Chapter 29 The Deadly Escape is a Deathly Silence

The first second after the red light goes off.

Gu Keke's legs went weak with fear, and she looked frantically at Luo Chuange behind her.

Luo Chuange and Song Ming were still unsettled, but they instinctively wanted to stand in front.

The second second after the red light goes off.

Luo Chuange tried to pull Di Qing away, but Liang Jun decisively stopped him.

Di Qing turned around, the corners of his mouth curving upwards in an increasingly exaggerated manner, his left dimple becoming so prominent it resembled a spiral nail.

The red light goes off in the third second.

Song Ming grabbed Gu Keke and moved her towards the stairwell.

Di Qing's whites instantly turned crimson, the skin around his dark circles began to ulcerate, and streams of ink, like tears, rolled down his face.

Instinctively, Liang Xun avoided looking directly at Di Qing.

She took a small step back, but her gaze fell precisely on Di Qing's ankle.

Di Qing's right trouser leg was slightly rolled up, and a seductive red fox gradually appeared on her ankle.

As if carved by a knife, every line on the fox's body resembles torn flesh, with countless drops of blood forming the fox's flesh and blood.

Alarm bells rang in Liang Jun's mind.

She grabbed Luo Chuange's shirt, quickly turned around, and pushed Song Ming and Gu Keke toward the stairs.

It felt as if an invisible hand was gripping her throat. Liang Jun tried several times to speak and urge him on, but found that she couldn't make a sound at all.

The quiet corridor was suddenly filled with chaotic, hurried footsteps and a low, demonic roar.

They cannot speak.

At that moment, all they could do was run.

Run with all your might to escape this stairwell.

Song Ming and Gu Keke were at the front of the group, followed by Liang Jun and Luo Chuange. The completely transformed Di Qing relentlessly clung to Luo Chuange.

Even though Di Qing was corrupted, the source was only her own body.

How can a high school student's physical fitness compare to that of a group of adults?

By the time they had completely escaped the stairwell, Luo Chuange had already left Di Qing some distance behind.

There were far fewer players in the library lobby, and the four of them ran desperately toward the gate.

Luo Chuange turned around and met Di Qing's completely bloodshot eyes, which made his adrenaline surge to its peak.

"Run!" he shouted to the three people in front of him. "She's still following us! Get out of here!"

At the last moment before leaving the library, Liang Jun looked up and noted the time.

It was exactly 8 p.m.

Wilson College, shrouded in night, was eerily sinister.

The streetlights used for illumination along the roadside now seem strangely eerie in the current atmosphere.

Gu Keke jumped down the steps in front of the library in a few steps. Just as she was about to run to the main road, Song Ming stopped her.

"Don't run!" Song Ming's face flushed and his heart pounded with anxiety. He turned to Liang Xun, "What do we do now?"

"Hurry! We can hurry! Let's get to the dorm!"

Leung Yung stepped onto the asphalt road first, her feet moving very quickly, but not to the point of "running".

Everything is fine and nothing has happened.

Liang Xun glanced back and saw that Di Qing had also entered the road area at that moment.

The expected monster rushing away did not occur. Instead, Di Qing, like them, immediately switched from running to walking.

Her legs were like two lifeless wooden sticks, and her walking was quite comical.

It seems the rules also apply to monsters.

In a rule-based world, rules are paramount.

But Liang Jun has no time to think about these things right now.

The brisk walking was far more physically demanding than she had imagined; she hadn't even walked very far before she felt exhausted.

If they walked back to the dormitory like this, they would likely be caught by Di Qing, who had no physical limitations, halfway there.

Gu Keke felt the same way. She took a deep breath and said, "I feel like... this is even more tiring than running..."

This can't go on.

Are there any other options to get back to the dormitory as soon as possible?

Liang Xun continued to explore in the darkness, and she noticed the tree-lined paths on both sides.

Deeper into the tree-lined avenue lies a lawn laid along with the road.

The rules themselves emphasize "road construction," and violating the rules will result in being dragged underground by the asphalt from the road.

However, the lawn was not part of the construction road and was not covered by asphalt.

"We can run on the lawn!"

Liang Jun took a deep breath. "Running on the lawn shouldn't break the rules."

"What if Di Qing comes with us to the lawn?" Luo Chuange asked anxiously from the side. "If she runs on the lawn too, we won't be able to keep up with her."

Liang Jun didn't know the answer to things she hadn't done before.

She shook her head and said, "Let's give it a try. If she comes, we'll run as fast as we can."

It's better than wasting energy on the road.

After reaching a consensus, the group immediately walked towards the lawn on one side.

The grass was soft and yielding, and Liang Jun bravely took her first step.

Running wasn't as effortless as running on paved roads, but she still managed to do it—

There are no rules here.

After realizing he could run, Song Ming subconsciously looked in Di Qing's direction.

Di Qing turned his head ninety degrees and looked at everyone in a strange posture.

Her bloodshot eyes remained fixed on the four people, but her feet did not change direction at all.

She was like a pre-programmed program, walking briskly along the center line of the road without end.

Monsters won't step onto the lawn.

After confirming this, Liang Xun shouted at them, "Run!"

By creating more distance between themselves, they are giving themselves a greater chance to make a living.

Fortunately, the lawn was laid along the road, so they could run all the way back to the dormitory entrance.

This is an endurance race that emphasizes speed.

Liang Jun hadn't done such strenuous exercise in a long time. She felt short of breath, the wind blowing in her face rushed into her mouth, and the metallic taste of blood began to spread through her throat.

Liang Xuan couldn't help but cough.

In the darkness, she coughed up blood.

"Can anyone tell me what's wrong with Di Qing?!"

Song Ming ran alongside Liang Xun. He seemed to still have energy, and his voice was still relatively coherent. "What is she now? A monster?!"

Liang Jun frowned, trying to suppress the metallic taste in her mouth. "She must have been corrupted by the rules. I saw the fox tattoo on her ankle."

Upon hearing this news, Song Ming and Luo Chuange exchanged a glance, and their pace quickened involuntarily.

Gu Keke choked and coughed repeatedly, "She didn't break any rules when she was with us..."

"That……"

Song Ming wanted to continue the conversation.

"Song Ming, if you still have a lot of energy, you can save it for escaping later."

The stench of blood spread again, and Liang Jun felt as if her throat was about to be blocked by blood. "At this crucial moment, don't waste so much time talking nonsense. There will be plenty of time to ask questions later."

Song Ming obediently shut his mouth and ran with even greater strides.

They had never seen the entire dormitory building at night.

In the darkness where only the wind could be heard, the presence of Chinese-style architecture amplified the overall sense of terror in the scene.

The dormitory door wasn't closed properly, and it swayed back and forth in the wind.

It's like they're beckoning everyone to come in.

Luo Chuange looked back again, "They've pulled ahead, about the distance of one intersection."

"Luo Chuange, you and Song Ming should quickly go back to the dormitory and hide."

While everyone was distracted, Liang Xun spat out another mouthful of blood on the grass. "Di Qing shouldn't be going into the boys' dormitory. Don't wander around outside either. Go back as fast as you can and hang up your gold locks."

"And what about you guys?" Song Ming asked anxiously.

"Gu Keke and I went back to the dormitory together."

Liang Xun grabbed Gu Keke's hand, "Our Jin Suo can withstand one more attack. As long as we get back to the dormitory before Di Qing catches up, we should be able to escape this night."

Di Qing continued walking briskly, mechanically, but he was getting closer and closer to them.

As the two groups were about to part ways, Luo Chuange called them back.

"Our dormitory room number is 501, located at the very end of the fifth floor!"

As soon as they finished speaking, they all rushed into their respective dormitory buildings.

Inside the dormitory building, there were still extremely faint lights—it seemed that it wasn't lights out yet.

Before they could even catch their breath, the two of them turned and ran straight towards the stairwell.

Climbing stairs was no problem for Di Qing, but it was a huge physical drain for the two of them.

We cannot afford to squander our only remaining advantage.

Liang Xun and Gu Keke gritted their teeth and ran desperately towards the fifth floor.

Perhaps because her body was overloaded, Liang Jun felt that the lights above her head were swaying back and forth with her steps.

Gu Keke noticed Liang Xun's unusual behavior and squeezed Liang Xun's hand in return, saying, "We'll be there soon!"

She caught a glimpse of blood at the corner of Liang Xun's mouth out of the corner of her eye and exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you bleeding?!"

Liang Jun was speechless.

Her legs went weak, and if it weren't for the adrenaline, she probably would have rolled to the ground.

At Gu Keke's prompting, Liang Jun stopped at the entrance of dormitory 544.

With trembling hands, she pulled the key from her pocket, ready to unlock the door.

"She's here!" Gu Keke exclaimed, almost crying. "She's at the stairwell!"

Gu Keke turned around and urged Liang Xun, "It's not open yet..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed the gold lock lying in Liang Jun's hand.

Three blood-red marks were clearly drawn on the most conspicuous spot on the golden lock.

Liang Yan used so much force that she almost bent the key.

"The golden lock has failed..."

There were only two marks before, when did the third one appear...?

As if struck by lightning, Liang Jun stared in disbelief at the malfunctioning golden lock.

Last night.

The night Di Qing went to the toilet.

The gold lock was locked at the time, and he had the only key in his possession.

But Di Qing simply pushed the dormitory door open.

It was at that moment that Di Qing exhausted Jin Suo's last chance to resist damage.

This explains why she could open the dormitory door so easily.

Because from that point onward, the golden lock was already in a disabled state.

Yesterday, when the lock was hung, it was pitch black, and Liang Jun couldn't notice the marks on the lock at all; this morning, it was Di Qing who hung the lock again, so she didn't have a chance to observe it up close.

"She's running over! Di Qing is running over!"

Gu Keke's voice was clearly trembling with tears, "What should we do now?"

Liang Jun looked around, and in the dim light, she noticed once again the sliding door at the end of the corridor.

The sliding door wasn't locked and seemed easy to open. However, the doorway was blurry, and the player had no idea what was behind it.

Gu Keke was so anxious that she spun around in circles.

Liang Jun grabbed Gu Keke by the collar and led her to the sliding door. Then, she decisively opened the door, threw Gu Keke through it, and entered this unknown area herself.

Liang Jun closed the door again, but it wasn't locked and probably wouldn't last much longer.

Before she could even explore her new surroundings, Gu Keke beside her exclaimed in surprise.

"This is... a boys' dormitory?!"

The corridor stretched as far as the eye could see, the old and dilapidated floorboards warped at the corners, and the dim lights flickered overhead.

Wooden doors stood on both sides of the corridor, their half-open openings resembling the mouths of soul-devouring beasts, seemingly possessing the power to suck passing players in.

This is exactly the same as their dormitory!

Liang Xun seemed to have thought of something and immediately looked to her right—

A familiar public restroom.

[Hidden rule triggered.]

[1. A1 is the male dormitory building, and B2 is the female dormitory building. Male students are not allowed to enter the female dormitory building, but female students may seek refuge in the male dormitory building in an emergency.]

The hidden rules popped up at just the right moment, perfectly confirming Liang Jun and Gu Keke's suspicions—

It turns out that the male and female dormitory buildings are separated by only one door.

The approaching footsteps drew their attention back.

"Run!" Liang Jun shouted to Gu Keke.

The floorboards underfoot made a crisp sound.

Gu Keke began to analyze, "We can go to Luo Chuange's dormitory. Their dormitory is... is..."

"Number 501".

Liang Xuan remembered the information that Luo Chuange had provided to her.

The sliding doors are flanked by public restrooms, which also indicates that the layout of the two dormitory buildings is completely symmetrical.

Liang Jun and her classmates lived in dormitory number 544, which was the closest dormitory to the bathroom.

Similarly, it can be concluded that Luo Chuange's dormitory, room 501, should be the closest to the stairwell.

If they run through this corridor, they will be saved.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from behind them. Liang Jun and Gu Keke both turned around at the same time and found that the sliding door was being slowly opened.

Di Qing swayed as he squeezed through the crack in the door.

Her speed seemed to suddenly increase, and in the blink of an eye, the two were only half a corridor apart.

Gu Keke rushed to the door of dormitory 501 and frantically pounded on it with both hands.

"Open the door! Luo Chuange! Song Ming! Open the door!"

The two people in the dormitory seemed to have been prepared. The moment Gu Keke called out her name, the sound of the lock being opened came from behind the door.

Then, the wooden door opened, and Song Ming looked at the two of them anxiously, "Come in quickly!"

Gu Keke and Liang Jun fell directly to the ground.

Luo Chuange, who had been guarding the door, saw that they had entered safely and then slammed the wooden door back into place with all his might.

Song Ming, who had been waiting at the door for a long time, tacitly hung the gold lock back up.

After all this was done, the wooden door was suddenly violently slammed by the creature outside.

Luo Chuange pulled Song Ming back a few steps, and Liang Xun and Gu Keke, who were still lying on the ground, also looked up towards the wooden door.

The gold lock hanging on the door swayed with the impact.

After the impact stopped, a terrifying blood-red mark slowly appeared on the originally smooth surface of the gold lock.

"It's alright, she's gone." Song Ming turned around and comforted her, "Jin Suo withstood the damage, she probably won't come back."

He and Luo Chuange helped them up and gave them the chairs in the dormitory.

"What happened over there?" Luo Chuange leaned against the ladder, keenly catching a clue. "Is there something wrong with Jin Suo?"

Gu Keke was in great distress, "It's... our golden lock has failed..."

"I should have realized it was Di Qing a long time ago."

Liang Jun sat to the side, her head lowered, making it impossible to discern her emotions.

“I hadn’t noticed details like the dimples before,” she sighed. “When the position of the dimples changed, I should have realized that she was no longer Di Qing.”

Song Ming pursed his lips, "This isn't your problem..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a notification from his system.

Not only him, but the other three also received system notifications at the same time.

[Hidden rule triggered.]

3. Dormitories are available in only three-person and five-person rooms, and students can allocate rooms as needed. Room occupancy is strictly limited; exceeding the permitted number of people is prohibited after room access is closed.

Liang Xun suddenly looked up at Luo Chuange and asked, "How many people are in this room?"

"A triple room."

Luo Chuange's tone was heavy.

Four people were staying in a three-person room, which clearly violated the system rules.

Just as Liang Jun was about to get up, Song Ming, who was standing at the door, took the key and unlocked the gold lock on the door.

"Song Ming, what are you doing?!"

Gu Keke exclaimed, "Watch out for Di Qing!"

Song Ming opened the wooden door a tiny crack.

"As long as we don't close the door, we're not breaking the rules."

He turned around, his hands still gripping the doorknob warily. "Di Qing shouldn't be at the door anymore. She didn't even know to chase us across the lawn, so how could she be smart enough to wait at the door?"

That being said, leaving the door wide open in a dangerous environment is clearly not a wise move.

Liang Jun carefully considered her wording, "Do you know where the five-person room is?"

She had only ever been to the three-person rooms and had no idea where the five-person rooms were located.

As long as the number of people doesn't exceed the limit—if all four of them go into the five-person room, they won't violate this rule.

Upon hearing Liang Xuan's question, Luo Chuange also fell into deep thought.

Song Ming excitedly raised his hand, "I know! Even-numbered dorm rooms are all five-person rooms, the closest one..."

He opened the wooden door a little more.

Using the dim light of the corridor, Song Ming saw the open door of the dormitory across the way.

"That dorm room across the street is fine!"

He was about to open the door and walk out when Gu Keke grabbed him.

"Wait a minute!"

Liang Xun stood next to Gu Keke and said, "Song Ming, remember to take the gold lock. Once we're all inside the dormitory across the street, lock the door immediately."

Song Ming took off the gold lock and held it in his hand along with the gold key.

"Leave it to me!" he patted his chest.

“We need to move there as quickly as possible,” Leung Jung emphasized. “The longer we are exposed in the corridor, the more likely we are to encounter danger.”

The group nodded in agreement and gathered closely around Song Ming.

"Observe carefully." Luo Chuange patted Song Ming on the shoulder.

Song Ming let out a long sigh of relief, then slowly opened the wooden door.

The door to the five-person dormitory was right across from me, and the corridor wasn't very wide; it only took about two steps to cross it completely.

Song Ming took a small step outward.

Just as Liang Jun was about to lift her foot to follow, that familiar sound of fabric rubbing together came again.

It came closer and closer—even in the blink of an eye, it was right next to your ear.

Liang Jun felt a sense of unease.

She raised her hand to block Luo Chuange and Gu Keke, who were unaware of anything amiss, preventing them from going any further.

"Song Ming, come back!"

When his name was called, Song Ming stopped in his tracks. He subconsciously turned his head to the side, his eyes still full of doubt.

Just then, a blurry figure suddenly darted out from the left—

After lying in wait for a long time, Di Qing pounced on Song Ming from behind.

She was petite, and she ended up clinging to Song Ming.

Completely alienated, Di Qing lost his mind, his pupils became cloudy, and he almost instinctively bit Song Ming's neck.

Liang Jun subconsciously closed her eyes.

The next second, scalding liquid splashed all over his face.

“Song Ming—” Gu Keke cried out in despair.

His throat was completely severed.

Song Ming sobbed, but couldn't utter a single word.

No one knows what he was trying to say in the end.

Pinkish blood foam, replacing his words, sprouted at the broken point.

Di Qing's biting force increased even more.

The more Song Ming struggled, the more flesh and blood fell off.

He swayed as far away from the dormitory as possible.

Just before he lost consciousness, he threw the gold lock and key into the room.

Seeing the arm covered in bruises, Liang Jun felt an inexplicable urge to pull him back.

Seeing this, Luo Chuange forcefully shoved Liang Jun aside. While using his body to block the wooden door, he reached out and picked up the gold lock from the ground.

He completed the locking operation smoothly, and finally collapsed to the ground, slumped against the wall, feeling utterly powerless.

Gu Keke knelt on the ground, biting her lip tightly, her eyes bloodshot.

Liang Jun was pushed to the ground. She supported herself and picked up the blood-stained key from the ground.

Luo Chuange was limp, leaning against the wall, his glasses covered in blood mist lying to the side.

The dormitory was deathly silent.

Outside the dormitory, however, are real, vibrant lives.

The sounds of tearing, whimpering, and growling.

The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

After a long while, the sound of banging on the door came again from outside.

The golden lock shook again, and after the second blood-red mark was engraved, there was no more movement outside the door.

The system was quiet.

There are three players in the three-person room—the rules were successfully followed, and they survived.

Gu Keke's sobs grew louder and louder, and her lips were bleeding from being bitten.

Whether from sadness or pain, she knelt on the spot, cupped her face, and wept bitterly.

Liang Jun and Luo Chuange remained silent in place.

Liang Jun opened her palm and stroked the key with her head down.

Her hands were stained with blood from the key, but she seemed oblivious to the stickiness and continued the same action.

What was she thinking when she reached out to save Song Ming?

Liang Jun thought about it for a long time, but she still didn't know.

Gu Keke cried until she couldn't shed any more tears. She wiped her face haphazardly and got up from the ground.

The prolonged kneeling made her legs numb, so Gu Keke used the desk to move it and rummaged through it to find three desk lamps.

"It's the last night, let's light the lamps."

She quietly placed the lamp into the hands of the other two people.

Luo Chuange finally reacted, his voice low and hoarse, "Only two desk lamps are working, the other one is out of power."

"Keep them all on."

Liang Xun pressed the switch on the desk lamp in her hand. The bulb flickered a few times before going completely dark.

“It’s the last day,” she said casually, placing the dead lamp back on the table. “It doesn’t matter if the battery runs out completely.”

Gu Keke and Luo Chuange also turned on their desk lamps, instantly filling the dormitory with light.

Although none of them spoke, they all tacitly agreed not to climb into bed.

They knew perfectly well that once their heads hit the pillow, they wouldn't be able to wake up again anytime soon.

As long as I don't go to bed, I can still manage to stay sleepy.

The three of them stayed up all night and managed to stay awake until four in the morning.

When the system announcement sounded, Liang Xun shook her head in a daze.

[Current progress: Survival days 7/7...]

[Congratulations, player! You have successfully passed the first level: Wilson Academy! Score calculation is currently underway, please wait...]

The player survived for a total of 604,712 seconds and earned a total of 604,712 points.

[Player's rule deciphering rate is 91%, totaling 91,000 points.]

Your current points total is 1,188,512.

Have you received the system notification?

Gu Keke's eyes were red and swollen from crying, and after not sleeping all night, her eyes were almost squinting into slits.

"We successfully cleared the mission..."

“Hmm,” Luo Chuange picked up his black-rimmed glasses, wiped the lenses with a piece of cloth, and then shakily stood up from the ground. “It’s finally over…” Liang Jun didn’t say anything.

She wanted to speak, but after several attempts, she realized that she had no idea what to say.

She stopped talking, picked up the key again, and prepared to unlock the gold lock hanging on the door.

The cold touch of the gold lock felt unfamiliar to her, and she recoiled in fright.

"What's wrong?" Luo Chuange keenly noticed the abnormality.

“It’s nothing,” Liang Jun shook her head, coughing as she spoke for a while. “I was just being too sensitive.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she unlocked the gold lock completely.

The dormitory corridors were deserted.

Sunlight streamed down from the windowsill at the end of the corridor, filling the entire passageway with warmth.

This finally looked somewhat like a student dormitory.

Song Ming's body has also disappeared without a trace.

Liang Xun looked down at her feet. In the familiar spot from last night, the bloodstains that had been scattered all over the ground had been completely cleaned up.

All traces have been erased.

It was as if it had never happened.

Liang Xun turned around and glanced at Gu Keke and Luo Chuange. "Let's go."

After seeing the other two nod, Liang Jun stepped out of the dormitory.

She should have been walking on the old floor of the corridor, but after Liang Jun left the dormitory, the environment in front of her changed completely.

The corridor scene was replaced by blinding white light, and Liang Jun was completely surrounded by it.

She couldn't see the scene in front of her at all; all she knew was that her eyes were stinging from the light, and she had no choice but to raise her hand to shield them from it.

Only after the dizziness completely subsided did Liang Jun lower her hand.

The fabric sofa sits in the center of the living room, making you want to pounce on it; a vase stands on the dining table, filled with flowers in full bloom.

The window didn't seem to be closed tightly, and the curtains were being gently blown by the wind; a cross-stitch embroidered with the words "Harmony in the family brings prosperity in all things" hung high on the TV wall.

The environment was all too familiar, yet just a second ago I was clearly still in the dormitory corridor.

Liang Jun hesitated for a moment, then turned around to look behind her.

The door to her rented apartment was half-open.

-----------------------

Author's note: I finally finished writing at 4 a.m.!

It wasn't for nothing that I've endured all this time (wiping away tears)

I've decided! I'm going to sleep for twelve hours first!