CH 16

Lin Yi grabbed the door handle and pulled, making the door shake. But, the lock prevented him from opening the door. 

He heard the 7-7 Monster say, “Lin Yi Xiong, it’s me.”

Cheng Yang’s voice!

It turned out to be Cheng Yang!

At this moment, Lin Yi rejoiced. Thank goodness, he had formed a team with Qin Zhou. Fortunately, he had listened to Qin Zhou’s advice and didn’t rush to find the suspected Monster. 

Otherwise, it would have been a direct Game Over for everyone.

The door lock was strong and Qin Zhou was still delaying the old dorm manager. Actually though, even if he was caught by the old dorm manager, his life wouldn’t be in danger. After all, the rules of death were temporarily fixed on ‘letting the vase girl in’ and ‘leaving your the room at night’.

Thinking like this, Lin Yi looked at the door of the duty room. His eyes locked firmly on the door, as though he were through to pierce through it to see the 7-7 Monster outside.

His palms began to sweat and his heart jumped to his throat. Lin Yi clenched his fists. It felt like a pair of hands were squeezing his throat. He stared at the door panel and asked the 7-7 Monster, “You, do you know me?”

There was silence outside the duty room and the 7-7 Monster didn’t answer him.

Lin Yi repeated it twice more but was met only with silence.

This deathly silence allowed Lin Yi to suddenly calm down. He knew that Qin Zhou had his suspicions about him but he also wasn’t going to just quietly muddle through and allow it to kill him.

Can the 7-7 Monster answer him? That’s fishy. 

Thinking of this, Lin Yi took a step up and came to the window. With the door locked, there was only one other exit, the window.

Just as he touched the glass window, he suddenly stopped.

– “The monster’s ability to imitate is very strong.”

What Qin Zhou once said to him resounded in his ears. 

– “They’ve learned how to speak, learn how to do things, even how to express human emotions.”

Learned how to speak…

Lin Yi looked intently at the window. Across the window, the 7-7 Monster moved its chopsticks forward by a bit. It sensed Lin Yi’s approach.

It got excited. But the excitement hadn’t lasted for a second before its grinning mouth flattened. Lin Yi stepped back again, as if on guard. 

It said, “Lin Yi Xiong, it’s me.”

Lin Yi retreated as far as he could from the winder, to a corner where there was a single bed for the old dorm manager to sleep on. Lin Yi didn’t want to get on someone else’s bed, so he curled in as much as possible and stood in the triangle formed by the head of the bed and the two walls.

Right now, he wasn’t sure whether the 7-7 Monster was Cheng Yang or if it had merely learned to Cheng Yang’s tone, but there was no doubt that the 7-7 Monster was going to kill him.

Po atf 7-7 Zbcrafg kbeiv mbbqfgjaf klat tlw jcv jcrkfg atf defralbcr atja tjnf qijuefv tlw obg wjcs sfjgr, tf wluta pera bqfc atf klcvbk jcv mtja klat la. Dea atf 7-7 Zbcrafg gfoerfv ab mbbqfgjaf, rb vbc’a yijwf tlw; tf tjv ab ilnf ecali tf oluegfv bea atlr qgbyifw. 

Lin Yi’s agitation just now came from the misunderstanding that he was finally going to find the answers to his questions. After calming down, he was no longer nervous at all.

He wasn’t going to stay waiting here for too long. He and Qin Zhou had agreed that if he managed to smoothly escape, he would return to Room 304. If Qin Zhou goes back and doesn’t see him, he would definitely come back to find him.

The instance in the 7-7 Rule World was still on-going. The 7-7 Monster wouldn’t reveal itself too early. It would definitely leave before Qin Zhou comes looking for him.

He only needs to stall. 

Thinking of this, Lin Yi looked around the entire duty room once again. Looking for something to defend himself in case the 7-7 Monster simply runs out of patience and pushes the window in. But there was nothing in the room he could use.

After that, Lin Yi’s eyes zeroed in on the pillow on the bed..

He thought of the chopstick that had dissapeared from the breakfast table. He guessed that was Monster’s weapon of choice. So he grabbed hold of the pillow. If the 7-7 Monster suddenly comes in through the window, the pillow could offer a certain degree of protection.

There came a very clear ‘clank’ sound. 

When Lin Yi took the pillow, a key had fallen out from it. Lin Yi was attracted by the sound and glanced down. Unlike their room keys, this one didn’t have a number on it and so he didn’t know for which door it was.

Before Lin Yi could think about where the key might fit, from outside the window came, “Lin Yi Xiong?”

Lin Yi raised his head: “Give it up, I won’t be fooled.”

After all, his IQ was 143. It was a bit insulting having the 7-7 Monster try the same method over and over to trick him. 

His voice fell and there came movement from the window.

Like someone was pushing the window from outside.

Lin Yi quickly grabbed the pillow and made a defensive gesture. The window was opened. The window slowly slid aside along the track, revealing a narrow gap.

The figure’s shadown was pulled in. It seemed that Lin Yi had used by the Monster’s patience. Lin Yi wanted to retreat even farther but his back was already against the wall. He had no choice but to find a slightly more open space, so that if the 7-7 Monster came in, he would still have room to move. . 

The area within the room covered by the figure’s shadow grew bigger and bigger. The 7-7 Monster was getting closer and closer.

At the same time, Qin Zhou’s loud shout could suddenly be heard. “Cheng Yang!”

Lin Yi immediately breathed a sigh of relief, a sigh of having been freed from danger.

Then he slowly crept to the window and saw Qin Zhou grab Cheng Yang. Qin Zhou also saw him and motioned him with his eyes to hurry out of the duty room. 

Lin Yi jumped out of the window. As soon as he jumped out, the old dorm manager appeared from the corridor, following after Qin Zhou.

Lin Yi hurriedly pushed the window back close before the old dorm manager arrived.

Qin Zhou glanced at him and seeing that nothing had happened to Lin Yi, took Cheng Yang with them to Room 304.

Cheng Yang was flapping his arms. “Boss, I can’t breathe anymore. Loosen a bit, loosen!” 

Lin Yi was following behind them, keeping an eye on Cheng Yang.

When they reached Room 304, Qin Zhou released Cheng Yang. Cheng Yang rubbed his throat. Qin Zhou grabbed him by the collar all dragged him the entire way, making him a little unable to breathe.

Now that Qin Zhou let him go, Cheng Yang coughed and said aggrievedly, “Boss, why are you treating me like this?”

Qin Zhou stared at Cheng Yang. “What were you doing there?” 

Seeing that Qin Zhou was already asking what he wanted to ask, Lin Yi kept quiet and listened.

“Saving Lin Yi Xiong.” Cheng Yang said.

Seeing the serious expressions on Qin Zhou and Lin Yi’s faces, he shivered: “Did I ruin things? No, no. I just heard the commotion on the second floow so I decided to take a look. Seeing boss arguing with the old dorm manager, I thought something might be up.”

“I went looking for Lin Yi Xiong and knocked on Room 304’s door. When no one opened, I grew even more suspicious. I couldn’t find Lin Yi Xionig on the third floor and the second floor was locked, so that left the first floor.” 

Cheng Yang explained bitterly and then asked again, “Boss, did I mess things up?”

Seeing that Qin Zhou wasn’t paying him any attention, Cheng Yang turned to Lin Yi once again. “Lin Yi Xiong, did I mess things up?”

Lin Yi asked, “What made you think something was up?”

Cheng Yang said, “The boss was insisting on peeing on the second floor… It seemed unnecessary. Although the third floor toilet was a murder scene, boss wouldn’t be scared like this. And there’s also a toilet on the first floor. Today, I’ve been using the first floor toilets. If I know there’s a toilet on the first floor, it’s impossible for the boss to not know. I thought, there must be a reason for the boss to be on the second floor, but I couldn’t think any. So I thought of you.” Cheng Yang looked at Lin Yi and said, “Lin Yi Xiong is the only one I can ask for help, but I couldn’t find you anywhere. That’s when I figured it out, Lin Yi Xiong must be in danger. Else, the boss would never do such a stupid thing.” 

Lin Yi glanced at Qin Zhou, who was still staring at Cheng Yang in deep thought.

He thought about it and said, “Cheng Yang Xiong, jump.”

Cheng Yang: “Huh?”

“Oh.” 

Cheng Yang jumped and jumped. He was wearing loose T-shirt and pants. Because of Cheng Yang’s strenght, his jumping caused the floor beneath Lin Yi to shake.

If Cheng Yang had the chopsticks on him, they definitely would have fallen, but no chopsticks fell.

After doing the jumps, Cheng Yang asked Lin Yi, “Lin Yi Xiong, now what?”

Just as Lin Yi was about to speak, Qin Zhou said, “How long have been outside the duty room?” 

Cheng Yang said, “I just arrived. I heard movement in the duty room and then I tried calling out. Then I heard Lin Yi Xiong’s voice in the duty room.”

“I was pushing the window open to get Lin Yi Xiong out.” Cheng Yang asked after explaining, “Lin Yi Xiong, boss, did I really mess things up for you? I… I really didn’t mean to. My brain’s useless. I just wanted to save Lin Yi Xiong.”

“Cheng Yang Xiong,” Lin Yi called to him.

“Lin Yi Xiong, speak, speak.” Cheng Yang said. 

Lin Yi asked, “Did you see anything before you went to the duty room?”

“See what?” Cheng Yang thought back. “I don’t think so.”

Qin Zhou asked more clearly: “People.”

“People? I didn’t see anyone. When I got to the duty room, there was no one in the hall.” Cheng Yang thought about it, and suddenly stopped: “…” 

Qin Zhou asked, “Who?”

Cheng Yang said, “Sister Li Ying.”

“I was also afraid at the time. I have to confess, I was hesitating whether to save Lin Yi Xiong or not. While I was trying to make up my mind, I saw Sister Li Ying come out of the toilet on the first floor.”

After he finishing saying so, Cheng Yang asked again, “Does this count as seeing someone?” 

Lin Yi stared at Cheng Yang for a while, but didn’t see anything unusual.

He supposed that Qin Zhou was thinking more or less the same as he was so Qin Zhou waved his hand in a wretched manner. “Get out.”

Cheng Yang said aggrieved, “Oh.”

After feeling wronged, he started to head out. He stopped at the door and looked back at Qin Zhou and Lin Yi: “That.. I’m stupid, but if you need me, don’t be polite.” 

Cheng Yang said, “I really…I really can’t stand the feeling of waiting for death to come to my door.”

“Get out.” Qin Zhou said the same thing.

Cheng Yang opened the door but suddenly heard someone speak to him from behind.

Lin Yi: “Cheng Yang Xiong.” 

Cheng Yang looked back at him: “?”

Lin Yi asked, “How did you know that I was locked in the duty room?”

He emphasized the word ‘lock’.

Cheng Yang said, “Didn’t I just say it?” 

“No.” Lin Yi shook his head: “You pushed the window to save me, not the door. How did you know the door was locked but the window wasn’t?”

Cheng Yang looked at him.

The author has something to say: Is it Cheng Yang? Is it Cheng Yang?

Translator’s note: Sorry, guys but there won’t be any updates next week. I’m having a difficult time at work so I haven’t had time to translate. Barring anymore unforeseen problems, releases should resume on the 27th. orz