The Last Gentleman

Due to the oppressive, dark, and unsettling atmosphere inherent in the Wilsterman teaching building, combined with its winding layout reminiscent of a mental hospital, everyone had been highly alert since entering.

The moment the tungsten lights went out, everyone quickly lit their portable kerosene lamps. The glow radiated out, illuminating the classroom once again, revealing a terrifying scene.

At the main entrance of the classroom, a horrifying "living corpse" was crawling along the wall. Its eyes were bound with a black bandage, its mouth sewn shut with steel wire, and its body marked with thick black lines outlining human anatomy. Long, thick nails punctured its spine at regular intervals. As this first living corpse crawled into the room, more followed, each one more grotesque, until they outnumbered the gentlemen in the class.

At that moment, the gentlemen in the class instinctively touched their backpack straps, shifting from [Suits] → [Overcoat] and instantly adopting combat stances.

Only Yi Chen hesitated, his fingers hovering mid-air over the strap… because he harbored some doubts about the "danger" unfolding before him.

Drip! Suddenly, a drop of saliva landed on Yi Chen’s collar.

A hideous living corpse was clinging to the ceiling, its mouth wide open, eager to feast on fresh flesh. It locked onto Yi Chen and abandoned its crawling stance, dropping vertically from the ceiling.

At the same moment, Yi Chen drew his hand axe, his gaze focused… confident he could deliver a precise mid-air beheading.

Bang! A loud crash echoed.

Before Yi Chen could swing his axe, a heavy iron desk flew across the room, striking the corpse and smashing it into the wall. Its head was crushed, punctured, oozing foul liquid.

Not far away, Dagobert from Quechua’s northern region caught Yi Chen’s eye. Because of the confined classroom space, his greatsword was too unwieldy, so he had to rely on hand-to-hand combat with these living corpses… and even so, he was holding his ground effortlessly.

"Dagobert’s [physique] must be at least a [4], maybe even [5], right? He must be nearing the Limit membrane… his brute strength is almost exaggerated," Yi Chen thought as he moved closer to the three teammates. Using their strong cooperation and cover, he lowered his presence, avoiding the living corpses' attention.

[Enhanced Vision]

Yi Chen’s gaze scanned over each corpse that had entered, noting various details on their bodies.

"Hmm? This is…" He soon noticed a suspicious detail and took a deep breath.

Adjusting his attire, Yi Chen strode with formal, dignified steps toward a certain spot in the classroom, where a corpse was gnawing on a student's arm. The living corpse sensed Yi Chen approaching. Swish! After tearing off a chunk of flesh from the student’s arm, it turned its head 90 degrees to face Yi Chen.

Its knees bent, ready to pounce like a wild beast. Yet Yichen performed an action that puzzled everyone present. With his right foot beside his left, his right arm gracefully turned to rest across his chest, he leaned forward about 30 degrees and offered a "gentleman’s bow" to the flesh-eating living corpse, softly greeting it, “Good morning!”

In that moment, all the living corpses engaged in combat with the students froze, motionless.

Even as some students continued attacking them, shattering bones and hacking into flesh, the corpses remained unmoved.

The living corpse to whom Yi Chen had bowed slowly straightened up from its primal, frenzied crawl to stand upright… its spine rigid, clang clang clang as the nails embedded in its vertebrae began to drop away one by one.

Reaching out, he pulled out the wire embedded between his lips. Strangely, there was no blood from the wound, and it healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, leaving no scars behind.

A chilling, hoarse voice came from the depths of his recently unbound mouth:

"What’s your name?"

"William Behrens."

"You’re the first student in the last ten cohorts who could immediately detect an anomaly and discover 'me'... Impressive observation skills and meticulous thinking. How did you figure it out?"

Of course, Yi Chen wouldn’t say he had already heard that the instructor had certain "quirks" and had prepared himself in advance.

"Breathing… and subtle differences in behavior. I guessed this might be a deliberate flaw you left, hoping that we would stay calm in the face of crisis and pick up on hidden details. Otherwise, with your skills, perfectly mimicking a living corpse wouldn’t be an issue."

The "living corpse" didn’t respond directly but stepped around the disordered desks, corpses, and students, and made his way to the relatively clean podium. He retrieved a long black coat resembling a lab coat from under the podium and put it over his bare chest.

"You students aren’t bad... better than previous cohorts. These 'corpses' you killed are today’s class materials. While Alive, they were individuals with initial stages of infection. After death, they underwent a thorough 'disinfection' process and are no longer contagious. I then used some 'corpse creation techniques' to repurpose them.

Now, arrange your desks and each choose a corpse to place on your desk; prepare for class."

This strange pre-class procedure was a first for everyone, and they couldn’t help but feel an instinctive fear of the teacher. While adjusting their desks and moving the corpses, the teacher wrote his name on the blackboard – *[Hogni Zed]* – and continued with a series of bizarre actions.

He removed his black coat, once again going bare-chested, and lay flat on the metal podium. Then, he ordered a not-too-bright "living corpse" with a hole in its head to stand on the podium.

"For *Lesson One*, I'll give you a basic introduction to human anatomy. Don’t get distracted; record every detail. Only by understanding the human body – the most susceptible to pathogenic infection and with the greatest potential – can you comprehend the deeper aspects of pathogenic knowledge in later lessons."

With that, he pulled a sharp scalpel from his mouth and handed it to the not-too-bright living corpse. Under everyone’s gaze, he instructed the corpse to begin cutting the skin on his arm, explaining the basic skin structure layer by layer. He then used tweezers to pull out muscle fibers, nerves, and other components for detailed examination.

As he continued his self-dissection, he turned his head to the students, saying, “No need to strictly follow classroom decorum; if you want a closer, more detailed look, feel free to gather around."

The entire morning's "Pathology" lesson took place in this eerie and bizarre teaching atmosphere, but this hands-on method left every student with a deeper understanding of human anatomy.

After class, as Zed lay on the podium, he began self-stitching, putting his exposed organs back in place.

Yi Chen deliberately declined Edmond and the others’ post-class invitations, choosing to stay alone in the classroom. Once everyone had left, and Zed finished his self-stitching, he sat up straight.

"Is there something you need, William?"

Yi Chen handed him a handwritten letter and business card from Professor Chambers as requested. Surprisingly, Zed seemed to be blind, reading by touching the subtle indentations on the letter. After this touch-reading, he slowly broke into a twisted smile.

"Knowing that the academy doesn’t allow me to mentor students individually, Professor Chambers still introduced you to me... Very well, I'll reluctantly accept this job since you seem interesting.

Remember, my standards for the living are much higher than for the dead. I also can’t entirely guarantee your safety; there’s a chance you might die during training."

"Understood."

"Then follow me~ We have only *half an hour* left for my outdoor activity period; I need to hurry back to my 'office.'"

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