Chapter 83: The Haunted School, Sunshine Doll (21)

In truth, Zi Yushu held little that would compel her attention.

Fourteen classmates had already perished. When the spirit attacked Tang Mu, she was still in her dormitory, having spent five hours immersed in young girls’ romantic fiction.

Titles like “The School Heartthrob’s 99 Roses,” “Heaven’s Wedding Dress,” and others—she read them from beginning to end, four or five novels in total. The general plotlines were similar, but they remained irresistible to the heartsick girls who adored them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was that time again, when the monsters gathered to pound on doors and windows.

The glass windows rattled incessantly, cracks spidering across their surface. The sharp, splintering sounds of shattering glass stood out starkly in the silent dormitory.

But unlike previous nights, when the monsters only battered Tang Mu’s door, tonight the commotion targeted every room where someone was still alive.

Other students, disturbed by the noise, huddled inside, not daring to utter a sound.

Yet Liu Qiongying, Li Meiqi, and Zheng Lu were different.

They dared to stand in the corridor, slapping the doors with loud, desperate knocks.

“Tang Mu! Open the door!” their voices called from outside.

“Open up! Tang Mu, hurry and let us in!”

Their voices trembled with terror, as if they had witnessed something truly horrifying.

“Sun Huilan and the others are coming to kill us! Open the door and let us in, or if we die and become ghosts, we won’t spare you!”

Jing You clutched her kawaii, soft pillow, staring at the door in fright. Yet compared to yesterday, when she was utterly paralyzed, she had at least gained some experience.

She didn’t panic immediately, instead anxiously watching Tang Mu, as if to say: if Tang Mu didn’t move, she would remain quietly seated, continuing to read like the meekest of quails.

Tang Mu ignored the commotion outside.

Jing You understood.

She silently hugged her book, nibbling away at it.

She imitated the other students, pretending to be a quail and making no sound.

“Open the door!” Now Zheng Lu was shouting. “Tang Mu, I’m your best friend. We used to have so much fun together. Ask yourself honestly, don’t you remember? How can you treat me like this? Just because you have new friends, you forget the old ones?”

“This is the only time I’ll beg you. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m about to die, who would ever ask you for help?”

Tang Mu was speechless at Zheng Lu’s unreasonable outburst.

She closed her romance novel and replied coldly to the three worthless souls outside. “Oh, you really consider me a friend? If you truly cared about me, why did you side with those two?”

Silence outside the door.

“Zheng Lu, have I ever told you what I hate most is betrayal?”

“Once disloyal, forever useless. I can tolerate minor issues between us, but I absolutely will not allow you to turn your back on me, let alone join my enemies! The moment you shifted your allegiance, you became no better than dog excrement in my eyes.”

--

“So I’m sorry, my once-best friend. If you want my help, I’m afraid I’m powerless.”

…

After a moment of quiet outside, the door-pounding grew fiercer.

It continued, relentless, for over half an hour before finally ceasing.

Is that all the energy today’s monsters have?

Why did they give up so easily?

Tang Mu was puzzled.

She opened the game’s settings, carefully reviewing the questions she’d set, as well as the fear value at the bottom of the settings panel.

It was worse than she thought.

Today’s fear value: 56.

Yesterday it was 84.

And today? A sharp drop to 56.

If the fear value fell below 50, the game would immediately determine Tang Mu had failed the task, and she would die.

So, how was the so-called fear value calculated?

Eighty-four. Fifty-six.

Tang Mu pondered, and suddenly inspiration struck.

Class Six (2) had forty-nine students. Excluding Tang Mu, forty-eight. Six were eliminated on the first day, leaving forty-two. Forty-two multiplied by two equals eighty-four.

Same with fifty-six.

Forty-two minus fourteen equals twenty-eight.

Twenty-eight times two equals fifty-six.

In other words, if more than three people were eliminated tomorrow, the fear value would drop below fifty. If that happened, the game would fail and Tang Mu would die.

Moreover, if the questions she set each day didn’t eliminate at least five people, it would violate the requirements and the game would fail. Tang Mu would die regardless.

Ha.

--

Unwittingly, she was already trapped in a situation where death was inevitable.

How fascinating.

“Fascinating?”

“Tang Mo” couldn’t help but curse. “You’re going to die tomorrow! Once you die, you’ll be trapped in this game forever, never to escape. Still think it’s fascinating?”

“Tang Mo” didn’t understand Tang Mu’s logic at all.

But Tang Mu calmly replied that “Tang Mo” needn’t be so anxious. “It’s not entirely impossible to survive, you know. Look, as long as the questions I set today can eliminate all twenty-eight remaining students, I win.”

“Hmph, easy for you to say.”

“Tang Mo” accused Tang Mu of wishful thinking.

“If you want to eliminate the whole class, you’d have to set the death condition as: all Class Six (2) students die. Or: all owners of the rainbow-scarf dolls die. But either way, you’re included. If you can’t save yourself, you’ll still fail. Game over!”

“But even if you die, isn’t it a good thing? At least you get to stay in this game forever—with me!”

“Tang Mo” cackled gleefully. “Just imagine, another me in this world—how delightful! I wouldn’t have to say anything or do anything, and she’d understand me! I’d save so much time and energy wasted communicating with idiots!”

“Tang Mu! You’re a genius, I’m a lunatic. Genius and lunatic—that’s a perfect pair! We should always stay together, never part!”

…

Tang Mu, however, was thoroughly disgusted.

“I am narcissistic, but I’m not a lesbian.”

She ruthlessly rejected “Tang Mo’s” proposal. “Your offer is indeed tempting, but I have more important things to do.”

“Hmph.”

“Tang Mo” made no effort to hide her displeasure.

Though “Tang Mo” resided in Tang Mu’s body, her expressions and movements were clearly transmitted to Tang Mu’s mind, as if a special space had been carved out in the sea of consciousness.

In this space, Tang Mu and “Tang Mo” could communicate with perfect clarity.

“You still want to find Yan Xingwen, don’t you?” “Tang Mo” hit the nail on the head.

“I don’t understand adult love, but I know this: the moment you hand over your weakness, it becomes a blade pointed forever at your heart. If you refuse to let go, it will always have the power to hurt you!”

“So, the one you should trust, the one you should rely on, should always be me! Only I can love you, unconditionally, forever!”