chapter 16
The pile of Mutilated Corpses returned to calm.
On the very top appeared a complete Corpse-the same one that had just bitten the Player’s thigh.
After absorbing the last drop of blood, the tumor grew into a clearly defined head.
One by one, the Players walked through that door. Nuo Nuo, who was lying on the roof of the Castle watching, suddenly moved her shoulder.
She bent down, her fingers reaching into the pile of Mutilated Corpses.
“Wow, another complete doll. As expected, only the complete ones are perfect. Imperfect things are just trash. Only by being serious, working hard, striving, and relentlessly moving forward can you become perfect.”
Nuo Nuo picked up the Corpse, humming a tune in a very good mood.
“I’m going to put you on the Fifth Floor. Do you like red?”
As the Corpse was lifted, a red membrane quickly covered it, making it look exactly like the other toys on the Fifth Floor-same upturned mouth, same beaming smile.
Nuo Nuo watched the slowly closing door, stretched out her hand in a strange gesture, and mimed a hug.
“They’ll soon meet Nuo Nuo’s best friend.”
“Nuo Nuo’s best friend is very picky.”
–
The door, like a safe haven, was shrouded in white light.
The moment he stepped through, Lu Li heard the sounds of children laughing and chasing each other, the flipping of textbooks, and chalk writing on a blackboard.
It sounded like a relaxed, cheerful, and joyful School.
Within the white light, something faintly appeared.
Lu Li squinted.
He saw a red Balloon flying higher and higher, freely rising into the air, then suddenly stopping.
Then the dazzling white light around them faded away.
The red Balloon turned into a terrifying red nose.
The Clown’s red nose.
Inside the door was a bright, fully enclosed Classroom.
The moment they entered, the door behind them vanished.
Directly facing them was a massive BlackBoard Bulletin, from which a two-meter-tall Clown popped out.
Rusty Chains were wrapped around the Clown’s neck, coil after coil.
It stretched out both hands, frozen in a hugging gesture. Its entire body was made up of red, yellow, and green, its mouth exaggeratedly upturned, the unmoving smile looking especially creepy.
The end of the rusty Chains hung down, perfectly aligned with the chalk marks on the BlackBoard Bulletin.
White chalk drew lines, dividing the BlackBoard Bulletin into different sections. From afar, it looked like the Clown was locked in a cage.
“There’s something missing in this Classroom.” Lu Li walked forward, stopping in front of the Clown.
Only up close could he see the different sections on the BlackBoard Bulletin.
This wall was drawing them closer.
“What’s missing?” Luo Jia Bai cautiously surveyed everything in the new environment.
“There are no desks or chairs in the Classroom, no students, only this bulletin board and the protruding Clown. It seems that only by solving the mystery of the Clown can we enter Game Night.”
“Is it finally going to be night? Why don’t I see the door to the Game Night lounge?” Luo Jia Bai let out a sigh of relief. “The daytime on the Fourth Floor is really long.”
“The door is above the Clown.”
Lu Li pointed up.
Luo Jia Bai followed his gaze, his view blocked by the Clown’s huge three-dimensional face. He stepped back two paces to see clearly.
Two doors hung high on the wall, four or five meters above the ground.
“At least there are two doors, which means we can both survive to tonight.” Luo Jia Bai scanned every corner of the empty Classroom, puzzled. “Why are there only the two of us left? Qi Mingda and the others should have survived too, and they entered before us.”
Lu Li said calmly, “The door probably split us into groups.”
“Now you have no choice but to team up with me.” Luo Jia Bai was relieved. “Good thing it’s you. I always feel my chances of surviving are much higher with you.”
He looked anxiously at the two doors. “The atmosphere is eerily quiet. This room is completely sealed, and even Nuo Nuo isn’t here. Should we try using an Item to go straight up? There’s a Ladder in the Shop.”
Lu Li encouraged him, “Makes sense, give it a try.”
Luo Jia Bai instantly became confident. He directly swapped out for a five-meter Ladder, wobbling as he carried it beneath the door and tried to set it up.
The moment the Ladder touched the wall-
The door, as if shy, suddenly shot up another four or five meters.
Luo Jia Bai: “?”
“Hold this for me.” Unconvinced, he handed the five-meter Ladder to Lu Li and brought out a ten-meter Ladder. As soon as he set it up, the door moved even higher.
“Thank you for livening up the atmosphere.” Lu Li put the Ladder down and pointed at the Blackboard Bulletin, where chalk words were slowly appearing. “Now I feel like a self-writing Blackboard Bulletin is pretty normal.”
Luo Jia Bai fell silent.
Lu Li took the initiative to ease the mood, pointing at the red nose to introduce, “This is the Clown, Nuo Nuo’s good friend mentioned in her Diary.”
“I don’t want to be on your team anymore!” Luo Jia Bai said bitterly. “You’re treating me like a Clown too.”
Lu Li pinched his chin and leaned closer to the Blackboard Bulletin. “The writing is getting clearer.”
Luo Jia Bai said, “You’re changing the subject so awkwardly.”
“Am I?” Lu Li laughed. “I’ll learn, and try to be more natural next time.”
Luo Jia Bai still wanted to complain, but was interrupted.
“Ding-a-ling-”
A crisp sound echoed through the space.
Luo Jia Bai was startled. “What’s that sound?”
Lu Li closed his eyes.
He was recalling the past.
“It’s kind of like the sound for mealtime.”
Familiar, but not quite the same.
This sound triggered his terrible memories.
In his previous world, he was locked at the very end of the No. 1 Biochemical Laboratory, inside a secure Experiment Chamber.
There were breaks between rounds of testing, during which he would be humiliatingly spread out, suspended high in the air.
This made it easier for the Researchers, who all looked identical in their lab coats, to analyze his data.
A Researcher would shake an electronic bell at him, the muffled sound coming from inside the lab coat.
“It’s time. You should eat.”
He would stiffly open his mouth, and a glass tube would be inserted straight into his esophagus, pouring things in with a “gurgle”-sometimes meat, sometimes nutrient solution, sometimes chunks of corpse.
They pried open his mouth.
“Has he turned into a monster?”
“Still has human traits, but he can eat anything. Next time, let’s try feeding him garbage.”
“No matter how much we torment him, he won’t die. We can increase the intensity tomorrow.”
They shook the bell at set times, conducting their training.
“He gets hungry! He even salivates!”
“He doesn’t want to eat, he’s resisting!”
“Force it! Pour it in!”
In the end, they would laugh and introduce to every visiting leader:
“No matter how ferocious the Experimental Subject, once they enter our No. 1 Biochemical Laboratory, they’ll be tamed as docile as a pet.”
The bell had already faded, but Lu Li was still lost in thought.
He instinctively covered his mouth.
Just hearing the word “meal” made him nauseous.
Luo Jia Bai didn’t notice his abnormality, listening carefully. “It sounds a bit like the class dismissal bell.”
“There’s writing on the Blackboard Bulletin under the Clown!”
Luo Jia Bai squatted down and finally saw the chalk words slowly appearing.
[Welcome, dear children.]
[The Park is now open. Enjoy yourselves.]
As the chalk words fully appeared-
The Chains around the Clown loosened, silently slipping to the ground.