Walking from downstairs to the classroom on the fifth floor, Qi Yang sat behind his desk and placed his right hand on his abdomen again. He had come to this game pregnant, and he didn’t know where the child’s father was now. That person would certainly never know that a man was carrying his child.

Qi Yang didn’t know that the child’s father had known about the child’s existence since the day the test results came out. Even after Qi Yang arrived here, the child’s father had been watching him from somewhere.

As for why the man didn’t show himself, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but as the game boss, he had work and tasks to do. There were not only Qi Yang and his group of players, but many others, those who had arrived earlier, and those who were yet to come. The screening and verification of personnel all had to be handled by the boss personally, and the NPCs also needed management.

There were four classes in the evening. The first three were regular classes, and the last one was a self-study session. Students who didn’t live on campus left after the first three classes, which was about a fifth of the total student body.

After those students left, the classroom was much emptier. The remaining boarding students quietly reviewed during the fourth class. The teacher sat at the podium for about ten minutes before leaving for something.

Qi Yang was reading a Chinese textbook, which contained many stories. He had forgotten what he learned before, so reading them now was a good way to pass the time.

Qi Yang thought nothing would happen during the last self-study class, but he soon realized his thinking was too naive.

Suddenly, most of the lights in the classroom went out. The thick darkness around them seemed to come alive, spreading towards Qi Yang and the others. Yuan Yuan covered her mouth in terror to keep herself from screaming, while Du Yong clutched the edge of the table, looking as if he was about to bolt from his seat at any moment.

Both of them looked at Qi Yang for help. Qi Yang gently shook his head. He guessed that the next development might be these ghosts trying to scare them, making them flee the classroom. Once they left the classroom, it would be their territory, and they could do whatever they wanted.

More lights went out one after another, until only one light by the back door of the classroom remained on. There was a brief, deathly silence, and after the silence, someone began to cackle, “Hehehehe,” a sharp, piercing laugh.

The light from the last lamp also dimmed significantly, and the entire spacious classroom was instantly enveloped in a suffocating, icy gloom. In the gloom, the cold hands of ghosts quietly reached out to touch Yuan Yuan and the others. At that moment, the two couldn’t help but ask in a panic who was touching them.

More chilling laughter was their answer.

Hehehe, hehehe, hehe!

The classroom was filled with eerie, terrifying cackles, but for some reason, these monsters seemed to have some kind of unspoken agreement not to scare Qi Yang, but instead surrounded the other two players.

The tiles underfoot suddenly became sticky, and Du Yong felt as if there was water when he lifted his foot.

Water? How could there be water in the classroom, and even if there was, it wouldn’t be that much.

Suddenly, Du Yong’s eyes widened. His neck stiffened, and he slowly lowered his head to look at his feet. In the dim light, Du Yong saw what the water on the classroom floor was.

Blood, it was all blood, dark, thick blood.

And as soon as this thought appeared, the strong smell of blood assailed his nostrils.

Du Yong trembled all over, his lips chattering non-stop, clearly terrified.

Screams and wails came from other classrooms.

“Ghosts, ghosts! Ahhh!”

“Help, help, don’t come over, don’t come over!”

“Get away, don’t come near, can anyone save us, I don’t want to die!”

Qi Yang glanced out the window. In just over ten seconds, two or three people had already run past. They were all unfamiliar player faces, not Yi Xinming, and apparently no one from his class.

He withdrew his gaze. The smell of blood in the classroom was too strong. With every breath, his entire nasal cavity was filled with the scent of fresh blood.

Qi Yang, being pregnant, was quite sensitive to smells. His face gradually turned pale, and he felt nauseous.

Standing up, Qi Yang walked over to open the window. The sound of the window opening drew the attention of the ghosts. All those glowing eyes turned to look at Qi Yang. Qi Yang turned away, not looking at the glowing eyes staring at him, and found an empty seat by the window to sit down. This seat belonged to a day student. Since the teacher wasn’t there and these ghosts could leave their seats, Qi Yang immediately thought that perhaps they, as players, could too.

As expected, after Qi Yang sat down, no ghosts pounced on him.

The ghosts looked at each other. They didn’t speak, but their expressions conveyed their understanding of each other.

Someone ran out of the other classrooms; prey has already run into the net on their own. No one here was scared out, so their work is considered done.

Everyone was actually quite exhausted. If it were the usual players, they would definitely go all out to scare people until they peed their pants before stopping, but here they had to be relatively restrained.

Everyone was hoping for this game to end quickly so new players would arrive, making them easier to deal with.

The blood in the classroom silently receded, and clear air blew in from outside the window. Qi Yang lowered his hand from his nose, and all the extinguished lights instantly flickered on.

At the same time, the ghosts returned to their seats. They wore human skin, obediently reading books, and some even quietly recited English.

Qi Yang watched all this with indifference. Cries and screams could still be heard from other classrooms, as if the commotion there hadn’t stopped yet.

They stopped here first, why was that?

It couldn’t be because he had morning sickness from opening the window; these ghosts didn’t know he was pregnant.

Whatever the reason, this self-study class crisis seemed to be over. As for the other classrooms, Qi Yang couldn’t do anything about them; everyone had to fend for themselves.

Walking out of the classroom after evening self-study, there seemed to be a few fewer players than during the day. Qi Yang wasn’t sure exactly who they were. He looked gentle, but in reality, he didn’t like to remember people. Everyone was a stranger. Although there was strength in numbers in this game, ultimately, he still had to rely on himself.

Another person was lost from Yi Xinming’s group of four, leaving them with only three, just like Qi Yang’s group.

Qi Yang waited for Yi Xinming to come over, but Yi Xinming just shook his head slightly without saying anything.

The result was already laid out; more words would be useless.

“There’s something I need to tell you, about the death order,” Qi Yang said, bringing it up.

“You’ve found the conditions?” The conditions for death, what actions lead to accidental death.

Qi Yang nodded, and told Qi Yang about the bloody number 1 on the cafeteria sign that he had observed that afternoon.

“On the sign? I’ve seen the sign before, and I did notice a blood-red number, why didn’t I think of it then!” Yi Xinming frowned, thinking he had been too careless.

“That’s normal. Who would’ve known that ‘1’ just meant the first type of death? I only realized it later too,” Qi Yang said, indicating he hadn’t thought of it at first either.

“Does that mean we should pay attention to the number 2 next?” Yi Xinming immediately thought of this question.

Qi Yang looked in the direction of the dormitory building: “Probably.”

“You all heard me, right? When you go back, search everywhere for a blood-red number 2. If you find it, tell me immediately. If it’s in your own dorm…” Yi Xinming paused, then looked at Qi Yang.

Before Yi Xinming could ask him, Qi Yang nodded: “I don’t think sleeping together at night counts as a violation. If worst comes to worst, A-Jiu can deliberately wet the bed, and then we’ll have a reason.” Qi Yang’s mind worked quickly, and in a flash, he found a very good excuse.

Turning his head, Qi Yang also reminded Yuan Yuan that she was a girl and wouldn’t be staying on the same floor as them. If anything happened at night, they wouldn’t be able to help, so Qi Yang told Yuan Yuan to be careful.

Fortunately, there were also female players, some of whom lived together, and others whose dorms were next to each other, so they could look out for one another.

Back in the dorm, players started looking for the red ‘2’, and quickly found it. Someone’s room number was 412, and the last digit, which should have been black, was now blood red, as if someone had smeared blood on it.

There were players living in 412, two of them. They immediately sought out other players, asking them to take them in for the night.

The matter seemed to be resolved. Qi Yang and Du Yong returned to their dorm room, where they had toothbrushes and toothpaste. After washing up, they went to their respective beds.

Du Yong was still on edge and a bit afraid to sleep. He went to Qi Yang’s bed. Qi Yang slept on the top bunk, and Du Yong leaned over, looking at Qi Yang and asking in a low voice, “Nothing else will happen tonight, right?”

Qi Yang pursed his lips and shook his head: “Not sure.”

“Didn’t we already find 2? As long as that room isn’t occupied, no accidents will happen, right?” Du Yong’s voice rose. There were still NPC ghosts in the dormitory. Although they were in human form now, Du Yong had seen their bloody, rotting faces. Seeing them look over, Du Yong was so scared his legs went weak.

“Go to sleep. Worrying too much is useless. Get some rest; the game has only just begun.” Qi Yang smiled at Du Yong, telling him not to overthink things. They had done everything they could; what would happen next, they could only wait.

Du Yong returned to his bed with a mournful face. He was so scared that he pulled the covers over his head. There were footsteps in the dormitory; the NPCs hadn’t gone to sleep yet. Hiding under the covers, Du Yong suddenly felt like crying.

After getting pregnant, Qi Yang’s sleep quality wasn’t very good. Before coming to this game, the most frequent question he thought about was the extra mass in his belly. He specifically found a hospital in another city, not locally, planning to go there to have the child removed. However, he didn’t get rid of the child and accidentally transmigrated into this horror game.

Although Qi Yang’s tolerance for horror was higher than average, sleeping in an unfamiliar place, still in a high school dormitory, the bed wasn’t his, there was an unfamiliar atmosphere, and he could always smell a faint, lingering scent of blood in the air.

Qi Yang tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

None of them had phones, but they probably guessed that even if they did, there wouldn’t be any signal to make calls. Not knowing what time it was, Qi Yang turned to look at the lower bunk diagonally opposite him. Du Yong hadn’t moved much and seemed to be asleep.

However, Du Yong wasn’t motionless because he was asleep, but because he was afraid to move.

Qi Yang cleared his mind, trying not to overthink anything. He felt himself drifting off to sleep when suddenly a strange sound came from the dorm room.

The sound of bones being crunched, followed by someone chewing food.

All the lights in the dorm were off, yet someone was eating. Qi Yang felt curious, but at the same time, he found the sound too strange and creepy, as if his own bones were being chewed.