I’m A Little White Flower In An Escape Game ☆ 26

Arc 2: 《Deadly High School》 Ch15 — Ch29

Ruan Bai was livid after hearing the task from the system. It was outrageous to expect her to bring along a female ghost and reward her with a measly 400 points. Was the system out of its mind?!

"System, this task is downright unreasonable!" she exclaimed. "What if the female ghost awakens and takes my life? Risking my life for a paltry sum? Only a fool would do that!"

However, the system, which had been working just fine, now seemed to have crashed and was unresponsive. Ruan Bai urged it repeatedly, but it finally responded with an automated message: 【Sorry, the user you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later.】

"Hey! Don't pretend to be dead!" Ruan Bai shouted, but the system kept displaying loading errors.

【Loading failed, please try again.】

"Get out of here, now!"

【The spring breeze never fades, and Jinjiang never gets old. Welcome to Jinjiang Literature City...】 the system announced, ignoring Ruan Bai's complaints.

Ruan Bai was at her wits' end. Had the system secretly downloaded the infamous Jinjiang APP, notorious for using potatoes as servers during work hours? No wonder it had so many glitches!

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Unable to persuade the stubborn system or cancel the random release, Ruan Bai had no choice but to grit her teeth and approach the female ghost. With a meagre 400 points as a reward, she had no motivation to carry out the task. She might as well try to find a loophole in the mission. Ruan Bai couldn't afford to let the ghosts above her down, so she brought along the solitary female ghost.

The system's original directive was to "rescue the trapped girl," without mentioning releasing any others. Furthermore, there was no instruction to have Ruan Bai awaken them, was there?

Ruan Bai meticulously inspected the ghost's seven orifices and securely bound her legs with a rope to prevent the ghost from regaining consciousness halfway. Afterwards, Ruan Bai hoisted the ghost onto her back and laboured to ascend the basement stairs and exit the confinement room.

Emerging into the open, Ruan Bai found herself amid the free period during which people were free to roam. Shen Qing Yun and the other player were most likely still searching for a new hiding spot, unaware that the blood ghost had lost its power to harm. Ruan Bai listened carefully and detected footsteps coming from the second floor. They were likely above her.

Without hesitation, Ruan Bai carried the ghost and hastened to the opposite end of the second floor.

**

At that precise moment, on the other side of the second floor, Shen Qing Yun effortlessly picked the lock with a tool. Beside him was a new player who had already reconciled with him. Two robust men in women's clothing stood together, appearing unusually beautiful and harmonious.

As Ruan Bai had anticipated, they intended to take refuge in this room for the upcoming class. In Ruan Bai's absence, they got along swimmingly, and the entire building was infused with lively energy.

As Shen Qing Yun picked the lock, his thoughts drifted to the previous night, when he had spent forty minutes here with Ruan Bai.

At that moment, Ruan Bai seemed to stumble upon a crucial discovery. Her expression conveyed a sense of shock. Shen Qing Yun followed her lead and took a few glances but found nothing of significance. Luckily, he remembered where Ruan Bai had tossed the materials she had been holding.

'I'm sorry,' Shen Qing Yun thought with guilty pleasure. 'Since Ruan Bai is gone, I can only inherit her spiritual discoveries.'

It felt somewhat unethical to be rejoicing at someone's passing, but Shen Qing Yun couldn't help it. He wasn't responsible for her demise, after all. The new player beside him suddenly paled as Shen Qing Yun was leisurely pondering.

"Shen... Brother Shen, q-quickly look, what is that..." His voice shook, and his entire body was quivering with fear by the time he finished speaking.

Shen Qing Yun was perplexed. The new players were always scaredy-cats. His courage left much to be desired. Unfazed, Shen Qing Yun continued to pry open the door. "What's wrong? It's the safe period now. What's got you so afraid?"

"N-no, Brother Shen, please look carefully," the new player stuttered, his terror apparent in his widened eyes. "Isn't that a ghost over there?!"

Hearing the new player's words, Shen Qing Yun sensed something was amiss. He ceased his movements and gazed towards the direction the new player was pointing.

A peculiar sound echoed down a shadowy corridor, a rhythmic "thump, thump" emanating from the stairs. A figure, distorted and flickering in and out of sight, emerged from the other end of the hallway, terrorising Shen Qing Yun. As it drew nearer, he realised with horror that it was two female ghosts, their tattered figures covered in nasty bloodstains.

One of the ghosts was atop the other, a matted mess of long hair tangled with frightful scars, her arms locked straight and stiff. The second moved with a slow limp as if struggling to move freely.

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When the apparitions spotted Shen Qing Yun and his companion, the lower ghost raised her head, revealing a bloodstained face he recognised from somewhere. She extended a hand as if to seize them both.

"A ghost! Run!"

Without hesitation, the two sprang to their feet, scurrying away like startled rabbits.

Ruan Bai: "..."

Ruan Bai, their companion, watched them go, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"Stop right there!" she called after them.

Realising their error and hearing her voice, the two fledglings froze in their tracks. Shen Qing Yun turned back, his expression sheepish, to see Ruan Bai staring at him silently.

"Ah... Softie, it's been a while," he dryly chuckled twice, "I never thought it would be you. How have you been?"

The woman had survived and brought a ghost with her to find them. Was she a devil?

"I'm doing well, can't you see, Brother Qing Yun?" Ruan Bai replied, her anger bubbling up at Shen Qing Yun's condescending tone. "Can't you see I'm a young girl carrying such a heavy burden? Don't you have anything to offer?" Ruan Bai shook the female ghost on her back, the weight threatening to topple her over.

The newcomer watched, his face turning purple as he struggled to breathe. Ruan Bai revelled in the thrill of bullying Shen Qing Yun. Seeing him so relaxed and carefree irked her.

To her surprise, Shen Qing Yun hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Indeed, it must be tough for someone so delicate to carry such a heavy burden. Let me help you carry it for a while."

Ruan Bai's first reaction was suspicion. Was Shen Qing Yun up to his usual tricks again? Yet, the value of the free labourers was not to be underestimated. Even if he managed to unlock the seven apertures of the female ghost, it would attack him before anything else. With this in mind, she entrusted the female ghost to Shen Qing Yun and let him bear the burden.

Little did she know that Shen Qing Yun wasn't just pretending but intended to just carry it. The reason was simple: Shen Qing Yun feared Ruan Bai. Yes, it was true. As a member of the "Badger" gang, he had developed a deep psychological fear of Ruan Bai, having been tricked by her on numerous occasions. Seeing Ruan Bai alone and surviving in such a dangerous detention room, carrying a ghost as a prize, he realised that this woman was not someone he could resist.

Ordinary people wouldn't even consider carrying a ghost, regardless of its lethality. In the face of Ruan Bai's presence, Shen Qing Yun relinquished any struggle and focused on surviving the game. Ruan Bai was already abnormal, but he was still human. To avoid retaliation, Shen Qing Yun obediently pleased her, accepting his fate.

Ruan Bai was oblivious to Shen Qing Yun's true intentions. Still, she commended him nonetheless by patting him on the shoulder.

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With the door already pried open, Ruan Bai pushed it further and walked straight into the archive room. She scanned the small space, crowded with densely packed bookshelves that emitted a musty odour. The shelves were stacked with books that barely allowed one person to pass through with difficulty. As she made her way through them, Ruan Bai shook the flashlight she had brought along and began her search.

The student data was quickly passed over, and the teacher data was treated similarly. Eventually, Ruan Bai came across the files related to the school she had come to investigate. Each era's data had been carefully categorised and labelled with notes on the edges of the bookshelves. But the age of the paper had turned it yellow, and the books were covered in dust, giving off a strange, indescribable smell.

Judging by the appearance of the school rules, Ruan Bai could tell that it must have been from the early days of the school's establishment. With a slow and steady hand, she flipped through the pages, scanning the earliest dates until 1975. Pulling out one of the folders, she ignored the dust that flew up and quickly opened it to look closer.

Inside, she found rough records of significant events in the early days of the school written in great detail. She could tell that the author of the notes held a position of importance in the school from the author's insights in the folder.

She deftly skipped over the irrelevant details and homed in on the section about the school.

Fourth High School was erected upon a cemetery like many other schools. The word was that the land was haunted, which made it a cheap purchase, so the principal decided to invest in it.

Once the school was built, several eerie occurrences caused a lot of panic among the students and faculty, leading many to drop out. However, the principal had a close friend who was a well-known feng shui master.

Under the feng shui master's guidance, the principal revamped several sections of the school. Word had it that the principal built the office building during this time and relocated the teachers' offices from the teaching building with the aim of subduing the evil spirits that lurked in the area.

After the renovation, the paranormal activities on the school grounds did, in fact, decrease significantly. With the added fact that many students from the previous two years gained admission to top-notch universities, the reputation of Fourth High School soared, gradually making it one of the most renowned schools in the locality.

It appears that the school and the paranormal have always been closely linked. It's no wonder that these girls, upon passing away, became vengeful ghosts and were instantly caught by the school at the time and locked away in the detention room's basement.

But what concerned Ruan Bai the most was the section in the author's notes about the school's regulations.

Ruan Bai perused the pages before her:

"After offering renovation suggestions, my friend also implored me to revise our school's regulations. He explained that half the blame would fall upon the teachers and leaders in the event of any mishap. At the same time, the remaining half would be attributed to the students. Therefore, it was imperative to establish stringent and reasonable rules to govern the conduct of our students."

As she read further, Ruan Bai discovered that the "friend" referred to in the book was actually the Feng Shui master and confidant of the school principal. It was this master who had crafted the regulations for Fourth Middle School. Then it was distributed to the teachers and students by the director. But little did he know that the souls of those who perished at the school were trapped there, unable to escape.

Could it be that the Feng Shui master had meticulously planned this outcome, or was it a mere coincidence? He designed the structure of the building and arranged the Feng Shui of the school. Now that these ghosts refuse to dissipate, his hand is undoubtedly involved.

Thinking back, when ghost teachers encounter situations where students disobey the regulations yet still reduce the punishment or even refrain from punishing them together, were they seeking her help? Are they hinting that Ruan Bai should break the rules and resist this invincible force?

And what would happen if she didn't resist? Would she slowly succumb to the same fate as the previous students? Should she try to resist?

Ruan Bai's fingers slowly grazed the folder's edge, her mind racing with countless thoughts. After a while, she gently placed it on the table. These were the most extensive pieces of information she could gather for now. Tomorrow, she planned to gather more intel from other players before making final decisions.

There were no further surprises for the rest of the night, and Ruan Bai didn't uncover any additional information.

The three rested in the office building with a female ghost overnight and cleared out early the following day to attend class. However, Ruan Bai's face darkened considerably compared to the seemingly relieved Shen Qing Yun and the new player. She didn't know how to deal with this female ghost! Unlike other NPCs, this female ghost seemed to be different; even after class time, it wouldn't disappear.

Ruan Bai had considered disposing of it, but after some contemplation, she decided to keep it close to her. Gu Bu Chao had told her that the game wouldn't give players useless clues, and there must be some secrets she hadn't discovered about these five female ghosts. Their deaths must be closely related to the current situation at Fourth Middle School, and how Du Wen Shu survived school was a significant breakthrough.

The most crucial thing was that this female ghost was still related to her 400 points. The system hadn't prompted her that the task was completed, indicating that she needed to work harder.

Despite their small size, mosquitoes are still flesh, and Ruan Bai was determined to do whatever it took to earn those 400 points. With a conspicuous ghost in tow, she undoubtedly drew the attention of all the players in the cafeteria.

They looked at Ruan Bai, then at the ghost figure on her back. After confirming she was still alive, all the players fell into a strange silence. This girl was ruthless to be able to use a female ghost for play...

While they scrutinized Ruan Bai in secret, she was also observing them. As she surveyed the remaining players, her heart quickly sank. After last night, male and female players were missing, leaving only six players. Ruan Bai hastily glanced over and noticed that two were clearly injured, and one girl even lacked an arm.

In the cafeteria, they sat with their faces devoid of any relaxed expressions, riddled with fatigue, boredom, and an all-too-familiar numbness. The game had already begun to hunt them down.

——— Translator's Notes ———

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