Chapter 53

Chapter 53

“A rivalry?” Freckles tipped her head toward the boy standing a head and a half taller than her.

“Maybe the liberal-arts class resented Tan Tao for leaving and wanted to prove transferring to the science class was a mistake…” Lin Zhu scratched his head. He was a top student, but even he had never encountered anything so absurd.

“This is an instance. We only need the causal relationship. Whether it makes logical sense isn’t important.” Seeing that Lin Zhu had more to say, Cheng Miao motioned for him to continue.

Lin Zhu cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “Also, the Dean was very fond of Tan Tao.”

Everyone remembered the Dean’s reddened eyes when she spoke about him.

“Isn’t that normal? I’d like such an obedient student too,” Old Yu murmured while watching the others’ reactions.

That did seem reasonable. Cheng Miao did not dwell on it and waited for Qiao Jin’s group to finish class so they could exchange information.

When school ended, Qiao Jin led her group downstairs. To avoid drawing attention, everyone followed the students into the cafeteria.

“The food here is pretty good.” The greasy man piled his tray high and spoke constantly while eating, oil coating his mouth.

Sister Li moved her tray away in disgust, afraid his flying spit would land on her food.

Qiao Jin leisurely drank the chicken soup Qian Ming had fetched for her and studied the note. “I didn’t expect you to discover so much.”

Cheng Miao ate her hot-and-sour snowflake fish, but her attention rested on Boss Zou, a successful businessman slumped in his seat without any food.

When he entered the instance, Boss Zou had worn a wrinkled suit. It was not expensive, but certainly not cheap either.

Now his jacket was off and his shirtsleeves rolled up. His face sagged with defeat, stripped of a leader’s former arrogance.

Cheng Miao studied the bloody slash across his cheek. “What happened to him?”

The old man had taken only rice and vegetable broth. He answered gloomily, “He fell asleep in class. His deskmate accidentally sent a pen flying across the room. It cut him and nearly took out his eye.”

Cheng Miao had no words. Boss Zou was helpless too. He knew this was an instance, and the two deaths had left him extremely tense. Yet the more anxious he became, the sleepier the teacher’s lecture made him.

Fortunately, it was only a cut. If heaven allowed him to leave the Game, he would never hold such long meetings again. Now he understood how painful it was to listen to someone drone on.

“You should eat something. The night may not be peaceful, and low stamina will put you in danger.” Everyone else was focused on their meals, but after some thought, Cheng Miao offered the warning.

Boss Zou seemed to wake from a trance. Sweating, he thanked her and hurried weakly toward the food counter.

“We have too few clues. At least we’ve identified one rule. Everything else will have to be tested gradually.” Qiao Jin ate little. She took a floral tissue scented with jasmine from Qian Ming’s bag and wiped her mouth. “There are no classes tonight, so an entirely different set of rules is likely. Look after yourselves.”

Without caring that her warning had turned the auntie and Zhou Jian pale, she smiled at Cheng Miao and left with Qian Ming.

Cheng Miao looked around at the varied expressions and rubbed between her brows. She already appeared so aloof. Why did everyone still gather around her?

“After dinner, find your assigned dormitories. Stay alert tonight.” Cheng Miao could not comfort the frightened players when she did not know the rules herself.

Cheng Miao and Qi Jiajia had rooms across the hall from one another. Cheng Miao shared with Sister Li. Lin Zhu was in the boys’ dormitory across the courtyard. The players had all been separated and would have to rely on themselves.

The women held a brief meeting before lights-out, only to discover that none of them had found anything further.
The students in the dormitory repeated the same few answers no matter what they were asked. Otherwise, they behaved like real people, following celebrities and trading gossip.

The contrast felt strangely wrong.

Everyone returned to their rooms burdened with worry. Cheng Miao lay in bed and wondered whether the boys’ dormitory would reveal anything. Tan Tao had been a boy, after all.

“Miss Cheng, are you asleep…?” Sister Li’s trembling voice came from the next bed.

Cheng Miao frowned. Lights were out, and the other roommates were resting. They did not yet know whether speaking violated a rule, yet Sister Li had recklessly opened her mouth.

When Cheng Miao did not answer, Sister Li wondered how she could have fallen asleep so quickly and prepared to speak again. Then realization struck. She clapped both hands over her mouth.

In the darkness, sweat drenched Sister Li’s entire body. Drops slid from her forehead into her eyes. She kept her mouth covered and did not dare move.

Her heartbeat thundered through the dark. She had no idea how long she waited.

It seemed… nothing had happened.

Sister Li slowly lowered her hands and waited again. No sound came. No ghost appeared.

She relaxed and cursed herself for panicking. Lying down, she sank into the soft pillow.

Everything was fine. Nothing would happen. Who had never whispered after lights-out while attending school?

Reassuring herself, Sister Li gradually rolled onto her side.

Half asleep, she felt her nose and mouth sink into the pillow, blocking her breath.

She struggled hazily to turn over, but something as heavy as a mountain pinned her body. She could not move.

Sister Li’s eyes snapped open. White filled her vision, the color of the pillowcase. No matter how desperately she fought, she could not twitch a finger.

She wanted to scream, cry, punch, and kick.

Instead, she quietly and uselessly lost her life without disturbing anyone.

Lin Zhu did not know when he had fallen asleep. A powerful smell of formalin woke him.

He opened his eyes inside a laboratory.

The school was well funded. Its student laboratory differed little from one found in a hospital: stark white walls, all kinds of glassware, and specimens and animal organs floating in preservative.

Two other people occupied the room. Qin Musong had awakened before him, while the greasy man still lay on the floor.

Lin Zhu shook the man awake. He mumbled irritably, but one look at a dissected laboratory rabbit brought him instantly alert.

Qin Musong had already searched the room without finding anything. The door was locked, and he was considering whether to blast it open with his handgun.

“Where are we? Why did I come here? Was it you?” The greasy man glared at Lin Zhu with bloodshot eyes, looking both absurd and frightening.

Lin Zhu shook his head. “The instance probably presents different situations during the day and at night. Calm down.”

He frowned at the hand clutching his sleeve and pulled free. “Only by staying calm can we find the rules and survive.”

“Right, right. The rules.” The greasy man scrambled up and attached himself to Qin Musong, who looked safer. He claimed to be searching for clues, but fear consumed all his attention.

Lin Zhu shook his head and turned toward the array of specimens.

He liked laboratories too. This one looked perfectly normal. What could be wrong with it?

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As the three wandered without direction, the clear sound of high heels came from the corridor outside.