CH 5

As Yue Xingwen clicked on the link, a line of red characters jumped out into his view quickly——

Hua’an University <Escape From the Laboratory> Performance Ranking 

Name —— Gender —— Faculty —— Exam Score

Liu Zhaoqing, Male, Faculty of Medicine, 119 points

Duan Meng, Female, Faculty of Medicine, 118 points

Zhang Shengming, Male, Faculty of Medicine, 117 points 

Zhuo Feng, Male, Faculty of Science and Technology, 117 points

Xu Yishen, Male, Faculty of Biological Science, 116 points

Yu Xinyu, Female, Faculty of Medicine, 116 points

Jiang Pingce, Male, Faculty of Mathematics, 115 points

Yue Xingwen, Male, Faculty of Humanities, 115 points

Lin Manluo, Female, Faculty of Environment, 114 points

Ke Shaobin, Male, Faculty of Computer Science, 113 points

Chen Muyun, Female, Faculty of Political Science and Law, 110 points 

Xin Yan, Male, Faculty of Chemistry, 110 points

Yue Xingwen: “……”

The first line was written with ‘Hua’an University’ Performance Ranking, indicating that this scoreboard was full of his schoolmates. Among them, he knew senior brother Zhuo Feng and senior sister Lin Manluo. There was also Jiang Pingce, who tied with him at exactly 115 points!

These familiar names made Yue Xingwen frown—— it seemed that the library system had recently pulled a large number of students into the escape game, but why were there no rumors about this within the school? How could the school turn a deaf ear when so many people were missing at the same time? Did the school administration already know about this, or were the school leaders unable to handle such a supernatural event? 

Yue Xingwen was baffled.

He put away his doubts, and set his sights on the scoreboard again.

At present, the top twelve that were listed, had a minimum score of 110 points, and without additional question, they all had a clearance score of 90 or above. Apparently, 90 points in the exam was the cut-off point for entering the rankings, and in the future, if a new person scored more than 90 points might get into this list as well.

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Four of the top twelve were medical students.

What surprised Yue Xingwen was that eight of the students who entered the ranking actually came from other faculties. In addition to the Chinese Department, where he, a dictionary smasher, had mixed in, there were also other departments such as, biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and even political science and law, and also environment. Assuming that they all found the diary on the first level, liked him, and reasoned the answer to the additional question on the fourth level without any problems, but how did they run through several laboratories in a row?

Did they get functional props in the entrance exam that would allow them to speed up their escapes? 

After thinking it over, Yue Xingwen felt this was the most feasible possibility.

Senior brother Zhuo Feng was in the Physics Department, maybe he got the circuit board and directly used electricity to electrocute the rabbits and monkeys? For the Computer Department’s students, perhaps they cracked the computer in the first room, and found a shortcut for clearance? As for the Chemistry Department’s students, maybe they used some kind of awesome chemical compound to melt the animals?

However, for the students from the Mathematics Department, Political Science and Law, Environment, and Biological Sciences—— Yue Xingwen could not figure out what skills or props they used to clear this course quickly at the moment.

This ranking gave Yue Xingwen a lot of motivation and confidence. 

With so many schoolmates coming to the library and trying to get through as hard as he did in the place he could not see, he was not alone in this battle! One day, they would leave this damn library system and return to their normal school life!

Yue Xingwen’s gaze paused for a few seconds on the three words ‘Jiang Pingce’ that tied with him, and a familiar face suddenly flashed in his mind——

The male student had a pair of distinctive single eyelids and a pair of nice sword eyebrows, his deep eyes appeared to be somewhat indifferent, he also had tall nose bridge, his overall facial features were sharp and tough, he was a handsome man who ‘could live by relying his face alone but instead, relied on Mathematics.’

Jiang Pingce was a top scorer for science at Qingcheng no. 7 High School in 2018, and the top scorer for liberal arts was Yue Xingwen, and both of them were known as ‘No.7 High School Double Top Student’. 

In their first year of high school, both of them were in the key class, but they had not spoken more than ten words.

Jiang Pingce was a person who did not like to talk, even had a somewhat withdrawn personality, and he had been alone for three years in high school, without many friends around him. Every time Yue Xingwen saw him, he was sitting by the window, studying with a calm expression, as if all the people around him were air and no one could affect his study.

It was the opposite of him, Yue Xingwen got along very well in the school, he would go to the sports ground to play with other people in his spare time, and had good brothers in every class. He was self-acquaintance, sunny and cheerful, he could chat with anyone, and he also knew all the answers if a student approached him to ask questions. His popularity in the class was particularly good.

Their personality belonged to two extremes, one cold and one warm. 

When the class was divided into liberal arts and science in the second year of high school, Yue Xingwen went to the liberal arts class because he liked to read books and classics, and Jiang Pingce went to the sciences class. Since then, they had less and less intersection, only hearing tales about each other on a regular basis.

For example, Yue Xingwen won the national essay competition and led the school debate team to win first place in the Qingcheng City Debate Competition. Another example was that Jiang Pingce went to participate in the national high school mathematics, physics, chemistry competition…

The school was full of tales about them, the junior brothers and junior sisters respected them as ‘God of Study’.

Since the liberal arts class and sciences class were not on the same floor at that time, the opportunity for the two to meet was rare since their classes were separated. Whenever they met at various school events, Yue Xingwen would greet Jiang Pingce politely, and Jiang Pingce would nod at him to express ‘recognition’. 

Therefore, Yue Xingwen classified their friendship as a ‘nodding acquaintance’.

In the year of their university’s entrance exams, both of them became top scorers in liberal arts and sciences. The honor rolls were hung at the school gate, and their names were once again written side by side. Coincidentally, they both enrolled in Hua’an University, a nationally renowned school in the far north, Yue Xingwen went to the Chinese Department, and Jiang Pingce went to the Mathematics Department.

A large group of freshmen from Qingcheng gathered for a homecoming after the start of university.

At a glance, Yue Xingwen saw the familiar figure in the crowd, and then he walked up to the other party and made a joke, “Jiang Pingce, we’ve been schoolmates for three years in high school, and known each other for so long, can you take the initiative to greet me next time we meet?” 

Jiang Pingce was puzzled. “I’ve greeted you before, right?”

Yue Xingwen: “By nodding your head?”

Jiang Pingce nodded, as if to say: I don’t even bother nodding to others.

Yue Xingwen endured his laughter and extended his hand, “Let’s officially become friends. We had been schoolmates for three years in high school, and now we are in the same university. Considering it as fate, maybe we can also help each other in the future.” 

A trace of surprise flashed in Jiang Pingce’s eyes, and he hesitated for a few seconds before cooperatively reaching out to shake Yue Xingwen’s hand.

The man’s fingers were slender and clean, and had a low temperature. It was summer at that time, and the weather in September was very hot and stuffy, but Yue Xingwen found Jiang Pingce’s hand was cool and quite comfortable. It was also on the day they officially exchanged contact information and added WeChat to each other.

Yue Xingwen liked to share his daily routine in his Moments, and Jiang Pingce would like every one of his Moments, but never posted Moments himself.

Since then, when Jiang Pingce met Yue Xingwen at school, he was not as cold as he was in high school, and would take the initiative to greet him and called ‘Xingwen’ softly in a pleasant voice. 

When the midterm and final exams were almost arrived, Jiang Pingce would still send messages asking Yue Xingwen to study together in the library.

Yue Xingwen quipped: “Isn’t it weird for your Mathematics major, and my Chinese major, to study together?”

Jiang Pingce replied: “It’s called complementary thinking.”

Yue Xingwen sent out a laugh out loud emoji: “You win! See you tomorrow night at 8:00pm in front of the library.” 

They often made an appointment to go to the library to study together, finding the desk at the corner, and sat face to face doing their own things, ‘You do your math problems, and I read my literature materials’, two different majors, but also got along very well.

Yue Xingwen always felt that his relationship with Jiang Pingce was a little strange.

In the first year of high school, they strived for the first place in the grade, secretly competing, such as ‘this time I take first place and you will take first place next time’, there was a kind of tension of meeting a rival. After being in the different division in the second year, they both sat firmly on the throne at the top of liberal arts and sciences, no longer needed to compete.

However, every time the school put the honor rolls, with liberal arts on the left side and sciences on the right side, Yue Xingwen and Jiang Pingce’s names were always hanging side by side at the top of the list. If one day, Jiang Pingce’s name was not next to him, would he feel unaccustomed? 

Their attitude towards each other was probably this kind of subconscious admiration, respect and recognition that ‘you are the only one who can stand alongside me’.

Just like the world’s best master in martial arts novels, one used a saber and the other used a sword. When they were young and spirited, they competed desperately for the first place, and later realized that it was actually quite good for them to be on par—— continuing to excel in their respective fields was the greatest motivation for them as rivals in their youth.

Yue Xingwen knew that Jiang Pingce had an obsession with cleanliness, and did not like to be close to people.

Unfortunately, Jiang Pingce was too outstanding, as an adult with 189cm tall, handsome, and the top student of the Mathematics Department, he had numerous junior fans at school, and many brazen junior sisters had approached him to confess their love, only to be coldly rejected by him with a reply ‘we are not suitable’. 

No one knew what Jiang Pingce was thinking, he did not seem to be planning to fall in love, focused solely on studying, and the one who studied with him the most often was Yue Xingwen from Chinese major.

Yue Xingwen could not help but think that Jiang Pingce, that aloof and mysophobic would definitely be very annoyed to this ‘Medical Laboratory’ when he came to the ‘Escape From the Library’ survival game. His clothes were always clean and tidy, the sight of the dirty and bloody laboratory should have made him frown with disgust. He hated being dirty, and he also hated noisy places, and this time the medical laboratory really brought together all the elements he hated the most.

No wonder he ran so fast and scored 95 points…

Yue Xingwen imagined the scene of him being chased by rabbits, but he was really incapable of imagining it. Jiang Pingce was suitable for sitting in the school library and reading a book, which was more pleasing to the eyes—— rather than running for his life in another ‘library’. 

In any case, since Jiang Pingce was also in the ‘library’, Yue Xingwen only wanted to find him first. After all, according to Jiang Pingce, they could do complementary thinking and it was easier to pass with the combination of liberal arts and sciences.

Thinking of this, Yue Xingwen immediately asked, “System Tutor, how can I find a certain student?”

System Tutor: “You can send a private message to a designated student, which requires the consumption of points, it is 10 points per word.”

Yue Xingwen currently had 230 points, which was not enough to upgrade his idiom dictionary. After thinking about it, he said, “Send a private message to Jiang Pingce, a student from the Mathematics Department of Hua’an University, and just write three words: Yue Xingwen.” 

System Tutor: “Okay. Private message sent, deducting 30 points, you’ve 200 points remaining.”

10 points for a word was really expensive, and this 30 points deduction was equivalent to doing the additional question earlier for nothing. However, the library system was very complicated, and with so many schoolmates appearing in the Faculty of Medicine’s course ranking alone, it was almost impossible for Yue Xingwen to have a ‘coincidental meeting’ with Jiang Pingce on his way to the course.

Yue Xingwen believed with their tacit understanding, Jiang Pingce would be able to understand the three-word private message he sent.

Soon, a system beep rang in his ears: “Received a private message from student Jiang Pingce. Do you want to open it and read it?” 

Yue Xingwen hurriedly opened it——

One word cost 10 points, so Jiang Pingce’s message was also very brief.

Five words: “Research Group, waiting for you.”