Hua Huai cried until she was exhausted, then gradually quieted down.
Throughout that time, the meditation room echoed with nothing but her sobs.
Just as everyone thought the boy had already left, he spoke.
“My parents are very good people. They were just deceived by the school.”
His voice was gentle and clear. He let out a long breath, cool as an air conditioner in the sweltering summer heat.
Hua Huai touched the cheek the cool breeze had brushed and asked, “Big brother, are you an air conditioner?”
As soon as she said this, every Player held their breath.
There was a very high chance that the boy in the meditation room was an Anomaly.
And Hua Huai had actually dared to call him an air conditioner.
They feared that the boy might go on a killing spree the next moment and stain the meditation room with blood.
After a long while, no scent of blood came from the air. Instead, there was a soft chuckle. “That’s right.”
He actually admitted it!
The Players huddled in the corner, not daring to move.
The presence beside Hua Huai faded away. The boy seemed to have left.
Her pounding heart eased a little. The cold sweat on her body was no less than that of the other Players.
She had guessed that the boy was an Anomaly. After entering, she had been wandering around the nearby area the whole time, so she knew better than anyone whether someone had been there.
As for why the boy had come to the meditation room, it was very likely because she had touched that passage of text.
Judging from the boy’s words and the timing of his appearance,
it wasn’t hard to guess that he had left that passage of text behind.
He had escaped, only to be caught and brought back.
Now that he had become an Anomaly, he had most likely died at this school.
Time passed by the second, and not a sound came from the meditation room.
Everyone tried to make time pass faster by sleeping. Otherwise, waiting around in such terrible conditions could easily lead to a mental breakdown.
Hua Huai had fought that ferocious dog outside the Instance and had already used up all her energy.
Still crouched down, she drifted into an uneasy sleep.
In her dream, her parents became kind and gentle, and her younger brother became clingy and well-behaved.
Smoke curled up from the chimney, and the aroma of food wafted to her nose.
Her mother smiled warmly and said, “Little Huai, come eat.”
Her father set down the newspaper in his hands and walked to the dining table. “The food looks really good today, but it smells a little strange.”
Her younger brother muttered, “What’s strange about it? It smells great. Older sister, come eat too.”
Her younger brother pushed a bowl of rice in front of her, urging her to eat.
Hua Huai picked up a piece of braised pork. Before she could put it in her mouth, it suddenly turned into a writhing, fat grub.
A cold sweat broke out all over her, and she snapped her eyes open.
It was pitch-black all around. She had been dreaming.
The sound of porcelain clinking came from the doorway. The school had sent someone to deliver food.
She hadn’t noticed before, but besides the small window, there was also a little hatch in the door. The food had been passed through it.
Once everything had been delivered, the hatch closed.
No one knew how much time had passed, but every Player, including Hua Huai, had a stomach that was grumbling in protest.
The Players all felt around for food, but those who got there late came up empty-handed.
“I-it’s gone?”
Tan Tai disbelievingly felt around on the floor nearby. As if confirming something, he roared, “One of you took my portion!”
When the hatch opened, everyone had been able to see how many portions of food were brought in.
Now his portion was gone, which meant someone had clearly taken it.
Hua Huai had gotten there even later than Tan Tai and found nothing either.
These Players were all adults. If they wanted to hoard the food, there was nothing she could do.
The Players who had gotten food kept quiet. They weren’t the ones going hungry, so it wasn’t their problem.
The meditation room was pitch-black. No one could point out who had hoarded Hua Huai and Tan Tai’s food.
Hua Huai returned to the wall and crouched down. It looked like she would have to go hungry.
She comforted herself with the thought that skipping one meal wouldn’t kill her.
Tan Tai didn’t have her patience. He snarled, “Whoever took my portion, the last one to finish eating had better be ready to face my wrath!”
Chopsticks and porcelain bowls were bound to make noise when they clinked together.
No matter how carefully they ate, it was hard to avoid being heard in the pitch-black room.
But hearing alone wouldn’t work. The Player who took his portion could choose not to eat it and still refuse to give it back to her.
Then everyone would finish eating at around the same time, making it impossible to tell who had taken his food.
“Ugh—”
Someone suddenly retched.
“This food tastes wrong. Has it gone bad?”
The stench of decay in the air was so strong that it drowned out the smell of the food.
The Players only realized there was a problem after putting the food in their mouths.
One of them threw down their bowl and chopsticks. “The school is giving students spoiled food? Are they crazy?”
“Whoever wants it can eat it. I’m not touching this stuff.”
Hearing that, quite a few Players set down their bowls and chopsticks.
“Clang!”
Not long after they put them down, the door was flung open, and natural light streamed into the room.
A Female Instructor led more than a dozen students into the meditation room.
Each student held a disciplinary ruler about a centimeter thick. They stared at the Players in the meditation room with blank expressions and icy eyes.
In the natural light, the Players could see what the food really looked like: yellowing leaves drooped over hard rice, and the leaves didn’t seem to have been washed properly. They could see shriveled green worms curled up among them.
Just one look was enough for Hua Huai to imagine what the food tasted like.
The strange taste her father had mentioned in the dream had actually been the smell of the food outside her dream.
Hua Huai pressed her lips together and turned her gaze to the Female Instructor and the students.
She thought she now understood what the words “students who become accomplices to demons” on the wall meant.
This school had not only students who wanted to escape, but also students who helped the school commit evil.
By becoming an abuser, one could avoid becoming a victim.
The Female Instructor looked around, then fixed her gaze on the Player who had thrown down their bowl and chopsticks. “Your parents sent you to this school to change your bad habits.”
“And being picky about food is one of those bad habits.”
“The school absolutely will not allow students to have such bad habits. To correct your behavior, students with this bad habit will first receive ten strikes with the disciplinary ruler.”
In the meditation room, five people had set down or thrown away their bowls and chopsticks. They included Sun Sui and four other Players.
The students went up to them and forcefully held them down, making them stretch out their hands.
Two or three students held down each Player, pinning them so they couldn’t move.
“Smack!”
“Smack!”
“Smack!”
The disciplinary rulers came down hard on their palms, in a steady rhythm as if the students had rehearsed it countless times.
The Players wailed, but no matter how hard they struggled, they couldn’t break free of the students’ grip.
After ten strikes, their palms were already swollen and red beyond recognition.
Some even had thin streaks of blood seeping out.
Just as they thought it was over, the Female Instructor spoke again. “I trust you’ve realized your mistakes. The school is committed to preventing food waste, so those of you who threw your food away will get down on the floor and eat every last bite.”