Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 19
by Little PandaBreaking the Cage
Escape 19
Legal Hunting
Xin Lan looked over, somewhat puzzled, only to see Shen Shuiyan calmly rubbing Xin Lan’s hands, trying to warm her own.
“Go to bed first. Put your hands under the covers.”
Shen Shuiyan nodded. When Xin Lan withdrew her hand, a faint trace of reluctance lingered in her heart.
The Little Tiger’s hands were so warm, just like a pocket hand warmer. She wanted to hold them forever, and the feeling was far better than any heat pack.
When the Little Tiger acted gently, it was simply enough to make one’s heart melt.
She was undeniably beautiful, with an almost enchanting, seductive look. Yet whenever she raised her eyes, one could feel an icy chill, even though she also resembled a scorching fire.
She knew how precious this was, and she knew it was something she shouldn’t try to touch.
But when Xin Lan lowered her eyes, holding Shen Shuiyan’s hands to warm them up, that tiny hint of tenderness was enough to make her fall completely.
It was hard for Shen Shuiyan to describe her feelings in simple words. They couldn’t be expressed by mere ‘shock’ or ‘pleasure’.
It was a sudden, irregular heartbeat, like an avalanche or the melting of ice and snow, leaving her mind blank for a brief moment.
Shen Shuiyan undressed and climbed into bed. Xin Lan had already lain down beside her, her eyes closed.
“How do you always fall asleep so quickly?”
What an enviable quality of sleep.
“Sometimes, when you have no sleep to speak of, you realize how precious sleep is.”
Xin Lan muttered with her eyes still closed, continuing to sleep.
Shen Shuiyan looked at her thoughtfully. What did she mean by ‘no sleep’? It must have been something the Little Tiger had gone through before. It didn’t sound like a good thing.
Shen Shuiyan didn’t dwell on it. She wouldn’t be able to figure it out anyway, so she simply lay down to sleep. She maintained her usual well-behaved sleeping posture, even though she really wanted to hold Xin Lan’s hand right now.
Once the afternoon break ended, they still had to go back to class.
Xin Lan thought that this mechanism actually relaxed people a bit; at least it gave them room to catch their breath.
But during the afternoon class, she no longer thought so.
The PE Teacher walked in and informed them that this period was physical education class, and they had to gather on the playground within ten minutes.
No one dared ignore the NPC’s words. As soon as the teacher stepped out, the students filed out of the classroom.
Xin Lan didn’t know what game the rules were playing this time. She thought it might involve rewards, but it could easily be nothing good.
Zou Yunfei walked out, staring at Shen Shuiyan and the others in front of him from behind.
Shen Shuiyan looked back, her eyes brimming with drama.
Xin Lan didn’t see it. Had she seen it, she would probably have applauded.
What a deeply emotional, lingering, and reluctant physically in Cao’s camp but with one’s heart in Han1 kind of look.
A surge of excitement rushed through Zou Yunfei. Though his injuries still hadn’t fully subsided, his face was still swollen, and walking made his whole body ache, his mood was flying high, and his entire being was full of motivation.
What he didn’t know was how utterly mocking Shen Shuiyan’s expression became the moment she turned her head.
In less than ten minutes, everyone had gathered on the playground.
This high school’s playground was quite large, featuring a synthetic running track, artificial turf, and steps on both sides.
They gathered on the synthetic running track and formed a formation, but there were gaps in it.
Xin Lan had just done a quick head count. Counting herself, there were only twenty-two people left in the class. This meant eighteen people from Class 1 had died in a single night.
What a staggering number. If their class was already in this state, there was no telling what the situation was like in the other classes.
Standing on the steps, the PE Teacher blew his whistle.
Everyone stood on high alert, waiting for the next development.
“Let’s start with a warm-up first. All of you, spread out.”
Everyone quickly dispersed, putting distance between themselves and those on their left and right.
“This is a warm-up game. Surely you’ve all played Drop the Handkerchief2?”
The PE Teacher waved the red handkerchief in his hand. The sight was quite comical, yet no one dared to laugh.
“Twenty-two people. Who’ll be the first to drop the handkerchief?”
No one answered.
Their expressions were stiff, carrying a bit of fear. Shen Shuiyan had a suspicion about what they were about to face, and her heart sank.
“Since no one’s speaking up, let’s play Rock-Paper-Scissors. The losers will keep playing. If there’s ever a round where one person is different from everyone else, then they’ll be the one.”
Having twenty-two people play Rock-Paper-Scissors was indeed a massive undertaking.
But no one dared say it was too much trouble. With trepidation, they held out their hands.
There was a logic to this. It was a game of mutual counters; as long as someone threw differently, as long as there were different throws every time, it would be an unsolvable dead end. However, the NPC clearly had precautions against this, so Xin Lan abandoned the idea of having the three of them throw different hands. It was too risky.
Furthermore, in this situation where they couldn’t discuss, using eye contact to signal her two teammates on what to throw was simply too difficult.
After all, no one knew what you would throw next. While giving your teammates hints was all well and good, if others saw it, that wouldn’t be good.
The first few rounds of the game were chaotic. Everyone threw different things, but there was no occurrence of one person being completely different from everyone else. After three rounds, the throws settled into a clear equilibrium.
Shen Shuiyan’s mind raced, calculating the various probabilities as she figured out what she should throw a few seconds from now.
Xin Lan was much more casual, throwing whatever she felt like.
After five rounds, five people beat the others and stepped out of the circle.
Shen Shuiyan was one of those five, and she was currently watching in Xin Lan’s direction with anxiety.
Xin Lan got out on the third turn, and Xu Deng on the fourth. At this point, only four people remained in the guessing circle.
The expressions of these four people were very tense; playing a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors felt as if they were going to their deaths.
Soon, only two people were left.
The remaining two decided the outcome; the winner was overjoyed, while the loser’s face turned ashen.
“Alright, the person to drop the handkerchief has been chosen. Everyone, form a circle.”
Xin Lan sat down with Shen Shuiyan on her left, Xu Deng on her right, and Zou Yunfei diagonally to her left.
“Since this circle is relatively large, everyone will sing the ‘Drop the Handkerchief’ song three times. During this time, the person who had the handkerchief dropped behind them has ten minutes to chase the person in front of them. If they catch them, they’re safe and cannot be chosen again. As for the person being chased…” The PE Teacher chuckled, “Failing students should be eliminated. Conversely, if the chaser fails to catch their target, the outcome is the same. This warm-up will consist of three rounds in total. Alright, let’s begin now.”
After listening to the NPC, everyone fell into a dead silence. Didn’t being ‘eliminated’ just mean death?
If they hadn’t died during the previous clue-gathering and had avoided those dangers only to die here, who would be willing to accept it?
But there was nothing they could do; they could only pray that they weren’t the chosen one, hoping to avoid that one-in-twenty-one probability in the first round.
For the person who had lost the Rock-Paper-Scissors game, the probability of life or death was fifty-fifty.
Xin Lan was thinking of something else. This was only a warm-up, yet three people were already going to die. What about the official class afterward?
The rules were too malicious; they limited the hunting time, yet arranged all kinds of extra competitions.
The people sitting here were destined to face the fear of death, brushing past the Grim Reaper time and again.
This kind of fear was different from what the people around them brought; it was more direct and much more brutal.
Xin Lan was still fairly confident in her own speed. In most survival games, if you had a good physical build, your survival rate would be greatly increased. As far as this game was concerned, stamina and physical agility were needed everywhere—whether it was the current “Drop the Handkerchief” game, the horrific teaching building in the previous punishment game, or this overall competition, the struggle for clue fragments.
“Why aren’t you singing? Sing! Oh, and it’s best to clap your hands too. We’re playing a game, and playing games should be cheerful.”
Someone shuddered at his voice. A sparse, scattered clapping rose along with the sound of singing. At the same time, the body of the person throwing the handkerchief began to move.
“Drop, drop, drop the handkerchief, gently place it behind a friend’s back. Nobody tell them, hurry up, hurry up, catch them! Hurry up, hurry up, catch them!”
The cheerful song was sung like a funeral dirge, with one girl even singing with tears in her voice.
And that singing wasn’t allowed to stop; they had to sing it two more times.
“Drop, drop, drop the handkerchief, gently place it behind a friend’s back. Nobody tell them, hurry up, hurry up, catch them! Hurry up, hurry up, catch them!”
Lyrics that normally sounded perfectly fine now seemed to have become something like a death-summoning talisman at this moment. People had no way of judging whether the handkerchief had been dropped behind them; they could only rely on the expressions of those opposite them to see if they were the chosen one.
By the third repetition of the song, the boy who had been chosen to drop the handkerchief immediately bolted. Realizing she was the target, the girl picked up the handkerchief and chased after him.
Choosing a girl indeed seemed to offer a greater chance of winning.
Just moments ago, they were the dropper and the target. But the instant the handkerchief was dropped, their roles were suddenly reversed.
One was running in front, and the other was pursuing relentlessly behind.
This was like a grotesque gathering; everyone was in a circle, yet their faces were filled with terror. The one being chased was clearly the one who had dropped the key of death, yet at this moment, he was like a helpless lamb, running and running endlessly.
The hunter behind him clearly held no knife, yet it was as if she did. However, that knife was double-edged; one misstep, and it would end her own life.
No one was in the mood to treat this as a joke, because no one knew if they would be next.
Only those familiar with them would be nervous; the others were praying for themselves in their hearts, their faces filled with indifference.
There were even some who thought in their hearts, Die more, die even more.
In the end, the girl who had the handkerchief dropped behind her failed to catch up, breaking down into loud sobs right where she stood.
Everyone watched helplessly as her body went limp and collapsed. A chill rushed from the base of their spines straight to their skulls.
“Her clue fragments will be gifted to whomever her will decides. As for the next person to drop the handkerchief, the survivor gets to choose!”
The PE Teacher said with a smile, but anyone could see the malice in his laughter.
Everyone immediately looked at the boy who sat down to fill the vacancy left by that girl, terrified that he would choose them.
The boy hesitated for a moment before choosing a boy from the remaining twenty people.
That boy stood up, picked up the red handkerchief from the ground, and glared fiercely at the person who had chosen him.
The singing rang out once more. After three repetitions of the song, who would be the one to die?
“Drop, drop, drop the handkerchief, gently place it behind a friend’s back. Nobody tell them, hurry up, hurry up, catch them! Hurry up, hurry up, catch them!”
Footnotes
- A Chinese idiom derived from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, describing someone who is physically in one place but whose loyalty or heart lies elsewhere. It originally refers to Guan Yu temporarily serving Cao Cao while remaining loyal to Liu Bei of Han.
- A popular Chinese children's singing game similar to 'Duck, Duck, Goose,' where players sit in a circle while one runs around the outside to quietly drop a handkerchief (diū shǒujiàn) behind a chosen target.
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