V2C2

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Lu Ren had already finished his breakfast but for some hidden motive, he refused to move.

Lin Jue swallowed the last mouthful of his fried noodles with difficulty and smiled politely. “I’ll be going now.”

“I thought there were some questions you’d want to ask me… Guess I thought wrong,” Lu Ren said regretfully.

True, he had many questions he wanted to ask Lu Ren, such as what his relationship with Song Hanzhang was- that feeling of animosity yet trust to each other that made him feel like an outsider- such as what Lu Ren had meant when he had said ‘detention’ and ‘being starved’, such as what plans Lu Ren had for the future, and whether or not he would join them.

In the end, he reined himself in. Intruding into another person’s privacy for curiosity was extremely rude, especially when it was about Song Hanzhang.

He didn’t even have any way of knowing if Lu Ren would tell the truth.

He would rather ask Song Hanzhang himself.

“No, there’s nothing I want to ask.” Lin Jue picked up the tray and walked towards the tray return trolley.

Lu Ren followed him nonchalantly, a strange smile on his face. “You seem to trust him a lot?”

“It’s got nothing to do with you!” Lin Jue snapped harshly.

“Angry? People that display everything on their face… Tsk tsk, no wonder he kept you until the last.”

Lin Jue took in a deep breath, taking back control over his mouth, and strode away.

“Are you trying to save him?”

Lu Ren’s words made Lin Jue stop once again.

“You’re thinking of how to let the both of you survive the game?”

Lin Jue turned around.

“But, if only one person can leave alive, that person will definitely not be you. He’s a natural…”

Lin Jue’s fist swung out, only to be intercepted easily. Lu Ren seemed even happier than before. “You’re actually angry? Just one night and you’re willing to sell your life to him?”

That overly joyful smile made his spine tingle.

“Shut up!” Lin Jue’s pupils dilated as he growled, “You have no right to talk about him like that, people like you…”

The headless corpse in the business street, the bloody dao, Zhao Liangsheng, beheaded in the card game… The scenes lingered in his mind like a curse, constantly reminding him what a bloodthirsty, cruel heretic the person in front of him was.

Lu Ren blinked, released his hand, and strolled lazily towards the side door of the canteen. “They say that even rabbits will bite when angry. Turns out it’s true. I’ll take my leave first then, see you!”

The surrounding students eating breakfast had been attracted by the argument between the two and were staring at them, unblinking. Feeling disturbed by their eyes, Lin Jue left the canteen as quickly as he could.

&&&

Leaving the canteen, Lin Jue walked back to the dormitories. From the distance, he saw Song Hanzhang standing under the tall camphor tree outside of the block. He touched its drying bark, his brows furrowed.

“Xuezhang?” Lin Jue walked forward. What was he doing here?

Song Hanzhang startled, withdrawing his hand immediately.

“Finished eating?”

“Mhm.”

“Go pack your necessities. We’re going to go live in the school guest house.” Song Hanzhang rubbed his temple, looking exhausted. “It’s just a few steps from here, I can borrow an entry card from my professor. It’s cheap and it’s quiet, no one will disturb us there.”

“Are we going to live together?” Lin Jue asked, a little shocked.

“There are many things we’ll need to do in three days… We don’t have much time left.” Song Hanzhang looked even more burdened than when they were in the plaza. Lin Jue could feel that he was feeling anxious about something, but he didn’t know how to help apart from just nodding his head.

Three days. It was neither long nor short. Three days later, they would start another round of the game of death. Lin Jue despised that environment, enough to drive a person mad, but he was forced to face it yet again.

“Let’s go,” Song Hanzhang said.

After returning to his dormitory and having a small talk with his roommates, Lin Jue packed his things and moved to the school guest house. He opened the door to see Song Hanzhang tapping away on his laptop.

“Print two hundred copies in the print room and stick it onto every floor of the dormitory area.” Song Hanzhang threw an USB to Lin Jue.

“What is this?” Lin Jue asked.

Song Hanzhang leant back into his chair, took off glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “An advertisement to buy easter eggs at a high price.”

Lin Jue’s eyes lit up. “Does this mean we can confirm who the new people are beforehand? And we can also know the hints on the easter eggs? That’s great!”

Song Hanzhang however didn’t seem joyful in the slightest. “Hopefully. It’s just an experiment. It would be good if it succeeds, but if it fails, I can confirm something as well.”

Lin Jue was aware of how low Song Hanzhang’s spirit was. He wasn’t like this even in front of Lilith, with his entire body filled with confusion and uncertainty.

Why was this?

“Xuezhang…”

“Go, if there’s anything you want to ask, save it for the night,” Song Hanzhang cut.

Since he had said it so bluntly, Lin Jue had to push down the questions in his heart and print the ads like an obedient child, having made up his mind to ask everything at night.

The moment before the door closed, Lin Jue turned to look back at the room. Song Hanzhang stood in front of the windowsill, his silhouette sinking further and further down in the morning light.

Alone and helpless.

&&&

When Lin Jue had finally dealt with everything and returned to the guest room, the sky was almost dark. Just to be safe, he had even stuck up ads in the teaching blocks, lamenting the lack of wage for his first job in his university life.

Pushing open the door, Song Hanzhang was flipping through a book next to the window, page after page gone through at a shocking speed.

“Xuezhang, I finished putting them up. Do you want to go eat dinner together?” Lin Jue asked.

“No, I’m not hungry,” Song Hanzhang replied without raising his head.

Lin Jue’s phone rang- it was a call from home. He accepted immediately. His mom asked him if he had enough pocket money and he replied that it was, laughing a little, complaining as usual about the school’s food and his determination to study. After hanging up, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad. If he died, he would probably also be forgotten by the entire world like those from the last round. Would his parents still remember him? Would his friends still remember him? Or would they also be wiped of their memory of him, as if he had never come to this world at all.

“We can’t talk about what’s going on with our families at all. Xuezhang, you’re also hiding it from your family, right?” Lin Jue asked.

Song Hanzhang flipped over a page and said lightly, “I live by myself. It doesn’t trouble me.”

“By yourself? What about your parents?”

Lin Jue realized his mistake immediately.

“Dead.”

Lin Jue felt a little shocked. “…I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for, it’s a good thing.” Song Hanzhang closed his book and said meaningfully, “It’s a good thing, both for them, and for myself.”

Lin Jue widened his eyes, uncomprehending. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

“The equipment will get here tomorrow.” Song Hanzhang changed the topic. “We now have around forty-eight hours of preparation time. Judging from the information right now, there shouldn’t be any drastic changes to the time or area, nor the end of the game, but the possibility of repeating the zombie ‘arena’ will be low because having the same game mode would be too advantageous for us. To balance the newcomers and the survivors, the game wouldn’t allow us to have too much of an advantage over them.”

Song Hanzhang caressed the book’s cover with his long fingers and continued, “If I’m not wrong, then the danger from the next round will still come from two areas: outside, such as with the zombies, and inside, such as with the Judas.”

“… The Judas will still exist in the second round?” Lin Jue asked uncertainly.

“Mhm.” Song Hanzhang passed a piece of paper inside the book to Lin Jue. The handwriting on it looked like a doctor’s prescription. Lin Jue stared at it with difficulty before giving up.

Song Hanzhang read to him, “Judas’ Rules: When a player has died after entering the game, randomly select one dead player and resurrect, borrowing their body, inheriting parts of their memory and power. You are not counted towards the survivor count.”

“What is this? Lin Jue asked again. It didn’t look like Song Hanzhang’s handwriting at all.

“It’s something that came up after Lu Ren killed Gao Yifei, a clue towards the existence of Judas.” Song Hanzhang’s voice was calm. “Even though we’re not sure whether or not Judas can revive itself, if we kill it during the round, we can get one piece of information about it. This is very helpful for us.”

Song Hanzhang said this, but he did not look happy in the slightest. “This is a good thing. The more games we do, the more information we will have, and the better understanding of the game we will have, but…” But this method of lowering the difficulty of the game will also mean that the future games will become more and more dangerous to balance it out.

Song Hanzhang didn’t finish his sentence, but Lin Jue immediately understood his unspoken words.

“Then what will be the scene for next round?” Lin Jue lowered his voice.

Song Hanzhang shook his head. “Aside from the creator of the game, I doubt that anyone will know, but from how the last round went, it should be enemies with attacking prowesses suches as ghosts, beasts or monsters.”

Lin Jue smiled bitterly. “Please no. Zombies are scary enough, if you change it to ghosts or monsters… Please spare me, I don’t know how to capture ghosts.”

“In comparison, zombies are indeed much easier to deal with. They have obvious weaknesses and are relatively scientific. I thought that there would have been more people to survive,” Song Hanzhang replied.

“You’re way overestimating a normal person’s intelligence and combat power. Even if they have potential, if they can’t get over the first mental block, they won’t be able to adapt at all.” Lin Jue sighed and snuck a glance at Song Hanzhang. “If I hadn’t met Xuezhang, I would probably also be dead…”

Song Hanzhang was silent as he stared outside the window. “The sky is darkening.”

“Mhm?” Lin Jue looked in confusion at the darkening sky outside.

“You should go eat dinner now. If it’s not too much of a bother, bring something back for me. I don’t want to go outside right now.” Song Hanzhang pulled his food card out from his wallet and passed it to Lin Jue.

“Huh? Oh… I’ll be going then.”

Vera’s Notes:

Song Hanzhang… What a daring man, to invite them to move in together before even the second date!

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