Chapter Twenty-Nine: Searching for the Key

I took deep breaths of the fresh air—after spending so long underground, the very air seemed sweet to me. I pulled out my phone and saw that it was already past four in the morning on the second day.

“Let’s go, breakfast is on me,” I said.

Chen Chen didn’t refuse; drenched in sweat, he nodded eagerly.

Looking around, I realized we were in a small grove of trees. Fortunately, it wasn’t large; after fumbling around for a bit, we found our way back to the spot where we’d originally climbed in.

With the help of spiritual energy, I vaulted easily over the wall without even a running start, and gave Chen Chen a hand as well.

We retraced our steps, encountering no real danger, though the school grounds felt especially eerie and grim.

By now, the sky was beginning to lighten. The two of us, both high schoolers, found a little bun shop, sat down, and devoured a basket of soup dumplings each, eating with relish.

As we ate, both our phones buzzed at the same time.

"Students, be at school by 8 o’clock sharp today. Anyone late will die."

I read the message out softly so that Chen Chen, who was wolfing down his food with no time to check his phone, could hear.

He paused for only a moment, then continued eating voraciously.

Having burned so much energy, we fell asleep right there on the table after finishing our meal.

...

“Children... children, you’re going to be late for class, children...”

I blinked awake in a daze—it was the old lady from the bun shop, waking us up.

I nodded, grabbed my phone from the table, and checked the time.

“Shit, it’s already 7:50!”

I hurriedly woke Chen Chen, who was still half asleep, tossed fifty yuan onto the table, and the two of us sprinted back to school.

On the way, that idiot Li Zijian even sent me a message:

“Aren’t you coming? Chen Chen’s not coming either?”

“If you two don’t show, I’m inheriting your maxed-out King’s Glory account...”

I didn’t have time to reply, just focused on running.

We dashed into the classroom just in time.

Everyone in the class, thinking I wouldn’t show, stared at me in shock.

“Shit, bro, you actually came? Tsk... you shouldn’t have, I was hoping—”

Before Li Zijian could finish, I smacked him on the head and said, “Don’t worry, even if I die, I’ll drag you with me.”

Li Zijian, trembling and showing his usual dorky demeanor, said, “Please don’t... I’m not going, I’m not going...”

I ignored him, sat down, and closed my eyes to rest.

But then I thought, “It’s already 8:10—why hasn’t the Ghost King made a move yet?”

Just as I was pondering this, all of our phones rang at once.

“Good morning, students. Now, let’s snatch some red envelopes.”

The Ghost King threw out a big red envelope worth 500 yuan, but none of the students seemed eager to grab it.

Then Li Zijian was the first to snatch it, tapping away on his phone and muttering, “If you don’t take it, it’s a waste...”

That’s how it goes with my classmates—once someone takes the lead, everyone else follows in a rush.

When I opened the envelope, I realized that Li Zijian was the lucky one who grabbed the first prize.

I looked at Li Zijian with a wry smile. He just put on his usual nonchalant face.

Li Zijian was always a strange one—normally timid and afraid of death, but when it came to playing the Ghost King’s games, he was never scared at all.

“Congratulations, Li Zijian. Your task is to obtain the school warehouse key.”

As soon as the Ghost King sent this message, the tense atmosphere in the classroom vanished.

“Thank goodness it’s not me... Back to slacking off.”

“That’s a relief...”

“Ghost King, if we don’t have to play the game, can we go home...?”

...

“The game is limited to 30 minutes. Begin.”

Only after hearing the Ghost King announce the start did Li Zijian put down his phone, on which he’d been scrolling through short videos, and get to his feet, swaying slightly.

The person with the key to the school warehouse was Wang Baoquan, our discipline director. Although he was strict and had caught me smoking a few times, he was actually a good man.

This left Li Zijian in a bit of a pickle.

I habitually patted his shoulder and said, “Let’s find the director first. I’ll come with you.”

Chewing gum, Li Zijian nodded lightly, his eyes showing nothing but disdain for the Ghost King’s games...

The two of us left the classroom together, amid the chatter of our classmates.

As the saying goes: idle talk is ever-present, but if you don’t listen, it won’t bother you.

Just outside the door, we saw Chen Chen jogging over to us.

The three of us didn’t say a word; we decided to look for the director’s office first.

As the name suggests, the director’s office was staffed by all the discipline directors. It was on the first floor and only took a few minutes to reach. Soon, the three of us stood at the door of the office.

(Unknowingly, this novel has reached fifty thousand words, all thanks to your support. I’ve been feeling under the weather lately, so I have to take breaks while writing, which is why there’s only one chapter a day. But don’t worry, I won’t stop updating. By the way, the story now needs a name for the female lead—if you have a suggestion, leave it in the comments and I’ll take a look...)