Date, time, crime scene.
Su Bai pressed his forehead with one hand; he felt a little headache but was not very pressured in his heart. Only, he was not very fond of such feeling of confusion, especially when he was, apparently, one of the participants of a game that required his life while playing, but he knew nothing about the rules of this game.
Back in school, there were only a few people in the campus; even the guard room had no guard in it.
Su Bai came to the clinic in the living area. There used to be a few snack bars open during nights, but tonight, they were all closed.
Maybe, some irrelevant people would not show up here.
This was merely Su Bai’s guess. Of course, he knew he now needed some basic medicine to deal with the wound.
He kicked down the clinic’s door, which was not durable in the first place. After walking in, Su Bai took some medicine, simply sterilized his wound and bound it up with bandage. Su Bai could not think too much, though it was neither pretty nor well-bound. Sitting on the wooden floor in the clinic, Su Bai leaned his head against the desk and fell asleep when fatigue struck him.
Su Bai enjoyed a dreamless, sound sleep. When he woke up, he felt a pain in his stomach.
Rubbing against his eyes, Su Bai looked outside. The sun was shining, but the sunshine which should make people warm, now seemed a little solemn and awful.
Because not even a single student was walking outside.
Su Bai tightened his lips. He knew this place was like a besieged city, a special area, or a weird stage.
Here, when necessary, there would be some walking-on, such as Liu He in the dormitory.
But most of time, there was no character outside the story, even no exterior disguise.
Su Bai walked out of the clinic, blocked the sunshine with his hand and went to a small shop nearby. There was no one inside, so Su Bai took some bread and ate it with some bottled water.
After his meal, he didn’t know where to go. A sense of isolation struck him. After all, a human was a social animal, and no one could bear it if he was suddenly thrown into a deserted place with no other person.
Returning to the dormitory, Su Bai finally saw someone. The gatekeeper was sitting by the door, listening to the music, with a cup of chrysanthemum tea. When she saw Su Bai walking back, she just opened her eyes a little to get a glimpse of him, then she just closed her eyes again and went on napping.
She seemed to have no idea about so many people missing from the school, nor that it had became much more deserted here than usual.
Su Bai walked into the dormitory, came to his room and opened the door with his key. There was no one inside. Liu He was not here, and Chen Chu’s quilt was thrown at the corner of his bed.
Su Bai had tried to call others’ cell phone, but they were all dead number; even if he logged in QQ or WeChat he couldn’t send anything to any friend. As if there was an invisible net around him, that had restrained him inside and separated him from outside.
Of course, he had thought of leaving school or even this city. But every time this idea came to him, Su Bai would immediately feel as if he was being watched by someone’s eyes. If he really did that, he would absolutely not end up well.
For a horrible story, characters that quit halfway would usually be assigned with one ending, an early bow-out, which was… death.
He was now in the horrible story told by that Dreadful Radio.
If he left the assigned story area without authorization, or he tried to do anything beyond what the story allowed, he would be punished or even killed in advance.
Nobody had told Su Bai of such rules, but that obvious feeling of threat was so real that he couldn’t help believing.
“So it means, I have to stay in the story unless it is finished.”
Su Bai stood by the window of his room, his fingers were holding the sill so hard that his knuckles turned pale.
Just then, Su Bai’s cell phone buzzed. He was a little surprised, but he just pick it up immediately.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Su Bai, there’s a quiz today. The teacher told us to call everyone who cut this class. Otherwise they will have no credit for this course. Please hurry, we are in Classroom AJ102.”
This was Liu He calling Su Bai.
“Okay, I’ll be there right now.”
Su Bai hung up, gave it a thought and put on a coat to hide the wound on his arm. Then he left his room without a pen or a textbook.
When Su Bai walked out of the dormitory, he suddenly noticed that in the area outside the dormitory, there were some students, both male and female.
After Su Bai got to the teaching zone, there were even more people.
Especially AJ102; this large lecture hall was full of people. Su Bai went in through the back door, found Liu He and sat next to him.
The teacher was watching in the front; seeing those students who skipped his class now walking in one by one, he showed a smile of taunt like a king or judge of hell.
“I can’t get through Chen Chu’s phone, it’s turned off. What should we do?” Liu He said to Su Bai.
Hearing this, Su Bai frowned at once.
Right, Chen Chu.
Though Su Bai was confused by what camouflage guy and sunglasses guy did last night, but one thing was clear: their aim, or target was what happened to Chen Chu and his girlfriend!
The way to end this story, or even to keep themselves alive, was all about Chen Chu and his girlfriend!
Su Bai remembered that he had seen Chen Chu going into a hotel with a BBQ takeout, therefore the speculated date of death was obviously wrong. It was not last night but might well be… tonight!
According to his previous experience before entering this horrible story, it would be really close; because if it kept being put off, it would be conflicting with the time when the flesh pieces had been found.
“My phone’s got low battery. Give me your phone. I know where Chen Chu is, and I’ll go find him.”
Su Bai grabbed his phone without waiting for his reaction and then walked out of the classroom.
Thou his physical condition was not very good, Su Bai walked as fast as he could. There was sweat coming out on his face. He was actually well-built, but it had been two long days and he was wounded.
Outside the school, there was no car on the streets.
Su Bai tried to call Chen Chu with Liu He’s cell phone, but it was still turned off.
Su Bai went to that hotel. As soon as he stepped in, there seemed to be hustle and bustle again. The front desk of the hotel, guests sitting in the coaches in the hall… they all just showed up, but Su Bai hadn’t seen anyone inside from outside the hotel, and they seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
Besides, to Su Bai’s absolute surprise, on a couch, there sat the young man who kind of saved his life last night. He was leaning against the couch with a bottle of water in from of him, his legs crossed and his eyes half closed.
Su Bai walked towards him; the man slightly raised his hand:
“What? I’m not interested in newbies. And I’m not attracted to that little award for protecting newbies.”
“I…” Su Bai didn’t know what to say. But there seemed to be no need of talking because, at this moment, the elevator’s door opened and there came out a man and a woman.
It was Chen Chu walking out, holding his girlfriend’s hand.
“Chen Chu.”
Su Bai called out.
“Su Bai, why are you here?” Chen Chu seemed to be surprised, “Something wrong? I forgot to charge my phone last night, and it went dead.”
Chen Chu’s girlfriend seemed to be a little shy.
That young man realized that Su Bai and Chen Chu knew each other and was a little surprised. His finger knocked the end table for several times, then he stood up and reached to Su Bai from behind.
“You know the targets?”
Targets?
Though Su Bai had no idea what targets mean, he could guess that they referred to Chen Chu and his girlfriend.
Apparently, the man put away his “I-don’t-care” face after he realized that Su Bai knew Chen Chu.
“Yes, I do.”
“Good. Think of something to make them follow the original track, go back to their rented apartment instead of going back to school. The story must go on in the same way, by and large. You knew them, so you won’t be punished by the rules if you do so.”
“Su Bai, why are you here?” Chen Chu walked to him and asked again.
“It’s my birthday today. I wanna invite you to lunch.” Su Bai said immediately.
“So… Such a hurry? Why you didn’t say anything before… Nana’s heading back to turn in her paper, the first course in the afternoon.”
“It’s okay, I’ll talk to the leaders of her faculty. Your girlfriend won’t fail anything this term.” Su Bai said naturally.
“Well…” Chen Chu looked at his girlfriend. He knew Su Bai’s family background, therefore he was sure Su Bai wasn’t talking big. Besides, it was an honor that he had been invited to Su Bai’s birthday party; he even felt a little flattered.
“Okay, happy birthday to you. Where’s the party?” Chen Chu asked.
“Is your rented room available? I’ve made an appointment with a cook team in a hotel, and they’ll be there in a while, so you, me, Nana and Liu He— you know I don’t have many friends or acquaintances here,— so the party shall be at your place.”
“Deal. Then are we going to my place right now?”
“Yeah.”
Chen Chu led the way, holding his girlfriend’s hand; Su Bai walked behind him. Soon after they left the hotel, that young man caught up and whispered in Su Bai’s ear:
“Do you know you’re pushing them right into hell?”
“They are already dead, but I— I wanna survive,” Su Bai answered.