Chapter 11: Station 21: Borrowing the Blade

Chapter 11: Borrowed Blade

The grotesque, formless entity did not depart immediately.

Amidst the flickering light, it emitted a retching sound, pronouncing the rules with an eerie inflection:

"New student numbers are stored in a box. For the duration of one class, you are to search for them."

"The first six to arrive will pass this course."

"The first to arrive will have their past mistakes forgiven."

"And those who arrive last, or fail to find the student number, will die."

Viscous black tendrils obscured the front lights.

Its massive, bulging body wriggled uncontrollably, pulsing out an eye, and its speech suddenly became coherent:

"If all of you, driven by love for truth, beauty, and goodness, obtain the student numbers and enter the classroom simultaneously, I shall grant you the rewards you deserve—"

"One among you will die randomly."

"Come on... Let's see how you face death."

A chilling laugh echoed within its form.

The tentacles receded slowly, leaving behind a trail of damp, stench-filled moisture as they vanished at the end of the corridor.

Yao Kunrui, disregarding the burn on his face, asked anxiously, "What should we do now?"

Everyone's gaze instinctively turned to Yan Qiling.

He rolled up his sleeve to check the countdown, "The Master of the Abyss failed to reap a soul and is now taking a more aggressive approach. A class lasts fifty minutes; we don't have time for a collective effort. We'll split up and search separately."

Hu Zhicheng hesitated, glancing around at the others uncertainly.

"…Are we meeting at the entrance then?"

Su Bo nodded.

"I think we should gather at the entrance. We can pool our ideas and figure out a solution. We can't really engage in some deadly game with it. What if it changes its mind?"

Yao Kunrui shuddered and asked,

"You don't actually plan on entering the classroom together, do you?"

Si Shuhao looked at him in surprise.

"What else can we do? If we can't find an alternative, this is our only option. We can't just push someone to their death. Random selection is better than targeting one specific person."

Yao Kunrui hesitated, wanting to say something, but eventually gritted his teeth and rushed out first, his red hair swaying behind him.

He had no intention of dying!

Everyone left the classroom and frantically searched every box-like object for a solution.

Yao Kunrui delved into the front desk of the reading room, when suddenly footsteps echoed from the entrance.

Relieved to see that it was Su Bo, he let out a sigh.

The eerie atmosphere in this place was driving him insane. As long as there was another person standing by his side, he could tolerate it.

Su Bo, on the other side of a bookshelf, searched while peering over and asking,

"Did you find the student ID?"

Yao Kunrui wiped the sweat off his forehead and tightened the slightly loose gauze, making sure it stayed on his face.

"No, I don't even know what the new ID looks like."

"It's a thick brown card with our names and numbers printed on it."

Yao Kunrui found it odd and asked,

"How do you know that?"

The young girl spoke with a hint of pride and delight in her voice:

"I found Si Shuhao's. It was locked away in a box in the science lab."

"I'm starting to think that each classroom only has one student number. That monster's real aim wasn't for us to find the numbers but to watch us turn on each other, blaming one another... I don't want to give it any pleasure like that..."

"Tell me, is there any way we can bypass the rules? That way, we could all survive."

Yao Kunrui was no longer listening to her.

In his hands, he held a card box from the reading room, containing a brown, thick paper slip.

But it didn't bear his name – it read Yan Qiling's instead.

After a while without a response, Su Bo approached from behind the bookshelf, concern etched on her face:

"Are you alright? Is your face still hurting?"

With a sudden grip, Yao Kunrui concealed the paper in his palm, pretending everything was normal.

"No worries, no worries. I just think there's too much stuff here, making it difficult to locate. Why don't you search here while I try another area?"

Without waiting for Su Bo's response, he got up and walked out.

Confused, Su Bo went to where Yao Kunrui had been and saw that the card box for the reading room records was somewhat crumpled, with some cards scattered on the ground.

There seemed to be nothing unusual.

Time ticked by normally, but for those engrossed in their treasure hunt, it always felt insufficient.

Yan Qiling found Ming Yiyang's student ID number in the equipment room with twenty minutes left before class ended.

He still hadn't found his own ID number.

Despite passing by the classroom several times, no one had indicated that they had found his number.

Assuming no surprises, he was now the only one left without a student ID number.

He retraced his steps and bumped into the hurried Si Shuhao.

Ming Yiyang wasn't nervous; he strolled along with his hands in his pockets.

Yan Qiling held up what he had found, saying,

"I found it, in the sports room's storage cabinet."

Si Shuhao was initially delighted but then glared at the overly relaxed person behind her.

"Congratulations! Now, only the idiot Ming Yiyang hasn't found his ID number!"

Yan Qiling sighed.

"This is his ID number."

Si Shuhao was momentarily stunned. She took the slip of paper, glanced at it, and then threw it to Ming Yiyang, asking anxiously,

"And what about you? Haven't you found him yet?"

"I'll keep looking."

"How can you do that? I'll help you search!"

Grabbing the girl's clothing, Ming Yiyang pulled her aside as if she were a chick:

"I'll drop you off at the entrance to your classroom first. I'll go with him."

Si Shuhao was indignant but also aware that her stamina was reaching its limit.

It was impossible for her to run through Building One again within another dozen minutes.

When they returned to the classroom entrance, almost everyone was already there waiting.

Hu Gaoming said resentfully,

"Yao Kunrui went in! We couldn't hold him back."

Sù Bó wore a troubled expression.

"I should have held off on giving him his student ID earlier..."

Si Shuhao peered in and scoffed, "Coward."

Upon hearing that Yan Qiling's student ID was still missing, Hu Gaoming offered to help, but Ming Yiyang promptly refused and dragged him deeper into the hallway.

Ming didn't need to go inside to search; a faint purple glow flickered in his eyes, and he could tell that the place wasn't worth searching.

Yan Qiling had already made some guesses and wasn't in a hurry. He was, however, slightly surprised by Ming's straightforwardness.

"I thought you'd at least try to hide it a bit," he said.

Turning his purple gaze, the young man gave him a quick once-over before continuing on, "What's there to hide? You saw everything during the ghostwriting session."

"You truly have your fair share of secrets."

"The feeling is mutual."

By the time Ming Yiyang reached the third floor, his patience was wearing thin. His pace quickened, and he couldn't resist a jab:

"It seems your student number is quite elusive. Could it be that the Ruler of the Void has taken a fancy to you, planning to keep you here forever?"

Yan Qiling replied with humility:

"It doesn't have that kind of power."

"Don't speak too soon. The rules of the Void surpass all else. If we can't find your student number, you might really be stuck here."

"Rules still require human enforcement. No matter how miraculous it appears, both you and I know that it isn't."

Ming Yiyang didn't refute this but instead commented:

"You seem to know this world quite well."

If in the first three floors, Ming Yiyang was merely impatient, by the sixth floor, his expression had turned blank.

He had a faint suspicion in his heart.

Moreover, he felt that Yan Qiling was pondering the same thing.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have held onto his arm and said,

"Let's go back, we probably won't find it."

An unknown anger welled up inside him, and he shrugged off the other's hand.

"How can we know for sure without checking every corner?"

Upon reaching the last room and confirming that there was nothing he was looking for inside, Ming Yiyang fell silent for a moment before slamming the door shut.

He looked at Yan Qiling, wanting to say something.

But then, he pressed his lips together and suddenly rushed back like a gust of wind, his white sports jacket billowing behind him like wings.

As Ming Yiyang strode briskly toward the crowd at the classroom door, those gathered assumed they had finally discovered Yan Qiling's ID number. With a faint smile, Su Bo said,

"Brother Ming, we've decided that we'll all enter the classroom together later... right?"

Ming Yiyang's expression didn't bode well.

He stated,

"Someone has hidden Yan Qiling's ID number."

Everyone's expressions changed.

Despite having encountered numerous inexplicable horrors beforehand, they had remained unscathed thanks to Yan Qiling and Ming Yiyang. Along the way, they had subconsciously started to view themselves as part of a team, hoping to rely on mutual trust and assistance to navigate their situation.

This time, there seemed to be no loopholes in the rules, and they had all prepared themselves for the possibility of being randomly killed.

Yet, to their surprise, a "traitor" had emerged among them!

Ming Yiyang stated in a stern tone:

"I'm going to search you."

There was no room for negotiation, yet everyone readily complied.

After a thorough search, nothing was found.

Ming Yiyang had long anticipated the outcome. He gazed at Si Shuhao with a piercing look.

"Stay here with him, I'll go in and ask."

Su Bo's expression shifted slightly, as if she had recalled something. She suddenly lifted her gaze to look at Yao Kunrui inside, her face revealing a hesitant and worried look.

Ming Yiyang approached with a fierce demeanor and a clear objective.

Yao Kunrui, who had witnessed the entire scene from his seat, felt his knees go weak.

He warily stood up, ready to make a run for it at any moment, and shouted intimidatingly, though inwardly he was trembling.

"What are you doing... Let me tell you, I don't have his student ID on me. Go ahead and search if you don't believe me!"

Ming Yiyang, of course, thoroughly searched him but found nothing.

Yao Kunrui sighed in relief and spread his hands, saying,

"See, I told you there's nothing."

Suddenly, the voice of a girl rang out from the doorway:

"Yao Kunrui, was the student ID you took from the front desk in the library yours?"

Yao Kunrui was momentarily taken aback before responding with steely determination,

"What student ID? I'm not aware of it."

Suo Bo glared at him by the door, angrily shouting:

"You're lying! I saw it all. You took that student number from the library's debit card system, and you even deliberately avoided me!"

Yao Kunrui sneered, "Do I have a reason to lie? Isn't it obvious that all of you despise me? Then produce the evidence! You've searched and found nothing on me. Can you blame me for his inability to locate his ID number? He should blame himself for being useless!"

As he finished speaking, an irresistible force struck his face.

In searing pain, the world spun upside down, with the sound of the desk toppling behind him.

He felt someone fiercely lift his collar, and amidst his dizziness, a metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.

...Was he hallucinating, or why did he see Ming Yiyang's eyes turn purple?

"Where did you hide the ID number?"

Yao Kunrui suspected that one of his molars might be cracked. The repressed darkness within him boiled like poisonous water, overwhelming the urge to speak the truth, forcing out a few words, "I don't know."

This time, he felt as if the other side of his face had been run over by a truck.

The pain from the burn was insignificant compared to the agony that made him weep uncontrollably, his tears mingling with warm blood.

For a few moments, he couldn't locate his head or face, but he could hear Ming Yiyang's detached voice, as if it had emerged from the depths of hell:

"Where's your student ID?"

With his collar still gripped tightly, he felt like a dog on the verge of suffocation, powerless to resist against such overwhelming strength.

Yao Kunrui attempted to defy his attacker in silence, only to be met with another punch soon after.

That voice was as hard and cold as steel, laced with an interrogative edge:

"This is the last time I'll ask. Where's your student ID?"

Yao Kunrui forced his eyes open, witnessing a horrifying sight he would never forget.

Spots of crimson stained the angular features of his adversary, while their highly translucent purple irises, resembling the most exquisite gemstones, radiated an inorganic coldness and an otherworldly bestiality.

It was as if a manifestation of a hellish Asura had appeared before him, no, something even colder and more ruthless than that.

He was an emotionless machine, existing solely to carry out specific commands.

Yao Kunrui was utterly convinced that if he continued to resist, this person would without hesitation end his life right here.

The desire to survive overwhelmed everything else.

He opened his mouth, involuntarily spitting out the broken teeth mixed with blood, and stammered,

"Please... don't hit... me... I... I... I..."

"Speak."

With half-closed eyes, Yao Kunrui let out a fearful, muffled voice,

"I... I threw the student ID outside, shredded."