She Was Sentenced to Life Imprisonment [Unlimited] - Chapter 63
Chapter 63: The Studio (5)
◎Pretty Twisted, Huh◎
As they were climbing the wall, the girl answered their previous questions.
“You already know that our school uses art students to boost its enrollment rate, but it’s also afraid that other students will see us and get lazy with their studies, so it just separated us with a few walls. What you saw when you came in was the art building. Past that are the dance and music buildings, and they’re all separated by a wall.”
“That’s so extreme?” Lin Jia couldn’t help but say.
“Your school is pretty twisted, huh,” Yan Xin said with a laugh.
It was a fact that despite using art to their advantage, they still held a prejudice against the students.
Hearing Yan Xin’s words, the girl suddenly became nervous. She immediately shook her head like a rattle-drum, as if she was afraid of something, and stopped them from continuing their discussion about the school.
“No, no, you can’t say those things…”
Seeing her reaction, the others immediately understood and stopped talking about it.
If they could lock down the school for dead people, what’s a little verbal abuse from others? The school was forcing them to shut up.
After Yang Yi safely helped Yan Xin get over, she saw the girl almost fall while climbing over and thoughtfully helped her steady herself.
“Be careful.”
“Ah, thank you,” the girl said, looking a little overwhelmed and hurriedly thanking her.
After the girl finally landed safely, Jiang Nan and Thanatos, who had been guarding the rear, then climbed the wall.
Just then, a bright light suddenly shone on them. The blinding light forced Jiang Nan to close her eyes to adjust.
“Who’s over there?! Don’t you know the lights are out?!”
The security guard’s shout came. Jiang Nan soon saw the security guard from this morning holding a flashlight and shining it on them. But the other person seemed to be nearsighted and squinted, trying hard to see them clearly.
“Come up. I’ll pull you.”
A voice as clear as flowing water sounded in her ear, carrying a sense of inexplicable security.
When Jiang Nan heard this and looked over, she saw Thanatos sitting high on the wall, reaching a hand out to her.
A slight breeze blew through her hair. In the light, the other person’s eyebrows were wild and unrestrained, just like when she had saved her before.
“Hey! Hey! Brother Li, a few students just climbed over the wall to your side!”
“What?! I’m coming over now!”
The security guard’s shouts over the walkie-talkie left Jiang Nan no time to think. She put her hand on Thanatos’s hand.
She only felt her hand being wrapped in warmth. The next moment, she was lifted into the air, which made her freeze for a moment. It wasn’t until she was safely on the ground, with Thanatos holding her close, that she fully processed what had happened.
“What do we do? We’ve been caught. We’ll be punished if we get caught!”
When the girl heard the security guard’s voice, she was immediately flustered. She covered her face and cried, seeming to be on the verge of a breakdown.
Thanatos looked at the lights not far away. People were constantly running over, shouting warnings and scolding them.
“Hey! You students! Climbing the wall without permission is going to get you a demerit! Hurry up and go back to bed!”
Seeing this, the others also became flustered. They tried to get the girl to tell them the exact location of the office, but the girl was only crying and couldn’t say a complete sentence.
Facing the approaching security guards, Thanatos’s lips curled up. A smile appeared in her eyes. Not knowing what she was looking at, she lightly patted the girl’s shoulder twice and spoke with a subtle hint of a beguiling tone that no one noticed.
“They haven’t caught you yet, have they? If you keep crying, you’ll really get caught.”
Her words were a little heartless, but when the girl heard them, she took her hands off her face and stared at the other person blankly. As if she had just understood, she quickly said.
“Right, right, we have to hide. I’ll take you to the office. Which floor, which floor… Oh, right, the fifth floor…”
When the others heard what the girl said, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief and followed behind her.
Jiang Nan was about to follow but subconsciously turned back. She saw Thanatos staring at the security guard’s hand, not making any move to leave.
She no longer had the mood to be difficult. She frowned and said to the other person.
“Let’s go.”
After she was pulled, Thanatos finally started running. But a hint of regret flashed in her eyes, followed by a fleeting, imperceptible hint of a scheme.
Another security guard also climbed over the wall, but whether he lost his footing or something else happened, he suddenly fell down, screaming in pain.
The security guards from the school heard the screams and quickly went to check. They frowned and said angrily.
“Where did they all go? These students are really fearless!”
“It hurts like hell. When I catch them, I’m going to report them. Just wait and see…”
The security guard’s curses hadn’t even finished when he felt his vision go black. He had been put into something.
When the security guard realized it was a sack, he immediately panicked. The desire to survive made them struggle.
“Who is it?! Which class are you from?! You can’t play pranks like this, you know?!”
Their voices were trembling, and they were uncontrollably afraid.
A shadow fell over the two sacks. A thin hand held a stone and brought it down hard, again and again, without mercy, as if venting a long-held anger in this one moment.
The stone smashed their skulls. The bl00d that splattered stained the sacks. The struggling and yelling gradually subsided under that person’s hand.
“I can finally kill you two.”
A low chuckle. A sinister look flashed in her scarlet eyes. Crimson bl00d dripped from her hand onto the ground.
The bloody stench in the air masked the strange change.
The bl00d-stained sacks were dragged on the ground. A rustling sound echoed, which was especially chilling in the silent night.
The dropped flashlight lit up the way for the players toward the academic building. Jiang Nan, sensing something was wrong, looked back and happened to see a figure with its back to her.
Just then, the system suddenly issued a warning. A piercing sound echoed through the instance. The strange fluctuations only made them feel a sense of dread.
【Warning!】
【An anomaly has appeared in this instance!】
【An important NPC is out of control and is attempting to destroy the instance!】
【The player protection mechanism has been shut down! The instance is about to collapse and will be forcefully closed in three days! Players remaining in the instance, please find the survival exit on the important NPC as soon as possible!】
The system’s warning lasted for a few minutes, mixed with a static “crackle” sound. It was like a sudden explosion in the players’ ears. Their footsteps paused as they followed the girl into the academic building.
After they finally heard all of what the system said, the few of them had different expressions on their faces. A hidden emotion flashed in their eyes.
“What’s going on? It’s collapsing just like that?! I’ve never encountered anything like this before! And what’s this about a survival exit on an important NPC?!”
After Yan Xin finally recovered, she pulled Yang Yi and walked upstairs, muttering under her breath with a frown.
“Something must have happened. Let’s go! If the instance collapses and goes under maintenance, we’ll be trapped here forever,” Yang Yi said, a hint of seriousness in her eyes.
Yang Yi’s words made the others snap back to reality. They looked at each other for a moment and then quickly went upstairs to follow her.
They were moving quietly, so the sound-activated lights on the stairs didn’t turn on. They could only grope their way up in the dark.
Jiang Nan had already recovered from the warning. She glanced at Thanatos and frowned.
“Is it insane?”
Before they came in, the enforcer had said they would get to choose the third-level, simplest instance. Now, it seemed like it was all a trap.
Thinking of this, Jiang Nan’s expression grew even more grim. Then, she heard Thanatos muttering to herself.
“Just as I thought.”
Thanatos suddenly looked up and met Jiang Nan’s eyes. A hint of madness appeared in her eyes, making people feel a sense of dread.
The next moment, Jiang Nan felt a chill wash over her body, making her extremely uncomfortable.
“You…”
She seemed to know what Thanatos had done, or rather, what she had done by using her.
Jiang Nan’s fists clenched. The sharp pain from her nails digging into her flesh separated her from that inexplicable emotion. Finally, she forced a grimace and said to Thanatos.
“Let’s go.”
Seeing that the others were about to get away, she was about to lift her foot to follow them.
But at that moment, her hand was pulled. When she turned to look at her in confusion, she saw Thanatos smiling.
Thanatos whispered something in her ear. Her warm breath sprayed onto her neck. In the dark of the night, it didn’t feel eerie or terrifying; instead, it felt intimate, like a pair of young lovers who had snuck out to meet each other.
But the irritable Jiang Nan was in no mood for any of this. She was growing impatient from being held by Thanatos. After she finally finished listening, her eyebrows furrowed. Her gaze fell on the academic building, and a strange feeling appeared in her heart, which she couldn’t quite describe.
Jiang Nan pursed her lips. In the few seconds that her eyes were lowered, she seemed to have gone through some kind of struggle. When she looked up, her eyes were still indifferent, but they seemed to hide a hint of an unknown emotion. When she spoke, it was with a touch of awkwardness, as if it were her own unique way of worrying about her.
“Don’t die on me.”
After saying that, she immediately snapped back to reality. Thanatos had already claimed to be the God of Death from the City of Desires. Anyone could die, but she could definitely get away unscathed.
Thanatos chuckled softly. Her pleasant voice was like a spring breeze, making people forget the tension and horror of the instance.
She let go of Jiang Nan’s hand. In the pitch-black night, it was impossible to see the emotions in her eyes clearly. When Jiang Nan looked back, for some reason, from those eyes that always held a smile, she saw a hint of genuineness mixed with a touch of playfulness. She spoke with a hint of comfort and a hint of a promise.
“Remember to be careful. This is nothing serious. I will bring you out.”
Jiang Nan heard her last sentence. Her heart trembled. A strange emotion spread in her heart, which she couldn’t explain.
The “whooshing” sound of the wind behind her seemed to carry a sound of something moving. She paused on the stairs, wanting to turn back to see if something had happened to Thanatos, but she could no longer see her. Instead, she was facing another face.
It was a face wrapped in bandages. Under the pale moonlight, it was barely distinguishable as a human, but it was hideous and terrifying, making people feel afraid.
The bandages didn’t seem to be completely wrapped. A slit revealed the eyes inside. The bloodshot eyes stared at her like those of a demon.
Its body was also wrapped in bandages, but it was stained with something. A viscous liquid dripped from its body onto the ground.
A faint sound came from within the bandages. It was hoarse and unpleasant, like it had been run over by a truck, but it was filled with pleading.
“S… save… me…”
Jiang Nan didn’t hear the broken and intermittent words clearly. But when she saw it moving stiffly toward her, a hint of coldness flashed in her eyes. She took a step back, her wrist turned, and a cold flash pierced its body.
When Jiang Nan pulled her knife out, she turned and went upstairs without hesitation, but she didn’t hear the cackling laugh coming from behind her.
“Thank you. One of them got away just in time.”
When Jiang Nan got to the fifth floor, among the many offices, she finally found the others who had arrived before her.
The atmosphere among them was a little heavy. They were standing in front of the door, not knowing what to discuss.
“Should we just break the door down? Or maybe just pry it open?” Yan Xin said.
They had only found out after they got up here that they didn’t have the keys to the office at all.
“That won’t work, will it? We can’t fix it afterward. We won’t be able to get away if they check the security footage,” Lin Jia said, frowning in contemplation.
Su Yue closed the system interface. She hadn’t found any tools that could allow them to pass through the wall. She shook her head silently at Lin Jia.
The girl who had brought them there was huddled in the corner, sobbing, her body jerking with each sob. She was saying indistinctly.
“I knew I shouldn’t have come. Even if I went up there, it wasn’t certain that I would be the one to die…”
Jiang Nan glanced at her, then walked over and helped the girl up. She quietly comforted the other person for a moment. The others noticed her when they heard the commotion.
“Where’s the other person?” Yan Xin looked around but didn’t find any sign of Thanatos. She then asked in confusion.
The others also noticed Thanatos’s disappearance. They all looked at Jiang Nan, waiting for her answer.
The moonlight shone on Jiang Nan through the hallway window. Her silvery hair seemed to be glowing. Her slender body and sickly appearance, under the gazes of the others, made her look even easier to bully.
In the depths of her lowered eyes, an emotion that others couldn’t understand flashed. She slowly spoke.
“She went to…”
Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted.