Chapter 3 Please Protect Your Roommate
"It's so dark outside. I'm so scared. Please open the door quickly and let me in."
The sound outside the door was still ringing. The soft voice that should have belonged to a young girl sounded somewhat sticky and cold to the ears of the people in the dormitory.
Who dares to open the door?
There was silence in the room. Tang Xinjue thought for a moment and said softly, "The dormitory door seems to be broken. We can't open it. When Wanqing came back just now, the door opened automatically. You stand at the door and try to see if it will open by itself?"
Since this so-called game requires participation, there is no reason not to open the door for students returning to the dormitory. This can be seen from the fact that the door opened and closed automatically when Zheng Wanqing came back.
Now that the dormitory door has no response, it can only mean that the "Zhang You" outside the door is not the same kind as them.
There was silence outside the door for two seconds, and then the knocking on the door suddenly became more urgent, hitting the door again and again, shaking the entire door frame slightly.
"Don't you want to open the door for me?"
This time, "Zhang You's" voice became extremely eerie and much louder than before.
Tang Xinjue, who was standing in front of the door, heard it clearly. The gloomy voice almost came in through the resonance of the door panel... It was as if the owner of the voice was lying tightly against the door with his whole head buried in the crack of the door.
She could even feel something sticky flowing through the crack in the door. Fortunately, the dormitory was pitch black at the time and she couldn't see anything, otherwise if her roommate Guo Guo saw it, she would definitely faint on the spot.
Tang Xinjue pretended not to feel anything, went back to his two roommates and signaled them not to make any noise.
Zheng Wanqing always listened to her, and Guo Guo had no objection even though he was scared out of his wits. The three of them started pretending to be dead.
Seeing that there was no response from inside no matter how it called out, the thing outside the door finally gave up its disguise and sneered, accompanied by the creaking sound of scratching on the door, over and over again, which was particularly harsh in the silent darkness.
The people inside were on edge, fearing that the door would be forced open in the next second.
Time seemed to be particularly long as it passed. After an unknown amount of time, the scratching sound finally disappeared. The three of them breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Tang Xinjue touched his back and found that it was soaked with sweat.
She could only take a gamble, gamble on her guess at the "rules of the game", gamble that the dormitory was both a constraint and a protection, and gamble that things from the outside couldn't get in.
Fortunately, the bet won.
At this moment, a hoarse "creak" sound suddenly came from the corridor outside the door - it was the sound of the door opening!
Looking up suddenly, Tang Xinjue realized that it was the door of the dormitory opposite that was opening.
As expected, a cautious voice sounded: "Tao Xin, is that you? It's great that you're finally back..."
The sound suddenly stopped, as if someone had seen something extremely horrifying, and then it never sounded again. All I could hear was the door of the next door dormitory being slowly pushed open - and then slammed shut amid the terrified screams of other roommates.
Everything is as quiet as before.
Guo Guo whimpered in the back and slid down uncontrollably. No one dared to discuss it out loud, nor did they dare to guess what was happening in the dormitory opposite.
After an unknown amount of time, a clear child's voice suddenly sounded, and the three of them were startled:
"Ding ding ding, ding ding ding, have you guys returned to your dorm? Oh, there are so many people missing - Oh, I seem to have forgotten to tell you that it's very dangerous outside the dorm, don't open the door easily."
The child's voice sounded very regretful, but Tang Xinjue detected a hint of gloating and malice that could not be concealed:
"In any case, failing to protect your own dormitory and causing your roommate to be eliminated early is not a student that educators like."
"Educators believe that roommates in a dormitory must help each other, so that they can achieve better results in daily assessments and competitions and help your school become a key university. When they find that there are not enough people in the dormitory, they will get angry, lower your scores, and cancel your rewards..."
"Ding, the second rule has been unlocked: Please protect your roommates!"
When this voice sounded, Tang Xinjue looked at his cell phone and the time was exactly 9 o'clock.
It had been exactly half an hour . And it had been another half an hour since it first sounded at 8 o'clock.
Could it be that this voice appears every half hour, announcing a new rule each time?
Then, when the game officially starts at 0:00, this sound will appear again...
Tang Xinjue's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. A familiar voice came from outside the door: "Open the door, I'm Zhang You, let me in ."
Coming again?
Without hesitation, she said, "Zhang You, look at the top of the door frame. We agreed to put the spare key there. Do you have any spare keys?"
Outside the door: "Okay... You lied. You don't have the key. Come and open the door."
Tang Xinjue had no expression on his face, but his gentle voice was very cold at the moment: "You forgot, we never keep spare keys in our dormitory."
This is not Zhang You either!
What happened next was exactly the same as before. No matter how they begged or threatened outside, or how terrifying the voices were, Tang Xinjue and the other two resolutely pretended to be dead and never got close to the door.
After a long 30 minutes, the sound outside the door disappeared again.
Then came, "Ding ding ding, ding ding ding, have the students returned to the dormitory obediently?"
"Ah!" Zheng Wanqing finally couldn't stand it anymore. She ran to the balcony window and shouted angrily: "Enough! Let us out! I don't want to play this game of yours!"
The child's voice was still laughing maliciously, as if the students' protests were insignificant to it, or even not worth paying attention to.
Amidst the laughter, another roommate, Guo Guo, began to cry and recite the Great Compassion Mantra. Faced with the messy environment, Tang Xinjue patted his head, which was beginning to hurt again, sighed, picked up a long tool beside him, and slammed it hard on the table:
"Quiet!!"
The overwhelming roar and deafening impact made the dormitory quiet in an instant. Not only that, the two roommates even felt a buzzing in their ears.
Guo Guo was not surprised, but Zheng Wanqing was very shocked. She didn't know how Tang Xinjue, who was always sickly, could burst out with such great power.
"Listen carefully to what it says."
Tang Xinjue raised his head and stared at the darkness outside the window.
The strange childish voice laughed for a while, then stopped pretending to say anything and simply announced the third rule:
"Since the beginning of the game, the dormitory has been completely sealed off, and no one can leave the dormitory anymore!"
This is something that has already been known.
Guo Guo shivered. "What do you mean by 'can't leave'? It didn't say when the game will end."
——It didn't even say whether the game would end. This thought flashed through Tang Xinjue's mind, but he didn't say it out loud.
At this moment, there was another mechanical knock on the door...
As time passed, the three of them finally got used to the pattern of "weird children's voices - announcing rules - ghost knocking on the door".
Fortunately, the things out there are not very smart, and they don't even know how to change the same set of words. After being exposed, they scratch the door in anger. Until the next refresh, it is as if it has no memory of the previous failure and knocks on the door again.
After repeating this over and over again, the few people were no longer so afraid of "ghosts knocking on the door". After all, practice has proved that as long as they don't take the initiative to open the door, things outside can't get in.
Tang Xin Jue recorded the rules brought by the child's voice one by one in his mind:
Article 4: When it reaches midnight, only if there are at least two people alive in one dormitory can you successfully enter the game, otherwise you will be considered a failure and everyone will be eliminated.
Article 5: Good students will be rewarded, bad students will not.
Article 6: Only students who are in the dormitory when the game first begins are good students who meet the requirements of [educators].
Tang Xinjue frowned: Splitting the rule that can be explained in one sentence into two will give them even less information. This weird child's voice is quite cunning.
It seems that this unidentified Tong Yin has a natural malice towards them. On the surface, she repeatedly reminds them of the rules, but in reality, it is intermittent like squeezing toothpaste, and she is just one step late every time. If Tang Xin Jue hadn't been here, Zheng Wanqing and Guo Guo would probably be the first to open the door and suffer.
At this time, the countdown on the mobile phone had only 60 minutes left, and the hour hand reached 11 o'clock.
The numb people seemed to be oblivious to the knocks on the door, and even after getting used to the darkness, they began to think of ways to communicate with the outside world. But no matter whether they knocked on the wall or shouted, there was no response from the dormitories next door.
The three of them had an inexplicable feeling that they were on an isolated island, even though the familiar campus was outside the window. There was only endless empty sea on all sides, and no one could come to save them.
This feeling of helplessness reached its peak when the final rule was announced:
"Students who have not stayed on campus and have not returned to their dormitories before the midnight game begins will be eliminated..." The childish voice seemed to have accidentally let the cat out of the bag, and he changed the words with a giggle: "They will be eliminated and lose the qualification to play the game."
“…”
Guo Zhi exclaimed in a low voice: "Look, the phone screen has changed again!"
I saw four more circular frames below the scarlet countdown, three of which were flashing white light spots, and one was not glowing and was still dim.
Tang Xin Jue quickly realized: these light spots represent the four roommates in the dormitory. If someone is not in the dormitory, the light spots will not light up. There are three people in the dormitory now, so only three light spots are lit.
Along with the thought, there was also a numbing knock on the door: "Let me in!"
Guo Guo shouted in despair: "Knock as much as you can, but no one will open the door even if you knock your throat out~"
There was silence outside the door for a moment, and then someone shouted angrily: "Guo Guo you bastard! I'll chop you up when I get in! Open the door!"
“…”
Tang Xinjue looked up instantly, and Guo Guo and Zheng Wanqing were also stunned.
"Fuck! Why does this monster have new lines?" Guo Guo jumped up and hid behind Tang Xin Jue, raising his voice to imitate Tang Xin Jue's method to test: "Ahem, Zhang You, didn't you go to see your boyfriend? Why are you back so early?"
Tang Xin Jue opened her eyes and said, "Have you ever thought of a possibility? Maybe this time it's not a monster?"
Perhaps in response to her words, a voice from outside rushed in again:
"See you! I've been single for 20 years. When did I ever have a boyfriend? I've met several ghosts, and they chased me all the way!"
The man outside was very angry, and his voice was a little tearful: "I beg you to hurry up, there is black fog outside now, if they catch up with me I will be dead!"
“… …This is Zhang You, it’s Zhang You, right?”
Guo Guo was excited and nervous, and Zheng Wanqing was even more impulsive and wanted to open the door directly, but was blocked by Tang Xinjue with the long tool in his hand.
Zheng Wanqing was anxious this time, and for the first time she spoke loudly to Tang Xinjue: "You also said that it was Zhang You outside, why didn't you let me open the door? What if it's too late?"
Tang Xin Jue deliberately ignored the pain in his temple and spoke very quickly: "Have you forgotten what the pattern was just now? There is a ghost knocking on the door every half an hour, without exception. This means it has always been at our door."
"So, if the person standing outside the door this time is the real Zhang You, then where is the original [ghost]?"
Tang Xinjue did not lower his voice, and it could be heard inside and outside the dormitory. The air was instantly filled with silence, and even the knocking on the door outside stopped.
After a while, Zhang You said in a trembling voice: "Damn, don't scare me, people will die if they are scared——"
As if it discovered something, the sound stopped abruptly.
After a few seconds, Zhang You spoke with difficulty: "I felt something... lying on my back."
Guo Guo immediately gasped and collapsed silently. Zheng Wanqing grabbed his collar to prevent him from going all the way, and looked at Tang Xinjue hesitantly: "Should we still open the door?"
Guo Guo was about to collapse: "What do you think?"
If they open the door now, it won't just be Zhang You who will come in!
"Can we wait until the next time the rules are announced?" She suddenly had an idea: "Xin Jue, you said that every time that scary child's voice sounds, the ghost outside the door will be refreshed."
Wouldn't it be safe if they opened the door for Zhang You while the ghost is away?
Tang Xin Jue denied it without hesitation: "The next time Tong Yin appears will be at 12 o'clock."
At 12 o'clock, the game begins, and anyone who has not returned to the dormitory will be killed. Who can guarantee that at that moment, who will open the door faster, or Zhang You will be killed faster?
The atmosphere returned to the tense starting point, and everyone was silent. Guo Guo couldn't help but wipe away tears: "Is there no other way... wuu ...
Zheng Wanqing yelled at her: "Stop crying! What's the point of crying in this situation?"
Zhang You slammed the door even more angrily: "Zheng Wanqing, don't scold Guo Guo. I'm almost dead. What's the point of you yelling?!"
Guo Guo cried and said, "Open the door. I want to fight that ghost to the death. Let's die together!"
…
After a chaotic commotion, Tang Xinjue's unusually calm voice was particularly noticeable in the air.
"Who said you were going to die?"
