CH 25

Chapter 25 

The assembled crowd dispersed. When Yellow Shirt was about to leave, Qin Zhou suddenly said, “Stop right there.”

Yellow Shirt stopped and looked at Qin Zhou uneasily.

“Your name.” Qin Zhou glanced at him.

The expression on Yellow shirt’s face suddenly changed. It was only at this time that he became inwardly apprehensive and regretful. The student council just mentioned that they also keep track of the students’ usual conduct. Could what he did just now, riling up the student body, be considered as bad behavior… 

It also caught the attention of this student council president.

Yellow shirt moved his lips. Qin Zhou repeated impatiently, “Your name.”

Yellow shirt couldn’t bear it. Seeing how helplessly stupid he was, Qin Zhou frowned and waved his hand impatiently, “Scram. Just get out of here.”

Yellow shirt looked as though he’d been granted amnesty and quickly made himself scarce.

Qin Zhou just wanted to Yellow shirt’s name. In his experience, this kind of thorn was likely to cause trouble and thus, they needed to keep a closer eye on him. Just like when he first met Little genius; he too felt that Little genius was a thorn, a death-seeking sort of thorn.

Not all thorns were the same.

Qin Zhou then looked at Lin Yi. The Little genius instinctively looked away and avoided his eyes. Lin Yi then realized that wasn’t quite right and turned his head back to greet Qin Zhou politely, “Hello, Senior.”

Qin Zhou asked, “It’s getting dark, what are you still standing around here for? Go and head to bed.” 

Lin Yi was absolutely thankful for these words of Qin Zhou’s. All he wanted to do was to slip away. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Qin Zhou was holding back his anger right now.

“Good night, Senior. Goodbye, Senior.” Lin Yi quickly slipped away.

Cheng Yang hurriedly said, “Hey, Lin Yi Xiong, wait for me…”

Once the two left, Ou Ying came over with a worried expression. “Zhou Ge, the campus rules…” 

Qin Zhou said, “It’s been updated automatically.”

Ou Ying’s face immediately turned pale: “How… how’s that possible?”

The student union had been the one to compile the rules into a book. Every rule within had been recorded by them. Whenever someone successfully emerges from Rule World, the student union would immediately hold a meeting to formulate countermeasures through the Rule World’s rules of death.

The student union would then test whether they can successfully escape using their formulated countermeasures. If successful, the student union will immediately update the campus rules. 

Ou Ying thought this time was the same. However, in actuality, Qin Zhou had held a meeting because of the campus rules’ automatic update.

This automatic update of the campus rules made Ou Ying think of Qin Zhou’s predecessor’s theory that the Unnatural Engineering University was actually a Rule World based in the real world.

A chill penetrated into every pore on their bodies. A shiver went down Ou Ying’s spine. “Zhou Ge, what did you encounter in the 7-7 Rule World?”

“You guys, head on out first.” Qin Zhou said to the other members the student union. He then turned Ou Ying and said, “Let’s talk and walk.” 

There were three dormitory buildings in the Unnatural Engineering University. One was solely for freshmen. Seniors were scattered between he dormitory buildings for the sophomores and juniors. Generally speaking, there were simply too few students who reached their senior year.

Qin Zhou and Ou Ying both lived in the sophomore dorms, just behind the freshman’s dormitory.

On the way back to their dorm, Qin Zhou said to Ou Ying, “The 7-7 Monster was killed.”

Ou Ying stopped and looked at Qin Zhou in disbelief. “Killed? What happened?” 

She was familiar with Qin Zhou and although Qin Zhou had previously discussed with her the possibility of using the rules of death to kill the Monsters, Qin Zhou had responsibilities and had always erred towards the stable.

“En.” Qin Zhou lit a cigarette.

Ou Ying was Qin Zhou’s most capable deputy. Ou Ying too had found solutions to several of the campus rules. And thus, Qin Zhou, hiding nothing, simply said, “There was a little genius among the freshmen…”

Ou Ying tensed listening to Qin Zhou’s recounting of their last night in the 7-7 Rule World. Shaken by his account, she said, “Zhou Ge, are you just going to let this little genius go? If by any chance… Zhou Ge, what do you think? .” 

Qin Zhou: “I don’t know. He’s already obsessed.”

It had actually been extremely risky. Back then, Qin Zhou hadn’t known what Lin Yi was planning to do and yet he didn’t stop him and instead, took Zhou Lingling with him to the dining room.

Seeing Lin Yi push Cheng Yang out of the dormitory’s front door, his first thought had been “The Little genius is really looking to die”. But, he never thought about stopping him.

Qin Zhou suspected that he already had the answer in his heart. He believed it; he believed that Lin Yi was a god teammate. 

Ou Ying was clearly impressed. “It’s really amazing for a freshman to have this kind of impromptu reaction. Zhou Ge, have you thought about inviting him to join the student union?”

Qin Zhou thought back on Lin Yi’s display of ability in the 7-7 Rule World. He had already managed to school his expression and he had even managed to dampen the fire in his heart, but hearing Ou Ying’s words, a crack in his expression begun to once again appear.

The little genius wasn’t willing to join the student union.

Maybe he was afraid of being peeped at by Qin Zhou. 

Otherwise, there was no other explanation. Based on what little Qin Zhou knew of Lin Yi, Lin Yi had his secrets and Lin Yi was very curious about this place. Even before going into the Rule World, Lin Yi was rearing to join the student union.

Now, in order not to renege on his promise, he chose not to join the student union.

Qin Zhou: “…”

Looks like he’s been rejected. 

As he thought about it, Qin Zhou started to feel a sting on his self-esteem. He turned his head and asked Ou Ying, “Is everything ready for tomorrow?”

Zfjcktlif, Olc Tl abiv Jtfcu Tjcu fnfgsatlcu atja tjv tjqqfcfv lc atf 7-7 Eeif Qbgiv yea tf abiv la ogbw tlr bkc qblca bo nlfk. Pc atf 7-7 Eeif Qbgiv, tf jiwbra jikjsr rajsfv klat Hlc Itbe jcv vlvc’a tjnf wemt mbcajma klat Jtfcu Tjcu, rb Jtfcu Tjcu vlvc’a wjxf j iba bo jqqfjgjcmfr lc tlr rabgs.

However, the statement, “You were possessed by the 7-7 Monster” was enough to make Cheng Yang horrified. He let out a few “f*ck”s in succession and then said, “It wasn’t a dream, my God…”

Lin Yi asked Cheng Yang, “Were you conscious?” 

“No…sigh…” Cheng Yang scratched his head, trying his best to recall the feeling: “I don’t know. Lin Yi Xiong, do you know that feeling when you dream? You totally can’t control yourself, you don’t even know what you’re doing but no matter how absurd everything is, you think it’s completely normal. Right now, it’s like I’m waking up from a dream. I have a vague recollection of these things you’ve told me but when I try to think about it, my mind crashes.”

Lin Yi had simply asked casually; he wasn’t really expecting much.

Cheng Yang said, “Lin Yi Xiong, may I be so presumptuous as to ask you a favor?”

Lin Yi: “What?” 

Cheng Yang said, “Can I sleep in your dorm room tonight? I’m f*cking scared…”

Lin Yi said, “What did you say?”

Cheng Yang repeated honestly, “Lin Yi Xiong, can I sleep in your dorm room tonight? I don’t dare to be alone.”

Lin Yi said, “Back up one more sentence.” 

“The sentence before that?” Cheng Yang thought for a while. “May I be so presumptuous as to ask you a favor?”

Lin Yi disguised himself with indifference and said coldly, “You may not.”

Cheng Yang: “…”

Lin Yi rejected Cheng Yang so directly that he felt a little embarrassed, mainly because he was embarrassed for Cheng Yang. He thought about it and explained, “It’s not for anything else but because I’m afraid of being alone with you.” 

After all, Cheng Yang had been the Monster in the 7-7 Rule World.

Cheng Yang was persuaded by Lin Yi. What kind of brother would he be after all if he transferred his fear unto his good brother?

Cheng Yang turned around and walked away, turning to look back three times for every step.

After Lin Yi watched Cheng Yang return to his bedroom, he closed his bedroom door. 

His plan was to sleep. He hadn’t slept in the Rule World for several days and now he felt exhausted. He couldn’t wait to get out his MP4 player and let the white noise accompany him to sleep.

Lin Yi went out to wash up. When he turned on the faucet, the water pipe made a few ‘gugu’ sounds. These sounds made Lin Yi temporarily pause. He stared at the running water. Toothbrush in his mouth, Lin Yi went over the campus rules.

After a while he found a related rule.

1-6: The school will only provide hot water from 7:00-21:00. The rest of the time, the taps must be closed tight. 

Lin Yi looked at the time and breathed out a sigh of relief.

That was a close call. It was only five minutes before nine.

Afterwards, a hint of happiness appeared in Lin Yi’s eyes.

He wasn’t very impressed with these rules that already had countermeasures. If the Rules of Death could so easily be discovered, they must be low-level Monsters. 

He wants to meet monsters that were even more advanced than the 7-7 Monster.

Lin Yi quickly finished washing within these last five minutes. He then tightened the tap and the flow of water, surging out like blood from arteries, stopped.

He lay down in the bed with the campus rulebook. If he didn’t memorize these rules, it would indeed be all too easy to step on a mine. However, he had no intention of memorizing them all just yet.

He thought about the unresolved rules that the freshmen found during the earlier assembly. 

Page 2, rule 6.

Page 3, rule 9.

Page 4, rule 5.

Page 8, rule 5. 

…

As a portion of the entire body of rules, the unresolved one really weren’t all that many but picking them all out, they weren’t that few either.

Lin Yi looked at these rules. He remembered that Ou Ying said that these rules appeared less frequently than the 7-7 rule.

But Lin Yi didn’t know just how frequently Ou Ying meant. 

Holding the campus rulebook, Lin Yi pondered this question. Since the student union had to rank the students based on their grades and their conduct, the student union must have figured out the cycle of these rules and the mid-term and final exams must be very important evaluation criteria.

He was guessing whether or not the cycle of these rules were near the mid-terms and final exams, when his phone buzzed.

The phone was right next to Lin Yi. When Qin Zhou had dismissed them, he said that their advisor would be contacting them and so, Lin Yi had purposefully left his phone within reach.

The upper right corner of his mobile phone screen still showed ‘no signal’. After checking this, Lin Yi then looked at the latest message he had received. 

It was a table. When Lin Yi swiped with his two fingers to enlarge the picture, he realized that it was a class schedule.

Class Schedule

Class Name: Class 22 Bioengineering (14 students)

Monday: University Physics (Life and Environment) 

Applied Mathematics for Engineering B (Biology)

Chemistry Fundamentals 2

Chemistry Fundamentals 3

Tuesday: Advanced Mathematics 

Linear Algebra

Engineering Fundamentals 2

Engineering Fundamentals 1

Wednesday: College English 

Cell Biology

Plant Tissue and Culture Technology

Organic Chemistry

Thursday:…… 

Friday:  …

Saturday:……

Lin Yi scanned through his schedule, feeling a little suffocated.

Lin Yi: “?” 

F*ck, he had a full load.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Yi felt a little weird. The class schedule itself didn’t feel weird but this very normal schedule that appeared on his mobile phone — in an abnormal world, anything normal seemed very weird.

To be honest, back then, Lin Yi had chosen his major on a whim. He didn’t expect for there to actually be professors teaching here. The courses were so normal that they couldn’t be more normal.

Could there really be professors teaching at this school? 

Lin Yi pursed his lower lip. He was thinking about it when his phone rang.

This time it was an incoming call. The caller ID was one word followed by a string of numbers: Advisor 0213.

Lin Yi still wasn’t presented any choice whether to accept the call or hang up. All he could do was wait.

The phone rang for a while and then a man appeared on his phone screen. Lin Yi was so scared, he almost dropped his phone. 

Why a video!

Why a video call!

“Good evening, class.” The man in the video stared at the camera, “I am your advisor and I am very sorry to be meeting you all at this university.”

Lin Yi looked at his phone screen carefully, making sure that he wasn’t appearing on it. He was relieved to find out that this was a one-way video call; only the advisor’s camera was open. 

“There are 14 people in Class 22 Bioengineering. I’ve created a group chat where we can communicate with one another.”

The advisor said, “I have several things to tell you in this call. The first and most important, the student union must have already approached you and introduced you to the situation of the university. There are two points that students must pay attention to. I will reiterate these again. You must memorize the campus rules and you must study well and progress every day.”

“Next, I shall add a third point. As long as you stay alive, there’s hope. No matter what, you must not commit suicide! Committing suicide here will have unimaginable and terrible consequences! You must remember that you must never commit suicide. The consequences are unimaginable! As long as you follow the arrangements of the student union, everyone will have a chance of surviving! Please hold fast to the belief that we will be able to leave here one day!!! If you feel pressured, you can find support from each other. The campus medical office has also set up a psychological counseling room and everyone is welcome!!!”

By the time the advisor finished the third point, he was very nearly clutching his hair. After he finished speaking, he was silent for a while. He then calmly said, “Let’s move on to other matters. Come to Classroom 101, Building A, before 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. I will be waiting for you in the classroom to hand you your textbooks. After receiving your textbooks, you can go back to the dormitory or go to the library. Of course, you may also go to the cafeteria to eat. Classes are temporarily on hold for the next few days. After this period of time, I will inform you again the time for your classes. Um, yes, after this period of time…” 

Lin Yi stared at the advisor. The advisor didn’t seem very old. He looked to only be seven or eight years older than them.

As he kept looking, he suddenly felt his phone buzz. A message notification appeared on the screen.

Class 22 Bioengineering-Cheng Yang: Why do I feel like… this advisor…

Class 22 Bioengineering – Cheng Yang: is under a bit of psychological pressure? 

Lin Yi: “…”

The advisor leaned forward towards the camera. Half his face filled the phone screen. Lin Yi saw that the advisor’s eyeballs were dashed with red veins. He leaned closer to the camera to see the barrage – like message from Cheng Yang.

After reading it, the corner of the advisor’s mouth twitched. He said, “I’m OK. I just came back from psychological counseling and I’ve taken my medicine. I’m fine. Thank you Cheng Yang for your concern.”

Class 22 Bioengineering – Cheng Yang: Teacher 0213, you have worked hard… 

Classes 22 Bioengineering – Zhang Jiao: Since classes won’t be starting yet, can I get my books after classes start?

Class 22 Bioengineering – Cao Chenyang: Yes, yes.

Lin Yi didn’t know how his college classmates were sending these messages. He had never liked studying the functions of these electronic app but after hearing the advisor answer his classmates’ questions one by one, Lin Yi became anxious. He also had questions to ask.

“0213 is my communication number. Oh yes, I forgot to introduce myself. My surname is Jiang, fist name Dao. Just call me Teacher Jiang in the future.” 

“You may also pick up your books after classes start.” The advisor said, “But are you sure you don’t want to study it earlier?”

Advisor: “I know you’re afraid, so I set the time for getting your books at 10 o’clock. It’s a time full of yang energy.”

“Hahahaha, I’m just joking.” The corner of the advisor’s mouth drooped and he said, “It’s not the least bit funny, right? I think so too.”

“Question about contact numbers? After the video call, you can look in your address book. The names and numbers of your other 13 classmates should appear there. Just dial it directly as usual.” The advisor said, “But your phone needs to have power. There are electrical sockets provided in your dorm rooms.” 

Class 22 Bioengineering – Cheng Yang: Hello, Teacher Jiang. Can we only contact students from our major?

“My authority can only provide you contact to others in your major. If you want to contact other people, you can apply with the student union.” The advisor said, “The authority of the student union is higher than mine. If your grades are low, I won’t have any right to speak to protect you. So, are you sure you want to get your textbooks after classes start?”

Class 22 Bioengineering – Cheng Yang: Teacher Jiang, does your authority allow you to find out which major Lin Yi is in?

“It doesn’t but…” 

The advisor said, “Isn’t Lin Yi in our major? If I remember correctly, his name is so peculiar that there no other student with the same name in the entire university.”

Cheng Yang: “…”

Lin Yi: “…”

“Do you have any other questions? You can ask them here.” The advisor said, “I will tell you everything I know. If not, we can end the video call.” 

Lin Yi still hadn’t figured out how to send a message. He wanted to call Cheng Yang as the advisor taught him but doing so would cut the video call.

Lin Yi was completely flustered.

Fortunately, at this time, he didn’t know what it was he pressed but the text box popped up. Lin Yi anxiously began to type…

“If there are no questions—” 

The advisor’s voice abruptly stopped.

His face was so desperately squeezed into the camera that his entire face seemed to come out of the screen.

Class 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Hello, Teacher Jiang, QAQ.

Class 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Is the reason why classes won’t be starting for the next few days because this period is when students are released to unresolved Monsters? QAQ. 

Level 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Teacher Jiang, do you know which Monster will it be this time?

Level 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Teacher Jiang, you’ll definitely answer me, right?

Level 22 Biological Engineering – Lin Yi: Manual Star Eyes.

Level 22 Biological Engineering – Cheng Yang: … 

Fearing that the text box would suddenly disappear, Lin Yi asked all his own question in one go. Fortunately, the Internet connection was stable and though he was a social phobic it didn’t stop him from acting cute.

For freshmen, these few days when classes were suspended was the beginning of a new semester. This wasn’t the case for the old students. For sophomores, juniors, and seniors, the beginning of a new semester meant a reckoning of the results of the previous semester.

Although Lin Yi was attending college for the first time, he knew that make-up exams for failing college courses were usually completed before the new semester starts.

Delaying the start of their classes probably wasn’t in order not to disturb higher level students from their make up exams. It must be because they were afraid that bystanders might bump into them as their deploying the slackers into the Rule World. 

After all, this was an unresolved Rule World. If someone were to run into them, there were no countermeasures to avoid being sucked into it.

Lin Yi stared at the phone screen. He saw the advisor biting his nails nervously. He was also nervous. He was afraid that the advisor, like Qin Zhou, won’t fall for his ‘acting cute’ tricks.

He waited for a while and just when he began to reflect on whether he still had yet to learn the essence of being cute, the advisor finally nodded.

“That’s right. These few days are the ‘release’ period.” The advisor’s voice sounded lifeless, “The 2-6 Monster will appear during these few days.” 

“Classes are delayed not only for you. Sophomores, juniors and seniors have had all their classes suspected to ensure everyone’s safety.” The advisor cheered up and comforted them, “But don’t be afraid, the student union will be on duty where 2-6 appears. Even if you unfortunately run into them, the student union will warn you.”

Lin Yi immediately opened the school rulebook he had on hand.

Rule six on page two, rule six on page two, rule six on page two.

Muttering to himself, he turned to the 2-6 rule. 

Rule 2-6: There are no ghosts on campus, if one appears… (to be added)

Lin Yi thought for a while. He then haphazardly tapped his fingers on the screen of his phone like crazy. The text box appeared for him.

He originally wanted to ask the advisor how many people the 2-6 Monsters had eaten so far. But he was afraid that asking this question too bluntly would scare the others, so Lin Yi used three questions to ask in a roundabout way.

Class 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Teacher Jiang, do you know the appearance cycle for the 2-6 Monster? 

Class 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Teacher Jiang, do you know how many people will be sent into the 2-6 Rule World for each instance of 2-6?

Class 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Teacher Jiang, do you know how long the 2-6 Monster has existed?

Level 22 Bioengineering – Lin Yi: Thank you, Teacher Jiang, QAQ.

Lin Yi thought, even if the 2-6 Monster didn’t appear frequently, so long as it has existed long enough, it would prove that the 2-6 Monster was a strong one. After all, if Qin Zhou was still leaving it be even after such a long time, it meant this rule was very tricky. 

Only that compared to the 7-7 Rule, dealing with the 2-6 Rule wasn’t as urgent.

These things that Lin Yi was asking were actually things many of the freshmen wanted to know. They might not have thought of it like Lin Yi had but since Lin Yi asked, they all wanted to know the answer.

When one is at one’s wit’s end, knowing more would give one a kind of psychological comfort. The more you know, the less likely you are to die.

Although if one were to quantify in weight how much of a comfort this gave, it was pitifully ‘light as a feather’. 

“How long has it existed?” The advisor lowered his eyes and thought for a long time. After thinking about it, he counted with his fingers again. “The year I committed suicide, the 2-6 Rule had already existed for six years and now…”

Lin Yi was taken aback and he suddenly stared intently at his phone screen.

Cheng Yang tremblingly sent out a message: Did I hear wrong? Can some kind student repeat what Teacher Jiang just said…

The advisor said, “Oh, I can repeat myself.” 

“The year I committed suicide…”