Zhu Yaya listened to Xu Chun's faint cries for help from inside the room, feeling somewhat hesitant. She didn't know in the novel's plot when Murong Beichen would arrive to save Xu Chun—perhaps it would be late at night. She could sense Xu Chun's cries growing weaker and weaker. She was starting to worry about Xu Chun's condition behind that door.
Just as she was hesitating whether to rescue the female lead first, she heard Murong Beichen's unpleasant, raspy voice—
"Chun'er, your Brother Chen is here! Where are you?"
He's finally here, Zhu Yaya thought with a sigh of relief. She was hiding in the classroom next to the one where Xu Chun was trapped; its door was open. She quietly moved to the window, picked up a discarded, dusty ink bottle from the windowsill, and threw it outside. With a crisp shattering sound, Murong Beichen was successfully attracted, identified the source of the noise, and finally ran into the Duxing Building.
Murong Beichen knocked on each classroom door one by one, calling Xu Chun's name all the while.
Xu Chun heard Murong Beichen's voice and hurried to the door. Mustering all her remaining strength, she pounded on the door and shouted, "Murong Beichen! I'm in here!"
Murong Beichen heard her voice and exclaimed joyfully, "Chun'er, I'm here to save you!"
Following the sound of her cries, he found the classroom where Xu Chun was trapped and began fumbling to open the door in a fluster.
Zhu Yaya was hiding by the door of the adjacent classroom, using the darkness to conceal herself. Carefully, she pinched a small piece of watermelon and gently slipped it into her mouth. Her heart was pounding wildly. Because if Murong Beichen just took a step or two to the left, he could discover her.
She heard the sound of Murong Beichen entering the classroom, and then heard Xu Chun and Murong Beichen begin their meaningless, chattering conversation inside.
Zhu Yaya: "..."
She was utterly exasperated. Why didn't they just come out first? If some villain was secretly watching and took the chance to lock the door, they'd be trapped again!
Seizing the opportunity, she cautiously peeked out a little to look at Murong Beichen and Xu Chun in the next classroom, chewing the watermelon in her mouth slowly and quietly.
Finally, after Murong Beichen finished pouring out his feelings, he said to Xu Chun with deep affection, "Chun'er, now, let your Brother Chen take you home!"
"Okay!" Xu Chun responded weakly.
Zhu Yaya quickly pulled her head back, retreating to her original hiding spot. Worried that Murong Beichen and Xu Chun might still discover her, she hid behind the door.
The classroom she was hiding in also seemed long unused, covered in a thick layer of dust. She could feel her cotton-padded jacket getting dirty from brushing against things.
Holding her breath, Zhu Yaya listened as the footsteps of Murong Beichen and Xu Chun grew closer. They walked out of the classroom door, and their footsteps began to fade into the distance. She let out a sigh of relief.
"Congratulations on successfully completing the ninth task. Reward: three years of lifespan and twenty thousand RMB."
In the darkness, the system prompt tone suddenly rang out, startling Zhu Yaya half to death.
This Damn System.
She was just about to step out from behind the door when she suddenly heard a series of hurried footsteps echoing in the quiet corridor, getting closer and closer to the classroom she was in.
Cold sweat broke out on Zhu Yaya from fright, and she ducked back behind the classroom door. She tried hard to hold her breath, her hands sweating as she tightly gripped the hem of her clothes.
Her mind raced.
Who is it? Who's coming?
Murong Beichen and Xu Chun hadn't gone far. Could it be one of them suddenly returning? But that seemed unlikely. Could it be Shen Wandan, returning unwillingly after finding her scheme had failed?
The hurried footsteps came closer and closer to her classroom. What made Zhu Yaya's heart pound with fear was that the footsteps showed no pause or hesitation, heading straight for her, clearly with purpose. She nervously swallowed, not caring about staying clean anymore, and squeezed herself deeper into the dirty corner behind the door.
The footsteps stopped, right at the doorway of the classroom where Zhu Yaya was hiding. Zhu Yaya's whole body tensed. She was now extremely close to this unknown person. If that person came in and pulled open the door, she would be discovered instantly.
But the person just stood at the doorway, motionless, just like Zhu Yaya hiding behind the door.
Suddenly, with a "bang," Zhu Yaya felt the door, which had been her sense of security, being pulled outward. Then, she heard the sound of the door being locked.
The color drained from Zhu Yaya's face. That person wanted to lock the door and trap her!
In her panic, Zhu Yaya no longer cared about being discovered. She pounded on the door and shouted, "Hey, out there! There's still someone inside! Open the door!"
The footsteps that had just started moving away came to a halt.
Zhu Yaya heard it and clung to a sliver of hope. "Person outside, please open the door for me!"
The footsteps remained still for a moment. That sliver of hope in Zhu Yaya's heart gradually faded with the passing seconds.
Sure enough, the footsteps started up again, hurriedly, but the sound grew farther and farther away.
Zhu Yaya was furious, her eyes wide with rage.
She kicked the door hard, forcing herself to calm down. She put down her backpack, fished out her phone, and anxiously waited for it to boot up. The phone finally turned on, only to immediately shut off again. It was out of battery!
Zhu Yaya clawed at her hair in frustration.
While waiting for Murong Beichen to show up earlier, the sky had already grown completely dark. In this dark classroom, Zhu Yaya's inner fear was awakened. Shivering, she reached out to feel for the light switch on the wall, wanting to turn on the lights to calm her nerves and make it easier for others to notice she was trapped.
But after flipping it several times, the lights wouldn't turn on. Only then did she realize—Shen Wandan, to trap Xu Chun, had already cut off the electricity to the entire teaching building in advance!
She tried hard to steady her breathing and went to check the window. The window had a security grille with wide gaps, but she couldn't possibly squeeze through!
Zhu Yaya no longer cared if the floor was clean. She simply sat down cross-legged behind the door. After taking a few deep breaths, she forced herself to calm down.
Who was that person who locked the door? She had been hiding quietly in the shadows the whole time. How did that person know someone was in this classroom?
Wait a minute—the ink bottle. To attract Murong Beichen, she had thrown an ink bottle outside. Could it be that the person heard the noise and discovered someone was in this classroom?
A terrifying thought suddenly surged into Zhu Yaya's mind, making a cold sweat break out down her back and sending shivers all over her body—what if, just like her, someone else had been hiding in the shadows, secretly watching? They heard the noise from the ink bottle and discovered her.
Zhu Yaya felt this was very likely. She smiled bitterly.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
While she was secretly watching Murong Beichen and Xu Chun, little did she know, someone else was hiding behind, secretly watching her.
She then thought about how she had earlier teased Xu Chun about being trapped—"You could shout yourself hoarse, and no one would come to save you." Who would have thought the tables would turn, and she would end up in the same situation.
This, it seemed, really might be a case of "shouting yourself hoarse with no one coming to save you"!
Forget it, forget it. At worst, she could just spend the night in this classroom. By tomorrow morning, surely someone else would pass by, and then she could call for help. But... tomorrow is Saturday!
Zhu Yaya felt like she was going to lose her mind!
It was too quiet here, so quiet that Zhu Yaya could clearly hear her own uneven breathing and the pounding of her heart. The cold wind outside swept past, howling like a lone wolf.
Zhu Yaya clutched her schoolbag tightly against her chest, a gesture born of deep unease. In such a setting, her tears began to fall, drop by drop onto her hands, still warm with the memory of her own sorrow.
