Chapter 16 It Wasn't You Who Killed Him on Christmas Eve
"What are you doing?"
His movements were so sudden that Song Ming couldn't understand them, so he curiously took two steps forward.
White Hair was still half-lying on the ground, his outstretched hand moving constantly, seemingly groping back and forth.
"I'll try to grab it directly," the white-haired man said, his body curled up and his voice muffled. "I've encountered machines like this before, and they're usually stuck on the baffle at the outlet."
He took a deep breath, perhaps from exhaustion.
"If you really can't reach it, there's nothing you can do but wait for the machine to refund you."
Song Ming felt tired just looking at his posture. "Did you touch it?"
"No," the white-haired man sighed, "Not only did I not touch it, but my hands are almost frozen numb... Why is the temperature so low in here?"
Seeing that the other person was about to get up from the ground, Song Ming turned around and prepared to leave first.
"Holy crap?!" the white-haired man exclaimed.
Song Ming turned around in confusion and saw that Bai Mao was pressed tightly against the vending machine. He had tried to stand up, but he was still curled up, and his hand, which had been reaching into the black hole, was completely hidden.
Before he could even ask what was going on, the white-haired man had already begun to struggle desperately.
"Holy crap! This machine is sucking my arm in!"
The body has an instinct to sense danger.
Bai Mao's shout was very loud, and his echo filled the empty study room. All the players present noticed the unusual activity in the southeast corner.
Liang Jun and the others also heard the commotion.
From their perspective, all they could see was Song Ming's helpless back.
"Let's go take a look."
Liang Jun placed the book face down on the table, immediately got up, and ran over.
White Hair's left hand was firmly stuck in the dispensing hole, while his right hand pushed hard against the vending machine, his veins bulging, as if trying to use the reaction force to reduce the suction.
However, it had very little effect.
White Hair's left shoulder blade had already penetrated into the hole, and his whole body was twisted in a very strange posture.
He was in so much pain that he was incoherent, and his right hand gave up resisting and began to wave wildly in the air.
Bai Mao locked onto Song Ming, who was standing not far from him.
He grabbed Song Ming's hand. Aside from vomiting about the pain of dislocation and fracture when his mind was in a daze, the phrase he repeated most often to Song Ming was, "Save me."
All the players in the study room came to watch quietly, everyone silently watching the white-haired man's body being devoured bit by bit, but they were unmoved.
Bai Mao was almost unconscious, but his instincts were still working to survive, and the hand he was gripping Song Ming's had turned completely blue.
Liang Jun noticed that Song Ming was also affected by this powerful suction force, and his feet were moving forward little by little—but he himself did not seem to notice.
If Song Ming doesn't let go, the machine might just eat two people at once.
Thinking of this, Liang Xun rushed to Song Ming's side and gritted her teeth to pry his hands off.
Seeing this, Gu Ke also stepped forward to offer help. Luo Chuange's arm was broken, so he couldn't exert much force and could only stand behind Song Ming, pulling him backward by his clothes.
"let go!"
Liang Xun shouted at Song Ming, "Let go now if you don't want to die!"
As if waking the dazed Song Ming, his hand suddenly deflated.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Liang Jun and Gu Keke pulled hard, decisively and completely tearing Song Ming away.
Without any support, the white-haired girl, whose body was already in excruciating pain, was powerless to resist the machine's commands. In the blink of an eye, she was sucked into the vending machine.
The baffle at the outlet did not close immediately; it seemed that in exchange, two intact bottles of mineral water rolled out from the outlet.
The bottle, covered in condensed water droplets, mixed with fine dust from the ground, and finally came to rest at Song Ming's feet.
Song Ming seemed to have lost his soul, and bent down to fetch water in a daze.
When he looked up, his gaze met the bottled water section inside the vending machine.
The spot where mineral water should have been missing has been replaced by a compressed version of the white-haired character.
Despite being called a compressed version, it's actually more like a scaled-down acrylic standee, standing quietly there.
Since there were two empty spaces, the white-haired standee was divided into an upper body and a lower body, and replaced accordingly.
The severed area was covered in flesh and blood, and even though it no longer had the texture of a living person, it was still extremely horrifying.
Song Ming looked down at the two bottles of mineral water in his hand.
[Hidden rule triggered.]
4. There is a beverage vending machine located in the southeast corner of the study room. The machine may occasionally malfunction; please do not shake it and wait quietly for a refund. Please do not put your hands into the dispensing slot; the beverage will dispense automatically.
Players gathered in the study room, so this rule became public knowledge.
"What a pity, he broke the rules word for word..."
Some players began to whisper their regrets in the crowd.
"There's nothing we can do about it. To be honest, he was just too reckless... If it were you, would you dare to shove your hand directly into an unknown cave entrance?"
"Alright, alright, stop talking. The person is already gone, there's no point in saying anything more. For us, all we need to do is stay alive and obtain the rules..."
The crowd dispersed, discussing amongst themselves, but Song Ming remained rooted to the spot, still holding the water.
"Let's go, Song Ming."
Luo Chuange turned around and called out to him.
Song Ming looked up at the sound, but his gaze met Liang Xuan's.
"Sister Jun, do you think this is my fault? Did I fail to save him?"
Gu Keke couldn't bear it, "You don't need to blame yourself."
Liang Jun walked up to him and said, “Song Ming, you need to understand one thing—it wasn’t you who killed him, it was the rules that killed him.”
"In this game, breaking the rules means certain punishment. He was doomed to die anyway; and how could you possibly fight against the system's rules on your own?"
Liang Yan's words were devoid of any warmth.
Do you think you can outmaneuver the system and the rules?
Song Ming said in a deep voice, "We can't win."
“If you hadn’t let go back then, the only change now,” Liang Jun pointed to the white standee, “would be that there would be another you there.”
Seeing that Song Ming was still in a daze, Liang Xuan sighed.
Everything that needed to be said has been told to him. Now it's up to him to understand it.
Liang Xun nodded to Song Ming, and the group returned to their original positions.
Gu Keke glanced subconsciously in the direction of the digital clock.
"It's already past eleven o'clock..."
“The dormitory lights are already out,” Liang Jun continued, “It would be too risky to go out now. We’ll have to spend the night here and figure out what to do next when we get up tomorrow.”
Fortunately, the study room is fairly well-equipped.
The men's and women's restrooms were clean and tidy. The group quickly rinsed themselves off at the taps, making do with their washing up.
The floor-to-ceiling windows were also filled with sofas. With fewer people around, there was still a little room for each player to have a sofa.
Perhaps they were exhausted after a long day, or perhaps the scent of the leather sofa had a hypnotic effect, but the group managed to spend their first night there.
Nothing happened that night.
Bright sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, shining equally on every player lounging on the sofa.
Liang Jun rubbed her eyes and slowly got up from the sofa.
From her vantage point, she could just catch a glimpse of the digital clock by the door.
07:27.
Upon hearing the commotion, the other three also took action.
The water was freezing cold. The group looked dazed and half-asleep before they went in, but after washing their faces, they were all refreshed.
After the group assembled, they used facial recognition to exit through the turnstiles, then walked up the stairs to the library's first-floor lobby.
This is quite different from the bloody scene last night.
The newly opened library was filled with a peaceful atmosphere. Warm sunlight streamed into the room through the glass balconies, and visitors, carrying books, moved back and forth among the crowd.
It was as if those bloodstains and remains had never existed.
"What arrangements?"
Luo Chuange looked at Liang Xuan; his lips were even more bluish-black than yesterday.
Liang Xuan thought for a moment, then said, "Let's go to the teaching building first, and after lunch, we'll go back to the library. This library has six floors, and there must be a lot of information hidden here, so let's stay here as much as possible."
Several people agreed.
After entering the teaching building, Liang Jun called out to Song Ming, who was about to go upstairs.
"Song Ming, come with us into our classroom."
Seeing Song Ming hesitate, Liang Jun walked over to him and explained, "This setting is a university campus, so you can change classrooms at will. You'll sit next to Luo Chuange, and if he does anything wrong, tell me immediately."
Liang Jun glanced at Luo Chuange's swaying figure and said, "Be careful."
Song Ming understood and nodded in agreement.
The students took their seats in the classroom.
Liang Jun and Gu Keke remained in their usual spots by the back door; Luo Chuange's former deskmate was nowhere to be found, and Luo Chuange didn't react much when Song Ming sat down.
"Class is starting! Class is starting! Class is starting! Please be quiet, everyone, the teacher will be here soon!"
The sharp, piercing school bell rang again, but after waiting for more than ten minutes without seeing their counselor, Lina, everyone conscientiously began their self-study session.
The class ended peacefully.
This made Liang Jun feel a little strange.
She frowned, just about to say something to Gu Keke, when the player sitting diagonally in front of her suddenly turned around.
It was still Di Qing.
Where did you go last night?
Di Qing interrogated the two women in a detached, businesslike tone, as if it were an official business.
Gu Keke was very unhappy with this attitude. "What's wrong? Did the dorm supervisor give you trouble during room checks?"
Di Qing shook his head, "No, I was just curious."
Remembering that her younger sister had also been in a bad mood yesterday, Gu Keke didn't hold it against her. She curled her lips and answered directly, "We went to the study room last night and didn't have time to go back to the dormitory."
"Oh." Di Qing seemed uninterested and turned to go back.
"Wait a moment."
Liang Xuan called out to her, her gaze shifting slightly downwards to the area around Di Qing's eyes.
"Why are your dark circles so bad? Didn't you get enough rest yesterday?"
Di Qing had dark circles under his eyes, which he hadn't had yesterday if he remembered correctly.
Didn't she take a nap in her dorm at noon? Why is she so tired?
“Oh,” Di Qing raised his hand and rubbed his eye sockets, “I’m not good with beds, so I didn’t sleep well yesterday.”
This topic should have ended there, but unexpectedly, Di Qing suddenly became enthusiastic.
She lay on Liang Jun and Gu Keke's desks, staring at them longingly.
"Can we have lunch together today?"
Surprised by Di Qing's sudden invitation, Gu Keke looked at Liang Xun with some uncertainty, "Is it... okay?"
Since things had come to this point, Liang Xun couldn't openly refuse Di Qing, so she could only reluctantly agree.
"Then we can meet at the entrance of the dining area after school at noon."
It's a deal.
As if he had gained immense satisfaction, Di Qing smiled happily, then turned and went back.
Just as Liang Jun was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a stumbling figure rushed towards her from in front of her.
Song Ming tripped twice with every step he took, and ended up falling directly onto Liang Xun's desk.
"What's wrong?"
Liang Xun's brows remained furrowed, and the thought of the task she had entrusted to him only added to her exhaustion.
"What happened to Luo Chuange?"
Song Ming hurriedly shouted, but fortunately the classroom was too noisy for most players to notice.
"Luo Chuange has fainted!"
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Author's note: I'm about to faint too—
Please save this, my darlings! It's really important to me (bursts into tears)
I'll sing "Good Luck" for all the kids who've read this far, wishing everyone good luck!
Good luck to you! Good luck brings joy and love! Good luck to us all! May good fortune bring you prosperity and success across the world!
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