The three invigilators stood at the podium and in the two corners of the classroom.
They were like wooden stakes, their faces pale, their eyes sunken and dark, their gazes numb—as if pre-programmed to act only by the rules.
"First warning: examinees, do not look around."
Listening to Sun Ye's desperate cries for help, the students steeled themselves. After gathering their belongings, they sat in their seats, restless. Usually, in situations like this, someone would take the lead—but no one in the exam hall dared to make the first move.
Chu Shiyu clenched her small fists, gripping her ID and exam admission ticket. She glanced left and right, as if afraid she might regret it, then abruptly stood up and strode toward the door.
Her bold move spurred the others. One by one, the examinees rose from their seats and walked out of the classroom under the watchful eyes of the monstrous figures by the windows.
As more people stood, a different kind of tension took hold—as if the last one to leave would suffer some terrible fate. Soon, they were all scrambling toward the exit, crowding around the storage rack by the door.
The sight of the dark red bloodstains and the nearly decapitated corpse at the entrance sent shivers down their spines. Even though they knew what had to be done, the hunters by the windows—armed and vicious—made their legs go weak. All they wanted was to flee.
"Hey! Quit hesitating—we only have three minutes!"
"Damn it! Why the hell are we stuck in this nightmare?"
"What’s the point of complaining now? Someone just do it already!"
Perhaps because Chu Shiyu had been the first to leave, the panicked crowd instinctively turned their gazes toward her.
Her already pale face turned ghostly white, as if she’d swallowed a fly. "Why are you all looking at me?"
"Hurry up. Time’s running out."
Tong Yang, lounging on the rooftop of the opposite building, lazily reminded them.
Chu Shiyu shot her a glare. "Easy for you to say from up there!"
"What’s wrong, princess? Scared?" Tong Yang smirked. "Oh, by the way—Sun Ye ran too fast. Two hunters lost track of him and are heading your way now."
The group tensed immediately.
Chu Shiyu pressed her lips together, unwilling to be mocked. Gritting her teeth, she picked up a bloodied metal rod from the ground and forced herself toward the nearest hunter. After a brief hesitation, she drove the rod into his abdomen. Blood gushed from the wound, coating her hands. The sight was too much—she nearly vomited on the spot.
The wounded hunter simply stared at them, eerily calm, as if he felt no pain and had no intention of fighting back.
Bolstered by her example, the others found their courage. They grabbed whatever weapons they could and attacked the motionless hunters.
"Hey… are we gonna go to jail for this?"
"I still want to be a civil servant—what now?"
"Screw that! We’re the victims here! And what even is this place? It’s nothing like when we came in!"
"These things don’t even look human…"
"This is insane! Three years of grinding for the gaokao, and now this? Whatever these freaks are, they can all die!"
"Damn right! I’ve waited too long for this day—go to hell!"
"Screw this survival game—I’ll kill you first!"
As their initial shock and fear faded, rage took over. They attacked the hunters with brutal efficiency. Soon, the hallway outside Exam Hall 1209 was splattered with blood.
Since the rules hadn’t yet allowed the hunters to retaliate, they remained passive, reinforcing the students’ belief that they weren’t dealing with living beings. The lack of resistance only made the students more ruthless.
Watching their frenzy from the rooftop, Tong Yang shrugged. "Told you—high school seniors are full of pent-up rage."
The walls were smeared with blood, and the students were no better off. Covered in gore, they looked more like the murderers than the victims.
"Left side—they’re coming up," Tong Yang called out.
The bloodlust in the students’ eyes hadn’t faded. They turned toward the stairwell, ready to kill whatever came at them.
Two axe-wielding hunters charged into the hallway, roaring as they lunged. But with most of their kind already down, the two stood no chance against the mob.
"Bring it on! I’ll jump off this building if I don’t kill you all today!"
"We’ve already killed this many—what’s a few more?"
The hunters didn’t falter. Ignoring the numbers against them, they barreled into the crowd, swinging their axes. The students, now in full slaughter mode, fought back like they were in a zombie game—eyes alight with a disturbing excitement. Using their longer weapons, they stabbed first.
"You think you’re tough? Come at me!"
"Whatever the hell you are—you’re all dead!"
Even as the hunters were impaled, they kept staring, unfazed by their wounds. Some even stepped forward, their heads tilting unnaturally, their blood-streaked faces grotesque under the flickering lights.
Then—the three minutes were up.
"Watch your backs."
Tong Yang’s calm voice cut through the chaos.
The students turned.
The hunters they’d left for dead were stirring. Limbs twisted, guts spilling, eyes dangling—they dragged themselves up, weapons still in hand, and lurched forward.
"Holy shit…"
The students’ fury evaporated, replaced by revulsion and terror.
"H-How are they not dead?!"
Their bravado shattered. They huddled together, watching in horror as the mangled figures advanced.
"H-Help…"
"Ugh—"
"AHHH!!!"
One student broke. He bolted for the stairs, and the rest followed, fleeing in a panicked stampede.
With Exam Hall 1209 now empty, the remaining hunters joined the hunt.
Despite their injuries, they pursued relentlessly, leaving trails of blood and scattered flesh in their wake. The stench of iron filled the air.
The students screamed as they scattered. At the foot of the stairs, they crashed into Sun Ye—who was still being chased.
"Help me..." Sun Ye was nearly moved to tears at the sight of familiar living faces, but to his shock, they ignored the four or five Hunters behind him and instead ran toward him in terror.
"Don’t come this way! Run back!" Sun Ye shouted.
"Run my ass!"
"Get out of here! Don’t come over!"
The dozen or so examinees sprinting toward him yelled back.
"No! There are Hunters behind me—"
Before Sun Ye could finish, his face paled as he caught sight of the bloodied, mangled "fragments" staggering relentlessly down the hallway behind them. Compared to the Hunters—armed but still recognizably human—these gore-drenched, zombie-like monstrosities were far more terrifying.
A blood-soaked figure tumbled out of the hallway, crawling forward on all fours.
Without a second thought, Sun Ye spun around just before the horde reached him—only to face the glint of blades thrust toward his face, shadows looming over him.
"Ahhh!!!"
The stampeding crowd behind him didn’t hesitate—they kicked the knife-wielding Hunters aside. Clearly, whatever those "fragments" were, they inspired far more fear than these still-human assailants.
Sun Ye exhaled in relief, watching as the others shoved the Hunters away without fear and bolted forward. Remembering the blood-drenched horrors behind them, he didn’t dare look back, sprinting after the group toward the cafeteria.
Tong Yang leaned against the balcony railing, watching the chaos below like a cat observing trapped mice, a faint smirk on her lips. She pondered whether these things were truly alive or dead—and how to wipe them out for good.
Then, a loud crash sounded behind her.
She whirled around to see a pale hand sliding through the gaps in the iron gate, pushing aside the barricaded chairs and tables.
Unnoticed, a Hunter had slipped onto the rooftop.
Tong Yang calmly glanced down. Several blood-soaked, indistinct figures were crawling slowly toward the building.
"Time to go," she muttered, tucking her phone into her backpack and hefting her homemade spiked club as she strode toward the gate.
The expressionless Hunter pounded on the iron door, a pallid hand straining to shove aside the chair leg bracing it shut.
Tong Yang didn’t hesitate. She swung her nail-studded club, smashing the hand into a pulpy mess. Blood and severed fingers sprayed, chunks of flesh and bone splattering at her feet. Yet the thing outside didn’t stop—its other arm thrust forward, a cleaver slashing wildly at her.
She crushed that hand too. The cleaver clattered to the ground. Snatching it up, she yanked the gate open before the other monsters could arrive. The handless Hunter lunged the moment the door gave way—but Tong Yang swung the cleaver down hard, severing its head in one brutal strike.
Blood fountained. The head hit the ground with a wet thud.
"Disgusting," Tong Yang spat, kicking the headless corpse aside and stepping carefully over the gore as she left the rooftop.
Sun Ye and the others, after a frantic escape, barricaded themselves in the cafeteria, rolling down the metal shutter to temporarily evade the Hunters.
Panting, drenched in blood, they looked at each other’s battered states, their fear easing slightly.
"Did everyone make it?"
"Yeah."
Chu Shiyu and Sun Ye suddenly realized something at the same time. "Tong Yang’s still out there!"
At that moment, the cafeteria window above them shattered with a deafening crash. Everyone flinched, looking up in horror as a bloodied cleaver was hurled inside, clattering onto the floor.
A girl, her body slick with blood, climbed through the broken glass.
"Holy shit... this thing can climb windows?!"
The girl crouched on the windowsill, wiping blood from her face as she scanned the room.
"It’s me."
Before she could say more, a mangled hand reached from behind her, clawing at her backpack.
"Tong Yang, behind you!!" Chu Shiyu screamed, pointing frantically.
