CH 8

(Is this really a horror game?)

The girl being treated as a mop croaked out a hearty laugh: “Idiot, you can use them as brooms!” 

The dormitory administrator immediately woke up.

That’s right, if they can’t be mops, they can be brooms!

The dorm administrator no longer hesitated, and she lifted her head to glare viciously at the two rule-breaking students before she lifted the girl off the ground and brandished it in their direction.

The girl seemed extremely elated to witness the misfortune of others and she issued a strange laugh. Jaw opened wide, she bared her pointed and sharp teeth as if she wanted to tear off a huge chunk of meat the moment it touched flesh. 

Zhou Wenyan was about to push Shen Dongqing aside but before he had the time to act, he witnessed the shorter man leap out sharply as he gave the dormitory administrator a kick.

The dormitory administrator was a big aunt in her forties or fifties, and with a girl in her arms, her centre of gravity was unstable to begin with. When the kick snapped out, the dormitory administrator promptly lost her balance and fell back to the ground.

The girl grunted as she rolled to the side. Having regained her freedom, she immediately turned on the dormitory administrator who had always regarded her as a mop.

But because the girl was somewhat used to being a mop, both her legs were dragging along the floor, limp, and she could only rely on her hands to crawl which a serpentine trail of blood behind her as she moved.

“Help me!” The girl’s voice was shrill, “You will only be safe if you kill her!”

Under such circumstances, Zhou Wenyan made a prompt decision and decided to deal with the dormitory administrator first.

The dormitory administrator was still human by technicality and she was completely dependent on her identity as an administrator and the “tool” in her hands. Now that the girl had become a turncoat, Zhou Wenyan dealt with her without having to expend much effort.

Legs twitching once, the administrator’s head tilted to the side as her life’s breath fled her. 

And just as Zhou Wenyan was about to get up, he suddenly noticed the residual image that the girl left in his peripheral vision and the image of the pleased smirk on her face.

As long as she killed these two students, she could become the new administrator!

The girl’s eyes were scarlet as she stared at the distant person with dead eyes. Although her legs were without strength, with her palms flat on the ground, she was akin to a cheetah as she reached Shen Dongqing in a blink of eye. With her astonishing speed, it made it hard for others to react in time. 

Opening her mouth wide, saliva dripped down from her lips as she stared at Shen Dongqing’s slender neck greedily, wanting to bite it off.

Just one more step, before she could… Huh?

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Zhou Wenyan’s eyes swept across the girl who could no longer get up. 

His execution was direct and efficient and it went straight for the lethal points. He was merciless, no matter their appearance or identity; and it seemed like Little Dongqing was not as simple and naïve as he might appear to be.

Zhou Wenyan stood at the side as an intrigued smile emerged at the corner of his lips – if this was how he was, he could go further in this game.

Shen Dongqing lowered his feet and twisted it on the ground resentfully: “You’re too dirty, stay further away from me.”

Having been treated as a mop, it was natural that the girl was not clean by any extent, to say nothing of the fact that her entire body was bloodstained. 

When she heard what Shen Dongqing said, she hefted her head up. “You, you…”

But before she could finish her words, she was reduced to a streak of white light and she vanished from where she lay.

Concurrently, a slip of paper drifted down slowly and fell into the Shen Dongqing’s hands.

It wrote: 

【 Ever since then, the atmosphere of the school became stranger…

Could this be retribution? 】

There was no beginning or end to the sentence which made it impossible to comprehend what the paper was trying to say.

After reading the note, Zhou Wenyan kept it in his pocket. “Let’s check out the female dormitory.”

As soon as he said those words, Shen Dongqing gazed at him with shocked eyes. 

“It’s not what you think.” Zhou Wenyan explained, “Every dormitory building must have an administrator. Since we managed to find a piece of information here, the female dormitory might leave one as well.”

Then, he smiled again, “It’s just like a game.”

But this was not a real game; there was no saving and starting over, there were no extra lives, nor were they the main characters. 

Whenever a player died, it meant that a life was lost.

Zhou Wenyan did not know how many games he had been through, but he had never witnessed a single player manage to leave the game.

Maybe one day he would be driven insane by this game which had no end button, but…

He glanced at the person following behind him, and silently said in his heart: 

Not now.

Despite the ruckus they made just now, no one came out to take a look.

The students did not dare to violate the school rules and players naturally placed their own lives before the matter of moral values, and they preferred to temporarily preserve their lives, one day at a time. 

With one walking at the front and the other at the back, the pair walked out of the boy’s dormitory. Under the cold white lights of road lamps, it dragged out two shadows.

The campus was extremely quiet at night. Where light failed to illuminate was a thick darkness; and it seemed to hide something that was constantly lurking and silently watching.

The boys’ and girls’ dormitory were not far apart.

It took the two of them five minutes to walk there, and another three to deal with the administrator from the girl’s dormitory. 

Sure enough, they obtained another slip of paper.

【 I know that the indifferent bystanders are the murderers as well

No, no… I shouldn’t have gone up to the rooftops that day, then wouldn’t it have… 】

Zhou Wenyan clipped the note and read it again.

Something must have occurred at the rooftop, and it had caused the whole school to undergo these changes. 

“Let’s go back, we’ll check the classroom area first thing tomorrow,” stated Zhou Wenyan.

The pair returned to the dormitory while their dorm mates seemed oblivious to their comings and goings as they were still lying on their beds like corpses.

Shen Dongqing climbed into bed and fell asleep soon after. Eventually, and like clockwork, the morning whistle woke him up with a start.

Rubbing his eyes, he clambered out of bed. 

Fang Qi pulled him and asked: “Big boss, did you go out last night? Did you encounter any dangers?”

Zhou Wenyan was wearing his uniform on his end, and he heard the conversation coming from below clearly. However, he did not make a sound as he zipped up school coat and lowered hid eyes to look at Shen Dongqing.

Blankly, Shen Dongqing responded with an “ah”. Under Fang Qi’s indefatigable gaze, he said slowly: “I went out on a date last night.”

Fang Qi: ??? 

Was he not playing a horror game?

Zhou Wenyan leapt down from the upper bunk and landed by Shen Dongqing’s side. Stretching, he asserted, “We’re going.”

The dormitory was livelier in the day as compared to the night.

Students were coming and going as they prepared for class, and it seemed no different from an ordinary school dormitory. However, the only abnormality was the body of the dormitory administrator lying on the ground of the corridor. 

The students seemed blind to it as they walked past the pool of blood.

Zhou Wenyan walked the entire way, but just before they entered the classroom building, he spoke: “Concealing the information was the right move. Sometimes, when too many people are in the know, it only causes more trouble.”

Especially when they were people who thought themselves to be smart, only to mess things up in the end.

It took Shen Dongqing a long while before he realised that Zhou Wenyan was talking about what had occurred just now. 

After pondering about it, he decided to tell the truth: “I merely thought it was too troublesome to explain.”

Thus, he was better off fabricating a reason.

Zhou Wenyan was silent for a moment before he suddenly smiled: “Does that mean you want to date me?”

Shen Dongqing was somewhat annoyed – Everything had been made askew by the Director of Teaching Affairs! 

He did not know how to reply. Hence, he could only pull out the school rules that he had been conveniently carrying around before he tapped Zhou Wenyan’s person with it. He copied the prescribed sentence to the letter as he said: “Early relationships are forbidden.”

As Zhou Wenyan grasped the school rules, his smile became meaningful.