All the students had reported to the authorities that whenever they fell asleep, they had the same nightmare, repeatedly waking in fright and drenched in cold sweat.
All contestants were now required to use their Banana Phones to scan the QR codes on the backs of three hunters, obtain clues, and identify the central figure in the incident.
They had to obtain the passwords and enter the correct passwords to lock the two Hunter Boxes hidden on campus.
If they failed to complete the mission before fifty minutes remained, the hunters inside the Hunter Boxes would be released.
Su Tianle complained indignantly, "How are we supposed to scan them? Won't the hunters spot us as soon as they turn around?"
Lu Xingchen glanced sidelong at him and explained, "As long as we don't make a sound, the hunters aren't allowed to turn around."
Lu Xingchen opened the map and took a close look. They were currently near Cafeteria A.
The hunter from earlier had raced toward the boys' dormitory.
Lu Xingchen quickly opened his contacts, tapped a number, and called without hesitation.
The call had barely begun ringing when it was answered, as though by magic.
A deep, magnetic male voice, like the sound of a cello, suddenly came through the phone. Lu Xingchen's ears tingled as if a cat's paw had lightly scratched them, and he instinctively moved the phone a little farther away.
Lu Xingchen cleared his throat and asked softly, "Chu, let's split up for the first mission. Where are you now?"
Huo Chuyun instinctively wanted to call him baby, but remembered they were filming a show and let out a low chuckle from his chest.
"...I'm at Teaching Building One. There's a hunter nearby heading toward Building Four. I'll scan his QR code and meet up with you after I get the clue. Stay safe."
"Okay," Lu Xingchen replied. He hung up and saw Su Tianle staring blankly at him.
Lu Xingchen rubbed his face to make his smile less obvious. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Like someone caught sneaking a look, Su Tianle shook his head a little shyly. "I just think you seem really comfortable doing these missions..."
Lu Xingchen reassured him, "Don't be nervous. It's just a game. Follow the missions they give us, one step at a time."
The two quickly headed toward the boys' dormitory. Since hunters generally patrolled at a normal walking pace when no contestants were in their field of vision, they soon caught up and climbed to the second floor of the boys' dormitory.
Su Tianle carefully leaned over the corridor balcony to look down. The hunter kept patrolling downstairs. He took out his phone to scan the QR code on the hunter's back, but the light was too dim and the angle too oblique, so he couldn't scan it.
Lu Xingchen frowned. Seeing that the hunter was about to come upstairs, he told Su Tianle, "He's coming up. Let's hide on opposite sides. If he comes my way, quietly follow him and take a picture. And vice versa."
Su Tianle nodded earnestly and quickly ran toward the other end of the corridor, while Lu Xingchen ran in the opposite direction.
The hunter's heavy footsteps sounded.
He headed toward Su Tianle.
Lu Xingchen messaged Su Tianle, telling him to take the stairs at that end down and avoid running into the hunter face-to-face.
Meanwhile, Lu Xingchen picked up his phone and silently followed the hunter. He turned off the camera sound and switched on the flash. His phone vibrated slightly. He had scanned the code.
Without time to read the clue, Lu Xingchen quickly withdrew to prevent the hunter from noticing any movement. As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Su Tianle waiting anxiously for him.
Su Tianle looked at Lu Xingchen with bright eyes. "How did it go? Did you get the clue?"
Lu Xingchen nodded and led Su Tianle to a safe spot. They crouched on the ground and huddled together to read the clue.
Girls' dormitory.
Lu Xingchen frowned slightly. "Looks like we still need the QR code clues from the other two hunters."
It was Su Tianle's first time completing a mission in such a thrilling way. His face was flushed, and he was still a little excited as he instinctively asked Lu Xingchen, "Where do we go now?"
Lu Xingchen stood and patted his trouser legs. "Our clue probably covers the broadest area. Let's go to the girls' dormitory first."
"Ding, ding, ding!" A loud message notification sounded from their phones, and both quickly silenced them.
The clues this time were shared with all contestants. The message read: Lu Xingchen and Su Tianle have scanned a QR code and obtained a clue: girls' dormitory.
Seeing the message, Su Tianle happily bounced twice on the spot. "In the last episode, you and Best Actor Huo kept completing missions. The messages always had your names in them. I was so jealous! Now I've finally been praised by name too."
As they walked, Lu Xingchen encouraged him, "Keep it up. Let's try to survive to the end of this episode."
When they reached the vicinity of the girls' dormitory, they saw Lu Yichen and Lu Yihao already hiding nearby.
Lu Xingchen thought, Looks like these two were assigned somewhere near the girls' dormitory when the game started. After seeing the clue message, they simply hid here.
Seeing that Lu Xingchen had come too, Lu Yichen curled his lips and pretended to casually show off the Lu family's happy news.
"Xingchen, did you know I'm getting engaged to the young master of the Huo family in the Capital? Because of that awful thing you did last time, Mom doesn't want you coming to the Lu family's engagement banquet."
"But I think you only hit us because you didn't mean any harm. I'm sincerely inviting you to the engagement banquet, so please do come."
Seeing Lu Xingchen merely watching them with amusement, Lu Yihao felt anger rise inside him.
The old Lu Xingchen would never have dared ignore him like this. Whenever he showed Lu Xingchen the slightest kindness, Lu Xingchen would excitedly come fawning over him. He said snidely,
"Chenchen, why are you so kind? Lu Xingchen doesn't know the meaning of gratitude. Inviting him to your engagement banquet would be a disaster. He'll only ruin it!"
"He's found someone powerful to latch onto, so now he doesn't want to bother with us. The Lu family raised him to this age, yet he hasn't the slightest gratitude. Not only does he disrespect his elders, he turned the Lu family upside down over two worthless beasts."
Only when Lu Xingchen heard Lu Yihao insulting Xiao Huang and Tofu did he turn to look at them. "Who the fuck wants to go to Lu Yichen's wedding?"
"Do you have no fucking idea why I hit you? I only did it because you and Lu Yichen deliberately abused my cat and dog. If the Lu family really treated me so well, they wouldn't have made me live on the first floor with the servants. Everyone acts like an asshole sometimes, but please watch how often you do it."
"You say I've latched onto someone powerful. Where's your proof? You think you can just flap your lips and spew shit?"
"You..." At the word "shit," Lu Yihao instinctively remembered the shit stuck to his face that day and its overwhelming stench. He choked on his words.
Lu Yichen gently stopped Lu Yihao and tried to reason with him.
"Yihao, don't talk about Xingchen like that. He won't understand Mom and Dad's good intentions. They saw how long he'd spent in the countryside and were worried that suddenly becoming rich would lead him astray. That's why they had him live on the first floor."
Lu Xingchen laughed in amusement.
"Do you even believe that excuse yourself? Making a son who suffered away from home for years come back and keep suffering? Zero people care about their good intentions. I fucking believe love goes where the money goes!"
Lu Yichen's eyes reddened with grievance as he stood up for their parents.
"I know I took your place and some of Mom and Dad's love, making you hate me to the core, but I won't let you talk about them like that!"
Lu Xingchen shrugged, unmoved. "You know that, yet you're still fucking hogging my place. When it comes to being a hypocrite, Lu Yichen, if you claim second place, I'd like to see who dares claim first! What brand of plastic bag are you? You sure can put on a lot."
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