Volume 1: Breaking the Cage
Escape 08
Legal Hunting
If it’s the former, she needs to use this card as soon as possible, or, as they say, save it for the last.
According to Xin Lan’s deduction, in this type of game, there’s usually less killing among the same kind in the early stages. Everyone is cautious and still retains their human kindness. However, in the middle and later stages, people will do anything to survive.
Those who survive till the end are all shrewd individuals, and they’re not easily hunted down. So it’s very likely that the rules will come into play, but one can’t be certain that no one will make a move.
If the deceased mentioned in the card falls into the first category, Xin Lan would want to use it earlier. But if it’s the latter, and several people die in one night, would she randomly receive one, or can she specify?
Moreover, those who died were certainly killed, and the clues would be in the hunter’s possession. Even so, could they still appear in her hands?
Xin Lan’s thoughts were turning a thousand times, and finally, she looked at the book in front of her and started reading to herself.
There are breaks during class time. During the break, Xin Lan felt many gazes falling on her, but she only met one of them.
Shen Shuiyan didn’t come over, but her expression betrayed her thoughts.
“Yunfei, she’s looking at you. Why don’t you go over and ask?”
Chu Lu gave Zhou Yunfei beside him a nudge. He was also very curious.
“I couldn’t be bothered to go over there.”
Zhou Yunfei rolled his eyes, not even looking in that direction.
Shen Shuiyan, overhearing their conversation, laughed inwardly. Knowing someone’s looking at him without even glancing? Talk about being full of himself!
Shen Shuiyan initially thought Zhou Yunfei had potential, but now she finds him quite stupid.
Shen Shuiyan tucked her loose hair behind her ear and looked again.
The wind outside was blowing “whoosh whoosh”, and the bell rang, signaling the end of the morning classes.
As Xin Lan went out, she pulled her clothes tighter. The biting cold wind messed up her hair a bit.
She seemed to be the only person without a group, sitting alone at the dining table, standing out quite noticeably.
Everyone in Class 1 knew she had obtained something, but no one knew exactly what it was.
Xin Lan finished her lunch and returned to the dormitory to rest.
The girl whose right hand bones she had broken last night after beating her up wasn’t there. The piece of flesh on the ground was still there, its color had changed, and the air was filled with a faint, barely perceptible putrid smell.
Xin Lan took a broom and dustpan to dispose of that thing in the garbage bin outside, then yawned as she prepared for her afternoon nap.
Seeing this, Zhou Mingfang swallowed the words she wanted to ask.
“Um… Xin Lan…”
Xiao Chun called out timidly. Xin Lan looked up, signaling her to continue.
“Tao Ling didn’t come to class today.”
Tao Ling was the name of that girl.
Xin Lan nodded disinterestedly to show she understood, then lay down on the bed to start her nap.
Xin Lan fell asleep quickly. Soon, her steady breathing could be heard.
Zhou Mingfang and Xiao Chun exchanged a glance. Xiao Chun shrank back, but Zhou Mingfang’s gaze fell on a pile of clothes not far from her.
Xin Lan placed her coat and other clothes by her feet, within arm’s reach.
Zhou Mingfang wanted to reach out but suddenly came to her senses.
She pinched herself, wincing in pain.
There were still people here, and even if there weren’t, thinking of Xin Lan’s almost brutal way of beating people, she wouldn’t dare to steal.
The evening bell rang, signaling the start of hunting time again.
Xin Lan continued washing her hair and showering. While using the hairdryer, Ling Jiu’s voice echoed in her mind. Simultaneously, she turned and smashed the hairdryer onto the head of the person who had approached.
That girl cried out in pain and immediately ran away.
Ling Jiu: …How did she run away so fast?
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Xin Lan: “Small guts.” (cowardly)
Probably inexperienced in doing this, she ran away quickly after the failed sneak attack instead of thinking about retaliating.
Fortunately, she didn’t think of retaliating, otherwise it wouldn’t have been as simple as getting hit on the head with a hairdryer.
Xin Lan finished drying her hair and tied it into a low ponytail. She returned the basin to the dorm, washed her clothes, and hung them to dry before going out again.
This time, there were people in the dormitory corridor, so Xin Lan didn’t conspicuously jump out, but instead took the stairs.
This selection seemed quite balanced in terms of gender, with 200 male students and 200 female students. The deaths were also evenly distributed; on the first day, a male student died, and on the second day, a female student.
The first floor had ten dormitory rooms, so people lived on floors one through five.
Xin Lan went down the stairs and left the girls’ dormitory.
The teaching building had five floors in total. Xin Lan didn’t know about the other floors, but the third floor had ten classes, where everyone gathered for activities.
This time, she started looking from the first floor and found that the first and second floors had the same layout: three rooms on the left and three on the right, totaling only six classrooms.
She went up to the third floor and discovered it had five rooms on the left and five on the right. Upon entering, she found that the classrooms were smaller; apparently, the school’s original layout was like that of the first and second floors.
Xin Lan went up to the fourth and fifth floors and found they were the same as the first and second floors.
The doors were locked, and the glass windows were also fastened.
Xin Lan pressed against the glass to look inside, but it was pitch black and she couldn’t see anything.
Xin Lan didn’t trespass, but instead chose to return to the third floor.
She placed her hand on the window edge and nimbly flipped over, landing on a desk. As she came down, she wiped away her footprints.
She walked to the wall and reached to turn on the light.
However, a hand covered the back of hers, clearly a step too slow.
Xin Lan turned her head and saw an innocent, beautiful face.
“What a coincidence,” Shen Shuiyan said.
Xin Lan nodded without saying anything. The classroom was a public place; anyone could come.
She surveyed her surroundings, not missing a single corner, but found nothing unusual.
Could it be that this classroom had nothing in it?
Xin Lan glanced at Shen Shuiyan behind her, preparing to climb out the window.
Shen Shuiyan stopped her, her expression somewhat hesitant.
“Why not go out through the door? It’s not locked.”
Xin Lan’s movements froze; she had fallen into habitual thinking again.
Xin Lan calmly got down from the chair, dusted off her footprints, and opened the door.
Shen Shuiyan followed behind her, suppressing a laugh, finding Xin Lan’s previous expression inexplicably cute.
Xin Lan went to other classrooms to look around, but similarly found nothing.
“Are you looking for something?”
“No, just looking around.”
Xin Lan had checked all ten classrooms on this floor and found nothing.
“What made you think of coming to the classrooms?”
Xin Lan, certain that there was no one else on this floor besides her and Shen Shuiyan, asked casually.
“I followed you here.”
Xin Lan stared steadily at Shen Shuiyan, who smiled back with eyes narrowed in a friendly manner.
“But you were clearly ahead of me, yet you arrived later. Did you go to check other floors?”
“Mm-hmm.”
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For something so easily deduced, Xin Lan saw no point in hiding it.
“Did you find anything?”
Xin Lan shook her head, and Shen Shuiyan didn’t ask any further.
“I thought you’d ask about what happened during the day.”
Xin Lan took another good look at Shen Shuiyan, knowing she was also quite curious.
“Would you tell me if I asked?”
“I only tell my teammates.”
“That means I still have a chance to hear it.”
Through this exchange, their intentions were mutually understood.
Shen Shuiyan was preparing to return to the dormitory, after all, sleeping in a bed was more comfortable. However, she saw Xin Lan walking in the opposite direction.
“Where are you going?”
“To look around elsewhere.”
“But the rules state that during the hunting period, the active areas are limited to the dormitories and the teaching building.”
Shen Shuiyan intended to stop her, thinking it was too risky to go in unknown circumstances.
“Why is there such a restriction? How will we know if we don’t look?”
Xin Lan didn’t stop walking; she never lacked the spirit of seeking death.
As a villain, isn’t possessing this spirit of recklessness essential? When Xin Lan first started, she played low-level bosses, knowing that such actions would lead to the protagonist’s revenge, but she couldn’t not do it – that was a villain’s responsibility.
Shen Shuiyan watched her back, thought for a moment, and then followed.
The male and female dormitories were on either side of the teaching building, and Xin Lan’s direction led towards the cafeteria.
The high school’s landscaping was well done, with trees lining both sides of the street.
From the teaching building to the cafeteria, one had to pass through a small path with groves on both sides.
The school had streetlights that would normally light up at night, but now only the path near the dormitories was dimly lit, while the lights near the groves were off.
Xin Lan stood at the start of the small path. In front of her seemed to be a layer of hazy mist, further obstructing vision in the night.
Faintly and indistinctly, she thought she heard some sounds.
“Can’t we go through?”
Shen Shuiyan caught up, seeing Xin Lan stopped at the entrance, peering inside.
“Do you hear any sounds?”
“Sounds? No, I don’t.”
Shen Shuiyan shook her head, then focused to listen after speaking.
“No, I don’t hear anything.”
She repeated, confirming she couldn’t hear anything.
“Wait… it seems like… someone’s singing?”
“Someone is singing.”
Their voices overlapped, adding a ouch of eeriness to the night atmosphere.
The two looked at each other in bewilderment. As they hesitated, the singing became clearer.
It was a nursery rhyme familiar to everyone, but sung in a young person’s voice.
“Two tigers, two tigers, running fast, running fast. One has no eyes, one has no ears, how strange, how strange.”
There was clapping and laughter, creating an ominous feeling in the quiet campus.
Xin Lan saw the scene in the black mist, her pupils dilating.
There were two singing, or perhaps they could no longer be called people. One of them was the person Xin Lan had seen disappear this morning.
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A male and a female, singing the nursery rhyme.
Their tone was cheerful as they clapped their hands.
One had no eyes, just empty sockets, with a wide smile that looked utterly creepy. The other had no ears, both sides bare, also smiling.
They stared at Xin Lan and Shen Shuiyan. Xin Lan didn’t even have time to shout before grabbing Shen Shuiyan’s hand and running back.
That nursery rhyme was still being hummed, growing clearer and clearer, as if it was ringing right next to one’s ear.
Shen Shuiyan was being pulled along as they ran forward, somewhat out of breath.
The teaching building should have been reached quickly, but that path seemed to have been stretched out.
“Two tigers, two tigers, running fast, running fast, one has no eyes, one has no ears, how strange, how strange…”
The song grew increasingly shrill, with the last two lines carrying a mocking tone.
The author has something to say:
Ghost: Two tigers…
Xin Lan: It’s too awful to listen to, shut up.
Ghost: …Give me a break, sister.
LP: Re-translated on November 04, 2024