The players were full of enthusiasm, but their noon exploration yielded little progress.
Aside from confirming that some of the teachers might be problematic, they lacked any other clues that could help solve the mystery.
Information gathering was severely hindered. The entire student body had become like learning machines. No matter how the players tried to strike up conversations, they were completely ignored.
As for locations that might contain important clues, such as the school’s administrative building—
When the players tried to approach, they were quickly discovered and chased away by security.
The guards were extremely aggressive and warned that if it happened again, the players would be handed over to their respective homeroom teachers for demerits.
It goes without saying that for players, this “demerit” would definitely not be as simple as a few notes in their records or a schoolwide public criticism.
Repeated setbacks dampened everyone’s mood.
“Damn it, we can’t do anything. We’re completely in the dark. Isn’t this just waiting to die?”
“What the hell is wrong with this crappy school? Everyone here is possessed or something. You can’t get a word out of them, all they know is study, study, study…”
“I mean, yeah, there are a lot of rules, but this place doesn’t really feel dangerous,” a short man said timidly. “How about we stop exploring and just focus on surviving the seven days?”
Sun Heng cut him off. “Newbie, don’t underestimate this escape game. It’s not going to let you clear it easily.”
“Exactly,” Yang Tian chimed in sweetly. “Don’t let the calm of the first day lull you into a false sense of security. If you’re not careful, people will start dying tonight.”
The short man’s face went pale. His fingers twitched a few times, then he suddenly snapped.
“All of this is just your speculation, isn’t it? You talk it up to sound super dangerous, just so everyone will listen to you!”
“And when we tried to check the office building earlier, you made the new players go first. That’s how I got caught by security and almost got a demerit!”
He glared viciously at Sun Heng and shouted, “You can boss around whoever you want. I’m done with this, I quit!”
Cursing under his breath, the short man backed away several steps and stood apart from the group gathered around Sun Heng.
Sun Heng looked at him coldly, with no intention of stopping him. “Fine! If you want to quit, then quit.”
He swept his gaze over the rest of the players. “Anyone else who wants to leave, you’re free to go now. I won’t say anything.”
Hearing this, some players in the group also began to waver.
Before long, four or five players, including the freckled woman from the morning, moved to the short man’s side.
Luo Yu noticed that the chubby man who had first been timid, then suddenly changed, did not leave. Instead, he stayed in Sun Heng’s group.
Yang Tian’s expression darkened. “What a bunch of ungrateful trash. Sun Heng, you’re being way too nice to them.”
Sun Heng smiled indifferently and casually wrapped an arm around Yang Tian’s waist as she turned toward him. “It’s nothing. Keeping them on my team would just slow us down.”
“That’s right,” Yang Tian said, shooting a provocative glance at Luo Yu as she leaned against Sun Heng and let out a sugary laugh.
…Seriously, flirt with your man all you want. Why look at me on purpose?
Luo Yu shuddered. Ugh, it made her sick.
Just like that, the two groups parted on bad terms.
Sun Heng didn’t feel that he had lost anything, nor was he concerned about saving face.
Letting those players go was a deliberate choice.
Generally speaking, players had two ways of obtaining information in a game.
One was active exploration, gathering clues from the environment or NPCs.
The other was through the passage of time, as the game environment naturally underwent changes, revealing key information along with them.
Right now, their exploration was blocked, and they couldn’t see a breakthrough anytime soon. That meant they could only wait for the game’s changes to bring information.
Of course, the game wouldn’t give information for free.
Changes meant danger.
The further time progressed, the more intense the changes would become, and the more dangerous the players’ situation would be.
If his judgment was correct, people would start dying tonight. Comparatively speaking, it would definitely be the unorganized, timid newcomers who were more likely to die under the game’s rules.
And from their deaths, he could extract key information about the game.
After all, that was what escape games were like.
Sometimes, they advanced only through the deaths of players.
On the other side, after leaving Sun Heng’s group, the short man finally felt a weight lift off his chest.
He had disliked Sun Heng for a long time.
Relying on his experience in several games, Sun Heng ordered others around and even sent them to carry out such dangerous tasks.
Danger?
He didn’t think this game was dangerous at all.
The most frightening thing about escape games was not knowing the rules of death and triggering them unknowingly, dying without even understanding why.
But now, he already knew the death rule from Sun Heng.
School rules.
As long as he followed the rules and stayed cautious, he would definitely survive the seven days.
Nothing happened in the afternoon.
At dinner, the short man also deliberately avoided sticking with Sun Heng’s group.
However, during evening self-study, something happened that left him shaken to the core.
The freckled woman was dead.
She was in the same class as him, sickly-looking and lacking energy.
Earlier, she had been the one caught sleeping during morning class and scolded by the homeroom teacher.
Normally, after something like that, anyone would be extra careful to avoid repeating the same mistake. But during evening self-study, the woman actually fell asleep again.
The homeroom teacher furiously called her to her feet.
But the short man saw a twisted, greedy smile flash across the teacher’s lips.
Later, the woman was taken to the office for a lecture.
At first, the short man didn’t think much of it. But not long after, he heard a woman’s screams coming from the hallway, clearly from the direction of the office.
The screams were unmistakable, yet the students around him acted as if they heard nothing, burying their heads and studying as usual.
Cold sweat poured down the short man’s body. He waited restlessly for a while, but only the homeroom teacher returned.
What was more, that “homeroom teacher” still had bits of meat and blood at the corner of his mouth, not even wiped clean.
Damn it. That homeroom teacher was definitely a monster.
It was all because that woman didn’t attend class properly. He wouldn’t be as stupid as her. He would definitely follow the school rules and study properly.
Trembling, the short man opened his book and put on an appearance of serious studying.
The homeroom teacher cast a few ill-intentioned glances at him, but didn’t make trouble for him.
When class finally ended, the short man couldn’t stay a second longer. He fled the classroom as if flying.
He was badly shaken and only wanted to return to the dormitory and get some sleep. Unexpectedly, on the way back, he was stopped by the chubby player.
At the same time, Luo Yu returned to the dormitory.
It was a four-person room, but only the girl who had woken her up that morning was there.
The girl crept over to her mysteriously, cautiously glancing at the two empty beds before lowering her voice.
“Luo Yu, don’t you feel like there’s something wrong with this school?”