015 The Great Escape-Campus Taboos(My name is Lin Wan.)

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“Chen Hao, how is it going?” Ever since Chen Hao let out that piercing scream, we’d lost contact. I desperately wanted to go help him, but if I did, I wouldn’t be able to guarantee the safety of the people on my side.

“What should we do, Zijian?” asked the short kid, Huang Jing, who was stationed with me at the classroom’s front door. I wasn’t the only one who heard Chen Hao’s anguished cry. Huang Jing and Guo Yang were my fellow attackers, assigned to defend this post. Although we were all hastily trained by Chen Hao, the fact that they had the guts to pick up a weapon already set them apart.

“We stick to the plan and keep guarding this spot,” I replied as calmly as I could. Huang Jing fell silent at my words, but Guo Yang kept pressing.

“What about Hao? What if something’s happened to him?” I saw the beads of sweat forming on Guo Yang’s forehead and understood immediately. He wasn’t just worried about Chen Hao—he was terrified for himself. If even Chen Hao, who’d taught us all some taekwondo, had been defeated, what hope did the rest of us have? If death was our fate from the outset, maybe it would have been better to hide among the regular students cowering inside the classroom.

Guo Yang’s fear was for his own survival. What he needed right now was reassurance—something to calm him, to give him the courage to keep fighting.

“Don’t worry, Guo Yang. We’ll survive this. You have my word.” I fixed him with a resolute gaze. “Trust Chen Hao—and trust yourself.” My determined look seemed to ease the tension in his brow.

Just then, several students from other colleges appeared before us. It was exactly what we’d feared: a joint squad from the School of Engineering and the Medical School—five in all, three from Engineering and two from Medicine.

I told Guo Yang and Huang Jing to stay behind me and ready the explosive reagents. I’d test the waters first—if I couldn’t handle them, we’d have to use our chemical weapons.

I sprinted toward the five. The two med students in front drew their scalpels and closed in from both sides, while the three engineers behind them didn’t move, as if they were just here to watch.

With only these two to deal with, I was confident. Their speed and strength couldn’t compare to Chen Hao’s. The one on the left aimed for my leg, and the one on the right swung for my head. I braced myself, leaping between the twin scalpels. Spinning quickly, I whispered, “Ability, activate!” Daylight was when my powers were strongest: I could absorb the sun’s rays as energy and instantly release it from my palms.

Since the three engineering students were behind me, they didn’t see what happened, and the two med students blocked Huang Jing’s and Guo Yang’s view. It was a perfect strike.

Twin beams of light shot straight into the med students’ chests. With a dull thud, both bodies collapsed. Gasping for breath, I hurried back to Huang Jing and Guo Yang’s side. It was my first time killing anyone, but I couldn’t betray a hint of fear—otherwise, they would lose their nerve.

Suppressing my terror, I faced the three engineering students who still hadn’t made a move.

The sight of their allies dying shocked them, but they didn’t retreat. That could only mean they had even deadlier tricks up their sleeves.

“Huang Jing, Guo Yang, get the explosives ready,” I warned once again.

“O-okay…” they replied, their voices trembling, clearly shaken by my earlier violence, but there was no time to dwell on it.

I saw the engineers reach into their pockets. “I don’t know what trick you pulled,” one sneered, “but now you die.”

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With those words, he pulled something silver and gleaming from his pocket. In that instant, I shouted, “Down!”

Bang.

Three shots rang out. I ducked in time, but Guo Yang beside me took a bullet to the head, and Huang Jing was shot in the chest—both killed instantly.

I never imagined the engineering students could actually craft handguns—such deadly weapons. I had miscalculated. If that was the case, Li Feng, Wu Mingran, and Sun Cheng had no chance at all.

Now I had to decide: Should I use my ability to kill them, or abandon the regular students and escape?

Because this spot was visible from other hallways, and there were surveillance cameras, it was possible someone from the college had taken over the security room. If I used my powers, I risked exposing my identity.

With no other choice, I quickly tossed an explosive reagent. The thick smoke completely hid me from their sight. Crawling on the ground to avoid their bullets, I also threw a gas grenade into the classroom.

The people inside would surely rush out and become casualties, but this human shield would buy us time to evacuate the other class.

When five or six students ran out of the room, I got up and bolted for the next classroom, shouting, “Zhang Zidong, Wang Li, Zhao Shuang—get everyone out now!”

Zhang Zidong, Wang Li, and Zhao Shuang were the attacking trio guarding the other classroom. They froze when they saw me running toward them in such a sorry state, but quickly grasped the urgency and hustled the remaining students out.

“Zijian, where are Huang Jing and Guo Yang…” Wang Li ran up, trembling. The three of them were from the same dorm, and now only Wang Li was left.

“I’m sorry. The engineering students killed them,” I told him flatly—there was nothing else to say.

To my surprise, Wang Li gave a howl and charged into the smoke, explosives in hand. I couldn’t stop him.

Another gunshot rang out. I knew then that Wang Li was dead as well. There was no time for grief; I could only lead Zhang Zidong, Zhao Shuang, and the rest of the survivors to a new position as quickly as possible.

We made our way to the third floor, to the classroom where we were supposed to meet Chen Hao. But it was filled with corpses.

The sight made Zhang Zidong and Zhao Shuang queasy; they turned away. The regular students behind us panicked, some screaming, others fleeing outright.

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I couldn’t worry about them anymore. Whoever survived, survived. Since entering the teaching building, we’d only received one rule: “Battle Royale condition: no more than 200 survivors.” Yet, our college alone had over 200 students—which meant only about 25 from each college could live.

If that was the case, the best option now was to abandon the regular students. After a quick discussion with Carton and Chen Hao, we decided to take this approach to be safe.

“Zidong, Zhao Shuang, come with me.”

“What about them?” Zhang Zidong pointed at the twenty-odd regular business students behind us. “Are we just leaving them behind?”

“If they can keep up, they can come. If not, we leave them. Now is not the time to play the hero—survival comes first.”

Without waiting for Zhang Zidong’s reaction, I took off alone for the sixth floor, Zhao Shuang close behind, while Zhang Zidong hesitated and ultimately stayed. Everyone makes their own choices. If he chose to sacrifice himself for others, that was noble. I didn’t want to die, but that was not a crime.

Soon, we regrouped on the sixth floor. The casualties were far worse than I’d imagined. Almost as if it had been orchestrated, all six of our squads had come under attack from the engineering and medical students. Of all the attackers Chen Hao had trained, only three remained.

There was Zhao Shuang by my side, Li Yuan with Wu Mingran, and Pang Dongqiang with Sun Cheng’s team. Thankfully, Wu Mingran, Sun Cheng, and Li Feng were all unharmed. Our little group of nine definitely had a better shot at survival than the larger crowd from before.

Even so, we proceeded with the utmost caution. The hallways were wide open, so we could easily see distant battles, but apart from classrooms, there was nowhere to hide.

I had Chen Hao use his powers to rip some desk panels free—to use as makeshift shields against bullets. The emergence of guns had completely disrupted all our plans. Our top priority now was to rendezvous with Wang Yan and Wen Lingyu and warn them about the firearms.

Besides, my good friend Han Xue was still with Wen Lingyu’s liberal arts group—I couldn’t let anything happen to her.

But just as we were about to reach the end of the sixth-floor corridor, disaster struck. The entire section of floor beneath our feet suddenly collapsed.

I only had time to shout, “It’s a trap!” before my brothers and I plummeted into the darkness below.