Hua Huai had no right to refuse. As the scene faded away, the pain in her body gradually eased until she could no longer feel it.
The wounds on her body healed in an instant.
Just moments ago, she had been shivering in a cold, rainy winter night.
Now, it felt like a summer morning, with the sun just rising in the east and a gentle breeze bringing a warm, drowsy languor.
【Game loading complete.
Game instance: Chang Si Quality Education School
Game difficulty: C-rank
Mission objective: Survive for 7 days and wait for your parents to come take you home.】
In the open area outside the campus, eight people stood scattered about apart from Hua Huai.
They openly sized one another up, and when they saw Hua Huai, everyone’s gaze lingered for a moment.
After all, her hair was a tangled mess, her face was smeared with blood and grime, dog fur still clung to her mouth, and her clothes were in tatters.
More importantly, she was a minor. Her youthful cheeks could not hide her true age.
Hua Huai did not miss the contempt in their eyes, nor the calm, emotionless look one might give a corpse.
They gathered together of their own accord and began introducing themselves.
The first to speak was an adult man with excellent proportions and strikingly handsome features. “Hello, I’m Jin Kangtai, a D-rank Player.”
Next, a man so thin he looked almost gaunt spoke, a faint gleam in his eyes. “I’m Tan Tai, an F-rank Player. This is my second time entering an Instance, and I’m still a bit at sea.”
He rubbed the back of his head. “Is this C-rank Instance difficult?”
A young woman answered him. Her simple, natural clothes gave her a fresh, easygoing air. “It is. I’ve entered a C-rank Instance once before, and almost the entire team was wiped out.”
The woman’s expression was grave, but she did not forget to introduce herself. “I’m Xiang Lu, a D-rank Player.”
The remaining five introduced themselves in turn. They were all D-rank Players.
Hua Huai picked the dog fur from her mouth and did her best to look more presentable.
Then, hesitantly, she stepped into the group and said, “My name is…”
Before she could finish, Jin Kangtai cut her off. “Who wants to know your name?”
“You’re just a little kid. Are you trying to become deadweight for our team?”
“Bringing you along would make clearing this instance much harder. This is a life-and-death game, and I don’t want to risk my life.”
“Besides, you’re an F-rank Player who’s never been through an Instance before, right?”
Every word Jin Kangtai said felt like a needle piercing her heart. His final question cut even deeper.
She really was an F-rank Player who had never been through an Instance.
She did not even know what an Instance was.
What was a life-and-death game?
This had to be a joke…
Tears welled in her eyes. She clenched her teeth, refusing to let them fall.
She could not cry in front of people who looked down on her. That would only give them something to mock her for.
Tan Tai chuckled and gave her a shove. “Exactly. Kids can’t even run fast. All they know how to do is hold everyone back. They’re useless.”
“You only said a few things to her, and her eyes are already red.”
Even though Tan Tai was lean, he was still a grown man. His shove nearly sent Hua Huai tumbling to the ground.
Jin Kangtai snorted and turned on Tan Tai as well. “You’re F-rank too. You’re not qualified to form a team with us. Find a way to survive on your own.”
Tan Tai’s smile instantly froze. There were seven D-rank Players present and only two F-rank ones. Hua Huai was a child, and he had just mocked her.
That meant that if the D-rank Players refused to team up with him, he would have to fight alone.
No one spared him another glance. Jin Kangtai led all the D-rank Players into the school, while Tan Tai followed them timidly, keeping a one-meter distance.
Hua Huai did not move right away. Instead, she instinctively tried to commit the school’s outer outline to memory.
This school seemed different from an Ordinary one. An inexplicable sheen of moisture gleamed on its outer walls.
Up close, a pungent smell shot straight to her head.
She reached out a finger to touch it. A sticky, army-green liquid clung to her fingertip.
It looked like some kind of cheap construction paint.
Why would a school that had just been renovated rush to let students attend classes?
Even a child like her knew that paint with such a pungent smell must contain harmful substances. Spending a long time in air like this made it very easy to get sick.
“Peep-peep!”
Suddenly, a sharp whistle rang out.
A rough male voice resonated from his abdomen through his chest before bursting from his throat, full of vigor. “Fall in!”
A man in camouflage stood not far away, a metal whistle hanging from his wrist.
He had blown the whistle just now, and he was the one who had shouted the order.
Judging by his appearance, he was probably the Instructor here.
Hua Huai did not know what would happen if she disobeyed. Before the school gate closed, she hurriedly rushed inside.
Wait, was something posted on the gate?
She could not make it out clearly. It looked like an advertisement flyer.
There was no time to look. Jin Kangtai and the others had already lined up, so she hurried to take her place at the end.
Once inside, Hua Huai found that the scenery was completely different from the outside.
The inner side of the campus wall was dilapidated. Much of its dusty gray plaster had peeled away, exposing the gray bricks beneath. Moss covered the bricks, which showed no sign of having been maintained.
Before them, the Instructor paced back and forth. Unlike a soldier, he did not hold his back straight; instead, he seemed somewhat slack, slightly hunched, and his steps lacked crispness.
His skin was rather dark, and a bluish tattoo could be glimpsed at his wrist, extending beneath his sleeve.
Taken as a whole, he gave off the impression of someone not to be messed with.
The same went for his rough voice.
“Your parents sent you to this school to correct your bad habits!”
“Starting today, you’ll quit your internet addiction, quit dating, and quit rebelling. Even if you have personality flaws, that’s no problem. Once you enter this school, we can make you as docile as kittens.”
He held himself above them like a disciplinarian, a strange excitement showing in his eyes, as if he were anticipating what would happen next.
He glanced to the side, and two women in camouflage uniforms immediately approached from not far away.
“Take them to the meditation room and lock them in for a day. It’ll teach them some discipline.”
The two answered in unison. “Yes.”
This was the first time Hua Huai had heard the term “meditation room.” She did not know what kind of place it was, much less how they planned to teach them discipline.
She quietly watched Jin Kangtai and the others, and saw them calmly follow behind the two Female Instructors.
They were D-rank Players, so they had to be more experienced than she was.
Hua Huai chose to follow behind them into the corridor of a teaching building.
The teaching building’s outer walls, like those of the school, were evenly coated in army-green paint, while its inner walls were in ruins.
They had been too far away to see what the dusty gray inner walls were made of, and had assumed it was dust and grime.
Now that they were closer, they could see that the walls were covered in blurred faces. Their features were twisted as they struggled within the walls, as if they might burst through at any moment. It was horrifying.
The Players crowded toward the middle of the corridor, afraid that if they got too close to the inner wall, something inside would drag them in.
At the end of the corridor stood a thick iron door with a small window.
The window was only as big as a palm and had a pane of glass fitted into it. Looking through it revealed an unnervingly suffocating darkness.
Above the iron door was a metal plate bearing the words “Meditation Room.”
This must be the place the Instructor had spoken of, where they would be taught some discipline.
The door swung open with an old, creaking groan, and a foul stench rushed out to meet them.
There were no windows or lights in the room, and Hua Huai could not see what was inside.
She could only tell from the natural light streaming through the open doorway that there were traces of animals inside.
Perhaps she could have figured that out even without the light.
A rat darted out of the room and clung to Xiang Lu’s pant leg, squeaking to announce its presence.
“Ah—”
Xiang Lu cried out in terror, quickly stepping back and shaking the rat off.
Her fear did not earn her any sympathy from the Female Instructor. Instead, the woman kicked her into the meditation room.