The sun slowly climbed up the horizon, revealing half of its face.
Xin Meng estimated the time; it had been about half an hour.
“It’s slower than usual for a sunrise. At this rate, it will take about an hour for the sun to fully rise,” he said. “Since no enemies have appeared yet, we can assume that this hour should be a resting period, or a time for the side acting as ‘humans’ to hide. But we can’t be careless; if we guess wrong, the consequences could be severe. Let’s split up and hide now.”
The others had no objections.
But where to hide was a problem.
“We plan to hide inside the kindergarten building,” Li Wenjun said.
The others looked outside and found there weren’t many hiding spots. The only place that could vaguely conceal someone was the cylindrical slide, but that was only suitable for smaller individuals. Even if these big men squeezed in, they would get stuck, and if caught, they wouldn’t be able to escape.
Thus, the six of them decided to enter the building together and then split up to hide.
On the way, Dou Dou continued to complain, “There are too few hints; we don’t even know what the enemy looks like. There’s no sense of urgency at all.”
Xin Meng glanced at him and recounted the little girl in the red dress he had seen before, noticing Dou Dou shiver slightly.
“Is it a ghost?!” Dou Dou grimaced, “I hate that kind of thing the most!”
“Since it’s a ghost, can it pass through walls? How do we hide?!” Luo Yingying was also startled, her thoughts going to an even worse place!
“It shouldn’t be able to; otherwise, players would have no way to survive,” Xin Meng calmly analyzed. “There should be a balance; when the enemy is searching for people, they’re probably similar to us. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a game; it would be a massacre.”
But everyone still felt uneasy, praying that Xin Meng was right.
Upon entering the lobby on the first floor, they found a not-so-large entrance hall. Directly opposite was a two-meter-high, two-person-wide full-length mirror. The mirror surface was not very smooth, and the reflections of the six people appeared slightly distorted, looking quite eerie.
Next to the mirror was a staircase leading up, not very long, bending around so they couldn’t see the upper floor.
To the left was a corridor lined with classrooms, with some old-fashioned yellow-painted wooden doors symmetrically distributed. Due to the lack of lighting, it looked dark at a glance, and they couldn’t even see the end of the corridor.
Near the lobby, they could still make out part of the wall due to the faint light. The white wall paint was dirty at the bottom, covered in various shoe prints and mud, while the upper part was plastered with many A4 sheets, featuring crooked children’s doodles. At the very top was a large red sticker that read “Doodle Wall.”
Luo Yingying curiously took a look at the drawings but immediately turned pale and covered her mouth as she ran back!
“The drawings… they’re all human limbs and severed body parts, along with blood!” she said in disbelief. “How could children draw such things and put them up!”
“It’s a horror game,” Jiezi said with a smirk, “What’s the big deal? It would be strange if they were drawing little yellow ducks.”
Luo Yingying’s face turned red, and Dou Dou quickly kicked him, “Can you shut up for a second?”
On the right side, there was a corridor similar to the left, but instead of bloody doodles, it was lined with many masks.
These were graffiti masks, and Luo Yingying was very familiar with them. The original masks had no base color, and during specific art classes, teachers would hand them out to each child along with watercolor paints and brushes, allowing them to color freely to develop their motor skills.
However…
“What are these?!” Luo Yingying turned her face away, not wanting to look at those things.
There were six or seven in a row, four rows in total, all hanging with grotesque masks—twisted and hard long horns, messy hair, bulging eyes, and fierce fangs. Just looking at them made one’s heart race, not to mention they were haphazardly painted with red and black watercolor, making them look like they had just feasted on someone, their faces still dripping with blood.
Dou Dou curiously approached to take a look but suddenly felt as if those masks had come to life. The unpainted eyes revealed their base color, resembling white eyes without pupils, and at that moment, they all turned to stare at him!
Even someone as bold as him felt his heart race and took several steps back.
“These things are alive!” he couldn’t help but shout.
“What’s alive?” Jiezi asked, walking over and following Dou Dou’s finger to look at the masks, then laughed at him. “You must be seeing things; they’re obviously fake.”
“How could that be…” Dou Dou rubbed his eyes, and when he looked again, he found the masks had returned to normal. “What’s going on? I clearly saw…”
He was utterly perplexed.
“Alright, stop scaring people for no reason,” Jiezi said. “There are women here. If you accidentally scare someone into screaming and the enemy hears, we’re all done for.”
Luo Yingying frowned, “I won’t scream!”
Jiezi shrugged, noncommittal.
Dou Dou scratched his head, still unsure whether what he had seen was real. After all, the lighting was too dim, and seeing so many faces at once could easily cause a visual distortion.
Of course, it was more likely that… he had seen a ghost.
Thinking of the little girl in the red dress that Xin Meng mentioned, Dou Dou decided to be cautious, “I’m not going this way; I’m going upstairs!”
Jiezi rolled his eyes, “Coward.”
Dou Dou was furious, “If you’re so brave, you go!”
Jiezi raised an eyebrow, “Fine, I will.”
After saying that, he really walked down the right corridor!
As he passed the grotesque masks, nothing happened. He walked deeper and deeper, his figure gradually disappearing into the darkness at the end.
“Tsk, he really went,” Dou Dou clicked his tongue. “Anyway, I’m going upstairs; what about you guys?”
Xin Meng and the others also wanted to go upstairs. After all, anyone going downstairs would have to pass through the first floor, especially the enemies. When they were searching for them, they would definitely pass through this layer repeatedly, making the risk of being discovered the highest.
So, a few of them followed the staircase next to the mirror upwards.
Each floor above was basically the same as below, with corridors on both sides and classrooms, the same walls and doors, but the things hanging on the walls were different—there were broken toys and some unknown animal bones…
But Xin Meng still hadn’t seen the classroom and corridor he entered from.
That corridor was very special; only one side had classrooms, while the other side was just a wall and glass—more precisely, a mirror.
Dou Dou stopped on the third floor and entered the left corridor, where the entrance was only draped with a few pieces of red cloth, looking relatively normal.
Li Wenjun and Luo Yingying stopped on the fifth floor, while Xin Meng and You Yi continued upwards.
“Where do you want to go?” You Yi asked him.
“I want to find the floor I just came from… I don’t know why, but I’m a bit concerned,” Xin Meng unconsciously scratched his cheek, but his hand was grabbed by You Yi, and the two ended up holding hands as they walked up.
“Even without memories, I feel a sense of familiarity with this place… with the layout of the kindergarten,” Xin Meng said softly to You Yi as they climbed the stairs.
You Yi glanced at him.
In the dim light, Xin Meng wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but it seemed like he saw You Yi smile slightly, a smile that was a bit strange, carrying an indescribable sense of nostalgia and softness.
Nostalgia? Nostalgia for what?
He was momentarily lost in thought before realizing what the other had said.
“Perhaps it’s a subconscious impression of this place.”
“What do you mean?” Xin Meng felt that You Yi knew something, but what was it? Why did he have no recollection at all?
You Yi paused for a moment before slowly saying in a low voice, “Don’t think too much. I just mean that childhood memories can be hard to forget. Even if you can’t recall them for a moment, seeing them again can evoke a sense of familiarity.”
“Is it the same for you?” Xin Meng pressed.
“Yeah.” You Yi nodded.
Xin Meng felt relieved; it turned out that You Yi’s nostalgia was also about the kindergarten he had attended as a child.
At this moment, the two had already reached the tenth floor.
“I really want to know what you looked like as a child,” Xin Meng suddenly thought of this, imagining that the young You Yi must not have looked as serious as he did now; he might have been quite cute!
The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t help himself, and he immediately said to You Yi, “If we can get out, will you show me your childhood photos?”
But You Yi’s expression became even stranger, as if he was enduring something, or perhaps he was very helpless. Finally, he said, “You’ll see them soon.”
Just as Xin Meng was about to ask what he meant, he realized they seemed to have reached the top floor.
There was no corridor on the right side, replaced by a wall, while the left side was exactly where Xin Meng had just arrived!
“This is it!” Xin Meng carefully pulled You Yi over, “I saw that little girl here, and it was this wall that pulled me out.”
But he quickly discovered that there had been some changes here—
The mirror that could only reflect his own image had unexpectedly turned into ordinary glass!
Bright sunlight from outside was shining in, illuminating the entire corridor, and when he stood in front of the glass, he found he could actually see outside!
They were at the highest point of the entire building, looking down from above, and through the glass, they could see the entire front yard of the kindergarten.
And the main gate.
Beyond the main gate, however, was still a sea of darkness, a darkness that even sunlight could not penetrate.
It seemed that the entire kindergarten was floating in this void of darkness, and apart from this place, they had nowhere to go.
“Being pulled down from here was like jumping off a building; it’s a miracle we survived,” Xin Meng murmured, then immediately realized that You Yi was still beside him and secretly stuck out his tongue.
“Why touch the wall when you’re in an unfamiliar place?” Sure enough, upon hearing this, You Yi frowned, “Looks like I need to find time to give you some extra training.”
Xin Meng quickly shook his arm, whining for mercy, shamelessly acting cute, not wanting to experience the so-called “training” again.
When You Yi trained him, he seemed like a different person, merciless, transforming from a loyal guardian into a strict instructor in the military. Just thinking about it made him feel a lingering fear!
Although he knew the other was doing it for his own good and that the time spent was limited, he still preferred to avoid any “extra” training…
You Yi didn’t speak, just looked out the window. Xin Meng was about to continue pestering him when he suddenly heard him say:
“Look outside.”
