The moment her head was severed, Pandora felt a sudden, violent sensation of stepping into a void. Her body became weightless, and all feeling vanished.
Enveloped by a sensation that was neither rising nor falling, the terror in her heart gradually morphed into a long-lost sense of relaxation.
It was as if she had returned to the moment of her birth—muddled, ignorant, and not yet forcibly endowed with a “mission” or pushed into the vortex of a conspiracy.
Pandora felt that her birth had been a mistake. This wasn’t the life she wanted. If there was an afterlife, she wished to be a snail. She would crawl onto a wooden fence in the early morning to lick the dew and moss, basking in the sunlight. How pleasant that would be.
In her final moments, she shed tears, her lips trembling as she began to sing.
“Before the gates there stands a grape tree green~”
“Tender shoots are just starting to bloom~”
“A little snail with a heavy, heavy shell~”
“Climbs up slowly, inch by inch, and never fell…”
It wasn’t a sudden burst of childlike innocence. Rather, amidst the faint relief brought by sadness, fear, confusion, and liberation, she suddenly remembered the story about a person’s eyes blinking seventeen times after decapitation. She really wanted to know which line she would reach before she died…
“What are you doing?”
Wang Yue picked up Pandora’s small head, scrutinizing her with a strange expression.
The singing came to an abrupt halt.
“Ah… uh…”
Pandora gradually realized—she wasn’t dead? But she was so embarrassed she wished she were.
“Mother—!” she wailed at the top of her lungs, crying hysterically.
“Do you want to live?” Wang Yue flashed a kind, motherly smile.
“Yes!” Pandora screamed.
“Then be a good girl and listen. Don’t make Mother angry.”
Wang Yue snapped her fingers. A crow flew out from the brick wall and burrowed into the ear canal of that “artificial head.”
If Pandora’s Box was real, then this girl’s body was essentially a mobile suicide bomb. It was better not to let Ed drive it.
Pandora wouldn’t die from being decapitated, of course, because she wasn’t human. She was a little monster with a human shape.
Moreover, even if she were human, Wang Yue’s hand-blade—augmented by the “Primordial” rule—could take a head without causing death.
Wang Yue took out a prepared box and placed the head inside. Not only was there a soft cushion at the bottom, but she had also sprinkled a layer of fragrant talcum powder. It was first-class treatment.
Talcum powder has an excellent maintenance effect on soft materials, such as certain silicone products.
“How does it feel? Does it hurt?” Wang Yue asked.
“It doesn’t hurt. It feels… cool,” Pandora answered honestly.
“Should I install a spring for you? Turn it into a Jack-in-the-box style?” Wang Yue asked again.
“Mother…” Pandora felt like crying, but she had no more tears.
The “Pandora” that walked out of Room 221 returned with the Disciplinary Committee. No one could see any flaws; the head had originally been made from Pandora’s own ribs, so the material was identical.
Wang Yue carried the box back to her dormitory, her heart racing with excitement.
Uncovering Pandora’s identity and purpose would be a massive turning point that could directly change the situation. However, she needed to find the right moment to go public.
At that moment, Matcha walked over to report today’s count of turncoats.
“There are currently 88 New Church students. We had six new additions yesterday.”
Wang Yue raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t it 83 yesterday?”
“One of them went straight! Their best friend talked them out of it, and they returned to the Orthodox Church. I even wrote an interview about it; it’ll be in the papers tomorrow,” Matcha said happily.
Wang Yue nodded with satisfaction. The number of new converts was decreasing. It seemed most students were reasonable and there was a possibility of them abandoning the darkness for the light.
“These are today’s prohibitions.” Matcha handed over a stack of notices.
Wang Yue scanned them. Good grief, they were already up to Number 34. The latest one was: Pets are prohibited in the dormitories.
“Um, Dorm Leader, Dorothy…” Matcha asked worriedly.
Inside her cage, the pink hamster heard the pet ban and scrambled up. Her two tiny paws gripped the iron grilles as she looked at Wang Yue expectantly.
“Dorothy is a person, not a pet,” Wang Yue said seriously. She rolled up her sleeves and slapped the table. “If the Dean’s Office tries to use this as an excuse, I’ll have a few choice words for them!”
Hearing this, Dorothy felt a strange surge of emotion. But… but… why don’t you just turn me back?!
After the pet ban was issued, the student dormitories were filled with wails of grief.
Almost every room had a cat, dog, reptile, parrot, or fancy rat. Obviously, the school wasn’t going to build a zoo to house them; the pets were likely to be killed and buried.
To prevent a pet massacre, Wang Yue gathered the leaders of each grade to negotiate with the Dean’s Office. She managed to secure an opportunity to hand the pets over to the Lantern-Bearers instead.
Amidst a sea of reluctant sighs and lingering goodbyes, the pets were put into cages and sent out of the school.
As for whether a girl who took a Magic Potion to become a hamster counted as a “pet,” Wang Yue countered with a question:
“Is there a regulation prohibiting the consumption of Magic Potions?”
Dorothy had desperately hoped there was such a rule, but there wasn’t. The Dean, whom she had viewed as her savior, simply turned and left.
Having lost both their stuffed animals and their little pets, the girls were in dire need of something to soothe and comfort their empty hearts: the bodies of their roommates.
Students began to emulate the practices of Room 202. Now, every dormitory had at least one girl who had transformed into a hamster.
Of course, they didn’t live like ordinary hamsters in wood shavings filled with waste, mindlessly running on an exercise wheel all day. Instead, they lived in exquisite miniature houses, using tiny desks, tiny cutlery, and tiny beds.
“Since we have so many hamsters now, why don’t we hold a ‘Hamster Great War’?” Wang Yue suggested.
“Yay!” the students cheered.
“Lilith, are you really going to turn into a hamster?” Prima looked at the blonde girl in disbelief.
“I want to win,” Lilith said with a cold face.
With that, she squeezed the Magic Potion from the mouse-skin pouch into her throat. Her body shrank, her clothes fell to the floor, and a beautiful golden hamster crawled out from the collar.
“Aw, so cute.”
Wang Yue crouched down and reached out to grab Lilith, only to be bitten hard.
“Squeak—!” Lilith let out a warning cry.
“But it’s going to be hard for you to climb onto the table like that,” Wang Yue said, sucking her sore finger.
Lilith patted the ground with her tiny paw.
Wang Yue understood immediately. She pressed her palm to the floor and said, “Please, take your seat, Lady Lilith.”
“Squeak.“
Lilith scurried along the back of the black-haired girl’s hand and up her arm to her shoulder. Then, grabbing onto Wang Yue’s hair, she climbed to the very top of her head. She looked out over the room as if this were the only place she belonged.
The hamster tracks and stages could be DIYed. As for the prizes, Wang Yue raided her stash of Easter eggs again and produced several boxes of candy.
“Go for it, Dorothy! Win some candy for our room!” Matcha said, cupping the pink hamster in her hands.
Dorothy didn’t want to compete at all.
This is a nightmare…
Are you all insane?
What’s so interesting about a hamster race?
Hey! Someone stop this!
Seeing her squeaking, Matcha thought she was eager to start and praised her. “Dotty is so full of fighting spirit.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Wang Yue said, pouring cold water on the idea. “Let’s do a test and see how big the gap is between her and a top-tier athlete.”
Thus, the pink hamster and the golden hamster were placed together.
“Dorothy’s fur is messy and dull, and her body is all flabby. She looks no different from a common hamster. Lilith’s fur is as bright and shiny as silk, and her body is well-proportioned and athletic. She’s full of explosive power,” Matcha evaluated, adhering to the principles of objective journalism.
“They’re clearly not in the same league,” Wang Yue said, resting her chin on her hand.
The next moment, the pink hamster was grabbed by the scruff of her neck by the golden hamster and rubbed into the ground. There was no suspense at all.
Dorothy gave a symbolic struggle for two seconds before completely giving up resistance, allowing Lilith to kick her around like a ball.
“How is Dorothy’s skill level?” Matcha turned her face to Wang Yue.
Wang Yue scratched her head. It was probably the difference between a Rattata and a Pikachu.
“As long as she doesn’t come in last, it’s fine.”
