In the basement, just as everyone was busy working with Principal Zhang to finish the flower lantern, the system message arrived as scheduled.
“Wish one has already been fulfilled?!” The player who looked like a female student exclaimed in surprise, looking at her phone.
At that moment, the sounds of fireworks exploding on the ground rose and fell, sounding like a dream.
Amidst the bursts of fireworks, the clock struck the hour.
The lights in the room went out instantly, leaving only the cold, white light of the flower lantern in Principal Zhang's hand.
The light came from a small bulb inside a jar, casting a chilling glow from the bottom onto the flower petals in the jar's cap.
Perhaps because the room was filled only with this single, bottom-lit beam, the faces of everyone were sharply defined by light and shadow. Even though everyone knew who the others were, there was still an eerie feeling.
But apart from the ticking of the wall clock, there was no other sound in the room. The little boy who was supposed to appear at the hour, as the system had indicated, did not appear.
"Did he...go to Xie He? I just saw him take the little boy's ashes and leave," said the female player who looked like a student.
"What?!" Principal Zhang was utterly astonished. He had been completely absorbed in making the flower lantern and hadn't noticed what was happening around him.
Although the child wasn't his biological son, having his child's ashes taken away was no joke.
He quickly grabbed the flower lantern and chased after them.
But as he walked, he realized something was wrong. Why weren't the people behind him following?
And the place he was in no longer seemed to be the basement; it had somehow transformed into a staircase in the school building.
As he walked, the sky gradually brightened, the light streaming in through the window a hazy, bluish-green, like a winter morning.
Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
The hand was warm.
Principal Zhang breathed a slight sigh of relief; this must be one of the students who had been making the flower lanterns with him.
He turned his head—
But was horrified to see a face.
A face without features, backlit, flat and sinister!
A ghost, a ghost, a ghost…
Principal Zhang collapsed to the ground, unable to control himself any longer, screaming, “Ah! Ah! Ahh..." Everything around him began to change, filled with the dense sound of students reading aloud.
Xie He suddenly awoke to find himself back in the classroom, with Old Zhang lecturing at the podium, his voice trembling and his fingers shaking.
Xie He glanced at the blackboard. The date written in the upper right corner was their first day in this instance.
Has time been reset?
The clock on the wall showed 5 PM.
A bunch of faceless little kids surrounded him… no, when Xie He turned his head, he realized the person sitting to his right was…
The other person's profile was exquisitely sculpted, with thin silver-gray glasses perched on his nose, and the top two buttons of his white shirt were still undone, seemingly oblivious to the cold.
Xie He glanced at him, resting his chin on his hand lazily, and said, “What a coincidence, we meet again.”
Sui Yuan didn't speak, still with his usual aloof demeanor.
Inside the classroom, Old Zhang was still trembling as he lectured from the podium; he had facial features.
He seemed to have been pulled in by the little boy.
Xie He rummaged through the drawer; it was exactly the same as the first time he'd been there—the familiar notebook, the familiar piece of wishing wood—and now, in Xie He's pocket, there was an identical wooden slingshot.
However, Xie He only now realized that the ghost had carved the word "LSY" on the wood, an abbreviation of Love Sui Yuan.
But there was only one hour left before they needed to find the exit.
Where should he begin?
As Xie He was thinking, he heard a "click" beside him; Sui Yuan had popped the flavor capsule from his cigarette and lit it.
He must have been a smoker for years to smoke so frequently.
Despite his seemingly unapproachable, divine appearance, he had this strangely worldly habit of a melancholy human.
Xie He shifted his gaze and glanced at the security camera at the front of the classroom.
Thinking to himself, "Thank goodness Sui Yuan isn't really a student here."
Otherwise, the head of the teaching department, the principal, and the people on the other end of the surveillance system would be furious to see him smoking in class.
Old Zhang, the teacher on the podium, had gained some experience. After trembling as he finished reading the text, he wrote "Self-study" in large characters on the blackboard and said, "Students, in the coming time, you can do some exercises or preview the text we're going to learn next..."
"Xie He, please come out with me for a moment."
Xie He and Old Zhang went out of the classroom together, and Sui Yuan followed.
Old Zhang glanced at Sui Yuan, then quickly looked away, anxiously asking Xie He in a low voice, "Were you also brought here by that little boy... saying you needed to find the exit?"
Xie He nodded.
According to the original game's progression, the little boy should have jumped off the building in a skirt by now.
But he didn't appear.
Old Zhang said nervously, "You think... the exit the little boy set up might be in one of his usual places, like the basement of Sui Yuan, the student dormitory? Or the playground where we took graduation photos...?"
"He just came from the basement, so it's unlikely he'd go back to the same place. Let's go to the dormitory; he might have something to tell us." Xie He took a few steps, then thought for a moment and said, "Just in case, Old Zhang, go check the basement area."
Old Zhang stopped Xie He, hesitating, "Really? You... how could you arrange this? I just want to find the exit and leave. If I run into the little boy, I'm done for. He can't kill me, and I'm no match for him. If I go with you, we can at least hold out a bit..."
Xie He: "..." Okay, he almost forgot that Old Zhang wasn't very brave; he always hired someone to protect him before entering each instance.
Considering Old Zhang's fear of Sui Yuan, it was impossible to let him go with Sui Yuan; and Sui Yuan was an NPC, seemingly indifferent and uninterested in anything, but since he was from the game company, it was uncertain whether he would betray them, so they couldn't rely on Sui Yuan to help them find clues alone.
Finally, the group headed towards the dormitory together.
Xie He kept an eye out along the way.
Zhang Langlang wasn't in the classroom of Class 1, Grade 11. Where were the other two players? It seemed that only the three of them with faces remained in the entire school…
Upon arriving at the dormitory, it was the same room, looking exactly the same as before.
Xie He opened the window and looked outside. The spot where the ghost girl had stood was now completely untouched.
Song Gua wouldn't reappear, and the room had been restored to its state before the disturbance thanks to the time-manipulation technique.
Xie He looked around; the room was the one before the little boy jumped.
There were still some sweet potatoes in the cabinet that the little boy had prepared. A large quantity, each sweet potato with cute stickers on it. It seemed he hadn't kept them for himself, but rather… to give to his classmates.
It seemed that the little boy had considered integrating into the class before coming here.
Who could have imagined that so many things would happen later?
These sweet potatoes were extra, and Xie He subconsciously looked through them.
Among them, he found a note, still in the little boy's crooked handwriting:
【I've been watching you, 20 minutes left.】
At the end of the note was a mocking smiley face.
This feeling of being constantly watched was chilling. Old Zhang trembled, shouting, "Where are you! Come out—" but his voice cracked with fear.
He cautiously opened the door, peered outside, then out the window, and peeked under the covers, as if he wanted to tear open every corner of the room!
Xie He watched quietly from the side, while Old Zhang searched the room like a restless rabbit. Sui Yuan stood quietly to the side, smoking, then went to stand in the corridor outside the dormitory for a while, looking at something, before returning.
Xie He felt something was off.
In his pocket were his slingshot, three cards, and a vial of syringe that Sui Yuan had taken out while resting on the recliner.
He felt vaguely hungry.
Taking graduation photos, solving the ghost song divination, and figuring out the ghost's cause of death had taken the players almost a whole day.
They had only eaten breakfast and were already starving.
Thinking of this, Xie He glanced at his phone.
The time displayed was 0:42 AM.
But in the world he was in now, the sun was shining brightly…
This wasn't a time reset, but… an illusion!
Where was the exit from this illusion?
As Xie He was thinking this, a dull thud came from the opposite teaching building, interrupting his thoughts.
It sounded like something heavy had crashed to the ground, the heavy sound striking his head!
It was that boy, he jumped…
Old Zhang rushed to the window, looking outside nervously, his face pale: “I...? That ghost, he jumped… and his body is gone?! This… this isn't a hint that we should jump, is it?”
He muttered, looking down, “We probably have to go to the top floor, but what if we die after jumping…?”
He glanced back at Xie He, then at Sui Yuan.
Sui Yuan leaned against the wall, smoking, his tone indifferent: "Do as you please. Whether you jump or not is none of my business. If you want to pay points to have me collect your corpses, that's not out of the question."
Old Zhang hissed, his hesitation growing.
The clock in the room ticked.
Time was running out.
Xie He looked out the window.
The delayed jump time, the hint inciting the players to jump, the note left by the little boy…
If it was just a hint to jump, then the note would be meaningless.
Besides, using jumping to test the exit was too risky.
Wait?
The note…
The little boy had been watching them!
“That boy has always had a crush on Dr. Sui…” Xie He suddenly realized something, turning to look at Sui Yuan, his expression languid. “The game arranged for you to come in; it must be a crucial breakthrough.”
He was taller than Sui Yuan, his dark eyes fixed on him, exuding a powerful aura of pressure when backlit.
“What are you trying to say?” Sui Yuan’s back tensed, looking at him coldly, his tone flippant. “You think life is too boring since I didn’t poison you?”
Xie He leaned slightly forward, lifting Sui Yuan’s chin with his fingertips.
His eyes narrowed slightly, the corners curving upwards, his beauty mark lifting slightly, his smile insincere. “No, not at all. It just occurred to me that since the little boy is watching us, and only he knows the exit, and he cherishes you so much, what if I—”
Sui Yuan: “???” What about him?
Change the clues? Force the little boy out?
An ominous premonition rose in his heart.
His heart pounded wildly.
Xie He moved closer to Sui Yuan, their breaths almost touching.
Sui Yuan's boot heels were already pressed against the wall. He remained outwardly calm, but his fingers in his pockets gripped the prop rope tightly, ready to draw it at any moment.
The comments section was overflowing with excitement:
[Ahhhhhh, the exciting moment has finally arrived!!!]
[Ahhhhh, I know the answer to this question!! The answer is to do it to you!! Hurry, hurry, hurry!!! Lean down! Turn your face! Kiss me, ahhhhhh, the kind of kiss that's like you're dying and coming back to life!!!]
[Holy crap, this is moving so fast, my heart is racing!!]
[Hehe, waiting for the ghost to come out and kill Xie He!]
The tension was palpable, a deathly silence hung in the air, everyone holding their breath as they watched—
Xie He glanced at Sui Yuan's thin lips, his feelings shifting from admiring their shape to a slight flutter of attraction, then to a complex mix of emotions.
He was so ruthless in his actions and words; wouldn't a kiss feel cold and sharp like a knife? Besides, they weren't very familiar with each other, and he felt a little embarrassed.
After a moment, Xie He decided: "Forget it, I'll just strangle you."
Sui Yuan: "????????????"
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