Chapter 304 University Town Civility Code (Twenty-four)
Along with the door being opened, there were also several candidates who were clinging to the door, ready to use their skills or rush out.
The candidates who met unexpectedly : "..."
What should I do now? Say hello? Or start a fight?
Just as they were staring at each other madly, a cold female voice suddenly interrupted:
"Is it you?"
Following the sound, I saw a candidate lying unconscious behind a dormitory door.
However, the person who made him fall was not Tang Xinjue, but another long-haired girl who was stepping over him.
The girl raised her arm, and a shield shining with cold light flew into her hand.
"Li Jinhan?!"
The moment he saw the shield, Guo Guo immediately called out the girl's name without even looking at her face.
It's been a while since I last saw her. Apart from a few more scars on her body, the shield girl looks no different from when she was in the Friendly League dungeon.
She nodded at the four of them and said, "I didn't expect that the target of this mission would be you. No wonder the dungeon offers such a high reward."
606 didn't expect that he would see the shield girl again before leaving.
Tang Xin Jue smiled. "It's a pity that we spent all our money before the graduation exams, so we can't come up with the ransom now."
Hearing this, Li Jinhan's eyes moved and he looked at them seriously:
"Did you succeed?"
Tang Xin Jue met his gaze and said, "Dormitory 606, Building 31, University A. We'll be waiting for you in the real world."
No further words are needed.
Li Jinhan also smiled, a rare occurrence, and said cheerfully, "Okay, then let's change it to a meal. Don't forget to treat me when the time comes."
After saying that, she turned around and left without hesitation.
"You gave up the mission? Are you crazy? One thousand points for a meal?"
A boy who was forced out of the four-person dormitory couldn't understand, but he was yanked back in the next second by his roommate. He lowered his voice and said, "...I think there's something wrong with your brain."
A meal is certainly not important. But what are they talking about? A meal in the "real world."
This means that 606 will soon return to the real world!
——This is their last exam and graduation battle!
All the candidates who realized this changed their expressions.
This wasn't a group fight dungeon at all, but rather a dungeon they had broken into with several top candidates about to graduate;
Their mission was not a normal confrontation, but to kill four people before the other party completely completed the game.
If they were blocked on their way home at this moment, killing gods or Buddhas would be the least they could do.
What's more, under the dimensionality reduction attack of strength, will this allow them to encircle and suppress, or force the other party to launch a "legal" massacre, or will both sides suffer losses?
For a moment, no one spoke, and no one took action. Not long after, a short-haired girl, holding her weapon undrawn, suddenly asked:
"Are you the first dorm to complete the game?"
Tang Xin Jue: "Based on the current information, this is the case."
"Okay." The girl nodded, looking a little excited: "If there is a first one, there will be a second one."
——If one person successfully returns home, there will be countless others who will follow.
If before seeing 606, the endless exams, the endless dungeons and the confined and cramped living space had worn away their hope, and the distant credit goal was more like a pie hanging high and out of reach, now seeing this pie being picked with their own eyes was undoubtedly equivalent to injecting an unprecedented motivation into them.
"I hope that when I pass the exam, no classmates will stop me."
The girl drew a line on the app interface and said, "I'm giving up the task too."
The dormitories that have the ability to receive such tasks are more aware of the special significance of "passing the game", which is not only for individuals, but for all candidates.
Furthermore, it is just a bounty mission and not a forced crackdown, which means that the choice is still in the hands of the candidates themselves.
There were few fools present. If they really tried their best to encircle and suppress 606 according to the mission, then even if they could miraculously win, they would face the same situation when it came to their graduation exam - if no one could pass the exam, what was the point of getting more rewards?
"...Um, if you guys are back in reality, could you please do me a favor?"
In the distance, a trembling voice sounded softly.
Two girls who had always had little presence walked out from the darkness, leaning on each other. They had neither oppressive props in their hands nor had they used any skills. At first glance, they looked out of place on the field.
Tang Xin Jue recognized them at a glance: "You are those two psychic ability users."
In fact, when they first entered this ambush-filled section of road, the only threat they posed was two complementary mental attacks. If Tang Xin Jue hadn't spotted and blocked them in time, the situation could have become very difficult.
"Yes. Congratulations, it turns out some people can go home." The two girls looked at each other and smiled bitterly, "But we probably don't have the chance."
They unzipped their clothes and saw that from the neck down, their torsos had been replaced with mechanical gears!
The psychic said bitterly, "It's been forty-five days. We've done our best to hold on until now. It's hard to even get into a first-tier university, let alone challenge a dungeon as difficult as you. This may be fate... We are students at Nanshi Medical University. My name is Hao Jing, and these are our ID cards."
Zhang You: "I'm afraid we won't be able to take these things out of the university town."
"I know. I hope that if the government starts an investigation, you can ask them to tell our family that we're doing well in the university town. So... so that they don't worry and don't need to look for us anymore."
The atmosphere suddenly darkened as the two spoke. The real world weighed heavily on everyone's mind. Although the others hadn't yet made their request, their expressions showed that many had already had the same idea.
Tang Xin Jue shook his head. "We can help convey your message, but we might not be able to do so in time. After all, at our fastest, we can only get back 46 minutes earlier than you."
Everyone: “?”
The girl with psychic powers suddenly raised her head: "You mean..."
"What we mean is that there's more than one way back to the real world. For everyone, it's just a matter of time."
After learning the hidden rules from Wang Jiji, Tang Xinjue and others were already thinking about how to inform other candidates.
She originally wanted to find a way to contact Bai Zhi, but she didn't expect that the bad student camp was so "telepathic" and sent a large number of high-level candidates at once?
It's really like giving someone a pillow when they're dozing off. There are dozens of fully equipped candidates with only the four big words "information transmission" written on their bodies.
As expected, after hearing the news relayed by 606, all the candidates immediately became excited.
As long as you can survive for 60 days, you can also "graduate" from the game?!
Even people who died in the game could return to reality as long as certain conditions were met! !
What does this mean? It means that the nearly 90% of students who had previously despaired now have a goal to strive for. Students with limited abilities, especially those in dormitories with uneven strength, no longer need to force themselves into dangerous dungeons to gain points. With proper planning and making it through 60 days, the chances of everyone in their dorm surviving are greatly increased!
Amidst the mixture of surprise and delight, only a few people remained calm. Li Jinhan asked, "Are you sure that the person who told you the rules wasn't lying?"
To avoid complications, Tang Xin Jue didn't touch on the secrets of the university town, leaving out the main points and only explaining some of the rules. Hearing someone finally raise this question, she calmly brought everyone back to their senses:
"I'm not completely sure. Even if it's a real rule, there's no guarantee it won't change."
Even with the near miss of level 606, they couldn't predict whether it was truly foolproof. Regardless, they could only offer a new hope and path, and the specific choice was up to each person.
They can only be sure that persistence is better than giving up, bravery is better than cowardice, and cooperation is better than confrontation.
Courage and unity are the eternal themes of survival.
"Thank you."
The girls with psychic abilities broke the silence. They bowed deeply to the four students in Class 606 and said, "We will do our best to spread this news to as many students as possible. While competition and confrontation are inevitable, we all know who the true enemy is."
Li Jinhan: "How long will your journey take? Is there anything I can help you with?"
"No thanks." The four declined the examinees' offer and pointed to the back of the corridor. "Our destination is just ahead."
In the shadows a few dozen meters away in the corridor, the outline of a door could be vaguely seen.
only……
When they got closer and could see the scene clearly, they saw three doors.
Three tightly closed doors stood quietly at the end of the corridor, with a chaotic black fog behind them.
"That person said there's only one chance to open the door." Guo Guo was silent for a few seconds. "So if I open the door one by one and stick my head out, that won't work, right?"
But if you only look at the doors, there is no difference between them.
"Aren't there any other hints? We can't just pick blindly, right?"
The candidates who had already given up their tasks had nothing to do, so they came over to watch and gain experience for the future.
When this was mentioned, 606 became even more silent.
"...the prompt said that door number 1000 was the correct exit."
At the end of the field of vision, there is a doorplate on top of each door, but it is empty and no number can be seen.
How to choose this?
Are they just relying on luck at the last second of the graduation exam?
The others couldn't find the difference between the three doors either. They wanted to go closer to take a look, but after taking two steps, they hit a wall of air and could only stop there in a daze.
The meaning of university town is also very clear.
The last section of the journey belongs only to the four people in group 606.
Skills, props, mental strength and sixth sense...are useless in front of the three doors.
No matter how hard they tried to identify it, they could not find the difference, nor could they make the house number show a number.
"Calm down," Zheng Wanqing consoled Guo Guo, who was spinning anxiously. "The game must have given us other clues. Think carefully about what Wang Jiji said and see if there are any clues."
Zhang You noticed Tang Xinjue rummaging through his bag. "What are you looking for?"
"Find some special student ID cards." Tang Xinjue raised his head and found four more ID cards in his hand.
Although they look the same as ordinary student ID cards, a closer look reveals that the photo positions on these student ID cards are covered, with only a few stick figure-like drawings on them.
...Wait, a stick figure?
"Remember the stick figures I met in the archives? This is the wool I plucked from them and Mr. Bu."
Tang Xinjue's eyes flashed with the image of Wang Jiji saying the last part of his words:
[When you see a door numbered 1000, it was left by the founder himself.]
She was sure that when she mentioned the word "founder", Wang Jiji glanced at her backpack and his eyes stopped at those special student ID cards.
[…Open it, and outside the door is your destination.]
Tang Xinjue and his roommate looked at each other: "Since this is the door that the founder personally left for us, let's look at it from the founder's perspective."
Each person was given a matchstick student ID card. The moment it was hung around their neck, they could hear other candidates gasping behind them.
The four of them didn't feel anything special until they looked down and saw their bodies.
——A stick figure body like a simple drawing.
Guo Guo subconsciously pinched his face: "I've turned into a stick figure now?!!"
Tang Xin Jue: "We've all turned into stick figures."
"Zheng Wanqing, how come you're still taller than me even though you've turned into a stick figure!"
"Is there a possibility that you are too short?"
Zhang You interrupted them: "Look, the door has changed!"
From their current perspective, they only saw the door in the middle, with four numbers clearly appearing on the doorplate: 1000.
This is the fan!
The four of them ran forward. Guo Guo and Zheng Wanqing argued about whose stick figure was in better shape, then held hands in disgust and sprinted together.
Finally, the four stick figures holding hands opened the door and were swallowed up by the light.
…
"Why did the power suddenly go out? It's so dark!"
"Run, run, go back to the dormitory!"
After a flurry of footsteps, screams and noise, the corridor shrouded in darkness fell silent.
"Can you hear me? Wanqing, are you outside?"
In the silence, several shouts floated from the dormitory into the corridor.
Not long after, the public bathroom door was suddenly pushed open, and a long-haired girl in pajamas walked out quickly. She stopped in front of the door of a dormitory with the number 606 engraved on it and knocked loudly: "Open the door quickly!"
The door opened, the girl disappeared, and the corridor returned to silence.
Witnessing this scene firsthand was like watching a 5D movie unfold before your eyes. Of course, it would have been even better if you weren't the main character.
This was the first time Zheng Wanqing saw "her own" actions from a third-person perspective, and it was also the scene on the day the game was launched. It was hard not to feel strange.
The other three people in 606 also felt the same wonder.
"Was that the young lady who just ran over there?"
Guo Guo looked out of curiosity and found that his body had returned to normal after he successfully rushed into the door.
No, to be more precise, even their clothes were restored to the way they were on the day the game arrived and everything began.
At this moment, they returned to that night from the perspective of an observer?
"According to the situation at the time, the next step should be..."
Several people looked at Zhang You at the same time.
If they remembered correctly, there were only three people in the dormitory at that time, and Zhang You was still outside and had not returned .
Do they need to watch everything that happens when the game comes again in order to trigger the conditions to return to reality?
The four of them waited patiently, but this time, they waited in the corridor for a very long time but still did not see "Zhang You" appear.
"No, it's past the time for me to come back."
Zhang You raised his hand to check the time. The screen of his mobile phone had turned the blood red color of that night, and the time was ticking down second by second.
Suddenly, she seemed to understand something.
This time, there was no response from his roommate behind him, and Zhang You did not look back. Instead, he walked forward step by step until he stood in front of the door of dormitory 606 and knocked.
The moment the knock on the door came, Tang Xinjue and the other two opened their eyes. Under the dim light of their phones, the familiar outline of the room and the sounds outside the door made them feel like they were in a dream.
"I'm back, I'm Zhang You."
The voice outside the door said.
Squeak——
After a two-second delay, the sound of the door opening was remarkably clear . At the same instant, the dormitory light came on, piercing the darkness.
"Welcome back."
In the light, the four of them smiled at each other.
At eight o'clock in the evening, black fog descended and the university dormitory building was plunged into darkness.
At 8:14, the light in dormitory 606 returned.
At 8:15, the four of them walked to the balcony window and sat down, cuddling together. They waited for their phones to regain signal, staring out at the endless darkness outside, waiting quietly.
Ten minutes later, a second lit window appeared from a dormitory building in the distance, adding another ray of light to the darkness.
Then, the third, the fourth...
The twinkling light did not recover quickly, the night was still dark, but the four people no longer had any fear or uneasiness in their hearts.
Because they know that when daybreak comes, the sun will rise normally.
A new day will come as promised.
