Chereads / Thrilling: The Fine Line Between Elegance and Obsession / Chapter 14 - Chapter 14: One's Own Deadline

Chapter 14 - Chapter 14: One's Own Deadline

Barrage comments:

- "Damn! My goddess almost died!"

- "Haha, Yang Linlin peed again. Last time it was in a death factory when she got scared by a sudden ghost face, right?"

- "No wonder he's the top-ranked man. Zhao Yi's reaction is really quick. If it were me, I'd probably just run without looking back. He's actually thinking about saving people!"

- "That throwing knife was ruthless! It just missed the mark by a bit. If it had hit Yang Linlin's forehead, Zhao Yi would've been in big trouble!"

- "Hurting a teammate will also be punished, but this rescue by Zhao Yi should earn him a lot of points!"

- ...

 

Just as the barrage audience marveled at Zhao Yi's reaction, he made another decision that shocked everyone!

 

After helping Yang Linlin stop the bleeding, Zhao Yi decided to enter the teaching building once again.

 

"Are you crazy?"

"You still dare to go in there?"

"What if it's setting a trap for you? Aren't you walking into a death trap?"

 

Yang Linlin looked at Zhao Yi with a worried expression, as if he were mentally challenged.

 

Zhao Yi glanced at the darkness inside the teaching building and replied with interest, "No."

 

"The apparitions in this school don't move freely; they also operate according to certain rules, just like us."

 

"Just like the ghost chasing us is an invigilator, so I'm sure it won't follow us out of the teaching building. Otherwise, it would violate its own rules and face unimaginable, terrible punishment!"

 

Upon hearing this, Yang Linlin felt a sudden chill between her legs.

 

Oh no, she peed again!

 

How embarrassing!

 

Her face turned red as she changed the subject, "Is there something very important inside that building that's worth risking your life for?"

 

"I need a class roster. The one in the invigilator's hands is too dangerous for us to consider right now, but usually a teacher wouldn't keep just one roster. So, there should be one or two backup rosters in her office."

 

After saying this, he stood up to go inside, but behind him, Yang Linlin said, "Can you take me with you?"

 

Surprised, Zhao Yi turned to look at her.

 

"Are you sure?"

 

Taking a deep breath, Yang Linlin said, "Yes."

 

"I won't cause you trouble. If we really encounter danger, you can just run, don't worry about me."

 

"If we do nothing, even if we clear the level, our score and points will be very low."

 

"If I follow you, maybe I can help at some point."

 

Raising an eyebrow, Zhao Yi said, "Fine."

 

Once again, the two entered the teaching building. This time, they had experience and avoided the corridor with the restroom, going directly to the fourth floor from the other staircase to the teachers' offices.

 

"Oh, Zhao Yi... why did you go to the third floor to check on our class earlier?"

 

"To verify a hunch of mine."

 

"What hunch?"

 

"The dark figures in the classroom... are the students who died during the day."

 

Standing on the fourth floor, Zhao Yi found their homeroom teacher's office and saw the basic information and photos of the internal teachers on the sticker beside the door.

 

The old man with a cleaver in his head was clearly among them.

 

However, the old man in the photo looked very kind.

 

He cautiously pushed the door open.

 

There were no dark shadows inside the room; it was safe.

 

Quietly, the two of them entered and locked the door behind them.

 

As Zhao Yi searched for the class roster, he explained.

"During the daytime, there are eight classrooms on the first floor with a total of 472 seats. There are 121 students scattered among these seats, completely disorganized. I roughly memorized their positions and postures."

 

"And the seating arrangement of the shadow in the classroom just now happened to match the vacant seats during the day!"

 

"If this happened in just one class, it might be a coincidence. But if it occurs in eight consecutive classes... I believe it's already a rule."

 

"But I still wasn't satisfied. I'm a very careful person, so I went to the third floor. There, I saw the chubby kid who sits in front of me—he was killed by the invigilator during the day, and sure enough, the shadow appeared in his seat."

 

"So, now we can draw a basic conclusion—the shadows are the students who were killed during the day."

 

Zhao Yi explained his deductions with clarity, leaving Yang Linyin stunned.

 

"You said earlier... you memorized the positions of all 472 seats and 121 students on the first floor?"

 

"Yes."

 

"But... you only took a glance, right?!"

 

Zhao Yi looked puzzled as he raised his head, "Isn't that enough?"

 

Yang Linyin was speechless.

 

At that moment, she no longer doubted Zhao Yi's intelligence but began to doubt her own intellect. Why was there such a huge gap between them as human beings?

 

She started questioning life itself.

 

"But what's the use of knowing all this?"

 

Zhao Yi continued to explain, "It's very useful."

 

"Based on this rule, we can make a deduction about the rule itself—people are in the 'alive' state during the day, while the shadows at night are in the 'dead' state. Living and dead individuals cannot occupy the same seat; otherwise, it's considered a 'violation of the rule' and they will be executed."

 

Yang Linyin felt her mind unable to comprehend.

 

"Those shadows have already died once, right?"

 

"Do you mean they can die again?"

 

Zhao Yi found a class register and a letter from the cabinet. He tossed the letter aside and opened the register, which not only listed the names of all the students but also indicated their assigned seats.

 

Zhao Yi recalled the calendar below the alarm clock during the day, and immediately matched it with the register entry by entry.

 

September 14th.

 

"Look."

 

Zhao Yi pointed at the seat in front of his name.

 

There was no name there.

 

This meant that seat shouldn't be occupied.

 

But the chubby kid sat in front of Zhao Yi, and in fact... he realized he had taken the wrong seat, but he didn't know which seat was correct!

 

So, he was terrified!

 

He knew sitting in the wrong seat would result in his death!

 

Upon realizing the connection between their lives, deaths, and seat positions, Yang Linyin suddenly became excited.

 

"Then let's just take this register with us, and we'll know where to sit for the next few days!"

 

"We can clear the game!"

 

Zhao Yi calmly said, "No, it's not that easy."

 

He flipped through the register and went six pages past the 14th.

 

They were supposed to survive in the school for seven days, so theoretically, if daytime was continuous, they should leave the simulation on September 20th.

 

But the register in Zhao Yi's hand only had seating arrangements until the 19th.

 

After that, it was all blank.

 

"Huh... Why is there no seating arrangement after the 19th?"

 

Yang Linyin tilted her head, filled with doubt in her eyes.

 

Zhao Yi's gaze grew dark, and his words made Yang Linyin's hair stand on end.

 

"Because on the 20th, all of us... will die!"