NOVEL NEXT Chapter 71: Sacrifice isn't weakness
Professor Kong Hu slowly turned his head toward Fatty.
His glare could've stripped bark off a tree.
Fatty froze for a second, then offered a sheepish grin. "Heh. Just a little pre-mission mental conditioning, sir. Builds resilience, y'know?"
Professor Kong Hu said nothing, but his eyes narrowed.
Fatty coughed. "Educational trauma. Builds character."
Still nothing.
"…I'll run laps."
Satisfied, Professor Kong Hu nodded and added, "Make it forty."
Meanwhile, inside the chamber, total chaos had broken out.
The second group of first years had just been sealed in, and the moment the red button lit up on the far wall, pure anarchy erupted.
"Nope. No way. It's a trap," one girl hissed, backing away. "That's a blood summoning circle, I know it."
A boy pointed at it like it was a cursed artifact. "You press that thing, you summon the final boss. I'm not touching it."
Another clutched his head, pacing in circles. "It's reverse psychology! If pressing it only means cleaning toilets, then why didn't the elites earlier press it? They must have pressed it, and gotten destroyed by the bosses that appeared!"
"Exactly!" another shouted, waving his arms. "Nobody touch it! Maintain a five meter distance!"
From the observation room, Professor Wu raised an eyebrow. "Fascinating. They're now traumatizing themselves in advance."
Professor Bai Lian rubbed her temples. "I've never seen this much collective paranoia since the Great Dorm Prank of Year 2020."
Below, one particularly panicked student had climbed halfway up a drone storage rack and was yelling down at the others like a prophet in crisis.
"They want us to believe it's an escape button! But it's a lie! It's the start of the real trial!"
"Sit down, Enzo!" someone shouted.
"I CAN'T! I HEAR THE DRONES WHISPERING TO ME!"
Professor Kong Hu finally leaned into the mic, his voice calm and clinical.
"The red button will open the door. Pressing it will end the simulation. You will be excused from combat training and assigned janitorial duties for one week. This is not a trick."
A long silence.
Then a single student shouted:
"That's exactly what someone who wants us to press it would say!"
The chamber erupted again.
"DON'T PRESS IT! OR WE WILL DIE TOGETHER!"
"I'M TOO YOUNG TO BECOME CLEANING STAFF ANYWAY!"
"WHAT IF THE MOPS ARE POSSESSED?!"
Professor Wu sipped his tea and nodded thoughtfully. "I've never seen mass hysteria take root this efficiently. Quite impressive, actually."
The professors and generals watched as the second group descended further into what could only be described as high-functioning magical hysteria.
One student was pacing in tight circles, muttering, "It's not a button. It's a cursed artifact. Every time you press it, a dragon will enter this room."
Another had flipped his uniform jacket inside-out and was chanting, "If I can't see the button, the button can't see me. If I can't see the button, the button can't-"
A third was trying to climb into the wall panel, insisting he'd "found a secret passage to the real exit, just like in Dungeon Lord 4."
Professor Bai Lian blinked. "Should we… reduce the mana fog in there? Just a little? I think it's triggering unfiltered idiocy."
Professor Li Yan glanced at the readings. "The fog level's still within safe range."
"Safe range for who?" Professor Wu asked, watching a boy screaming at the ceiling. "He thinks the button is a reincarnated war criminal."
At that exact moment, the student in question let out a guttural scream and pointed at the glowing red panel.
"IT'S A TRICK! THE BUTTON IS A TEST! IT DRAINS YOUR SOUL TAXES!"
"What are soul taxes?" Professor Bai Lian whispered.
Another student gasped, wide-eyed. "What if pressing it enrolls you into Accounting?"
Half the group screamed.
Several now had their backs to the button, hands over their ears, chanting counterspells from three different magical disciplines. One was trying to summon an elemental goat for protection. It wasn't going well.
Professor Kong Hu pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is why I don't teach theory. No resilience."
Professor Wu sipped his tea. "No common sense either."
And then.
BOOP.
The button lit up green.
Everyone froze.
Horrified, all eyes turned to the one who had done it.
A student named Harlan blinked in confusion. "I... I sneezed. I think I… bumped into it with my elbow?"
Gasps.
Cries.
"YOU DOOMED US!" one girl shrieked.
"WE'RE ALL DEAD! DEAD AND TOILET-BOUND!"
"MY FAMILY'S BLOODLINE ENDS HERE!"
But then...
KSHHHHHK! The door hissed open.
Bright hallway lights spilled into the chamber.
Fresh air. No drones.
No demons. No mops.
Just freedom.
There was silence. Then a timid voice asked, "…So… we could've left this whole time?"
Professor Kong Hu clicked on the mic. "As explained in the briefing: pressing the red button ends the simulation and assigns the user to a week of janitorial duty. This was never a combat scenario. It was a moral and psychological test."
There was a beat.
Then the entire second group erupted into furious, exhausted yelling.
"WE FOUGHT A VENT!"
"I SUMMONED A GOAT FOR NOTHING!"
"I MADE PEACE WITH DEATH!"
"I LICKED THE WALL TO ESCAPE!"
Back in the control room, Professor Wu nodded thoughtfully. "Honestly… not the worst performance I've seen."
General Maru stroked his beard. "Shame about the goat."
The rest of the first-year batches, perhaps spurred on by sheer terror, performed surprisingly well.
While none of them showed the sheer absurdity and brilliance of Damien Bloodbane's group, they demonstrated grit, discipline, and most importantly, a willingness to act for the greater good.
By the end of each simulation, at least one student had stepped forward to press the red button, grimacing but resolute. No drama, no panic. Just quiet resolve. Toilet duty or not, someone always took the fall.
Professor Kong Hu stood in the observation room with his arms behind his back, nodding slowly as the final group exited the chamber.
"Not bad," he said. "They lack the creativity of the elites, but they don't lack heart."
Professor Wu sipped from his now-empty teacup. "Interesting contrast. Your monsters refused to sacrifice anyone. These ones volunteered to fall on the mop."
"A necessary lesson," Professor Kong Hu murmured. "Even the strong must remember, sacrifice isn't weakness. Sometimes, it's the foundation of unity."