Chapter 23 Beware of Di Qing "Are you doubting me?"

Constrained by the rules, Liang Jun dared not continue arguing with Di Qing and could only maintain a superficial peace.

Di Qing snorted coldly from under the covers, then his rapid breathing subsided.

Gu Keke, her hair disheveled, looked at Liang Jun and said, "With so many arguments, isn't she afraid of breaking the rules?"

The rules clearly state that a good relationship should be maintained, yet Di Qing still dared to confront and stand up to them so directly.

Liang Jun sighed, "Her fate is in her own hands, not mine. Maybe that's just youthful impetuosity..."

He was clearly not much older than Di Qing.

After the absurd blunder, the familiar feeling of fatigue returned.

Liang Xun and Gu Keke yawned repeatedly, their bodies feeling as if they had been injected with a muscle relaxant, leaving them completely weak.

"I'll take another nap," Liang Jun said, "I've never felt so sleep-deprived before. I'm still so tired."

"Me too……"

Gu Keke was a step ahead of her and had already crawled into bed.

Something just doesn't feel right...

But as Liang Jun pondered this further, her eyes began to grow heavy. When she woke up again, the sun was already setting.

The curtains on the balcony were not drawn, and the evening sunlight streamed into the dormitory.

Liang Yan rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed.

Di Qing had already gotten up and was sitting at his desk writing something, with a stack of books next to him, the source of which was unknown.

Gu Keke was still completely covered by the blanket, tossing and turning in bed, seemingly about to wake up.

Unpleasant memories from before bed still lingered in her mind, but in order to abide by the rules, Liang Jun decided to speak first to maintain good relations in the dormitory.

She changed to a more relaxed tone, "You woke up so early, Di Qing."

"Um."

Di Qing answered coldly, without even stopping writing.

Having been rebuffed, Liang Jun decided to temporarily abandon this path.

She tidied her clothes, got out of bed, and moved to sit down at her desk.

The table was empty.

The only item was the desk lamp that was provided with each desk at school, one for each student.

Liang Jun grabbed the lamp and realized it was a rechargeable version. That meant she could take it with her to other places.

She then checked the base of the lamp. Aside from what appeared to be a waterproof base, she found nothing.

Liang Jun got up and walked towards the balcony.

A taut clothesline was tied above the balcony, with some dark brown marks under the light, making it impossible to tell whether it was rust or some other unknown substance.

The open balcony had an uneven cement floor and cracks at the corners—it was dilapidated, but surprisingly, there were no spiders nesting there.

Liang Jun clung to the balcony railing and peered down.

The height of the fifth floor made her palms slightly sweaty; downstairs, players were scattered about, preparing to return to their dormitories.

It seems that not many people will choose to stay in the dorm tonight.

Liang Xun glanced to the side and spotted Luo Chuange and Song Ming standing downstairs.

They seemed to be discussing something, showing no intention of looking up at the screen.

“Luo…”

Liang Jun was about to call their names from upstairs when she suddenly remembered that the environment was complicated and special, so she quickly shut up.

As she turned to walk out onto the balcony, she happened to run into Gu Keke, who was slowly climbing down the ladder.

"You all got up so early?"

Gu Keke's face was flushed. It seemed that her afternoon nap had given her a lot of energy.

Liang Jun didn't respond directly, but grabbed her wrist and prepared to leave.

"Di Qing, we have something to do and need to go out for a bit. We'll be right back."

The person whose name was called finally showed a slight reaction.

By the time she turned around to look at the door, Liang Xun had already pulled Gu Keke out of the dormitory.

In the dormitory corridor, Liang Xun asked Gu Keke, "Did you take the key?"

Gu Keke shook the key in her hand, then put it in her pocket. "I'll put it away right after unlocking the door—but where are you going?"

Liang Jun pulled Gu Keke down two steps, then let go of her hand.

“I just saw Luo Chuange and Song Ming downstairs from the balcony. This is a good opportunity for us to meet up.”

“I think the dormitory should be relatively safe,” Liang Jun added. “Before you got up, I went through everything in the dormitory and didn’t find anything unusual or trigger any hidden rules.”

"If that's the case, then as long as we follow the existing rules in the dormitory, there won't be any danger."

Gu Keke continued talking, following Liang Xuan's train of thought, until she quickly walked to the lobby on the first floor.

The security office at the entrance was deserted; the teapot was still warm, but the dormitory supervisor was nowhere to be seen.

They didn't linger, but ran straight out of the dormitory.

“Luo Chuan Ge! Song Ming!” Liang Xuan called out.

Hearing the voice, the two turned around and looked over. Luo Chuange asked in surprise, "Why are you two out here?"

“I was searching the balcony just now, and when I looked down, I saw you.”

Liang Jun pulled the two of them to the side of the tree-lined road. "How's the situation on your end?"

Song Ming sighed, "It's not good... Our dorm is full of students with lower grades, and we didn't know where to change the door locks, so when I went back, I found that they still had the original locks on their doors."

"And the result?" Liang Jun pressed.

"The result was that the dormitory was a complete mess," Song Ming said with a wry smile. "If nothing unexpected happens, my roommates should all be wiped out."

Seeing that Liang Xun's gaze had turned to him, Luo Chuange tactfully began to explain his situation.

"Although we replaced the prop gold lock in our dormitory immediately, when I went in, I found no signs of life inside—maybe they met with misfortune outside the dormitory."

Liang Jun keenly spotted the flaw, "A gold lock? Then how did you open the dormitory door?"

Luo Chuange never returned to the dormitory, so logically he shouldn't have had the key to the golden lock.

"We agreed when we were padding the door that we would put the key on the lintel of the dormitory door—that way, whoever wants to go back to the dormitory can get back immediately."

Luo Chuange smiled helplessly at Liang Xun, "Are you doubting me?"

Given the current circumstances, Liang Jun did not want to hide anything.

Although she hesitated, she nodded and replied, "Indeed."

"That's good."

Hearing Liang Xun's doubts, Luo Chuange was not angry at all. Instead, he laughed with relief, "You are the one who doubts me. This just shows that we are all normal."

Luo Chuange seemed to have a hidden meaning in his words, and Liang Xun immediately suppressed her smile. "What does this mean?"

"To be honest, there are probably not many normal people left in the boys' dormitory."

Song Ming was somewhat downcast. "We encountered many players in the corridor, but their performance and reactions were very dull, like puppets being manipulated."

“There’s one more thing,” Luo Chuange pushed up his glasses and added, “They all have a red fox tattoo on their ankles.”

"A red fox?"

Gu Keke gasped, her pupils dilating as she stared at Song Ming in shock. "Isn't that the one in the teaching building that day..."

"Yes, it's the kind of red fox I saw."

Song Ming's tone became even more serious, and he simply rolled up his trouser leg, "But you see, I don't have that kind of mark."

Gu Keke quickly waved her hand, "I didn't mean to doubt you..."

"In short, things seem to be different from what we initially thought," Liang Jun said indifferently. "It's a good thing to be suspicious of each other. Given the current special circumstances, we need to do everything we can to confirm that the people in front of us are normal."

Liang Jun's gaze swept over the three people in front of her one by one.

"Song Ming, your dorm doesn't have a gold lock, so what are you going to do?"

"I let him move into my dorm room."

Luo Chuange answered for Song Ming: "My dormitory is a three-person room, and it even has a gold lock. It's perfect for Song Ming to move in, and it will also keep him safe in the dormitory."

Gu Keke was a little puzzled, "Can we just move it...?"

"Don't worry, we've already spoken to the dormitory manager NPC."

Luo Chuange nodded in response, "She did not refuse after learning that we wanted to change dormitories; and after Song Ming moved in, we did not trigger any hidden rules—this should be tacitly approved by the system."

"That's good……"

Hearing Luo Chuange say that, Gu Keke breathed a sigh of relief.

Liang Jun told the two people opposite her about the hidden rules they had triggered.

"Remember, it's crucial to maintain good dormitory relationships," Liang Jun emphasized. "Although Di Qing has always had a terrible attitude towards us, the two of us are trying our best to befriend her..."

Liang Jun and Gu Keke exchanged a smile, but neither of them looked very optimistic.

The sun was setting, and the sky was beginning to darken.

As they were about to part ways, Liang Jun became more cautious.

"Do you have two blood-red marks on your gold lock?" she asked Luo Chuange.

"A golden lock? A blood-red mark?"

Luo Chuange was clearly taken aback. After thinking for a long time, he shook his head and said, "No, our golden lock is a complete golden lock, without the things you mentioned."

Then, as if he had thought of something, he added, "Those marks you mentioned are probably the number of times the Golden Lock can withstand damage—after all, a Golden Lock can only withstand damage three times, and after that it will become completely ineffective."

From Luo Chuange's perspective, he was merely repeating the prop description; but to Liang Xun and Gu Keke, this was information they had never obtained before.

"What does this mean?!"

Liang Xun and Gu Keke were both shocked. "It will become completely ineffective after withstanding three attacks?!"

Song Ming was also somewhat surprised, "Don't you guys know? When I first moved into the dorm, Brother Ge told me that this seemed to be the instructions for using the props..."

"Who bought the gold lock in your dorm room?"

Luo Chuange seemed to have grasped the crux of the problem; his eyes sharpened. "Di Qing?"

Liang Jun nodded.

If what Luo Chuange said is true, that each time an injury is withstood, it leaves a mark, then it means that Jin Suo in their dormitory has withstood two injuries.

But Di Qing only explained it to them once.

What was the other time?

The sun had completely set, and the streetlights along the road flickered, casting faint shadows of a few people.

“Let’s go back,” Liang Xun said. “It’s already late. It’s probably not safe to stay outside any longer.”

Seeing that the two of them were about to turn and leave, Liang Jun called them back again.

"There are no electronic clocks in the dormitory, so we use sunset as a signal to exchange information downstairs in the dormitory every day."

After making their agreement, the group headed towards their respective dormitories.

"Liang Yan".

When Luo Chuange spoke, Liang Xuan paused in her tracks.

"Be careful of Di Qing."

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Author's note: Lately I've had headaches and wrist pains; there's no part of my body that doesn't hurt, sob sob (crying)

The first stage is almost over, and we're polishing and revising the final parts.

Updates may be delayed for the next few days, please apologize in advance (head in hands)