Chapter 10 Library 2: New Challenges
Before opening your phone, you first spread the book out on your lap, then clip the phone between your fingers, and only then do you feel safe checking the messages.
A girl with a sunny-looking profile picture, facing away from the camera and towards the sea, wants to add you as a friend. Her nickname is a string of cryptic English words.
Let's just call her Sister Y.
I looked up and searched around for the people with numbers above their heads. The library wasn't very big, but there were plenty of things to hide it from, so I didn't see any outsiders for a moment.
Adding someone as a friend won't cost you anything, so you accepted.
Sister Y quickly sent a bunch of messages.
“I saw what you just did. Don’t be too kind. You need to be a little ruthless to survive here,” she said.
You agree with this viewpoint, but you don't think you're "overly kind." It's just a small act of kindness to lend a helping hand; why should you stand by and watch your fellow human being die?
She continued, "It's best to stay away from newcomers like these; you never know what kind of trouble they might cause."
"He's just making a fool of himself now, but in certain situations, locals will automatically categorize outsiders and launch a collective attack. If you're still with him at that time, you won't escape either."
This is a completely new point of knowledge.
"Thank you for reminding me," you replied. "May I ask what the occasion was?"
"Do you know the basic rules?" She didn't respond to your question, but just continued sending messages on her own, and then sent you the same set of rules that Xiaoming had sent you.
"Following this rule, think carefully, focus on survival, and mind your own business. That's enough."
You can't help but retort, "Thank you for your kindness, but aren't you just meddling in other people's business right now?"
After a few seconds of silence, the message "typing..." scrolled across the nickname screen before she finally sent it: "That's why I don't show my face."
"Helping each other is fine. We can exchange information and chat together when we're bored or lonely, but it's best not to actually get to know each other. Don't tell me too much about yourself, and don't ask me too many questions. If you think what I say is meaningful, then listen to it; if not, then forget it. Whether you block me or not is up to you."
He really does sound like a kind-hearted, straightforward, but cautious good person.
Now it's your turn to hesitate.
The girl's tone of voice sounds a bit strange to you, but then again, aren't you, a newly minted veteran office worker in reality, also wearing the skin of an undergraduate student? You could be talking to anyone, no matter what kind of person they are.
So far, you haven't seen any malice from her, and she has indeed given you some very important rules that you would never have thought of.
"Thank you for reminding me." You sincerely thanked her again.
"It's alright." The other person replied quickly, their tone much more relaxed. "Don't blame me for being long-winded, I've seen too many cases like this. Actually, it's beneficial for most people to survive, it's just that many people are too good at holding others back."
"What is your mission this time? I mean, what are you going to do if you leave?" she typed, then quickly added, as if realizing that her question was intrusive, "Don't misunderstand, because everyone's conditions for leaving are different, so the scenarios and rules that may be triggered are also different. If yours overlaps with mine, then we can communicate better."
"Even if there's no overlap, we can still talk. I don't know if you've noticed, but many rules are based on established social customs that may exist in reality, so some unspoken rules can be applied in multiple scenarios."
Sister Y types incredibly fast, and the chat box quickly fills your screen: "By the way, my task is to attend classes diligently. I can leave after a month."
What a coincidence!
"I'm the same as you." You were about to send this message when you added, "What do you study?" before pressing send.
"Oh, what a coincidence! I'm an exchange student, so I have to learn a little bit of everything. My major is engineering, so I have to do experiments and stuff, but in order to get credits, I also have some humanities and social science courses on my schedule." She actually loves to chat, and she just poured out all her stories in no time.
"What did you study?" she asked.
"Information technology," you casually made up.
Let's just say you're overly cautious.
This Sister Y is different from Xiao Ming. Xiao Ming's enthusiasm and sincerity have very clear boundaries, and these boundaries are very important among outsiders who have been thrown into this world and inexplicably become Liu Zi.
Aside from their shared tragic circumstances and complete ignorance of local life, the outsiders had virtually no similarities or connections. However, this survival-like existence forced them to band together—as Sister Y said, being able to share information was a good thing.
But because she's afraid of being harmed, Sister Y is unwilling to actually make friends with any outsiders, yet she's so open and generous online. You really can't completely trust such a conflicted and boundless stranger.
"Information technology?!" Sister Y sent several shocked emojis in a row. "Oh my god, what a coincidence, me too."
"How's your class schedule? Ugh, I'm starting to panic, haha. What if we're the only two outsiders? Then I'll be exposed!"
"I don't have many classes, just two lab classes," you replied.
"That's alright. I have quite a lot of lab classes. As an exchange student, I need to earn a lot of credits." While Sister Y was still talking, something new happened on your end.
The boy, who had just been reduced to a pool of blood on the ground and bookshelves, reappeared in the same spot.
This is the first time you've seen how outsiders are "reborn" from a first-person perspective.
Holding a book to half-cover your face, you remember what Sister Y just said about collective attacks. Moreover, he should already know that the rule of "must speak" is the easiest to violate, yet also the easiest to follow.
This time, you've chosen to observe what he'll do and what unexpected consequences will arise. He can't possibly die instantly again, can he?
To your utter surprise, the boy, his face pale, jumped up from the ground and stopped muttering about Hua Wen, instead shouting and yelling.
"What do you mean? What kind of place is this? Stop playing tricks on me! What the hell is this?" He barked like a small dog that had been stressed out, still using flower language.
The rules here taught him a harsh lesson.
This time, however, the ones who came to "execute" were not random passersby or ghosts.
But countless eyes tore through his skin, growing out of his flesh and bones, opening one by one on his body.
Then it exploded.
He's gone again.
Y kept sending you messages, but you didn't have time to reply to her. After briefly processing what you had witnessed, you fell into deep thought.
The boy clearly violated two rules: he was talking loudly while not speaking, and the final punishment was obviously to deal with the noise.
This implies a very high probability.
Perhaps, general rules should give way to scenario-specific rules.
Yes, that makes perfect sense.
For example, there's a rule that only allows babbling, but what if the scene is in a foreign language classroom?
You feel you've found a new rule of counter-strategy—or rather, an idea to exploit loopholes in the rules to create more room for survival. However, how to implement it depends on the specific situation.
These scenarios require you to explore them further.
Alternatively, as Sister Y suggested, you could gather as many rules and information as possible with other similar individuals. Of course, you might still lean towards Xiaoming's advice: flexibility is key.
Now, you're ready to put your own things on hold for a while and focus solely on this guy who won't listen to any advice.
Despite the immorality, you're genuinely curious about what will happen if the guy "rolls back" and starts over.
This time, it took twice as long as the last time.
He visibly turned pale and weak, covered in cold sweat, and looked like a zombie that had been frozen in an icehouse for 100 years.
The boy was clearly terrified; his eyes were unfocused and darting around. Suddenly, he stared fixedly at one spot.
Following his gaze, you saw the exit door.
Tsk, no way.
Even though you're the one waiting here, you can't bear to see others going to their deaths.
However, the boy didn't give you a chance to save him; his eyes lit up and he started running towards the exit.
There was no one to "execute" him, but he himself seemed to be standing on a conveyor belt, running faster and faster while remaining stationary.
As he exercised, his fat broke down rapidly, and his muscles bulged quickly. He had become a protein monster, but then his muscles began to dissolve, purplish-red sweat poured from his body, and his cheeks rapidly sunken in. Finally...
It turned into a mere skeleton, skin and bones, and was eaten by an unseen mouth.
Seriously, that's a very creative way to court death.
Stop thinking about these things, stand up, gently close the book on your lap, and begin to walk among the bookshelves.
The library was unusually quiet, with only the sound of turning pages and the occasional footsteps.
You carefully remain quiet, controlling your stride and arm swing, not wanting to unintentionally break the rules because of these ambiguous rules.
Standing in front of the search engine computer, you merely lean against the high table without sitting down. You type in the course name and find the corresponding book. You carefully delete your search history before finally going to find the book.
To make the performance more convincing, since you said you were studying information technology, you also took the corresponding lab manuals. Not only that, you also took quite a few other books.
Just as you reach for the last textbook you want, you suddenly hear a soft cough behind you.
Turning around, I saw an elderly woman wearing thick glasses.
She looked you over with kind and gentle eyes, then said in a gushing tone, "I remember you, new student; you did very well in the experiment."
The old lady speaks with simple vocabulary, short sentences, and slowly, making it easy for you to understand.
Just as you're about to laugh and say "Dang Ke," you suddenly realize something.
Wait a minute, who would notice your experiment?
A note from the author:
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I hope I can get up early so I can continue writing!
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