Xiao Muyu covered her nose and mouth, struggling to roll off the bed. When she fell to the ground, her whole body felt weak, completely devoid of strength. She watched helplessly as the flames grew larger and black smoke began to rise, filling the room with increasingly murky air and rising temperatures.
Xiao Muyu tried her best to crawl to the corner, watching the wall, quietly staring at the flames.
The fire spread quickly, engulfing the blankets on the bunk bed. Xiao Muyu could clearly see in the firelight that the blanket on the lower bunk was made of gray-green checkered fabric, exactly like the one on her bed in the dormitory.
The burning sheets melted, and the fiber products fell down after being burned, igniting the paint on the wall, which then spread towards Xiao Muyu.
The flames flickered on Xiao Muyu’s face, scorching hot and stinging her throat, making her already dizzy and even more confused.
Xiao Muyu couldn’t hold on any longer; she curled up and collapsed. The flames and thick smoke rolled towards her, inching closer and closer, soon about to engulf her.
“As long as you live, I live. So you must go on, get out well, Muyu, do you hear me?”
Just as Xiao Muyu closed her eyes, she suddenly heard a voice, inexplicably emerging from the depths of her memory, breaking through her nearly surrendered consciousness, jolting her awake.
She opened her eyes wide and took a deep breath, clearing her mind a bit. Once she regained her senses, she realized the fire had already surrounded her.
Her hair had curled and turned yellow from the heat, and her whole body was in intense pain from the scorching flames.
She then began to cough violently again.
In her muddled consciousness, Xiao Muyu suddenly sensed something was off, as if her brain was struggling to work through the stickiness of glue. In the next second, she closed her eyes, emptied her mind, and started thinking aimlessly about random things.
After a long while, she surprisingly extended her hand, placing her palm into the so-called raging flames. The expected burning pain…did not occur.
Then, the pungent smell, the excruciating pain in her chest, and even the weakness in her body, all vanished.
Xiao Muyu stood up and took one, two steps into the fire. When she opened her eyes, she realized she was not in the fire scene but still in this strange Room 409.
She looked down at her hands, which were clean, and then she laughed softly, “There was once a psychological experiment done where a death row inmate’s eyes were covered, and he was told that he would be executed by draining his blood.
After lightly cutting a small wound, they let him listen to the sound of dripping water beside him. In the end, he didn’t lose much blood but really died from blood loss.”
“How did you figure it out?” Liu Ya was somewhat puzzled. How were these two people so strange yet so capable?
“I didn’t realize it at first, I just thought everything here was too familiar. Room 409 only left me memories of fire but did not show me the layout at that time. That bedsheet is mine.
And when I woke up from my daze, I took a deep breath but was not choked. Instead, I choked myself half to death after waking up.”
“You really are smart, truly a top student. Unfortunately, you only have a little over twenty minutes. If you can’t get out, you all will die here.” With that, she bent over, grabbed Xiao Muyu, and viciously threw her out.
Xiao Muyu was heavily thrown out, crashing into a hard wall and then hitting the ground.
A metallic taste of blood kept rising in her throat, and the intense pain in her left arm and back made her unable to muster any strength for a while. After landing, she curled up and groaned, but she quickly closed her mouth, waiting for the pain to pass.
She couldn’t help but sigh inwardly; it seemed Liu Ya couldn’t be reasoned with.
When she looked up, Xiao Muyu’s eyes darkened slightly. Although she guessed that Shen Qingqiu was most likely not here, not seeing her still made Xiao Muyu feel disappointed and anxious. How was she now?
On the other side, Shen Qingqiu was outside banging on the door, stabbing it repeatedly with her dagger. The door was a mess, but it didn’t budge an inch.
“Liu Ya, come out! Let her out!”
The fire alarm in the room kept ringing, and smoke was seeping through the door cracks, all indicating to Shen Qingqiu that there was a fire inside.
Shen Qingqiu’s face was ashen, repeatedly pounding on the door with a cold expression. The whole space was filled with the sound of her frenzied knocking.
“Qingqiu.”
Just as Shen Qingqiu was about to lose control, a faint voice came from inside. It sounded very weak. Shen Qingqiu immediately stopped, hurriedly leaned against the door, and said urgently, “Muyu, I’m here. How are you? Don’t be afraid, I will open the door. Hold on!”
“Help…help me, Qingqiu, I can’t hold on.” The words stuck in Shen Qingqiu’s throat, her eyes reddened instantly, and she used all her strength to ram the door.
“Open the door! Liu Ya, open the door! If you dare to hurt her, I swear I’ll make sure you can’t even be a ghost!”
She was losing her sanity, even though she told herself that Xiao Muyu wouldn’t call for help like that. But that was her voice, and she saw Xiao Muyu being dragged inside. She couldn’t stay calm.
Her hands were bleeding from pounding on the door, but Shen Qingqiu seemed unaware of the pain. She picked up the dagger and started prying the door again.
“How touching.” At this moment, Liu Ya appeared in front of Shen Qingqiu, not in her mummified form but as herself.
Her tone was full of sarcasm, but her face was full of sadness and pain when she looked at the door.
“Struggling with all your might but unable to open the door, watching helplessly as the other person is engulfed by the fire inside, screaming in pain, begging for help. How does it feel?
Do you know how painful it is to hear her call my name inside, and all I could do was pound on the door in vain? Do you know how painful it is to be burned by the fire?” She raised her hands, which were covered in hideous scars.
“I couldn’t bear the pain, but she was burned alive.” She cried out, covering her face with her hands. At the same time, she sneered, waving her hand.
Immediately, the door in front of Shen Qingqiu seemed to turn into glass. Through it, she could clearly see Xiao Muyu.
At this moment, the room was already on fire. Xiao Muyu was lying on the ground, trying hard to move, but she seemed to have no strength.
The firelight was already flickering on her face, and in a moment, it would burn her.
This scene was far more stimulating than Xiao Muyu’s weak cries for help. Shen Qingqiu’s eyes turned blood red. She turned her head sharply and stared at Liu Ya.
Her gray eyes were now completely red. The murderous intent and ferocity made her look more like a ghost than Liu Ya.
“So what? Don’t you understand the golden rule of ‘Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire’? You say we can’t empathize, but you don’t know that people like us could die at any moment. We’ve escaped death countless times.
I have done everything I could to keep her alive, again and again. So…”
Shen Qingqiu revealed a somewhat morbid smile under extreme suppression, “Do you understand how important she is? I absolutely cannot tolerate failing here with you, absolutely not!”
Liu Ya’s expression suddenly froze. She felt something was off about Shen Qingqiu. What she said made her even more confused, but before she could think further, Shen Qingqiu was already in front of her.
As a creature no longer human, Liu Ya had long forgotten what fear was. But at this moment, she felt her heart racing. How could a person’s speed be so fast?
Her eyes widened instantly. She wanted to escape but was seized by Shen Qingqiu by the throat, unable even to revert to her true form.
Shen Qingqiu slammed her against the wall, mercilessly driving the dagger that slays both humans and ghosts into Liu Ya’s shoulder, pinning her to the wall.
“Open the door! This is your last warning!”
“Ugh, ah,” Liu Ya groaned, fear flickering in her eyes.
Shen Qingqiu had lost all patience. She yanked out the dagger, ready to strike again, when a red shadow flashed like lightning, slashing at Shen Qingqiu’s neck with the sharpness of a blade.
Shen Qingqiu had to let go and retreat, her dagger clashing heavily with the red shadow.
The immense force numbed Shen Qingqiu’s right hand, making it ache, and she stumbled back several steps.
After steadying herself, Shen Qingqiu saw that the newcomer was Lin Xue, dressed in red with her long hair down, embodying the look of the ghost.
At this moment, Lin Xue was nervously protecting Liu Ya, scanning her anxiously.
Then she hurriedly said to Shen Qingqiu, “Don’t worry, she’s fine. That was just an illusion. She’s already out.”
“Xiao Ya, let’s let it go, okay? We’ve suffered enough. Let those who harmed us pay, but there’s no need to involve innocent people. And you’re hurt, which… which makes me even sadder.”
Lin Xue’s expression was pained yet stiff, a stark contrast to her once vibrant self.
Initially, Shen Qingqiu had lost all reason, but hearing Lin Xue’s words gradually brought her emotions back under control.
She looked at her hand in a daze, recalling her previous state, and frowned. What had she been saying?
Although she had been protecting Xiao Muyu since entering this scenario, honestly, her initial protection wasn’t out of true intention. Even though she often acted impulsively, it was far from a calculated effort.
Yet those emotions came so intensely and genuinely.
She turned to look at the room, but the scene inside, once visible, was now obscured.
She slowly exhaled in relief but still confirmed, “Are you telling the truth?”
Lin Xue glanced anxiously at Liu Ya. After a moment, Liu Ya gritted her teeth and said, “It’s true. She’s too smart; I couldn’t deceive her.”
“Was Muyu’s plea for help, and the voice we heard of myself speaking, also fake?”
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but laugh but then quickly asked, recalling the earlier events.
“We don’t know. This place is full of magnetic fields. Some things might inadvertently get recorded and played back. To be honest, whether it was something that happened in the past or will happen in the future, we’re unsure.”
“This setup wasn’t arranged by you?” Shen Qingqiu realized something but quickly understood, “Right, you wouldn’t be able to devise something so elaborate and cruel as students.”
“I don’t care about your revenge. I’d do worse in your place. But I’ll say it again, don’t touch her.
Besides, you’ve been blinded by hatred. It’s understandable to be ruthless towards your enemies, seeking justice for those around you. But how have you forgotten that it wasn’t just you escaping death to stay in the world? Lin Xue, the one who went through it, her punishment is even harsher.
She has to constantly endure the pain of being burned alive, again and again. Look at the school’s records, see how many times she’s been burned to death.”
Liu Ya’s expression changed dramatically. She turned to Lin Xue, stunned, her lips trembling, “You… Is she telling the truth?”
Lin Xue avoided her gaze, not speaking, which was undoubtedly an admission. Liu Ya began to crumble.
“We can discuss how to handle this later. Tell me, where did Muyu go?”
Shen Qingqiu was worried. What if something happened to Xiao Muyu alone?
“I… I don’t know. Whenever someone gets trapped in a loop, they get dragged into a room. Where she exits from is not within my knowledge.” Liu Ya, tears streaming down her face, clutched Lin Xue’s hand, trembling uncontrollably.
Shen Qingqiu snorted coldly, “She’d better be fine when I find her. If you harmed her, I’ll make sure your ghost bridegroom suffers.”
“She… she’s in that direction. I can’t say more.” Liu Ya pointed to the left.
Hearing this, Shen Qingqiu frowned. She didn’t continue to turn right but forced herself to the left.
Following Liu Ya’s direction, she accelerated, running and then using the left wall as a springboard to leap high.
The door opened, and this time something inside lunged out. Shen Qingqiu let out a cold shout, and her dagger slashed down on the monster’s head, using her falling momentum to cut fiercely.
As she landed on one knee, the headless monster collapsed.
The other door remained closed, and behind her, Lin Xue and Liu Ya even flinched.
Shen Qingqiu didn’t turn back, speaking lowly, “Don’t deceive me, or you’ll end up worse than it.”
With that, she ignored the magnetic field rules, walking straight through. Anything daring to come out met its end, slain without mercy. She seemed like a demon king.
Liu Ya watched Shen Qingqiu leave in a daze, then began sobbing, “Ah Xue, if I were as strong as her, able to protect you, you wouldn’t have been hurt. I don’t just want revenge; I can’t bear to let you go. If I give up, I’ll never see you again. But I don’t want you to suffer. My selfishness hurt you.”
Lin Xue held her, silently shedding tears. After a while, she cried and laughed, whispering, “Me too. That’s why, knowing how much it hurts you, I couldn’t decide to persuade you. I’m not afraid of the pain, but I don’t want you to suffer.
We’ve been together for so long; it’s enough. Xiao Ya, let’s go. I don’t want you to end up like that.”
Liu Ya looked at her, wailing uncontrollably.
