Chapter 150
While in the cafeteria, Lin Yi had actually noted who had given their steamed buns to the children and who had listened to Qin Zhou and hidden theirs.
There were five people who gave their steamed buns completely to the children. The others either imitated Qin Zhou, eating the core while hiding the tough outer portion, or hid the whole thing.
Many of them had taken their steamed buns with them. But in truth, it won’t play a big role in their current situation. Even if everyone had kept their steamed buns, there would only be twenty-six buns and each bun was only the size of an adult’s fist. Three meals a day, nine meals in three days, 234 meals for twenty-six people. That meant that the leftovers they had now would have to be divided into 234 portions.
Putting aside how hungry they felt, even three steamed buns might not be enough to satisfy any of them for a single meal.
This was a cruel fact. Qin Zhou didn’t need to explain it to them. Everyone knew.
What was worse, was that the sudden feeling of hunger they got was simply unnatural. Could eating steamed buns really fill their stomachs…
This was a new round of hurdles. Everyone looked at Qin Zhou, waiting for him to say something.
Lin Yi looked at Qin Zhou worriedly. Times like this was when the pressure on the pillar was the greatest. Qin Zhou was also suffering from the hunger that everyone was feeling, but Qin Zhou still had to take care of them.
Qin Zhou noticed Lin Yi’s worry and said, “Have you forgotten what it is I do?”
The lighting in the room was poor. Their field of vision was dim. Perhaps it was due to the humidity, but the dimness was filled with a rich blue-gray color that represented the moisture. They couldn’t see Qin Zhou’s face clearly, let alone Qin Zhou’s eyes. Only Lin Yi’s sight was unobstructed and what he saw there was composure.
Their entire university was in the same situation as they were now now. Every student in the Unnatural Engineering University could be dragged into the Rule World at any time. Qin Zhou too was exposed to such danger. But he was the president of the student union, the pillar of the entire Unnatural Engineering University. He has had to ensure that the school ran as normal.
Compared to that, this situation here wasn’t worth mentioning.
Lin Yi reacted, “That’s right!”
Wasn’t he a professional?
Qin Zhou looked at the crowd and asked, “How hungry are you?”
Everyone had originally been waiting for Qin Zhou to distribute the few steamed buns. They knew very well that the steamed buns were not enough, so they were simply waiting for Qin Zhou to say aloud what they were thinking.
None of them expected Qin Zhou to ask this. Someone, after being momentarily stunned, then said, “Without exaggeration, I can eat ten Big Macs right now.”
With someone having gone first, although knew why Qin Zhou was asking, they all started to describe the hunger that was tormenting them at this time.
“Even without anything else to go with it, I can gobble down seven or eight bowls of white rice.”
“About the same or me.”
“I can eat three times more than I normally would.”
…
Lin Yi listened to everyone’s answers and his worries dissipated a lot.
Staring at Qin Zhou, he felt a little proud. He was probably the only one among them who knew the reason behind Qin Zhou’s question.
With everyone speaking up, Lin Yi also chimed in. “I can eat five steamed buns!”
When everyone was done, Qin Zhou couldn’t even remember who could eat how many Big Macs or who could eat how many bowls of noodles and rice. He only remembered that Lin Yi could eat five steamed buns.
“There are other foods besides steamed buns here,” he said.
Everyone was stunned and immediately looked around the room but they couldn’t find these other food that Qin Zhou mentioned.
Lin Yi said, “Mushrooms.”
A girl repeated in surprise, “Mushrooms?”
Another person repeated in surprise, “Yes, yes, yes. Mushrooms.”
Hua Hua thought for a while and figured it out. “Ah…you can’t mean…”
The room was dark and damp, and mushrooms grew in the corners.
With the extra food, although it was not much, most people were relieved. Hua Hua asked, “…are these mushrooms edible?”
Lin Yi saw many of the participants stiffen for a moment and they immediately turned towards Qin Zhou and himself.
Just as Lin Yi was about to speak, Qin Zhou held him down.
Although they had inferred from the restart mechanism that the Monster were fighting on the same side as they were, Monsters are Monster and it needs to eat people to ensure its own abilities. Not to mention that this Monster had been evaluated as a high level by Qin Zhou in the beginning. No one knew how many people it had been eaten before them.
Qin Zhou wouldn’t allow Lin Yi too stand out too much. Making Lin Yi seem as though he were just another ordinary participant was a kind for protection. The Monster was among them; eating, sleeping, living with them. If the Monster decides to backstab a participant, the possibility of it being Lin Yi will be much smaller.
After holding Lin Yi down, Qin Zhou finally spoke, “Most of the mushrooms growing in humid environments are poisonous mushrooms, contaminated by miscellaneous bacteria.”
Everyone was stunned. They had to eat to survive, but eating poisonous mushrooms in order to survive was contrary to that goal. If the mushrooms were poisonous just as Qin Zhou said then they didn’t know why Qin Zhou even pointed them out.
Knowing that Qin Zhou wouldn’t allow him to stand out, Lin Yi obediently kept quiet.
Qin Zhou didn’t explain right away. He plucked a mushroom from a corner and threw it in the center of the dormitory. The mushroom fell to the ground with a soft ‘pop’.
Qin Zhou continued to ask, “Does anyone want to eat that?”
No one raised their hand. Everyone was silent for a moment. Someone said, “It’s poisonous. How…how can we eat it?”
“There are also snakes, insects, rats, and ants here.” Qin Zhou asked, “Would you eat those?”
In to being the perfect place for poisonous mushroom, dark and damp dorm rooms were also a favorite of snakes, insects, rats and ants.
Everyone got goosebumps just imagining it. “Fo-…forget it.”
Qin Zhou asked again, “We can also each other, can’t we?”
His tone was calm but the shock it induced was anything but.
“Qin…Qin Zhou…”
Hua Hua was frightened by Qin Zhou’s words and said with a trembling voice, “Stop… stop joking.”
Not only Hua Hua; everyone was horrified by Qin Zhou’s words. The eerie, scary feeling in the air penetrated through the pores of their skin, all the way down and into the marrow of their bones.
There were too many plots like this in horror stories, where people get so hungry, they resort to attacking their companions.
…A bloody purgatory.
It wasn’t Qin Zhou’s intention to scare the others and he didn’t let the fear continue to spread. “That you’re so averse to the idea of eating poisonous mushrooms, snakes, insects, rats, ants and other people shows that you can still endure the hunger.”
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.
“Endure this hunger for three days. When you feel that you can eat these poisonous mushrooms, snakes, insects, rats, ants and your companions, come and get the steamed buns.”
Hlc Itbe vlv cba lcafcv ab vlnlvf atf rafjwfv yecr lcab akb tecvgfv jcv atlgas-obeg qbgalbcr. Ktfgf kfgfc’a fcbeut, vlnlvlcu atfw kbeiv vb cb ubbv.
“Qtfc sbe’gf rb tecugs atja sbe’gf fnfc mbcrlvfglcu fjalcu qblrbcber wertgbbwr; atja’r ifnfi bcf tecufg.”” Hlc Itbe rjlv, “”Ktfc sbe mjc tjnf j qlfmf bo rafjwfv yec.”
“When you’re so hungry that you feel like I can swallow snakes, insects, rats, and ants; that’s level two hunger. You can eat half a steamed bun.”
“When you’re so hungry you can eat the person next to you, level three hunger…” Qin Zhou paused, “You can get a whole steamed bun.”
Everyone was stunned when they heard this.
After a long moment of being stunned, someone started groping around his own body, intending to take out his steamed bun to give it to Qin Zhou.
This method was better than dividing all the steamed buns into 234 portions and they expressed their agreement with their actions.
Qin Zhou glanced at them and interrupted what they were doing. “You don’t need to give the steamed buns to me, just remember that if you eat the steamed buns you have with you before reaching the three hunger thresholds, the number of steamed buns will only decrease. When other people reach level one hunger, level two hunger or even level three hunger but there are no steamed buns to fill their empty stomachs, everyone suffers.”
Everyone was as silent as cicadas in winter.
Qin Zhou softened his tone and said, “So if you can bear it, please bear with it.”
Qin Zhou’s strategy of first threatening and then appeasing worked and everyone nodded hurriedly.
Seeing he had achieved the desired effect, Qin Zhou said, “Go to sleep. If anyone is hungry, just say so.”
Everyone nodded again and they instinctively followed Qin Zhou’s words. People getting into bed could be heard all around.
Lin Yi lay down once again and turned sideways to make room for Qin Zhou to lie down more comfortably.
Qin Zhou lay down next to him and bit his ear hard.
This was Lin Yi’s punishment for not listening to him just now and speaking out.
Lin Yi obediently waited out Qin Zhou’s bite. When Qin Zhou let go, he took Qin Zhou’s hand and wrote on Qin Zhou’s palm with his index finger: ‘Senior, will it be over in three days?’
Black Dragon baldie had given a set punishment duration: three days.
Because there was a specific duration, it could be seen that the thug was certain they wouldn’t be able to make it through these three days of starvation.
But Qin Zhou had scared the participants and that fear would have an effect. If they followed Qin Zhou’s method, and while unimaginably difficult, manage to survive these three days, when the Black Dragon baldie sees that they’re all still alive, would he let them go.
Just like those children; the thugs had been discussing them on their way to the cafeteria.
“Still not behaving after three days of eating nothing?”
“Then they’ll go hungry for another three days.”
What if the Black Dragon baldie starves them for another three days? Setting aside the issue of whether they could all survive an additional three days, if they get those additional three days, won’t everyone have a mental breakdown?
Actually, Lin Yi knew that Qin Zhou couldn’t give him an answer to this question.
But he was sure that Qin Zhou would understand the question he really wanted to ask.
An additional three days on top of the three days. After three days, there will be other life and death hurdles waiting for them. Right now, they were still passively accepting these hurdles but when will they escape?
Lin Yi himself knew that escaping from Xiushen Academy could not be done on a whim. They had not even seen the entirety of Xiushen Academy. They didn’t know the lay of the land. They didn’t even know if only these eight thugs were in the Academy? And if there were another people, what kind were they?
And it wasn’t only them two who needed to escape successfully. All the participants needed to make it out. It made the difficulty of escape rise to the point where it’s almost impossible to do.
If they all worked together, they might be able to attempt an escape from the Xiushen Academy. So the question Lin Yi really wanted to ask Qin Zhou was, can everyone really be of the same mind?
They haven’t known each other for a long time. Even if they were of the same mind now, would they continue to be so in the future?
In the 7-7 Rule World, Xu Xiazhi had taken Lin Yi’s wardrobe for his own survival. In the 2-6 Rule World, Gao Xu shouted at Ou Ying to go die. In the 16-8 Rule World, Jiang Man wanted them all to die with her…
Lin Yi didn’t say anything, but he was really afraid of some mishap that would prevent either him or Qin Zhou from leaving here. Not only would he be unable to express what he had planned to say to Qin Zhou but his purpose for going to the Unnatural Engineering University would end abruptly with his own death.
He’d just learned that his mother was related to the 4-4 Rule. He’d just that Cen Qian was It’s name.
He hasn’t even found his father yet.
Lin Yi knew that if he kept being so confused, ‘It’ would come out of his body. ‘It’ was the 4-4 Monster and would definitely not be of the same mind as the participants.
What he needed from Qin Zhou now was to stabilize this mood.
“We can,” Qin Zhou sensed Lin Yi’s emotions from his question and answered resolutely.
Lin Yi said softly, “Yeah.”
Although he knew Qinzhou was trying to appease him, he believed him.
Qin Zhou asked him, “Are you hungry?”
Lin Yi shook his head. After shaking his head, he realized that holding back bad news and only reporting the good would be too obvious. He nodded this time. “But I’m okay.”
“Get some sleep.” Qin Zhou said, “You won’t feel hungry when you sleep.”
Lin Yi gave an ‘en’ and closed his eyes.
The feeling of hunger was bound to get stronger and stronger. If he can’t fall asleep now, it will be even harder to fall asleep later.
Many of the others were struggling to fall asleep. Lin Yi was also trying. He had to sleep for a while; hunger was worse when you had your eyes open.
He first tried to playing back the MP4 audio in his mind but the effect was too slow.
After thinking for a while, Lin Yi softly made a sound, “Gugugu… gugu…”
Qin Zhou was momentarily stunned and then looked down at Lin Yi.
Lin Yi knew that Qin Zhou was looking at him. Everything is difficult at first. This was the first step. He suppressed the uneasiness in his heart. Not daring to open his eyes, he explained in a low voice, “Senior, I have to listen to this sound to fall asleep.”
Lin Yi’s heart was pounding. He kept his eyes closed, not daring to look at Qin Zhou. But the trembling of his eyes made his thin lids tremble. He didn’t know what look Qin Zhou was directing at him now.
His heart was still beating like a drum.
He wanted Qin Zhou to just come out with whatever he was going to say but at the same time, he was also afraid of what Qin Zhou would say.
Amidst the uneasiness, Lin Yi heard Qin Zhou say, “Okay.”
Qin Zhou’s voice was also very low, so quiet that only the two of them could hear clearly, “Want me to do it?”
Lin Yi paused, opened his eyes and looked at Qin Zhou who was very close at hand. “Do what?”
He didn’t quite understand what Qin Zhou’s offer meant.
Qin Zhou explained, “Does a lullaby work if you sing it to yourself?”
Lin Yi’s heart trembled. Though deeply touched, he refused.
“No, I’ll do it myself…”
Perhaps it was because he asked two questions in succession, both of which unexpectedly got him answers that made him feel at ease, Lin Yi quickly fell asleep.
Qin Zhou closed his eyes, listening to Lin Yi’s breathing.
The silence in the room was gradually replaced by the sounds of breathing and snoring…
And the ‘gurgling’ sound caused by excessive intestinal peristalsis due to hunger.
They were getting hungrier and hungrier. Some couldn’t sleep at all because of hunger and some were woken up by hunger from their sleep.
As a result, sounds of people turning over gradually increased, revealing the anxiety most of them felt at this time.
Most adults have experienced what it’s like to go hungry. Most of the time, the hunger simply passes. They were waiting for this moment, waiting for their bodies to start consuming the sugars stored in the liver, waiting for their blood sugar to rise to normal levels and their hunger to disappear.
As the waiting time went on, everyone’s anxiety became more and more apparent.
They found that neither their liver nor their fat storages seemed to be working. They were still hungry, so hungry that stars were starting to appear in their vision; so hungry that they started to retch; so hungry that they could clearly feel their stomach and intestines twisting together.
—–
Ah Hao was a fat man. He usually ate a lot and couldn’t bear forgoing even a single meal. But now, he was enduring his hunger for so long.
He’d been terrified of what Qin Zhou said, that someone might get so hungry that they would eat their companions. Just imagining such a scene made his legs go weak. There were more than 20 people in the room. If they started eating each other, it would be a disaster, living hell.
Ah Hao shook his head hard to get rid of the horrific scenes in his mind.
The scary scene was dispelled. Ah Hao thought back to how he got here. Wasn’t he just going out to have a meal? Why did he ever go to this escape room store?
He knows that escape rooms were very popular now. Many of his friends have played them but he himself wasn’t fond of them. He’d gone once and his legs simply got tired from standing around. He was a fat man and he just wanted to sit or lie down.
That’s right. So how did he wind up here instead of the restaurant?
Soon, Ah Hao got his answer.
A ghost must have played a trick on him.
The word “ghost” made Ah Hao shiver and a new round of hunger swept over him with overwhelming force. He gritted his teeth and endured it but the hunger kept reminding him over and over, causing him to think back on those horrific scenes he’d just managed to throw out of his mind.
When a person gets hungry to a certain level, he might consider eating his own companions. After all, right now, he himself wanted to take a bite out of himself.
And he had already acted on it. He was already holding his arm in his mouth.
When he realized this, Ah Hao grew shocked. He quickly retracted his arm, hiding his hands behind his back.
He thought that among the twenty or so people here, he was probably the fattest.
If anyone was going to be eaten, it would most certainly be him. He himself wanted to eat himself.
This action alarmed the person next to him. Ah Hao quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Next to him was a girl named Xixi. She was so thin that only she could barely fit on the same bed as him.
Xixi said, “It’s okay.”
Ah Hao quickly moved back to make room for Xi Xi.
‘Gululu’
His stomach grumbled. Ah Hao said embarrassedly, “Sorry…”
Xixi said nothing.
‘Gululu’
It grumbled again.
Ah Hao was really embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I disturbed your sleep.”
He prepared to turn around.
Ah Hao rubbed his belly.
‘Gululu’.
Since he had his hand on his belly, Ah Hao was sure that the sound wasn’t coming from him. When he heard the movement, he realized that it must have come from Xixi.
‘Gululu’
‘Bajibajibaji’.
‘Gululu’
‘Bajibajibaji’.
Ah Hao’s back stiffened. He was sure he heard it correctly. “Bajibajibaji” That was the sound…made when the upper and lower jaws frequently opened and closed. It was the sound of the oral cavity being squeezed and agitated.
Xixi was chewing on air.
Ah Hao’s nerves tensed up instantly. If Xixi charges in, would she just take a bite out of his neck? If the force was strong enough, she might even bite off his trachea.
Ahao turned around immediately, “Um…are you hungry already?”
Xixi: “Yeah.”
Ah Hao: “What…what level?”
Xixi shook her head. “I can still bear it.”
Ah Hao didn’t believe her. “Really? Then why are you… chewing on nothing?”
Xixi said: “They say you quench your thirst by thinking of plums, don’t they?”
Ah Hao: “…”
Realizing that there was an ambiguity in this sentence, Xixi quickly explained, “No, don’t get the wrong idea. The plum I’m thinking about isn’t you. I’m not like, fantasizing about eating you. I’m just imagining eating normal food.”
Ah Hao: “Oh.”
Xixi: “Yeah.”
After a while, Ah Hao asked, “What are you eating?”
Xixi: “White rice.”
Ah Hao didn’t expect her fantasy to be so simple. Xixi said sheepishly, “If you think about eating something delicious, you’ll feel hungrier.”
Ah Hao nodded. “That’s true.”
‘Gululu’
‘Bajibajibaji’.
Ah Hao also followed suit. He didn’t dare think about french fries and burgers. He thought about the vegetables he disliked the most.
As he was fantasizing about them, he suddenly heard a sound.
“I…I’m at level one.”
These weren’t said by either him or Xixi, but by someone on the bed next to theirs.
Everyone’s eyes turned towards the sound. Ah Hao also cast his gaze over.
He saw the two people on the bed near the door sit up. They were a special couple. Ah Hao knew the name of one of them; everyone knew it. It was Qin Zhou.
Qin Zhou glanced at the one who spoke and asked, “Do you have…”
He must have been going to ask the boy if he had any steamed buns, but the gentle-looking boy next to Qin Zhou took out a piece of steamed bun he’d hidden in his pocket, so Qin Zhou fell silent.
Originally, the gentle-looking boy was going to hand over the piece of steamed bun himself but Qin Zhou didn’t let his partner go. Instead, he took the small piece of steamed bun and went over himself.
Everyone’s eyes were on Qin Zhou. Ah Hao saw Qin Zhou give the piece of steamed bun to the boy at level one hunger.
The boy devoured the steamed bun without even chewing it. He just swallowed it.
It looked like he was really hungry.
Later, Ah Hao heard Qin Zhou say, “Don’t feel embarrassed, just say if you’re hungry.”
The boy at level 1 hunger nodded. “…Thank you…Thank you.”
Qin Zhou walked back. The hungry boy lay down again.
The room returned to its previous shifting, rumbling sounds.
Ah Hao continued to endure it. Although he was very greedy for steamed buns, he could still bear it. There were only so many steamed buns. If he ate them all and some people reach level 3 hunger, it would be over.
Ah Hao is about to continue fantasizing about food.
‘Gululu’.
There came another sound nearby.
Then Xixi’s voice rang out, “I’m sorry…I…I’m very hungry.”
Everyone’s eyes fell on them again. Ah Hao heard Qin Zhou ask again, “Do you have any on you?”
Xixi shook her head.
Qin Zhou asked, “What about you?”
Ah Hao realized he was talking to him. So, he quickly sat up. “I have, I do…”
Qin Zhou gave an ‘en’. “Please give her a piece.”
Ah Hao: “Okay, okay.”
Afraid of crushing the precious steamed bun while sleeping, Ah Hao put the steamed bun in his coat pocket and put the coat on himself. So he was about to sit up and dig into his coat pocket.
But he was too fat. If he sits up, Xixi would be pushed under the bed. Ah Hao had to stand up.
Because all eyes were on him, Ah Hao was a little nervous. The more nervous he became, the more hurriedly he opened the zipper of his coat pocket.
“Just wait a minute..,”. Ah Hao said embarrassedly.
He continued fumble, finally managing to unzip it.
Suddenly there was a “Zila” sound, accompanied by a shout from Qin Zhou. “Quick! Go back!”
Ah Hao didn’t know what happened. He was startled by the sudden unknown sound. His hands shook and his coat fell to the ground. The bun in his pocket rolled out and kept rolling forward.
The floor was wet and the fallen steamed bun inevitably got dirtied.
Ah Hao felt sorry for the steamed bun and he knelt down to pick it up.
The steamed bun kept rolling forward until it reached the door. Ah Hao then caught it.
When he stood up, he saw something wrong with the expressions of Qin Zhou and the gentle-looking boy.
Ah Hao was somewhat dazed. He turned around and realized that there was something wrong with the expressions of everyone he could see.
They’d all gone pale and trembling.
But their eyes weren’t on Ah Hao. Instead, they were looking past Ah Hao, landing on the iron door of the room.
Ah Hao was stunned and turned around again.
Only then did he notice that there was a pull-out iron plate on the door and now, that iron plate was open.
Behind the iron plate, there was a pair of eyes staring at him closely.
Ah Hao was confused. His body instinctively went weak due to fear.
He landed on the ground. The eyes behind the door looked down and saw the steamed bun in his hand.
Thank you for the chapter!
This is so scary… I don’t usually get frightened by horror novels, because most of the time I just think they’re interesting, but this arc makes me shiver. I think maybe because it’s so real and happens to people all the time, and you can’t physically fight or outrun hunger…
Oop that can’t be good
That changes in POV actually scary because you can’t tell if the MC will survive or not. Unlike with our usual pair lol.
+1 i’m stressed out for Ah Hao now
+2
The part where Lin Yi started making the sleep sounds in front of Qin Zhou was so precious and funny at the same time I couldn’t stop laughing 😭😭 I love Lin Yi so much he is such a unique, adorable and lovable MC 🥹 with his sleep sounds and obsession with eating eggs