Seeing this, Ye Li curled her lips. A surge of exhilaration welled up inside her, and an excited glimmer shone in her dark pupils.
Just as she had thought!
The top student had hit the nail right on the head!
The moment these three awakened, they were forced to face the ghost domain head-on, doomed every time to be torn apart and devoured by rotting corpses without any chance of survival.
It truly was a miserable fate!
“Who on earth are you?” Fang Wen demanded hoarsely.
Chen Xiaoxiao looked on with an equally conflicted expression.
Clearly, an entirely new memory had suddenly been forced into their previously unvarying ones, and the protagonist of that memory was none other than the girl standing before them.
“Me?” Ye Li smiled, adopting a thoroughly chuunibyou tone. “I’m the savior who has come to deliver you from this living hell!”
As she spoke, she retracted the utility knife in her hand and let go of Yi Lin.
By this point, none of them should be foolish enough to fail to grasp the situation.
Having regained her freedom, Yi Lin hurriedly clutched her face and scurried over to Fang Wen and Chen Xiaoxiao.
Hearing her words, the three exchanged glances, looking at the frail girl before them with mingled doubt and belief.
Bang... bang, bang, bang, bang...
Right at that moment, violent pounding on the door suddenly rang out, rattling the iron bunk bed barricading it with loud, jarring clangs.
Yi Lin and the other two turned pale instantly, trembling like sieves, their faces ashen.
Those monsters were back again!
“What are you just standing there for? If you don’t want to die, hurry up and block the door!”
Ye Li barked in a low voice, snapping the three out of their stupor. They scrambled to grab items and stuff them into the bed frame.
Their repeated past experiences had long since scared them out of their wits. The girl’s sudden appearance truly was, just as she had claimed, like a savior bearing hope. It compelled them to instinctively obey her commands, praying only that she could help them escape this nightmare.
While the three were busy barricading the door, Ye Li took the opportunity to survey her surroundings.
Between the dorm room and the balcony stood a stainless-steel glass partition. The single glass door was not very wide; a bunk bed certainly couldn’t fit through.
The balcony outside was semi-open, with half-height iron railings that stood a little over a meter tall, covered in rust.
Ye Li leaned against the railing and poked her head out to look upward.
The balcony of Room 803 was completely empty and seemed quiet.
On the balcony of Room 704, however, a “young lady” suddenly darted out, craning her neck and reaching out a hand, greeting her with overwhelming enthusiasm.
Ye Li silently pulled the snapped javelin from her backpack, tore off the cloth strips wrapping the metal tip, and thrust it clean through the creature’s neck.
This scene happened to be witnessed by the three girls behind her, and their eyes instantly burned with reverence as they looked at her.
“We’ve finished blocking the door! What do we do now?” Seeing Ye Li turn around, Yi Lin asked anxiously.
Ye Li glanced back into the room and had them drag two more beds over to reinforce the barricade. Meanwhile, she picked up a chair and slammed it violently into the glass partition.
After a flurry of crashing clatters and clangs, Ye Li quickly shattered all the glass and even broke one of the stainless-steel frames.
Seeing that the opening was wide enough, she called the other three over and dragged the last bed out onto the balcony.
“What are you doing?”
Seeing the girl rummaging through her backpack and fiddling with the rope, Yi Lin asked in confusion, “Are we climbing down from the balcony?”
They were on the seventh floor, and this rope didn’t look long enough!
“Not down—up!” Ye Li pointed upward. “That door won’t hold for long. We have to find a way to climb up to the roof.”
As she spoke, she briskly tied the middle of the rope around her waist, securing one end to the iron frame of the bed and the other end to the broken javelin.
“Listen to me carefully, all of you. Besides us, there are three others trapped here as well. So what we need to do is find a way to survive until midnight, and then rendezvous with them.
“Remember: if even a single person dies during this time, everything resets. If you want to suffer less, cooperate with me properly. Understand?”
Hearing that they could escape, the three nodded hurriedly and promised one after another, “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely do whatever you say!”
Ye Li went over the steps and precautions with them in detail, then promptly climbed onto the bunk bed.
The ceiling was over three meters high, and the bunk bed was 1.8 meters tall. Standing upright on the top bunk, she had to keep her head lowered to avoid bumping into the ceiling.
Ye Li crept slowly toward the edge of the bed and reached up beyond the edge of the building, quickly grabbing onto the railing of the balcony on the floor above.
She didn't rush to climb. Instead, bracing one hand against the ceiling, she yanked hard on the railing with the other to test its sturdiness.
She pulled with such force that the bunk bed beneath her rattled and shook, making the three watching below tremble with fright.
Once she confirmed that the railing was sturdy enough, Ye Li first tossed the attached half-javelin over the railing so that it wedged horizontally against the bars. Only then did she grip the railing with both hands and lean her entire upper body back.
Pulling hard with both hands, she kicked off forcefully from the bedboards. As she pulled herself up, she swung her right leg out to the side, quickly planting her foot on the railing's other side. Just like that, she was suspended in midair, hanging from the eighth-floor balcony railing.
The night wind raged, whipping her school uniform with fierce flaps, as if ready at any moment to sweep her down into the bottomless abyss.
Ye Li caught her breath, peering intently through the gaps between the railings.
She had to admit, her luck was remarkably good.
There was only one rotting corpse in Room 803, and it was locked inside the dorm room.
By now, it had been drawn by the presence of a living human and was slamming against the glass door with dull thuds.
Seeing this, Ye Li quickly summoned her strength to scramble up and vault over the railing.
She then had the people below untie the rope from the bed, while she picked up the half-javelin from the floor, gripped it firmly, and stepped forward.
Ye Li gripped the doorknob with her left hand, turned it, and cracked the door open a sliver. The rotting corpse inside immediately shoved its hands and head out, desperate to force its way through.
Seizing the opening, she raised the javelin in her hand and stabbed it forcefully straight into that grotesque, disgusting head.
With a squelch, putrid fluid splattered everywhere, killing it in a single strike.
Ye Li pulled back the javelin and let the rotting corpse collapse with a thud. Only then did she return to the railing, lower the rope, and have Fang Wen below tie it around her waist to climb up first.
Fang Wen was the tallest and strongest among the three; having her help would save a great deal of effort.
Fang Wen was nimble and comparatively bold, safely scrambling onto the balcony without any mishaps.
The two quickly entered the room, dragging beds to block the door and stuffing items into the frames, bustling about with urgent speed.
With living humans present, rotting corpses would soon be drawn to them; they had to prepare in advance.
Having successfully barricaded the door, Ye Li and Fang Wen hauled up the other two girls from below one after another. Then, following the same method, they smashed the glass partition and dragged a bed onto the balcony.
Bang, bang, bang, bang...
Right then, violent pounding and crashing sounds came from the door of Room 803 as well.
The monsters had already been drawn upstairs!
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