Chapter 1 When Hell Becomes School

When Lan Qi felt the surroundings brighten again, his vision gradually focused.

He found himself sitting in the back row of a classroom as vast as a theater.

In the dimly lit space, the only light source came from a few oil lamps hanging on the walls, a faint, almost palpable golden yellow.

They flickered constantly, like the pulse of life, ensuring a certain degree of visibility while adding a touch of mysterious drama to the place. In the dim light, the shadows of the desks and chairs twisted and lengthened, rustling in the silence with some swaying dark figures.

Although what Lan Qi could see at this moment did indeed resemble a classroom—long tables covered with red tablecloths were neatly arranged, a brand-new black and gold blackboard towered on the stage at the far front of the classroom, and the window frames and carvings also appeared ancient and luxurious.

However, this space, estimated to be about three hundred square meters, should have given a sense of spaciousness, but for some reason, it was completely absent, replaced by an indescribably eerie feeling accompanied by a thick, unsettling stench of blood.

For a moment, Lan Qi even suspected that he had arrived in the underworld.

His gaze shifted downward, and he saw only a rough and ancient parchment on the red tablecloth, with an ink bottle and a quill pen placed quietly beside it.

The surface of the parchment was imprinted with mysterious characters unlike any human language, but after the Shadow World's built-in translation technique, Lan Qi roughly determined that this was a demon language magic exam paper with questions.

Why is it still school?

Lan Qi was incredibly shocked.

He thought he had finally escaped from school, but he had only escaped to another school!

What's worse.

Originally, at the Ikri Academy, he only had to attend classes, but coming to this demon school seemed like he had to start taking exams directly!

With the feeling of going to a grave, Lan Qi slightly raised his head and glanced around, only to feel a sudden sense of alienation surge in the air.

The students in this classroom had different appearances, each one stranger than the last.

Each of them had an indescribable characteristic, mostly with sharp horns, and their skin was covered with strange patterns and exoskeletons. Some even had slender black tails.

In the aisles of the classroom, two fellows who looked like examiners were wandering in an orderly manner, wearing classical attire similar to suits, neat and somber.

But surrounded by the smell of blood and evil aura, they appeared particularly gloomy and terrifying.

It looked very ominous.

Compared to the artificial Shadow Worlds he had experienced before, such as [Winter Hidden Flame] and [Infinite Phantom Canyon], which seemed to have relatively mild themes, this real Shadow World was obviously not in the same league!

Soon, the relevant information about the Shadow World also appeared in Lan Qi's vision.

This was a prompt that only Shadow World challengers could see—

[Shadow World: Purgatory Corridor Academy]

[Level: Four]

[Number of Challengers: 6]

[Historical Background: This was once a dark age for humanity. Humans could only own the daytime; the nights were all servants of the Blood Clan. However, there were also some people who, for the sake of human dignity, did not hesitate to shatter their own dignity. If they wanted to take back the south shrouded by the Blood Moon, they could only create miracles by obtaining the power of demons. Thus, a crazy plan was born—a group of humans disguised themselves as demons through forbidden surgeries in the Empire's experimental field, crossed the northern arctic dangers to enter the Demon Realm, and tried to integrate into demon society to learn demon magic...]

[Mission Overview: You are lurking in a Demon Realm academy that is too absurd for human civilization to investigate intelligence. Tonight will be the most dangerous night, and you need to try to get through it safely.]

[Time Remaining: 11 hours 59 minutes]

[Mission Objective 1: Academy exploration exceeds 60%, current progress 3%]

[Mission Objective 2: Investigate the source of the danger tonight]

[Mission Objective 3: At least 1 person survives until the time limit ends, currently 6/6]

[Challengers Lan Qi & Hyperion start in the exam scenario. The exam time is 2 hours, subject: Demon Magic Language]

[Any form of cheating during the exam, once discovered by the invigilator, the invigilator will have the right to kill the examinee]

[If the score is determined to be below 50 at the end of the exam, it will be considered unqualified, and the invigilator will immediately execute the kill]

[You can submit the paper early. If you have any needs, you can raise your hand to seek help from the examiner]

[Time Remaining for Exam: 1 hour 59 minutes]

As Lan Qi's thoughts converged, these information panels similar to the artificial Shadow World could be hidden or displayed again.

However, after he understood the content of his first real Shadow World, he frowned tightly.

Fourth level, what the hell?

Lan Qi wouldn't comment on the nightmare scenario of "exam" at the beginning.

He was a second-level, and Hyperion was a third-level. If the Shadow World had learned mathematics, it shouldn't have matched them into a fourth-level Shadow World?

But what Lan Qi was more concerned about was that, according to the Shadow World's prompts, he should be temporarily disguised as a demon by the Shadow World's mechanism at this moment.

Would it look bad for his image?

Lan Qi looked down at himself. Apart from wearing the dark uniform of this Purgatory Corridor Academy, his joints seemed to have white jade-like crystal exoskeletons, radiating a faint glow.

Touching his head again, he did have two more horns. Judging from the faint light reflected from the ink bottle, his black hair and green eyes had not changed, and the horns and patterns on his face were pure white.

…

At the same time, inside the Ikri Academy.

The academy at five o'clock in the afternoon was immersed in a deep silence. At this moment, the sunset had begun to slowly sink towards the western horizon, spreading its last golden red light on every corner of the campus.

In Jella Memorial Square, not far from the entrance of the academy, a group of passing students had begun to enjoy their time after class, discussing dinner options. Many students were also sitting on the steps of the square, watching the campus news being broadcast on the open-air giant screen in the center of the square.

Often, this open-air giant screen would broadcast live footage of the Shadow World challenges that students in the academy were currently undertaking.

Since the Shadow World is a projection of history, the live broadcast of the Shadow World challenge itself is often no less than a wonderful and unique movie.

Students often come here to watch clips of the Shadow World's live broadcast.

It is both a way to entertain and enjoy life, and a learning process.

Of course, many students also sit on the steps in front of the giant screen, just leisurely discussing the recently ended courses with friends, or quietly reading books, immersed in their own world.

"Hmm? There's a new fourth-level Shadow World?"

"It's actually a rare demon history Shadow World..."

On the steps, a student suddenly said to himself.

This made many students raise their heads and look at the screen at this moment.

Since not many students challenge the Shadow World on the first day of school, it is immediately noticeable when a new challenge opens.

Moreover, it was a dark-toned picture with extremely distinct thematic features.

"Wait, aren't those two freshmen?"

Soon, a student noticed the [Challenger Information] column below the live broadcast of this Shadow World and exclaimed!