Chapter 41
Chapter 41
Bai Xue slipped the key into the keyhole, looked back at Wei Sen, and smiled faintly. “You’re a smart person. If you abandon those burdens, leaving this place would be effortless.”
Wei Sen looked at her in silence and said nothing.
With a soft laugh, Bai Xue opened the Red Door. Inside was nothing but thick fog. There was no telling where it led.
She walked in without hesitation. After she stepped through, the Red Door began to gradually disappear.
Wei Sen recorded a video of Bai Xue leaving through the Red Door and sent it to the main group chat. Then she glanced at Bai Xue’s profile status.
Her avatar had already turned gray. However, unlike those who had died inside the Instance, her avatar now had an extra green border around it.
Wei Sen turned and left the teaching building, but the next second, the group chat exploded with messages.
[Xia Susu: What does this mean? Where’s Sister Bai?!
Xia Susu: @Wei Sen say something
Xia Susu: What does this mean?
Xia Susu: What place is that?! Where is she?! Say something!]
Wei Sen couldn’t be bothered to respond to the messages in the group. Right now, only the people from Group B were left in the entire school. She had posted the video mainly to keep everyone else updated, but she hadn’t expected Xia Susu to react so strongly.
At noon, in the cafeteria.
Everyone tacitly gathered at the cafeteria right on time.
By the time Wei Sen arrived, everyone else was already there.
Wang Mei at Window 1 was still dressed in red. No one dared to go to her window for food.
Xia Susu at Window 2 was wearing a normal-colored uniform, but her face was full of resentment. Bound by the rules of her identity, she could only grudgingly serve everyone their meals.
“Sister Sen, what’s going on with the video in the group chat?”
The moment Wei Sen sat down, Lin Xiaoxue couldn’t wait to ask the question on everyone’s mind.
Hearing their discussion, Xia Susu also leaned closer to the window and pricked up her ears.
“The Red Door is the exit for people from Group A to leave the Instance. Bai Xue captured Yu Ming and exchanged him with the principal for the key to open the Red Door,” Wei Sen explained briefly.
Huang Xinze said in shock, “So she cleared it?!”
“Mm.”
“Then what about Yu Ming?” Chen Lin asked.
“The principal ate him. From what we know so far, we can’t kill an Eerie Entity with ordinary force, but an Anomalous Artifact might be able to kill one for good. Also, entities classified as Eerie Entity can injure each other.” After saying that, Wei Sen added, “Anomalous Artifact refers to the items Bai Xue mentioned in the main group chat before. Bai Xue told me all of this before she left.”
Wei Sen still chose to hide the matter of the System. For one thing, people were unpredictable. For another, there was no need to deliberately explain it.
“Then an Anomalous Artifact must be really powerful. But we haven’t seen a single one,” Huang Xinze said.
“Bai Xue used an Anomalous Artifact to capture Yu Ming. Things like that probably only appear by chance,” Wei Sen said.
Xu You thought for a moment. “In other words, the only people left in this entire school now are us from Group B. So far, the only one who has cleared the Instance is Bai Xue.”
Chen Lin sighed. “She’s amazing. She actually managed to clear the Instance in such a short time.”
Xu You shook her head. “Something’s not right. Don’t you think she passed too easily? There are so many of us, and we’ve been collecting clues this whole time, yet we still haven’t been able to clear it.”
At that, doubt appeared on everyone’s faces.
Lin Xiaoxue suddenly thought of something. “Didn’t she try to use Sister Sen before? Could she have been using methods like that to gather clues everywhere, which is why she cleared it so smoothly?”
“You’re right,” Wei Sen said, looking toward Lin Xiaoxue. “Not only did she use the people from Group A, she also destroyed all the information she had before she left.”
Wei Sen sent a photo to the group chat.
After Bai Xue cleared the Instance, Wei Sen had gone to the academic affairs office again. After searching it carefully, she found nothing except a pile of ashes in the corner.
And that pile of ashes was clearly still warm…
So she had taken a photo of the ashes as evidence.
“She burned all the important stuff?!” Lin Xiaoxue stared wide-eyed at the picture. There was still one corner that hadn’t been completely burned away, and the word “rules” could still be seen on it.
Huang Xinze scratched his forehead. “What is she even after? She’s already cleared it herself, yet she won’t leave anyone else a way out?”
“Come to think of it, we really didn’t get a single useful piece of information from her. And she clearly knew every group’s Clearance Condition was different, but she never told Xia Susu. She just kept using her.”
“Sure enough, Sister Bai guessed you people would go to the Academic Affairs Office.” At some point, Xia Susu had walked up behind them. She looked at the group with a smug smile on her face.
“You burned it?!” Lin Xiaoxue shot to her feet.
Xia Susu spread her hands. “Yeah, it was me. Sister Bai said you people would definitely go to the Academic Affairs Office to steal the information she worked so hard to get, so she messaged me in advance and told me to burn it all clean.”
Wei Sen pressed a hand to her forehead.
What a perfect example of being too clever for her own good.
“Didn’t you ask me where she went? Fine, I’ll tell you.” Wei Sen looked coldly at Xia Susu. “She cleared the Instance. If you don’t believe me, check her profile picture.”
Xia Susu froze, as if she couldn’t process what had happened.
Bai Xue had cleared the Instance?
How was that possible?
She had clearly said that as long as Xia Susu helped her as much as she could, she would definitely take Xia Susu with her when she left!
And back then, she had even used an Anomalous Artifact to save Xia Susu once!
Xia Susu hurriedly opened the main group chat to check Bai Xue’s profile picture. But when she saw that gray icon with an added green frame, her mind went blank.
What did this profile picture mean…
Why had her icon turned gray?
That video. That Red Door…
Xia Susu staggered, shaking her head again and again. “Impossible! She said she’d take me with her! Tell me, did she die? You’re trying to trick me, aren’t you?!”
“Idiot,” Lin Xiaoxue couldn’t help snapping.
“You! You’re the idiot! As long as I followed Sister Bai, I could have gotten out safely! It’s all your fault! You must have stopped her! That’s why Sister Bai couldn’t take me with her!” Xia Susu roared.
Everyone was speechless. Even now, Xia Susu still believed Bai Xue’s lies.
Huang Xinze stood up. “Susu, I told you before. Group A and Group B have different Clearance Conditions. Bai Xue could never have taken you out from the very beginning. She was only using you.”
“No! There’s no way she was using me!” Xia Susu still refused to believe it, yet the clothes on her body began turning red at a visible speed.
Chen Lin said in surprise, “She’s being corroded by the Eerie Entity’s power!”
“She broke the rules. I remember she isn’t allowed to make loud noise in the cafeteria,” Xu You said.
“What do we do?” Lin Xiaoxue looked at Wei Sen.
“Go to the sports field.”
“Okay!”
Everyone quickly got up and left.
When Xia Susu saw this, she immediately panicked. “Where are you going?! I’m in Group B too! Don’t even think about leaving me behind! Take me with you! Take me with you!”
Xia Susu chased straight after them, the color of her clothes growing darker and darker.
“She won’t start killing people, will she?” Lin Xiaoxue asked fearfully, glancing back at Xia Susu, who was pursuing them not far behind.
Wei Sen quickened her pace toward the Gymnasium. “Don’t be scared. Before she completely loses her mind, we should be able to leave this damned place!”
Everyone’s faces lit up with surprise.
“You found the answer?” Xu You asked.
“Sister Sen and I found Yu Ming’s painting in Zhao Yue’s dorm, so Sister Sen already knows what ‘It’ wants!” Chen Lin said.
Huang Xinze was just about to be happy when a thought suddenly occurred to him. “If we’re trying to meet the second Clearance Condition, and ‘It’ is Yu Ming… but Yu Ming has already been eaten by the principal. How is he supposed to tell us the way out?”
At those words, Chen Lin’s smile froze on her face. She had actually overlooked the most important point.
Everyone followed Wei Sen’s steps while nervously watching her. Behind them, Xia Susu, whose corrosion by the Eerie Entity’s power was growing worse and worse, was still hot on their heels.
Wei Sen stopped in front of the Gymnasium and looked solemnly at everyone. “There’s still the first Clearance Condition! I know ‘It’s’ secret!”