Yuying University
Chapter 473: Why don’t you play by the rules?
Whether it was out of genuine gratitude for Wen Jianyan’s life-saving grace, or being railroaded by the other party’s overly righteous attitude, Zhao Ze ultimately obediently “repaid the favor with a gushing spring.”
Although a small half of the mineral water had already been used, it was more than enough for Wen Jianyan.
He twisted open the cap of the mineral water bottle and took a few gulps.
His SAN value, which had already reached the red line, began to rise again, stopping only when it reached 60.
As his sanity recovered, the auditory hallucinations in his ears began to gradually disappear, and the double vision in his sight faded away bit by bit.
Wen Jianyan propped himself up against the wall and stood up.
“What time is it?”
His voice was still a little hoarse, but he was no longer as weak as before.
Brother Hu looked down, glanced at his phone, and said:
“11:30.”
Hearing this, the hearts of the few of them couldn’t help but sink.
Although due to the time difference between inside and outside the mirror, it wasn’t yet twelve o’clock after the award ceremony was completed, it was clearly well past the dormitory’s curfew.
But there was no other way. They couldn’t stay here.
As the award ceremony ended, their “registration” was also beginning to expire. God knew when they would be targeted by the security guards again.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, raised a hand, and slicked his sweat-drenched hair back.
“Let’s go.”
The three exchanged glances and nodded grimly.
They walked toward the main entrance of the administrative building. This time, the door was pushed open very smoothly.
Outside the building, the sky had completely darkened.
As far as the eye could see, there wasn’t a single person on the entire campus.
On both sides of the road, the streetlights were faintly lit. The thin light couldn’t dispel the darkness, instead making it seem particularly eerie and ominous.
“…”
Looking at the pitch-black campus before him, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but shiver.
Although it wasn’t his first day in a Nightmare, he really hated this kind of dark and deathly silent environment.
…It made one feel very insecure.
Meanwhile, Brother Hu and the others at his side had already walked out. Seeing Wen Jianyan still standing there, they couldn’t help but turn their heads to look back. “What’s wrong?”
They instantly tensed up:
“Did you discover something?”
Although they didn’t feel anything strange, it was… hard to say if Wen Jianyan had discovered something.
After all, they were also aware that this seemingly gentle and harmless young man’s mind was too sharp for his own good, to the point that they subconsciously tensed up at his every action.
Wen Jianyan: “…”
He averted his gaze. “No.”
“Are you sure?” Zhao Ze was still worried and pressed on.
Wen Jianyan: “I’m sure.”
He took a few quick steps, quietly squeezed into the center of the three of them, cleared his throat, and said with a straight face:
“Let’s go.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[…]
[You’re just scared, you bastard!!!]
[Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!]
[I can’t take it anymore. The veteran anchors whose levels aren’t as high as yours didn’t sense anything, yet you, a top-ten anchor, are actually afraid of the dark. It’s so embarrassing if this gets out!]
“…?”
The few of them showed looks of confusion.
Although they didn’t know why the other party had suddenly acted so strangely just now, since Wen Jianyan insisted he hadn’t discovered anything, there was no need for them to press the matter.
So, they exchanged a glance, shrugged, and continued forward.
The group of four walked forward in the darkness.
It was really too late now. There was no light anywhere except for the streetlights. The entire campus was dead silent, so quiet it was unnerving.
No one in the group spoke, remaining vigilant at all times for dangers that might emerge from the darkness at any moment.
Wen Jianyan followed closely within the group, not falling a single step behind.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed twice.
Wen Jianyan was so startled he jumped.
He looked down and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
It was a message from Orange Candy in the group chat.
[Dead yet?]
A greeting very much in her style.
[No.]
[The award ceremony is over.]
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment, then sent another message:
[What about you guys? How was the library trip?]
[Not bad.]
Orange Candy sent a grinning emoji.
Immediately after, she sent a photo. In it was a very old, rectangular piece of paper with yellowed edges.
Wen Jianyan clicked on the photo and zoomed in.
A few blurry words were printed on the paper:
Library Lending Coupon.
Wen Jianyan’s heart stirred slightly.
In previous instances, the library was basically always closed, and they had never found a way in. He didn’t expect that Orange Candy and the others would actually find a breakthrough this time.
[What about Weasel’s side?] he thought for a moment, then sent another message.
Buzz buzz.
Another picture popped up in the group chat, this time from Wei Cheng.
In the frame was a pitch-black dormitory, with Weasel tied up on the floor.
[Waiting for twelve o’clock]
To find out what would happen to a club member after losing all their badges, they had decided to use Weasel as a test subject. It now seemed that this task had fallen to Wei Cheng.
Wen Jianyan took out the blood-red badge he had previously received from the vice-principal, took a picture, and sent it to the group.
Don’t Mess With Me: [? What’s this]
Wen Jianyan: [Not sure yet]
Although it was a reward for winning the basketball game, the vice-principal hadn’t told him its name or purpose.
[Anyway, let’s talk about the specifics when we meet tomorrow.]
Wen Jianyan put his phone back in his pocket and looked down at the small metal badge in his palm.
It looked very similar to a regular club badge. The only difference was that the blurry face on it was a shocking blood-red, and its contours were clearer than other badges, looking lifelike and making one’s blood run cold.
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan thought of something. He turned to look at Brother Hu, who was walking beside him:
“Open your hand.”
“?”
Brother Hu was taken aback and turned to look. “What?”
“I said, open your hand,” Wen Jianyan repeated patiently.
Although he was confused, Brother Hu obediently held out his hand and opened his palm.
The next second, a small, cold, and heavy object fell into his palm, making him jump from the chill.
Hearing the system notification sound in his ear, Brother Hu was stunned:
“Wait, this is…”
After landing in Brother Hu’s palm, the lifelike, embossed face on the badge gradually became blurry again. The originally glaring and viscous blood-red color, which looked as if it could bleed, began to fade bit by bit. In just a few breaths, it became identical to a regular club badge. Upon closer inspection, it was just slightly reddish.
“A hidden item, that’s right.”
Wen Jianyan nodded, his gaze still focused on the item in the other’s palm.
He took the badge back from the other’s hand.
The moment the item returned to his own palm, the face re-emerged, and the blood-red color that had faded was instantly restored, looking vivid and ready to drip.
Seeing this, Brother Hu was greatly shocked. “What, what’s going on?”
Wen Jianyan’s gaze followed the badge as he said softly:
“Perhaps it’s because a certain condition isn’t met.”
First, this badge was a hidden item within the instance, it would be the same no matter who got it.
But… it was obvious that, like the pair of eyeballs he had found earlier, it also had a “use” in this instance.
Since they were all members of that so-called “basketball team” and could all receive awards, why was the badge alive in his hands, but not in Brother Hu’s?
Was it just because he was verbally acknowledged as the “captain” in the office?
Wen Jianyan didn’t think so.
He was more inclined to believe…
It was because he was a club member, while Brother Hu was just a normal student.
Just then, A-Bao, who was walking at the very front, suddenly stopped. “Wait.”
“?”
The others were startled and stopped with him. “What’s wrong?”
“Something doesn’t feel right up ahead.” A-Bao’s talent was being a spirit medium, allowing him to sense danger in advance.
His eyes flickered as he stared intently at the bottomless darkness ahead, speaking in a low, nervous voice.
Almost as his voice fell, footsteps suddenly came from the darkness ahead.
The footsteps were stiff, straight, and perfectly spaced, echoing in the pitch-black campus, making one’s heart clench.
“Quick, back up!” A-Bao said urgently.
The group quickly retreated, hiding behind the pillars of a building.
As the footsteps grew closer, the figure of the person gradually became exposed under the faint light.
A bloodless, pale face held no expression, with dark, empty eyes. Although he looked human, he had no trace of a living person’s aura.
On his right arm, a bright red armband was clearly visible.
It was the Student Council!
The hearts of the few of them sank.
Evidently, the Student Council patrolled the campus after curfew, and they had just happened to run into one.
Wen Jianyan lowered his voice. “Items.”
As veteran anchors, they all had a few items to conceal their presence. Now, at Wen Jianyan’s reminder, they all activated them.
Seeing the Student Council member getting closer and closer, the group subconsciously held their breath.
Generally speaking, before the aggro of an NPC or ghost in an instance was focused on them, activating a presence-concealing item in time would basically allow them to escape. Next, they just needed to hide quietly and wait for the Student Council member to leave.
Suddenly, the student council member came to an abrupt halt.
He stood under the streetlight, his expressionless face slowly turning, scanning the surroundings, looking for something.
“…?!”
The group was instantly alarmed.
What was going on?
None of them had made a sound, had they?
Suddenly, the other’s movements stopped. That deathly pale face turned directly towards them, the black, hollow eyes staring in their direction, and then he took a step.
“——!”
The hearts of the group leaped into their throats.
Brother Hu’s muscles tensed, his whole body like a drawn bow. He lowered his voice. “How about we fight—”
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan raised a hand and pressed it on his shoulder.
Brother Hu was startled and turned to look.
The young man shook his head with a slight movement. “I’ll handle it.”
“?? “
The few of them were stunned.
Huh?
Although this guy was quick-witted, honestly, his style was clearly not that of a fighter. Even if the few of them went up together, they might not be able to win against a Student Council member…
Let him handle it alone?
How?
Before they could voice their questions, they saw Wen Jianyan pull a red armband from his pocket and wrap it around his own arm.
“…”
The three of them stared at the armband, dumbfounded.
Wait a minute?
What did you just take out??
—It couldn’t be what they were thinking, could it?
Next, under the dumbfounded gazes of the three, Wen Jianyan straightened up.
“Hey, don’t you—”
A-Bao lowered his voice, nervously reaching out.
But before he could grab Wen Jianyan, the other had already walked out of their hiding place brazenly, walking straight toward the Student Council member not far away.
The Student Council member’s movements paused. His gaze shifted from their hiding spot to Wen Jianyan, who was approaching.
However, he didn’t attack.
Next, the two stood under the streetlight and started talking.
Brother Hu and A-Bao exchanged a look, their expressions tense, but they couldn’t hide their hope.
It seems… it might work?
“Hey, hey, what are they saying?” Zhao Ze couldn’t help but lean forward and ask in a low voice.
Brother Hu shook his head:
“I don’t know. The distance is too great, I can’t hear clearly.”
Just then, Wen Jianyan suddenly turned his head without any warning and looked directly in their direction.
“?!”
The three of them jumped.
What was going on?
Next, Wen Jianyan actually raised his hand and pointed precisely at their current hiding spot.
And that student council member actually looked straight over as well.
In the darkness, those black, hollow eyes, devoid of human emotion, seemed particularly terrifying. Although they were hidden behind cover, it was as if they had been seen through, with nowhere to hide.
They’ve been discovered!!
“!!!!”
The group gasped, their hearts leaping into their throats.
Holy shit!!
What the hell are you telling the Student Council member?!
What is this situation?!
Just as their minds were in chaos and cold sweat was breaking out, the conversation between Wen Jianyan and the Student Council member finally ended.
That Student Council member turned and walked into the darkness, while Wen Jianyan also turned around and walked unhurriedly toward their current hiding spot.
Staring at the receding back of the student council member, the group was stunned again. They looked at each other in confusion.
Huh?
So they weren’t discovered?
As the Student Council member’s back disappeared into the darkness, Wen Jianyan no longer walked unhurriedly as before, but immediately started to jog, dashing back behind the cover where the others were.
He was met with the shocked and respectful gazes of the three:
“Holy shit, you can do that? Bro, you’re awesome!”
“So how did you get that armband? I want to get one too—”
“Speaking of which, how were we discovered just now? Didn’t we all use items?”
Wen Jianyan, while pulling the armband off his arm, answered quickly: “Because it’s nighttime now. We left the dorm during curfew, which is a violation of school rules.”
If it weren’t for the current situation, they wouldn’t have been discovered at all.
But now it was night. As rule-breakers, if they didn’t use an item that surpassed the instance’s level, they couldn’t escape the perception of the Student Council members.
“Then—”
Brother Hu wanted to ask more, but was interrupted by Wen Jianyan: “We’ll talk about it later. We have to get out of here right now.”
“…Huh?” The three were stunned.
They subconsciously glanced in the direction of the Student Council member.
His back had completely disappeared.
Logically speaking, wasn’t the danger over?
“You should have seen me point this way, right?” Wen Jianyan said.
“Uh… yeah.” The three nodded blankly.
“Because I told him you were over here.”
“…”
The three: “Huh??”
“I also said that there were more rule-breakers over here.”
Wen Jianyan lowered his voice, furtively looking back as if to confirm if it was safe now.
“I’ll control you guys here first, and let him go on ahead.”
Looking at Wen Jianyan’s expression, the three of them suddenly had a bad premonition.
As if to confirm their suspicions, they heard Wen Jianyan continue:
“To catch everyone in one go, he should be back soon with more Student Council members.”
The group: “………………”
You motherfucker!
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Hahahahahahahahaha!]
[Hahahahahahahahaha I’m dying of laughter. Good news is the Student Council member is gone. Bad news is there are more on the way.]
[Teammates: …Why don’t you play by the rules!]
[First time experiencing Wen Jianyan’s ‘screwing-you-over’ package, right? It’s okay, you’ll get used to it.]
[Teammates: Sorry, don’t want to get used to it. Can you please just go as far away as possible?]
No matter how many more questions they wanted to ask, they couldn’t stay here any longer. The four of them shot out from their hiding place as if their asses were on fire. This time, they didn’t care if they were making too much noise; they ran with all their might toward the dormitory.
In the darkness-shrouded campus, the four of them ran wildly.
“Someone’s found us!” A-Bao panted, shouting urgently.
The group stole a moment to look back—in the darkness, several figures could be vaguely seen following them from a distance. Those pale faces and scarlet armbands were faintly visible in the dark.
“Don’t look back!” Wen Jianyan shouted.
“We’re almost there!!”
Although their tracks had been discovered, the good news was that the dormitory building’s entrance was not far away.
The group gritted their teeth and ran for their lives.
Ten meters… five meters… three meters…
Almost there, just a little further!
The dormitory entrance was right in front of them.
The last meter!
The group charged to the dormitory entrance. As soon as they reached out to pull, they realized something was wrong.
The dormitory door was shut tight, locked from the inside.
Brother Hu was sweating profusely with anxiety. He yanked hard on the door, shaking it from the outside, but couldn’t open it no matter what.
Behind them were the pursuing Student Council members.
In the night, under the overly faint light, those deathly pale faces drew closer, a sight that could curdle one’s blood.
“What’s going on?”
The items had also failed.
Staring at the still tightly closed door, Zhao Ze was on the verge of despair. “Why won’t the door open?!”
Wen Jianyan stood in place, staring intently at the closed dormitory door before him, as if trying to see deep into the dormitory through the blurry, dark glass.
His face was pale, and he spoke rapidly:
“We’re past curfew. Whether we can get in doesn’t depend on the lock, but on a person.”
On the night he joined the club, Wen Jianyan had realized this.
—After curfew, it wasn’t impossible to leave the dormitory. The key was the dorm manager.
“Huh?” A look of despair colored the faces of the group. “Then aren’t we finished?”
The door in front couldn’t be opened, and the Student Council members behind were about to catch up. This was a dead-end situation.
Wen Jianyan’s face was very pale, but his expression was extremely calm:
“Wait.”
In the darkness behind them, the figures of the Student Council members grew clearer. One after another, the figures with armbands emerged from the darkness, their dark, hollow eyes staring straight at them.
A chill appeared in the air, and the temperature dropped suddenly.
“Wait? What the hell are you waiting for?!” Brother Hu’s voice changed in fear.
Zhao Ze: “No, why don’t we run? We’d at least have a chance of survival!”
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth.
His hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched into fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, but he still forced himself to stay put, a low sound escaping his throat:
“If you want to live, then wait!”
The campus at night was terrifying. The deeper the night, the lower the survival rate. Even the Student Council members might just be an appetizer.
Run?
Run where?
Besides the dormitory, there was no shelter at night.
To leave now was to die.
The three were stunned, frozen in place by the terrifying implication in the other’s voice. Although they no longer chose to run, they were still lost and helpless.
But wait… what were they waiting for?
Suddenly, without any warning, a faint sound of metal clashing came from inside the dormitory door.
“?!”
The group jumped, as if they couldn’t believe their ears, and whipped their heads toward the source of the sound.
What—
The next second, with a “creak,” the dormitory’s main door, which had been firmly shut, was opened from the inside.
“Oh my god!”
Tian Ye’s face appeared at the door. He was so scared by the Student Council members, who were only a few meters away, that he gasped and moved out of the way. “Get in, quick!”
With almost no time to think, the four of them ducked their heads and charged in.
The dormitory door slammed shut behind them with a “bang,” blocking out the dark night, the pale faces, and the cold aura.
In the dark dormitory lobby, the sound of the group’s rapid breathing echoed.
Wen Jianyan’s knees went weak, and he leaned against the wall.
Thank god, we made it…
“So touching.”
A familiar voice came from not far away.
Wen Jianyan turned to look.
A scholarly-looking young man stood on the stairs, his medium-length black hair tied back, his eyes exceptionally dark and deep, a deck of cards held in his palm.
Su Cheng flipped his hand, and the cards disappeared.
He gave Wen Jianyan a look that was half a smile:
“It seems my President has finally learned to ask for help in a crisis.
__
Author’s Note:
Su Cheng: Sooner or later, I’m going to get PTSD from this unreliable President who always likes to act alone.
