Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Lin Yinxi followed Song Qianli back to the dormitory.

The room was small, with two metal beds, cabinets fixed to the floor, a tiny toilet, and a balcony for drying clothes. An inescapable fishy smell filled the air.

Song Qianli washed up with practiced ease and changed into deep blue staff pajamas. Before bed, she reminded Lin Yinxi, “If you hear someone knocking tonight, don’t open the door. Just keep sleeping. Tomorrow, the foreman will assign everyone’s work.”

Then she drew her bed curtain shut.

Before long, steady and rather loud snores came from behind it.

Lin Yinxi was too sleepy to keep her eyes open herself. She had run so far today and stayed tense the whole time. Now that she could relax a little, her eyelids kept drooping. The moment her head touched the pillow, her awareness began to fade.

Forget her roommate’s snoring. She could have slept through thunder crashing outside the window.

…

Some time passed.

Bzz… bzz…

Her vibrating phone woke Lin Yinxi from a deep sleep.

She opened her eyes, her head heavy. The dormitory was pitch-black.

Instinctively, she looked toward the bed opposite.

The other bed curtain was still shut, and everything was quiet. Strangely, she had heard Song Qianli’s loud snores earlier, but now she could not hear even a faint breath. The dormitory was utterly silent.

Lin Yinxi felt beneath her pillow for her phone.

Caller ID: Brother.

She immediately grew more alert.

To avoid waking Song Qianli, Lin Yinxi quietly got out of bed and walked to the balcony in her slippers.

The old glass balcony door gave a soft creak as she pushed it open.

It was cold outside.

Lin Yinxi answered in a whisper. “Hello, big bro.”

Skipping all pleasantries, she hurried to tell him what had happened.

“I escaped from the university.”

“But outside, there was thick fog everywhere. I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I’d entered a contaminated zone called Deep Blue Aquarium with five other people.”

Her brother’s grave voice came through the phone. “Deep Blue Aquarium…”

He seemed to have remembered something.

“There really were plans to build an aquarium outside your university,” he said. “But an accident at the construction site meant it was never finished. When the contamination spread, there was still nothing there but a concrete framework.”

Lin Yinxi looked outside. Though the staff dormitory had windows, beyond them was pitch-black, like the seabed without light. She could see nothing.

“Then how do I get home to meet you?”

“Where you are now is a whole expanse of contaminated zones. To get home, you have to leave them and find your way back along normal roads.”

“What if there aren’t any normal roads?”

“Whatever happens, keep moving. Especially don’t linger inside a scenario, or you might be trapped there forever.”

She was doomed!

Lin Yinxi wanted to scream.

Her brother seemed to sense her unease. “I’ll do my best to organize a rescue team to find you.”

Lin Yinxi gripped her phone. She did not want her family worrying about her, so she hid her anxiety. “Big bro, don’t worry. I’ve grown up. I won’t cry like I did when Mom and Dad divorced.

My stamina isn’t great, but my brain still works pretty well. As long as I don’t have to fight these entities head-on, I’m confident I can escape.

Don’t enter a contaminated zone for me. That would be like the Calabash Brothers trying to rescue their grandfather, getting picked off one after another.[^calabash] Help me collect maps of safe roads outside, then send them to me… Um… To this phone number.”

Her brother sighed. “Xi, once I get you to the safe zone, you won’t ever have to be afraid again…”

Lin Yinxi wanted to talk more and ask how things were on his end.

The signal began deteriorating.

Her brother’s voice broke up.

“In the safe zone, I’ve already become… I’ll never let you…”

Crackle, crackle…

Become what?! A leader? Had he been promoted and struck it rich? Could the signal please not cut out at such a crucial moment?!

Static hissed, and soon she could hear nothing from the other end.

Lin Yinxi hung up, somewhat resentful.

Turning, she suddenly saw Song Qianli’s face pressed against the balcony glass. Two vacant eyes watched her. Her even breaths misted the glass door white.

!!!

No faces popping up like that, please.

Lin Yinxi’s heart hammered in fright. Goosebumps instantly covered her arms.

“Song Qianli?” she called softly.

There was no response.

Gathering her courage, Lin Yinxi pulled the glass door open.

Song Qianli’s eyes were open, her breathing even and her gaze vacant. She seemed asleep. No matter how Lin Yinxi called to her, she did not react.

She was sleepwalking.

Once she realized this, Lin Yinxi did not wake Song Qianli. Instead, she turned sideways and quietly slipped past her.

Rest time was scarce enough. Lin Yinxi hurried back to bed to get her fill of sleep.

While Lin Yinxi slept, Song Qianli entered the balcony and faced its glass.

Beyond the pitch-black balcony window, a lock of wet black hair slowly descended from above, its densely packed strands drifting like seaweed in the water.

Lin Yinxi slept until morning.

People with little energy had one characteristic: they tired easily, fell asleep quickly, and were easily startled awake.

Since she had slept soundly last night, nobody must have disturbed her partway through.

Excellent.

Song Qianli was awake too. She remembered nothing of last night’s sleepwalking.

Lin Yinxi checked the group messages.

All the cleaning positions were filled today. As a temporary worker, she was no longer needed there, so Rabbit Keeper had assigned her another position.

[Ding! You have a new work notification.]

Lin Yinxi opened the message. Her new position had arrived.

[Assignment: Night-Shift Feed Quality Inspector (part-time).]

[Working hours: 8:30 p.m. to midnight.]

[Duties: Due to the large quantity of ingredients recovered recently, the processing room is understaffed. Report to the Feed Processing Room at the specified time to screen meat quality.]

[Note: The processed premium feed must be dispensed for feeding in Zone A at precisely 2 a.m. This task affects tomorrow’s exhibit activity levels. Completion is mandatory.]

[Part-time wages: 500 Rabbit Coins. Leaving midway forfeits all wages and results in permanent blacklisting.]

“What work were you assigned?” Lin Yinxi asked Song Qianli.

She was different from the survivors who had entered with Lin Yinxi.

Humans like Song Qianli, who already lived within the scenario, had phones.

Looking at the message on hers, Song Qianli said, “Just my luck. I’ve been assigned to clean empty tanks today. Dirty, exhausting work. What about you?”

“Nothing during the day. I got a night assignment called… uh… Night-Shift Feed Quality Inspector.”

Song Qianli’s mouth fell open in surprise. Laying her phone facedown on the bed, she said with some excitement, “Didn’t you say you’d never worked here before? How did they put you in such an important position right away? You’re so lucky. Night work may be hard, but the pay is high.”

[^calabash]: The Calabash Brothers are heroes of a Chinese animated series. Their attempts to rescue their grandfather are invoked in a common joke about rescuers being defeated one by one.