Congratulations, You Won the Game

The bullet flew from the muzzle, and the gunshot exploded across the rooftop like a bolt of lightning striking from one end to the other!

A small hole appeared in the center of Liu Yan's forehead. Grayish-white mucus mixed with black fluid gushed from it and ran down the bridge of her nose!

Her pupils narrowed into vertical slits, and the black point of light at their center spread rapidly. There was disbelief in them!

"How... how could, gurgle... how could..."

She took a step back, her lower back striking the railing. The rusty iron pipe couldn't bear her weight and let out a piercing creak.

Her mouth was still open, but that muffled, echoing sound had become the hiss of air escaping her chest!

Lin Yang blew on the smoking muzzle and said,

"Obviously, you lost. You owe me a silver dollar. Pay me back in your next life."

It stared fixedly at Lin Yang. Just before her pupils lost focus, she seemed to remember something!

"You're..."

Its voice no longer sounded human at all, yet when it spoke those words, it somehow still had Liu Yan's tone!

"The seer?"

Holding the smoking gun, Lin Yang nodded.

"Yes."

One day earlier.

Lin Yang found Liu Jialiang in a corner at the back of the classroom.

He said to him, "Lend me your gun for a bit."

Liu Jialiang glanced at Lin Yang. There was a question in his eyes, but he didn't refuse.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out the pitch-black pistol, and held it out grip first.

As Lin Yang took the gun, Liu Jialiang said,

"It's out of bullets. What do you want it for?"

Lin Yang reached into his own pocket and took out a small box. When he opened it, there was a single bullet inside.

Its casing was copper, its tip intact, and its surface had been polished until it shone!

Liu Jialiang stared at the bullet for two seconds, then abruptly raised his head, his gaze fixed on Lin Yang's face.

"Where did you..."

Lin Yang raised a finger to his lips.

"It's a secret."

Liu Jialiang looked into his eyes for a long time.

Then he took the bullet from Lin Yang, ejected the magazine, and pressed the last bullet into it. He slid the magazine back into the grip, where it clicked into place.

He handed the gun back without asking another question.

Lin Yang had found the bullet with his Inspection Function.

On the rooftop.

The light in Liu Yan's slit pupils had gone out completely.

Her fingers still retained the shape of bone blades, their tips lodged in a crack in the concrete. Her body hung halfway over the railing in a twisted position.

Lin Yang lowered the gun and looked down at her.

The wind swept across the rooftop, blowing the hem of his jacket to one side.

A shout came from somewhere downstairs, seemingly asking, "Was that a gunshot just now?" Then came footsteps, growing closer as they ran up the stairs!

Lin Yang recalled how the woman had tried to seduce him a few days ago and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "She was seductive, all right, but her acting could use some work."

At that moment, the broadcast sounded.

It reached everyone's ears.

"Current survivors: 23. Current number of Facelings: 0."

"Congratulations. The game is over."

After the broadcast fell silent, a howl from the fatty erupted from a corner of the school building!

"We did it!! We did it!!"

Then a jumble of footsteps surged up the stairs, and the fatty was the first to charge onto the rooftop.

Behind him came Shen Yue, Jiang Yu'an, Liu Jialiang, the two Yanbian men, and even more people running over from every corner!

Lin Yang stood in the middle of the rooftop, still holding the gun.

He lowered it and turned to look at the people before him, all of them out of breath from running.

The fatty panted with his mouth wide open, his eyes frighteningly bright.

He looked at Lin Yang, then at Liu Yan's corpse slowly changing shape against the railing, as excited as a 180-pound child!

Then he threw both hands up and shouted at the gloomy sky.

"We won!!"

Lin Yang stood at the edge of the rooftop, watching the two Yanbian men drag Liu Yan's corpse into a corner and pile it together with the Faceling corpses from before.

The black blood left a long streak across the concrete, stretching from the railing all the way to the corner.

The taller Yanbian man on the left clicked his tongue.

"Fuck, that bitch was a Faceling too!"

Chen Yu crouched beside the corpse and poked Liu Yan's arm with a finger.

The skin was still warm, but it had already begun to lose its elasticity. The dent from his finger didn't spring back.

"And a woman, too."

"She wasn't a woman. We don't even know whether it was male or female," the fatty corrected him from the side.

"How do you know? What if she really was a female Faceling?"

"Then while she's still warm..."

"..."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They asked Lin Yang how he had done it.

Lin Yang embellished the story, saying Liu Jialiang had actually had one last bullet, and that was how he had tricked her out.

Everyone was stunned! They marveled at Lin Yang's wisdom!

"Brother Lin Yang really is the man with the most guts!"

Some leaned against the railing with their heads tilted back and their eyes closed, while others crouched on the ground, repeating, "We survived."

Someone took off their jacket, balled it up, and threw it into the air, not caring when it fell and smacked them in the face.

Lin Yang didn't join the celebration. He leaned against the wall beside the iron door and returned the gun to Liu Jialiang.

The barrel was no longer hot, and the yellowing tape wrapped around the grip glistened with sweat.

Liu Jialiang took the gun, ejected the magazine, and glanced at it. It was empty. He slid the empty magazine back in until it clicked into place, then put the gun in his pocket.

The broadcast had said the game was over.

But the game being over didn't mean they could leave. Lin Yang turned, pushed open the iron door, and headed down the stairs.

The fatty's voice called after him.

"Brother Lin! Where are you going?"

"To find an exit."

The others nodded and followed him. "Right! All the Facelings are dead! Can we leave now?"

The word "leave" took root in everyone's hearts, like bamboo shoots after the rain. Everyone began to feel hopeful.

They had searched the open area on the school's first floor countless times.

The dried-up flower beds, the cracked concrete ground, the iron gate blocked by tentacles.

Lin Yang led the others through another search of every classroom and every office on the first floor. They wanted to find an exit.

But there was none.

Then someone shouted from the end of the first-floor corridor!

"Brother Lin! There's a box here!"