Setting aside the oppressive and eerie atmosphere of the campus, Qinggang High School, as a boarding school, actually had a very beautiful environment.
Built against the mountains, Qinggang High School not only had teaching buildings, a cafeteria, and dormitories, but also exceptionally good greenery.
During their free time, students could choose to exercise on the track field or relax in the expansive grove.
Of course, the grove and the back mountain were separated by tall iron fencing, with security guards patrolling at all times to prevent students from wandering into the back mountain or wild wolves from entering the campus.
It was in this grove that Luo Yu got lost.
It was strange. She had clearly been mixed in with a large group of students heading back to the dormitories. No matter what, she shouldn’t have deviated this far from the route and ended up inside the grove.
At first, there were clearly other students around her, but without her realizing it, the people nearby became fewer and fewer.
By the time Luo Yu snapped back to her senses, she had already slipped into the woods, completely alone.
It was as if she had been bewitched by something filthy.
She wasn’t imagining things. This was entirely possible.
After all, this wasn’t the real world. It was an escape game. To increase the difficulty, the game surely had mechanisms that isolated players and forced them to face danger alone.
Luo Yu felt that she had been affected by just such a mechanism. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have realized something was wrong only after walking into the grove.
Although the grove was meant to be a place for students to relax, there were no lights at night, nor were there any students strolling around.
The woods were pitch-black. Looking around, all she could see were branches dancing wildly in the cold moonlight, clawing through the wind like the talons of ghosts and monsters, rustling loudly.
Luo Yu shivered.
She tried hard to identify her surroundings, attempting to recall the path she had taken.
But whenever she focused on remembering, her mind felt as though it were wrapped in a layer of gray fog. Her memories were vague and indistinct, devoid of any details.
Luo Yu became increasingly convinced that the game had set her up.
The grove at night was definitely full of dangers.
Aside from the possibility of wild wolves coming down from the back mountain, there might be even more terrifying monsters lurking within the woods.
Running around blindly without knowing the way was almost the same as signing her own death warrant.
If conditions allowed, staying where she was and waiting until dawn, when she could see the path clearly, would be the best option.
But—Listening to the increasingly mournful wind in the woods, a chill crept up from Luo Yu’s feet.
The temperature was dropping rapidly. Spending the entire night here, even if she didn’t freeze stiff, she would definitely catch a cold afterward. In an escape game, players didn’t have the luxury of getting sick.
Moreover, even if she could endure the bitter cold of the night, she still had to consider another factor.
The school rules.
Sun Heng had said that those who violated the school rules would die.
What he said might not all be correct, but in a situation like this, Luo Yu could only choose to believe it rather than dismiss it.
She remembered one particular rule: students must return to the dormitory promptly after evening self-study. Those who fail to return before curfew at 23:00 are considered in violation and will have performance points deducted according to the severity of the offense.
Evening self-study ended at 22:00, leaving only one hour before curfew.
She had already spent about twenty minutes on the way back, and after getting lost in the grove, she had wasted another ten minutes or so.
That meant she needed to get back to the dormitory within half an hour. Otherwise, she would be violating the school rules. Even if she didn’t die, the consequences wouldn’t be good.
She could only steel herself and try to find a way out.
Luo Yu gathered her focus and began moving cautiously through the woods.
Despite the dim light that made it almost impossible to see clearly, she didn’t give up, constantly observing even the slightest changes in her surroundings.
Wandering aimlessly wasn’t a solution. Was there something in the woods she had overlooked?
Luo Yu believed that if it was a game, there had to be a solution.
It wouldn’t place players in an environment with nothing but dead ends. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be called an escape game. It might as well be called “tricking you into dying.”
So she must have missed something.
About five minutes later, Luo Yu finally noticed a change.
Calling it a “discovery” wasn’t entirely accurate, because the change was so obvious it was practically screaming for attention.
Fog had risen in the woods.
White mist surged up from her right-hand side like a ghostly sea. After spreading for some distance, it churned and stopped advancing.
The choice was now in Luo Yu’s hands.
Go, or not go?
Staring at the eerie white fog, Luo Yu took a deep breath.
Go!
Staying here would mean death anyway. The fog was certainly dangerous, but it might also conceal a chance of survival.
She walked slowly but firmly toward the white mist.
Suddenly, she thought of something. Since she had been trapped in the woods, were the other players undergoing life-and-death trials at the same time?
When they met again in the cafeteria tomorrow, how many of the players she’d seen tonight would still be alive?
But— Luo Yu encouraged herself.
She would definitely be among those who survived.
In fact, on this point, Luo Yu was mistaken.
Sun Heng had been right earlier. This was the first day of the game. Under normal circumstances, players would make it through safely without encountering any major crises.
At this very moment, all the players had returned to their dormitories without incident. Some were chatting with their roommates to gather information, while others had gone to bed early to conserve their strength for the next day.
Only Luo Yu had run into serious trouble.
This wasn’t because she had accidentally triggered a death condition, nor was it the game deliberately targeting her.
The incident that befell her wasn’t part of the game’s mechanisms at all. In other words, she had caught the attention of something else.
Something more powerful and more exalted than the game rules themselves.
The Yandere Evil God.
Or rather, the supreme being who governed this escape game.
All instance worlds existed under his surveillance. His avatars were present in every world, taking the form of one of the NPCs, silently observing the game’s operation and the players’ actions.
Under normal circumstances, he remained detached from the main storyline and did not interact with players.
But there were exceptions.
Some perceptive players would sense his difference, recognizing the overwhelming power he possessed beyond the game rules.
These players would choose to approach him, attempting to use his power to gain benefits, increase their chances of survival, or even complete the game with ease.
Through many such encounters in the past, he had already confirmed humanity’s hypocrisy.
These selfish, sinful, pitiful beings approached him while singing false praises, harboring no true reverence in their hearts, seeking only to exploit his power.
The Yandere Evil God was originally without emotion. Yet after prolonged contact with players, he gradually developed feelings of his own.
And the very first emotion he felt toward human players was disgust.
Today, yet another human player who did not know fear had deliberately approached him.
The reason he had spared this player earlier was so that, at this moment, he could personally tear away her false facade.
After all—This was one of his few remaining amusements.