Chapter 49: The School Dormitory
The task that popped up from the sc*m Game left Bai Yu utterly baffled.
Yes, baffled—that’s the best way to put it. She had never seen such a side of the sc*m Game. For instance, if she and the other participants were gladiators in an arena, pleasing the spectators with bl**d and guts, then the sc*m Game would be the shady boss pulling all the strings behind the scenes.
He’d do anything to make your d*ath more entertaining. And how does one achieve that? Naturally, through an assortment of tasks.
So, this task today was a real head-scratcher.
Why on earth was it like this?
What was the meaning behind this task?
She instinctively thought that she might need to off No. 652—simple and quick. But the catch was, the information in the task repeatedly hinted at completing it in a different way, at least without eliminating the other party.
And this task aspect wasn’t the only thing puzzling her; the most confusing part was actually one line in the task.
That group of madmen also has feelings; they too have a vulnerable and soft side inside.
At first glance, this statement seemed simple enough—don’t let their murderous tendencies fool you; deep inside, they’re all just misunderstood souls deserving of salvation?
This could be a notion for comic book heroes, but the sc*m Game wasn’t about to coddle anyone. You either k*ll or get killed; what happened before didn’t matter—once you stepped into the sc*m Game, you became a brand new version of yourself.
And really, she found herself wondering: did she, of all people, deserve to be saved?
And who might come to her rescue?
A madman with bl**d on their hands? If she ever met someone trying to guide her toward redemption, she’d probably just swing a kn*fe at them first.
‘To save these madmen, there’s a prerequisite: get them to behave, which is way harder than killing them. Wait…’
Bai Yu furrowed her brows, feeling like she was onto something.
Setting aside what mood the sc*m Game was in today, was this task assigned to her because it recognized her strength?
Everyone knows that muscle usually gets the job done faster than sweet talk.
While Bai Yu was lost in thought about the task issued by the sc*m Game, Zhao Mingyue had already found her way down a weed-choked path that looked like it hadn’t been traversed in ages and arrived outside the gates of Dongcheng No. 13 Middle School.
From outside, she could only make out the school’s outline shrouded in darkness. As she got closer and saw it more clearly, it seemed completely unremarkable at first glance. The school walls had cracks, and big chunks of white paint were peeling off.
The schoolyard was overrun with all sorts of weeds, and the open space in front of the teaching building was no better—small and large weeds poking their heads up from the cracked earth.
She made her way to the school’s main entrance, which was rusty and secured by a black, corroded iron lock. The good news was that the gate’s wrought-iron design made it relatively easy to climb.
The entire school wasn’t that big—just four buildings: a four-story teaching building, a three-story Youth Palace, a canteen, and a dormitory.
This place was originally an orphanage, so they didn’t have much funding when they built the school, and considering the geographical location, the number of students attending wasn’t very high—most were kids from the surrounding villages.
“That old principal is quite the good soul; building this school must be a losing venture. I hear he loses money every year, and they say it’s the charitable donations from kind-hearted people that keep the school afloat.”
“The kicker is this is a private school. Eventually, they couldn’t pay their teachers, lacked sufficient staff, and with the old principal passing away, that’s what led to the school’s abandonment.”
Zhao Mingyue was talking to herself in front of the school gate, shining her flashlight on the outer wall of one of the buildings.
Unfortunately, the light from her flashlight was a bit weak—not the brightest spotlight—but it was enough for her to notice some issues.
The building’s outer wall had turned yellow, cracked, and was starting to lose paint due to years of wind and rain without any maintenance. That was normal enough, but she spotted a section that was blackened—signs of a fire.
Having experienced a fire at Sunshine Apartments, she recognized that telltale sign well; she was certain that building had suffered through a fire.
“Fire…”
The information she found was nowhere near mentioning a fire; it only talked about a poisoning incident where an entire class of kids died.
Looking back, something felt off.
At this little school, everyone surely went to the canteen to eat, so how could a poisoning incident only affect one class while letting the others off scot-free?
If it were a fire, that would make sense, because the students in this class would have gathered in one place for lessons. If the windows and doors were sealed off, and the classroom was doused with something flammable like gasoline, it could definitely happen.
But that was just a possibility—there weren’t enough flammable materials in a classroom, not like in a dorm…
‘Dorm!?’
Zhao Mingyue suddenly turned her head, shining her flashlight at other buildings.
If this wiped-out class was a special one, let’s say these orphans were all in the same dormitory, would it make sense for the culprit to set the fire in the dorm?
She scanned the area with her flashlight, but couldn’t see much. Resigned, she decided to head back.
“This should be the dormitory, not the teaching building.”
“Can’t glean much here without going in, so I’ll need to check it out.”
Zhao Mingyue was the type of person who acted on her impulses. Talking to herself and biting down on her flashlight like a dog with a bone, she rubbed her hands, not caring about getting dirty. Grabbing hold of the rusty school gate with all her might, she scrambled in, using hands and feet like an expert cat burglar, in a smooth move that left no hint of a lady-like demeanor.
Landing with a thud, she dusted off her hands, shook the rust off her clothes, and took her flashlight, carefully walking along the cement path deeper into the school.
“Bai Yu, Sister Yu, are you still there!” Zhao Mingyue called out in a hushed whisper, crouching low and scanning around like a cat on the prowl, taking slow steps as if walking on thin ice.
“I’m here.”
“Great, you’re there! I’m inside now; what should I do first? What task should I tackle?”
She hadn’t gone far when she found herself back in front of that building, and as she suspected, it was definitely not a teaching building but a dormitory! She felt a bit sheepish for not catching on earlier when the front of the building had huge red-painted letters clearly saying “DORMITORY.”
To be fair, everything around the school looked worn out, but those two red letters stood out, bright like they’d just been painted recently.
However, unlike the neat lettering elsewhere, these characters were a bit crooked. You couldn’t exactly call them poorly written, but they just gave off a rather “off” vibe.
