They had barely finished packing when a crackling sound erupted from the window, terrifyingly loud.
They all turned to look at the same moment and saw that the gloomy sky outside had finally begun to rain. The entire world turned grayish-yellow, with fierce winds howling, yet unable to budge the bean-sized raindrops as they plummeted straight down to the earth in a frenzy. From outside came panicked screams.
Xu Kewang saw the students fleeing in wild desperation, their faces twisted in pain. Some were still clutching supplies they had looted, struggling to run fast under the weight.
For some reason, halfway through their flight, those moving slowly all stumbled and fell to the ground without exception.
Some were crawling with great effort, using both hands to drag themselves toward shelter.
Others wailed in agony before gradually falling silent, lying motionless on the ground.
Xu Kewang shot up from her chair, rubbed her eyes, and saw that the items scattered on the ground by those fallen people were gradually covered in burn holes. Before long, the plastic bags disappeared entirely.
Then, the clothes of those who had collapsed began to melt away bit by bit.
Their hair thinned.
Their skin festered and rotted.
They dissolved into pools of bloody water.
"Ugh—" Ning Yiwei, who had witnessed the entire scene from the same spot, could no longer hold it in. She covered her mouth and began retching violently, disbelief flooding her eyes before they welled up with tears.
Xie Yue and Wen Cai rushed over at the sound: "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly feeling unwell?"
"She's scared," Xu Kewang said, her voice frighteningly calm, almost icy, as if she too was suppressing something. "The rain outside isn't ordinary rain."
"It's acid rain."
She pointed at the red flesh and blood being carried away by the rainwater in all directions: "If you stay out there for too long, the acid will corrode you. Based on the condition of those items and the injuries to those students, the acidity of the current rain isn't too high yet. As long as you're fast enough, there's still a chance to escape."
But Xu Kewang wasn't optimistic in her heart: "I have a fleeting impression of acid rain from my dream. By that point, it had already reached the level where an ordinary person would be corroded to death within a minute of being in the rain."
"You're saying the acid rain will escalate?" Wen Cai's expression turned grim.
The two types of severe weather they had experienced so far were extreme cold and heavy rain.
If heavy rain could turn into acid rain, and acid rain could escalate, then the extreme cold might escalate too—snowstorms, ice disasters, extreme freezing. Any of these could easily claim the lives of a large number of students.
"Good thing we still have the air conditioner," Xie Yue said, enjoying the warm breeze with lingering fear. "Otherwise, we really would freeze to death."
Three seconds later, the dormitory fell into dead silence.
She belatedly glanced around and met the exasperated faces of the others. She scratched her head in confusion: "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"No," Wen Cai sighed. "You're too right."
"The school is now completely cut off from the outside world. All the staff have disappeared, and only students and some unidentified outsiders remain," Xu Kewang explained patiently. "How long our power system can hold out—or rather, how long this so-called 'A-something' wants us to hold out—is anyone's guess."
Ning Yiwei had finally recovered, though her face was still pale as she nodded: "When that time comes, maybe it really will be as you said. Without the air conditioner, we'll freeze to death."
Clearly, no one's expectations were optimistic, and the overall atmosphere sank into gloom.
Xu Kewang still felt somewhat apologetic: "I'm sorry. If it weren't for me, you probably would have arrived a few days later and wouldn't have run into this."
"You're overthinking it." Xie Yue patted her shoulder. "Do you know who I ran into on my way back just now while carrying the water?"
She kept them in suspense. Only after seeing everyone looking at her with gossipy expressions did she speak with great satisfaction.
"Xu Yueyao and Zhang Yeming, oh, and Zhang Jiajia from our class too."
"Weren't they traveling in Jeju Island?" Wen Cai blinked and asked. "When I was in the car, I was scrolling through livestreams and even saw the two of them showing off their love."
Ning Yiwei raised her phone. "Zhang Jiajia asked the student council for leave, saying something came up at home and she'd return to school a few days late."
She was in the student council's organization department and often took part in group activities. A University's student council management was fairly strict. Generally, for things like leave requests, besides going through the school procedures, one also had to notify the president or department head.
Why were people who shouldn't be returning to school all appearing on campus?
"I think this game may have divided the selected population, and the A University dormitory area is one of the selection criteria. Whether or not you're on campus, you'll be teleported in." She analyzed.
At that, the burden in Xu Kewang's heart finally eased a little.
"At least the four of us are still together," Xie Yue comforted them carelessly. "As long as we're all here, we won't be afraid of difficulties. It's just a pity I didn't get to say a word to my mom and dad before the signal cut out."
She tossed her phone onto the bed.
Amid the sound of wind and rain, all four of their phones rang at the same time toward evening. At first they looked at each other in astonishment. In this place with no signal, whose message could their phones be receiving?
But when they opened them full of expectation, all they saw on the black phone screens were several dense lines of text.
[Welcome to LV1 Plane — Crazy World.
You are all about to experience your first wonderful night. To ensure everyone's health, we have established Safety Officer positions within the dormitory building. Each dormitory is requested to send one student to stand night watch at midnight tonight.
Students who fail to report on time will be considered absent from work. For every ten minutes late, the corresponding wages will be deducted.
Of course, students who perform well can also receive rewards.]
"What is all this supposed to be?" Xie Yue scratched her head. "It sounds really creepy, okay? Is this a shift or a death sentence? Besides, who's going to pay us wages? If there are no wages, how can they be deducted?"
She felt she was really a clever little thing.
So the whole dormitory unanimously agreed that for tonight they would temporarily stay put and see what the punishment for being late actually was. If it wasn't very serious, then they would keep holing up in the dormitory.
After all, this was the safest place they could think of right now.
Light and shadow shifted, night descended, and amid the violent storm, they did not turn on the lights. Looking out the window at the pitch-black world, scattered lights came on in the dormitory building opposite.
Because they truly felt unsafe, the four of them worked together to barricade the door with desks, chairs, and stools.
As soon as midnight arrived, their phones sounded a piercing alarm.
They stood back to back in pairs, one side watching the door and the other watching the window. The alarm weakened from loud to faint until it disappeared. The long ten minutes finally passed, and the harm they had imagined did not arrive as expected. All four could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
At the same time, the sound of the air conditioner stopped abruptly.
With the air conditioner's outdoor unit silent, the dormitory became terrifyingly quiet, amplifying the violent storm outside. The dorm room, which had been warm, was now noticeably cooling down.
It was easy to imagine how cold it must be outside.
"You son of a—"
They burst out in unison with the same curse.
Who could have imagined that what was being deducted from their pay was actually the electricity bill??