Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The second the classroom light bulb exploded, the class president was confessing her love on the podium.
Clutching a pink letter, her face was as red as if she’d just been fished out of boiling water, but her voice remained steady: “Zhou Lin, I like you.”
A second later, her heart vanished from her chest.
That wasn’t a metaphor.
She looked down at the hole in her school uniform, seemingly yet to process what had happened. Her lips moved as if she wanted to ask “Why?” but she only spat out a mouthful of black blood. Then, her entire being was wiped from the world, like a drawing erased by a rubber.
The pink letter fluttered to the floor.
Out of the forty-plus people in the classroom, no one screamed.
Because a line of blood-red text had simultaneously popped up above all our heads.
[Welcome to the Infinite Flow Game: Love Prohibited.]
[Dungeon One: Mingde Middle School Campus Legend.]
[Main Rule: In any dungeon, if you develop romantic feelings for any target, you will face immediate Erasure.]
[Friendly Tip: Heartbeat, possessiveness, the urge to sacrifice oneself, and contact dependency may all be judged as danger signals by the System.]
I was sitting in the back row, still holding half a ham sausage I hadn’t finished eating.
Looking at the spot where the class president had vanished, my first reaction wasn’t fear.
It was regret.
If I’d known I’d be dragged into a Death Game, I wouldn’t have given that last bite to the person sitting in front of me.
Now look at me-I might end up dying as a hungry ghost.
On the podium, Zhou Lin finally let out a blood-curdling shriek. He tried to rush over to pick up the letter, but the moment he stepped forward, black vines surged from the floor and dragged him under a desk.
The sound of chewing echoed from the desk cubby.
The System added coldly:
[Sub-rule One: Do not accept confessions on campus.]
[Sub-rule Two: Please find the Life Gate before 10:00 PM tonight.]
[Sub-rule Three: Please move in pairs. Those who act alone will be considered voluntary permanent residents of the school.]
As the last rule appeared, my wrist suddenly felt a surge of heat.
A red thread emerged from thin air, coiled around my hand, and stretched toward the front left.
I looked up and saw a boy turning around.
He wore a white shirt, his school blazer draped casually over the back of his chair. His eyelashes were long, and his complexion was cleaner than the classroom lights. While the rest of the class was trembling, he was the only one calmly putting the cap back on his pen, as if not even a Death Game could disturb his organization of stationery.
Seeing the red thread, he flashed a small smile at me.
“Hello. I’m Jiang Xu.”
A notification immediately jumped into the top right corner of my vision.
[Detected: Player Shen Zhi’s heart rate is rising.]
[Danger level: 7%.]
I slammed my hand over my heart.
Wait, System, are you insane?
You call this ‘heart-fluttering’?
This is a physiological abnormality in blood flow caused by seeing a handsome guy while in a state of extreme terror.
Jiang Xu walked over to my desk, bent down to pick up the ham sausage I’d dropped, and handed it to me.
“Still want to eat it?”
I stared at the clean band-aid on his finger and shook my head firmly.
“No.”
He nodded. “It’s good to be cautious.”
I said, “Mainly because it touched the class president.”
Jiang Xu fell silent for a second.
The danger level dropped from 7% to 3%.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Excellent.
As long as I’m sufficiently heartless, love will never catch up to me.