Chapter 149
Lin Yi didn’t want to think about what would happen if it didn’t work. Neither did he have the time to think about what would happen if it didn’t work.
Because the eight bald thugs had already opened the door and filed in.
Lin Yi raised his head and looked at the eight bald men. Their expressions were still as fierce as ever. Lin Yi even suspected that the founder of Xiushen Academy must have gone recruiting at some underground fight club. They revealed a kind of ruthlessness that simply couldn’t be there without having lived in those kinds of places for many years.
They looked so vicious, anyone who saw them would know these were bad men.
In fact, two minutes had still been too short. Qin Zhou’s “Don’t touch the iron door. Don’t talk or make any noise after those eight people appear. Best if you breathe lightly.” It wasn’t enough. There were many things to pay attention to — like showing obedience, not looking at them with anything other than fear, not looking directly into their eyes lest it be taken as a provocation, not being too excessively fearful lest it arouse their perverted desire to harass…
There were too many things to pay attention to. Let alone two minutes, not even twenty minutes may be enough. Some people are born with bad qualities and evil people often hurt others for no reason.
Lin Yi breathed lightly. After a quick glance at the eight thugs, he stopped looking at their faces and looked at the keel whips they were holding.
Keel whips are made of stainless steel chains, making loud sounds when moved. Thus it is also called a ringing whip.
But then Lin Yi noticed that these whips weren’t made of stainless steel chains at all. Some of the chains were rusty… These were iron chains.
Iron chains wouldn’t make the same noise as the stainless steel chains but the two times these bald thugs used these whips, they made a lot of noise. It only showed how energetically they had used these whips to beat them. They didn’t hold back, they didn’t worry about hurting them, because to them, it made no difference if the participants were beaten to death.
Lin Yi couldn’t help squeezing his hands. He could feel the cold sweat on his palms.
The room was very quiet, the unease and fear expanding, amplifying little by little as the silence stretched.
When their nerves could barely stand the magnified tension, the bald thug with the black dragon tattoo finally spoke.
“Men and women line up in two separate lines!”
The black dragon baldie spoke.
It was only then that Lin Yi’s tensed nerves finally relaxed for a moment. They weren’t beaten. They’d avoided the beating.
But the relief truly lasted only for a moment and Lin Yi began to tense up once again. This was because others had also relaxed when they heard the black dragon baldie say these words.
He was afraid that his relief at this moment would be in vain…
But probably because these eight thugs were too tough and fierce, the other participants did not dare to relax completely. Fear still made them walk on thin ice.
After the previous two restarts, the twenty-six people in the room knew that they would be beaten if they dilly-dallied. So when the thug gave the order, they quickly obeyed and lined up.
Last time, there were seventeen boys and ten girls.
Now there were sixteen boys and ten girls.
And the order was different. Lin Yi saw Qin Zhou get in front of the queue. He originally wanted to follow but Qin Zhou threw him a look.
Lin Yi paused for a moment and then followed Qin Zhou’s hinted request and moved to the end of the queue.
Last time, after their beating, they were separated into two lines and thrown into the pool to ‘wake up’. In the eyes of the participants, since the people in the front of the line had been the first to be thrown into the pool before, that meant that the people in front were in greater danger.
Yet despite this, Qin Zhou took the lead. They’ve all noticed the relationship between Lin Yi and Qin Zhou, so they had no objection to Lin Yi being last in line.
On the girls’ side, Hua Hua was at the front of the line. Hua Hua’s courage returned after the keel whips weren’t used.
Lin Yi calmly breathed a sigh of relief.
The participants need to be united to survive the Monster world. No one knows what will happen in the future, but at least for now everyone has shown unity.
He imitated Cheng Yang and began praying to the goddess of luck to bless him, hoping that the twenty-six people could always be united.
The thug with the green dragon tattoo said loudly, “All of you, follow me. Don’t fall behind!”
Now, Lin Yi’s uneasiness and tension were almost all gone since the black dragon thug didn’t have the green dragon one take them to ‘wake up’.
The green dragon baldie walked on ahead, followed by the twenty-six people. The rest of the thugs walked behind them.
Qin Zhou was in front of the line so Lin Yi was observing the situation behind. He could hear the seven thugs talking.
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.
“Still not behaving after three days of eating nothing?”
“Ktfc atfs’ii ub tecugs obg jcbatfg atgff vjsr.”
“Qtja’r atf qblca bo rajgnlcu atfw? Qts cba…”
Olc Tl vlvc’a xcbk ktb atfs kfgf ajixlcu jybea, yea Olc Tl ifjgcfv jcbatfg qlfmf bo lcobgwjalbc. Crlvf ogbw yfjalcur jcv cfjg-vgbkclcur, Wlertfc Cmjvfws jirb rajnfr lar raevfcar.
Cr atfs kjixfv jibcu atlr mbgglvbg, Olc Tl gjlrfv tlr fsfr jcv ibbxfv obgkjgv. C ofk wfafgr jtfjv kjr atf ‘kjafg gbbw’.
The twenty-six participants had already had a taste of what it was like to be in the water room, so even before they reached the water room, Lin Yi could see the backs of the people in front of him stiffen out of excessive nervousness and fear.
Fortunately, they simply passed by the water room, leaving it behind them.
The green dragon baldie didn’t take them to the water room but downstairs to the canteen.
It was ironic that the cafeteria wasn’t as big as the water room. With just 26 people, it already seemed crowded; not to mention there were already people inside when they arrived.
All twenty-six of them were adults while the people already in the cafeteria were still children.
The eldest child must be about sixteen years old and the youngest looked to be seven or eight.
Parents choose how they take charge of their minor children. So, naturally, their parents felt they had the right to send their children to Xiushen Academy to be trained to behave.
The twenty-six participants could not feel sorry for them at this time, nor could they blame their parents. They themselves could not protect themselves.
The green tattoo thug said, “Find a seat and sit quickly.”
The twenty-six participants sat down quickly. The cafeteria was outfitted very simply. The chairs were long wooden benches. The participants didn’t dare dally and though the seating space wasn’t enough, they simply crowded in to fit.
The children who were originally in the cafeteria could only stand.
One of the bald thugs with a tattoo of the Bodhisattva of the Great Vow on his body threw bowls in front of them. Another bald man with an eagle tattoo picked up a stainless steel bucket and began tossing hardened steamed buns into their bowls. It didn’t matter even if it fell to the floor; the thug simply glared and the participant quickly picked up the bun off the ground.
The thug with the black dragon tattoo said, “You will watch the others eat. When you learn your lesson is when you’ll eat again.”
He obviously wasn’t addressing the participants but the children.
Saying so, he directed a fierce look at the participants. “If you dare to share your food with them, you will starve too!”
The participants bowed their heads, not daring to say anything.
After issuing threats, the bald thugs left.
It was dinner time and they didn’t want to stay and watch over a group of rebellious children. Instead, they sat down at a table for eight people outside the canteen. Someone had ordered a few dishes and well as shelled peanuts and beer.
After a couple bottles of beer, the sound of loud chatter floated into the canteen.
“Qin Zhou.”
Hua Hua whispered, “Can we eat?”
Qin Zhou had guided them to avoid getting beaten and soaked so now, they turned to Qin Zhou for what to do next.
After Hua Hua asked, the others also looked towards Qin Zhou.
“Eat,”” Qin Zhou said.”
These steamed buns had been prepared by those thugs. If they didn’t eat them, it might provoke them.
But the steamed buns were hard, yellowing and smelled strange. This was something they normally would never eat.
Qin Zhou added, “If you can’t eat it, hide it.”
The thugs were blocking the exit. The only place they could hide the buns was in the canteen. But the canteen wasn’t big. While they might get away with hiding one steamed bun, there was no way to hide all twenty-six.
So in the end, everyone’s eyes returned to Qin Zhou, wanting to see what Qin Zhou would do.
Qin Zhou broke the steamed bun open. The center of the steamed bun wasn’t as hard. He ate the inner portion. Qin Zhou broke the remaining steamed bun into several small pieces and put it in his pocket.
Starvation was one form of punishment here so it was best to hide some food on you, otherwise given Xiushen Academy’s methods, they might all just starve to death.
With Qin Zhou taking the lead, the others followed his example.
Lin Yi broke open the bun and heard the sound of gulping beside him.
This came from one of the kids who’d been forced to stand in the cafeteria.
They must be absolutely starving to actually want to eat these steamed buns.
Lin Yi turned to look at them. He now knew who the baldies were discussing on their way here — it was these children in the canteen.
What’s the point of starving them? So not only were the children forced to starve, they were also forced to watch as others ate.
Lin Yi lowered his head and ate the steamed bun in his hand. He told himself that the children were pitiful, but they were also NPCs in the Monster world. They didn’t know how fast time flowed in this Monster world. He and Qin Zhou only have one day. If they can’t find their schoolmates from the purchasing department and leave here early, death will be waiting for them.
Restarting would inevitably waste time, so he couldn’t do anything that might cause a restart now.
But others didn’t know that these children were NPCs set up by the Monster. Hua Hua couldn’t help but ask Qin Zhou, “Qin Zhou, can I give the steamed bun to the children? If they don’t eat something…”
Laughter seeped in from outside, interrupting Hua Hua’s words.
When the laughter ended, Hua Hua didn’t continue. She thought of the head thug’s threat and her expression changed to one of obvious hesitation and confusion. Finally, when one child couldn’t hold on and was about to faint, Lin Yi raised his hand to support him.
Hua Hua couldn’t stand it any longer. She divided her steamed bun into several portions and handed them to the children.
The other participants didn’t stop her. Hua Hua was only doing what all of them wanted to do.
Qin Zhou glanced at Lin Yi. He didn’t stop her, neither did Lin Yi.
Both he and Lin Yi knew that this was a new hurdle.
These children were also NPCs and the Monster must have set them up here for a purpose. Whether to give steamed buns to children was a new level for them to experience, a choice-type hurdle.
To give or not to give. They were going to see which choice was the way to surviving and which was the way to death.
Hua Hua whispered to the children, “Hey, please keep the noise down.”
The children gobbled up the steamed bun as soon as they received them.
Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief. With the starving children having eaten the steamed bun, the baldies shouldn’t be able to discover what she’d done.
He quickly broke off pieces from his steamed bun and distributed some to the children. The leftovers, he put into his pants pocket.
Afterwards, those participants stared at each other. They didn’t dare talk for fear of being overheard by the eight bald men eating and drinking outside.
After a while, the thugs finally finished eating. The one with black dragon tattoo walked in and randomly picked a child to clean up after their dinner.
The green dragon baldie said to them, “Line up and follow me.”
Lin Yi was relieved. It seemed that they had made the right choice.
They didn’t incur any punishment, no being forced to go hungry.
Once they were all lined up, the green dragon baldie led them to the dormitory.
The thug said, “Go to bed quickly. Get up at five o’clock tomorrow for morning exercises. If you don’t get up, see if I don’t kill you.”
After throwing out these cruel words, the thug locked the door and left.
They hadn’t made any mistakes so far so although the room was simple and crude, it was livable. It was just a little cramped and there weren’t enough beds. Two to three people needed to squeeze into a single bed.
The participants noticed the relationship between Qin Zhou and Lin Yi, so the two of them shared one bed.
The participants shared the rest among themselves.
They had to wake up early the next morning. Fearing that they would be punished if they got up late, the participants didn’t even bother taking off their shoes and simply lay as they were on the beds.
Qin Zhou took off his jacket and folded it up to make a pillow for Lin Yi.
The bed was very hard. As soon as Lin Yi lay down, Qin Zhou pulled him into his arms. His forehead was warm and Qin Zhou placed a kiss on it.
Lin Yi thought for a while, raised his head and kissed Qin Zhou’s lips.
The room was quiet. No one could sleep and no one dared to speak.
After a long time, someone spoke.
“Qin Zhou.”
Someone called out to Qin Zhou. Lin Yi quickly lowered his head, ending the kiss.
Qin Zhou responded.
Hua Hua lowered her voice and asked, “Are we going to continue like this? Are we going to just stay here?”
Vaguely, low sobs could be heard.
Qin Zhou was about to speak when suddenly the door to their room was kicked open.
Hua Hua sat up in fright. Lin Yi also sat up. This time he rushed in front of Qin Zhou, blocking him before Qin Zhou could protect him.
The one who came in was the thug with the black dragon tattoo.
He said viciously, “You ignored what I said, didn’t you? Do you think I’m joking? Fine, then go hungry. I want to see how long you can survive! Let’s see if you last three days!”
After saying that, the door slammed shut once again.
The participants all looked at each other.
Someone asked uneasily, “…We were found out? That we gave the children… the steamed buns?”
No one answered but the answer was already obvious. The thug had said that they’d be punished with starvation if they shared with the children. Now that he had announced their punishment, he must have found out about them giving steamed buns to them.
“How did he find out…? Did those children sell us out?” someone asked again, regret heavy in his tone.
“No.” It was Lin Yi who spoke. Qin Zhou stretched out his hand to pushed down on Lin Yi’s shoulder, continuing for Lin Yi. “There was no need for the children to betray us. They can get food from us. And even if they wanted to sell us out, they could have called out to someone as soon as we gave them food.”
After Qin Zhou finished his explanation, everyone agreed with Qin Zhou’s statement.
Someone still couldn’t help but ask, “Then how did he know that we gave food to them? After all, the children ate it all up…”
Qin Zhou: “Many factors can cause vomiting.”
Everyone fell silent.
After a while, Hua Hua asked, “Then what should we do now?”
“We endure,” Qin Zhou replied.
The black dragon baldie had told them the duration — three days.
As long as no one dies after these three days, they won’t restart.
Moreover, them going hungry together for three days wasn’t completely without any advantage. The more hardships they experience together, the stronger their bond, the higher their success rate of escaping from the Xiushen Academy.
Hua Hua asked, “These three days are going to be… difficult, aren’t they?”
Qin Zhou: “Yeah.”
It was most certainly going to be difficult, otherwise, the thug wouldn’t have given a three day duration and would have simply starved them to death.
Hua Hua said sheepishly, “Now I’m a little hungry.”
Not just Hua Hua; everyone felt hungry. It wasn’t just a skipped-a-couple-of-meals hungry. It was like they hadn’t eaten in days. Thinking back to those yellow and hard steamed buns, they now seemed delicious.
Qin Zhou said, “Who has leftover steamed buns? Raise your hands.”
Lin Yi raised his hand. He originally thought that he was the only one who would raise his hand, but there were actually some who raised their hands even before he did and some who did immediately after him.
Everyone who had leftover buns with them raised their hands without reservation.
Even if they all knew why Qin Zhou was asking this question.
Awww those kisses 🥺