CH 11

Lin Yi and Qin Zhou calmy took measure of the five people in Room 103 — Qu Jialiang, Xu Xiazhi, Cheng Yang, Li Ying and Zhou Lingling. Truth be told, Lin Yi still wasn’t used to being looked at by so many people, especially since their eyes held so many emotions. He braced himself and said, “Last night, the rule of death came calling on me.” 

As soon as he said this, Cheng Yang immediately let out a ‘f*ck’, The others also showed frightened expressions, the look in their eyes turning to impatience. They wanted to know what Lin Yi experienced last night and the most importantly, how he survived.

“The rule of death rule is ‘failing to prevent the NPC from climbing in through the window’. If the window is open, it means that you’ve been targeted by the rule of death. But so long as you find a way to prevent the NPC from coming in through the window, you can avoid this rule of death.”

As soon as Lin Yi said this, no one could sit still. They had no idea whether their curtain covered window was open or not.

The five people in Room 103 wanted to immediately go back to their rooms to check; Qu Jialiang and Xu Xiazhi had already both stood up. At this time, Lin Yi went, “But there’s bad news.” 

Cheng Yang went from joy to alarm and he couldn’t quite control his expressions. “Huh? Lin Yi Xiong, you’re gasping pretty hard!”

Lin Yi glanced at him and then looked at the others.

He’s no expert on microexpressions but when his parents lost the ability to communicate after the accident, he had to try to discern what they were trying to express from their stiff faces.

This kind of training allowed him to discover the wariness and watchfulness that Qin Zhou displayed during the first night.

Qin Zhou too believed in his ability. With a pat on Lin Yi’s shoulder, he turned around and left Room 103, heading to the duty room to find the old dorm manager and search for clues.

As he spoke, Lin Yi observed these people.

“When a rule of death is invalidated, a new rule of death will appear but the previous rule of death still exists…”

Cheng Yang suddenly heard grevious news after hearing good news. An expression of shock tried to appear before he could put away his expression of pleasant surprise, making his expression appear strange. 

Cheng Yang was fine.

Qu Jialiang’s lips moved. He seemed to want to ask for specifics. But there was an expression of guilt and shame on his face. He must have said something while he and Qin Zhou were away and it now made him to embarassed to speak so that he could only stare at him intently.

Qu Jialiang was fine.

Xu Xiazhi was next to Qu Jialiang. This person has always been very quiet. Every time Qu Jialiang quarreled with others, he would come forward to stop Qu Jialiang. Lin Yi could see that this person wasn’t actually out to maintain a harmonious and friendly atmosphere, rather he just didn’t want Qu Jialiang to conflict with others in the Rule World. It seemed that his coaxing was actually to protect Qu Jialiang. 

Xu Xiazhi was somewhat shrewd.

At this time, after hearing this news, Xu Xiazhi’s first reaction was to glance at Qu Jialiang. Afterwards, his eyes began to turn back and forth between Lin Yi and Qu Jialiang. His eyes were thoughtful, as if he was pondering the reliability of Lin Yi’s words.

Shrewd and with someone he wanted to protect; Xu Xiazhi’s reaction was also normal.

Xu Xiazhi was fine. 

Then there were the two girls, Zhou Lingling was more courageous than Li Ying. Because they were they only girls among the seven, Zhou Lingling had reached out and held Li Ying’s hand to comfort her.

Lin Yi saw that Zhou Lingling grabbed Li Ying’s hand a little harder. Though she was comforting Li Ying, in truth, she was also looking to comfort herself.

Zhou Lingling was fine.

The last was Li Ying. Li Ying was the most timid of all. Introverted and reserved, she basically only ever talked to Zhou Lingling, the only other girl. 

Coafg Ol Tlcu tfjgv Olc Tl’r kbgvr, tfg fsfr aegcfv gfv, tfg fsfr oliilcu klat afjgr. Vtf ibbxfv jybea ab mgs lc atf cfza rfmbcv. Dea ja atlr alwf lc j qijmf ilxf atlr, mgslcu vbfrc’a rbinf jcs qgbyifwr. Zbgfbnfg, Itbe Olcuilcu’r jaafcalbc kjr jii bc Olc Tl jcv rtf mbeivc’a rqjgf jcs jaafcalbc ab mbwobga Ol Tlcu.

So Li Ying kept rubbing her eyes with the other hand to keep the tears from falling.

Lin Yi fell silent.

Li Ying was…also fine. 

“Lin Yi Xiong, what’s the new rule of death?” Cheng Yang asked quickly.

Lin Yi said, “I don’t know yet.”

“So you mean to say that although we now know one of rule of death, we’re still clueless about the new one that appeared. We still have to be careful, because we don’t know when we might trigger it?” Qu Jialiang couldn’t help opening his mouth. “Then that was just shit f*cking usele-…”

Xu Xiazhi guessed what Qu Jialiang was going to say and held him back. He shook his head gently. 

Qu Jialiang took a breath and looked at Lin Yi. “ Lin Yi, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just…just…”

He kept stalling on ‘just’ until in the end, he couldn’t come out with anything.

At this time, even Cheng Yang didn’t have the energy to quarrel with Qu Jialiang. He approached Lin Yi and said, “Lin Yi Xiong, do you have any clues about the new rule of death?”

Zhou Lingling and Li Ying both looked at Lin Yi. Zhou Lingling also asked, “You were able to avoid the rule of death last night; you must have an idea about the new rule of death.” 

Lin Yi was about to speak when Qin Zhou came back. Qin Zhou swept his eyes over the crowd. “Is talk all that you can do?”

“Boss.” Cheng Yang scratched the back of his head and said, embarrassed, “If you need a thug, I’m your man. But finding clues, this kind of thing that requires IQ, I’m completely useless. Let alone working the rules of death using clues, even if the rules of death slapped me in the face, I might not necessarily realize it.”

He even gave Qin Zhou an example, “The only things in my room are broken musical instruments and I have no idea what the rules of death have to do with them. Moreover, rule of death Lin Yi Xiong figured out proves it really had nothing to do with it. Good thing I didn’t place too much importance on it.”

Lin Yi glanced at Qin Zhou when he heard these words. Qin Zhou noticed him but didn’t look back. He simply addressed the others, “Go back to your rooms and check your windows.” 

Qu Jialiang said, “Zhou Ge, the second rule of death has appeared. Can you be sure that opening the window isn't a rule of death?”

Qin Zhou gave him a deep look. “I’m not sure, but can’t you think of another way?”

Lin Yi thought for a while and said, “The second rule of death should be letting yourself be seen by the thing outside the window.”

Xu Xiazhi asked, “Are there any clues to indicate that?” 

“No.” Lin Yi said, “But that thing kept looking at me last night. Maybe it was testing the second rule of death.”

Horror instantly climbed into everyone’s hearts.

Cheng Yang: “Damn it. We have to stop it from entering and we can’t let ourselves be seen. This is f*cking impossible!”

“If-if it’s mine and Lingling’s windows that are open,” Li Ying couldn’t hold back and said through her tears, “Then what should we do?” 

Girls weren’t as physically strong as the boys. Let alone preventing the thing outside from seeing them, just preventing it from coming in would be difficult.

“It’s just a guess.” Lin Yi said, “It would still be best to not open the curtains when checking the window.”

When everyone went back to check their windows, Qin Zhou turned to look at Lin Yi. “Did you discover anything?”

“No.” Lin Yi said, disappointed, “They all acted very normal.” 

Qin Zhou was silent for a while and asked, “How about me? Don’t you doubt me?”

Lin Yi said, “If Senior is the Monster, there would have been no need to acknowledge my guesses.”

Qin Zhou: “Okay, as long as you understand.”

”The Monster’s ability to imitate is very strong. It‘s difficult to pin it down just looking at expression. Let alone, this 7-7 Monster…” Qin Zhou suddenly stopped mid-sentence. His eyes fell to a certain position on the table. 

There was one chopstick missing.

“The one who’d been sitting there was…” Qin Zhou looked at the ground while thinking back, trying to see if the missing chopstick had simply fallen on the floor.

“Xu Xiazhi.” Lin Yi glanced at it and said pensively, “Why did he take the chopstick away?”

“It’s not necessarily him who took it.” Qin Zhou said: “But it seems your plan has succeeded. You’ll have to be careful of chopsticks and of him.” 

Lin Yi nodded and said, “The chopstick was definitely taken away by the Monster. There’s no doubt about that. But how is he going to kill me with a chopstick?”

As he spoke, he picked up a clean chopstick and poked his throat. “Like this?”

Lin Yi didn’t feel any pain from the rounded tip of the chopstick pressing against his skin. He then opened his mouth and put the chopsticks in it, trying the chopstick here instead.

Lin Yi: “Ugh...” 

Qin Zhou: “…”

“What was the doctor’s diagnosis?” Qin Zhou snatched the chopstick away from Lin Yi and asked him with a sneer.

“Huh?” Lin Yi quickly realized that Qin Zhou was implying there was something wrong with his head. He smiled naively, “It’s terminal. I’m beyond help.”

Qin Zhou glanced at Lin Yi again and then said, “Zhou Lingling is in room 301; there’s a lot of cotton items in there. Li Ying in room 302 has a lot of books. Cheng Yang in room 303, musical instruments. There’s no need to talk about our rooms  There are no occupants in rooms 306 and 307. After that, Xu Xiazhi is in room 308. His room’s filled with tobacco. And Qu Jialiang in room 309 has a lot of diving gear.” 

“I don’t know the purpose of these clues but they obviously have nothing to do with the rules of death.” Qin Zhou explained, “The reason why I didn’t say it before was because I was afraid it would affect your reasoning.”

These were all that Qin Zhou had seen on the morning of Wang Duo’s death.

The reason why Lin Yi didn’t ask was because he felt that if Qin Zhou not saying anything about them meant that those clues had little to no effect.

But Qin Zhou telling him about them now… 

“Senior, I’m not doubting you.” Lin Yi said helplessly, “I really understand, I didn’t lie to you.”

Qin Zhou gave an “en”. “I’ve already found the old dorm manager.”

Lin Yi hurriedly said, “What happened?”

Ten minutes ago, while Lin Yi was telling everyone about the rules of death, Qin Zhou had gone to the duty room. Like yesterday, the door to the duty room was locked and the window was shut. 

Qin Zhou didn’t knock on the door nor did he push open the window.

He walked straight to the door of the dorm building and tentatively touched the door.

Sure enough, the window to the duty room immediately opened and the dorm manager stared at Qin Zhou. “Are you going out?”

Qin Zhou said offhand, “That’s right.” 

The old dorm manager said gloomily, “Are you sure you want to violate the agreement?”

“Agreement?” Lin Yi repeated.

Before Qin Zhou could reply, a scream erupted from the third floor.

The two looked at each other and dashed to the third floor. 

In Room 309, Qu Jialiang had fallen to a sit on the floor.

Xu Xiazhi’s comfort seemed weak. “Even though the window’s open, Lin Yi managed to escape.”

But Qu Jialiang wouldn’t listen to anything, “But he only had one rule of death last night, and now there are two! There are f*cking two! How the hell am I suppose to get away, Xu Xiazhi, tell me how to get away!”

Outside, by the door, Lin Yi looked at Qin Zhou and asked in a low voice, “Senior, do you think that thing won’t come to find me tonight?” 

Qin Zhou said, “Do you want the lie or the truth?”

Lin Yi thought for a while: “Let’s have the lie.”

Qin Zhou: “No.”

Lin Yi actually laughed and said, “Then the truth is…” 

He was interrupted by Qin Zhou: “Not only will that thing come find you, but the Monster will also be coming after you with a chopstick.”

The author has something to say: Huh?

I see some of you guessed the Monster right! ! !

Translator’s note: Unless you come from a Chinese background, I doubt you can guess with just the little bit of clues currently available. Even if you are, I still can’t figure out how they guessed it. Maybe through sheer number of guesses…