"Welcome to Qinggang High School. Qinggang High School is a prestigious private college-prep school. Each year, countless outstanding students here go on to top national universities."
What?
Luo Yu propped up her spinning head, frowning at the voice that had suddenly appeared in her mind.
"To improve teaching and management efficiency, Qinggang High School adopts a completely enclosed management system. Once the new semester begins, no faculty or students are allowed to leave campus freely. To ensure students' normal daily life on campus, Qinggang High School provides a cafeteria, convenience store, and beautifully furnished dormitories. Additionally, nearly a hundred security personnel patrol the campus in 24-hour shifts to ensure every student's safety."
Qinggang High School - a boarding school? But why was she here?
She was supposed to be...
Ugh, her head hurt. She could barely remember what had happened before this.
The only thing still vivid was the heavy thud of her body hitting the ground, and the excruciating pain that had instantly radiated through every limb.
Had she... fallen from somewhere?
But that didn't explain why she was suddenly here, with a cold, eerie voice in her head that didn't sound human at all.
And the voice kept going.
"A new semester has begun. We look forward to your diligent studies, your growth and progress, and you becoming a better version of yourself!"
Beep...
"You are a third-year student at Qinggang High School."
"You've noticed that your classmates are growing stranger by the day - but no one else in the school seems to realize anything has changed."
"Uncover the secrets of Qinggang High School, or survive for seven days on campus. Either counts as a successful escape."
"Dear player, good luck."
The moment the voice ended, a flood of information poured into Luo Yu's mind...
She was in an Escape Game.
She was a player. And in this world, there were a dozen other players just like her.
The players needed to work together to complete the game's missions.
The game was filled with danger.
Break a rule - death. Fail a mission - death.
Her task in this game world: uncover the secrets of Qinggang High School, or survive for seven days.
If it was just about surviving seven days... that didn't sound so hard.
But it couldn't be that easy, could it? This was an Escape Game. If any player got complacent, tried to coast through seven days doing nothing, danger would come knocking at their door soon enough.
Luo Yu pushed herself up and surveyed her surroundings.
She was sitting in a classroom. A countdown calendar for the college entrance exam hung by the blackboard.
It was supposed to be break time, but the hallway was silent - no students running around, no laughter. The classroom was just as quiet. Every student sat at their desk, heads buried under stacks of books, writing in concentrated silence.
The atmosphere was so heavy it was almost terrifying.
None of the students spoke to each other. If it weren't for the soft scratching of their pens on paper, they could have passed for mannequins.
Luo Yu recalled the information from the opening voice:
She was a third-year student.
She had noticed her classmates were becoming stranger.
Hmm...
What secrets was Qinggang High School hiding?
Luo Yu decided to try gathering information from the student next to her. She gently tapped the back of the person in front of her.
"Hey, excuse me?" she asked.
The student turned around, his tone impatient. "What?"
He was a thin, bookish-looking boy, but his face was utterly lifeless. As he frowned at her, his expression twisted into something almost menacing.
Ugh. Ugly.
Luo Yu immediately lost any interest in talking to him. Besides, judging by his demeanor - like a wooden puppet - he probably wouldn't be much help anyway.
She'd find another way.
"Nothing," she said, brushing him off with a wave. "Just saw some dust on your back. Brushed it off for you."
"Annoying." He shot her a glare and whipped back around.
From the movement of his arm, she could tell he'd resumed furiously scribbling within a second.
Luo Yu scanned the classroom again. No sign of any other players besides herself.
They must be spread across other classes. Should she go look for them?
Just as the thought crossed her mind, the bell rang.
A fierce-looking female teacher with long curled hair and glasses appeared in the classroom as if she'd teleported.
"Classmates, time for class," she announced.
"I saw that many of you were studying hard during break. That's excellent."
"But some of you didn't just slack off - you disrupted others' studies as well. You're third-years now. The college entrance exam is right around the corner. You can't afford to be this careless."
"......And I'm talking about you, Luo Yu."
Her voice sharpened suddenly. When her gaze locked onto Luo Yu, a flash of ferocity - and hunger - flickered in her eyes.
Something was wrong.
Luo Yu's instincts screamed danger. She paused for a moment, then opened her textbook, picked up her pen, and assumed the posture of a focused student.
The teacher nodded - but disappointment flickered in her eyes.
Then she smiled.
It didn't matter... sooner or later, she'd get her.
"Alright, class. Let's begin," she said.
After class, dusk had settled. It was dinnertime.
Luo Yu stretched her stiff body and drifted with the crowd toward the cafeteria, scanning for other players as she moved.
She reached the dining hall.
The cafeteria had a wide variety of options. Students could get standard rice-and-dish combos, or choose from rice noodles, beef soup, spicy hot pot, and more. For a quick bite, they could grab a couple of steamed buns from the bun window.
The cafeteria was bustling. Lines snaked around every station.
Luo Yu noticed that during mealtime, the students seemed slightly more animated - they talked a little more, moved a little more. But there was still a pall of lifelessness hanging over them.
She even saw a student memorizing vocabulary while waiting in line.
...This grind culture is insane.1
Luo Yu sighed and kept searching through the crowd. But no luck - too many people. Even if players had some special identifier, she couldn't spot anyone.
Was she the only player?
No way.
She shook the terrifying thought from her head. She was starting to feel hungry anyway. Time to eat.
What should she get?
Luo Yu didn't have strong food preferences. She scanned the various counters -
Wait.
Oh my god. That guy at the bun window is ridiculously good-looking.
Among the auntie cafeteria workers, among the pale, sickly students, he stood out like a diamond in the rough.2 Absolutely stunning.
Luo Yu got in line at the bun window.
Luo Yu reached the front of the bun window.
She took him in: his tall, lean frame under the black uniform; his long, elegant fingers inside white gloves; his thin lips beneath a clear face mask; his dark eyes, downturned at the corners, looking at her with cool indifference.
Luo Yu considered herself a connoisseur of good looks. She had high standards - most people didn't even register on her radar.
But this guy...
How could someone this beautiful even exist?3
"What would you like?" he asked.
Even his voice was gorgeous.
Luo Yu thought: I need to be friends with you immediately. This is urgent.
Summary:
Luo Yu wakes up in Qinggang High School with amnesia and discovers she is trapped in an Escape Game where she must survive seven days or uncover the school's secrets. After observing the lifeless, robotic students and narrowly avoiding a predatory teacher's attention, she heads to the cafeteria where she becomes instantly captivated by the extraordinarily handsome baozi vendor.
Trivia:
- Luo Yu has amnesia and cannot remember what happened before waking up in the classroom.
- She recalls a heavy thud and excruciating pain, suggesting she may have fallen from a height.
- The game system announced there are a dozen other players in the world besides Luo Yu.
- Students at Qinggang High School behave like wooden puppets, showing no normal social interaction.
- The teacher's eyes flashed with "ferocity and hunger" when targeting Luo Yu, indicating supernatural or predatory nature.
- The teacher visibly disappointed when Luo Yu pretended to study instead of giving her an excuse.
- Luo Yu's initial attempt to gather information from a classmate failed completely.
- The baozi vendor's appearance is described in significant detail, marking him as an important character.
- "Grind culture" is explicitly referenced through the student memorizing vocabulary in the cafeteria line.
- The survival condition includes both solving the mystery and surviving seven days, suggesting multiple paths to victory.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ Internet slang meaning hyper-competitiveness or extreme academic pressure. Translated as "grind culture" to capture the contemporary, slightly cynical tone of the original.
2 ↩ Literally "crane standing among chickens." An idiom meaning to stand out dramatically from one's surroundings due to exceptional qualities. Translated as "stood out like a diamond in the rough" to convey the elegance and exceptional nature of the comparison.
3 ↩ Literally "astonished as if seeing a celestial being." An idiom expressing extreme admiration for someone's beauty. Translated with emphasis through internal monologue to capture the strength of Luo Yu's reaction.
Notes:
• S - A first-year student at District 13 High School who has taken B from North Middle into his squad.
• Luo Yu - Protagonist and third-year student at Qinggang High School. Wakes up with amnesia and discovers she is a player in an Escape Game. Has a sharp eye for appearances and a tendency toward blunt internal judgments. Initially disoriented but quickly adapts to survival-mode thinking. Shows a practical, self-preserving instinct. Young woman and newly arrived player in the Qinggang High School Escape Game. A certified face-con who struggles to balance her attraction to beauty with survival instincts. Observant and self-aware but easily distracted by handsome appearances. Currently navigating the dangers of the game while trying to identify trustworthy allies.
• A - A student from South Middle School described as an idol who has been recruited into R's high school squad.
• T - A first-year student at District 13 High School who has recruited K and N from East Middle into his group.
• B - A student originally from North Middle School who was added to S's group.
• N - A student from East Middle with an eccentric personality who entered National High School due to complex family circumstances and used herself as leverage to negotiate a protective agreement for K.