Horror Kindergarten
"Boss, how do I sign up to enter 'The Ladder'?" A voice as thin as a mosquito sounded. Xia Yi clenched his fists and tried to cheer himself up. He looked up and was about to say it again, but suddenly his attention was caught by the big screen next to the boss.
On the big screen was a fierce two-man fighting competition.
Women's strawweight division.
His eyes were filled with murderous intent, his aura burst out in an instant, and the sweat oozing from his skin soaked the sports vest on his chest.
"You little bastard, all you do is watch these outdated games all day long. Can't you see someone is coming?" The sharp female voice interrupted the boss's gaze that was concentrating on watching the game, and also interrupted Xia Yi's memories.
Xia Yi met his boss's apologetic gaze, raised his hand to press down his baseball cap, blocking their gaze.
"Alright, alright, stop nagging. I'll take care of business for you, little brother." The boss prevaricated the boss lady while taking out a pen and paper from his drawer and speaking quickly, "Little brother, are you here to fill out the registration form for 'The Ladder'? What happened at home? What brings you here to sign up for 'The Ladder'? This game isn't for the thrill of it. You can earn a lot of money, but you can lose your life if you're not careful. Didn't you hear the government say it encourages people with serious illnesses to play the game? Normal people should stay out of it."
"Short of money." Xia Yi finally blurted out the words he had been brewing since he heard his boss say "something happened at home".
"Lack of money? Hey, sometimes being short of money can be a real problem. So, first, log in to the Star Network and fill out the registration form. We'll then fill out an authorization form offline for you. Give me your identity code, and we'll stamp it with the code seal. Only after both online and offline authorization to enter the game are unified will the government grant you authorization. Once you've registered, you don't have to do anything. When the time comes, you'll be automatically brought into the game by the Star Network bracelet."
The boss carefully introduced Xia Yi and pointed to the store behind him, nodding his head and saying, "Actually, getting into gaming isn't necessarily a bad thing. Look behind. Gamers are much more popular now than actors and singers. As long as you survive six rounds, you'll get countless benefits. Six rounds isn't an outrageous number of rounds. Look at Mingxue. When she competed in fighting matches before, only a few people watched her. Now, look, her fans are almost filling up her store."
Xia Yi followed his boss's finger and looked behind him.
This is the "Ladder" game store in the Baiyue Shopping Center in the central city of Blue Star. The entire 66-story building is filled with stores related to the "Ladder" game. Behind the registration office is a large live broadcast center. The main game player is Ming Xue. The most conspicuous place in the entire live broadcast center is the large screen that occupies the entire ten-meter-long wall. It displays the top 20 players in the game in real time. Ming Xue ranks seventh, and her name is specially enlarged on the display screen.
The small screen next to it scrolled with Mingxue's bright smile.
"It's not just Mingxue. The top twenty are all very popular here. Many people want to learn from them how to survive in the game." The boss said as he quickly filled in the information on the cardboard. "Okay, stamp your identity code and pay the 20-point registration fee, and your registration is successful."
Xia Yi nodded, stamped the seal obediently, raised his hand to push down the brim of his hat, and turned around quickly. However, his steps as he left were a little slow because his right leg was slightly tilted.
The couple at the registration office were arguing really loudly.
"What are you doing? Stop yelling at me when a guest comes. Give me some face in front of strangers."
The boss's noisy voice could be heard from two shops away.
"Why don't I give you face? Just watch it every day. Mingxue and Xia Yi's fight is so interesting. Wait, you filled out the registration form incorrectly, why is Xia Yi's name on it?"
The boss lady’s voice was louder than the boss’s, and her roar was filled with extraordinary momentum.
"Impossible, it's a duplicate name, right? Tsk, Xia Yi wouldn't be that timid. If that bastard hadn't given Ming Xue all those random stimulants..."
Xia Yi opened the door, quickly entered the small basement, and slammed the door shut. Even in the slightly cold late autumn, slight sweat appeared on her forehead.
She took off her hat, shook her sweaty flaxen short hair, and looked into the slightly sharp almond-shaped eyes in the mirror. She was slightly startled and smiled. Although she was wearing a loose black windbreaker and her appearance was not delicate and beautiful, she didn't look like a young man at all, did she?
Just now in the mall, she wanted to tell the boss who signed up, but after hesitating for a long time, she still couldn't say it out loud.
Xia Yi clicked on the StarNet bracelet on his wrist, opened the communication penguin, and typed: "X, I'm going to sign up."
"Great, you've taken the first step, and then you can take the second and third steps. Don't worry about your illness. There are countless psychopaths on the stairs. They are even crazier than you, glamorous and beautiful psychopaths. Don't be afraid of not fitting in. Ordinary people will contribute nutrients to you, and what they cultivate are all glamorous and beautiful flowers." X's voice came from the Star Network bracelet. The voice was clear, and there was a hint of smile at the end of the sentence, as if he was the little prince holding rose petals in the abyss.
Even if I know there is an abyss below, I will still be moved.
Xia Yi typed slowly, "Of course I will take the second step."
"Okay, Xia Xia, please find me soon. We will meet at the stairs." X said.
Xia Yi nodded and sent a black cat emoticon, looking forward to it.
After successfully registering, on the third day, Xia Yi received a text message from the national department confirming that the review was passed.
——Dear Ms. XY199997, your application for the game qualification of "Stairs" has been fully reviewed and approved. Please note that "Stairs" is a real-life horror game. The real-life confrontation does not refer to a holographic virtual game, but a real-life confrontation. If you die in the game, your real body will die in the same period of time. However, if you die in reality, the rewards brought by completing the game "Stairs" are innumerable.
Here's what to expect when you first enter The Staircase, so you're hopefully prepared.
The time you enter "The Ladder" is between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning of November 2, 238 in the Interstellar Calendar.
In addition, the rewards for completing "Ladder" for the first time are extremely generous. If you are interested in selling special props, the country will purchase them at a suitable price. For specific matters, please go to the official website of "Ladder" to check the information.
Xia Yi read the notification message again, turned off the Star Network bracelet on his wrist, and continued to look down at the thick philosophy book in his hand.
Only the wrinkled pages beneath her fingers revealed her inner restlessness, fear and irritability. The turmoil, fear and anxiety were like countless poisonous snakes tightly wrapped around her heart, getting tighter and tighter, feeding back with a rage that wanted to destroy everything. When she closed her eyes, countless fists with clenched blue fingers flashed by.
"I'm skeptical about this. Is what I think really what I think..."
Xia Yi read the sentence one by one, pointing at the words with her finger. She suddenly stood up and pulled the curtains up little by little. The sunlight was blocked and the basement became dim again. She raised her hand and tightly grasped the red boxing gloves hanging next to the window. She squeezed so hard that her fingertips turned white. After a long time, the Star Network bracelet on her wrist started automatically without any command.
——Ding, the "Ladder" game has started, please be prepared, information is loading...
Xia Yi blinked, and the scene in front of her turned into a sliding mosaic. When she really entered, her inner anxiety actually eased significantly. Xia Yi breathed a sigh of relief, closed her eyes, and when she stepped on flat ground, she subconsciously moved her wrists and ankles. As expected, just as the "Ladder" forum said, her entire body indicators became the strongest before, so light that she seemed to be able to take away two gold belts effortlessly.
Xia Yi opened his eyes, and the feeling of lightness suddenly seemed to disappear again.
The space in front of her was very large. Endless darkness squeezed out a semicircular platform. Above and around the platform were pairs of eyes. The eyes were the size of normal eyes, and the outline of cheeks could be vaguely seen. All the eyes stared at her without blinking, greedy, sharp, and full of malice.
These were the looks that Xia Yi feared and hated the most.
Xia Yi took a stiff step forward.
"Hello, new player." A chorus of lovely male voices echoed, and the mouths beneath every pair of eyes opened. "What do you think of my voice? This is the voice I captured after sorting through your information and picked out your favorite. First of all, congratulations! Your body data has been restored to what it was like when you were twenty-five. You're flexible, youthful, and full of vitality. I believe this is the body you've always dreamed of restoring, hehe."
"If you move a little, you will find that you feel much stronger than your shabby body in real life. Now you know how great our game is!" The male voice usually criticized the players and praised the game.
Xia Yi's anger, which had been suppressed long ago, rebounded completely and could not be ignored or suppressed.
She lowered her eyes, avoiding eye contact, and moved closer to the wall step by step.
"Now, I'll announce the special features of this game. If you experience any physical abnormalities after the actual game, please don't panic. This is how your game is. There's absolutely no shady dealings. I won't transform you into a cute game form before the game begins... Ahhhh!"
"It hurts, it hurts." The man's eyes were blurred with tears and he shouted at the top of his lungs, accompanied by countless sharp screams, as if a high-speed rotating noodle-slicing machine was slicing off his fingers layer by layer, a bloody scream.
Xia Yi faced the wall with her back, resting her head against one eye, blocking four eyes with ten fingers, poking the lowest eye with one toe, and her back tightly blocking five eyes. She clasped her eye sockets with her fingers, supported herself with one leg, used the force to push herself forward, and then used her entire body as a weapon to smash behind her.
She could even clearly feel the elastic touch of the back of her head and eyeballs.
Once, twice, three times, a sticky liquid flowed from his eyes, and I couldn't tell whether it was tears or blood.
Xia Yi let out a long sigh, his eyes fixed on nowhere, and the corners of his mouth raised slightly.
“Hiss…it hurts.”
Along with the screams, the circular wall barrier also disappeared.
As Xia Yi crashed backwards, he suddenly fell backwards and felt a sense of weightlessness.
When he could see the screen again, it was a sunny day. Xia Yi looked up at the dazzling sunlight, raised his hand to block the sunlight, looked down at the clothes printed with Chunhuahua Kindergarten on him, and was stunned for a second.
The lively and happy sounds of children came from the classroom in front of me.
Xia Yi turned his head suddenly and took a few steps back.
A woman suddenly appeared behind her. She had long flaxen curly hair, pouty smiling lips, and big almond-shaped eyes. She was more beautiful than some stars.
But the curve of the woman's smile hadn't changed at all since they met.
His eyes were dull and he stared at Xia Yi intently.
The woman lowered her hand that was about to rest on Xia Yi's shoulder and said with a smile, "Hello, you must be the new kid here, Xia Yi, right? I'm Teacher Yuan from your kindergarten. Why didn't your parents come in with you?"
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