori, you mentioned the final victor would gain the authority to control the Death Homework?”

“That’s right.”

“Then do you know about Teacher Matsui’s death?”

“I… know,” Teacher Mori replied with a complicated expression. “But in the eyes of others, Teacher Matsui merely took a very long vacation.”

Bai Yuliang pieced all the details together, arriving at an unexpected deduction.

“In that case, the person controlling this Death Homework cannot be Teacher Matsui.”

“Of course it’s not him. I already said, the one who controls the Death Homework can only be the previous victor. Matsui Ichiro was just my junior back then.”

“Then who was the victor from back then!”

Upon hearing this question, Teacher Mori’s face instantly turned incredibly pale, and cold sweat began to seep from his forehead.

“No… I absolutely cannot say that name!”

“Why?”

“Because… because I will…”

Teacher Mori’s words were cut short as his body stiffened, his skin visibly turning pale.

“Hey, Teacher Mori, what’s wrong?”

Bai Yuliang sensed something was amiss. He quickly patted the old man’s face, only to find his eyes wide open.

“Don’t come near! I was wrong! Please let me go!”

Teacher Mori suddenly shrieked in terror, then pulled open the corridor window and jumped out.

No one had time to grab him. Everyone could only watch as he plummeted from the eighth floor.

When Bai Yuliang looked down, Teacher Mori’s body already lay in a pool of blood below, a vibrant crimson, like the beautiful evening glow in the sky.

*Drip-drop, drip-drop—*

At that moment, the sound of police sirens echoed from outside the school gate. Bai Yuliang stared blankly into the distance, realizing the old security guard he had questioned not long ago was now stiffly lying on a stretcher, being loaded into a hearse. He was clearly beyond dead.

“Teacher Mori is dead, and the old security guard is also dead, both killed by the mastermind,” Bai Yuliang stated with a complex expression.

*Hiss—*

The surrounding people gasped, exchanging uneasy glances. No one dared to utter another word, feeling as if the hope that had just ignited had been cruelly extinguished, replaced by a despair even colder than before.

“Everyone, this is all the information we have for now.”

Bai Yuliang looked at them earnestly, trying to engrave each face into his memory.

“Let’s all strive to survive.”

On this day, everyone truly felt the terror of being controlled by the Death Homework.