CH 65

“So fast?” When Gu Xizhou heard Si Yu’s words, it took a moment for him to snap out of it. Although it seemed like a long time, it didn’t even take a minute for Si Yu to look over the routes on Gu Xizhou’s notes.

“En.” Si Yu explained slowly, “Just now, I looked at the route of those students you followed. Furthermore, of the students I followed, there was one common feature—— when they were walking, if there were two consecutive left turns en route, they absolutely wouldn’t turn right, no matter where their destination was.” 

“Oh,” Gu Xizhou very quickly followed Si Yu’s reasoning. In fact, this was very simple——if a lone person took two left turns and then one right, they would be immediately run over and killed by a big truck.

“But the sample size is still too small. I can’t be completely confident of my judgement. For the sake of security, it’s better to have a few more samples,” said Si Yu softly. “We’ll wait for a student to come out and try again.”

Gu Xizhou: “Okay.”

“Excuse me!” 

Gu Xizhou and Si Yu were sitting on the staircase conversing when they suddenly heard the strong and robust voice of a man.

A middle-aged man around fifty years old stood behind them, holding a pile of discarded newspapers in his left hand and a bowl of wonton noodles in his right. He raised his brows and said, “What are you doing loitering in the doorway? You’re blocking me from throwing out the trash!”

This middle-aged man should be the dormitory supervisor. Upon seeing Gu Xizhou and Si Yu, he couldn’t help but complain: “Students nowadays don’t study properly; they only know how to waste their parents’ money.”

Gu Xizhou and Si Yu stood up at the same time to make way for the man.

“Hold on!”

Si Yu heard from beside him. He looked back at Gu Xizhou.

“Uncle, I’ll help you throw this trash away. You eat your wontons first. They won’t taste as good when they’re cold.”

When he heard Gu Xizhou, the supervisor thanked him and stuffed the newspapers into Gu Xizhou’s hands. With a mischievous grin, he said, “Okay, thanks! You can look for me if you need anything!” 

After waiting for the middle-aged man to depart, Gu Xizhou opened the newspaper. After a moment, he said, “No need to wait for the students. The cause of death is precisely left, left, right.”

Si Yu heard him, and his eyelashes drooped as he looked down at the newspaper Gu Xizhou was pointing to. The newspaper was from yesterday, and the title was written in a row of bright red, eye-catching letters: Shocking! Madwoman Ran Away From Home and Was Run Over by a Large Truck! A Terrifying Demise!

The information also included a map of the path from the deceased’s home to the place of the accident. The route was exactly what Si Yu had just surmised about the death condition—— turn left, turn left, turn right. The madwoman in the newspaper had just turned right when she was crushed and drawn under an out of control truck. After being twisted and rolled under the tires many times, she finally died. 

“How did you think to ask him for the old newspaper?” Si Yu asked.

Gu Xizhou shrugged. He pointed at the newspaper’s large red print and said, “He was standing right there shaking the newspaper around. Big truck, third-year university student, all in big red letters. It would be harder not to see it.”

Si Yu nodded faintly. After determining the cause of death, they didn’t leave the dormitory but rather found the dormitory supervisor’s discarded newspaper.

“Supervisor uncle, do you have today’s newspaper?” Gu Xizhou stood outside the dorm supervisor’s room and asked. “I want to look at today’s news.” 

“Oh, it’s you.” The dorm supervisor still had some impression of Gu Xizhou, and the corners of his eyes wrinkled. He beckoned him over and said, “Come in, ba, but you can only look at it in here. You can’t take it away. I still haven’t read it.”

“Here, it’s on the table.”

Gu Xizhou and Si Yu looked at each other, then at the newspaper on the table. Just as expected, there was a huge headline at the top: Vagrant Man Who Didn’t Eat for Five Days Starved to Death on Streets.

He expected to see some bizarre form of death, but starvation seemed like it had nothing to do with him. Gu Xizhou flipped through the entire newspaper, but that story was the only news pertaining to someone’s death. 

Coafg atjcxlcu atf vbgw reqfgnlrbg, Xe Wlhtbe obivfv atf cfkrqjqfg jcv qea la yjmx lc lar qijmf. Ktfc, atfs ifoa atf vbgw reqfgnlrbg’r gbbw.

“Le, P atbeuta la kbeiv yf jcbatfg mjg jmmlvfca. Pa’r ilwlafv ab bcf wfatbv, rb kf vbc’a tjnf ab ibbx obg atja rbga bo atlcu.” Xe Wlhtbe delgxfv atf mbgcfgr bo tlr wbeat lc j rwlif, ybat tjcvr lc tlr qbmxfar jr tf rqbxf mjgfifrris, bynlberis cba ajxlcu la rfglberis.

Si Yu glanced at him thoughtfully, deciding to temporarily refrain from destroying Gu Xizhou’s good mood. Changing the subject, he said, “Go, ba. First let’s look for the others and tell them the rule.”

“Okay, ah.” Gu Xizhou was successfully distracted. “Let’s hurry up! But really, Si Yu, how’d you get a brain like that? How are you so smart? Just walking can lead to death, who could think of it, ah!” 

Si Yu was uninterested in Gu Xizhou’s praise. Instead, he tugged Gu Xizhou and said, “Go faster.”

They made sure not to take two left turns on their way through the school. They constantly made right and left turns. After about ten minutes, Gu Xizhou ran into Fang Zhi. Of the other three scattered teammates, two triggered the death condition, but there was one female student who survived due to luck like Xia Hang and Bai Dongyang.

The remaining nine people gathered together in the teaching building, talking in whispers.

“I-I tripped and fell on the road, so I didn’t turn right…” The surviving young woman, Xiao Yue, looked pale, and she was crying as she spoke. “If I hadn’t stepped on my own shoelace, I also…” 

“You’re really lucky!” Cheng Yue listened to the surviving girl give an account of her two companions’ deaths. He stared at her for a long time before he finally choked out a sentence.

“Okay,” Si Yu took over the conversation and grabbed the old newspaper Gu Xizhou found. He said, “This is yesterday’s newspaper. Gu Xizhou and I also saw today’s newspaper in the dorm supervisor’s room.”

Cheng Yue asked calmly, “What’s in it?”

Gu Xizhou and Si Yu looked at each other before Gu Xizhou answered Cheng Yue. “The headline is: Vagrant Man Who Didn’t Eat for Five Days Starved to Death on Streets.” 

“Starved to death?” Cheng Yue let out a breath. “Seems like it has nothing to do with us.”

One of their other teammates nodded in agreement and said, “Right, ah! So long as we don’t follow the deadly route, we’ll be alright!”

“Let’s go, ba. We’ll go upstairs and see if that woman isn’t here.” Cheng Yue said.

Si Yu didn’t say anything, but Gu Xizhou knew he didn’t mention the headline for no reason. Since Si Yu didn’t say anything, he temporarily decided not to ask anything either. 

At the head of the stairs of one side of the teaching block, there was a mirror. Gu Xizhou glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Inside the mission world, he looked very gentle. Compared to the real world, he also looked more pale, and he was a little shorter.

Fang Zhi still had a baby face, but compared with outside, he was tall!

The mission world was indeed illogical. Gu Xizhou was speechless.

“Go upstairs, ba. Remember the path that leads to death.” Si Yu walked in front and warned the others, “Don’t forget about it when you’re running away, either, or else no one will be able to save you.” 

As they walked, the others mentioned that they should certainly be even more cautious in this world. Most of them, like Gu Xizhou, were in their third world. It wasn’t the first time that Si Yu, this big shot with over ten worlds of experience, had seen such a strange death condition.

“This is my third world. Why is it so difficult?” Gu Xizhou whispered. They walked ahead of the others and talked quietly.

Si Yu looked at Gu Xizhou, and his expression was also at a loss. In a voice that only they could hear, he said, “I also think it’s odd. The first two weren’t bad. This next mission world shouldn’t have newcomers.”

Noticing Si Yu’s hesitant expression, like he wanted to say something, Gu Xizhou tugged at him and said, “What do you want to say? Say it directly!” 

“The experience from the mission worlds with you is less than one ninth of what it used to be,” said Si Yu, knitting his brows.

Gu Xizhou: “It’s normal for a level 18 bigshot to get a smaller reward for a level three monster!”

Si Yu heard Gu Xizhou’s explanation and reluctantly said, “En.” Then, he walked ahead.

Seeing this, Gu Xizhou heaved a sigh of relief. He raised his eyes to look at Si Yu’s back. His heart was stuffy. Stingy world, even if he was cheating, it didn’t need to deduct points so ruthlessly, right? 

Si Yu entered the empty office. He went to Su Xiaomian’s desk for a moment before walking to the window.

Gu Xizhou walked to the window and looked down. He saw the short-haired woman standing downstairs. Her eyes bent smilingly after seeing Gu Xizhou and Si Yu. She turned toward the dining hall. As she left, a few students waved to her.

“Do we chase her?” Cheng Yue asked, turning hopefully toward Si Yu. It was clear that Cheng Yue had chosen to obey Si Yu, so now he turned to look for his opinion.

“No need,” said Si Yu, looking at the reflection in the glass of the open door. “She’s coming.” 

Gu Xizhou looked at the figure in the glass. From the head of long hair, it wasn’t difficult to guess the person’s identity.

“So you were all here!” When Su Xiaomian entered the office, there was a smile on her face. Because she was very beautiful, it was as if this warmed the heart and delighted the eye.

Gu Xizhou nodded.

Si Yu took out the newspaper. Pointing to the report, he asked, “Teacher Su, do you know the insane woman from this car accident?” 

Su Xiaomian picked up the newspaper and looked it over carefully. She took a very long time to peruse the report before she finally said dully, “I don’t know.”

“Think again, carefully.” Si Yu persuaded.

Su Xiaomian shook her head and said weakly, “I’m certain.”

After she said this, Su Xiaomian glanced at her watch and offered them an invitation, “Do you want to eat lunch together?” 

“No need, go ahead. We’ll find out the cause as soon as possible.”

Su Xiaomian nodded faintly upon hearing Si Yu’s refusal, quickly leaving the office.

After Si Yu saw her leave, he began to rummage through her drawer with an indifferent expression. The others quickly began to help. Soon, the drawer’s contents had been entirely combed through.

“Fuck, there’s so much makeup and bags! I thought her drawer was full of those specialized books for university teachers!” 

“It doesn’t look like there’s anything useful.

Gu Xizhou stood at the office window. Just like before, he saw Su Xiaomian leaving the teaching building. He stopped and looked for a while. Cheng Yue moved closer and asked, “Did you discover something?”

Gu Xizhou said, “Yesterday, when she took us to the dormitory, a lot of people greeted her along the way.”

Cheng Yue gave an objective evaluation, “She’s really good-looking. It’s not strange for someone to greet her.” 

“Right, but now, watch how none of the students greet her.” Gu Xizhou pointed at Su Xiaomian in the distance.

Si Yu said straightforwardly, “She was already replaced.”

Everyone was struck speechless by these words, and the atmosphere was suddenly silent.

They quickly left the teaching building. After eating lunch in the dining hall, they searched all afternoon without finding any clues. 

After dinner, they returned to their rooms and washed their faces. Gu Xizhou lay on the bed.

“Gugugu——”

Gu Xizhou stared at the ceiling as his stomach growled and grumbled, “I’m starving, ah.”

“I’m hungry, too.” 

Fang Zhi agreed with Gu Xizhou.

“Haha,” Gu Xizhou laughed, but suddenly his smile froze as he recalled the day’s events. He struck the bed plank and asked, “Si Yu, are you hungry?”

“En.”

Gu Xizhou: “Fuck!” 

“Gu Ge, what’s wrong?” Fang Zhi sat up in bed and looked at Gu Xizhou.

Gu Xizhou called out and jumped down from the bed. His eyes fell on Si Yu and his expression read “pain in the ass”. He recited the article they read earlier that day. “Vagrant Man Who Didn’t Eat for Five Days Starved to Death on Streets.”

“Ah,” Si Yu rolled his eyes and said, “You still have a bit of IQ.”

Gu Xizhou looked at Si Yu with a deep hidden bitterness. “The woman who died in a traffic accident corresponds to one of the death methods. Starving to death, this shouldn’t correspond to…” 

Si Yu mercilessly interrupted Gu Xizhou conjecture with an indifferent tone, “Right. If we can’t leave in five days, we will starve to death. That’s why I said there shouldn’t be newcomers in this world.”

“……” This one is a little ruthless, ah.

“Originally, there were twelve days to clear this mission world, but in reality there are only five days.”

Gu Xizhou said begrudgingly, “You already guessed it. Why didn’t you tell me to eat more at dinner today!” 

Si Yu ignored him and turned so his back was facing him.

Gu Xizhou seldom suffered from insomnia, but he was half-awake all night. As soon as he fell asleep, he was woken by the feeling of hunger. It was truly difficult to bear. At dawn, the whole team, each and every one with dark circles under their eyes, entered the dining hall just like fierce tigers, throwing themselves and the food to devour it.

After eating countless steamed buns, Gu Xizhou was still unsatisfied. He looked at his stomach with distress and only felt gnawing hunger.

He would rather be chased by a ghost… well, to speak more accurately——he chased ghosts. 

The author has something to say: Goodnight, the death method in this chapter should be understandable… qwq

Crooked: Someday I will learn to translate in a timely manne