TN: This is the start of the paid chapters on JJWXC. Please support Zhiyi by purchasing the chapters.
“What do you mean?”
Hua Haoming heard him say that Chu Xuelin wasn’t the protagonist, and he couldn’t help but panic subconsciously.
In the past few days, all the clues they had found had pointed to Chu Xuelin. Yet now, Xia Bai was claiming that she wasn’t the protagonist. How could they not panic?
Meng Tianyou also refuted vehemently, “It’s impossible! The protagonist of this game is clearly Chu Xuelin! It must be her!”
Layers of confusion seemed to be drilling into their heads, and Hua Haoming massaged his temples. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve been misled by Professor Liu. We all thought those salamanders were used for his regenerative medicine research, so we focused on the regeneration aspect and didn’t dig deeper into where the salamanders came from.”
Xia Bai messaged Lin Xiang and hadn’t received a reply yet. Wanting the other players’ help in brainstorming for a way to get Lin Xiang out as soon as possible, Xia Bai decided to wait two minutes for a response while hurriedly going over everything he knew.
Meng Tianyou asserted, “We’re sure that the salamanders were raised by Chu Xuelin, and we also think that the key point is regeneration. What’s the problem here?”
Xia Bai replied, “It’s not regeneration; it’s symbiosis.”
“On the first day we explored the campus, we saw that pea field, which was the first crucial clue.”
“In the photos, Chu Xuelin really liked pea flowers. The female school worker also confirmed that she bought pea seeds, as well as red beans and fava beans, all of which are legumes.”
Xia Bai’s voice sounded weak amidst the thunder, but his words were no less shocking, causing Meng Tianyou to take a step back involuntarily.
He had grasped what Xia Bai was getting at.
He also recalled how he had firmly denied the peas’ significance when Xia Bai pointed them out. He had later smugly redirected the players’ attention elsewhere, so they never paid any attention to peas again.
Hua Haoming couldn’t make sense of it yet. He felt like the mutation had turned him into a fool. The thunder must’ve reverberated through his head, preventing it from functioning. He asked, “What’s the matter? What about legumes? And salamanders?”
Xia Bai didn’t have time to ask if he remembered studying symbiosis in middle school. He explained directly, “Pea plants and legumes like fava beans are very typical representatives of symbiosis. Chu Xuelin liked pea flowers so much, and she also tried to grow other legumes because she’s similar to them, or she’s growing them for the one she’s in symbiosis with.”
“If it were just legumes, it might be an overinterpretation, but the presence of green algae and salamanders confirms that Chu Xuelin and her symbiotic partner have a relationship that goes beyond what’s commonly known.”
“Humans have always believed that vertebrates have unique immune systems that reject other organisms from living inside them, yet salamanders are an exception.”
Meng Tianyou continued, “There’s a unique symbiotic relationship between salamanders and algae.”
Xia Bai added, “The most amazing thing is that the green algae are present in the salamander’s embryonic cells, which means they were closely intertwined even before they fully formed, growing up together and surviving together.”
Hua Haoming, like Meng Tianyou, finally understood what Xia Bai was trying to say. But they still didn’t understand what he meant by Chu Xuelin and the symbiotic ‘them’.
Xia Bai touched the family tree in his pocket. “Chu Xuelin raised salamanders and green algae, not for the salamander’s regenerative ability, but because she…”
“Chu Xuelin’s symbiosis with ‘her’ might not be something ordinary people can accept. They can’t tell anyone about it, and they’ve grown up together like this, living together, lonely yet not, like aberrants of this world. Later, she discovered that there were similar symbiotic relationships in nature just like theirs.”
“So she liked pea flowers, she wanted to grow red beans, and she kept green algae and salamanders in her fish tank.”
In fact, the game had given them a lot of hints.
On the first day, there was such an obvious pea field in the college.
A photo of Chu Xuelin cupping pea flowers.
The story behind how the female worker had gotten to know Chu Xuelin.
These seemingly unimportant points were overlooked.
The artificial lake on campus was full of green algae and they swished in the water like they had human emotions.
The green algae on the damp ground of the anatomy lab’s first floor grew towards the salamander specimens.
The strange, unidentifiable odor on Song Mingliang’s body.
The bathroom in Meng Qing’s dorm hadn’t only smelled of blood.
There were hints. Subtle, but ultimately still hints.
Chu Xuelin was more like a salamander. She showed herself to the world in her complete form.
The symbiotic entity within her resembled green algae. From the time Chu Xuelin was an embryo, it had been inside her, growing alongside her.
Players who had their fixations distorted, in transformation or in death, always carried with them the subtle yet distinct scent of green algae. It was evident that the symbiote was the cause of it all; the true protagonist of this game.
A clap of thunder boomed by their ears. Hua Haoming slapped his throbbing, foggy head. The gravity of the situation was clear.
“This isn’t good. The game has been misleading us, making us believe that Chu Xuelin is the main character. It urged us to find Chu Xuelin’s body, which must mean… there’s danger ahead!”
When Lin Xiang and Wen Qiu entered the laboratory building, the sky was as dark as night.
Looking in from the entrance, the laboratory seemed like an abyssal maw, shrouded in obscurity. Upon setting foot inside, a cold sensation crept up Lin Xiang’s feet, yet sweat formed on his brow.
There wasn’t a soul in the laboratory at noon, so no lights had been turned on due to the gloomy rain.
They should switch on the lights first.
Though Lin Xiang was terrified, having been brought up under his mother’s guidance, he wasn’t inclined to let a lady handle this. So he had to fumble along the wall in the dark, searching for the switch.
The wall felt slimy and damp under his fingers. He recalled the mottled red walls he saw in daylight, looking as if aged blood was seeping out, adding a pungent scent to the dampness.
His fingertips moved cautiously along the wall, his imagination running wild.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ljv tf abemtfv ogfrt yibbv? Ljv atf yibbv vgjlcfv ktlif qgbmfrrlcu tewjc rqfmlwfcr rffqfv lcab atf kjii?
Qbeiv tf abemt j utbra’r tjcv lc tlr defra obg atf iluta rklamt?
Llr tjcv yewqfv lcab rbwfatlcu.
Lf obecv la.
Lf tjv olcjiis obecv atf rklamt.
Szmlafvis, Olc Wljcu qgfrrfv vbkc.
Ktfgf kjr cb gfrqbcrf.
Taken aback, Lin Xiang paused for a moment and pressed harder the second time. Still, there was no reaction.
“Damn it!”
Wen Qiu asked, “What happened?”
Lin Xiang replied, “I’m not sure if the switch is broken or there’s a power outage. The light won’t turn on.”
With thunderstorms up ahead and a power outage behind them, the sense of foreboding was palpable. Even Wen Qiu felt a tinge of anxiety.
Comfortingly, she asserted, “Power outages during thunderstorms are pretty common. It’s okay.”
She didn’t know whether she was saying this for Lin Xiang’s sake or for her own.
Lin Xiang resorted to turning on his phone’s flashlight.
The lengthy corridor on the first floor looked as dark as a dimly moonlit night. Occasionally, lightning would illuminate the space for a second or two. They were unsure if that was a blessing or a curse.
Somewhere, a window that hadn’t been shut properly clattered in the fierce wind.
The phone emanated a feeble, yellowish light against the backdrop of the long and shadowy corridor. The stinging smell of formalin, mixed with an indescribable pungent scent, seemed to stick to their skin.
As the two walked, they got an unsettling feeling that, from the morgue rooms, corpses were watching them in the dark. The sensation grew stronger with each step they took, until they had the suspicion that a corpse lay right beside their feet, peering at them.
“Miss,” Lin Xiang called out.
“What is it?” Wen Qiu asked.
The sound of each other’s voice slightly eased their nerves.
“We should first ensure that our preparations for class are in order,” Lin Xiang suggested.
What he meant was, regardless of what plans Wen Qiu had, in such a creepy environment, they should first complete their task before doing anything else. When carrying out the task, no one should play tricks.
After several seconds, Wen Qiu finally replied, “Alright.”
The two arrived at the entrance of Morgue No. 4.
Xia Bai and Hua Haoming had warned him to be cautious of the human specimen facing the door. Lin Xiang wiped the sweat from his palms onto his pants, then shone his phone’s light towards the door.
“Creak—”
The door was slowly pushed open. The light from the phone cut a swathe into the pitch-black morgue, landing squarely on a female corpse and a fetal specimen.
Morgue No. 4 was completely covered by foliage. Even during the day, fluorescent lights would be needed. On a day without electricity and under overcast skies, the room was almost entirely black. They had no idea whether the other corpses in the room were lying down or standing up, nor could they pinpoint their locations.
The two corpses in front of them, with their sallow and grim appearance, seemed to be “staring” at them. They didn’t know the process by which these specimens were made, but they felt the endless resentment and prolonged loneliness emanating from them.
Lin Xiang’s breathing grew heavy. He dared not shine his phone into the surrounding darkness.
Only now did he realize how challenging the task he voluntarily took on—finding Chu Xuelin’s corpse to verify her deformities—truly was. He had thought it wouldn’t be easy, but under these circumstances, it felt nearly impossible.
If the specimen facing the door wasn’t Chu Xuelin, wouldn’t he have to inspect each one under the phone light?
Wen Qiu said, “Let’s first find Cadaver 7 first. It’ll be used for class.”
Lin Xiang suggested, “How about you shine the light, miss?”
Wen Qiu looked at him.
Lin Xiang explained, “My phone is about to die. We can only borrow chargers in our dormitory, so my phone battery is often below 50%.”
It wasn’t just his fear speaking; he needed to save some battery for later.
It was clear Wen Qiu was also terrified. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then shone her phone light into Morgue No. 4.
The light first landed on the ground, moving over the withered, gray-brown feet resting against the wall, then slowly rose to show several corpses covered with white cloth, lying on beds, silently refusing any disturbance.
Cadaver 7, which they were looking for, was at the very back, submerged in a dark box filled with formalin.
Wen Qiu instructed, “Go and pull him out.”
Overwhelmed with anxiety, Lin Xiang’s voice cracked, “Sister, can you do it? I’m scared.”
Wen Qiu replied, “I have to hold the light for you. Just go.”
Lin Xiang, with tears streaming down his face, headed over. His tears were physiological — a reaction to the formalin — but he was crying internally too, calling out for his mother and for Xia Bai.
Life before had been blissful. The members of the strike team were truly heroic.
Lin Xiang didn’t dare to fully open his eyes, merely letting his gaze drift briefly over the cadaver’s terrifying, brown body before he mustered the courage to drag it out.
“Sister, come and help me,” his voice wavered, on the verge of tears.
Wen Qiu took a step back. “Can’t you carry him on your back?”
“No!” His voice was soft yet desperate.
Wen Qiu, unwilling to go to his side, goaded, “Aren’t you a man?”
“I’m not, I’m still a teen!”
Lin Xiang was adamant about not carrying the cadaver by himself. He felt if he did, he’d sense the cadaver’s head resting on his shoulder, feel it breathing down his neck, or perhaps it would even suddenly open its eyes to stare at him.
“Isn’t this a two-person task? Aren’t you afraid of failing?”
Lin Xiang then added, “If you won’t help, then I won’t do it either.”
Wen Qiu gritted her teeth and moved over, shoving her phone into her pocket. She grabbed and raised the cadaver’s legs. The light from the phone dimmed, obscured by her clothes, casting the morgue into even deeper shadows. As they took their first step, Wen Qiu collided with a corpse propped against the wall.
When she raised her head, its hollow eye sockets were staring right back at her.
“Ah! Ahhh!”
She stumbled back, causing Lin Xiang to fall against another corpse. He slid down its leg, ending up with his head resting against its feet. The cadaver came crashing down, pinning his body. Its head ended up right beside Lin Xiang’s face.
“Ah, ahhhh it moved! He just moved!”
“What are you talking about? That’s a corpse that’s been dead for years!” Wen Qiu’s voice trembled as she rebuked him.
After a struggle, the pair finally carried the cadaver out of Morgue No. 4.
Lin Xiang felt as if he’d shed a year’s worth of tears that night. With tear tracks still fresh on his cheeks, he muttered, “Sister, why do I keep hearing footsteps behind us?”
Wen Qiu responded sharply, “It’s just the echo of our footsteps in the corridor!”
“Are you sure? Can you turn back and take a glance?”
“How unlucky do I have to be to get paired with you?!” Wen Qiu lamented.
“Sister, don’t be like that. I wanted to be in a group with Xia Bai and Brother Hua. You don’t know how brave Xia Bai is, despite looking so delicate. He treats me really well. He once carried me out of a grave. Let me tell you a story…”
“Shut up!” Wen Qiu snapped, unable to stand it any longer. On the bright side, Lin Xiang’s incessant chatter did manage to alleviate some of the eerie atmosphere.
The two disheveled players quickly transported the cadaver to the anatomy lab. After completing their preparations, they collapsed into chairs on the second floor’s laboratory, silent.
Lin Xiang figured that Wen Qiu also wanted to use this opportunity to search for Chu Xuelin’s body on the first floor. With that thought in mind, Lin Xiang rose to get a head start despite his terror.
Seeing him stand up, Wen Qiu did the same, wordlessly heading downstairs.
Looking at her trembling frame, Lin Xiang wondered, Do you really have to go so far, sister?
Though that question could be directed at himself as well.
With this in mind, he hastened his steps.
Xia Bai and Hua Haoming had told him that the female corpse facing the entrance of Morgue No. 4 was a likely candidate. Wen Qiu would probably start there, so he had to be one step faster.
Suppressing his terror and tears, Lin Xiang chased after the figure ahead, overtaking Wen Qiu right outside Morgue No. 1.
In that moment of triumph, his eyes widened in shock.
At some point, Wen Qiu had managed to produce a piece of wire, which was now tightly strangling Lin Xiang’s neck. From just below his shoulder, she peered sideways at him.
Lin Xiang desperately tried to remove the wire. However, he had been caught off guard initially, missing the chance to act before the specially-made, extremely thin wire had embedded deeply into his flesh. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t free himself from it.
He could feel Wen Qiu’s hands shaking, yet they possessed an astonishing strength. The eyes that looked into his eyes were chillingly cold, as if they belonged to a preserved human specimen.
“I’m going to tie you up in morgue one. Cooperate if you don’t want to die,” she said, pulling him backward by the wire.
A ring of fresh blood emerged where the wire cut into him. Almost unable to breathe, let alone speak, Lin Xiang had no choice but to step back with her, moving into the morgue one.
He staggered backward into the room, unable to see what lay behind him. Amid the sharp pain, he recalled what Xia Bai had mentioned: the first morgue housed the relatively fresher corpses.
Step by step, he stumbled into a bed.
“Sit down, lie properly,” Wen Qiu commanded, tightening the wire a bit more. It cut further into his flesh.
Left with no other option, Lin Xiang obeyed. He realized her intention was to tie him to the bed. The moment he sat, he was hit with the realization that he was sitting on a corpse. His body went rigid, and he looked pleadingly at Wen Qiu.
Beating him up was one thing, but he silently begged her not to bind him to a bed with a corpse.
His plea was met with a sharp blow.
Dizzily, Lin Xiang fell onto the bed. He could feel his hands and feet tied to the bed frame. The wire around his neck was also bound to the bed, pressing him tight against the corpse beneath. It felt as if the corpse’s mouth beneath his neck exhaled something. Goosebumps and a cold sweat began to spread from there, yet he couldn’t even muster a scream. Breathing was impossible.
A faint light illuminated the dim morgue.
His phone had fallen out of his pocket earlier, lighting up with messages from Xia Bai.
Xia Bai: [Stop!]
Xia Bai: [Don’t inspect Chu Xuelin’s body.]
“Stop… don’t…” Lin Xiang murmured, looking in the direction Wen Qiu had disappeared.
But Wen Qiu couldn’t hear his weak, garbled plea. And even if she did, she wouldn’t stop.
She took slow steps in the dimness, heading towards the fourth morgue.
Truth be told, according to her original plan, she wouldn’t risk seeking out Chu Xuelin today. If she waited another day, Hua Haoming would perish on his own, securing her the game’s prize.
However, when Hua Haoming died in the wee hours tonight, so would her little brother.
Until this morning, she had not intended to change her plan, despite what she had seen last night and the resurfacing memories which kept her awake.
She was determined to secure the game’s reward, no matter what. Once she obtained a weapon that ensured her survival in the game, what did the real world matter? She could easily surpass her parents at any moment, becoming someone they would have to look up to.
But this morning, as Wen Dong lay pale-faced on his bed and caught sight of her, he offered a smile.
He reassured her, “It’s okay, I’m fine… I’ve really become a girl just like you, Sis.”
Distraught, she cursed at him until tears flowed.
Seeing her tears, Wen Dong finally let pain show in his eyes, asking, “What blinds you, sis? Even if you can’t see it, have you never once wondered why our parents encouraged you to study economics and management, yet allowed me to do as I please and pursue medicine?”
The heavy scent of formaldehyde was overpowering, and Wen Qiu’s tears streamed uncontrollably. Biting her lip, she suppressed her sobs.
Now, more than ever, she needed that game reward. She had invested too much, sacrificed too much. They had nearly all the clues. All they were missing was the story’s protagonist, Chu Xuelin.
There must be crucial clues on Chu Xuelin. Whoever found them first would likely claim the game reward.
Approaching the fourth morgue, she stood before the female corpse.
This was the specimen she was most suspicious of. Meng Tianyou had told her that cadavers at the medical school, once preserved and retrieved from formaldehyde, would not be clothed if meant for study. Yet, this one was clearly female and clothed in a dress.
It was too strange.
She must be Chu Xuelin.
Chu Xuelin’s deformity was likely concealed right beneath that dress.
Without hesitation, Wen Qiu used a concealed scalpel she’d just stolen to slash the dress, which fell away in rough strips.
With the help of the phone’s light, Wen Qiu stared intently at the specimen, trying to uncover the secret beneath the dress.
A perfectly normal and intact human specimen.
Impossible!
Panic filled Wen Qiu’s eyes. This was supposed to be Chu Xuelin, and this body should have had some deformity.
If this wasn’t Chu Xuelin, then where was she?
She had to be in the fourth morgue room. This was the only way she could curse those who entered the morgue and twist their fixations into something mad. Moreover, it was highly likely that she was situated in a place that they couldn’t help but look towards.
Was there any place in morgue four that could fulfill these conditions better?
Therefore, Chu Xuelin had to be this corpse before her.
This must be the case!
Right! The deformity might be internal. They theorized that Chu Xuelin had an absence-type deformity, possibly within her body.
Wen Qiu couldn’t accept that the corpse before her wasn’t Chu Xuelin and frantically searched for any evidence that could confirm her suspicions.
Yes, the deformity must be an internal one!
They had started out as clinical medical students. Their school had them attend anatomy classes daily. Aside from telling them there was a problem with the anatomy lab, perhaps the real purpose of these daily anatomy lessons was to prepare them for a crucial moment like this.
Now was that moment.
Unfortunately, Wen Qiu had never paid attention in those classes and did not have hands-on dissection experience. In the darkness, the scalpel waved wildly.
The sounds of the storm masked everything. Only occasional lightning revealed glimpses of horror.
“Splat.”
Something from inside the female corpse splattered onto her face.
It was sticky, wet, weighty, and reeking of blood.
By the time Wen Qiu reacted, the thing had disappeared into the darkness, moving more hurriedly and frenziedly than her.
She touched her face and felt the sticky residue.
There was movement nearby in the morgue. Tremors accompanied by a sharp, crackling noise.
The bodies in the fourth morgue room, preserved in formaldehyde, were stored in a large metal container resembling a coffin. The noise seemed to emanate from there, or perhaps from somewhere even deeper.
In her haste to dissect the specimen, Wen Qiu had dropped her phone. Her surroundings were dim and oppressive. She couldn’t see clearly and didn’t dare rely on her eyes to locate the unknown.
Trembling, she bent over to grope for her phone.
Her fingers first came into contact with the dissected pieces of the specimen, strewn in chunks and strips on the ground. Then, she felt a foot.
It belonged to a male specimen nearby.
The desiccated toes twitched beneath her touch.
“Ahh! AHHHHH!”
That was thrilling!
Thank you for the update!
Thank you for thr chapter🧡❤️
I thought she’d last longer, be some kind of reoccurring mini baddie or something. At least she was trying to protect her sibling
Noooo Wen Dong 😭😭 Please let his injuries be gone after the game!
At least him being tied up will save him…? Will they come in and ‘save them???
Also the sister and sister…. QAQ!!! I feel so bad I want to cry!!! QAQ
Thanks for the chapter!
omg Wen Dong deserved so much better than this… I hope he and his sister figures out their melodramatic relationship in the afterlife….
d@mn cliffy! Imma go MTL now bah-bye
There is an MTL right?
D@mn there’s no MTL right now!!!