Dead...
Seven players remained in the Player Faction.
The Female Instructor tossed Gan Hong’s corpse onto the ground like a rag, then took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the water off her hands.
She led the way out of the bathroom, her steps steady, with not the slightest sign that she had just killed someone.
“I hope none of you fall behind.”
The players, still stunned, hurried to follow her.
They made their way to the Athletic Field, where they saw the Male Instructor they had encountered when they first arrived at the school yesterday.
He held a long whip in his hand. It seemed to be the kind used for riding horses—a Riding Crop, thick and resilient.
The players couldn’t help staring. The Male Instructor didn’t put the Riding Crop away; instead, he waved it in front of them and said, “Starting today, everyone must come to the Athletic Field at 7:30 every morning for a morning run. You must complete 15 laps within half an hour, or else...”
What did 15 laps mean?
One lap was 400 meters, so 15 laps meant 6,000 meters.
Half an hour might not be that difficult for an adult man, but for Hua Huai, it was almost an impossible mission.
The instructors at this school wouldn’t go easy on her just because she was a child.
A sound of something slicing through the air rang out.
Someone had tossed a basketball into the air, and the Instructor swung the Riding Crop, striking it with pinpoint accuracy.
A loud crack rang out.
The basketball burst apart in midair.
The Instructor continued, “For every minute you’re late, you’ll be whipped once.”
The players drew in sharp breaths. They could only imagine how devastating a blow from that whip would be.
It turned out yesterday’s meditation room had been child’s play. Only today were they seeing the true terror of a C-rank Instance.
They absolutely couldn’t get whipped on the first day of running. If they were injured, completing the morning run within the time limit over the following days would be even more impossible.
When that happened, they might be beaten to death on the spot.
All the players lined up at the starting line. At the Instructor’s command, they shot forward like a volley of Arrows.
In this life-and-death game, they had no choice but to manage!
If they couldn’t, they would die. If they wanted to live, they had to give it everything they had and wring every last ounce of potential from their bodies.
No one dared to start slowly. They had to use all their strength and couldn’t waste a single second.
The tension of facing death sent everyone’s adrenaline surging, as if stimulants were being injected into their bodies.
The fastest player was Sun Sui. He was tall and thin, with long legs—a natural advantage.
Xiang Lu was in second place. For a Female Player to run this well showed that she exercised regularly.
There was no doubt that Hua Huai was in last place.
She hadn’t eaten all day yesterday, and her short legs put her at a disadvantage. Even giving it everything she had, she couldn’t overtake Tan Tai, who was just a little faster than her.
Perhaps because he was hungry too, he was only a little faster than Hua Huai.
At the end of the first lap, everyone held their positions.
During the second lap, some players gradually began to slow down.
The third lap... the fourth lap...
More and more players began to slow their pace.
By the fifth lap, the overall pace had slowed.
The air Hua Huai exhaled through her mouth and nose was scorching, while the air she breathed in was icy cold.
Her legs gradually went numb, and even lifting them became a struggle.
She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop!
From the moment she started running, Hua Huai had been counting the time in her head.
Her count might not have been very accurate, but she was doing her best.
She took about 1 minute and 10 seconds to finish the first lap, about 2 minutes and 22 seconds in total for the second, about 3 minutes and 40 seconds in total for the third, and about 5 minutes and 3 seconds in total for the fourth.
The farther she ran, the slower she got. If she stopped to rest, she would have even less chance of finishing 15 laps within 30 minutes.
She couldn’t get injured, and she absolutely couldn’t die.
So even if she could barely run, she had to keep going!
She pinched her thigh hard. The pain brought tears streaming from her eyes, but also made her a little more alert.
She finished the fifth lap in 6 minutes and 29 seconds.
She finished the sixth lap in 8 minutes and 1 second.
She finished the seventh lap in 9 minutes and 37 seconds.
Before she knew it, Hua Huai had overtaken Tan Tai through sheer, astonishing perseverance.
And with every lap after that, she overtook at least one more player.
By the end of the tenth lap, Hua Huai had reached third place, with a total time of 16 minutes and 25 seconds.
But she had reached her physical limit. Her legs felt as if they were filled with lead, and every step took an enormous amount of energy.
Her breathing was heavy. It felt as if her internal organs were burning, and as though they had minds of their own, jostling against one another.
Her chest in particular throbbed with an indescribable pain.
She finished the eleventh lap in 18 minutes and 30 seconds.
“Ugh...”
Hua Huai covered her mouth and nose. She felt so nauseous, like she was about to throw up.
The thought of stopping kept flashing through her mind. If she stopped, the urge to vomit and the pain in her body would surely ease.
Rest. She’d feel better if she rested.
Her vision turned white around the edges. In a daze, she saw the outline of the Male Instructor holding his Riding Crop, and immediately drove the thought from her mind.
Keep going. She had to keep going!
She finished the twelfth lap in 21 minutes and 8 seconds.
She finished the thirteenth lap in 24 minutes and 2 seconds.
Only two laps left. Stay steady. Take a deep breath.
By the end of the fourteenth lap, the time she had been counting in her head was no longer remotely accurate.
All she could do was run faster, and then faster still.
Thankfully, when three minutes remained, the Instructor announced the time, making them feel even more pressed.
By then, Hua Huai was nearing the end of her fourteenth lap. Perhaps she had pushed through her physical limit, because she no longer felt as nauseous and miserable as before, and her steps even felt somewhat light.
When Hua Huai was halfway through her fifteenth lap, Sun Sui crossed the finish line first.
Xiang Lu remained five steps ahead of Hua Huai.
“Five.”
“Four.”
“Three.”
The Instructor was counting down. Three seconds remained!
The players behind Hua Huai ran with all their might, but they were too far away; there was no way they could make it in three seconds.
And Hua Huai herself was still at least ten meters from the finish line.
She gathered all her strength and sped toward the finish.
“Two.”
With only one second left, she took a huge stride, then lost control of her momentum and tumbled across the finish line.
“One.”
“Sun Sui, Xiang Lu, and Hua Huai have passed.”
Hua Huai scraped her palms and knees on the track. Compared to the wounds inflicted by the ferocious dog, these were extremely minor.
She collapsed onto the ground, utterly spent, sweat pouring off her.
Her clothes clung to her body, but she couldn’t spare a thought for the sticky discomfort. She could only struggle to catch her breath.
A plastic-wrapped package landed beside her hand. Looking closely, she saw it was a piece of bread.
“The school has clear rules. There are punishments, of course, but also rewards. This is your breakfast.”
Hua Huai was famished, and her eyes lit up at the sight of the bread.
She struggled to sit up, tore open the package with both hands, and slowly pushed the bread into her mouth, chewing it carefully.
It was a little different from ordinary bread—especially dry and especially hard.
Still, to Hua Huai in her current state, it could be called a delicacy.
Of the four remaining players, two were less than a minute late, one was 1 minute and 15 seconds late, and the last, Tan Tai, was 2 minutes and 32 seconds late.
“If you’re less than a minute late, it counts as one minute. Less than two minutes counts as two minutes, and the same goes for three minutes.”
In other words, anyone who failed would be whipped.
The players being whipped cried out in pain. A terrifying bloody welt was left wherever the Riding Crop struck.
Their skin split open instantly, and blood visibly seeped through their clothes.
Tan Tai took the most lashes and fainted on the spot.
The day’s lessons had only just begun. How could he faint?
The Instructor’s voice was cold. “Get a bucket of ice water and throw it on him to wake him up.”