Chapter 42

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A Fan Translation

CHAPTER 42 - The Last Class (Part 2)

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Translator's Note: Hi, everyone! This is the last chapter of the main novel. There are still five extras to go. Thank you for your kind comments throughout!

My students seemed to have their own information network. They already knew that I had found out the truth. For this class, everyone was dressed especially dramatically, hair a mess, faces grimy, dripping with blood, not at all as cute as before.

The lights in the Fourth Class, Third Year classroom were bright, and the impact of twenty fierce ghosts was powerful. When I walked into the room, I backed up and looked at the doorplate again to make sure that I hadn't gone into the wrong classroom. For a moment I thought I'd walked onto a film set by mistake.

Mu Huaitong and Duan Youlian had graduated early. The front row was empty. To my left there was a student missing half his head, holding his eyes, which had fallen out, in his hands. He seemed to be using them to look at me.

"Ahem." I was little nervous. I cleared my throat, and then began in a soft voice: "Hello, students. I'm really ashamed. We've been acquainted for some time now, but I've only just now found out your true identities. I've fallen somewhat short in my duties. Let's get to know each other again. My name is Shen Jianguo, a newly graduated teacher at my first job. I'm nervous about leading a class for the first time. No matter what your identities are, to me, you're the first group of students I've taught, and the most difficult for me to forget. Now I'll call roll."

After calling the twenty students one by one, I wrote the words "how to establish a correct world view" on the blackboard. "You must all have heard from Principal Zhang that this is our last class. The key task is to help you all graduate. But I still think that whether you're humans or ghosts, everything has to be done well from start to finish. I still have to finish teaching this lesson about establishing a world view.

"Now I'll talk about the most important point. You have to have the ability to determine right from wrong."

This wasn't a very good topic to lecture about. Countless philosophers in history have spent their lives discussing good and evil without finding an answer that suited everyone. Naturally I also couldn't say anything very concrete.

What I could tell everyone was that it was enough to maintain an honest heart and never be ashamed of it.

After lecturing for over an hour, I said to the students, "You may be thinking, now that I know you’re ghosts, why am I still talking about world view? Isn't talking to ghosts about worldview the ravings of a lunatic? But after my recent experiences, I believe that the boundary between humans and ghosts isn't actually life and death. There are some people who are just like evil ghosts, even though they’re alive. They can only do harm to people's lives and property. Some people’s spirit will still remain in the hearts of the living after they die.

"Teacher Liu and Ning-tianshi have told me that when you take Qi-dage's bus and cross the Naihe Bridge, you'll forget everything about your past lives. The things I'm telling you about now, you also won't remember. But I believe that even if the memory won't remain, there are still some things engraved on the soul that can't be forgotten."

After I finished, I took out a stack of graduation intention questionnaires and gave one to each student.

"This form gives you a number of choices: transcend, continue to attend class, or become a civil servant of Difu. Those students choosing to transcend, please pick up the reincarnation scripture on your table. You will recite it under the leadership of language teacher Liu Sishun until you have transcended. If you choose to become a civil servant of Difu, I will investigate Difu's job offerings and burn the materials for you. If you want to stay to attend classes, when we've finished tonight, Ning-tianshi will take you to the Maoshan Sect, and I will continue to teach you."

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