Chapter 549: Sports Warehouse

Rule Five of Physical Education:

“Do not agree to help the physical education teacher return the sports equipment after class.”

At this moment, Wu Xian, following behind Guo Xiaodong, was actively violating the rule—a behavior other students saw as outright suicide.

But to Wu Xian, it was a highly valuable risk.

Over the past few days, Wu Xian had formed a basic assessment of the training center’s situation: though multiple factions mingled here, they could roughly be divided into eight groups.

The principal, teachers and staff, the student council, hidden malevolent entities, invisible students, human students including natives and new recruits, trash, and animals! These eight groups operated independently yet maintained connections.

Normally, student rules should be issued by teachers, but at this training center, the rules were issued by the student council—and differed from those given by the teachers.

And as things stood, the student council was clearly an hostile faction.

Thus, this extra rule likely existed to prevent students from gathering information from the physical education teacher, steering outcomes away from what the student council desired! Wu Xian’s badge still bore three stripes—three chances to break the rules!

Rather than letting these chances hang uselessly on his chest until they went unused, he might as well actively break the rules to gather useful information! Even if the sports warehouse truly held dangers beyond mere red-stripe deductions, Wu Xian felt capable of handling them.

Before physical education class, Wu Xian obtained two more ghost talismans.

One was Ghost—Replication Spell, which replicated any ghost talisman.

The other was Ghost—Shadow Glyph, which empowered any target so its shadow could join combat.

Combined with the previously acquired “Ghost—True Flame Incantation,” “Ghost—Fire General Technique,” “Ghost—Decapitation Regeneration,” “Ghost—Insect Devouring Spell,” and “Ghost—Diffusion Method,” Wu Xian now possessed seven ghost talismans.

With these, Wu Xian was confident he could handle most situations.

This Immortal-grade ghost technique—Ghost Drawing—did not grant direct combat power like other Immortal-grade artifacts.

But the longer one held it, the greater the returns; in later stages, its cost-effectiveness could even surpass the Yanluo Ticket!

As he pondered:

Wu Xian and Guo Xiaodong had reached the entrance of the sports warehouse.

The sports warehouse was a long, single-story stone building with no windows; if other structures resembled upright tombstones, this one resembled an inverted tombstone.

Guo Xiaodong stood at the door, pulling it open: “Could I trouble you with one more thing?”

Wu Xian nodded: “Please go ahead.”

“The sports warehouse is where I store my equipment—it holds many of my prized collections.”

“But recently, a rat got inside, chewed through the wiring, and broke the lights. I hate dark places—could you please help me return all these items to their proper places?”

Wu Xian stared into the pitch-black warehouse entrance: inside, darkness reigned, the floor thick with dust; at the front lay ordinary equipment—baseball bats, keys, hula hoops, shot puts—but beyond that, everything blurred into obscurity.

At this point, Wu Xian could no longer retreat—he could only nod.

Guo Xiaodong revealed a terrifying smile.

“Once you enter the sports warehouse, there are four things you must note.”

“First, these ten ‘balls’ each have designated shelves. Walk straight to the back—you’ll find them. Place each ball on its correct shelf.”

“Second, this warehouse is my treasure—do not damage it!”

“Third, I fear equipment might escape, so I’ll lock the door. When you wish to leave, I’ll ask you a math question—you must answer correctly before I open it.”

“Fourth, if you can catch the rat for me, I’ll give you a small gift.”

These four demands made Wu Xian grit his teeth.

First: returning equipment to the correct shelf—but these ten “balls” weren’t ordinary balls; they were human heads! Second: no damaging the warehouse—meaning Wu Xian couldn’t use destructive techniques inside! Third: even stranger—fearing equipment escape, he’d ask a math question? Fourth: catching a rat sounded normal, but Wu Xian bet his life this “rat” was anything but ordinary! Then Guo Xiaodong handed Wu Xian a candle and a box of matches. Wu Xian took a deep breath, muttered phrases like “When you reach the mountain, a path will appear,” and stepped bravely into the warehouse.

Boom! The iron door slammed shut.

Wu Xian’s vision plunged into total darkness—he saw nothing.

His eyes were cat’s eyes, with exceptional night vision; if he could see nothing, the warehouse truly contained zero light.

Fssss… fssssss…

Wu Xian struck a match, lit the candle. The feeble flame flickered, making the warehouse seem even darker and more sinister.

But for Wu Xian, who had just survived the “Underground Labyrinth” blessed land, this level of darkness was child’s play—it was pure darkness, no added curses.

He held the candle in one hand, pulled the box with the other, and moved forward, scanning every direction without blind spots.

The shelves near the front were ancient; the sports equipment atop them was mostly coated in dust, clearly rarely used.

Hssss—Wu Xian bent down and blew dust off a basketball.

The basketball was heavily worn, with peeling seams and torn leather—clearly subjected to intense use.

All correct, one by one!

Wu Xian pressed forward into the warehouse’s rear section. Here, the shelves were newer, the floor and walls different in material, the dust on equipment thinner, yet the items themselves grew stranger.

Human femurs, goat horns, congealed blood, a whip made from some creature’s tail, and most strikingly—a pale dwarf corpse preserved in formaldehyde…

It was hard to imagine how Guo Xiaodong had turned these into sports equipment.

“It seems that before some point in time, the training center’s classes were relatively normal.”

“But after some event occurred, the teachers changed drastically, the curriculum became bizarre, and the warehouse was expanded.”

“Perhaps all other teachers changed on that same day.”

Tap… tap-tap…

Suddenly, Wu Xian heard faint footsteps behind him. He spun around quickly—but saw nothing.

He crouched down to inspect closely: a row of tiny footprints had appeared in the dusty floor.

“Hah, so there really is a rat here.”

Wu Xian instinctively smiled—then his smile froze.

Ahead, where the formaldehyde-preserved dwarf corpse had been, it had vanished without a trace.

Yet beside the formaldehyde jar, only Wu Xian’s own two sets of large footprints remained—no small, damp prints matching the dwarf’s.

Wu Xian frowned in thought.

“Where did the dwarf go?”

“How did he leave?”

“Is he the rat Guo Xiaodong mentioned?”

After a moment’s reflection, Wu Xian turned and continued pulling the box forward. A few steps later, he suddenly stopped—sweat broke out on his forehead.

“Wait—I shouldn’t have left footprints!”

“Because I’ve been pulling the box the whole time—the box’s tracks should have covered mine…”

(End of Chapter)