IGSB – Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Who's the Murderer? (Part 5)
Under the ghost’s gaze, Xia Zhiyi, buried in Jing Ruyu’s arms, lost even the desire to complain.
The New World’s instances truly never let a single night pass peacefully.
So what were they supposed to do now?
Just lie here, motionless?
Under the covers, Xia Zhiyi’s hand gently tugged on Jing Ruyu’s clothes, silently sending the signal, “What should we do?”
Then, Jing Ruyu gently patted her head, and a very soft, breathy voice drifted by her ear, “Don’t move. Sleep.”
The patrolling “Political and Educational Office” was outside. They obviously couldn’t get out of bed; otherwise, they would alert the monsters outside to rush in, and they would probably die even faster.
And the ghost stuck to the bed board was also very unusual. It did nothing but watch them. It only moved when Xia Zhiyi sat up to look at the opposite bed. After Xia Zhiyi lay back down, it stuck itself back to the bed board again. It seemed all its actions were closely linked to the players.
Therefore, Jing Ruyu decided to adopt the suggestion from today’s broadcast—sleep well.
Xia Zhiyi: “…”
She slowly turned her head to look at the other beds—none were spared.
She silently retracted her gaze, speechless.
Although she believed Jing Ruyu had her reasons, she feared no one could fall asleep under these circumstances…
At this moment, she suddenly understood. The New World had confiscated the medicine they brought in because it was afraid players would use sleeping aids, rendering their carefully arranged midnight theater useless. What a cruel New World.
She silently sent a series of not-so-friendly greetings to the New World in her heart.
Just then, Jing Ruyu’s hand gently landed on her head, patting her intermittently, a gentle and silent comfort.
Xia Zhiyi couldn’t help but be startled. She slightly raised her head to look at her. Suddenly, it was as if they had returned to the past.
Back then, they hadn’t broken up, and they only had eyes for each other.
They accompanied and encouraged each other. If she encountered something unpleasant, Jing Ruyu would hold her, gently stroking her head and whispering guidance in her ear until she smiled again.
And at this moment, although there weren’t many comforting words, the action was worth a thousand words.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jing Ruyu said in her ear. “I’m here.”
Her voice seemed to possess a magical power. As it gently fell upon Xia Zhiyi’s ear, she truly wasn’t so scared anymore.
A voice in her heart kept telling her: Don’t be afraid, just trust her. She has never deceived you…
That’s right, Jing Ruyu had never deceived her.
She couldn’t help but hug Jing Ruyu’s waist back, snuggling tightly against her, burying her face in the crook of her neck, trying hard to ignore the oppressive feeling from above.
Sooner or later, because of the New World’s midnight theater, she would no longer be afraid of any horror movie in the world!
Afterward, under Jing Ruyu’s gentle comfort, she somehow managed to fall asleep in a daze.
Jing Ruyu heard her breathing gradually become even and peaceful and slowly breathed a sigh of relief. After a calm glance at the motionless ghost on the bed board, she also closed her eyes and went to sleep.
The entire dormitory was silent. In the end, only Liu Xue suffered from insomnia.
The thought of a ghost staring at her from above made her skin crawl. Even completely covered by the blanket, she couldn’t sleep.
She hated the New World!!!
Daylight finally arrived.
It was time to get up. The dorm aunties on each floor began knocking on doors to wake people up.
For a moment, the sound of knocking echoed throughout the building.
Liu Xue got up with a haggard face and saw Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu returning from outside, looking refreshed, having apparently already washed up.
“…”
She was somewhat envious of their sleep.
After washing her face and returning, Xia Zhiyi immediately ran to Zhou Xiuxiu’s bed to check the wall.
The bloody words from yesterday had disappeared with the night, leaving nothing on the white wall, as if it had just been her imagination.
She looked back at Jing Ruyu. Their eyes met, and without a word, they understood what the other was thinking.
—They had to switch beds tonight.
The patrolling monsters were the defenders of the nighttime rules. Waiting until night to get out of bed and go to Zhou Xiuxiu’s bed would surely be risky.
In that case, it was better to sleep directly on Zhou Xiuxiu’s bed, saving them the trouble of moving. They just didn’t know if lying on the Ghost King’s bed would also be risky.
But they had no choice. To survive in the instance, they needed the courage to face difficulties head-on.
The three student NPCs also woke up.
Jing Ruyu thought that since they were Zhou Xiuxiu and Ming Hui’s roommates, they must be clear about their relationship, so she asked, “Classmate, may I ask how Zhou Xiuxiu and Ming Hui’s relationship is?”
A girl, yawning while changing clothes, heard her and replied, “Average, I guess? Not particularly good, not particularly bad.”
Xia Zhiyi: “Doesn’t Ming Hui hate Zhou Xiuxiu?”
The girl: “Huh? I don’t think so. Ming Hui is very obvious about her likes and dislikes; she’s very straightforward.”
Another girl chimed in, “Yeah, and although they don’t usually interact very closely, they always review together for every exam. Ming Hui even said her math used to be bad, and it was Xiuxiu who helped her improve.”
The remaining girl nodded her head and said, “I don’t think their relationship is as bad as people say. Don’t they often go to Quicksand Park, which Xiuxiu likes, to study together?”
She waved her hand and said, “I think you guys were misled by the people in your class. Isn’t there a rumor going around that Sun Jun and Xiuxiu are together? And Ming Hui happens to like Sun Jun, so people in your class assumed Ming Hui hates Xiuxiu. But I don’t think it’s that serious. What’s a man worth getting worked up over?”
“Quicksand Park?” Jing Ruyu repeated the term.
The first girl nodded. “Yes, Quicksand Park. Whoever asks Xiuxiu to help them study will go with her to Quicksand Park.”
“She really likes that place. You can look at Xiuxiu’s social media account; there are many photos she took at Quicksand Park.”
Mentioning photos, she excitedly turned to chat with her classmates about something else. “Speaking of which, I have to say, Xiuxiu has so many dresses, and they’re all very pretty.”
The others chimed in in agreement.
“Yeah, yeah, they’re so pretty and suit her so well.”
“They look great in photos too.”
“That’s our pretty Xiuxiu, alright.”
“Haha, I wonder when she’ll come back to class.”
Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu exchanged a look.
Xia Zhiyi unhesitatingly took out a pen and paper. “Could we trouble you to draw us a map to Quicksand Park?”
Jing Ruyu added, “And the addresses for Xiuxiu’s and Ming Hui’s homes.”
Xia Zhiyi: “Thank you, sorry for the trouble!”
…
They successfully got route maps for the three addresses.
The three student NPCs were very enthusiastic and really spent some extra time drawing simple maps for them.
Next, they had to think about how to sneak out of school.
Applying for a day-student pass now was definitely too late. It took several days for this school to approve day-student status, and the seventy-two-hour countdown didn’t allow them to wait slowly for the pass to arrive.
Most importantly, they had to submit their first answer tomorrow afternoon…
Xia Zhiyi carefully put away the route map and said, “Let’s go to the classroom first. We can think about it during class. Anyway, we don’t have to take the college entrance exams, so we don’t need to listen attentively.”
“Alright,” Jing Ruyu said. “We still need to search Ming Hui’s seat.”
“Let’s go, let’s go.”
There were still few students in the classroom, but all the players had arrived—no, one was missing.
Jing Ruyu looked at the two male players with dark circles under their eyes, looking dejected, and asked, “Where’s the other one?”
She remembered he was a man in black clothes, rather timid, who had been quite frightened by the theory that “someone pushed Zhou Xiuxiu off the building.”
She didn’t see him today. Could it be…
Wu Yong looked up at her. After last night’s events, even his conspicuous red hair seemed lifeless.
“—He’s gone.”
The three of them were stunned.
The other male player, Chen Jianxiong, took off his glasses and wearily rubbed his eyes. “He was scared by the ghost on the bed board and jumped out of bed, but he didn’t get away.”
“The moment he left the bed, the ghost also left the bed and caught him instantly. Not only that, the monsters from outside suddenly rushed in and snatched him away.”
“This morning when we went to look for him, we found him dead… dead in the storage room.”
Recalling last night, they found it terrifying and still felt a lingering fear.
Thinking back now, their companion’s shrill and desperate screams seemed to still echo in their ears, one after another, as if pounding on their hearts, making them feel exceptionally uneasy.
But in that situation, no one could have saved him, no one…
“Damn it, this ghost world!” Wu Yong slammed the table fiercely.
Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu didn’t know what to say either.
It seemed the bed board ghost’s actions were really linked to them. If they wanted to live, they had to lie obediently in bed without moving after lights out.
“By the way,” Chen Jianxiong put his glasses back on, his gaze sweeping over the three of them, “did you find anything in the girls’ dorm?”
“What about the boys’ dorm?” Jing Ruyu asked back.
Chen Jianxiong said, “Yes.”
“Sun Jun is strange.”
Yesterday, after the dorm auntie opened their room, they realized they were in the same dorm as Sun Jun.
At that time, Sun Jun was getting along well with the others. He was polite and, when not feigning melancholy, looked like a well-bred young master from a wealthy family.
Everything was normal until lights out.
After lights out, the student NPCs quickly fell asleep.
The three of them, unsure of the dangers of the night, didn’t dare to fall asleep easily. They lay with their eyes wide open, their nerves stretched taut, for so long that they almost lost track of time.
Then they heard a sound from the direction of Sun Jun’s bed. By the faint, eerie light from outside, they vaguely saw Sun Jun suddenly hide under his covers, seemingly trembling.
It was then they realized he wasn’t asleep. It was as if he had suddenly become an NPC with his own consciousness, no longer controlled by the world.
Vaguely, they could hear him muttering something, but unfortunately, he spoke too softly for them to hear clearly.
But the matter didn’t end there. Soon, the so-called Political and Educational Office appeared outside.
Terrifying, grotesque monsters roamed outside, their forms made even more sinister by the green light.
They were so scared they didn’t dare make a sound, afraid of attracting the monsters, but Sun Jun began to tremble even more violently.
The next second, the door to their dorm suddenly opened.
A massive, twisted monster squeezed into the dorm with an eerie aura, reaching out without a hint of hesitation to grab the quivering Sun Jun.
Sun Jun began to scream in terror, breaking down and begging for mercy with tears streaming down his face, his voice echoing through the dark corridor.
At that moment, they finally heard clearly what he was shouting—
“I was wrong!”
“Xiuxiu, I was wrong!”
“Please, let me go, I really know I was wrong—ahhhh—”
Bang!
The door was slammed shut, completely cutting off Sun Jun’s screams.
They lay in bed, drenched in cold sweat, not daring to even breathe.
After an unknown amount of time, Sun Jun was actually dragged back. He was unconscious and no longer screaming, and was then casually tossed onto his bed. No one knew what kind of torture he had endured.
“The next morning, he didn’t remember what happened yesterday. There were no wounds on his body, but he said his back hurt. He had no idea he was dragged back by a monster yesterday…”
Chen Jianxiong seriously recalled the morning’s events and gave his conclusion.
“So I think Sun Jun is also worth paying close attention to.”
Before he could finish, Liu Xue turned and started searching Ming Hui’s desk.
Search Ming Hui’s first, then continue with Sun Jun’s.
This damn place, she didn’t want to stay another second!
Jing Ruyu was responsible for exchanging information with Chen Jianxiong.
Xia Zhiyi wasn’t idle either. She went to search Sun Jun’s desk, but after searching for a long time, she found nothing but books.
Suddenly, Liu Xue exclaimed excitedly, “Found it!”
She picked up the small trash can on Ming Hui’s desk and pointed inside. “There are pieces of shredded paper at the bottom, and it looks like there’s writing on them!”
It was an unexpected delight!
Wu Yong: “Hurry up and piece it together, it might be a clue!”
Liu Xue: “I can’t be fast. It’s torn too finely. I have to find them piece by piece.”
Xia Zhiyi: “It’s fine. We can slack off during class to piece it together. We don’t have to take the college entrance exams anyway.”
Liu Xue thought that was feasible.
“I happen to sit behind you two. Help block the teacher’s view for me during class.”
Xia Zhiyi made an “OK” gesture.
Everyone had a clear division of labor.
Because the note in the trash can was torn into excessively fine pieces, Liu Xue spent the entire morning self-study session without finishing it.
In the process of restoring it, she deeply felt the anger and disgust of the person who tore the note; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been torn like this, as if they wanted to burn it.
After morning reading was breakfast time. Liu Xue was busy restoring the note and had no time to go to the cafeteria. Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu brought breakfast back for her, so she didn’t have to waste time making another trip.
During the first class, Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu once again dutifully sat in front to block the teacher’s view for her.
Thirty minutes later, Xia Zhiyi’s shoulder was gently poked. Liu Xue whispered from behind, “I’ve finished piecing it together.”
“Really?!” Xia Zhiyi was incredibly surprised. While keeping an eye on the teacher, she wanted to turn her head back to look, and asked in a hushed voice, “What does it say?”
However, this question put Liu Xue in a difficult position.
After two seconds, she asked the two for paper and a pen.
“This sentence isn’t simple. I’ll write it down for you. I’m afraid it might contain a death keyword, so I don’t dare to say it.”
Xia Zhiyi: “?”
Jing Ruyu: “?”
Their curiosity was instantly piqued.
Jing Ruyu deftly passed the paper and pen to the back.
Liu Xue quickly finished writing and passed it to them while the teacher wasn’t looking.
The two unfolded it and saw an unexpected sentence written on it—
She is no longer clean.
Both of them were stunned.
What did… this sentence mean?
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