Located in the remote suburbs of City B, Cihe Academy is a private school catering to a select group of
special students. Once renowned, it has gradually faded into obscurity for some reason.
In recent years, however, bizarre rumors about Cihe Academy have been rampant.
Your identities are those of the latest batch of trainee teachers at the school.
As the system's voice explained, Jiang Xiuxiu slowly opened her eyes.
She looked at herself and then at her surroundings, discovering she was standing in an empty, open area.
Surrounded by a white fog, she was with fourteen other people.
Most of them were between twenty and thirty years old, predominantly male with few females, and everyone
wore a black and white teacher's uniform.
Their faces showed excitement and anticipation, and some were looking around and chatting with others.
In contrast, Jiang Xiuxiu, with her expressionless face, seemed out of place.
"Are you a new player in Fear Survival looking to team up with me?"
At this moment, an unfamiliar woman's voice rang out.
Jiang Xiuxiu turned her head and saw a woman who appeared to be about twenty-eight years old.
Perhaps feeling sorry for Jiang Xiuxiu being alone, the woman kindly asked her.
Jiang Xiuxiu smiled and shook her head without hesitation.
"Thank you, but no." she said.
She still felt warry.
Rather than teaming up with others, she preferred to explore this famous game on her own first.
Fear Survival is the most popular horror escape holographic game of the moment. Due to its high death rate
and diverse game settings, it quickly became a hit among players after its release.
What most excites the players are its two hardcore restrictions:
First, the number of game players is fixed at only three thousand, and each player has only one chance to
complete the game.
Before the public release, the Fear Survival game company held reservation events on forums and similar
platforms. After the game’s release, they randomly selected 3,000 players from all the applicants to send
game invitations to.
If a player fails to complete the game, their slot will be given to someone else, and they will permanently
lose the chance to enter the game again.
Second, the first player to complete a game instance will receive a reward of fifty million RMB.
However, the game is fraught with dangers that can easily leave players with permanent psychological trauma
or even lead to brain death.
Shortly after the game's release, news emerged of several players committing suicide because they couldn't
bear the torture.
The limited slots, the substantial rewards, and the immense danger instantly captured countless people's
attention.
Some were curious about the real motives behind the game company’s seemingly unprofitable approach, some
were interested in the game's design and high difficulty, but many more were after the money.
Especially since the game's levels are estimated to be no fewer than four.
Money can drive anyone, and countless professional and non-professional players alike have been buying and
selling reservation accounts through various means, with the total number of applicants even reaching up to
seventy million at one point.
But to date, three months after the game's release, not a single person has completed it.
Normally, Jiang Xiuxiu, who loves cute dress-up games, wouldn't be interested in such a game, but she
couldn’t resist the hype during the reservation period.
With a try-it-out mentality, she casually applied for a reservation three months ago.
Unexpectedly, good news came suddenly. Last night, while lying in bed playing on her phone, she received an
email from the game company.
After countless transfers, the precious game quota had fallen into her hands.
The moment she saw the sender's name, Jiang Xiuxiu jumped up excitedly.
Fifty million, that's fifty million RMB!
If she could succeed, she would become rich overnight.
According to the email, to ensure the validity of the quota, players must enter the game within three days
of receiving the email, or the slot will be given to the next person.
After her initial excitement, Jiang Xiuxiu eagerly turned on her computer to search for information about
Fear Survival.
She soon found a highly popular death clip from a recording of a famous escape game streamer.
In the video, the streamer, in order to obtain a crucial item, had found an excuse to send the boss away and
sneak into the restroom.
However, just as he happily discovered the item and was about to leave quietly, a dark figure suddenly
appeared behind him.
It was the boss.
The core of this escape game, the ruler of death and fear, the most formidable killer, and an entity that
players could never defy.
"Teacher, so you're here."
Accompanied by a soft sigh, a young man walked in slowly.
In the interplay of light and shadow, half of his face was shrouded in darkness, while the other half was
illuminated by moonlight, revealing his features.
His slightly long black hair clung to his pale face, and his deep black eyes stared at the "teacher" with
calm curiosity.
So pure.
Even though the streamer knew his identity, he was stunned for two seconds.
Then, the boss struck.
The streamer only saw the boy’s figure blur. Before he could see the movement, he felt a strong force at his
neck, causing a sharp pain and darkness before his eyes.
The next second, he was harshly kicked to the ground, his head forced into a nearby basin by a strong hand.
The boy looked down at the struggling streamer in the water, holding his head down forcefully. As the
streamer moved less and less and was about to drown, he pulled him up.
But before the streamer could catch his breath, the boy chuckled and pushed his head back into the water.
Pulled up, submerged, pulled up, submerged, with the camera shaking wildly, the streamer coughed painfully,
the whole world spinning, water splashing violently.
Darkness, chaos, fear, and misery combined, while a touch of red flickered at the corner of the boy’s eye in
the moonlight.
At that moment, through the first-person view, all viewers felt as if they were experiencing the streamer's
repeated immersion and struggle, the suffocating pain and terror.
"Teacher, do you like it?"
Through the flowing water, the 17-year-old boss asked with a smile.
His smile should have been cruel and violent, but as he lowered his eyes casually and tilted his head to
ask, his eyes showed an inexplicable innocence and purity.
As if he was genuinely asking if the other person liked the game, as if the struggling, dying person before
him was not a living human.
Jiang Xiuxiu: "..."
Jiang Xiuxiu: "..."
This is too gruesome!
Seeing this, she was so terrified that her hand trembled, nearly dropping her phone.
The video wasn’t long. In the end, finding the dying streamer unable to answer, the boss, feeling bored,
snapped his neck, putting him out of his misery.
But the boss’s ruthless torture and the streamer's miserable death left an indelible psychological shadow on
Jiang Xiuxiu.
She had to play the game, if only for the money. She had to give it a try.
But the boss was terrifying. If she encountered him, she might not only fail to complete the game but also
have nightmares for a long time.
Before entering the game, Jiang Xiuxiu gritted her teeth and set her pain sensitivity to the lowest value of
10.
Although this might cause some trouble, she didn’t care. Her safety was the priority.
"Alright then, my name is Shu Xin. If you have any trouble, you can find me."
The woman who had just approached her, seeing she wasn’t interested in teaming up, chatted a bit more before
leaving.
Jiang Xiuxiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Fear Survival was a solo game, but due to its difficulty, many players chose to team up with others for
mutual aid.
Jiang Xiuxiu knew her limits and didn’t dare to trust others rashly. If she could act alone, it would be
best.
The remaining players quickly found their teammates after brief exchanges.
The preparation time for the game passed in a flash.
Next, the game was about to begin.
Please enter the instance and start the game promptly.
As the system prompted, the surrounding white fog quickly dissipated.
In the distance, a grayish-blue stone path appeared, leading to a grim and somber school.
Unlike other schools, this academy’s entrance was a grand stone gate. The pillars were covered with yellow
papers, the top corners carved with strange patterns, flanked by two imposing stone lions. It looked less
like a school and more like an evil-repelling altar.
On the grayish-white stone gate, the four bright red characters of “Cihe Academy” glowed eerily in the dim
light.
This was the place the players were to enter, a private academy for special students.
Their identities were that of trainee teachers here.
Seeing the path appear, the players didn’t hesitate and walked up.
Jiang Xiuxiu followed closely behind, not letting them out of her sight.
The path was short, taking only two or three minutes to walk.
However, just as she stepped through the gate and entered the academy, a prompt box popped up before her
eyes.
Player Jiang Xiuxiu is a new player with no special abilities. System matching is required.
Special ability?
Seeing this, Jiang Xiuxiu was slightly surprised.
Fear Survival, like many escape games, required players to complete "clearance tasks" to pass a level.
But it had a novel setting where each player received a special ability based on their characteristics.
For instance, the streamer in the video had the special ability of "teleportation," while common abilities
among players included "lockpicking" and "invisibility."
Simultaneously, the clearance tasks would vary based on the player’s special abilities.
Excited, Jiang Xiuxiu wondered what her special ability would be.
Scanning player Jiang Xiuxiu completed, special ability matched successfully.
A few seconds later, with a crisp mechanical sound, a light screen floated in front of Jiang Xiuxiu.
She looked closely and saw the information about her newly acquired special ability displayed on it.
Special Ability: Costume Change
Special Ability Description: In each level, the player can perfectly clone any NPC or player's clothing and
instantly wear it.
Special Ability Limitation: The player can only use the costume change three times per level, with each
change lasting 5 minutes.
Jiang Xiuxiu: "..."
Jiang Xiuxiu: "What kind of costume change technique is this?"
"And it can only be used three times, each lasting only 5 minutes?"
Such a useless ability appearing in an escape game, is the system playing with her?
Jiang Xiuxiu's mouth twitched, and she continued to look down.
She wanted to see what kind of clearance task the system would match with such a "non-escape game" special
skill.
Related clearance tasks are often displayed along with the player's special ability after matching is
completed.
Soon, Jiang Xiuxiu saw her clearance task.
Clearance Task: Change the boss into a specified outfit.
Wait, this task doesn't seem very difficult.
Seeing her task, Jiang Xiuxiu was quite surprised.
She had always loved magical girl dress-up games and enjoyed the feeling of dressing her "daughters"
beautifully, spending a lot of money on it.
With this setup, she felt she had a chance to clear the game.
Just changing the boss's outfit to clear the game, compared to the task of successfully escaping the
academy, was indeed much simpler.
If possible, she could even use some tricks to muddle through.
"Would you like to receive the related task item?"
While thinking, Jiang Xiuxiu nodded and silently said "accept" in her mind.
With a prompt sound, Jiang Xiuxiu felt something suddenly appear in her hand.
It wasn't as big or heavy as she imagined; instead, it was light, small, slightly hard, and furry, with a
long texture.
Wait, what is this long thing?
Jiang Xiuxiu was bewildered for two seconds, then looked down, and her face changed drastically.
In her hand was a black cat ear headband and a black, furry, long-tailed men's boxer briefs.
But, if she remembered correctly, the boss in this level seemed to be a man.
Fear Survival has been out for three months, and no one has cleared the first level yet. Videos about "Cihe
Academy" have gone viral online, not to mention the boss's information.
In the recorded videos Jiang Xiuxiu had watched, the boss had shown his face more than once.
Thinking of the brutal boss in the videos, Jiang Xiuxiu felt the underwear set in her hand become extremely
hot.
Cat ears are one thing, but how is she supposed to make the boss wear cat-tail underwear?
Isn't this just asking for trouble?
But of course, in a game that no one has cleared for three months, there's no way it would give her a chance
to take shortcuts.
What's the point of clearing the game? She might as well pack up and go face her doom with some dignity.
With this thought, Jiang Xiuxiu, feeling hopeless, crumpled the items and stuffed them into her uniform
pocket.
Most of the players had already entered Cihe Academy, but Jiang Xiuxiu and two other newcomers were still
outside due to their special abilities.
When she came back to her senses, the newcomers quickly followed and stepped inside.
After the last person entered the instance, the system's prompt sounded.
"All fifteen players are in position, the first escape game level Cihe Academy' is officially starting."
"All players, please remember to play your roles seriously during the game."
"Do not let the NPCs notice your origins, do not let the NPCs know your identities."
"In case of accidents, you will bear the consequences."
"The game starts in five, four, three, two, one..."