11
Daylight came.
Today was the third day, and I was unharmed.
“You’re fine now, you can go back,” the dormitory supervisor opened the door for me.
I returned to the dormitory to find my dorm mates just getting up.
“How was it?” James greeted me.
I shared the information I had figured out last night with everyone.
After I finished, I walked to Liam’s bed and punched him.
“You laughed the hardest last night!”
I hold grudges.
“Lucas, it wasn’t on purpose, I’ll treat you to lunch.” Liam smiled at me.
That’s more like it.
I didn’t have an early morning class today, so I planned to go to the library.
Liam had the same plan.
Isaac and Ethan had classes in the morning and couldn’t go to the library.
James and Henry exchanged glances and decided to go to the library to hide.
“The library is absolutely safe.”
We all loved studying, we all loved the library.
James, Liam, Henry, and I, the four of us headed to the library together.
On the way, we heard someone say, “Someone couldn’t take it anymore and tried to escape over the wall.”
“Didn’t they say never to leave the school during the lockdown?”
“Who knows, maybe they went crazy. The consequences of not following the rules are clear.” Another person said.
“Wanna go see?” Henry suggested.
We were thinking the same thing, and we all nodded.
The school gate was open, but no one was going in or out.
I saw a boy and a girl walking out.
There were a few boys climbing over the wall.
In the end, the boys climbing over the wall screamed in fear outside; we didn’t know what happened.
The boy and girl walking through the gate had red tall hats appear above their heads and disappeared down the street.
[During the campus lockdown, never leave the school!!!]
“Let’s go, don’t think about it.”
I knew that now, no one could leave alive.
“Damn, that scare just now made me lose my mood to study.” Before entering the library, Liam complained.
I rolled my eyes.
As if you ever had the mood to study before.
The library was very quiet. Knowing that everyone inside was normal made me feel much more at ease.
After sitting in the library for half an hour, I suddenly wanted to go to the bathroom.
This time, the guy who borrowed paper from me appeared again.
“Hey, do you have any paper?” A voice came from the bathroom stall.
I didn’t answer, nor did I rush away.
“Can you lend me some paper?”
We can’t talk to people in the bathroom stalls, but it doesn’t say we can’t lend them paper, right?
Besides, the library is absolutely safe.
I walked over and slid some paper under the door.
“Thanks.”
After a while…
That voice sounded again.
“The rule maker is someone who wants to keep you here forever. Don’t stay at the school for seven days. Don’t take Bus Route 17. Don’t follow our footsteps. We hate the student council! We hate the person with the red tall hat!”
After saying that, the voice did not sound again.
The paper I had previously passed in appeared at my feet.
I picked it up and found a line of text on it.
[1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. One of the numbers has run away.]
What does it mean?
Just as I was about to put the paper away and show it to Ethan, the words on the paper disappeared after I left the restroom.
[You must keep quiet in the library, or you will be punished by the librarian.]
I temporarily didn’t tell Liam and the others about what just happened. I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to control themselves and make a noise.
That information is very important and can’t be casually shared with others. I’ll announce it when we return to the dormitory tonight.
After staying in the library for two hours, Liam and the others had to go to class.
Just as Ethan finished his class, I arranged to meet him in the study room.
Luckily, we ran into Jack in the study room.
We threw out questions, and we all answered correctly.
There were no traitors.
To be safe, we decided to communicate via our phones.
Jack: Do you have any new information to exchange?
Me: What do you want to know?
Jack: I want to know about the obliterated dormitories.
Me: I have that information. I want to know how to get out. Do you have any methods?
Jack: The rules say that if you stay for seven days and then take Bus Route 17, you can leave.
It seems Jack doesn’t know yet…
At the same time, Ethan glanced at me.
Me: Do you have any information about the student council, like when they will act against us?
Jack: Yes.
So we exchanged information.
We obtained new information.
[The student council will launch unconditional attacks in the last few days. The method to avoid their attacks is unknown.]
“The rule maker wants to keep us here forever.”
The voice from the restroom seemed to echo in my ears again.
Jack: Earlier, you said you wanted to know how to get out? Is there a problem with the way the rules say to leave?
Jack is quite quick to react.
Me: I was just asking casually. It would be better to leave earlier because I heard someone climbed over the wall, thinking they had a way out.
Jack: Forget it. They’re all dead.
We then chatted for a while about trivial matters.
After leaving the study room, I was about to explain to Ethan.
Given Ethan’s intelligence, he must have noticed something unusual about me.
“Shh, let’s talk when we get back to the dormitory tonight. Don’t I trust you?” Ethan smiled at me.
At that moment, a warm feeling spread through my chest.
12
The afternoon passed in the blink of an eye, and I kept thinking about the words on that piece of paper.
[1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. One of the numbers has run away.]
What does it mean?
The more I thought about it, the more I doubted if I remembered it correctly.
It’s like when you stare at a word for too long, and it starts to look strange.
I remembered another phrase.
[Those who don’t follow the rules will die, and those who do follow the rules will also die.]
What if I follow the rules and also don’t follow the rules?
Maybe that’s a way out.
I can’t be a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. I can’t just label myself as ‘to be killed.’
[Selectively kill the rules.]
The rule I decide to break is:
[Stay for seven days, and after seven days, the school will lift the lockdown. Take Bus Route 17 to leave here.]
[Do not leave the school before the lockdown is lifted!!!]
So when should I leave the school?
While I was thinking, someone died in the classroom.
They were killed in the cruel way of being stuffed into a box.
The student council did it.
A girl nearby fainted from fright.
I hope she wakes up before class ends, or she’s doomed.
Why did the student council act?
The teacher on the podium continued to teach with a wooden expression.
Students who made noises were hung up.
Among the hanged students, one was abnormal.
That student had already been killed before.
But because he made a noise, he was hung up again.
He struggled in the air, his neck stretched to a horrifying length.
After class, his body returned to normal.
He walked out of the classroom, chatting and laughing as if nothing had happened.
I left the classroom and headed to the next one.
Coincidentally, the guy who was hung and let down in the previous class was in the same class as me.
The class had just started when he began acting up again.
He did a beatboxing performance for the teacher in the front row.
That blew my mind.
So he was hung up again.
Does he do this in every class?
Poor guy.
While I was silently complaining, the rope hanging him suddenly broke.
Class wasn’t over yet. What was happening?
He floated to the podium and took out a box.
Student council!
[Die enough times, and you become a student council member?]
He stuffed the teacher into the box, then stood on the podium facing us.
What on earth is he planning?
I was suddenly tense.
Is the student council starting their unconditional attacks now?
Who knows, he started beatboxing again.
“Applaud, or those who don’t will be put in the box,” he said.
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience.
I have to admit, you sly fox.
