Chapter 5: 5

Chapter 5

In front of him was an apartment building that exuded a dilapidated feel. It was surrounded by a darkness that was like a black confined space. The only source of light was the dim electric lights of the apartment. 

Without thinking, Lin Yi started heading towards that light source. When he got to there, he saw Qin Zhou outside the apartment building. Qin Zhou also saw him and immediately frowned.

After struggling with the decision for a long time, Lin Yi walked quickly to Qin Zhou. He said, embarrassed, “Senior, looks like we got caught in the rule? An open window just suddenly appeared.”

 

When Qin Zhou turned to look at the window, a strange red light appeared. The red light intensified in an instant, drowning their eyes and when they could see again, they found themselves here.

Lin Yi thought, no wonder 7-7 had yet to be resolved. The speed at which the cement tried to engulf him was very slow, giving them enough time to react and save themselves. But when 7-7 appeared, Lin Yi stared at it only for a while before he was suddenly drawn into the Rule World. 

Qin Zhou looked at him. Everyone who entered into the Rule World would be experiencing negative emotions but Lin Yi didn’t seem to be like that. Lin Yi looked relaxed, the only negative emotion on his face was probably embarrassment at having made Qin Zhou follow him into the 7-7 Rule World.

 

“It had nothing to do with you.” Qin Zhou said.

He was going to enter the 7-7 Rule World anyway. He was just hadn’t managed to run into it even after so long, that’s all.

“Oh, okay.” Lin Yi responded, then looked around: “Senior, where’s the monster?”

 

Qin Zhou glanced at him but gave no answer to his question. Instead, he quickly briefed Lin Yi on what to do after entering the Rule World.

“You can think of the Rule World as an intense suspense game. The intensity comes from NPCs killing people every night;  the suspense is because NPCs need certain conditions to kill. If you want to avoid being killed, you need to find relevant clues during the day. Through these clues you can avoid the fate of being killed.”

“Think of the Rule World as an intense suspense game.” Lin Yi repeated it. He made his right hand into a fist and punched the palm of his left hand. With a ‘smack’, he said, “So the theme of the game is ‘open window’?”

 

“You can think of it that way?” Qin Zhou said, “But best to keep your distance from windows.” 

After all, they had gotten involved in this Rule World through an ‘open window’.

“But…” Qin Zhou looked Lin Yi up and down: “What’s with your freakin’ obsession with dying?”

“Senior, I just wanted to come in here. I’ve got aging parents; I don’t want to die.” Lin Yi explained in a low voice. He could hear from Qin Zhou that he had no intention of treating him like a younger brother. It’s only right; he hadn’t yet joined the student union after all. But since Qin Zhou said that this was a game, then Qin Zhou could take him as a teammate. If Qin Zhou had no intention of taking him even as a teammate though then that was it.

Although Lin Yi recognized himself as antisocial, Qin Zhou’s introduction to Rule World was simply too general. What were the killing conditions? Can you touch the NPCs? After you avoid the killing conditions, then what? And the Monsters; where is the 7-7 Monster? 

Lin Yi needed more information from an experienced player like Qin Zhou. He thought about it and said, “Senior, do you know about Mensa?”

Mensa is a club that uses IQ as the criterion for membership. Lin Yi indirectly hinted, “Senior, I am a reserve member.”

Qin Zhou stared at him for a long time, a wondering look in his eyes. He turned around and entered the apartment building without saying a word.

Lin Yi: “…” 

This kind of situation where you muster up the courage to shamelessly sell yourself but you’re just left hanging is a big blow to a social phobic.

Lin Yi felt he’d been shunned. He wondered, if he entered the apartment building right now, would Qin Zhou feel like he was following him. Oh, that would be so embarrassing.

 

In order to prevent such a possibility, Lin Yi decided to go in later.

Then, in five minutes — neither too long nor too short. 

He raised his hand, ready to check the time but found that the watch on his wrist had disappeared. While thinking of when he’d lost his watch, Lin Yi waited for five minutes to pass. If you had a working timer at this time, you would have seen Lin Yi raise his foot to walk into the apartment building the very second the time reached five minutes.

Walking into the apartment building, Lin Yi found not only Qin Zhou in the hall on the first floor, but also other people who were drawn into the Rule World. The president of the student union was a well-known figure and almost all the students of Unnatural Engineering University knew of him. At this time, they were constantly casting their gazes at Qin Zhou. But Qin Zhou ignored them, ignoring their appeals for help.

Lin Yi observed the scene. Qin Zhou didn’t seem to have any intention of treating the others as teammates either, simply throwing out a ‘be careful of the windows’ when he got annoyed by the stares.

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.

Be careful of the windows’ was tantamount to not saying anything at all. Everyone had been dragged into this by an open window. They all knew there was something about the windows so they wouldn’t have gone near them anyway. 

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The apartment building was clearly housing for adults, with a duty room and laundry room on the ground floor. There was even a barber’s and a dining hall. The doors to these facilities were closed at this time but there was a corresponding sign on each door.

Vajlgr ifjvlcu ab atf rfmbcv jcv atlgv oibbgr kfgf ibmjafv bc ybat rlvfr. Ktf vloofgfcmf yfakffc atlr jcv batfg ereji vbgwlabglfr kjr atja atlr kjr wemt bivfg jcv j iba wbgf vlijqlvjafv. Ktf kjiir kfgf oeii bo mgjmxr jcv atf mfwfca kjii tjv yffc fzqbrfv ktfgf atf qjlca tjv oijxfv boo. Ktf mflilcu jybnf kjr qbbgis kjafgqgbbofv jcv veii wbrr tjv ugbkc, ulnlcu atf jqjgawfca yelivlcu jc lcvfrmglyjyif bvbg.

The only thing new was the iron door to the apartment building. 

After scanning the apartment building once through, Lin Yi’s eyes turned to the duty room.

The duty room had two glass windows facing the building’s entry hall. The windows were closed and because the glass was so dirty, it was impossible to see inside the duty room.

The door to the duty room also seemed to be closed. Lin Yi was considering whether to knock on the door. As he was checking to see if there was anyone in the duty room, he felt a light poke on his back.

It was a girl. When Lin Yi turned to look, the one who spoke was another boy, “We’re introducing ourselves, let’s get to know each other.” 

Lin Yi: “En! Okay.”

Actually, his heart had already begun to tremble. Self-introduction is never a friend to the social phobic.

The boy started, “My name is Qu Jialiang, a senior. But this is the first time I’ve run across a Rule Monster…” Qu Jialiang couldn’t help grumbling as he spoke, “If only I’d been lazy today and chose not to study. I should have gone to play basketball. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have…besides, it was the weekend.” He pulled at his hair as he spoke.

At this time, another boy patted Qu Jialiang on the shoulder: “Xu Xiazhi, I’m his roommate. We were studying before we were drawn in. This is also my first time being involved in the Rule World.” 

Lin Yi thought as he was mentally composing his self-introduction:

We were all drawn-in from everywhere.

 

At this time, there were eight people in the apartment building hall — six boys and two girls. The girl who poked Lin Yi’s back said, “Zhou Lingling, a junior. This is my first time.”

Another girl lowered her head. While wiping away her tears, she said, “I…my name is Li Ying. I’m a sophomore and this is…also my first time.” 

Li Ying’s emotions were probably spreading to everyone, the rims of Zhou Lingling’s eyes were also turning red.

Apart from Lin Yi and Qin Zhou, the remaining two boys were named Cheng Yang and Wang Duo. Cheng Yang was a freshman like Lin Yi. Lin Yi recognized Cheng Yang as a classmate who had been locked up with him in the inn last night. He had slept on Lin Yi’s lower bunk.

Cheng Yang patted down his body. It seemed he was looking for a cigarette. He had been smoking in the lower bunk last night. He had smoked one cigarette after another. In the morning, Lin Yi got up and found the floor littered with cigarette butts.

And because someone had died in their room, Cheng Yang, who had no cigarette left, picked up a cigarette butt on the floor and continued to smoke it. 

Lin Yi thought, was this a man’s reaction to things?

Then he glanced at Qin Zhou; Qin Zhou, who also smoked.

Qin Zhou was currently sizing them all up. He had very keen senses and as soon as Lin Yi set his eyes on him, Qin Zhou looked over.

Lin Yi hurriedly looked away, shouting in his heart: He didn’t find out, did he? He didn’t notice I was peeking, right? 

Starting from his ears, Cheng Yang, who had nothing to smoke, rubbed his face and said, “Cheng Yang, Cheng with the ‘wheat’ character and Yang from ‘masculinity’. Senior brothers and senior sisters, I am a freshman. My family is rich, the richest man in Rong Province is my dad. If any of the seniors would be willing to rescue this younger brother, all the family’s riches will be given to you.”

It was a pity that at this time, even under the incentive of great riches, no brave man appeared.

Lin Yi said, “Lin Yi, freshman.”

Nothing else. These three words did indeed comprise the entirety of the self-introduction Lin Yi spent a long time crafting. 

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After introducing himself, Lin Yi Yu glanced at Qin Zhou from out the corner of his eye and saw that he was still looking at him, a contemplative look in his eyes. The only one remaining, Wang Duo said, “Wang Duo, sophomore. But this is my second time in the Rule World.”

These words instantly caught the attention of most of the group. Qu Jialiang asked three questions in quick succession. “You have? Which rule was it? Are there really monsters in the Rule World?”

Wang Duo subconsciously glanced at Qin Zhou. “It was Rule 3-7. But I won by lying down, so I don’t know much.”

His glance made everyone turn to look at Qin Zhou. They then understood the meaning behind Wang Duo’s glance. It must be this student council president who led Wang Duo to win without doing anything. 

Fortunately, Qin Zhou was also in the 7-7 Rule World this time. It was as if they had found a pillar of support, the fears and worries on everyone’s faces dissipated by a lot.

Cheng Yang didn’t recognize Qin Zhou but he could understand Qin Zhou’s importance and said sincerely, “Godfather! Little brother will be depending on you.”

 

“You talk too much.” Qin Zhou threw out this statement but because the meaning was unclear, for a moment, both Cheng Yang and Wang Duo had embarassed looks on their faces.

Lin Yi was even more certain that Qin Zhou had no intention of treating the others as his teammates. After that, he started to feel uncomfortable all over. Damn it, he was suffering from secondhand embarrassment again. 

Just when the atmosphere was turning awkward, the sound of footsteps — a deep step followed by a shallow one — came from outside the apartment building. The footsteps coming nearer and nearer, instantly making the mood deteriorate, quietly spreading uneasiness. Everyone’s breathing tightened because of the sound of these footsteps. .

It’s coming. The NPC was coming.

Except for Cheng Yang, everyone else knew that NPCs were the executioners of the Rule World. Probably because no one else could spare any thought to talk to Cheng Yang, Cheng Yang walked up to Lin Yi, “Lin Yi Xiong, do you know what’s going on?”

Lin Yi thought that since Qin Zhou could tell himself about the situation of the Rule World, Rule World probably wasn’t some sort of closely guarded secret. And so, he told him what Qin Zhou had told him, quickly whispering to Cheng Yang, “You can think of this place as a suspense game waiting to be explored. The NPCs in the game can kill people.” 

Cheng Yang was momentarily stunned.

Although he knew earlier on in his heart that this place was utterly beyond belief, he still couldn’t help shaking when I heard this inconceivable introduction.

Lin Yi saw that Cheng Yang was scared and he comforted, unskillfully, “But NPCs cannot kill unless some killing condition is fulfilled. Moreover, they will only kill at night.”

Cheng Yang’s throat tightened: “The-then…what are the killing conditions?” 

“I don’t know.” Lin Yi was still whispering, “So we look for clues during the day. If we can find clues, we can avoid them at night.” He thought about it and made a disclaimer. “It should be like this.”

Maybe it was because of Lin Yi complete lack of skill in comforting people, Cheng Yang’s face turned even uglier after his words of comfort. His lips kept moving soundlessly for a long time before he managed to say, “Da-…Damn…but I’m all brawn no brains.”

Although Cheng Yang was not as tall as Lin Yi, Cheng Yang’s build was much broader than Lin Yi. At a glance, you could tell that he was an athlete who trained regularly, fully confirming that he was ‘in no favorable position to use one's skills‘.

Cheng Yang looked towards the outside of the apartment. “And…and…” 

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of footsteps approached. In a moment, it would be upon them.

There was a chilly voice by his ear.

“He..he’s here.”

They had no idea who said this but before everyone’s eyes, an old man appeared at the door of the apartment building. 

He was about 60 years old. His body sloped and a section of his right leg was missing so that they way he walked made one deep footstep followed by a shallow one.

His face was covered in wrinkles, the skin folds almost covering the old man’s eyes, causing him to appear as though he were peering at them from out the dark.

 

The old man glanced at everyone. But because there were so many people, the old man’s eyes just swept past them. He then walked to the door of the duty room and opened it with a key.

Everyone watched as the old man walked in and then pushed open the glass window from the inside. The pushing open of the glass window made a sound. 

Everyone was suffering from PTSD when it came to windows. When the old man opened the window, several people took a step back and even Qin Zhou frowned.

After the glass window was pushed open, the counter behind the window was revealed. The table top was relatively wide, with landline phone and a yellowing register book next to it. On top of the register book was a bunch of keys and numbers were pasted on each key.

The old man leaned out halfway. Holding the registration book in his hand, he waved at the crowd. “Come register.”

This unclear sentence and this old man who made people feel very uncomfortable, made the atmosphere instantly stiffen. 

No one came forward to register. No one knew what would happen. Everyone’s eyes swept back and forth between Qin Zhou and this old NPC, hoping that Qin Zhou would take the lead.

Qin Zhou stood still, looking as though he had no intention of taking the lead. He simply asked, “What if I don’t register?”

The old man who had been staring at everyone, immediately turned to look at Qin Zhou alone, ​​”This is a special situation and I won’t give you a key if you don’t register.”

“A special situation?” Qin Zhou grabbed onto the key words and asked, “What special situation?” 

“Don’t you know that a lot of people have died?” The old man stared at Qin Zhou and replied, “It’s a mess outside. If you don’t want to register, I’ll have to kick you out.”

Qin Zhou asked about “outside” again but the old man seemed not to want to say any more. He just gave Qin Zhou a deep look and then returned to the original topic, asking everyone to register.

No one in the group could muster up the courage to step forward. Just as they were at a stalemate, Qin Zhou suddenly stepped up and then took the pen and paper from the old man’s hand.

After seeing Qin Zhou register, the others also hesitantly followed. 

“Head to your room after you register.” The old man said, “Don’t go wandering outside if you’ve got no business being out.”

Lin Yi was the last person to register. As he was registering, he deliberately nudged the registration book to fall on the ground. He then squatted down to retrieve it.

Taking advantage of this time, Lin Yi quickly flipped through the registration book.

He had noticed that when Qin Zhou registered, he kept looking at the registration book. 

Lin Yi thought that maybe the registration book held some clues. But in the end, he was disappointed to find that the registration book was nothing more than registration forms compiled into a book. Even the columns to be filled was only that of their full name.

The only odd thing about it was the rough edges stuck to it’s spine, like a few pages had been torn off.

 

After retrieving the registration book, Lin Yi quickly wrote down his name under the dissatisfied gaze of the old man. After he finished filling it out, he pushed the registration book towards the old man.

The old man glanced at Lin Yi, checked his registration information and gave him the key with the number ‘304’. 

When Lin Yi got his key, the others had already left. After getting their key, they all went to their respective rooms as indicated on their keys.

Only Cheng Yang had stayed to wait for him.

Seeing that Lin Yi’s registration was completed, Cheng Yang showed his key number to Lin Yi. His was ‘303’. If the rooms were arranged normally, his room should be next to Lin Yi’s.

The two headed to the third floor, Cheng Yang saying nothing after he revealed his key. Going with someone unfamiliar, a social phobic might feel awkward if the other party talked too much. But if the other party didn’t speak at all, the social phobic would feel even more awkward. 

The awkwardness was too much for Lin Yi and so he took the initiative to ask, “You… what were you about to say just now?”

Cheng Yang had said ‘and’ but was interrupted by the appearance of the old man.

As soon as Lin Yi’s words to ease the awkwardness finished, Cheng Yang’s face went pale as a ghost’s. Lin Yi could even hear when Cheng Yang gulped. Cheng Yang then said, “Lin… Lin Yi Xiong, you said that we look for clues during the day and NPCs kill people at night.”

Lin Yi paused. Almost as soon as Cheng Yang came out with these words, he understood what Cheng Yang wanted to say. 

Cheng Yang squeezed the key tightly and then released it. The shape of the key embedded into his palm. Cheng Yang almost bit his tongue, “The sky outside is…”

It was dark.

The author has something to say: After this chapter, I recommend reading this during the day.

To be honest, when I designed this instance, I was too scared to go to the toilet at night (lit cigarette.jpg) 

Translator’s note: Q: Is it really that scary? A: Uhhhh, it depends on your tolerance for reading horror. But if you’ve read other horror novels, I don’t think this is exceptionally scary (to read, not to be in, of course. I’d die within the first ten seconds in any UF story. If you’ve read Paintings of Terror or that novel with the deceptive cover of a dancing skeleton, pshhh, you’re fine.) There’s something a little gory toward the end of the next chapter but after that, the fear factor mostly comes from the possibility of the characters dying. As the author herself has admitted, her tolerance for horror isn’t that high so as chapters go on, I feel it’s no longer as scary though some stuff are still creepy.

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