Faced with unyielding pressure from the Blood Clan, the Demon Realm Inspectorate maintained a firm stance of adhering strictly to the rules.
They had escorted the Blood Clan envoy across the treacherous, freezing hazards of the north into the Demon Realm and would accompany the envoy to investigate the academy.
This Blood Clan envoy possessed a unique blood authority, capable of identifying humans disguised as demons.
If the Blood Clan envoy truly uncovered a human within the academy, the leadership of Purgatory Corridor Academy would bear enormous responsibility!
To appease the wrath of the Blood Clan, the demon race might even offer them up directly as sacrifices.
Furthermore, to prevent the Headmaster from interfering, the Department of Education had transferred him away in advance under the pretext of an important agenda—effectively stripping him of power for the time being.
"According to projections, the Blood Clan envoy will arrive at the school in just a few hours."
The Vice Headmaster's voice was drenched in exhaustion.
For the academy right now, the only glimmer of hope lay in covert assistance from the Demon King.
Even though, on the surface, the Demon King's attitude remained ambiguous.
After all, from the Demon King's standpoint, he could never openly help the school deceive the Blood Clan.
That would enrage the Blood Clan and violate the treaty.
Yet even before the Headmaster was transferred away, the Demon King had secretly passed word to him: if the Blood Clan truly dispatched an envoy, the Demon King would also send a resourceful confidant to assist the school.
And if there truly were undercover humans in the academy that the Blood Clan sought, then this special commissioner from the Demon King's Castle would be the academy's final lifeline!
Yet even now, with the Blood Clan envoy arriving in just a few hours, there was still no trace of the commissioner!
"Lord Commissioner, just where are you...?"
With both hands resting on the desk, the Vice Headmaster knitted his brows in agonizing distress. His eyes looked thoroughly lost, as though trying to grope for a way out of the dark.
Now, his only hope was that the special commissioner bearing the black jade Demon King token would appear quickly to help them handle the Blood Clan envoy.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Beneath the starlit sky of the glass skybridge corridor, Lanqi looked down at the credential in his hands, his fingers lightly brushing over the lettering on its surface.
His gaze wandered between the Demon King's Castle residence permit and the black seal, his eyes filled with confusion and contemplation.
"Could this guy not be a student?"
"He kind of feels like someone with backstage connections."
Lanqi muttered to himself.
It felt like inexplicably slaying a hidden mob—only to have it drop a bunch of inexplicable items.
"..."
Hyperion had no words.
Under the mechanisms of the Shadow World, this silver-haired demon shouldn't have been killed under any circumstances inside the functional area's safest Demon King's Bestowed Restaurant. Alas, he had crossed paths with Lanqi—a walking nightmare.
So finding odd things on his person wasn't all that surprising.
"Regardless, there are only five class periods in total. For the upcoming third period, we need to go find a Difficulty 3 classroom and give it a shot," Lanqi said as he rose to his feet.
Only in a Difficulty 3 classroom might they encounter a demon of senior professor rank.
And only from such demons could they glean information regarding the school's recent executive meeting.
Lanqi glanced at the quest objectives.
The academy exploration progress had now reached 18%.
Earlier, during the second period, the two of them had enjoyed a wonderful dinner lasting over an hour.
Entering the restaurant had yielded no increase in exploration progress, proving that the functional area didn't contribute to it.
The other two teams had likely contributed 4% each—meaning each had entered and cleared a Difficulty 2 classroom.
"Looks like our progress is lagging a bit. We'll have to put in some effort next!"
Lanqi cheered himself and Hyperion on, brimming with a sense of duty.
After all, failing to successfully clear a Shadow World would trigger a catastrophe in the mortal world!
"Okay."
Looking at Lanqi's guileless smile, Hyperion strongly suspected that he had merely eaten and drank his fill and couldn't wait to run off and play at an amusement park.
Sighing, she kept pace with the energetic Lanqi.
How had a Shadow World challenge turned out like this? It was nothing like she had imagined.
It felt as if she were accompanying Lanqi on a spree through a demon-themed theme park.
Under the starlight, Lanqi and Hyperion worked together to carry the silver-haired demon's corpse over to the window.
With a heave from both of them, the silver-haired demon's corpse flew like an arrow loosed from a bow and then slowly plummeted through the open window of the transparent glass corridor into the boundless purgatory below.
As his figure vanished into the darkness, nothing remained but the empty glass corridor and the silent night sky.
Hyperion breathed a sigh of relief.
Lanqi had thoughtfully lent a hand just now instead of dumping all the heavy lifting onto her alone; this way, any loss of karmic merit would be split evenly between them rather than falling squarely on her.
The two leaned against the wall, whiling away the time with idle chatter.
Until the ancient, resonant chiming of bells once again reverberated across the school, breaking the quiet.
As though imbued with life, the joints connecting the corridors suddenly began to rotate slowly.
The grinding and clashing of stone echoed like a pendulum striking iron, rolling out in a torrential crash of sound.
Before long, the functional area corridor and the teaching area corridor were connected once more.
Throughout this process, the winding, pitch-black stone staircase spiraled downward without any visible support, appearing as if suspended midair.
Surrounding the stairs was only endless darkness, depriving anyone of the slightest sense of direction.
After about ten minutes, the two saw Bachel running hurriedly up the stairs.
His steps were hurried, and he ran while carefully minding the gaps between the steps.
"You two, I'm late."
Not daring to show the slightest disrespect to Lanqi and Hyperion, Bachel bowed his head respectfully.
"No problem, Student Bachel. Lead us to a Difficulty 3 classroom—preferably an arts class."
Lanqi patted his shoulder with a friendly smile, thoroughly easygoing.
"Difficulty 3...?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Bachel's face, followed immediately by utter shock.
To suddenly ramp up the intensity just like that, taking on the hardest classrooms in each department across the academy!
"You can just wait in the hallway when the time comes. I'll pay you three credit coins directly as your reward."
Lanqi spread his hands. He could see Bachel's fear.
"!"
Bachel was taken aback for a moment before nodding vigorously in gratitude.
For some reason, he had the distinct feeling that after visiting the Demon King's Bestowed Restaurant, not only had Lanqi and Hyperion not spent down their credit coins, but they were acting like nouveau riche who had struck it rich.
Yet in a tightly policed functional area like this, how could the electric meter possibly run backward...?
"Lead the way."
Lanqi grinned.
He was so rich now that he couldn't even count all his credit coins. There was no need to drag Bachel along to clear maps anymore; tossing him a few out of pocket was no problem.
He only needed to stay with Hyperion—a bodyguard whose strength had been boosted to Tier 4 by the limited-edition dishes—so they could watch each other's backs.
Lanqi felt that as long as they cleared one more Difficulty 3 classroom...
The crisis lurking within this academy should become crystal clear!
Chapter 66