You're Not Even Willing to Call Me... Principal!

Devour the school rules! Yet one could not become a fat man with a single mouthful; Bai Zhou needed time to digest. After all, this was neither pickled chili fried rice nor sugar-roasted chestnuts, but dangerous, hard-to-digest wicked desires! *Still, if I can really devour these eight layers of shed skin—* Looking at the rules, Bai Zhou's expression showed no fear; instead, his gaze gradually grew scorching hot. What kind of thing would a school uniform become once it was overlaid with fifteen wicked desires? What effects would it produce? For some reason, Bai Zhou thought once more of that Wancheng tale—the Grand Mind Mage who traveled west in search of sacred doctrinal scriptures, wearing a crimson robe impervious to water and fire, blessed with powers of bewitchment that could blot out the sun the moment it was cast into the sky. Not only could it serve as a flying magic carpet, but if it encountered demons and ghosts, it could swoop down over their heads and turn them all into pus and blood in the blink of an eye! In Wancheng, no one dared to imagine themselves becoming a Black Robe Grand Elder; instead, children fantasized about growing up to become omnipotent, miraculous Crimson Robe Grand Mages. Everyone had a Crimson Robe Grand Mage in their heart, only to forget that dream as they grew older. And that supreme crimson robe of the Black Robe organization, reigning high above the black robes in legend, had become an irreplaceable childhood ideal for kids like Bai Zhou in Wancheng. *A mage's robe...* Bai Zhou's heart thumped wildly. So now came the question. How could he quickly digest the previous wicked desires and complete the first evolution? Originally, this would have been a long and drawn-out process, and Bai Zhou had had no clue where to start. But now? *Buzz, buzz, buzz!* The school uniform vibrated endlessly against his body, sending numbing tingles through his skin. Bai Zhou could sense with extraordinary clarity that the seven wicked desires within him were gradually uniting in response to the presence of the school rules. As if confronting a natural predator, the immense pressure compelled the seven wicked desires to put aside their past grievances. An invisible clash erupted between the school uniform and the rules. In this process, Greed was churned, Lust was shattered, Pride was eroded, Sloth was whipped, Guilt was remolded, Anxiety was reshaped, and Stress was kneaded— The seven wicked desires were fusing, growing stronger! Bai Zhou's spirits lifted. The process of digesting the wicked desires was accelerating! Yet as the confrontation unfolded further, hallucinations began to rise before Bai Zhou's eyes— Someone sat upright, lecturing a dejected student holding an exam paper: "Look at this score! You think you can get into college with grades like this? Go home and roast sweet potatoes!" Someone rustled an exam paper violently, berating the child before them: "How many times have I told you? Write the formula first, substitute the numbers, and only then write the answer! You think you're a genius just because you can calculate in your head? Who knows if you cheated? Zero!" Someone reclined leisurely in a chair, a mocking smile on their lips: "It seems your parents put a lot of expectations into your name... A pity you don't seem able to make them proud." There was also someone dressed in black work clothes as if attending a funeral, standing mournfully behind the podium and muttering, "Any essay that doesn't follow exam standards gets a zero! I don't need your creativity, and I don't want your fancy ideas. The essay title must match the given prompt; it's best if you copy the prompt verbatim. "If any of you tries to be unique again, I won't grade your paper." At that moment, a student raised a hand. "Teacher, do thoughts have a standardized format too? My previous teacher always said my essays were good!" "...The past is the past, and now is now." The teacher faltered, irritation surfacing on their face. "Taking risks with creativity might get you a high score on the exam, but safe foundational points are what guarantee your performance... Who knows what mood the grader will be in? "Save your ideas for after you get into Tinghai University. "Right now, you don't need such a luxury." Countless scenes flashed before his eyes. Bai Zhou knew these were the origins of each wicked desire—the twisted products of resentment and longing that permeated Yuanmeng Middle School in reality, gathered and warped by the Reflected Ruin Realm. Students buried in grueling study. Teachers running themselves ragged. Deans delivering speeches on stage. And endless meetings held by school leaders. The students suffered. The teachers suffered too. A student who encountered a good teacher might suffer a little less, but the good teacher often lived a harder life than the others. Responsibility and duty were also forms of pressure. To be a good teacher required paying a steep price; only those who abandoned such burdens could find easy happiness. In this enclosed world of a thousand forms, every living soul held resentment. Thus, wicked desires were born. In reality, graduated students often revisited their old schools with a nostalgic smile, reminiscing about their lost youth. After all, the world after graduation was often a hundred times harsher than the world before it; a world where working hard was all it took was simply too beautiful. Yet this was the Reflected Ruin Realm, the Yuanmeng Middle School within Reflected Tinghai. To the students lost in confusion back then, no suffering was deeper than what they were enduring in the moment. They possessed neither the calm of someone who had weathered a thousand storms nor the confidence to face everything. The smallest incident could be magnified infinitely, becoming the final spark that breached the dam. It was like someone who endured a string of misfortunes in a short span, yet the thing that finally broke their spirit was merely an inability to twist open a bottle cap. And the Reflected Ruin Realm was most adept at gathering and twisting such things! Quietly, Bai Zhou's mood and thoughts were affected as well. Though he kept watch over the dazed trio of Number 9 and confronted them from a distance, Bai Zhou's expression grew increasingly downcast. A trace of confusion crept into his eyes, his entire demeanor aligning ever more closely with the blue-and-white school uniform he wore. Under normal circumstances, Bai Zhou would not have felt much empathy for those scenes. The Youth Training Corps was bound by strict disciplines, with more punishments than one could count. For a time, Bai Zhou had even wondered whether anyone who consistently placed last would be dragged by the black robes straight to the city square to be remade on the crucifix. In comparison, a few verbal lectures seemed far too blessed to him. More importantly, Bai Zhou had had to study desperately just to earn the stipend granted to the top ranker. It didn't matter if others did poorly, but if Bai Zhou failed to perform, he would truly starve to death— The potential a human could unleash just to survive was boundless. Yet now? In a daze, shadows of numerous students seemed to overlap upon Bai Zhou, his demeanor drifting ever closer to theirs. When a person's thoughts, memories, and emotions became identical to another's at a given moment, who did that person become? *Not good!* Now—Bai Zhou finally understood how the trio of Number 9 had fallen under the spell so abruptly. It was as if their souls had been stripped away and new ones shoved into their husks! *Hum—!* Decisively, Bai Zhou mobilized his spirituality. A rune branded upon the Sea of Ignorance lit up, ringing out like a strummed chord. **[Soothe]!** Ripples spread outward in layers, washing through every part of Bai Zhou's body. Exhaustion was dispelled, dejection swept clean, and the scenes flashing deep in his mind were blocked beneath the surface of the ripples. Like flowers seen through a fog, they could no longer be perceived clearly. And because he saw them only through the haze, Bai Zhou lost all sense of immersion—they could no longer influence him. *Burp—* The school uniform seemed to let out a burp. The digestion was complete. An indescribable sensation welled up without form, like a warm current churning in Bai Zhou's stomach, his intestines squirming with a strange craving. He seemed hungry. Just as someone who had overeaten suddenly finished digesting, their distended stomach contracting sharply to bring on a wave of hunger. He wanted to eat— He wanted to devour the school rules! *Whoosh!*— With that single thought, the school uniform resonated. Having completed its evolution, the uniform was no longer what it had been. Not only did it have the courage to challenge the school rules, but it had also gained many new uses! For instance, right now— *Release of Wicked Desires!* A dark, pitch-black glow suddenly erupted from Bai Zhou's body! The black light expanded rapidly from him, blasting outward in every direction. Like semi-solid billowing smoke, it shrouded the surrounding environment and blocked the prying gaze of the surveillance cameras. In the blink of an eye, the dense smoke reached the bulletin board. A sizzling sound immediately followed, as though something were being corroded, or boiling water had met scorching oil. The rules on the board seemed to suddenly come "alive." Turning into clawing, writhing creepers, they flew out, tearing aggressively through midair to clash and tear against the black smoke. Eight against seven. Moreover, the former possessed a natural dominance and restraint over the latter; the advantage lay entirely with the rules! In contrast, the seven wicked desires launched by Bai Zhou appeared imposing on the surface but were hollow within, falling into a disadvantage in an instant. However— Bai Zhou glanced left and right, confirming that the smoke fully concealed the area. He swung out the purple-gold saber, attempting to slash at the creepers circling around him. Eight against eight was fair! *Clang—!* The blade cut through the air, cleaving the air currents themselves, a testament to its sharpness. Yet the blade passed straight through the creepers without meeting the slightest resistance— *Useless!* Bai Zhou's heart sank. As expected, they had no physical substance! Drawing a sword to cut water only made it flow faster. How could a physical blade cleave incorporeal wicked desires? Just as Bai Zhou was fretting over this, one of the creepers lunged directly toward him. It carried an indescribable, surging malice that affected his emotions the moment it drew close. *Buzz, buzz—* Sensing the approach of that surging malice, the short rod at Bai Zhou's waist trembled faintly. *Could it be—?* In a flash, Bai Zhou drew the pitch-black short rod with a backhand grip, simultaneously activating the mysterious rune branded on the Sea of Ignorance. **[Light]!** *Buzz—* Radiance detonated, scattering the black mist and engulfing the creepers. A tidal wave of pure white light instantly flooded the entire corridor. "What is that?! Why did the feed go completely white?!" "Technician! Technician!" Inside the command vehicle, Commander Han slammed the table and shouted at the top of his lungs. The camera feed swung between total blackness and blinding white; they desperately needed to know what was happening. *Thwack! Thwack! Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!* Standing within the light, Bai Zhou swiftly swung the rod coated in white radiance, striking the head of each wicked creeper. Eighteen strikes a second. The sensation of every blow landing solid filled Bai Zhou with satisfaction. *It actually—* Bai Zhou felt both bewildered and pleasantly surprised. Ever since acquiring the purple-gold saber, this broken flagpole had seen fewer and fewer appearances in his hands. Never would he have thought that the broken flagpole held such miraculous restraining power against incorporeal wicked desires! As expected of Laia of Light! The stunned creepers were sucked in by the school uniform, merging into its fabric. Eight new wicked desires: Regret, School-Weariness, Arrogance, Hypocrisy, Ignorance, Ambition, Conservatism, Radicalism— Eight wicked desires, all gathered into a single vessel! They intertwined, collided, and fused with the seven wicked desires originally held in the uniform. An indescribable sense of fulfillment, accompanied by a tingling numbness, surged from the depths of Bai Zhou's body. Alongside it came an overwhelming feeling of satiety. These "emotions" belonged to the uniform, of course, but Bai Zhou himself was equally exhilarated. One had to admit these school rules were exceedingly troublesome. Any other intruder would have been completely helpless against them, forced to follow the rules while searching for loopholes. Bai Zhou's only advantage was the school uniform he wore. And it just so happened to be an evolved uniform that had fused seven wicked desires, earning it the right to challenge the rules. Gu insects were meant to devour one another, not to mention that the school rules were merely— A skin shed by a certain entity. *Boom—!* The instant the pure white radiance dissipated, pitch-black smoke rose once more. It was far more turbulent and dense than before, swallowing the entire corridor in a breath, only to recede like an ebbing tide shortly after. The school uniform, now fused with fifteen wicked desires, began a new round of evolution! When the black mist cleared, not a single word remained on the bulletin board before Bai Zhou. It was entirely blank. The trio of Number 9 lay sprawled awkwardly on the floor. Having regained control over their bodies, their faces were filled with the relief of surviving a disaster. When they looked at Bai Zhou, their emotions were exceedingly complex. "You saved us again, Senior..." What a shame—why had Senior Zhou turned out to be an anomaly? Her ponytail swaying, Number 9 shook her head, feeling a pang of regret and sorrow. Yet Bai Zhou had no energy to pay them any mind. Because at some point, without him taking a single step, the surrounding environment had undergone a staggering transformation— *Something's wrong!* The "Sweet Home," the heartwarming little red flowers, the quiet and clean corridor—all of it had vanished. What appeared before Bai Zhou was a ruined, pitch-black corridor identical to the exterior of the abandoned teaching building, complete with cracked, peeling plaster and a faded, mildewed ceiling. The dark corridor was damp. Beneath the trash in the corners, clusters of tiny, colorful mushrooms grew packed together. Perhaps this was the "reality" of this place. *Rustle, rustle—* Countless yellowed papers and test sheets were pasted onto the grimy walls. A cold draft blowing in through broken windows set them fluttering eerily. *This is—?* Bai Zhou instinctively held his breath. He had stood entirely still, yet the world before his eyes had undergone a surreal transformation, as though ages had passed in an instant. He was no stranger to this sensation; it was just like plunging from the surface world of Blue Star into the Ruin Realm on its flip side. In a daze, the space seemed to have been mirrored and flipped, as if Bai Zhou had crossed from the shallow layer of the teaching building into its deeper layer. A new world! *I have a bad feeling about this...* Bai Zhou furrowed his brow and surveyed his surroundings, his heart pounding violently. His instincts as an Adventurer screamed in wild warning. If the abandoned teaching building was divided into a shallow layer and a deep layer— Then in this deep layer where no one had ever set foot, there had to lurk an unimaginable terror— *Click!* Suddenly, the crisp tap of a leather shoe heel striking the floor echoed from the dark, far end of the deep corridor. "Who's there?!" Bai Zhou snapped in a low voice, watching as if facing a mortal foe. A middle-aged man in a sharp suit with a white rose pinned to his lapel, his hair flecked with gray and a faintly glowing cigar between his lips, strode gracefully out from the depths of the darkness. "It seems a remarkable character has appeared among this year's students, daring to challenge the rules I laid down." As the figure drew nearer, a suffocating pressure made every cell in Bai Zhou's body sound the alarm. *I could die!* *He's terrifyingly strong!* In this moment, from the man's poised demeanor, Bai Zhou inexplicably felt an aura similar to that of the Statute Hall's Inspector during the ghost market incident— *Could he be a monster above Rank 6—?* Bai Zhou said nothing. He only stepped back, on high alert with every fiber of his being. "Perhaps I truly am a failed educator, growing old and decrepit, bound to be replaced by you all one day." Removing the cigar from his mouth, the suited man spoke in an exceptionally aged voice, sounding about twenty years older than his appearance suggested. "Yet at least for now, you should continue to abide by the campus rules and show respect to an old man like me. "For instance, right now—" He took a step. Just a single step, with no visible motion. The self-proclaimed educator appeared right beside Bai Zhou, as though spatial distance meant nothing to him, making Bai Zhou's hairs stand on end in sheer fright. *When did he—?! I couldn't see anything!* Time and space seemed to freeze. A presence that ruled over everything descended upon this place, pinning Bai Zhou and the others to the spot like prey sinking into a swamp. The eight newly acquired wicked desires within Bai Zhou's school uniform harbored both intimacy and dread toward the man, transmitting emotions that Bai Zhou caught clearly. Then, Bai Zhou confirmed his internal suspicion, his heart plunging into an abyss. He was— The master of the eight wicked desires! The mysterious, unbelievable entity who had "shed his skin"! "In fact, I rather admire the vigor and courage unique to you young people. "Perhaps you could become my son. How does that sound? One day in the future, I could hand the position of Principal over to you, and you could realize your ideals and ambitions to your heart's content. "Even though you haven't shown me the slightest bit of proper respect, nor have you treated me as a teacher. I see none of the decorum a student ought to have in you. "You don't even..." The aroma of the cigar drifted over, pungent smoke mingling with a faint trace of ink and an elusive scent of decay that coiled beneath Bai Zhou's nose. With a light tap of leather shoes, their figures stood shoulder to shoulder. The elegant man in the suit bent slightly, his resonant, aged voice whispering gently beside the ear of the frozen Bai Zhou: "You aren't even willing to call me..." "Principal!"