They were temporarily safe.
But how long would this temporary safety last?
Clearly, the opponent was much stronger than them, with the combined strength of several people. Even with their numbers, they were no match.
Xu Yu clenched his fist behind the door and said, “My strength is limited.”
“Normal.” Yu Yezhou pressed against the door and listened for a moment. The sounds from outside were gradually diminishing; the man was about to reach the bedroom door. He turned back and asked, “What do we do now? We’re about to be caught in a trap.”
“We can use props,” Gu Zhan replied. “There are quite a few things here we can use.”
“Tables? Stools? Knives?” Yu Yezhou quickly thought it over but shook his head. “No, those are just weapons. Don’t forget, the other side has weapons too, and his weapons are really difficult to get close to.”
Gu Zhan said, “There should be fire in the kitchen.”
“Fire?” Yu Yezhou paused. “That could work, but…”
They were trapped in the bedroom. How could they get the fire?
As they listened to the sounds outside getting closer, the man seemed to realize they were in a dead end. He stopped his rampage and instead began to chuckle darkly, waiting for the moment when his prey would surrender.
“I have an idea,” An Heyan suddenly said. “I can go out and lure him away.”
“What?”
An Heyan pointed towards the balcony. “This place connects to the balcony of the neighboring bathroom. If I climb over from the outside, I can leave this bedroom. I can act as bait and draw him in, but the premise is that you all have to take good care of Xu Ke.”
Xu Ke had been quietly following behind An Heyan, their relationship very close.
An Heyan might betray Gu Zhan and the others for his own interests, but he would never betray Xu Ke.
They didn’t have much time to think. Yu Yezhou nodded, “Be careful.”
An Heyan turned and walked toward the balcony.
His figure quickly disappeared on the other side of the balcony, and Sang Yue said worriedly, “Is it okay?”
Everyone fell silent; whether it would be okay, they had no choice but to proceed.
This scenario didn’t follow normal logic, fearing they wouldn’t die easily.
Gu Zhan glanced at Xu Ke, who was in bad shape. Blood continued to flow from his injured face, and his condition was deteriorating, his consciousness already fading.
Soon, new footsteps were heard outside; it was An Heyan leaving, followed by the sound of clattering.
The man howled, with An Heyan drawing him further away.
Yu Yezhou pushed the bedroom door open wide. “Now’s the time!”
He and Gu Zhan picked up the "torch" they had prepared earlier and rushed toward the kitchen.
Fortunately, the kitchen’s gas was still usable. Gu Zhan held the torch to the gas, and soon the cloth wrapped around the mop handle was ignited.
Fearing that the flame would easily extinguish, Yu Yezhou grabbed a bucket of peanut oil from the cabinet and poured it onto the torch.
He poured too vigorously, almost extinguishing the flame.
This drew Gu Zhan’s attention, and he looked up at him.
Yu Yezhou smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”
Just as he finished speaking, the oil ignited, and the flame on the torch flared up even more.
“Quick, go,” Yu Yezhou urged.
Gu Zhan took the torch and headed toward the place where An Heyan had disappeared.
In the corner of the hallway, An Heyan was already cornered. The man stood not far away, dragging chains and staring intently at An Heyan.
An Heyan seemed to be injured, clutching his arm and leaning against the wall, panting heavily.
When he saw Gu Zhan approaching from behind the man with the torch raised, his eyes lit up.
Gu Zhan crouched low and quietly crept up on the man, the torch burning fiercely in his hand.
Finally, he was close enough. He suddenly thrust the torch forward, and the flames instantly scorched the man’s flesh. With a “sizzle,” the man howled in rage and jumped up.
“Ha!”
He turned to look back, realizing Gu Zhan had launched a surprise attack from behind. Enraged, he no longer paid attention to the provoking An Heyan and rushed toward Gu Zhan.
But the torch was long, and Gu Zhan swung it wildly in front of him.
The man simply couldn't break through his defenses, let alone get close to him.
As soon as he exposed a flaw behind him, Sang Yue quickly ran to the end of the corridor, returning An Heyan to the bedroom.
Now it was good; their team had two injured members.
At this moment, Yu Yezhou and Xu Yu had made the second and third torches, and they both charged at the man.
The man was gradually pushed into the spacious area of the living room, trapped within a very small space.
But eventually, the torches would burn out. As the man was confined for too long, he became increasingly agitated and began to attack Gu Zhan despite the burns from the flames.
This was merely a temporary measure and wouldn’t solve the problem!
Gu Zhan suddenly realized that perhaps their presence here was a mistake. He immediately turned to Sang Yue and shouted, "Tear the sheets in the room into ropes and escape through the window! We can get away from this third floor!"
"Right, we can leave." Sang Yue suddenly remembered after Gu Zhan's reminder.
However, the corridor door was closed, but the window was open, and they could escape from this cursed place.
"Quick, hurry!" She immediately tore down the sheets, ripping them into two pieces with her bare hands, no tools needed.
"Help us too!" Sang Yue glanced at the injured An Heyan and Xu Ke sitting in the corner. Despite their injuries, the urgency of the situation left no room for hesitation.
An Heyan forced a smile, lifted his injured hand, and joined Sang Yue in making the ropes.
He could feel that ever since his injury, his sanity was continuously declining, and his stamina was severely affected.
In this scenario, it felt like they had been hit with a weakening debuff; the longer they stayed, the worse their situation became.
This instance… it seemed like it aimed to eliminate all of them.
Beside them, Xu Ke, having been injured earlier, was already in a daze. Sang Yue stuffed the rope into his hands, but he didn’t know how to use it.
With no choice, Sang Yue decided to let him and An Heyan go down first.
“Take care of Xu Ke,” Sang Yue said. “I’m not sure what’s outside, but once you’re down, help us pull on the rope.”
“Okay.” At this point, they were already in the same boat, and An Heyan nodded.
Sang Yue, along with An Heyan, lifted Xu Ke to the balcony. While An Heyan tied the rope around Xu Ke, she took a look into the living room. The man was still trapped in the torches, but Gu Zhan’s torch, which had been lit the longest, was about to extinguish.
The man naturally noticed this flaw; every time he launched an attack, it was aimed at Gu Zhan.
He swung the iron chain, and the gusts of wind swept across the torches, nearly extinguishing the flames several times.
Sang Yue couldn’t help but gasp, but Gu Zhan showed no emotion, his expression calm as he kept his eyes fixed on the iron chain in the man’s hand, ready to adjust his position at any moment.
It was probably his calm demeanor that allowed him to hold his ground against the man.
Every time Sang Yue saw Gu Zhan’s composed expression, she felt admiration, sometimes wondering if he was even human.
If he were human, how could he lack the fear and anxiety that came with being in such a situation?
But there was no time for Sang Yue to think too much; she shouted to Gu Zhan, “The rope is ready! We can leave! I’ve let An Heyan and the others go down first.”
Unexpectedly, it seemed the man could also understand her words; he actually gave up on Gu Zhan and turned to approach her!
The long chain gleamed coldly in the man’s hand, as light as a whip. Before Sang Yue could react, Gu Zhan shouted, “Watch out!”
He threw the torch, which hit the chain just as it was about to strike Sang Yue, the edge barely brushing the tip of her nose.
If it weren’t for Gu Zhan’s quick action, Sang Yue would have likely met her end right then!
She was immediately drenched in cold sweat, staggering back two steps!
With Gu Zhan losing the protection of the torch, he was now completely exposed to the man’s attacks.
Yet he remained calm, telling Sang Yue, “You all go first.”
Sang Yue: “…”
She really wanted to say that iconic line from a TV drama: No, she couldn't leave.
How could she leave?! With Gu Zhan without the torch, facing this man, wouldn’t that be a death sentence?!
But unfortunately, the man roared and charged at Gu Zhan. With no shelter left, Gu Zhan could only leap over the obstacles on the ground to reach the other side of the table.
But on that side was Yu Yezhou. To avoid being within the man’s attack range, Yu Yezhou could only quickly adjust his position.
With this change, Yu Yezhou and Xu Yu found themselves at the corridor leading to the bedroom, while Gu Zhan was blocked in the living room alone.
“…”
How could this happen?!
Sang Yue felt anxious. Wasn’t this pushing Gu Zhan to a dead end?
Now, whether to leave or stay had become a collective dilemma for Sang Yue, Yu Yezhou, and Xu Yu.
But Gu Zhan remained calm. He guarded against the man while saying to Yu Yezhou, “Hurry and go. You’re in the way.”
Yu Yezhou: “…”
He could understand Sang Yue’s earlier predicament.
Yu Yezhou was more decisive than Sang Yue. He immediately turned and ran toward the bedroom.
Xu Yu followed, but before leaving, he threw a torch in Gu Zhan’s direction.
As expected, with the man blocking him, the torch didn’t reach Gu Zhan and instead fell to the ground, quickly igniting the wooden furniture.
“Not good, it’s starting to catch fire! Sang Yue, you go first!” Yu Yezhou shouted. “Xu Yu, cover the rear and wait for Gu Zhan!”
“Understood.” Xu Yu replied briefly.
Sang Yue felt very unwilling, but the girls didn’t have the same stamina as the boys, and the possibility of leaving behind a hindrance was greater.
Reluctantly, she followed Yu Yezhou. The two helped each other, tying the rope around their waists and slowly climbing down from the window.
Xu Yu stood in the corridor waiting for Gu Zhan, while in the living room, the fire had completely engulfed the space, and the thick smoke made it impossible to see Gu Zhan’s position. The man was thoroughly enraged by Gu Zhan, showing no intention of retreating, and stood in the smoke confronting Gu Zhan.
The scalding smoke filled Gu Zhan’s lungs, and the air became increasingly thin, forcing him to cough. However, the sound of his coughing only exposed his position. Through the thick smoke, the man dragged his chain closer, like the Grim Reaper, step by step.
“Gu Zhan, hurry and come out!”
Outside the smoke was Xu Yu's anxious voice.
“Ha ha, I’ve got you now.”
The man's tall figure emerged from the smoke, his eyes locked on Gu Zhan, who was cornered against the wall. A sinister, terrifying smile curled at the corners of his lips: “Got you!!”
His voice suddenly rose, and he raised the chain, swinging it down toward Gu Zhan!
“Bang!”
The chain smashed into a wooden plank, which turned out to be a table from the dining room, previously moved here by Yu Yezhou and the others to block the man.
Unbeknownst to him, Gu Zhan had stepped in front of the table to block the blow.
The man was momentarily stunned, and Gu Zhan took advantage of this brief moment of confusion to push the table toward him.
The man was forced to retreat.
Gu Zhan turned and fled.
Xu Yu, waiting in the living room corridor for Gu Zhan, felt a tightening in his chest. Although Gu Zhan had briefly evaded the man's attack, this only pushed them further away from the escape route.
In the next second, he saw Gu Zhan flee toward the balcony.
Xu Yu was taken aback but quickly understood. He immediately turned and entered the balcony of the bedroom.
The balconies of this house protruded outward, and the distance between each balcony wasn't far.
The bedroom was only about a meter and a half away from the living room.
As he opened the balcony window, Gu Zhan had just climbed out from the balcony.
Xu Yu quickly picked up an alarm clock from the bedside and tied it to one end of the rope, throwing it toward Gu Zhan. “Catch!”
Gu Zhan caught the rope, tightened his grip, and jumped down.
In the next moment, the railing he was standing on was smashed by the chain, and the man roared as he charged out!
But it was too late. Gu Zhan had already leaped off the balcony using Xu Yu's rope!
He landed quickly, and Xu Yu secured the other end of the rope to the bed before jumping down as well.
They had escaped through the window, leaving behind the crazed man, who stood on the balcony shouting in rage.
As Xu Yu landed last, they all heard the system's voice: “Congratulations on your escape, but it seems the previous story has encountered some issues.”
“What?” Everyone was infuriated upon hearing the system's voice.
It had casually said a few words, nearly putting them in mortal danger.
And now it claimed there was a problem.
Sang Yue shouted angrily at the sky, “What problem? We don’t even know who this man is! Did you lure us here to die?!”
The system ignored Sang Yue and continued speaking to itself: “If Xiaoming returns home to find his mother has been killed by his father, why should he worry about his grades? Why would he commit suicide? Your previous answers are wrong, wrong!”
Sang Yue exclaimed, “What’s wrong with that? Seeing his mother kill someone and being scared enough to commit suicide—what’s the issue?”
Sang Yue was so furious that her words lacked logic.
Yu Yezhou looked at her helplessly—what problem? There were far bigger issues at hand!
Sang Yue disregarded him and continued, “So what result do you want?”
The system replied, “Your story is incorrect, incorrect…”
Its voice gradually faded away, and the scenery around them began to change again. The walls and floors turned white, and they returned to the plain white room.
“Eh?”
An Heyan's surprised voice broke the silence. “My injuries are healed?”
Everyone turned to see that both he and Xu Ke appeared unhurt, sitting on the floor as if nothing had happened. Xu Ke was also conscious.
However, his expression seemed a bit off.
An Heyan was still immersed in his astonishment over his healed injuries and didn’t notice Xu Ke's subtle abnormality.
But Gu Zhan suddenly grabbed Sang Yue and An Heyan, shouting, “Get back!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Ke let out a low growl and lunged at the two of them.
His attack was feeble, and instead of hitting them, he ended up collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
An Heyan was taken aback. “Xu Ke? What’s wrong with you?”
Xu Ke lay on the ground, not responding.
Gu Zhan reminded them, “Check your sanity values.”
An Heyan opened his attribute panel and was horrified to discover that his value had dropped by half.
No wonder… no wonder he felt sluggish, as if a layer of grease had fogged his mind.
When had it decreased so much?
Gu Zhan also checked his sanity value, and his situation wasn’t much better than An Heyan’s.
“How could this happen…” Sang Yue murmured, “Mine has dropped too.”
Yu Yezhou said, “Me too.”
He looked around; there was nothing in the vast white room.
“This might be the secret of this instance. I suspect that whenever we return to this room, our sanity values will decrease while our injuries might heal, but our sanity values won’t.”
“In the end, we will all be trapped here, becoming monsters.”
The thought of turning into a monster like the one with the chains made Sang Yue shudder.
If she were to become a monster, she would at least want to transform into something cool, like a cute creature!
“I don’t want to become a monster. We need to think of a way.” Sang Yue forced herself to calm down, but her lowered sanity value made it hard to think clearly. “The system made us answer questions right from the start and led us to that female teacher’s house. What does it really want?”
“At the female teacher’s house, I discovered this.” At that moment, Gu Zhan suddenly spoke up.
He pulled out a diary from his pocket.
“What is this?” Yu Yezhou exclaimed in surprise. “How did this thing survive?”
“When did you pick it up?” An Heyan was equally astonished.
Gu Zhan said lightly, "It was too chaotic when everyone was looking for clues, so I didn’t have a chance to speak."
Everyone opened the diary, only to find the first page was a portrait of Xiao Ming’s mother.
The diary belonged to the female teacher and recorded how she fell in love with a married woman.
Yes, a married woman.
She loved Xiao Ming’s mother.
She knew that Xiao Ming's father had a drug addiction and wanted to break up the couple, so she used drugs as bait to imprison the father. The father became a monstrous figure, neither human nor ghost, while the mother thought her husband was dead and was constantly trying to find ways to resurrect him.
"…"
After reading the diary, Sang Yue whispered, "I think this copy is messed up."
Although the copy was filled with monsters, it didn't change the fact that these were the most messed up she had ever encountered.
Yu Yezhou dryly remarked, "Maybe that's their characteristic."
"…Fine," Sang Yue had nothing to say.
Once everyone discovered the relationship between the female teacher and the mother, the system suddenly spoke again: "You are correct; that female teacher deeply loved the mother. She didn’t come today to discuss Xiao Ming’s grades; she just wanted to see Xiao Ming's mother, that’s all. So why did Xiao Ming commit suicide?"
Sang Yue replied, "Xiao Ming committed suicide because he saw his mother kill someone, which filled him with despair."
The system fell silent again, and the white surroundings gradually faded. This time, they found themselves in Xiao Ming’s living room.
The bloody remnants and corpse parts in the living room vanished, replaced by clean, tidy furniture and air that carried a faint fragrance.
The six of them sat side by side on the sofa, hearing the sound of chopping in the kitchen: "Thud, thud, thud."
The rhythm of the chopping was consistent, sounding just like someone casually preparing vegetables.
"What’s going on?" Sang Yue asked softly.
Gu Zhan and Yu Yezhou furrowed their brows and didn’t speak.
Soon, someone walked out of the kitchen.
It was Xiao Ming’s mother, whom they had only seen in photographs but never met in person.
She was very beautiful, looking far too young to have a middle school child.
Sang Yue sharply noticed that the clothes the woman was wearing were the same as those of the corpse they had seen in the last loop.
Could it be that the woman who was murdered wasn’t the female teacher but rather the mother?
Everyone was thoroughly confused.
The mother held a plate of fruit, presumably freshly cut, and cheerfully placed it on the coffee table. Her gaze fell on the group, and she was about to say something, but her expression subtly froze.
However, she quickly brushed off her momentary discomfort and, following her original plan, said to them, "Teachers, you’ve worked hard to come for a home visit."
Everyone: "…"
So, they were following the script of the female teacher.
The men remained silent, and Sang Yue could only force a laugh and say, "Sorry, our school has a lot of people, and we’re quite concerned about the students’ situations."
The mother dragged a stool over to sit across from them and sighed, "Xiao Ming has been acting strangely lately, and I’m a bit worried about him."
Sang Yue’s eyes lit up; this was a lead being handed to her!
So, she began to find ways to engage the mother in conversation.
But it was unclear whether the mother didn’t know much about her child or if the copy simply wasn’t designed for more content. No matter how much she asked, the mother only repeated a few phrases: "That child comes home gloomy and locks himself in his room; I have no idea what he’s doing. I didn’t even receive any notice about his exam results."
"Ah, I’m really worried about him. Since his father is gone, it’s just me taking care of him, and it’s easy to overlook things…"
Sang Yue couldn’t help but interrupt the mother’s lengthy monologue, "May I ask, the child’s father is gone? Was it due to a business trip or something?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the mother began to cry: "His father has… passed away."
"…I’m sorry," Sang Yue quickly said, "We didn’t know, but did he die from illness or was it an accident?"
She acknowledged that she was a bit anxious, but the sanity value penalty mechanism in this copy felt like an invisible countdown, urging her to hurry up, faster, faster.
But then the mother said, "He went missing and never came back. It’s been three years now. The police said he probably died outside. Recently, we went to the police station to cancel his household registration."
Three years!
Didn’t that mean that the father had been imprisoned by the female teacher for at least three years?
What on earth was that female teacher thinking?
Sang Yue frowned in distress; she truly could never understand these monsters in the copy.
At that moment, there was a sound from Xiao Ming’s room.
He came out from his bedroom.
Everyone then saw that even though Xiao Ming was just a middle school student, he was tall, towering over all the men present, standing at least 1.98 meters tall. He was robust, and just standing there made him seem like a wall.
As soon as Sang Yue saw him, she felt an invisible fear.
Xiao Ming… resembled his drug-addicted father far too much!
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