Volume 1: Breaking the Cage
Escape 17
Legal Hunting
A very smoky scene unfolded, attracting everyone’s attention, yet their expressions seemed somewhat numb.
Just yesterday, the classroom was full, but now almost half of the seats were empty.
Some students were still sitting in their seats, their eyes filled with resentment and anger.
“Don’t think I won’t do anything to you!”
Feeling humiliated, Zou Yunfei looked at the other students sitting and gritted his teeth as he stood up.
It was too embarrassing. Zou Yunfei never thought he would be so humiliated by a girl.
Xin Lan’s haughty and contemptuous gaze made him feel like he was some kind of filth.
She must have forgotten who it was that couldn’t do without him before, acting all submissive.
“Yunfei, don’t be rash.”
Zhou Zhou patted him, but Zou Yunfei brushed his hand away.
“Are we three men afraid of one woman?”
“But yesterday… have you forgotten she’s not normal now? Besides, it’s not hunting time yet.”
Of course, Zou Yunfei knew it wasn’t hunting time. It was precisely because of this that he dared to stand up and make a fuss.
“Can you?”
Xin Lan walked over, and Zou Yunfei involuntarily stiffened.
Xin Lan’s attitude was direct; if she looked down on you, she just looked down on you.
“Give me my book.”
Xin Lan reached out her hand, and Zhou Zhou hurriedly picked up her book and handed it to her.
Everyone thought it was strange, but no one had the mind to discuss it. They were all about to die, so who cared about others’ conflicts? They were all enemies.
It was only because it wasn’t hunting time yet that everyone could only suppress their panic and unease.
After retrieving her book, Xin Lan remembered that this person had just insulted Shen Shuiyan. She raised her hand and slapped Zou Yunfei’s face with the book, then turned and walked away.
Even before this, Xin Lan had discovered that it was possible to take action during non-hunting periods, although there might be a limitation.
Because that night, Tao Ling had wanted to stab her with a knife, but she had snatched the knife away, twisted her wrist, and even cut off a piece of flesh.
It was already after the hunt had ended, but she hadn’t received any punishment.
Recalling the content of the rules announced earlier, the rules stated that “those who take measures during non-hunting periods will be eliminated.”
This “taking measures” was intriguing.
As Xin Lan returned, Shen Shuiyan’s expression was somewhat worried, while Xu Deng was dumbfounded.
“Won’t there be consequences for hitting him…?”
“It’s fine. Do you remember what the rules said?”
Xin Lan leaned down and whispered in Shen Shuiyan’s ear with a low laugh.
Shen Shuiyan’s mind went blank for a moment. Xin Lan’s breath brushed against her ear, and that low laugh made her heart flutter.
The moist breath made half of her body tingle, and she had to dig her nails into her palm to calm the sensation.
She thought it might be because they were too close and she wasn’t used to it. Her mind began to recall what the rules had said.
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She raised her eyebrows in realization and exchanged a glance with Xin Lan, their eyes conveying a mutual understanding.
“Boss, it’s so cool how you openly slapped his face! Aren’t you afraid he’ll retaliate?”
Xu Deng was startled by Xin Lan’s action. After all, he was a boy. Wouldn’t it be trouble during hunting time if he got angry?
“You think those wounds on his body are someone else’s handiwork?”
Xu Deng looked at the disheveled Zou Yunfei and gave Xin Lan a thumbs up.
Cool, so cool.
Xu Deng pushed up her glasses, full of admiration.
“Xin Lan!”
Zou Yunfei gritted his teeth. He was determined to teach her a lesson!
“Why are you shouting during class time?”
The NPC teacher walked in right on time from outside, frowning at the standing Zou Yunfei.
Zou Yunfei didn’t dare provoke the NPC and sat down, his face twisted with suppressed anger.
It’s true that they couldn’t talk during class, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t pass notes.
Shen Shuiyan wrote what she wanted to say in her notebook and pushed it towards Xin Lan while looking at the blackboard.
Shen Shuiyan: They must have other clues on them. When do you plan to make a move?
Xin Lan: Tonight, and beating them up isn’t about the clues.
Shen Shuiyan: Then what’s it for?
Xin Lan couldn’t very well say it was because Zou Yunfei insulted her, so she wrote back two words.
Xin Lan: Old grudge.
Shen Shuiyan pondered this. It was certain that Xin Lan had no feelings for Zou Yunfei anymore.
However, Zou Yunfei’s defiant look definitely wasn’t that of someone who accepted the situation willingly.
If Xin Lan wanted revenge, she should hurt his heart. That way, she could truly settle the old grudge.
But… things had already come to this point. Zou Yunfei had probably been traumatized by the beating, and Xin Lan’s personality didn’t seem like one that could pretend to get along with someone.
Shen Shuiyan curved her lips, coming up with an idea.
She wrote another message in her notebook and placed it in front of Xin Lan.
Shen Shuiyan: Do you know about 《Infernal Affairs》? (a famous Hong Kong crime film)
Xin Lan: Hmm?
Shen Shuiyan: I’ll be your spy.
Xin Lan looked at Shen Shuiyan in surprise. Shen Shuiyan raised her eyebrows at her, her smile unlike before, exuding a mischievous air.
Xin Lan: You don’t need to trouble yourself like this.
Shen Shuiyan: It’s no trouble at all. You want revenge on him, right?
Xin Lan: Yes.
Ling Jiu was delighted in the system space, glad that the host hadn’t forgotten what their mission really was.
Whether they could get out or not wasn’t important; what mattered was making the scumbag regret his actions deeply.
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Usually, hosts would make the scumbag fall in love again, thinking this woman’s flavor was damn sweet, frantically slapping their own face and falling madly in love. Perhaps other people would come out to stimulate the scumbag, and then at the end, they would choose someone else or no one at all, kicking the scumbag to the curb. When dumping him, they would painfully recount their grievances, preferably shedding a few tears and saying something like “We can never be together,” making the scumbag’s heart ache unbearably.
But Xin Lan didn’t follow the script. She went straight for the jugular. Now, forget about liking her, the scumbag would be lucky if he didn’t tremble at her approach. He probably wanted to cut Xin Lan into a thousand pieces. How could this make the scumbag’s heart ache? At most, it would just make his body ache.
But Ling Jiu couldn’t advise her. Ling Jiu didn’t even dare to advise her.
Xin Lan was different from other hosts in the face-slapping department. She didn’t seem suitable to be the protagonist because she simply disdained making the scumbag like her.
In fact, it wasn’t just disdain; Xin Lan seemed to think that even saying one more word to the scumbag was a waste of her life, except during the face-slapping process.
To ask Xin Lan to seduce men to fall for her, then play them like a fiddle, Ling Jiu felt that even if she, as a system, retired, such a scene would never occur.
What Xin Lan was likely to do was to steal the scumbag’s business, walk the path he walked, leaving him with nowhere to go.
This was a career-oriented face-slapping, but the “ex-girlfriend series” she chose was an emotional face-slapping storyline!
Shen Shuiyan saw her affirmative response and twirled the pen between her fingers.
When she was in Zou Yunfei’s team, she had heard them talk about Xin Lan, but their attitude was clearly one of contempt. The little tiger was very strong, but she didn’t know how to deal with that kind of person. Physical domination would make them feel humiliated, but they wouldn’t admit their mistakes in their hearts.
What the little tiger was unwilling to do, she would do.
If Xin Lan really had to lower herself to do it, it wouldn’t be like her.
Shen Shuiyan: It’s no trouble, it’s a small matter. Just cooperate with me.
Xin Lan saw it but didn’t reply.
Logically speaking, this was her solo mission and had nothing to do with Shen Shuiyan. She could use Shen Shuiyan as her teammate to achieve her goals, but Shen Shuiyan helping her like this… it wasn’t that she was unwilling, how to put it… it was very curious.
If she were still a villain… stop, she couldn’t think like that anymore.
She was no longer a villain; she always forgot that.
She could pretty much understand what Shen Shuiyan was thinking.
She also understood everything Ling Jiu said.
She understood the reasoning, but Xin Lan really didn’t want to force herself to act and eat shit for such a scumbag character setting.
Perhaps this way of putting it was a bit vulgar, but she felt that in this kind of scenario, since she could beat someone up to vent her anger first, why should she compromise herself and stick to him, especially when the other party didn’t even appreciate it?
Let’s not even talk about whether she would speak nicely; given the situation in this scenario and Zou Yunfei’s attitude, even if she spoke nicely, he would definitely take advantage of her kindness.
So the difficulty of this heart-wrenching task increased. In Xin Lan’s original plan, she intended to torment Zou Yunfei at the end, first breaking down his physical defenses, then proceeding with psychological crushing.
First, lock him up, then let a real person attack him. One hundred out of a hundred straight men would go crazy. Then, continuously apply psychological pressure. After all, he was just a student, not some well-trained individual. He would probably have a mental breakdown very quickly, maybe even become abnormal. At that time, he would definitely cry and beg for mercy.
By then, forget about whether his heart ached or not; he probably wouldn’t even be able to think.
Xin Lan reviewed her plan and sighed inwardly. What a good plan it was, just a bit too perverted.
This was clearly not very protagonist-like.
Shen Shuiyan glanced at Xin Lan from time to time, waiting to see when she would reply to her note.
Xin Lan pretended to look at the blackboard, not wanting to make Shen Shuiyan face those people.
Ling Jiu was about to die of anxiety. Such a good wingman was right here, why wouldn’t the host agree?
Ling Jiu: Host, agree! It’s such a good opportunity. The study god will definitely handle it well.
Xin Lan: But I don’t want to trouble her.
Ling Jiu: This is just a character in a task world. Once you leave, you’ll never see her again.
Xin Lan fell silent. She wasn’t being sentimental; she felt she could handle it herself. But she wasn’t stupid either. Of course, she would seize a good opportunity if there was one, but she just didn’t want to make Shen Shuiyan compromise.
This feeling was like when she didn’t tell Shen Shuiyan about the corpse in the wardrobe last night, afraid it would make her uncomfortable.
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Things that could be done directly didn’t need to make Shen Shuiyan suffer.
It was simply that, but how could she say it out loud?
It would be too embarrassing.
By the time this class ended, Shen Shuiyan still hadn’t received a reply from Xin Lan.
“You don’t want to?”
Shen Shuiyan asked, wondering if Xin Lan wanted to handle it herself, or if she didn’t want other girls to get close to Zou Yunfei?
She could accept the former, but the latter made her feel uncomfortable just thinking about it.
“It’s not that I don’t want to. Zou Yunfei is very annoying, just a scumbag. The people around him aren’t any good either. I don’t want you to play some undercover role and compromise yourself.”
Shen Shuiyan understood and held Xin Lan’s hand.
That hand was warm even in winter, the skin smooth and soft, very comfortable to hold.
So the little tiger was afraid of troubling her. Come to think of it, the little tiger’s sense of individualism was really strong. During fights, she would push her to the back, even when facing danger.
“How could I feel compromised about getting revenge for you?”
LP: Re-translated on November 15, 2024