Chapter 7
Chapter 7
“Oh… Hanako lost.”
Hanako hung her head, utterly dejected, the hand holding her pen drooping at her side.
Xiao Huai asked, “Do I get a reward for winning?”
Hanako looked at him. “Big Sister, shouldn’t you comfort me first?”
Xiao Huai, who had just been called Big Sister, fell silent. “…Oh. I should comfort you first? All right.”
He reached out, patted her head twice, and said, “Keep it up.”
Hanako’s eyes widened slightly. For some reason, being beside this human made her feel warm.
A cold, clammy sensation spread through Xiao Huai’s fingertips. Resting his chin in one hand, he looked at her and asked, “Do you feel comforted?”
Only then did Hanako nod her head twice with great force. She turned around.
The stall was no longer shrouded in darkness. She crawled to the toilet and rummaged around inside. After searching for some time, she pulled out a dripping-wet notebook.
“This is the only thing Hanako has. It’s for you, for you.”
Xiao Huai stared speechlessly at the notebook she had just fished out of the toilet. Two seconds passed before he finally reached out to accept it. “Thanks.”
The moment his fingers touched it, a system notification chimed in his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations. You have obtained Hanako’s Diary and triggered a hidden mission: Fulfill Miss Hanako’s wish and find her mother. Time limit: three days.]
[Penalty for failure: Death.]
If such rotten luck befell anyone else, they would probably be sobbing, cursing the heavens, and demanding to know why they were so unfortunate.
Xiao Huai merely laughed when he saw the mission. He stroked Hanako’s cheek, then turned to leave.
Before walking away, he waved. “Sure. I’ll do it.”
Hanako remained behind, staring blankly at his retreating figure, still clutching the exercise book he had given her for the assignment.
Anyone who entered Hanako’s domain had to finish a game before they could leave. Xiao Huai had completed his game with her, so there was nothing strange about his departure.
Yet not even Hanako had expected that the sight of his back would already make her want to play another game with him.
Instead of returning to the dormitory, Xiao Huai went straight to the classroom and began reading the diary.
[Hanako’s Diary]
Item Description: An ordinary diary that conceals the truth of another world. Study it carefully, and you may make a new discovery.
[Note: Some people can’t resist snooping when they see a chat history. Others can’t resist flipping through a diary. After all, temptation is something humans simply cannot refuse.]
Xiao Huai leaned wearily against his chair. He closed his eyes and quietly considered what he had read.
[Hanako’s Monday: My classmates hit me again today, but Mom says hitting means affection and scolding means love. So everyone must really like me.]
[Hanako’s Tuesday: I got a zero on my test today, but Mom says that after getting a zero, every little improvement will make me happy. Even one extra point is good.]
[Hanako’s Wednesday: We had free time in gym class today, but no one wanted to play with Hanako. Is Hanako not cute? But… Hanako wants to play with them too.]
[Hanako’s Thursday: Mom says I’ll definitely have more and more friends. I’m so happy.]
[Hanako’s Friday: Mom is gone. I looked for her for so long, but she’s still gone… Hanako has to find Mom.]
[Hanako’s Saturday: Hanako made some new friends. They’re very interesting.]
[Hanako’s Sunday: Hanako is very happy here.]
Aside from those seven entries, the diary was filled with Hanako’s drawings.
A child’s imagination ran wild. The pictures contained all manner of strange creatures.
Most were monsters that could never exist in reality.
Xiao Huai spent the entire night studying the drawings and words. When weariness finally set in, he returned the diary to his item storage, laid his head on the desk, and fell asleep.
* * *
“Fuck, that scared the life out of me. Did you hear? Someone died last night…”
“Who? Who died? It’s only the second day! How could anyone be dead? Wasn’t everybody in the dorms? How could someone die?”
The players arrived at the classroom one after another. None noticed Xiao Huai sleeping inside.
Hui Yulian walked over to the small group whispering in alarm.
The men’s and women’s dorm rooms were on the same floor, but the men were housed in the west wing and the women in the east.
She had no idea what happened in the west wing during the night.
“Can you tell us what happened last night? This is a survival instance. People don’t simply die unless they break a rule.”
Hui Yulian’s voice steadied the novices. They turned to her and began recounting the previous night in vivid detail.
“Last night, I suddenly heard someone moaning in agony in the room next door. It was terrifying. I didn’t dare look, so I hid under my blanket until sunrise. When I checked the room this morning, I found three bodies hanging from the ceiling.”
“You mean they hanged themselves?” Hui Yulian frowned. “How could that happen? Did they violate some hidden rule?”
“I’m telling the truth! I even took a picture.” The novice pulled a phone from his pocket.
The players’ personal possessions had not vanished when they entered the game.
Their phones could not connect to the internet or send messages here, but the cameras and other basic functions still worked.
Some kept their phones as flashlights. Others used them to play offline games, giving themselves a brief escape from the constant fear.
The batteries never drained here, either. They could use the phones indefinitely.
Surprise flashed through Hui Yulian’s eyes. She had not expected the novice players to be so bold.
Eager to prove he was not lying, the player showed everyone the photograph.
The image was indeed horrifying. Even though it had been taken in daylight, it was enough to make their skin crawl.
“Why didn’t I hear anything last night? You were the only one… Besides, they were safe inside their room, and the bed check was already over. Why would they suddenly die? Unless there was a… a… a ghost?!”
When the others questioned him, the man with the phone shoved it closer to their faces. “The proof is right here! Why don’t you believe me?”
One of his roommates finally stepped forward when he saw how desperately the man was trying to prove himself. “Actually, we heard it too.”
Why had they kept quiet? Because in a survival instance like this, anyone who drew attention to themselves was more likely to become a target.
If some unclean thing truly was responsible, the first person to discover its existence would most likely be the first one it haunted.
“I don’t think they killed themselves.”
At some point, a tall figure had appeared behind them. They looked up and found themselves meeting a pair of dark red eyes.