Volume 1: Breaking the Cage
Escape 20
Legal Hunting
The second round, the boy still chose a girl, and that girl picked up the handkerchief and chased forward frantically.
Human potential is always limitless. That girl surprisingly sprinted madly, caught the boy, and collapsed on the ground, almost exhausted.
The caught boy’s expression was desperate. He tore at the girl’s clothes in anguish, his form slowly dissipating.
“There’s still a third round. Our warm-up exercise is about to end. Who will you choose?” the teacher asked with a beaming smile. The girl’s gaze swept across the crowd, seeming a bit perplexed.
From a gender solidarity perspective, she desperately hoped for more girls to survive, but regardless of whether this initiative was given to boys or girls, girls were very likely to be in danger. Moreover, apart from one teammate, she wasn’t familiar with anyone here, so she couldn’t possibly choose her own teammate.
She stood up and placed the handkerchief behind her chosen person.
Shen Shuiyan stood up with the handkerchief, casting a cool glance at that girl.
Zou Yunfei glared at that girl with a look that could eat someone alive.
Xin Lan’s expression turned cold the moment that girl put down the handkerchief.
Shen Shuiyan’s physical condition wasn’t very good, otherwise she wouldn’t have been the intellectual powerhouse. Her stamina could only be considered average for a girl. What if she couldn’t catch up with the person in front?
When Shen Shuiyan stood up, Xin Lan mouthed something to her, but she acted as if she hadn’t seen it and started walking in circles.
What Xin Lan wanted to say was, if Shen Shuiyan wasn’t confident, she should choose her. She would definitely ensure Shen Shuiyan’s victory.
For her, at worst it would mean failing the mission, but for Shen Shuiyan, it would mean death.
If she failed the mission and withdrew, Shen Shuiyan could still get out of here relying on Zou Yunfei’s side.
She watched Shen Shuiyan, observing how she would choose.
The first round of singing stopped, and the second round began.
Shen Shuiyan had planned her target, put down the handkerchief, and kept a distance.
Shen Shuiyan also chose a girl. She didn’t have any notion of “cherishing fragrance and pitying jade” (idiom meaning to be considerate towards women). Purely from a strength perspective, she needed to ensure her own survival.
She saw Little Tiger’s mouthed words. How could she? How could she possibly choose her?
If Little Tiger deliberately let her win, how would that be any different from her personally sending Little Tiger to her death?
She appreciated Little Tiger’s sentiment, and it would make her try even harder.
Shen Shuiyan felt she was running at the fastest speed in her life, but she wasn’t just blindly rushing forward. Instead, she maintained a safe distance, striving to complete the ten minutes.
Ten minutes passed, and that girl didn’t catch up.
Shen Shuiyan let out a sigh of relief. Xin Lan quickly stood up to support her, letting her lean and catch her breath.
Zou Yunfei saw this and felt relieved, but noticed that Shen Shuiyan didn’t even look in his direction.
Maybe she was too tired.
Shen Shuiyan was indeed exhausted, not willing to spare a glance for irrelevant people.
Xin Lan gently patted her back, helping her regulate her breathing.
Shen Shuiyan leaned against her, smelling the faint fragrance on her body, holding her hand, feeling very secure.
Little Tiger was truly too gentle. She wanted to hug her in her arms, stroke her fur, and then “suck tiger” (playful expression meaning to cuddle or pet intensely) until she was in blissful ecstasy.
But this was just a fantasy. Little Tiger would definitely kick her out with one foot.
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“Alright, students, the warm-up exercise is over. Everyone performed very well, so you can rest for ten minutes. Be careful not to run around. After ten minutes, we’ll start the official game,” the teacher said, still wearing that smiling expression, yet making everyone feel a sense of gloom ahead.
Shen Shuiyan walked to the side and took out the bag she had been carrying, retrieving a cup of water from inside.
“It’s good I brought water, otherwise after running for ten minutes like that, it would have been uncomfortable.”
Shen Shuiyan opened the bottle cap and took a few big gulps.
“Do you want some?”
Xin Lan shook her head, and Shen Shuiyan put it away with some regret.
“What’s coming next should be even more dangerous.”
If the warm-up exercise was already this cruel, the official one would be even worse.
“What does it want to do? I originally thought avoiding that situation would be enough. Why does it have to be like this, making it impossible for us to survive?” Xu Deng said with a somber face, trying hard to suppress the panic in his heart.
It was a gentle mutual destruction, yet too real.
“Don’t you feel this is like a game to make children happy?” Shen Shuiyan had been sensing something and voiced her guess, making Xu Deng’s skin crawl.
From the children’s rhyme sung by the ghost earlier, to the destruction of public property and sleeping in class, including the recent handkerchief throwing, everything exuded a sense of childishness, unlike rules adults would create.
“Watching this kind of game, that ‘child’ must not be afraid of shortening their lifespan,” Xin Lan said with a cold smile. No matter what kind of entity it was, it shouldn’t exist.
The ten-minute break was over, and the PE teacher blew the whistle for assembly.
Twenty-two people had become nineteen, the team still incomplete.
“The official activity is about to begin. Please get ready, everyone. Attention!”
“The game we’re about to play is one you’ve all certainly played before. It’s called ‘What time is it, Grandma?’ The rules are: ‘Grandma’ stands in the middle of the circle, the students outside hold hands and circle around ‘Grandma’, asking ‘Grandma, what time is it?’ Each round, ‘Grandma’ can decide their own command for what time it is. When the students hear that time, they must start running, and ‘Grandma’ will start catching people.”
“Does everyone understand?”
A sparse response indicated that everyone’s mood wasn’t very good.
“‘Grandma’ can call out a maximum of ten time points. The catching time is ten minutes, and the activity area is the playground. Students who accidentally run out will be considered in violation of the rules. People caught by ‘Grandma’ will be eliminated. The new ‘Grandma’ will be decided by the previous ‘Grandma’. If no one is caught by ‘Grandma’, then that round’s ‘Grandma’ will be eliminated, and the new ‘Grandma’ will be decided by rock-paper-scissors.”
It was truly a death game full of childish fun. Xin Lan didn’t want to say anything anymore. Perhaps today’s activities should all be called ‘Ten Minutes of Life and Death’.
“Oh, the teacher forgot to add one more point.”
The students who were about to play rock-paper-scissors felt their hearts suspended again because of this sentence.
“This game has a total of nine rounds. Those caught by ‘Grandma’ don’t need to be afraid. As long as you can kill ‘Grandma’ within ten minutes, you won’t be eliminated.”
“Kill?”
“Forcing us to kill people?”
The students’ voices buzzed, and chaos erupted.
“What kind of messed-up game is this? Why does it have to be like this!”
Some people were on the verge of collapse, while others seemed lost in thought.
“Don’t let go of my hand when the time comes,” Xin Lan said softly to Shen Shuiyan.
“I won’t let go,” Shen Shuiyan said with a smile. Even in this kind of situation, having Little Tiger by her side made her feel very happy.
Xu Deng stood to the side, feeling completely out of place in this atmosphere.
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Once again, through rock-paper-scissors, they decided who would be ‘Grandma’, and the game officially began.
A group of people formed a large circle, surrounding a person standing in the middle with closed eyes. It was a boy.
Xin Lan recognized this boy too. It was Zhou Zhou from Zou Yunfei’s team.
At this moment, his lips were trembling, his whole body very stiff.
“Grandma, Grandma, what time is it?”
Everyone asked while walking, ready to escape at any moment.
“It’s seven o’clock.”
Zhou Zhou’s voice was a bit hoarse, revealing his nervousness.
“Grandma, Grandma, what time is it?”
“It’s five o’clock.”
“Grandma, Grandma, what time is it?”
“It’s ten o’clock.”
A drop of cold sweat fell from Zhou Zhou’s temple. He couldn’t see the people constantly moving in front of him, but he could sense them.
The questioning voices seemed to be stretched to the point of becoming blurry, yet he still had to remember the times he had said.
There were twelve numbers in total, and he could only say ten at most, without repetition. Among the twelve numbers, one was his set command, determining whether the chase game would begin.
“Grandma, Grandma, what time is it?”
“It’s eight o’clock.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly opened his eyes and lunged towards the nearest person.
That girl let out a scream and fled, running forward desperately.
“Don’t chase me, don’t chase me, please go after someone else!”
Zhou Zhou ignored her. From the beginning, he had prepared to focus on catching one person. With only ten minutes, if he didn’t set a target, he might not complete the task.
Xin Lan held Shen Shuiyan’s hand with one hand and Xu Deng’s with the other, pulling the two of them quickly away from Zhou Zhou.
The girl Zhou Zhou was chasing was in another direction, so Xin Lan let go of Xu Deng.
“Be alert later, and don’t stay still here. Watch for direction changes, and make sure to keep a distance from him.”
Xu Deng nodded. That’s what was said, but why were those two still holding hands?
This should have been a joyful scene: blue sky, white clouds, students playing on the playground.
But the person constantly chasing, the other students hurriedly avoiding because of their movements, the teacher standing on the steps with an unchanging smile curve, all cast a shadow over everything.
That girl seemed to be running out of strength, with Zhou Zhou behind her getting closer and closer.
“Give me your hand, quickly.”
Someone appeared beside that girl, probably her teammate.
The girl was overjoyed and quickly grabbed that hand. The boy started to pull her along.
But this hand-holding action still delayed them for a moment, and Zhou Zhou had already caught up.
The girl gritted her teeth and used all her strength to push the boy beside her into Zhou Zhou’s arms, while she continued to run forward.
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Zhou Zhou caught someone and stopped chasing.
That boy was stunned as Zhou Zhou twisted his arms behind his back. When he came to his senses, he looked at the girl in front of him with hatred.
“I should have never saved you, you motherf*cker…”
A string of curse words spilled from the boy’s mouth, expressing his anger.
“I’m sorry, I don’t want to die.”
The girl covered her mouth, her eyes red, repeating only “I’m sorry” no matter what the boy cursed.
That boy didn’t give up struggling either. Remembering what the NPC had said earlier, he kept twisting his body, trying to break free from Zhou Zhou’s grasp and reverse the situation.
Zhou Zhou didn’t give him this chance, holding him down firmly.
Ten minutes passed, and that boy disappeared bit by bit, screaming.
The new ‘Grandma’ was to be designated by the previous one. Zhou Zhou turned around and looked at someone.
“Xin Lan.”
LP: Re-translated on November 19, 2024