The Escape Game

Chapter 1

It felt a little hot on Monday morning. The sun was shining extremely bright, to the point that almost no shadows could be seen on the ground. Leaves were swaying with the wind and the people were still feeling sleepy.

The flag ceremony was held on the stage. The principal had been reading his manuscript here for a full 10 minutes, but only a few were listening to him.

Xie Chian stood at the back row. He was leaning against a barbed wire that was hoisted from the edge of the field. His uniform was large-sized, but it couldn’t hide his thin and slender body. He was standing under the only shadow, but half of his body was still exposed to the sun. He was bowing his head slightly. His pretty face was shrouded in the sun’s light and appeared so pale.

At some point, the principal’s chatter stopped suddenly. The entire audience had become silent.

Xie Chian adjusted his posture. The situation was strange.

Was there a problem with the microphone?

He raised his eyes and observed the stage – the principal was nowhere to be seen. On the high platform, pieces of ground meat can be found. Blood trickled from the stage to the ground as the bloodstains were winding its way out.

The front row students had their eyes straight. Their faces were ashen.

Just now, they had seen with their own eyes that the principal was still talking. Suddenly, a cloud of blood appeared and then burst.

Even stranger, the broadcast had already stopped for a moment after the principal’s death. But it had resumed again afterwards as if nothing happened.

And…it was still the principal’s voice who can be heard over the speaker.

However, the content of the broadcast had changed.

“District 0736, the first level of the escape game;

Game players: 2008 people.

Game map: Campus.

Game rules: Kill until only one person remains.

Game time limit: 7 days.

Game victory condition: Survive until the end.

Seven days later, if the victory or loss remains undecided, everyone will be annihilated.

Now, the game begins.”

There was a terrible silence.

Immediately after, someone screamed.

“Kill people!!!”

“Why did the broadcast continue when the principal was already dead? What did he mean?”

“Are we experiencing supernatural events?”

The students began to feel restless while talking about the horrible scene. The female teachers panicked one by one, and they nearly couldn’t stand while wearing their high heels. The male teachers barely maintained order. Some of them calmed down and called the police.

Toot–– toot––

The teacher who called the police put the phone in his ear and waited for a moment. He frowned, “I can’t get through.”

“What?” Several other teachers also took out their phones and tried calling one by one, but they still couldn’t connect.

“What’s going on, there’s no signal.”

“Hey, what is this called! Get out of here and go to the police bureau––“

“Can’t get out.”

Several teachers were taken aback, only to realize that the speaker was a student.

Xie Chian said, “The school gate has disappeared.”

These five words were truly disturbing.

As soon as the mysterious broadcast ended, Xie Chian had left the field and went to check out the school gate. It was not far from the field, and what he witnessed there was not surprising.

Xie Chian had not seen how the principal died. However, it was not difficult to guess, just basing on others’ reactions, that the principal exploded and died in full view. After his death, his voice continued to be broadcasted on the speaker. There were many possibilities: it’s possible that the principal had secretly installed a microbomb; the voice in the broadcast was also recorded in advance; murder cannot be ruled out; or maybe their school had a terrorist attack… But when Xie Chian saw what happened to the school gate, he was sure that they had encountered a supernatural event.

“The school gate is gone? How could that be possible? It was fine this morning.” The teachers, of course, do not believe in evil. They want to see it for themselves.

Xie Chian did not respond.

The teachers formed groups and went to the gate. They were still holding a glimmer of hope in their hearts. But then afterwards, they all went silent.

The security room at the school gate was still there, but the place where the gate should have been had been replaced by a wall.

This was obviously not something humans can do.

A teacher’s lips trembled. He was just about to say, “Can we climb over the wall?” when Xie Chian said, “Don’t think about climbing over the wall. I tried, and there is a transparent barrier. To add, the windows of the security room can’t be opened. I think that the scope of our activities is limited to only inside the school premises.”

Now everyone’s attention was on the overly calm student.