— Prison break?
Zhuang Lin pressed the trembling, beautiful young man in his arms, amused by Yu Deng's words.
It was true that this small, dark self-reflection room did resemble a prison, though it was even worse than a prison environment. If he wanted to take Yu Deng away from here, wouldn't that be a prison break?
Yu Deng, clutching at Zhuang Lin's sleeve, felt a little wronged when he heard the laughter: "What are you laughing at... Aren't you here to take me away?"
The shock from earlier had made Yu Deng feel an unbearable craving for closeness, and after muttering, he instinctively leaned his face against Zhuang Lin's neck and rubbed it a few times.
"Of course, I'm here to take you away." Zhuang Lin hid the smile in his eyes, replacing it with a darker emotion. "I'm just charmed by how cute you are."
He looked at the beautiful little treasure rubbing against him in his arms and murmured, "…Baby, how can you be so good at acting spoiled?"
Yu Deng, confused, didn't understand. Acting spoiled? He wasn't doing that.
He still hadn't fully recovered from the nightmare. His legs trembled weakly, and his eyes were still wet, with a tear ready to fall at the slightest blink.
He looked pitiful.
"I saw so many scary things just now..." Yu Deng said, still pressed against Zhuang Lin's skin, feeling a little better. "They kept chasing me, it was so scary. I thought you were going to eat me too..."
"Don't be afraid, you're awake now," Zhuang Lin said, looking down at the redness in Yu Deng's eyes, awkwardly reaching a hand to gently rub his back. He felt pity, but couldn't help the malicious thoughts rising in him.
The two emotions intertwined in Zhuang Lin's heart, but he still couldn't resist coaxing the oblivious little school beauty.
"But the risk of a prison break is high. We might encounter other dangers on the way," Zhuang Lin continued with the same excuse, "We can add some yang energy, and then we won't have to face those things anymore."
Yu Deng tilted his head, confused. "Huh...?"
"Forget about last night. Give me one chance to try, okay? I can do it better than anyone else."
As he spoke, Zhuang Lin slowly leaned closer to Yu Deng. When he saw that Yu Deng didn't struggle or resist, his nerves were suddenly on edge, and with a primal urge, he kissed Yu Deng's soft lips.
His blood was boiling, and his restless desire wanted to completely claim him.
His lips, his tongue, his mouth... none of it was spared.
"...Mmm."
Yu Deng was held and tilted his head back, kissing Zhuang Lin. Because Zhuang Lin kissed fiercely, his breathing became fast and shallow, letting out a few sounds that trembled with a hint of sobs.
Yu Deng felt like he had encountered a ferocious wolf, completely unreasonable and starving.
"You bastard, don't bite me..." Yu Deng, still dazed from the kiss, finally realized that this person was grinding against his lips, eager to bite him.
Angrily, Yu Deng pushed Zhuang Lin. "You're being so rough... you said your kisses would be better than anyone else's, but you're not that great."
Zhuang Lin finally received a proper kiss, and though it wasn't enough for him, he followed Yu Deng's push and let him go.
"I'll be more careful next time."
Yu Deng didn't quite believe Zhuang Lin's promise.
After the kiss, Yu Deng's tension and fear had eased considerably. He calmed down and finally understood the meaning of the warning about the nightmare on the wall.
It meant that in this self-reflection room, once you fell asleep, you would be trapped in your most terrifying nightmare.
Thinking of this, Yu Deng felt a bit frustrated. If no one had come, would he have gotten lost in the nightmare?
Yu Deng muttered softly to himself, "How could I still fall into it even after the warning?"
"The nightmares here can't be avoided."
Zhuang Lin suddenly understood what Yu Deng was talking about. He placed a hand on Yu Deng's shoulder and said, "You're very brave, very determined."
Yu Deng looked up at him, confused.
"The nightmares here don't actually harm the body. The threat is to the will and soul."
If someone got lost in the nightmare or voluntarily submitted to discipline in an attempt to escape it, their thoughts would change, and they would become numb once again.
But Yu Deng didn't.
Aside from being scared and crying, Yu Deng hadn't changed at all.
"So this is what the self-reflection room is like..." Yu Deng scratched his cheek, a little proud but still humbly adding, "I just thought those monsters were too ugly, I didn't want to be eaten."
"Eh, wait a minute."
Yu Deng said, then sluggishly remembered to ask Zhuang Lin, "How did you know I was here, and how did you get in? And why are you so familiar with all this?"
"Someone sent me a message saying you questioned the staff in the cafeteria, and the manager took you away, so I came over. As for how I got in... it's because I've been to the self-reflection room before," Zhuang Lin answered one question at a time. "I'm fairly familiar with the place."
Yu Deng: "…?"
He looked at Zhuang Lin in confusion. Zhuang Lin didn't seem like the type of obedient, rule-abiding student. Shouldn't someone finish self-reflection and be obedient?
"Oh, to put it in baby's words, I basically broke out of prison."
Zhuang Lin held Yu Deng with one arm while the other expertly unlocked the iron door of the self-reflection room, showing the door lock—what seemed to be an intact lock was actually cracked and thoroughly broken.
Yu Deng understood. The rule of not being able to leave the self-reflection room was probably only for him, the unlucky player.
The lock on this self-reflection room had been forcibly broken. Yu Deng cautiously stepped out from inside and successfully stood in the corridor, without triggering any other punishments.
This long underground corridor only had a dim light. The farther you walked, the dimmer the light became. The walls on both sides were mottled and yellowed, with wall dust falling off when touched.
"Shall we go? I've also opened the main door outside."
Yu Deng hesitated for a few seconds, then mustered the courage to turn back. "I... I want to take a look at these rooms."
He didn't have enough clues yet. He needed to find a little more.
Zhuang Lin paused for a moment, but didn't object. "Okay."
Yu Deng carefully approached other self-reflection rooms, where he could faintly hear some noises from inside. His gaze landed on a strange bulge above the iron door, and he reached out his finger to flick it.
It turned out to be a hidden latch. After flicking it open, a small iron plate was revealed, which allowed him to see inside the room.
Inside was a boy wearing the Guihuai High School uniform. He was curled up on the ground, holding his head, crawling as he muttered, "I will improve, I will definitely get better, don't torture me..."
The boy kept muttering, then suddenly looked up. His bloodshot eyes locked with Yu Deng's.
Yu Deng shuddered in fear, quickly grabbing Zhuang Lin's hand and slamming the iron plate back into place, too scared to look any longer.
So scary, and so tragic... Yu Deng opened the self-reflection room next door and found the student inside was also frightening—her arm was completely devoid of flesh, revealing only stark white bones. She was mumbling something Yu Deng couldn't understand, her voice hoarse.
[Holy crap, so scary. Are these all disobedient or rule-breaking students? This isn't a place for reflection and punishment; it's clearly abuse.]
[After all, this is a twisted environment, so even the most ordinary punishment gets distorted.]
[Earlier, Baby stood frozen, crying in place. It really scared me. Was it because of the self-reflection room? Did he get trapped in a nightmare? Thankfully, he's okay.]
[But, that black screen lasted ten minutes. What the heck did Zhuang Lin do to his wife!?]
Yu Deng couldn't bear to continue looking. He pressed his lips together, his gaze falling on the room at the very end.
That self-reflection room was different from the others. Three huge locks were attached to the iron door, and the door panel was covered in dust, clearly showing it hadn't been visited in a long time.
Yu Deng's intuition made him feel drawn to this room, and it struck him as strange.
If it were just a regular unused room, why would it be locked? And if there were something important inside, why put three locks on it?
"Zhuang Lin, do you know what's in there?"
Zhuang Lin shook his head. "I've never checked."
It was only when Yu Deng mentioned it that Zhuang Lin realized he had subconsciously ignored that room every time. If Yu Deng hadn't brought it up, he probably wouldn't have paid attention to it at all.
Yu Deng thought hard, feeling certain that this room held a more important clue. He looked expectantly at Zhuang Lin. "Can you open those locks?"
Zhuang Lin nodded confidently. "I can."
Of course, even if he couldn't, he would still manage somehow. How could he show weakness in front of the person he cared about?
Rolling up his sleeves, Zhuang Lin went to work on the locks. A few minutes later, he really did manage to break the locks.
Click—
The rusty iron door slowly creaked open, revealing what was inside. Unlike the other self-reflection rooms, it wasn't an empty space. There were a few dilapidated shelves leaning against the walls, holding some scattered books and miscellaneous items.
There was no one inside... Oh, wait. There was one person. He was sitting in a corner formed by the bookshelves and the wall.
It was a ragged man, his hair graying and his beard unkempt. His age was hard to tell, but he clearly wasn't a student. The man was motionless, leaning against the wall, completely unresponsive to the sound of the door opening. His figure seemed somewhat ethereal.
Yu Deng clung to Zhuang Lin's arm, peeking over his shoulder, holding back his fear as he looked at the man a few times, feeling that the man seemed familiar.
He turned his head to look at Zhuang Lin and noticed that Zhuang Lin's expression had changed as well, as though he recognized who this person was.
A moment later, Zhuang Lin called out to the man inside.
"Principal Tang."
Huh? Principal Tang? Who's that? The name sounds familiar. Yu Deng quickly racked his brain, finally pulling up an image from his memory—when he was searching for files in the library, one of the meeting records triggered the memory. In the meeting, there was a school leader who opposed the reform, and he was called Principal Tang.
Upon closer inspection, Yu Deng realized that the man in the corner did indeed resemble Principal Tang from the meeting footage, but he appeared much older and more decrepit.
Given this, the self-reflection room, so different from the others, must contain very important clues!
Just as Yu Deng was about to step inside, he heard footsteps from the end of the corridor and the calm, matter-of-fact voice of the cafeteria manager. It seemed he was on the phone with someone: "Director, I understand. I'm doing my routine inspection and won't let any students interrupt their reflection on their own."
The cafeteria manager had just hung up the phone when he looked up and saw Yu Deng, who had escaped, and Zhuang Lin, who was helping him break out.
The manager's lips twitched, and his gaze turned dark. "…I've found a student who has left the self-reflection room without permission."
[Shit, the camera switched to Baby's perspective. That scared me!]
[I get it. The manager even has a kitchen knife. Damn, he's not going to chop Baby, is he?!]
[Baby, run!]
Zhuang Lin's expression darkened as he shielded Yu Deng behind him.
Yu Deng widened his eyes, reacting a beat late, and nervously started searching for something to defend himself with in the personal space, but before he could find anything, Zhuang Lin didn't even have time to make a move when they heard a loud bang.
"...Ugh!"
The manager, who had been quickly advancing toward them, suddenly tilted his head and collapsed unconscious, falling onto the hallway floor. Behind him was Lu Yan, holding a baseball bat.
The handsome, scholarly top student had acted swiftly and decisively, ruthlessly taking care of the potential threat. It was a striking contrast to his usual gentle appearance.
Yu Deng stared at Lu Yan without blinking, a little dazed. "!"
Such impressive skills.
"Deng Deng?" Lu Yan dropped the baseball bat and quickly walked up to Yu Deng, letting out a sigh of relief. "I finally found you."
Yu Deng, still stunned by Lu Yan's earlier display of skill, instinctively said what was on his mind: "Lu Yan, you're so amazing."
"…Ahem." Lu Yan feigned modesty. "It's nothing. I didn't even learn any sports, but handling this kind of small trouble is no problem."
Yu Deng's eyes sparkled as he thought to himself that after this chapter was over, he would try practicing his own skills... That would be so cool, and it would be useful for self-defense too.
Zhuang Lin: "…" Damn, this guy just got tricked.
Yu Deng, having planned this out for himself, grew a bit worried. "But, knocking him out... is that really not against the rules?"
Lu Yan said, "The rules don't say you can't knock out the cafeteria manager. Don't worry about it."
"Oh…"
Yu Deng felt that Lu Yan must have been here before, but he temporarily suppressed his doubts and chose to head into the deepest room first.
The noise from the corridor earlier wasn't small, and Yu Deng wasn't sure if the principal had heard it, but his posture had changed slightly compared to before.
Lu Yan followed them in, and upon seeing the principal, he also fell silent for a moment.
Yu Deng tried to wake the principal, but to no avail. He then looked at Lu Yan, then at Zhuang Lin, and hesitated before asking, "Do you guys know something?"
The two of them seemed unusually calm, as if they were very familiar with the self-reflection room and even the entire school's operations.
Lu Yan avoided Yu Deng's gaze, his peripheral vision catching the yellowed documents on a dilapidated shelf. He spoke up, "Deng Deng, you can take a look at the things here."
Following Lu Yan's gesture, Yu Deng turned his attention to the yellowed documents on the shelf.
They were several detailed files. Yu Deng quickly skimmed through them.
[Lu Yan, a student of Guihuai High School, graduated in the XX class. Awarded first place in the International Olympiad… scored XX in the college entrance examination…]
[Zhuang Lin, a student of Guihuai High School, sports special admission, graduated in the XX class… won first place in the provincial team…]
[Lin Qinxu, a biomedical doctor, Guihuai High School's specially appointed school doctor. His alma mater is Guihuai High School…]
These three were actually the files of his mission targets. Beside the files were some award records, but they were in duplicate.
What does this mean?
Yu Deng stared blankly at the things in his hands, then remembered the dates he saw in the self-reflection room, forming a vague guess, though he still felt dizzy.
"You… what's going on?" Yu Deng rubbed his head, feeling overwhelmed. "Tell me, I can't figure it out..."
After a few seconds of silence, Zhuang Lin spoke first. "This is the third year."
The third year?
Yu Deng slowly blinked, and finally, the realization hit him.
—This was their third year as seniors.
"Did you guys know about this already..." Yu Deng looked up at his two mission targets. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"It's not like that," Lu Yan patiently explained. "When Deng Deng first transferred here, I didn't notice anything unusual. Like everyone else, I thought the rules were normal. It was only after getting to know you that I realized something was wrong."
"Last night, I remembered all my memories," Zhuang Lin continued.
Yu Deng took a few seconds to recall. Last night—that was the start of the second phase, wasn't it? It seemed that as time passed, even the NPCs in the copy changed.
Oh, but it wasn't like that. After all, the other teachers and students didn't seem to have regained their awareness; instead, they had become even more terrifying. Only his few mission targets were different.
"Wait, if it keeps repeating, why not leave?" Yu Deng furrowed his brows. "I remember Lu Yan could go home."
There were also many students who were day scholars. If they realized something was wrong, wouldn't they just leave?
Lu Yan shook his head. "No matter where I go, I'll always end up back at Guihuai High School."
"Ah..."
Yu Deng strained to think. Could this be the power of the dungeon system?
Yu Deng thought that by now, he should have a clear understanding of the background of this dungeon.
The students of Guihuai High School repeatedly acted as students here. Lu Yan's cohort had been seniors for three years, and even after experiencing the most painful nightmares and finishing the crucial college entrance exam, they couldn't leave the campus. Instead, they would return to this distorted high school and continue fighting in its terrifying food chain.
This couldn't even be considered a real school anymore. Under such strange forces, Guihuai High School had long since become an inescapable cage, turning its faculty and students into increasingly terrifying figures, yet they could not leave.
If this place couldn't be considered a real school, then what about the faculty, the students, his mission targets, and the principal here?
Yu Deng gazed at the self-reflection room, which felt like a prison.
Anyone who regained their awareness and tried to resist was sent to this self-reflection room. The school rules, the two food chains, and the self-reflection room formed the basic operational logic of this dungeon.
After completing his main mission and leaving, would the NPCs here repeat their nightmares once again?
Yu Deng wasn't sure.
After the full confession, the changes in Lu Yan and Zhuang Lin's demeanor became even more evident. When facing Yu Deng, they both displayed the same restlessness and obsession—fear of being abandoned, fear that Yu Deng would also have to endure the pain.
Yu Deng looked up at the two of them with dark expressions, instinctively taking a step back.
Oh no, why do these two look like they want to devour him?
Lu Yan and Zhuang Lin, triggered by his movement, tightened their grip on Yu Deng's hands, trying to break the hold of the rival.
Yu Deng: "?"
At this moment, the principal in the corner slowly opened his eyes.
This principal, trapped in the self-reflection room, seemed unable to distinguish the present moment. He probably thought it was still a few years ago at the school. The first person he saw was Lu Yan, the promising student of the school, and he greeted him.
"Little Lu, school's out?"
Lu Yan responded with a simple "Mm."
The principal quickly noticed the unfamiliar yet handsome young boy Lu Yan was holding hands with and jokingly teased, "Oh, Little Lu, the study-obsessed boy also has a boyfriend now… huh?"
The principal's words were abruptly cut off when he noticed another promising athletic student from Guihuai High School. This student was also tightly holding onto the handsome young boy.
The boy, held by two males, appeared obedient and beautiful, with striking black-and-white eyes that looked bright and innocent, as if he had already gotten used to it.
Principal: "Ah…??"