The big screen sizzle as it is cut in half by the blade.
The curtain was torn at one corner, and the light in the screening room became fragmented.
Tong Yang stood at the front of the stage, her figure reflected on the screen, as if the large silver screen had been split in two.
“Tong Yang…” B World Chu Shiyu murmured.
Tong Yang poured a foul-smelling liquid into the projector, the light flickered, then went out.
“You can choose to continue obeying, eat these things, or let others eat them.”
Tong Yang looked expressionlessly at the people in the seats, their eyes tightly shut and their eye sockets sunken. She kicked the projector light off, spilling out the horrifying severed fingers from the paper bucket, and raised the projector light to smash them to pieces.
The pale fingers were crushed into a pulp, bits of flesh flying everywhere. Tong Yang seemed to be venting her anger, hitting harder with each blow.
Eat them? Let others eat them?
Why should she do such a disgusting thing?
She didn’t know or care if others were willing, but she absolutely would not do it.
B World Chu Shiyu shook her head, “I don’t want to do this, it’s too disgusting.”
He Jingjing and the others also looked pale, murmuring, “How could we eat these things…”
“Even if we could let others eat them, that’s just too much.”
Tong Yang said, “They don’t have fingers. If we hope to let them eat, we can only feed them ourselves.”
The three of them were stunned at the same time, unable to believe, “What?”
“Why?”
“Are these fingers…?”
[What the hell???]
[Those so-called fries can’t be other people’s fingers, right?]
[Let Tong Jie and them eat? Or feed them to people from the parallel world?]
[That’s too disgusting! It’s clearly a deliberate insult and torture!]
[A kind of plant, how else can we get out?]
[We can’t just let the parallel world lead us by the nose, or they’ll only get more demanding.]
Tong Yang smashed the fingers into meat paste, violently throwing the projector light to the ground, then said to the three, “If you listen to the broadcast, your chances of leaving here alive are fifty percent; if you break the rules, I don’t know what will happen, maybe you’ll never be able to go back, decide for yourselves.”
B World Chu Shiyu said, “Rather than obeying and doing these disgusting things, I’d rather die.”
He Jingjing shook her head in a daze, “It’s impossible… we can’t do it…”
He Jingjing said, “Tong Yang, what do you want to do? We’ll do it with you, even if we die here, I won’t sink to the level of the people from the parallel world.”
In the dim light, Tong Yang scanned their faces one by one, all equally resolute, despite the fear buried deep in their eyes.
“Chu Shiyu.” Tong Yang didn’t immediately answer their words, “I don’t think I’ve asked you yet, what major did you apply for?”
Some time ago, they had already received their acceptance letters from Peking University, and Tong Yang hadn’t asked Chu Shiyu about her major.
B World Chu Shiyu didn’t expect her to suddenly ask this, thought for a moment, and said, “I originally applied for law, but I should negotiate with the school to change it to astronomy when school starts.”
“Because that day I said I wanted to double major in astronomy?”
B World Chu Shiyu averted her gaze, “No, it’s just that I think astronomy is quite interesting.”
Tong Yang nodded, looking at the other two, “A World Hu Shuo and Chu Shiyu are fake, be careful. After we get out of here, I’ll find a chance to kill them.”
He Jingjing asked, “How can you be sure? What if you’re wrong?”
“I told you, A World Hu Shuo came to find me halfway, but B World Hu Shuo denied it. If B World Hu Shuo is a person from the parallel world, to avoid suspicion later, he should have admitted it, but he denied it, which means he doesn’t know the situation here, so he can only be a person from the real world. Also, after A World Hu Shuo chose popcorn, his fingers were stained with blood and he didn’t wipe it off.”
“Remember when we were in the elevator? Hu Shuo touched the severed hand in the box and reflexively wiped his hands. B World Hu Shuo also reacted the same way after checking Tan Wanqu’s pulse. At that time, we hadn’t been split into two worlds yet, and he was the real him.”
He Jingjing nodded, “Hu Shuo has always been a bit timid.”
“As for Chu Shiyu,” Tong Yang shifted her gaze back to her, “if I kill the wrong person, I’ll turn myself in.”
B World Chu Shiyu’s face darkened, “So you’re not sure at all, right? What if you kill the wrong person? Tong Yang, you’re a person too!”
[Pfft…]
[The young lady is actually quite easy to recognize, haha.]
[No, are you stupid? How come you always get completely controlled by Tong Jie?]
[Our Tong Jie has clearly made up her mind.]
If they just barged out and broke the rules, who knows what dangers they would encounter, it was best to let them prepare mentally first.
“Wait.”
Tong Yang said, then slipped behind the curtain, looking around, she used a butterfly knife to unscrew the screws fixing the curtain’s iron frame, removing a few iron rods.
“Clang—” Tong Yang threw the iron rods onto the stage, and Chu Shiyu and the others had already walked down from their seats.
“Each person gets one.” Tong Yang held one in her hand as well, glancing around the hall, the third screening room had a total of 16 rows of seats.
“Chu Shiyu, you’re in charge of rows 1-4; He Jingjing, you take rows 5-8; He Jingjing, you handle rows 9-12; I’ll take rows 13-16.”
Understanding Tong Yang’s intention, Chu Shiyu picked up a suitable iron rod, weighing it in her hand, feeling it was pretty good, and swung it a couple of times in the air.
He Jingjing and the others looked confused, “What do you mean?”
“Chu Shiyu, show them a demonstration.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself?”
“Quick.”
Chu Shiyu shot her a glare, then walked to the edge of the first row with the iron rod, raising it to strike at the person in the seat.
With the experience from the Third Middle High, there was no hesitation or anxiety on her face, her movements were sharp, targeting the vital points. The iron rod wasn’t round; one side had a flat edge, and as long as the force was strong enough, it could cut through skin.
“Thud,” the iron rod struck the person’s neck, blood immediately gushing out, splattering all over Chu Shiyu.
He Jingjing turned pale with fright, trembling, “Tong Yang, you don’t mean for me and Jingjing to kill people, right?”
Tong Yang shook her head, “First of all, I don’t agree with your wording; to me, they aren’t people, but monsters from the parallel world; secondly, didn’t you notice they can barely breathe? They’re down to their last breath; finally, if you can’t even bring yourselves to harm monsters that have no ability to resist, then I suggest you eat those ‘snacks’ and follow the rules to get out of here, or you’ll definitely be killed.”
He Jingjing looked down at the iron rod on the ground, bent down to pick it up, and handed one to He Jingjing, saying, “Sister, listen to Tong Yang, we can’t look at them with human eyes.”
“But…”
“Don’t hesitate, after killing them, we’ll think of a way to force our way out.”
Tong Yang reminded them, then walked toward the last few rows of the screening room.
While He Jingjing hesitated, Chu Shiyu had already killed three or four people.
There were hardly any people in the back rows; Tong Yang’s purpose in doing this wasn’t to reduce threats, but to help He Jingjing and the others get used to it, so they wouldn’t be at a loss if they really encountered a dangerous situation. Moreover, these people didn’t have long to live.
After clearing out the last four rows, Tong Yang piled the bodies near the sensor lights, leaving a path to illuminate the way ahead, then walked forward.
He Jingjing, though her movements were clumsy and her expression tense, acted decisively, inevitably getting blood on her.
Tong Yang continued forward, while He Jingjing’s hands trembled, hesitating to act, her strength not enough, the person in the seat’s wound pulsed and bled profusely, but it was clear they were still alive.
“Rather than torturing others like this, it’s better to give them a quick end.” Tong Yang crossed her arms, her tone indifferent.
He Jingjing immediately looked like she saw a savior, hopefully saying, “Tong Yang, help me…”
“Not helping.” Tong Yang said this decisively, not looking back as she walked down the steps.
Chu Shiyu had already finished off the first two rows, and when she saw Tong Yang pass by, she shot her a resentful glance, complaining, “You deliberately picked the area with the fewest people.”
Tong Yang shrugged noncommittally, “I’ll go check if the two doors can be opened.”
Although they probably couldn’t.
She walked to the emergency exit, the door was jammed tight, and could only be opened from the outside.
Tong Yang then walked to the door they had entered, which was locked, and no matter how she pushed or pulled, it wouldn’t budge.
Before long, Chu Shiyu had cleared the first four rows and came up behind her, curiously glancing over, asking, “What are you doing?”
Tong Yang inserted the flat end of the iron rod into the gap between the door and the floor, prying the metal door open a bit.
“Can’t you tell?”
Chu Shiyu frowned, “How long do you think it’ll take to pry it open like this?”
“Do you have a better way?”
“No.”
“Then shut your mouth and go pry the other door.”
Chu Shiyu pouted and turned to the other emergency exit.
By the time He Jingjing and the others had cleared the people in their seats, Tong Yang had pried the door open enough to stick a hand out, but it was still far from enough to get out.
“Come help…”
Before Tong Yang could finish her sentence, she suddenly heard a clear “clack” from the corridor just beyond the door.
She frowned, immediately gripping the iron rod and standing up, watching the closed door warily.
Suddenly, the door moved slightly, then gently opened, revealing a dark corridor outside.
[What’s going on?]
[It suddenly got so quiet.]
[Tong Jie?]
The door just opened like that?
“What’s happening…” He Jingjing didn’t finish her sentence before Tong Yang raised her hand to stop her.
“Who’s out there?” Tong Yang shouted.
Through the dark crack of the door, she could see the blue-glowing tiled floor.
“Warning! Players in Screening Room 3, please follow the game rules, or you will face severe punishment.”
A woman’s voice echoed through the broadcast, becoming very cold and serious.
“Warning! Players in Screening Room 3, please follow the game rules, or you will face severe punishment!”
“Warning! Players in Screening Room 3, please follow the game rules, or you will face severe punishment!”
If Tong Yang had followed the rules during her time at the Third Middle High and Hailin International School because of the college entrance exam and Ye Wen’s life, here she had no such concerns.
She didn’t require others to break the rules with her; even if she was punished, it had nothing to do with the others.
Chu Shiyu noticed something unusual and ran closer to them.
The outside remained silent, and Tong Yang tightened her grip on the iron rod, preparing for an attack.
However, just then, a head poked out from behind the door, cautiously asking, “What are you doing?”
The blue sensor light illuminated the face at the door, hair still intact, it was A World Hu Shuo.
“What are you doing here?” Tong Yang sighed in relief, asking.
A World Hu Shuo hid behind the door, looking terrified at the four of them, “We gave the things to others, and then… what did you do? Why are you all covered in blood?”
Tong Yang shook her head, “Come in.”
A World Hu Shuo hesitated for a few seconds, but still stepped out from behind the door.
Tong Yang gripped the iron rod in one hand and placed the other on her waist, where the butterfly knife was tucked, ready to strike if A World Hu Shuo entered the screening room.
Half of A World Hu Shuo’s body emerged from behind the door, but for some reason, his steps suddenly halted, staring at Tong Yang, saying, “It’s too dark, I don’t want to go in, you all come out.”
Tong Yang said, “If we leave the screening room now, we’ll have completely broken the rules and will be punished. You come in first, and we’ll discuss it.”
“It’s fine, you all come out, at worst we’ll be punished together, since we all came in together, we should go out together.”
“Hu Shuo, come in, we can talk about everything.”
A World Hu Shuo’s expression gradually darkened, his eyes reflecting a strange light in the glow, one hand resting on the door frame, slowly standing upright, saying, “How did you recognize me?”
Tong Yang heard a gasp behind her, probably He Jingjing hadn’t expected him to admit it directly.
“Intuition.” Tong Yang certainly wouldn’t explain the reason to him.
“Intuition?” A World Hu Shuo’s lips curled up, a fierce light flashing in his eyes, “Tong Yang, you really should die.”
Tong Yang calmly faced him, “Is that so? Can you do it?”
A World Hu Shuo coldly stared at her, saying, “We’ve been waiting for you for a long time, this time we will definitely kill you ourselves.”
“You can try.”
From his reaction, it seemed he didn’t know that Tong Yang could enter the time loop, “Tong Yang” hadn’t told the others in the parallel world about this.
A World Hu Shuo didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking them directly, gradually retreating, saying, “Breaking the game rules, you will pay a heavy price.”
“Then let’s see, will you kill me first, or will I kill you one by one?”
“We’ll see.”
After saying that, A World Hu Shuo’s face lost all warmth, and his body disappeared into the darkness.
“Phew… that scared me.” He Jingjing immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Despite saying harsh words to A World Hu Shuo, Tong Yang’s expression was not relaxed at all; his sudden appearance here, what about Xu Junyue and the others in Screening Room 2? What if something happened?
Moreover, A World Hu Shuo was clearly not just someone who would blindly follow orders and only knew how to kill; he was as difficult to deal with as “Tong Yang” and Dr. Wu.
“I’ll go out first, you all follow me.” Tong Yang said.
At this point, she certainly wouldn’t obediently stay in the screening room just because of a warning.
Tong Yang kicked open the half-closed door, and after the doorknob hit the wall, confirming there was no one behind the door, she slowly walked out of the screening room. Using the faint light from the number sign outside the screening room, she saw the corridor was empty and waved for the three behind her to follow.
“Players in Screening Room 3 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“Players in Screening Room 3 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“Players in Screening Room 3 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
The warning echoed throughout the cinema, red lights flashing above the corridor.
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
The warning voice from the broadcast rang out again.
Tong Yang said, “Resist.”
“As long as it’s an unfamiliar face, just act.”
“Tong Yang? Are you all outside?”
Not far away, Xu Junyue’s voice came from behind the door of Screening Room 2.
Tong Yang quickly walked forward, asking, “Is A World Hu Shuo inside?”
Xu Junyue said, “I don’t know, he hasn’t shown up.”
“He’s a person from the parallel world.”
“What’s going on with you? Did you really eat that thing?”
Tong Yang said, “No, we broke the rules and forced our way out.”
“That bastard! Can you open the door from outside? I don’t want to follow any rules, I’m going to fight them today!”
“Should be able to.”
When A World Hu Shuo opened the door to Screening Room 3 from the outside, it didn’t take much effort.
Tong Yang gripped the doorknob, pressed down hard, and sure enough, it opened!
These doors were similar to the fire exit doors; as long as you opened them from the opposite direction, they would open easily.
“Warning! Players in Screening Room 2, please follow the game rules, or you will face severe punishment!”
“Warning! Players in Screening Room 2, please follow the game rules, or you will face severe punishment!”
“Warning! Players in Screening Room 2, please follow the game rules, or you will face severe punishment!”
“Let’s go…”
“Wait.” B World Zhou Jingyun, standing inside the door, suddenly blocked Xu Junyue’s path.
“If we leave now, we’ll be forcibly eliminated; staying in the screening room might be the safest.”
Tong Yang stood in the corridor, looking at the three people inside the door: Xu Junyue, B World Zhou Jingyun, and A World Tao Bai. A World Hu Shuo had long since disappeared.
So which world were Zhou Jingyun and Tao Bai from?
She could recognize Chu Shiyu and Hu Shuo because she had spent a long time with the former, and the latter from the parallel world had shown too many flaws. But how to distinguish the remaining two?
“Right, staying in the screening room is definitely the safest; you can choose to stay inside.” Tong Yang said.
Xu Junyue pushed his hand away, saying, “Zhou Jingyun, are you crazy? Do you plan to stay in the screening room forever or eat the snacks and drinks they prepared for you?”
“Rather than being led by the parallel world like this, it’s better to make a big scene and die if we have to.”
[Xu Junyue is quite interesting, this little madwoman.]
[Little Xu is straightforward; if there’s something, she really goes for it, and if there’s someone, she really kills.]
[That’s why Tong Jie could recognize her so quickly.]
[I bet B World Zhou Jingyun is fake.]
[I bet A World Zhou Jingyun has always liked to show off.]
A World Tao Bai looked helpless and said, “Jingyun, this time my thoughts are the same as Junyue’s; rather than staying here, it’s better to leave and think of a way together.”
B World Zhou Jingyun pursed his lips, “What about Hu Shuo?”
Tong Yang said, “A World Hu Shuo is a person from the parallel world, don’t worry about him; just be careful if you encounter him again.”
“Think it over; I’ll go check on the people in Screening Room 1.”
“Wait for me! I’m going too!” Xu Junyue stepped out of the screening room, and Zhou Jingyun and Tao Bai could only follow.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, a scream came from behind.
Tong Yang turned in surprise, Xu Junyue was moving forward, but her arm was twisted behind her back, holding a glowing dagger, part of the blade embedded in B World Zhou Jingyun’s neck.
He Jingjing covered her eyes in terror, too close, blood splattered on her face.
Seeing Tong Yang looking at her, Xu Junyue showed an innocent expression, saying, “As long as I confirm he’s not the real Zhou Jingyun, I can kill him directly, right?”
Tong Yang glanced at her, “Mm.”
B World Zhou Jingyun stood frozen in place, looking down at the blade embedded in his body, warm blood staining his clothes red.
After a while, he raised his head, suspiciously asking, “Why?”
Xu Junyue pulled the butterfly knife out with a “pfft,” nonchalantly saying, “Because usually Zhou Jingyun isn’t this whiny; I’ve disliked you for a long time.”
B World Zhou Jingyun slowly blinked, saying, “Is that so?”
Xu Junyue said, “Even though you look the same, if you look closely, you can still tell the difference.”
“Xu Junyue, what if you killed the wrong person?”
“Go to jail.”
B World Zhou Jingyun raised his hand to cover his neck, blood loss was too fast, his body gradually losing warmth, he staggered backward, leaning against the wall, blood staining a large area of the wall.
“You broke the rules… you’re dead… you’re dead…”
Gradually, his voice became weaker, his eyes wide open as he fell to the ground.
As expected, B World Zhou Jingyun’s body did not disappear; he was indeed a person from the parallel world.
“Yay! I guessed right!” Xu Junyue excitedly flashed two fingers.
[Huh??]
[What the hell! You guessed it?!]
[This person is really bold; what if you guessed wrong?]
Tong Yang didn’t react much; Xu Junyue acted so quickly, she should at least have an eighty percent certainty in her heart.
“Tong Yang, did you recognize Little Chu?”
Tong Yang nodded, “Mm, she’s real.”
Xu Junyue said, “A World Hu Shuo is fake, B World Zhou Jingyun is fake, A World Chu Shiyu is fake…”
At this point, she turned to look at the unflinching Tao Bai, “Now it’s just you left.”
A World Tao Bai said seriously, “I’m real.”
“No evidence.” Xu Junyue had a flash of inspiration, “How about you self-harm? If your body disappears, it proves you’re real, and we’ll help you take revenge by killing the other Tao Bai, how about that?”
“This solution is simply flawless! I won’t have to go to jail!”
A World Tao Bai looked deeply at her, “I refuse!”
“Players in Screening Room 2 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“Players in Screening Room 2 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“Players in Screening Room 2 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
The warning voice from the broadcast rang out again.
Tong Yang said, “Since we roughly know who the people from the parallel world are, let’s go to Screening Room 1.”
Aside from the missing A World Hu Shuo and the killed B World Zhou Jingyun, the remaining six people headed towards Screening Room 1.
Unclear about what the broadcast meant by “elimination,” but it certainly wouldn’t be simple; they should first meet up with the others and resolve internal conflicts before making plans.
The players in Screening Room 1 were A World Chu Shiyu, who could already be confirmed as coming from the parallel world; B World Hu Shuo, who was the real Hu Shuo; A World Zhou Jingyun, whose identity was naturally clear since the other Zhou Jingyun had been killed; and then there was B World Tao Bai, the only person whose identity was still unclear.
Tong Yang opened the door to the emergency exit from the outside, and Screening Room 1 was unusually quiet. The image on the large screen showed two salespeople, who were frantically eating, blood smeared around their mouths, a severed white finger bone exposed.
The same kind of people existed in the seats as in Screening Room 3, their eyes sunken, wide sleeves covering their fingers, but amidst the eerie scene, the sound of chewing could be heard.
Tong Yang strode in, looking towards the source of the sound, A World Chu Shiyu was crouched in her seat, her hands grabbing severed fingers and stuffing them into her mouth, her eyes excitedly watching the big screen, then grabbing a drink and taking a satisfied sip.
B World Tao Bai sat in the same row, holding a severed finger, elegantly bringing it to his mouth, biting into the flesh, chewing slowly.
“Tong Yang? How did you break the rules?” A World Chu Shiyu furrowed her brow in confusion upon seeing her, “Before they arrive, you should quickly go back to the screening room and eat those things.”
B World Tao Bai showed a harmless smile, “Don’t be afraid, as long as you follow the rules, nothing will happen.”
Tong Yang’s face darkened, her gaze searching the seats, not seeing Hu Shuo and Zhou Jingyun.
Originally still considering how to determine who the real Tao Bai was, it seemed there was no need for that now; it was clear who the people from the parallel world were.
“Where are they?” Tong Yang asked.
A World Chu Shiyu licked her lips, pointing to two indistinct figures on the stairs, “There, over there.”
“Dead?”
A World Chu Shiyu shook her head, “No, they’re not within the range allowed by the rules, I can’t kill them for now.”
B World Tao Bai kindly explained, “They fainted.”
The others walked into Screening Room 1, looking at the two of them continuously chewing, they all involuntarily made retching sounds.
Chu Shiyu and Tao Bai turned their heads in disgust, unwilling to look any longer.
“Chu Shiyu” licked her fingers, narrowing her eyes at Tong Yang, “I’ve seen you before, in that filthy place; if you’re willing, you can join us.”
Tong Yang quietly looked at her; the “you” in the other’s mouth should refer to the parallel world’s “Tong Yang.”
“Do you know how long it took us to plan this game? What a pity, if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have to work so hard.”
“She said you’re very smart, and to take care of yourself?” She grinned, revealing a mouthful of red teeth, giggling, “But you’re so stupid; as long as you look for loopholes in the rules like before, you can find a way back to the Shadow World, what a pity.”
Tong Yang scoffed, “You call our world the ‘Shadow World’?”
“Isn’t it? A world just like ours is the Shadow World.”
“Just like? Our world is not the same.” Tong Yang crossed her arms, a sarcastic smile on her face, “Whose slave are you? Who do you obey?”
“Hmm… you don’t know.”
“Tao Bai” smiled and said, “Don’t mind us; if you want to take them away, feel free.”
“Since we’ve at least spent a little time together, tell me honestly, how can we leave here?”
“Chu Shiyu” narrowed her eyes contentedly, saying, “Aren’t you smart? Guess.”
Her gaze swept over the crowd behind Tong Yang, laughing, “Maybe you can do it.”
Tong Yang nodded, “So, it means we eight have the basic conditions to leave here, right?”
“Who knows?”
Xu Junyue walked up the stairs, lifting the unconscious person on the ground, turning back to signal them to help, lifting Hu Shuo and Zhou Jingyun back to Tong Yang’s side.
Then, Xu Junyue turned around and made an international friendly gesture to the two in their seats, “We’ll see.”
“See you later.”
Tong Yang didn’t choose to directly attack them; the priority was to wake up the two who had fainted first, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to run away later.
The group left Screening Room 1, and the broadcast immediately sounded.
“Players in Screening Room 1 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“Players in Screening Room 1 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“Players in Screening Room 1 who break the rules will be forcibly eliminated!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
“We will send order maintainers to forcibly eliminate you!”
Although they were unclear about what would happen next, at least the eight of them had gathered together again.
“First, find a safe place and see what their situation is.” Tong Yang said.
Even though Tong Yang was the youngest among them, after experiencing so much, no one would continue to underestimate her.
The eight of them walked out of the screening room passage, returning to the cinema hall.
The two salespeople were nowhere to be seen, and the sound of teeth clashing against bones came from behind the counter.
Tong Yang signaled them to place the unconscious people on chairs and find a way to wake them up, then walked towards the counter herself.
The two salespeople leaned against the counter, stuffing food into their mouths, with a lot of meat paste and bone fragments scattered on the ground.
“Bang bang—”
Suddenly, the counter behind her was knocked on.
The female salesperson looked up in confusion, blood covering her mouth as she stood up, “Customer, you have…”
A flash of white light appeared before her, a line of blood was drawn across her throat, blood splattering onto Tong Yang’s face.
The female salesperson’s expression froze on her face as her body tilted toward the ground.
The male salesperson beside her was pushed aside, a blood-stained weapon “thud” as it pierced into his brain from above, his body uncontrollably convulsing before ultimately losing his life and collapsing.
Tong Yang wiped the blood off her face, her expression numb as she turned back.
Hu Shuo and Zhou Jingyun were still not waking up, despite being pinched and having their pressure points pressed.
“Try pinching his nose.” Tong Yang walked up to Hu Shuo and suggested.
“I’ll try.” He Jingjing pinched his nose, and after a few seconds, the strong impact of suffocation made the unconscious Hu Shuo involuntarily open his mouth wide, suddenly waking up and sitting up from the ground.
“Are you okay?” Chu Shiyu bent down to ask.
Hu Shuo’s eyes widened in fear, seemingly not yet aware of his surroundings, his gaze hollow and unfocused.
He gasped for breath, drenched in sweat, as his rationality gradually returned with his clear pupils. The moment he saw Chu Shiyu, he hugged his head and screamed.
“Ah!!!”
“Don’t eat me!!! Don’t let me eat!!!”
Chu Shiyu: “…”
[Tsk tsk tsk! Look at how scared the kid is!]
[How can he say such unreasonable things to a beautiful sister?]
[Although he’s pitiful, it’s still hilarious.]
Tong Yang frowned and kicked him, “Keep it down.”
Hu Shuo pointed at Chu Shiyu, trembling all over in fear.
Chu Shiyu shot him a glare, “Coward.”
Tao Bai stepped forward to comfort him, “Hu Shuo, don’t worry, you’ve already come out of the screening room; we’re not those two people.”
Hu Shuo looked at them in a daze, taking half a minute to barely regain his composure.
On the other side, He Jingjing used the same method to wake Zhou Jingyun.
Zhou Jingyun had at least learned about emotional and facial management; upon seeing Chu Shiyu and Tao Bai, his pupils suddenly constricted, but he didn’t scream like Hu Shuo.
“Are we safe?” Zhou Jingyun sat up, recalling the events that had just happened, still looking fearful.
Xu Junyue frowned, “To be precise, we’ve become more dangerous.”
Tong Yang nodded, “That’s right, but you can choose to go back to the screening room and follow the rules.”
“Impossible!” Hu Shuo shook his head in resistance, “Absolutely not! I won’t go back! I’d rather die!”
Zhou Jingyun’s face turned pale as he said, “No matter what, Hu Shuo and I never want to go back to the screening room again.”
“As long as you don’t regret it.”
Tong Yang gathered everyone together, saying, “Based on my previous experience, the ‘elimination’ mentioned in the broadcast is likely to mean they will kill us all, but now we have nowhere to go.”
“You’ve experienced this before?”
“Too scary, didn’t you call the police?”
“Do you think the police would believe it?”
Hu Shuo shook his head, “If I hadn’t experienced it myself, even if you spoke beautifully, I wouldn’t believe it.”
“Not only have I experienced this, but Chu Shiyu and Xu Junyue have also gone through it; I warned them before entering that there might be dangers here.”
“Xu Junyue?! You knew there was danger and didn’t tell us?”
Xu Junyue said innocently, “I did say! I said it was very dangerous here, that terrifying and bizarre things would happen, and then you said that terrifying and bizarre things would happen here anyway, so we came together.”
Hu Shuo’s face turned green, “I thought you were joking.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Tong Yang, what about you? Knowing there might be danger, why did you still participate?” Tao Bai asked in confusion.
“Because I accidentally learned that there’s a person from the parallel world among you, so I wanted to find that person and kill them.”
Upon hearing this, He Jingjing immediately became alert, quickly shielding He Jingjing behind her.
Tong Yang glanced at her, saying, “If I wanted to kill her, you wouldn’t be able to stop me.”
Xu Junyue said, “For the common good of humanity, I would also kill Jingjing.”
Tao Bai looked serious, asking, “Do you really have to kill Jingjing?”
Tong Yang shook her head, “Not for now.”
“According to He Jingjing, there can only be fifty people like her in the real world; if she’s killed, it would free up a spot, and others from the parallel world could use the same method to merge into the real world.” Tong Yang’s gaze swept over the silent He Jingjing, “At least in my view, she’s safer than most people from the parallel world.”
He Jingjing’s eyes lit up, “So you won’t kill Jingjing?”
“Mm.” Tong Yang nodded, “As long as there’s no threat.”
“Great! I know Jingjing; she won’t harm us!”
He Jingjing raised her head, looking sincerely at Tong Yang, saying, “Thank you for being willing to believe in me.”
Tong Yang shook her head, “I’m not believing in you; I’m just trusting my own intuition.”
After the incident with Ye Huai, Tong Yang vaguely realized that even in the unknown and dangerous parallel world, just like in the real world, there are good people and bad people. Although most people from the parallel world are disgustingly vile, Tong Yang knew she couldn’t kill all the people from the parallel world.
So, as long as they didn’t pose a threat to the real world and her, Tong Yang wouldn’t harm innocent people.
Moreover, she had a feeling that He Jingjing’s existence was crucial.
“So what should we do now? How can we return to the real world?”
Tong Yang shook her head, “I don’t know.”
“If we follow the original game rules, after passing this level, we should enter the ninth floor, and completing the game on the ninth floor would allow us to return to the real world. But here, there’s only the escalator leading to the seventh floor, and we’ve already broken the game rules, so we can only find a way back before we get killed.”
He Jingjing said, “We can try going back to the seventh floor’s resting area; wasn’t that where we kept traversing the space before?”
Tong Yang’s expression was serious, “At that time, we were already in the passage connecting the two worlds; the conditions for actively and passively entering the parallel world seem to be different.”
At the Third Middle High and with the unnamed slope, they hadn’t received any instructions before being pulled into the parallel world, indicating that passive entry into the parallel world might not require any conditions at all.
But actively entering and exiting the parallel world…
The first time they actively entered the parallel world was under Dr. Wu’s instructions; the second time was here, in the layer between the two worlds, constantly traversing back and forth under the broadcast’s instructions.
However, later, Bureau 749 used the “elevator game” and failed to successfully enter the parallel world.
Why?
Was there something different between the two?
Location? Time? Weather?
Was it that day that wouldn’t work? Was it that weather that wouldn’t work?
It shouldn’t require such strict conditions.
Tong Yang furrowed her brows, trying to recall the similarities between Dr. Wu and this incident.
Creating order amidst chaos, then breaking order through chaos; even with individual options inside, they could still successfully traverse space.
Moreover, “Chu Shiyu” just now implied that they had already met the basic conditions for traversing worlds.
Conditions? What could they be?
Was there something different about them? Or did their current situation have similarities to what Dr. Wu experienced back then?
Similarities…
The similarities in these recent active entries and exits into the parallel world?
The first active entry into the parallel world was under Dr. Wu’s instructions; the first active exit from the parallel world was under Ye Huai’s instructions.
At that time, he wanted to bring the real-world Ye Tianlin into the parallel world.
And this time, frequently entering and exiting in the layer was under the woman’s instructions in the broadcast.
Their commonality…
Suddenly, Tong Yang felt a current flash through her back.
She thought of it! They eight indeed met the conditions!
She knew how to leave the parallel world!
