Chapter 153
Darkness swept over.
There was ringing in his ears.
After an unknown amount of time, the darkness to slowly dissipate and everything turned to calm.
Lin Yi pulled off his blindfold. He looked around anxiously. Qin Zhou was also looking at him. Once both parties confirmed that the other was still there, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
Having gone through several restarts, the other people in the room all took off their blindfolds. None of them asked what was going on. Instead, they straight away at Qin Zhou, shock and uncertainty in their eyes. It was obvious that they had experienced terrible things before this restart.
Someone’s death triggers the restart. This was something Lin Yi knew from the last time. There were still a lot of people in the room but there were for sure no longer twenty-six.
Lin Yi quickly counted how many people were missing and found that one person was missing.
Because of the particularity and urgency of this world, they’d all foregone introductions. Lin Yi hadn’t bothered to remember everyone. But it was obvious who was missing from this restart. It wasn’t only Lin Yi who’d noticed it immediately; the others had too.
That chubby Ah Hao was gone.
In the previous two restarts, everyone has seen the reason for the restart. This time everyone had separated and they were left to wonder what had happened to Ah Hao.
Lin Yi looked at Hua Hua and the other four girls who were following Ah Hao to escape through the front Xiushen Academy.
Seeing Lin Yi’s gaze, Qin Zhou guessed their escape plan and asked, “What happened?”
The expressions on the girls’ faces weren’t pretty. Hua Hua’s face was particularly pale, “I…I don’t know.”
Saying that, she covered her face with her hands and collapsed, “He was by himself.”
Maybe after Ah Hao had fallen, if she had helped him, Ah Hao wouldn’t have died.
Self-blame, fear and other negative emotions swept through her. Hua Hua cried bitterly, “It’s happening again… It’s happening again. Do we have to go through what we just experienced all over again?”
Negative emotions are very contagious. There were both boys and girls who can’t help but wipe away tears. Rushing out of the dorm room had boosted their morale but restarting was like a silver needle that easily piercing their confidence.
Lin Yi was very anxious. This wasn’t going to work. If this continues, this wouldn’t be their last restart.
But Lin Yi didn’t know what to do and could only look to Qin Zhou.
Qin Zhou glanced at the crowd. Except for Lin Yi, everyone else’s faces wore expressions of frustration. He said, “Take a minute to adjust your mood. Once you’ve all adjusted your moods, I will tell you the probability of a successful escape during this restart.”
People are like this. Sometimes they know in their hearts that something is impossible but they still hope for someone to say it’s possible, so that they can shake the impossibility in their hearts.
Lin Yi believed that Qin Zhou bringing down the mortality rate of the patrol team wasn’t ever due to luck.
A minute later, everyone temporarily steadied their emotions and looked at Qin Zhou expectantly, waiting for Qin Zhou to announce the probability of a successful escape.
Qin Zhou said, “5%.”
This probability was so small that the participants basically took it that escape from Xiushen Academy was impossible.
“But, hold on.” Before everyone could fall into the pit of despair, Qin Zhou said, “This is the third restart. We’ve had three failures. We can add 3 more points. The probability of a successful escape is now 8%.”
It was still a disappointing answer but Qin Zhou looked at them and said, “We can raise it even higher.”
Everyone was stunned for a moment. That they could increase the probability of success prevented them from falling into self-doubt. They looked at Qin Zhou expectantly.
Qin Zhou looked at Hua Hua. Hua Hua knew that Ah Hao had been alone but she didn’t know she didn’t know what had befallen Ah Hao in the end.
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.
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Qin Zhou: “That thing?”
Thinking back to what had been chasing them, Hua Hua couldn’t help but shudder. “It must have been… a ghost, right? Its hands and feet were bloody. It looked like it had just been in a car accident.”
When she said this, everyone’s expressions froze. Lin Yi also pursed his lips.
Qin Zhou asked, “That thing ignored Ah Hao and chased you instead?”
Hua Hua nodded, “When I turned around, I saw it reach out and pat Ah Hao on the shoulder. Then it continued to chase us. I don’t know if a pat means that he’d been caught. It should be, right? How could Ah Hao have died otherwise?”
Lin Yi and Qin Zhou glanced at each other and saw what the other was thinking through each other’s eyes.
Qin Zhou asked, “Were you ever been caught by it?”
Hua Hua and the other girls shook their heads. One girl said quietly, “We kept running and running until we reached the gates of Xiushen Academy. The moment we saw the gates, it went crazy. It almost caught me with its outstretched arms. Then my vision suddenly went dark and when I could see again, we were back here.”
Others’ eyes lit up when they heard the words ‘the gates of Xiushen Academy’. Someone couldn’t help but ask, “Gate? Was there someone on guard duty?”
“There was a security booth, but I don’t know if there’s anyone inside.” The girl said, “It almost caught us. We didn’t notice whether there was anyone in the security booth.”
Since there is a security booth by the gate, it was unlikely that there wasn’t anyone in it.
The light in everyone’s eyes fell dim once again.
Qin Zhou asked, “Do you still remember the location of the gate?”
A few nodded. Hua Hua said, “We should…we should remember. We ran in a straight line and didn’t go in any circles.”
Qin Zhou said, “Knowing the location of the gate increase the probability of a successful escape by 5 points.”
Lin Yi said, “13%.”
Qin Zhou asked, “How about the others? Did you find anything?”
Lin Yi did not speak immediately, he waited for others to speak first.
The participants only had twelve minutes in this room. In twelve minutes the bald thugs would come. Lin Yi was worried that the others would have enough time to tell what they’d encountered after escaping the room.
If someone didn’t get to say it now, they may not have the chance to say it again later.
The second person to speak was a boy named Xiao Chen.
Lin Yi recognized Xiao Chen among the boys Qin Zhou ordered to suppress the bald men with him during their escape from the room.
Xiao Chen said, “The three of us ran south. There had bene something chasing us too. It was… the thing Hua Hua described.”
Xiao Chen shrank into himself for a moment. He then said, “I probably ran to the southernmost part of Xiushen Academy. There was a village across a river. We yelled towards that side, hoping someone could save us. Then that thing also went crazy. It lunged towards us and then we were back here.”
Qin Zhou frowned. It seemed strange for there to be a village next to Xiushen Academy.
Generally speaking, such black-hearted organizations wouldn’t allow for other people to discover their deeds.
Lin Yi couldn’t help but ask, “Was there anyone in the village?”
Another boy nodded desperately. “There is, yeah. I thought I heard a door open but that thing jumped so fast. We found ourselves back here before we saw anyone come out.”
Everyone’s goal was to escape so it was unlikely that they were lying. In other words, Xiao Chen and the others really had seen a village.
After Xiao Chen finished speaking, he quickly asked Qin Zhou, “Zhou, Zhou Ge…does that increase the probability of escape?”
Qin Zhou answered, “18%.”
The probability of successful escape was increasing just by little bits. The reason was obvious to everyone. They knew where the gates of Xiushen Academy was, but there was a security booth by the gate. They knew that there was a village south of Xiushen Academy, but no one could guarantee whether there were people in the village or whether the villagers were allies of Xiushen Academy.
The third person who made the statement was also a boy. When he slipped to the bottom of the pool, Lin Yi had pulled him up. When he thanked him, he introduced himself as Ah Shan.
Ah Shan was with the third group to rush out of the dorm room. By the time the girls had made it out of the room, the energy of the first group was nearly completely spent. They helped the first group of boys to break away first and waited for the first group of boys to run. They worked together to push away Eyes and the eight bald thugs.
They didn’t have any more time to run so they had to hide.
There weren’t many places to hide in Xiushen Academy. Some people hid in the building in front, while others hid in the tall grasses outside the building.
Ah Shan said, “We went to the building in front. It seems to be Building 2.”
“After entering Building 2, we separated to avoid being all caught. I went to the third floor. My plans was to hide in a room but there was movement in the room I chose, so I didn’t dare to go in.”
Knowing what Qin Zhou would definitely ask about, Ah Shan said, “People were talking inside. I heard someone ask, ‘Do the children’s parents come often to visit and check the progress of their reform?’ Another voice replied, ‘Generally speaking, we do not recommend parents to come and visit the children. The children’s life here is definitely not as good as with their families. The arrival of the parents can easily destroy all our hard work’. The first person then asked, ‘What do you think about how fearful of you the children who’d left Xiushen Academy are?’ I don’t know how the other person answered. I heard footsteps downstairs and I didn’t dare to stay longer.”
As everyone listened, Qin Zhou asked, “An interview? Was there a reporter in the room?”
Ah Shan nodded. “Probably.”
Qin Zhou glanced at him and suddenly asked, “Why didn’t you open the door and ask the reporter for help?”
Ah Shan was stunned for a moment and then said, “I work in self-published media. I can be considered half a journalist. Journalists actually have very little power. The most journalists can do is disclose facts. In society, there are many journalists who’ve been punished for publishing covert interviews”
Lin Yi knew why Qin Zhou suddenly asked this question. In the midst of a critical situation, of being chased and needing to hide, it was suspicious that Ah Shan could linger in front of the door and eavesdrop. Also, that he could retell what he’d heard. And he hadn’t had a second person with him to vouch that he’d actually heard these things.
If Ah Shan really was in the media industry, capturing key information and writing them down are essential skills for journalists. This could explain why Ah Shan could remember the conversations in the room.
Qin Zhou asked, “Did that thing appear?”
Ah Shan shook his head. “No, I didn’t see it.”
Lin Yi looked at Ah Shan.
This escape had allowed them to piece together the general topography of Xiushen Academy.
There were three buildings in Xiushen Academy. Their dormitory was in Building 3 and ahead were Buildings 2 and 1. The gates were in front of Building 1, and behind Building 3 was the mass gravesite.
There was a river on the left side and a village on the other side of the river.
Lin Yi’s guess was that Qin Zhou must have gone to the right side of Xiushen Academy and should have discovered something there. However, Qin Zhou had yet to tell them of it. They were waiting for his report.
In actuality though, Qin Zhou didn’t even need to tell them about the situation on the right side of Xiushen Academy. The accounts of the three people plus his own escape experience were enough to piece together a map of their situation.
It was indeed possible for them to escape from Xiushen Academy; and there was more than one escape route.
But every escape route came with dangers.
Route A: Run towards the gates, but there was a security booth.
Route B: Run towards the back mountain, but there was a mass gravesite.
Route C: Run to the left/south, blocked by a river.
Route D: Run to Building 2 to find the reporter for help, but the reporter’s power was weak.
The four escape routes, A, B and C, in addition to their own difficulty had one other problem in common. Something would chase after them to prevent them from escaping.
It had been the same thing that had strangled Lin Yi’s neck from behind. What Lin Yi saw when he turned around matched Hua Hua’s description.
After Ah Shan finished speaking, Lin Yi also told his own experience, followed by Qin Zhou.
Qin Zhou had indeed gone to the north. He said, “There is a bungalow in the north. It seems to a reception room built especially for the parents. That thing had also appeared.”
Lin Yi silently added an escape route E in his heart: run to the right/north and ask the parents for help. But if the parents would help them, they wouldn’t have sent them here in the first place.
And this route too had that same thing as an obstacle.
After everyone had finished recounting their experiences, their probability of a successful escape from Xiushen Academy had reached 30%.
Qin Zhou said, “There are now five escape routes…”
Lin Yi wasn’t at all surprised that Qin Zhou’s thoughts had gone the same way his did. While Qin Zhou told everyone the five routes, Lin Yi had his head bowed, thinking how to attempt escape route D.
Qin Zhou will definitely try to escape via route D this time since this was the only route without the chaser.
However, route D wasn’t that easy. How they get out of the dorm room, how to get to Building 2 and how to give the distress signal to reporter were all difficult problems.
Sure enough, Lin Yi heard Qin Zhoun say they would ask the reporter for help. With the reporter’s help, they would escape Xiushen Academy.
Someone asked, “But…how are we going to find the reporter? Do we have to starve and rush them again like last time?”
Everyone knew this was difficult. Not to mention how uncomfortable it felt to be hungry, Ah Hao, who caused the room escape last time, was no longer with them.
Qin Zhou said, “We’ll look for opportunities and adapt to our circumstances.”
Everyone’s expressions darkened. For them, any opportunity that isn’t delivered to their doorstep is no opportunity at all.
Lin Yi looked at Qin Zhou, then at the others. Finally, his eyes fell on the iron door of the room.
Twelve minutes have passed; the eight bald men were coming.
Bang bang bang——
The iron door was opened, and the eight bald men appeared in front of them for the fourth time.
The last time, because they were quiet, they escaped being beaten with the keel whips. So now, no one dared to speak.
“Men and women line up in two separate lines!”
The bald thug with the circling black dragon tattooed on his body spoke. His tone was exactly the same in the previous times, without any change, indicating that this time the plot has officially started once again.
Lin Yi looked at the thug with the black dragon tattoo, then at the one with the green dragon tattoo and then at the one with the tattoo of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. He looked at the all the tattoos.
Lin Yi did not dare to look much longer, fearing that his gaze would be taken as a provocation by the thugs.
He withdrew his gaze and followed the black dragon baldie’s order to line up. This time he was still at the end of the line.
When the one with the green dragon tattoo led their group out of the room, Lin Yi stood there and did not follow.
He knew how to attempt escape route D.
I don’t know how I missed the update! Damn!
Lin Yi is off on an adventure again!
!!!! Somehow it never occurred to me that the last person in line could just not choose to go lmao
… I didn’t comment in previous chapter because I was hoping Ah Hao will survive… RIP Ah Hao…
Oh no Ah Hao……