"Alright, it's settled then."
Shu Xin finally showed a hint of a smile upon hearing Jiang Xiuxiu's response.
"My special ability is to hear thoughts, and my mission is to uncover the secret of Cihe Academy," she said.
"If you can, please keep an eye out for any information."
Jiang Xiuxiu nodded, indicating her understanding.
"It's getting late now. Do you want to stay in the same room with me?" Shu Xin asked.
In the game, many players who teamed up would share a room, looking out for each other.
Jiang Xiuxiu thought for a moment and shook her head. "No, I'll find a room on my own."
She wasn't familiar with the rules of teaming up and was more accustomed to acting alone.
"Alright," Shu Xin didn't insist. "I'll be in the lounge at noon and in the evening. If you have any
questions, come find me."
Jiang Xiuxiu nodded again.
They then added each other as friends on X Pay and transferred the money.
Thanks to the transaction function of the holographic game pod, players could complete transactions or make
in-game purchases even in games without internet access, as the game pod could be linked to X Pay.
After Shu Xin gave her a few more instructions, they quickly parted ways.
Jiang Xiuxiu left Shu Xin's room, wandered around, and found an empty room on the first floor to enter.
She quickly freshened up, turned off the lights, and lay down on the bed to sleep.
Late at night, everything outside was silent, not even a sound of wind.
Through the window, the world outside appeared dark, with only a ghastly white moon hanging in the sky,
casting an eerie gray light over the surroundings.
Jiang Xiuxiu recalled the day's events, feeling as if it were a dream.
For instance, the crazy male player and the moody boss.
But most vividly, the scene of Xu Bai sitting in the center of the classroom, quietly looking up at her.
It was impossible for her not to have been scared at that moment.
But once it was over, she quickly calmed down.
Just like now, she wasn't affected by those events at all. She had thought she would be too scared to sleep.
Maybe, as Shu Xin said, in some ways, she was quite suited to be a survival game player.
Before long, Jiang Xiuxiu fell asleep amidst her wandering thoughts.
She didn't know how long it had been when suddenly, a sharp scream echoed from outside the door.
The scream was particularly jarring in the silent environment, its piercing tone like a knife, mercilessly
cutting through the air.
Jiang Xiuxiu woke up instantly at the sound.
She opened her eyes and instinctively sat up, her gaze wary as she looked towards the door.
Someone was in trouble outside.
Jiang Xiuxiu held her breath, trying to listen more carefully to the sounds outside.
Just then, a familiar voice came from outside the door.
"Jiang Xiuxiu, are you in there?"
It was Shu Xin's voice.
Jiang Xiuxiu opened her mouth, wanting to respond.
But quickly, she shut her mouth again.
Something was wrong.
Even she knew not to go out casually, so why would Shu Xin, who seemed more experienced, come looking for
her?
Moreover, Shu Xin didn't know which room she was staying in.
"Jiang Xiuxiu, something happened outside," the voice outside pleaded. "There's a ghost in my room. It's
looking for me. I'm so scared."
"Please, let me in. Help me, please."
Jiang Xiuxiu listened to the voice, instinctively gripping the blanket tighter.
She suddenly realized that after the scream, the hallway outside was eerily quiet.
In the darkness, only Shu Xin's voice echoed, sounding eerie and twisted.
"Are you there? Are you awake? We're teammates. Why won't you save me?"
After receiving no response for a long time, Shu Xin's voice became sharp and piercing.
"Save me! Save me! Answer me! Why are you ignoring me? Let me in!"
The high-pitched voice felt like needles stabbing into Jiang Xiuxiu's eardrums, causing her head to ache and
her vision to blur.
No, she couldn't let the ghost outside continue to scream.
Maybe because she was annoyed or no longer scared, Jiang Xiuxiu suddenly found the courage to retort, "No."
If she let it in, she would be doomed.
Upon hearing Jiang Xiuxiu's response, the voice outside paused.
Then it continued to ask, "Why? Why won't you save me? Aren't we teammates?"
Jiang Xiuxiu coldly replied, "Teammates? We're just using each other."
The voice outside fell silent.
Then it said, "What did she give you? If you open the door, I'll give you double. Just let me in."
At some point, the voice outside became low and gentle.
But alongside the gentleness, the woman's voice also became somewhat ethereal, like smoke, faintly wrapping
around Jiang Xiuxiu's ears, carrying a bewitching power.
Gradually, Jiang Xiuxiu's vision blurred, and she felt as if she were floating in the clouds, free and
unrestrained.
At the same time, her mouth spoke without her control, "My X Pay is xxxxxxxxxxx."
The ghost's voice abruptly stopped.
Jiang Xiuxiu, still dazed, continued, "She transferred five thousand yuan to my X Pay. If you give me seven
or eight thousand, that would be enough. I'm not greedy."
The ghost outside didn't respond for a long time.
As the sound outside disappeared, Jiang Xiuxiu quickly snapped out of her dazed state.
She waited for about ten minutes but heard no further sounds or received any X Pay notifications.
She had to face the fact that the ghost outside had fled.
Jiang Xiuxiu sighed.
Oh well, the ghost leaving was also a good thing.
With that thought, Jiang Xiuxiu closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep again.
The next morning, accompanied by the academy's bell, the players were gradually awakened.
There was a noticeable commotion outside, with some players hurriedly running.
"Someone died! What happened?"
"Someone else got eliminated."
The players' whispers came faintly through the wooden door.
With all the commotion, Jiang Xiuxiu naturally woke up.
After washing up, she opened the door, and a thick scent of blood hit her.
Another person had died last night.
Jiang Xiuxiu didn't hesitate or look around. She quickly left the dormitory and ran towards the cafeteria.
On the way, Jiang Xiuxiu felt rather relaxed.
But upon entering the cafeteria, she noticed that most players looked grim, with some having noticeable dark
circles under their eyes.
Jiang Xiuxiu sensed something was wrong. She counted and found that only nine players were eating in the
cafeteria.
This meant that besides the two players who had been teaching yesterday, three other players had died last
night.
This number seemed off.
Jiang Xiuxiu felt suspicious but quickly figured it out.
The ghost's condition for killing might not be the players opening the door for it, otherwise, the
difficulty would be too low, and the death count wouldn't add up.
Recalling its strange bewitching ability and its impersonation of Shu Xin, Jiang Xiuxiu guessed that the
ghost could harm players if they mistook it for someone they knew and had some contact with it.
It had impersonated Shu Xin's voice, trying to deceive Jiang Xiuxiu.
Since she was alone, the ghost could only stay outside, requiring Jiang Xiuxiu to open the door, making it
easy to see through.
But if two or three people shared a room...
If the ghost suddenly appeared and impersonated another person while others were in the room, it would be
normal for three people to be deceived.
It seemed that the ghosts here were quite intelligent.
Even in survival horror, teaming up wasn't foolproof.
With six players gone on the first day, many of the remaining ones showed fear or regret.
Jiang Xiuxiu didn't stay with them for long. After breakfast, she decided to check out the archives room.
She remembered Shu Xin saying that names were crucial information.
With a name, many things could be found out.
And the girl with the love letter, although her guiding behavior was explained, she should have other key
points.
Despite being cautious or even cowardly in many matters, Jiang Xiuxiu was also very serious once she decided
to do something.
Having promised to help Shu Xin, she would do her best, feeling it was worth the five thousand yuan.
The academy's archives room was near the teaching building, not far from the teachers' office building.
Jiang Xiuxiu found it without much effort.
She pushed open the heavy door and walked in.
The academy's facilities were quite old, likely from twenty years ago. The archives room had no windows and
used yellowed old lamps, making the interior dim and hard to see.
Jiang Xiuxiu walked in, greeted by a slightly choking smell of dust.
She waved her hand, covering her nose and walked further inside.
Following the labels on the shelves, she bypassed other shelves and found the one with student records.
She looked at the dates, starting from 1985 and continuing until the summer of 1995, then abruptly ending.
She specifically checked the time and found it was August 13, 1995.
August 13.
Wait, if she remembered correctly, the calendar in the classroom office yesterday marked August 7, 2019.
It matched the end date of the records 24 years ago; this was no coincidence.
So, in four days, they would reach the end of the game.
What would happen on that day?
Jiang Xiuxiu felt uneasy, but then thought she might not even survive until then.
With that thought, she calmed down and started flipping through the 1995 student records.
No matter what, the current students should be from the 1995 cohort.
She didn't know how they were "retained" at the academy for 24 years, but she could guess that the events
happening or about to happen in the academy were experiences from over twenty years ago.
This academy was replaying its past for the players.
Due to the unique nature of the students enrolled, there were only about a hundred students, so the records
weren't thick.
With her strong memory and fast reading speed, Jiang Xiuxiu quickly found the file related to the girl with
the love letter.
She glanced through the information and found the girl's name was Li Xiaoxiao, aged 16, who enrolled in
1995. She had mild autism as a child and grew extremely withdrawn as she grew older, having difficulty
interacting with others.
On July 10, 1995, Li Xiaoxiao was given a major demerit by the academy for her bad behavior.
A major demerit, huh?
Jiang Xiuxiu was slightly taken aback by this.
On the top of the paper file was a photo of the girl with the love letter.
The photo was already somewhat yellowed with age. The girl in the picture had pale skin, long bangs, and
pressed lips, looking silent and gloomy.