Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 14

Breaking the Cage

Escape 14

Legal Hunting

Shen Shuiyan’s heart leaped into her throat. She felt that even if the ghosts didn’t kill you in this game, they’d scare you to death anyway.

            

In comparison, she still felt the previous game had been much friendlier to them. At least there hadn’t been a swarm of ghosts running around trying to kill people.

“Go up.”

Xin Lan made a snap decision. According to her instincts, that door didn’t look like an exit at all. Seeing that Wang Wen, who had fallen to his death, was about to crawl in, Xin Lan decided to head back.

            

The two of them went back up the stairs. This time, they didn’t delay, heading straight to the third floor.

The lights in the third-floor corridor were on, and a figure was standing there.

“What took you so long? I’ve been waiting here for you guys for ages.”

            

The youth’s voice was filled with impatience. He turned around, revealing himself to be Teng Lin.

“Why are you waiting for us?”

“I found the exit. We’re all human after all, so that’s why I’ve been waiting for you. Hurry up, do you want to get out or not?”

            

Teng Lin urged, beckoning to Xin Lan and Shen Shuiyan.

“Don’t go over. Something’s wrong.”

Shen Shuiyan whispered, tightening her grip on Xin Lan’s hand.

            

Xin Lan tapped the back of Shen Shuiyan’s hand with her finger, walking closer bit by bit.

“Where’s the exit?”

“Right inside here.”

            

Teng Lin pointed to the classroom in front of him.

Xin Lan glanced over. The classroom was locked.

“Hurry up and come over! What are you dawdling for?”

            

Seeing that Xin Lan and Shen Shuiyan were still a great distance away from him, Teng Lin couldn’t help but urge them.

Xin Lan stood still, staring coldly at the beckoning youth.

“Come over. Why aren’t you coming? I’m leaving.”

            

Xin Lan and Shen Shuiyan still ignored him, and Teng Lin’s expression instantly twisted.

“I’m telling you to come over!”

“Why can’t you walk over here?”

            

Hearing this, Teng Lin’s expression grew odd.

He let out a few laughs, but the sound made their scalps crawl.

Shen Shuiyan stared at his feet; the area illuminated by the light was bright.

            

He had no shadow.

The three people they’d seen when they entered were all dead. Perhaps another possibility existed: from start to finish, this was never a five-player game, but a game for only the two of them.

Teng Lin took a step forward, only to suddenly collapse to the ground.

            

He stuck to the ground, his body flattening out as if it had melted, appearing to be just a layer of human skin limply stuck to the floor. Yet, the facial features on that human skin remained; the eyeballs rolled, and a bizarre smile still hung on the corners of his mouth.

To Xin Lan, it looked as if a three-dimensional object had suddenly become flat.

Shen Shuiyan covered her mouth with her other hand, her stomach churning.

            

The scene was truly a bit too disgusting. Even Xin Lan found it hard on the eyes, feeling a wave of physical discomfort.

Zero Nine shivered as she hugged her little yellow chicken, wanting to cry but having no tears. She silently recited the Socialist Core Values¹ in her head as a protective ward.

“I’m coming over now.”

            

The layer of human skin giggled, shuffling inch by inch toward Xin Lan and Shen Shuiyan.

Xin Lan didn’t even want to lay a hand on him, afraid of dirtying her hands.

Shen Shuiyan was dazed by the visual impact. Once she calmed down, her brain began to work rapidly.

            

“If this really is a game designed to kill people, then why would this punishment game set up an exit that doesn’t exist? Is it just to give hope, only to plunge us into despair?”

From the start of the game until now, Shen Shuiyan had calculated every possibility. She sometimes thought that everything was just a cruel joke. Even if they had all the clues, they might still be unable to escape the terrifying school.

Just like what they were experiencing now.

            

The human skin on the floor heard Shen Shuiyan’s words and grinned bizarrely once more.

Xin Lan wasn’t afraid, but she was very irritated.

Xin Lan already had some post-war stress response. After being in the Villain Department, her personality had grown increasingly ruthless and cold. Although her memories were faded when she exited a mission world, she couldn’t help but grow more irritable, her personality sometimes swinging between two extremes.

            

Xin Lan felt that the relaxed mood she’d gained from beating up Zou Yunfei was turning into irritation again because of these successive ghosts.

Teng Lin, who was now just a layer of human skin, crawled closer and closer, almost reaching the soles of Xin Lan’s feet.

Shen Shuiyan took a step back, but she couldn’t pull Xin Lan with her.

            

Xin Lan still stood where she was, her head slightly lowered.

Expressionless, she stared back at the human skin on the ground, her fingers twitching instinctively.

“Tell us where the exit is. Otherwise, I’ll stomp your face to pieces.”

            

Xin Lan’s tone was flat, but she looked completely serious.

The sliding human skin stiffened, not expecting her to react this way.

He quickly wrapped himself around Xin Lan’s foot. She shook him off, simultaneously stomping down on him.

            

She pushed Shen Shuiyan aside and quickly grabbed the human skin on the floor.

It felt slimy to the touch, bringing an indescribably disgusting sensation.

The human skin was extremely nimble. Once caught, he tried to wrap himself around Xin Lan’s body.

            

How could Xin Lan possibly give him such an opportunity? With one foot pinning down the face of the human skin and the other stepping on his stomach, she gripped her handful of skin tightly and pulled, stretching him out like a piece of cloth.

The sight of her tearing a ghost apart with her bare hands was too shocking. Shen Shuiyan pressed her temples. Tonight was truly a bit too stimulating.

The ghost let out a piercing shriek, but the strength in Xin Lan’s hands only grew greater.

            

She hadn’t used her full strength when beating up people earlier, nor had she dared to—it’d be bad if they died. But with ghosts, it didn’t matter. They were already as dead as dead could be.

In terms of combat power, Xin Lan felt this skin ghost wasn’t even as strong as the female ghost on the second floor.

As Xin Lan pulled harder, the pinned facial features of the skin ghost twisted even further.

            

The entire human skin was highly resilient and virtually impossible to tear with bare hands. Xin Lan reached into her pocket with her free hand, pulled out a small pair of scissors, and slid the cold tips of the blades across the human skin.

“Tell me where the exit is. Otherwise, I’ll snip this skin of yours into tiny pieces and see how you piece yourself back together.”

“Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!”

            

Teng Lin’s mouth was pinned under her foot, preventing him from speaking.

You’re the real ghost here, aren’t you?! You absolute psychopath!

Shen Shuiyan was already a bit numb from the shock. But this was fine. This was actually great—far better than waiting around to die.

            

“If you don’t talk, I’m going to start cutting.”

“Mmph! Mmph! Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!”

Jiejie, you’re stepping on my mouth! How can I talk?! Sob sob!

            

“Xin Lan, your foot is on his mouth.”

Shen Shuiyan reminded her, her arms crossed and her gaze complicated.

Xin Lan understood and lifted her foot.

            

“The exit, the exit is inside the door! I’m not lying to you!”

Xin Lan looked at the locked door, let go of her grip, and lifted her foot.

The human skin instantly slithered up the wall, sticking to it. It still looked a bit disgusting.

            

Xin Lan didn’t know how to pick locks, and obviously, Shen Shuiyan didn’t either.

Xin Lan raised her long leg and kicked the door open.

Behind the door wasn’t a classroom, but something like a vortex.

            

Xin Lan stared intently at the human skin stuck to the wall. Not understanding what she meant, the human skin offered an ugly and horrifying smile.

“B… Bye-bye?”

The skin ghost didn’t know what else Xin Lan wanted to do; when she threatened him just now, she had really snipped a bit of his skin.

            

Xin Lan withdrew her gaze and jerked her chin at Shen Shuiyan.

“Let’s go.”

The two of them entered the vortex one after the other, and in the next instant, they appeared on the small path outside the boys’ dormitory.

            

“We’re out.”

Seeing the familiar surroundings, Shen Shuiyan let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t you find me strange?”

            

Xin Lan looked at Shen Shuiyan. She had clearly shattered her character design completely.

When performing a mission, maintaining one’s character design was basic, but it wasn’t a hard requirement. It depended on the person and the nature of the world.

For example, in this world she’d entered, the original host was a love-brain² with low emotional intelligence and a somewhat arrogant streak. In the original plot, she cowered in fear, always following the original squad while still thinking of her ex-boyfriend.

            

Making Xin Lan maintain that kind of sniveling, terrified persona was undoubtedly like making her eat shit.

She could be cool, she could be badass, she could be ruthless, she could go dark, but she simply couldn’t cry. That would violate her resolve as a soldier.

Rather bleed than shed tears.

            

“You’re different from the Xin Lan I’ve seen and heard about before. You’re very strong. I apologize for my previous perception of you.”

Shen Shuiyan didn’t care whether the soul of the person in front of her was still the previous one. After experiencing such a bizarre game, even something like a soul swap didn’t seem strange anymore.

To her, this situation was far more advantageous.

            

If it had been the previous one, Shen Shuiyan might not have even been willing to team up with her.

But with this one, Shen Shuiyan knew she was the one ‘climbing too high.’

Given Xin Lan’s strength, she could easily escape on her own.

            

“I really do prefer talking to smart people.”

Xin Lan smiled faintly.

The cold wind brushed against her face, soothing the irritation in Xin Lan’s heart.

            

Xin Lan thought that once this mission was finished, she probably needed to take a good rest for a few days. Why was she always unable to control her temper? She really had to cultivate her character.

Perhaps it was still the influence of too many past missions. After all, as a villain, there was no need to rein in one’s temper.

However, now that she’d switched departments, it was time to change. She couldn’t just charge in and beat people up right away; she should at least reason with them before fighting.

            

“Do you have any other clothes?”

Xin Lan asked with amusement, looking at Shen Shuiyan’s torn down jacket.

During the two times Shen Shuiyan had been with her, Shen Shuiyan’s jackets had met with highly unfortunate fates.

            

“I didn’t bring many with me. I washed the dirty spot on the last one, but in this weather, that area probably hasn’t dried yet.”

Xin Lan looked at her own down jacket, which was practically missing the fabric on both sleeves, and felt equally helpless. She hadn’t expected things to turn out like this, so she hadn’t brought many clothes either.

“Then wear mine. I still have some in my wardrobe.”

            

The two of them were of similar stature, so it should be fine.

“All right.”

Shen Shuiyan glanced at her phone. It was 22:37.

            

The hunting time was still ongoing.

“Why don’t you stay in my dormitory room with me? If you’re alone and too far from me, it won’t be safe.”

Shen Shuiyan was naturally more than willing and nodded.

            

When they were almost at the dormitory, Xin Lan remembered something and pulled Shen Shuiyan to a stop.

She pulled a small card from her pocket and silently used it.

The card dissolved into the air. At the same time, two clue fragments dropped into her palm.

            

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