Recap
Liu Yi couldn’t even hold back his temper and picked up a stone from the ground and threw it directly at the broadcast on the tree!
“Focus on your studies, don’t listen, don’t look, don’t think! Hee hee hee hee—zizizi—”
The broadcast on the tree was smashed and deformed, but the hoarse, eerie, brainwashing voice still echoed throughout the campus, wantonly mocking their inescapable situation.
“It seems that the microphone sub-monster will be infinitely replenished,” Song Yang was also a little annoyed by this piercing sound. He said slowly, “Do you think the main monster in this instance is the thing that materialized from the player’s imagination last night?”
Xia Jing shook his head.
Song Yang laughed.
It seemed that the two of them had the same idea.
—Not necessarily.
Imagination is a very scary ability.
For humans at present, the real world is the small Earth beneath their feet.
The vast universe is out of reach, only thoughts are boundless.
A word, a flower, a leaf, can all bloom into a splendid and unique world.
But in the horror world, even a chuckle in the ear seems like darkness and death close at hand.
—The group had already guessed the pattern of this instance, but without killing the main monster, they couldn’t leave the instance and had to continue attending classes.
Only this time, in order not to be affected by those NPCs, Jin Nan, Liu Yi, Jia Qing, and Wang Yueran crumpled tissues and stuffed them into their ears.
The sound insulation effect of these homemade earplugs could be imagined.
The whole morning, several people looked pale. As soon as they heard the NPCs start saying something wrong, they would cover their ears tightly, and as soon as the break came, they would rush to the bathroom.
Song Yang, Xia Jing, and the old lady didn’t avoid it, as it was meaningless.
At noon, after a morning of calming down, the group gathered again in the cafeteria. Wang Yueran choked up and said, “I called and asked, Xu Jin also died of sudden death.”
Liu Yi remembered his good brother, was silent for a moment, and murmured, “How come they all died of sudden death? How did the monster kill the players?”
“Does it matter?” Jin Nan said戾气fully. He grabbed his arm and said irritably, “Anyway, the monster is the thing that appeared in the middle of the night. If that thing only appears at midnight, we can leave this place after we kill it tonight!”
Jia Qing whispered, “Easier said than done, have you forgotten that at that point in time, we can’t even move.”
Jin Nan shut up.
Liu Yi rubbed the corner of his eyes and analyzed, “The death mechanism of this instance is too strange. It shouldn’t be possible that when the monster appears, no one can move, right? If that’s the case, we can’t resist the monster at all, wouldn’t that mean certain death? I think, at least the player targeted by the monster must be able to move at midnight!”
Wang Yueran asked puzzledly, “Then why didn’t Xu Jin resist last night?”
Jin Nan sneered and pointed the finger at Xia Jing, “‘Didn’t resist’ is what we heard from this kid, how can we be sure it’s true?”
Xia Jing just glanced at him, and Song Yang said calmly, “I was also awake when Xu Jin was killed last night, and I didn’t hear any struggling sounds.”
Jin Nan’s face darkened, he turned his head and spat, and scratched his stomach hard.
Xia Jing looked at Wang Yueran, “You said that Xu Jin was too scared to move the night she encountered the ghost when she was a child, right?”
Wang Yueran was stunned, “Yes… wait, you mean, her death imagination also included… the inability to move?”
The others’ faces turned even uglier.
In reality, being too scared to move was a state that could be changed with some effort.
But the death imagination actually turned this autonomously changeable state into a passive unchangeable state?
This materialized in too much detail!
Jia Qing’s voice trembled with panic, “Damn, I think about things randomly, if the instance turns all those messy details into reality, then wouldn’t I not even know how I died?!”
Speaking of this, Jia Qing immediately closed his eyes and started chanting the Great Compassion Mantra, vowing to clear all distracting thoughts from his mind.
Song Yang didn’t bother with him. For those with weak minds, this method might indeed be able to better protect themselves.
He leaned forward, tapped his finger on the dining table, and said, “Let’s sort out our thoughts and solve the problems one by one.”
“First of all, I think we can’t be sure yet whether the main monster in this instance is the monster that materialized from our imagination at midnight.”
Several people’s expressions changed.
They still couldn’t be sure?
Song Yang calmly analyzed, “Have you forgotten that the main monster in our instance this time is an octopus-like monster. And the monster Xu Jin encountered last night, according to our speculation, was a green-eyed ghost.”
Everyone was stunned, and Liu Yi was the first to say, “But, the octopus monster might also mutate, right?”
Song Yang’s cold voice slowly calmed everyone down.
“What we usually call the ‘mutation ability’ of the main monster in an instance often refers to the monster itself disguising as a normal person or thing. When it’s time to kill, they will mutate into their true form as a monster. It doesn’t mean that the monster itself can also turn into another monster form.”
“Even if the monster itself has other transformation abilities, when the main monster of an instance personally kills a player, it will often return to its true form. So far, I haven’t heard of any exceptions.”
“Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that we really entered a one-in-a-million instance where the main monster also takes other forms when killing. But I think, for now, we can reserve our judgment on the identity of the monster at midnight.”
After hearing these words, everyone was stunned.
If the monster at midnight was also a sub-monster… then where was the main monster?
Song Yang: “The second point is about the way Huang Mo and Xu Jin died.”
Sudden death.
Not only sudden death, there were no injuries on either of them, and the instance even made them maintain the same state as a living person after death.
This was also a very strange point.
Jia Qing said with a trembling voice, “Yeah, let’s not talk about how the monster that appeared at midnight killed Huang Mo and Xu Jin. Anyway, sudden death means no external injuries, which is understandable. Maybe Xu Jin had a heart attack like when she was a child, as Wang Yueran said—”
Wang Yueran moved her lips, wanting to say that it was just an exaggerated statement, and Xu Jin didn’t actually have a heart attack, but before she could speak, Jia Qing continued, “—But why do they still look the same after death as when they were alive? Is it because they are in the game?”
Xia Jing turned his head and blinked, “I thought so too at first.”
Everyone immediately looked at him.
Xia Jing’s voice was very gentle, and he said unhurriedly, “But this hasn’t happened in other instances. Players will show what they should look like after death. So think about it carefully—”
“All the instances in Smiley City are bizarre, and the shapes and abilities of the monsters are beyond imagination, but Smiley City never sets illogical clues in the instances.”
“In other words—what is the logic behind ‘looking like a living person after death’?”
Liu Yi immediately said, “Could it be that the instance wants to hide some clues from us, so it simply makes them look like living people? Maybe Huang Mo and Xu Jin didn’t die of sudden death at all, they were physically killed by the monster, but the instance erased all these traces and forcibly changed their cause of death to sudden death?”
Song Yang shook his head, “The instance wouldn’t forcibly change or cover up clues just to confuse the players. If it really wanted to cover up clues, it could simply erase all the clues, so that the players couldn’t find the main monster at all, and thus couldn’t leave the instance at all.”
But if it really did that, the instance wouldn’t be a game, but pure killing.
However, everyone knew that although the instance game was full of murderous intent, there must be a way to survive.
Jia Qing stopped chanting the Great Compassion Mantra, raised his hand, and said, “Yang-ge, you mean, Huang Mo and Xu Jin must have died of sudden death, there’s no doubt about it. As for the instance not letting the bodies show what they should look like, maybe it’s not to cover up clues, but to convey clues to us?”
Song Yang: “That’s right, that’s what I mean.”
“What clues can this convey? It’s too contradictory that the body doesn’t change after death!” Wang Yueran said hoarsely.
Yes, contradictory.
These details seemed to be full of contradictions, and what message was hidden in these contradictions?
Xia Jing lowered his eyes.
Or was the “contradiction” and “unreasonableness” itself a message?
Seeing that the lunch break was almost over, Song Yang said, “This afternoon, let’s continue to look for more clues together.”
The group walked out of the cafeteria.
It was spring in the instance, dandelion fluff was floating in the air, and outside the cafeteria, under a big tree, small insects were flying around.
Flowers were blooming in the green belt, and the fragrance of flowers filled the air.
It was full of vitality, a beautiful spring day.
However, even looking at this beautiful scene, everyone’s hearts were filled with unease and anxiety.
Liu Yi whispered, “Huang Mo and Xu Jin both had accidents at midnight, does that mean we are at least safe during the day?”
Wang Yueran touched her arm and said dejectedly, “It should be, right? The midnight monster won’t start choosing players until night.”
Jia Qing swallowed, “What will be the criteria for the midnight monster to choose players?”
Song Yang was thinking about the question, and when he heard this, he casually said, “Maybe it depends on everyone’s degree of fear.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone froze again, wishing they could take their brains out of their skulls and throw them away!
Jin Nan glanced at the lush tree above his head and kept scratching his back. Hearing this, he also paused and let out an irritated “tsk”.
He noticed the old lady trembling as she walked past him, and suddenly sneered and said loudly, “I heard that people see ghosts floating around when they are about to die, and some people really see the Black and White Impermanence when they are about to die. Old lady, have you seen these things?”
The people in front stopped when they heard Jin Nan’s words.
This guy’s intentions were obvious.
Wang Yueran walked over angrily, supporting the old lady, and said, “Shut up, don’t think you can scare people with just a few words!”
Jin Nan sneered disdainfully, “What I said is true. My grandfather said he saw many people floating in front of him before he died. My grandfather said that my grandmother came to pick him up before he died. The old lady is almost at that age, maybe she has really seen it?”
Wang Yueran: “You—”
The old lady was silent for a while, then said, “If I could choose, I would definitely choose to die first and let you children live.”
Wang Yueran: “Grandma!”
The old lady patted her hand, indicating that she was fine, and said with a wry smile, “I once had a daughter, and only one daughter. She died accidentally when she was sixteen, and my husband passed away a year ago. Leaving this place and returning to reality, I would be living alone. So, even if I really die here, it doesn’t matter to an old woman like me.”
The old lady sighed, “But having lived for more than seventy years, if you still ask me if I’m afraid of death, then I’m really not afraid. For me, being able to reunite with my daughter and husband in another world is also quite good.”
Jin Nan never expected to get such an answer, and his expression couldn’t help but distort.
After the others were stunned, their moods were somewhat complicated.
Jin Nan cursed in a low voice and scratched his back hard again.
Suddenly, a rough voice sounded softly behind him, “Hey, look, what’s this?”
Jin Nan was startled and turned around abruptly.
A thin, white caterpillar hung down from the tree on a silk thread, wriggling slightly, right in front of his mouth, almost being swallowed by him.
Jin Nan’s pupils shrank sharply, his expression changed, and he retreated with a yell, tripping over a stone and falling to the ground, startling everyone.
And the slender young man stood in front of Jin Nan with his hands behind his back.
Sunlight fell through the gaps in the leaves, casting spots of light on the young man.
The young man seemed a little surprised by his posture. He tilted his head and asked seriously, “Are you okay?”
Jin Nan sat on the ground and looked at him, gasping for breath uncertainly. Because he was frightened, his back was unconsciously drenched in sweat.
He didn’t answer, but the young man continued on his own, “It’s good that you’re okay, but—”
The young man looked up at the big tree, and after retracting his gaze, he bent down, leaned close to Jin Nan’s ear, and curled his lips.
Jin Nan tensed his body, held his breath, and froze like a stone.
The young man’s breath was right next to his ear, his voice very soft, slowly grinding into Jin Nan’s ear canal, “There are more mosquitoes in spring, be careful, they might get into your collar.”
……
When Xia Jing came over, Song Yang glanced at Jin Nan, who was constantly scratching himself not far away, leaving red marks on his neck.
This was obviously an allergy.
“What did you say to him?”
Xia Jing looked innocent, “A very kind reminder.”
Song Yang: “…”
His lips twitched.
As if I would believe you.
*
Yesterday, Wang Yueran and the others searched the entire campus and found nothing.
This afternoon, they decided to focus their search on the teaching building. During the breaks between several classes, they ran through all the teaching buildings of the first, second, and third grades, but still couldn’t find any clues.
Gathering in dormitory 414 in the evening, Jia Qing wondered, “If the monster that appears at midnight isn’t that octopus monster, then where is the octopus monster? The teachers have been ruled out as suspects, and none of the students seem particularly unusual. Who else is there in this school besides students and teachers? Security guards? Cleaning ladies?”
“I’ve also tested the security guards and cleaning ladies, they shouldn’t be monsters,” Liu Yi said hesitantly.
Jin Nan sat silently in the corner. He had been itching all day, as if there were small bugs crawling all over him.
Not to mention his neck, even his arms were scratched with blood marks. He was in pain and itching at the moment, and had no mood to participate in the discussion at all, only frowning and trying to get rid of the various unpleasant fantasies in his mind.
The old lady hesitated and said, “This is my first time playing this kind of game, and I don’t quite understand it. I want to ask you children—besides the school, the supermarket, the road, and so on that were printed on that small picture, that cover, shouldn’t they all be outside the school? Should we go outside and have a look?”
Song Yang replied, “There are invisible walls around the school, our range of activity is limited to the school.”
This was something he and Jia Qing had confirmed on the first day.
This kind of map restriction was also very common in instances.
Song Yang changed the subject, “But I’m also very concerned about the elements that appeared on the cover of this instance, such as the supermarket, the street, the home, the open office space, etc.”
There shouldn’t be any meaningless elements on the instance cover.
Since their range of activity was limited to the school, then where were the street, the home, the open office space, and the supermarket that were on the cover?
Wang Yueran proposed a possibility, “Could it be that the open office space is the teachers’ office, the home is the dormitory, and the street is the road in the school?”
Liu Yi immediately retorted, “Then what about the supermarket?”
Wang Yueran: “There’s a canteen in this school, didn’t you notice?”
Jia Qing still felt something was wrong, “But those elements on the cover are completely different from the office and dormitory you mentioned! Take that supermarket for example, I remember it very clearly, it was a big supermarket on the cover, not the same thing as the school canteen at all! At first, I thought we would go to the supermarket to collect supplies like in zombie movies—”
“Don’t mention zombies at this time!” Liu Yi’s face turned green.
Jia Qing: “Oh shit, sorry! The First Emperor started his business but passed away halfway, now the world is divided into three parts, Yizhou is exhausted, this is truly a time of crisis…”
This guy finished chanting the Great Compassion Mantra and started reciting the “Chu Shi Biao” again, which was also considered “learning and applying”.
Song Yang looked speechless, glanced at the time, and said, “Let’s put this question aside, let’s first make preparations for tonight.”
Mentioning the night, everyone’s mood became heavy.
Jin Nan suddenly said, “Hey, I say, there’s no evidence to prove that only one player will be chosen by the midnight monster every night, right? In the end, it’s just your guess that the midnight monster will choose the most scared player. What if it chooses the top two or top three most scared players tonight?”
He raised his chin at Song Yang, “If two players are chosen tonight, it means that two people can move when the midnight monster appears. Can we deal with the monster on one side and then go help the other side?”
If so, the chances of survival would indeed be greater than facing the monster alone.
However, the problem also came—
“We still can’t really be sure how the midnight monster kills players, so how do we know how to deal with the monster then?” Wang Yueran was really too lazy to talk to Jin Nan, but at this moment, she had to join the discussion and think together.
“That’s the problem that the two players chosen tonight have to try to solve,” Jin Nan sneered, “To solve such a difficult problem, it has to be the best among us, right, Song Yang, Xia Jing?”
His words were full of provocative implications.
Song Yang’s face was expressionless.
Xia Jing was observing the clock on the wall.
Song Yang said calmly, “If you think the two of us are so good that we can control the level of fear in our hearts, then you might be overthinking it.”
Jia Qing, after reciting “Chu Shi Biao” once, couldn’t help but interrupt, “Our Yang-ge is a medical student, he has seen all kinds of bloody things, and even operated on them himself. Moreover, Yang-ge wants to go into neurosurgery in the future, that’s the kind of job that requires opening your skull and working on your brain. What could he possibly be afraid of?”
“Holy shit—” Jin Nan started cursing halfway through.
As for Xia Jing.
The young man looked at the clock and then calmly set his eyes on Jin Nan.
With that look, even if the octopus monster suddenly appeared in front of him, he could probably calmly tear the monster apart with his bare hands.
This guy was definitely the kind of person who could eat octopus raw in reality.
Jin Nan looked away angrily, refusing to admit that he was scared.
Wang Yueran pursed her lips and said, “Let’s reassign the dormitories first.”
There were only seven of them left today.
Two women, five men.
How to allocate them was a problem.
Xia Jing sat on the chair, suddenly shook his toes, and asked seriously, “What are you thinking about now?”
The young man’s voice was very gentle, as if he was just asking a very ordinary question.
But now that “thinking” was mentioned again, several people swallowed and looked at each other.
Jia Qing said weakly, “Right now, my mind is basically looping ‘Chu Shi Biao’. The monster shouldn’t choose me and turn into Zhuge Liang to fan me to death with a feather fan at night, right?”
Others: “…………”
Okay, next.
Liu Yi hesitated, “I didn’t dare to think about anything all day, but it’s like I was thinking about everything, it’s messy, I can’t explain it clearly…”
Wang Yueran bit her lip and said with red eyes, “I’m very scared, I can’t help but think about the green-eyed ghost that Xu Jin encountered. When I heard her talk about this before, I didn’t dare to turn off the lights to sleep for a whole month…”
The old lady hugged her in her arms and comforted her, “Good girl, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”
After patting her twice, the old lady sighed, “I have nothing to be afraid of.”
Everyone looked at Jin Nan sitting in the corner again.
Jin Nan lifted his trouser leg to scratch the itch and pretended to be bold, “I’m not afraid of anything either.”
This way, the most fearful person among them at the moment was Wang Yueran.
Song Yang thought for a while and said, “If we really have to consider the possibility that more than one person will be chosen by the monster tonight, then putting the people most likely to be chosen in one dormitory might be more convenient for action.”
Jia Qing counted, “Then it’s best for Wang Yueran and Liu Yi to be in one room. Why don’t you and Xia Jing stay here tonight, Yang-ge?”
Song Yang looked at Xia Jing and said, “Let’s separate tonight.”
Xia Jing smiled, “I have no objections.”
The old lady hugged Wang Yueran and said, “I’ll stay with Ranran tonight, okay?”
It was finally decided that Wang Yueran, the old lady, Liu Yi, and Song Yang would stay in 414.
Xia Jing, Jin Nan, and Jia Qing would move to 417.
Song Yang slowly said, “The dormitories have been assigned, now let’s talk about the specific arrangements for the night.”
___
T/N: Happy New Year~! May 2025 be filled with joy and laughter~! Also, sorry but updates might slow/be missed sometimes, I started full time so might not have the time to translate chapters every week. I hope y’all will understand.
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Update: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
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