Chapter 10
Chapter 10
“Hi. Is anyone sitting here?” Hui Yulian approached Xiao Huai with her tray.
He looked up at her and shook his head, so she sat down beside him.
She waited for him to ask why she had chosen this seat. Xiao Huai, however, kept his head down and continued eating without sparing her another glance.
Hui Yulian cleared her throat twice. “Aren’t you going to ask why I’m sitting here?”
Xiao Huai glanced at her. “Oh, should I? Fine. Why are you sitting here?”
Hui Yulian fell silent. “…I wanted to ask you a few things.”
He arched a brow. “What?”
“Do you have a special identity?”
Xiao Huai did not answer immediately. He smiled. “What do you think?”
Hui Yulian frowned. After a moment, she changed the subject. “Do you belong to an organization outside?”
“An organization?” The word caught Xiao Huai’s interest. He turned and quietly watched her, waiting for an explanation.
Hui Yulian nodded. “Wherever humans gather, people form associations and organizations. The gods’ horror game is no exception… Um, may I ask whether you have a divine sponsor?”
Xiao Huai stared at her and blinked, his expression clearly saying, I have no idea what you’re talking about.
She explained, “There’s a livestream in the system. Any of the gods there can become our sponsor. If we perform well, they might give us items or even bless us with a supernatural ability.”
“Oh?” He picked up a slice of meat with his chopsticks. “So we’re animals in a zoo.”
The analogy was unpleasant, but accurate.
“What does that have to do with organizations?” Xiao Huai steered the conversation back on track.
“N-nothing. What I’m trying to say is that organizations exist to help people survive horror games. We share information and clues about instances. The game forbids sharing critical clues, but some information can still circulate. I have a clue for this instance. Do you… want to see it?”
Xiao Huai’s lips curved. His teeth sank into the raw meat, making bloody juice burst across his mouth. For an instant, the red seemed to merge with his eyes.
He rose, then suddenly laughed and leaned over her. “Interesting. Let’s hear it.”
Hui Yulian breathed a sigh of relief. When she heard him laugh, she had thought he would refuse. Nothing about this man seemed quite right.
If the god backing her had not left that message… she would never have approached Xiao Huai.
“Xiao Huai, you know an organization’s clues aren’t given to outsiders for free. I can only show you if you agree to join us once we leave.”
“Hehe. Sure.”
Although Xiao Huai had agreed, Hui Yulian sensed he did not mean a word of it. She produced a small purple stone. “This is our organization’s token. Once you leave the game, they’ll be able to sense your presence.”
A contact stone belonging to the Falcon organization.
Xiao Huai accepted it with a smile.
To him, the contact stone seemed more like a tracking device.
What would await him if he broke his promise?
As it happened, he had no qualms about deceiving a deceiver. He accepted the invitation without hesitation.
After all, his acceptance was false. He wanted to see what would happen.
Xiao Huai took the stone. Its description did indeed state that it could sense his presence, and for the moment, he was unable to discard it.
“Here. This is the clue.” Hui Yulian handed him a leaf.
At the sight of it, Xiao Huai raised one brow.
Hui Yulian caught the doubt that flashed through his eyes. “Don’t worry. Clues can’t be forged. They all look like this in horror games. If you don’t believe me, scan it with the system later.”
Just as she said, the system identified the leaf as [One of the Clues to Ivy Girls’ School].
If there was a first, then there would be a second and third.
Xiao Huai said nothing more. He put the leaf away and left. After his figure disappeared, Hui Yulian began biting her thumbnail.
* * *
Xiao Huai entered an empty alley and examined the writing on the leaf.
[Clue to Ivy Girls’ School: Everyone is a child, though only a few still remember.]
It was only one short sentence, but in that instant, Xiao Huai understood everything.
Hui Yulian probably possessed several clues, but she would never give him one she considered truly valuable.
Giving away something this vague cost her nothing.
No one raised those two questions without a reason.
Rather than believe her true aim was recruiting him, Xiao Huai placed more weight on the other question she had slipped into their conversation.
Divine sponsorship.
In a horror game filled entirely with villains, would the gods prefer a kind player who remained pure amid the filth, or a villain who carried evil to its ultimate extreme?
The school clock chimed. It was six. The warm sun sank toward dusk, and sunset spilled over the mountaintops.
Night was coming.
The moment the bell rang, a heavy thud followed.
The students had started jumping again.
The first body plunged straight down from the fifth floor. Black blood exploded against the ground, leaving a crater. A severed arm spun away; bones shattered. The student lay twisted on the ground, face contorted and eyes hollow.
Aside from the screams of several players, no one in the school reacted.
Xiao Huai looked at the corpse, then walked straight toward it.
“Look! What’s he doing? Is he insane?” A player in the corridor pointed at Xiao Huai below and shouted.
Evening study was about to begin. Some players had just returned from the cafeteria and naturally saw what he was doing. Others who had remained in the classroom came out at the commotion to see what was happening.
Xiao Huai reached the corpse and crouched beside it. When he extended a hand, every player watching recoiled.
He had nerves of steel.
Only after cold flesh met his fingertips did Xiao Huai rise. He looked up at the players, his mouth curling with playful intrigue, and said softly, “She was already dead before she jumped.”
A gust of wind swept past. The air turned bitterly cold, and a dreadful silence enveloped the school, so complete they might have heard a pin strike the ground.
Someone suddenly screamed, “Fuck, fuck, fuck! A monster! Aaaah!”