Chapter 13

Gu Yi’an picked up a handful of fallen leaves and cautiously made her way into the lawn.
She tossed one leaf, watched it fall, took a few steps forward, and stopped where it landed. Then she threw another leaf.
Repeating this process, Gu Yi’an slowly made her way to the center of the lawn.
The other players watched but didn’t mock her strange behavior.
After all, if it were them, they would have been even more cautious.
When it came to matters of life and death, no amount of caution was excessive.
Gu Yi’an threw another withered leaf.
The leaf drifted through the air, slanting forward as it fell. Suddenly, it seemed to hit something mid-air, bouncing slightly before gently settling into the grass.
Sure enough, something was ahead.
Most likely, it was the office building.
The building was currently hidden, its outline invisible. Figuring out how to get inside had become a major challenge.
Just as Gu Yi’an was pondering this, a soft piano melody suddenly drifted through the air.
The music was ethereal and eerie.
All the players heard it. The previously relaxed players now tensed up, alertly scanning their surroundings.
Amid the eerie piano music, the delighted voice of a little girl rang out.
"It’s nighttime. I can look for you now."
As soon as these words were spoken, the sky abruptly darkened, as if draped in a pitch-black curtain, extinguishing all light.
But as the sky turned black, a building that hadn’t been there before materialized out of thin air in everyone’s line of sight.
It was a three-story structure with a red electronic display above its door, situated exactly where the lawn had been. The interior lights were all on, creating a brightly lit scene.
The electronic screen flickered with red light, displaying a message:
I found you.
"I found you!"
The cheerful voice of the little girl sounded from behind the players.
At the same time, countless overlapping children’s voices echoed from behind them.
They repeated the same phrase.
"I found you."
In that moment, a brave player glanced back.
"What the hell is that?!"
He let out a terrified scream and sprinted toward the newly appeared building.
The surroundings were pitch black, with only this building emitting light. His only option was to run toward the illuminated structure.
Curiosity is a natural human instinct.
Another player also looked back and immediately screamed.
"Holy shit! Run!"
"Help!"
In an instant, four players dashed past Gu Yi’an.
Realizing the situation was dire, Gu Yi’an grew even calmer.
She knew her weaknesses, her physical stamina was poor, and she was weaker than the men.
What she could rely on more was her mind.
In that moment, Gu Yi’an recalled the little girl’s words and connected them to the sudden appearance of the building before them.
Right in front of her, the red electronic screen displayed the little girl’s message.
This clearly announced one fact:
The appearance of this building was related to the little girl.
Perhaps running inside would be like walking straight into a trap.
Gu Yi'an's thoughts lasted only a moment before the four players vanished through the main entrance.
She suppressed her urge to flee and remained standing.
This building couldn't be entered.
A fierce wind howled past.
It felt as if Gu Yi'an might be swept away entirely.
She couldn't move now, staying put was the safest option.
Gu Yi'an considered crouching down to reduce her exposure to the wind.
Just then, an unknown hand suddenly brushed against her palm.
The hand was too cold. Gu Yi'an instinctively flinched, but the person seized her hand firmly.
The person drew closer to Gu Yi'an.
The two stood side by side, bracing against the violent wind.
The gale was so intense that Gu Yi'an had to close her eyes to protect them.
The mournful howl of the wind echoed in her ears, but the presence of the indistinct figure beside her brought a sense of comfort.
Having a companion always felt reassuring.
About two minutes passed and the wind ceased abruptly.
Light flooded Gu Yi'an's world.
She slowly opened her eyes.
The sky was a pale gray, just as before.
The second night had ended and she remained standing there, unharmed.
The person had already released her hand.
Gu Yi'an turned around and finally saw his face clearly.
It was the Swindler.
More precisely, the player holding the Swindler card.
"Mr. Swindler, thank you."
Gu Yi'an smiled slightly, expressing her gratitude.
If the Swindler hadn't grabbed her in time, enduring the wind would have been much harder.
Hearing her words, the Swindler looked inexplicably wronged.
But he quickly changed his expression and replied casually, "Helping each other is normal among companions, little Thief."
Gu Yi'an couldn't help but chuckle at this.
Their conversation felt somewhat odd.
A "Mr. Swindler."
A "Ms. Thief."
It strangely resembled a script from a play, exaggerated and theatrical.
The Swindler didn't understand why she was laughing and asked in confusion, "Did I say something wrong?"
Gu Yi'an shook her head and explained, "No. I was just thinking about something else."
Her gaze drifted to the location where the building had once stood.
There was now a lush green lawn, with not a trace of the building in sight.
The four players who had entered the building were also nowhere to be seen.
She couldn’t even hear the slightest sound.
The Swindler glanced at the lawn and asked Gu Yi'an, "Is this the third day when I’m supposed to die?"
Gu Yi’an looked back in the direction they had come from.
In the distance, the Butcher’s body lay quietly on the ground.
The campus was empty and deserted, so desolate it was frightening.
After a moment’s thought, Gu Yi’an said, "It should be the third day. But it shouldn’t be your death, it should still be mine."
Although she had cleverly survived the second night unscathed, based on what the demon had said earlier, the death list order was sequential.
Since she hadn’t died on the second night, the third night should still be hers.
The Swindler understood and then asked, "So, are you going to enter the office building?"
Gu Yi’an nodded.
Given the current situation, if they wanted to find clues, they had to go into the office building.
Danger and opportunity coexisted.
Those four players must have thought the same, weighing the risks before deciding to rush into the office building despite knowing the dangers.
They likely had their own means of survival.
Gu Yi’an’s physical strength was average, and she had no survival skills, only one method to ensure her body remained intact.
She needed to see if she could use this time to explore other areas.
Gu Yi’an said, "I’ll go in when the third night arrives."
The office building probably existed in another spatial dimension. Only when the third night arrived would they be able to enter easily. If they tried to enter recklessly now, something unexpected might happen.
Mr. Demon hadn’t explained the rules for clearing the game.
If she wanted to clear this game and return to her own world, she could only rely on her reasoning from the first game.
God, or perhaps the demon, must have arranged a script for them.
Everything that followed would only be triggered by their actions.
So, she had to enter the building to find clues.
Gu Yi’an’s intentions weren’t hard to understand.
The Swindler seemed to want to bridge the gap with his companion, so he asked some simple questions: "Then what should we do now? Go back to meet the demon? He said we were free to move around but didn’t specify a time to regroup."
Gu Yi’an scanned the area and located the school gate.
As she walked, she answered the Swindler’s question.
"No need to go back. The one playing the game with us has changed. It’s not the demon anymore, it’s the little girl from the piano piece. From the moment I stepped out of the classroom, we’ve been playing a different game."
The Swindler kept pace with Gu Yi’an. With his long legs, he looked as if he were strolling compared to her.
The Swindler followed up, "A different game?"
"Yes. The demon probably wanted us to turn on each other. If we didn’t want to follow the death list order, we’d have to kill someone else. If we had stayed at that round table, we could have used card skills to kill others. But now that we’ve left, it’s the little girl who wants to play a death game with us. Everyone is equal. The order of death doesn’t matter."
The path to the gate was still some distance away, and Gu Yi’an and the Swindler had only covered about a third of it.
The Swindler said, "If we’re not following the death list, then why did you say the third night’s death would be yours?"
"Because Mr. Demon's game is still ongoing. The two games are overlapping. Do you understand what I mean? That little girl's game is built upon the foundation of Mr. Demon's game."
Gu Yi'an thought for a moment. "Let me put it this way. When we were at the round table, we were playing the card-killing game, but now that we've left, we're playing an escape game with the little girl. The only common point between the two games is that one player must die each day to advance to the next day. That's Mr. Demon's game rule. I suspect that a player must have already died in that office building, which is why we've reached the third day."
After hearing this, the Swindler seemed somewhat overwhelmed by Gu Yi'an's explanation, his enthusiasm waning slightly.
After a while, the Swindler said, "You're making it sound complicated, two games, with Mr. Demon and the little girl. You're overcomplicating something simple. Isn't it just that Mr. Demon wants one of us to die each day?"
Hearing this, Gu Yi'an replied calmly, "Perhaps. But haven't you noticed that our objective is already quite clear?"
"What objective?" the Swindler asked, puzzled.
The two of them arrived at the security booth at the school entrance.
The door to the security booth was shut tight, and a thick layer of dust covered the windows and door.
The Swindler, ever the gentleman, stepped forward and pushed the door open.
The security booth had been unused for a long time, and as the door opened, dust floated in the air.
Under normal circumstances, Gu Yi'an would have waited before entering such a place, but at this moment, both she and the Swindler stepped directly inside.
Gu Yi'an scanned the room.
The security booth was small, furnished with a wooden desk and chairs.
The wooden desk served as a registration counter, with drawers and a logbook for entries and exits placed on top.
This logbook wasn't what Gu Yi'an was looking for. She opened the registration counter.
This time, she found what she was searching for.
The security guard's work log.
Gu Yi'an pulled out the notebook, flipped through it, and her eyes lit up.
She looked up and waved the notebook at the bewildered Swindler. "Found it. Our objective, the connection between the little girl and Mr. Demon, is here."
Seeing the Swindler's lack of interest, she rephrased her statement.
"We can clear the game now."