The Underground Training Ground

The group leaned on each other as they entered the back courtyard. As soon as Tang Gao found his footing, he turned to help Shen Yu down, but unexpectedly, Yu Cheng Yi had already helped Shen Yu turn over.
A slight irritation rose in his heart, but he showed no expression on his face. He smiled and asked Shen Yu about his condition, to which Shen Yu only gave a perfunctory reply.
Lu Wei exclaimed in surprise at the scenery of the back courtyard. Remembering Shen Yu's words, he had deliberately noted some traces in the front courtyard, and here, he could easily find similar marks.
Thus, it was no exaggeration to say that the low-lying rooms blocking the front and back courtyards were a mirror. What was the purpose of a mirror besides replication?
None of them could fully understand.
The only difference was the dry well Shen Yu had mentioned. Lu Wei lifted his foot, intending to approach the dry well, but then, thinking of something, he subtly cleared his throat and said to Yang Ji Guang, "Shall we go take a look together?"
Yang Ji Guang felt a shiver down his spine from the well, as if cold air continuously seeped from within. However, seeing that there were many people around, he composed himself and agreed with Lu Wei.
Shen Yu's impression of the well still lingered on the bizarre sight of seeing another version of himself. Seeing Yang Ji Guang and the others approaching, he secretly observed their expressions.
Yang Ji Guang took a deep breath, and under everyone's tense gaze, he peered into the well.
It was still a truly dry well!
"Haha, there's nothing here..." Yang Ji Guang dropped his hands, a relaxed expression on his face. Not seeing anything strange inside was indeed a sigh of relief for Yang Ji Guang.
Shen Yu's gaze was fixed on the well opening behind him. Nothing...
So, was what he saw this morning an illusion or something else?
Shen Yu's first instinct told him that he might have triggered something—perhaps a death condition, perhaps something else?
Lu Wei naturally looked over, seeing that the well opening wasn't very deep. He boldly leaned in to look deeper inside. It was empty, and it seemed to be more than just the space at the bottom of the well, as Lu Wei vaguely saw a faint light within.
Someone had gone first, so everyone else felt reassured and gathered around to look. Shen Yu had already thoroughly examined this well, so he had no intention of pushing forward to inspect it again.
He subtly narrowed his eyes at them until someone beside him tugged at his sleeve.
Shen Yu collected himself and looked down at the owner of the hand.
It was Wang Jia Xin, her face filled with fear. She seemed a little tense: "Shen Yu, when, when can we leave?"
Shen Yu looked at her pale lips, a heavy expression flashing in his eyes. His voice softened, a rare occurrence: "What's wrong? We can leave once they're done looking."
Wang Jia Xin let out a small sigh of relief: "No, nothing, I just feel this place is really strange."
"Mm, I feel the same way," Shen Yu replied casually.
Suddenly, someone on the other side exclaimed, "There's light in the well, could we leave from here?"
Escaping this place was their greatest desire. These words undoubtedly gave them a glimmer of hope and the courage to approach the well.
They relied on their numbers to voice this thought. Once many agreed, they would step inside.
Shen Yu believed the decision-making power should lie with Lu Wei. Sure enough, he saw Lu Wei push up his glasses, then look towards Shen Yu: "Shen Yu, what do you think?"
He had pushed the problem onto him.
If something happened, the person who made the decision would have to bear the responsibility. In normal situations, Shen Yu, to avoid this, would definitely choose the path of "less trouble." But coincidentally, he also wanted to go down and see.
He needed to confirm whether the sounds he heard and the 'himself' he saw were illusions or not.
"Then let's go see. After all, I also want to leave this place quickly," Shen Yu pursed his lips, speaking with extreme sincerity.
Lu Wei found his intentions a bit hard to guess, but seeing that Shen Yu didn't object, he said, "Then we can go down and take a look. Let's leave a few people up here in case of an emergency."
The idea was to split into two groups.
Lu Wei definitely wanted to go down. If Shen Yu went down, then Tang Gao and Yu Cheng Yi would also go. Even if Yang Ji Guang stayed up, it would be hard for the others to choose.
"I'll go down, you stay up," Shen Yu said to Yu Cheng Yi.
"No, what if there's danger up here? Who will protect you if you go down?" As expected, Yu Cheng Yi immediately refused.
Shen Yu could guarantee that it was safe up here; conversely, the well contained countless unknowns.
Yu Cheng Yi acted as if he heard nothing, completely ignoring the advice.
Shen Yu then pulled Yu Cheng Yi aside and said, "Yu Cheng Yi, you staying up here is to guard against others acting recklessly. Whatever I see in the well, I'll tell you in detail when I come up."
Shen Yu negotiated with an irrefutable tone. Yu Cheng Yi scratched his head, still not understanding.
But if Shen Yu said so, there must be a reason.
So Yu Cheng Yi still compromised.
He let out a gloomy "Mm."
Shen Yu initially thought that given Wang Jia Xin's current state, she wouldn't go down the well; after all, Li Yuan didn't go either. But he didn't expect Wang Jia Xin to be among those who raised their hands.
Yu Cheng Yi was puzzled: "Isn't she scared? Why does she still want to go down?"
Shen Yu shook his head; he didn't understand either.
Those who decided to go down included Lu Wei, Yang Ji Guang, Tang Gao, Wang Jia Xin, and a person named Chen Shuang, along with Shen Yu.
They clung to the dry vines on the well wall as they descended. This well was about 5 meters high, which wasn't considered very tall compared to others. After helping Wang Jia Xin steady herself, Shen Yu began to assess the place.
The well opening wasn't very large, but the space at the bottom was very wide. Moreover, as they said, the light source in the well was indeed a passageway, completely sufficient for them to see clearly at the bottom.
"Come take a look?" Yang Ji Guang asked Lu Wei.
Lu Wei nodded. He came down precisely because of this light. If he could find something from here, it would naturally not be a loss.
He looked towards Shen Yu, only to see Shen Yu already walking ahead with Wang Jia Xin and Tang Gao.
He gave Yang Ji Guang a look, and then the two followed behind.
Tang Gao said something about the leader bird being shot, but Shen Yu felt that since they were already here, if there was really a problem, no one would escape, which was why Shen Yu could rush forward without fear.
After descending a flight of stairs, they once again reached level ground. There was a shallow layer of water on the ground, roughly shoe-sole high, soaking wet. Their footsteps made clear sounds.
The air was both cold and damp, making Shen Yu shiver.
Continuing along the passageway, they finally reached a large courtyard. One side of the courtyard had tall bookshelves, the other side had some training equipment, such as protective gear and weights.
In the middle, there was a desk and a chair, with a messy pile of documents and papers on the tabletop.
Everyone spontaneously spread out and began searching for something.
Shen Yu rummaged through the desk for a while and found that these were documents belonging to several people. These people were all uniformly fourteen years old and wore neat training uniforms.
Shen Yu pulled open a drawer and found a group photo inside. He picked up the photo and realized that the people in it were all the individuals who appeared in these documents.
"Name: 527"
"Age: 14"
"Gender: Female"
"Failed this training session, declared deceased, system deleted."
"Name: 533"
"Age: 14"
"Gender: Male"
"Failed this training session, declared deceased, system deleted."
...
Everyone's documents were like this, almost all "deleted" by the so-called system?
Shen Yu took out the group photo and compared it with the document cards, finding that twelve people did not have this type of document information.
Did that mean these twelve people were not deleted?
Wang Jia Xin had come to Shen Yu's side at some point. She picked up the photo Shen Yu had placed on the table, then looked at the documents, and suddenly said, "These training sessions, could they be... killing players like us...?"
Her words roused Shen Yu, but also plunged him into another doubt, because that day he had seen the thing that killed Hu Sen, and it wasn't human-shaped. Then there was the little girl who sought him out that night; she wasn't a real person either, because she eventually turned into a wisp of white mist.
This place was already a bit dilapidated, and it was unclear if it was still their training ground.
Before Shen Yu could rethink, Tang Gao's voice came from beside him.
"Everyone, come take a look!" Tang Gao's voice was a little shaky; he must have seen something.
Shen Yu put down the document card in his hand and quickly followed the sound. In a hidden corner between the bookshelf and the wall, four corpses unexpectedly lay there!
One of them was the missing Xiao Qing. Xiao Qing died in a rather gruesome state, his chest pierced by something unknown, leaving a large hole of flesh and blood bigger than his head. The other three corpses were the ones the cleaner had disposed of.
Several people's faces turned ugly. Wang Jia Xin was even more terrified, covering her face and cowering behind Shen Yu.
Lu Wei was also a seasoned individual; he tried to suppress the shock in his heart: "I just looked over there, and they are all tools that can be used for human body training."
Tang Gao also shared his discovery: "This bookshelf contains some memory training exercises."
"But these questions... well, everyone see for yourselves." Tang Gao handed the book lying horizontally on the bookshelf to Shen Yu, who took it.
【The most vital organs of the human body】
【How to perfectly skin a human】
【…】
The table of contents alone made Shen Yu lose his appetite. He handed the book to Lu Wei, whose face also changed color after reading it.
"They are... being trained," Wang Jia Xin's lips trembled, and the others also felt a chill.
It was Shen Yu's turn to share his discovery. He told everyone what he found on the desk, and incidentally agreed with Wang Jia Xin's conjecture: "This place must be training those people."
Lu Wei turned his head and glanced at the training equipment: "If what you say is true, that those being trained are only fourteen years old, then that training equipment is extremely perverse. For example, the weights, they are fundamentally not something a minor child can use, and those guns are also real guns, just without bullets."
The atmosphere on site became a little subtle.
"But this place seems to have been abandoned, which might be good news," Lu Wei said proactively to ease the atmosphere, seeing that their expressions weren't very good.
Wang Jia Xin suddenly said, "No, it doesn't seem like it. This place might be unattended, but it doesn't look abandoned..."
Shen Yu and the others all looked back. Wang Jia Xin became timid again: "I'm just guessing."
"Why do you think so?" Shen Yu asked her.
Wang Jia Xin swallowed: "Because, there's no smell of abandonment."
She was probably referring to the smell of mold, or the stench of rotting leaves soaked in water. After all, the presence of these four corpses here was a suspicious point.
Shen Yu reached out and rubbed his temples: "Let's get out first; we've almost finished looking here."
There was a draft in the well, but it was a cold wind. Too much of it made one's head dizzy and uncomfortable. Lu Wei also agreed with Shen Yu. They then returned the way they came. No one spoke on the way, Wang Jia Xin clung tightly to Shen Yu, her lips terrifyingly pale.
—
Once outside, Lu Wei explained the situation inside to those who had stayed. For now, they couldn't leave, but they had at least uncovered a small secret of this place. This place, outwardly a welfare institution,
was actually a training ground. What these people were being trained for, no one could fully understand.
It was already dark, and there was no need for them to stay here any longer. Everyone successively returned to their dormitories. Shen Yu vaguely felt that something big would happen tonight, so he didn't lie down in bed.
As usual, he stood by the window, looking at the pagoda tree outside. The black crow was no longer there, and a suffocating fog enveloped the welfare institution.
Immediately after, a mechanical sound suddenly rang out.
"Beep—"
"Beep beep—"
It was a bit piercing; this kind of sound seemed to want to wake up those who were drowsy. Shen Yu covered his ears, looking at Yu Cheng Yi, who was half-asleep on the bed.
Yu Cheng Yi was dazed: "Damn, what's wrong..."
Shen Yu helplessly shook his head, stepped forward and patted Yu Cheng Yi's shoulder: "Put on your clothes."
"Oh? Why?" Yu Cheng Yi asked, but his body was already very honestly starting to put on clothes.
Shen Yu: "Put them on so we can run."
Yu Cheng Yi was fully awake: "What? Did something happen?"
Shen Yu casually picked up the employee handbook from the table and flipped to the seventh day: no collective violation of rules is allowed, otherwise 'it' will appear and take away a teacher.
"We probably collectively violated the rules," Shen Yu said calmly.
"What what what? What did you say?" Yu Cheng Yi almost jumped three feet in the air.
Shen Yu knew he heard clearly; what he needed was a reason: "This kind of sound, we all heard it."
He was referring to the sudden 'beep beep' sound.
"Beep—"
"All players, please assemble, all players, please assemble—"
The mechanical female voice issued the command. Shen Yu closed the rulebook, told Yu Cheng Yi to keep up, and the two went out the door together.
In the corridor, people from the dormitories poked their heads out one after another.
From dormitory 101, Lu Wei welcomed them into his dormitory. So the crowd converged on dormitory 101.
After everyone entered the dormitory, Lu Wei locked the dormitory door tightly. Someone immediately asked, "What's going on?"
Lu Wei's speculation was the same as Shen Yu's; he said it was highly likely they had collectively violated the rules.
But what did they do today to collectively violate the rules? Could it be... they all went to the back courtyard?
Lu Wei thought of this, his gaze involuntarily falling on Shen Yu. Shen Yu had long known Lu Wei would think of him; after all, he was the one who initiated the trip to the back courtyard.
Shen Yu also looked up at him. His eyes were still as calm as an undisturbed lake, covered by a thick, hard-to-dissolve melancholy.
"Shen Yu, what do you think?" Lu Wei asked proactively.
Shen Yu leaned against the window, his arms crossed over his chest, and said indifferently, "I don't think anything. Didn't the handbook say it would take one person? Just watch who 'it' takes."
Even Yu Cheng Yi, no matter how thoughtless, reacted: "?"
"No, I understand. So, we went together, and now this responsibility falls solely on Shen Yu?" Yu Cheng Yi gritted his teeth, glaring fiercely at Lu Wei.
After Yang Cheng Jie's death, Yu Cheng Yi became the largest physically among them. Moreover, he was a fitness trainer; even if these people rushed him together, they might not be his match, so this group wanted to touch Shen Yu, they still had to consider Yu Cheng Yi's expression.
Lu Wei gave a slightly embarrassed laugh: "Of course, Shen Yu is also right."
After all, in this situation, infighting was the least wise choice. It was better, as Shen Yu said, to see who 'it' wanted to take.
But the next second, the mechanical female voice also changed.
"Please, players, quickly choose one Player that the God-tier NPC wishes to take away." She only said one sentence, but these words made all of them panic. The meaning of this mechanical voice was too clear; it was telling them to choose one person to die.
As expected, Shen Yu's reaction was very calm. Yu Cheng Yi placed a hand on Shen Yu's shoulder: "Don't be afraid, I'll risk my life to not let them touch you—"
Before he finished speaking, Shen Yu saw Yu Cheng Yi fall straight down with a loud thud. Behind Yu Cheng Yi, Yang Ji Guang discarded a wooden stick he had retrieved from somewhere.
"Big Brother Yu!" Wang Jia Xin rushed over, calling out to him anxiously.
"Yu Cheng Yi." Shen Yu squatted down and patted Yu Cheng Yi's face, ensuring he was only unconscious.
Tang Gao also let out a sound of dissatisfaction. To knock Yu Cheng Yi unconscious next to Shen Yu at this moment, it was obvious what his intentions were. So he frowned and said, "Yang Ji Guang, don't go too far."
"Everyone, let's vote fairly," Yang Ji Guang scoffed.
Lu Wei also felt this decision was plausible, but the others were unwilling. Two male students with a weak sense of presence subtly objected.
【Warning! God-tier NPC approaching, danger level: Unknown!】
'It' had arrived.
Shen Yu stood up, giving Yang Ji Guang a helpless glance.
"You'd best pray Yu Cheng Yi is alright." Shen Yu rarely spoke such harsh words. Everyone knew he couldn't escape the label of a frail but somewhat intelligent rookie player.
He had always been humble, speaking softly to others. It seemed Yang Ji Guang's actions tonight had truly angered him.
Yang Ji Guang was also a bit awkward, especially when Wang Jia Xin followed up with a remark: "If you said to vote, then what was the meaning of knocking Big Brother Yu unconscious? Do you think that if you're voted, you can just renege, and no one can resist you?"
Wang Jia Xin's words hit him where it hurt, making him extremely awkward. His face flashed green and then purple, after which he feigned righteousness and said, "I was afraid this kid would act recklessly!"
"You know it in your heart," Shen Yu retorted.
Everyone fell silent in the same instant.
But the mechanical female voice continued—
【Warning! God-tier NPC approaching, danger level: Unknown!】
【Warning! God-tier NPC approaching, danger level: Unknown!】
...
They were scared, but since Lu Wei and Shen Yu said nothing, they could only be scared, fearing they would become the next sacrifice.
"Damn it, I didn't expect a God-tier NPC to actually appear!" Yang Ji Guang kicked the chair beside him fiercely.
...
—
Shen Yu was pushed out as a sacrifice.
His feet stumbled slightly, but he fortunately regained his balance, turning his head to closely observe the closing door. Shen Yu merely frowned but showed no other expression.
He only felt a cold draft blowing from the end of the corridor, making his hair flutter. Shen Yu shivered; it was chilling.
Following the direction of the wind, Shen Yu suddenly realized he couldn't see the end of the corridor. At the far end, something like an abyss appeared, bottomless at a glance.
He had immense courage; he actually lifted his foot and moved closer.
It wasn't until the wind in the "abyss" grew stronger and stronger, as if something was about to crawl out from within, that Shen Yu stopped, standing still and looking straight ahead.
Thick white mist poured out from within, carrying a biting cold wind like a bayonet. Shen Yu realized that in this situation, his heart no longer pounded as wildly as before.
In his heart, he was actually thinking, it was a miscalculation; he should have worn more clothes before coming out.
Currently, his life had three possible paths.
One, being saved by Xie Tu.
Two, being saved by the 'himself' he saw in the well.
Three, death.
These three possibilities were equally likely. He certainly cherished life, but he preferred to gamble with his life. Otherwise, tonight, when he saw Yang Ji Guang secretly approaching Yu Cheng Yi with a wooden stick, he should have warned Yu Cheng Yi.
After all, Yu Cheng Yi was saying that he would definitely be fine.
So, his going out was his own choice. Looking back now, his acting at the time must have been good; no one noticed any flaws, right?
But now Shen Yu couldn't think so much, because a chaotic mass of thick white mist rushed towards Shen Yu.
At this moment, Shen Yu clearly saw that the human figure in the white mist was one of those children, and that child happened to be someone he was familiar with—the chubby kid.
The appearance of the chubby kid completely confirmed Shen Yu's conjecture. These children were indeed being trained. Their task was to kill people within a specified time. During the day, they were obedient children, but unexpectedly, at night, each one was so terrifying.
But if this was a God-tier NPC, its configuration was too weak.
Shen Yu remained unmoved. As the chubby kid, enveloped in thick mist, rushed forward, in a flash, a more aggressive mass of black mist suddenly shot out from the side, directly slamming the chubby kid into the wall above.
An earth-shattering sound erupted. Shen Yu was startled by this sudden commotion. He looked towards where the chubby kid had crashed; a deep hole unexpectedly appeared, and the white mist instantly dissipated.
No, did this God-tier NPC just disappear like that? Shen Yu looked at the black mist in front of him with a puzzled expression.
Within the swirling black mist, a tall figure gradually emerged. Shen Yu subtly narrowed his eyes and called out playfully, "Mr. Xie, long time no see."
After speaking, he even subtly raised an eyebrow and smiled at Xie Tu.
What "long time no see"? They clearly just met today! Xie Tu was a little annoyed. The black mist around him grew denser. He was annoyed not by Shen Yu's words, but because Shen Yu had guessed his identity.
Shen Yu then watched the black mist flail wildly, sometimes quickly rushing to the end of the corridor, sometimes quickly leaping onto the ceiling, and sometimes rushing behind Shen Yu, making his hair slightly disheveled.
Xie Tu said nothing, and Shen Yu simply voiced all his conjectures.
"I guess you are the God-tier NPC here, right?" The black mist was behind him, so he turned his head and spoke to it.
Xie Tu didn't answer; the mass of black mist shrank into a corner.
Shen Yu continued, "That first night, my room must have been yours."
Xie Tu still didn't answer. At this point, the black mist secretly crawled onto the ceiling again.
Shen Yu: "That day, when I was in Hu Sen's room and encountered Xu Yi Ning's assassination, you were the one who saved me."
Xie Tu seemed unable to remain calm; it disappeared directly from its spot.
Shen Yu was stunned; was this its way of telling him to run?
He raised a hand to brush the hair from his eyes and continued, "Today in the back courtyard, you were actually there from the moment I stepped in, weren't you?"
The next second, Xie Tu suddenly appeared in front of him. The black mist surged violently, as if wanting to swallow Shen Yu whole.
"Since you're an NPC, Mr. Xie, your mission tonight must be to kill me, right?" Shen Yu took another step forward, voluntarily stepping into the black mist. The next second, he felt his body soften slightly.
Was this a premonition of death?
Probably not; after all, he didn't feel any threat of death right now.
"You are very annoying," Xie Tu uttered these words in a hoarse voice.
Shen Yu, however, detected a hint of helplessness.
Shen Yu: ?
But at this moment, Shen Yu's mind was reeling, and he didn't quite understand the situation. He looked at Xie Tu's face emerging from the black mist; it was still stunningly beautiful, proud as an ancient Greek god.
Sigh, Shen Yu let out a breath.
He suddenly reached out and cupped Xie Tu's face, then stood on tiptoe and pressed his lips against Xie Tu's.
Shen Yu had always thought his own body was the one that would never truly be warm, but Xie Tu was the truly cold one. When his icy lips touched, it made him extremely doubt whether he was kissing Xie Tu's lips or minus thirty-degree ice.
However, ice was ice, but soft was very soft, Shen Yu didn't choose.
He closed his eyes, merely pressing his lips, without any further movement.
Xie Tu, however, was different. His perpetually disdainful expression vanished in an instant, replaced by disbelief and a hint of being overwhelmed by favor. He had no heartbeat, yet he heard a heartbeat; he didn't know if he himself had grown flesh and blood or if he heard Shen Yu's heartbeat.
Their lips were merely pressed together, without any movement.
The black mist around Xie Tu at this moment scattered wildly as if in a frenzy, each strand penetrating throughout the welfare institution. A strand of black mist squeezed through the window crack, damaging the light's power in the room, making the ceiling light sputter. Conversely, it also damaged the furniture in the room, making thumping sounds.
This made the remaining people scream in fear, clutching their heads. Even Lu Wei, who was usually calm, was so scared that he hid in a corner, trying to hold his breath.
Crazy, truly crazy, everyone was crazy.
A strand of black mist squeezed through the door crack, waking the sleeping children. The awakened children then cried and fussed, plunging the entire welfare institution into an eerie atmosphere.
Swirling through the front courtyard, it toppled the pagoda tree, knocked over the inverted stone statue, making an earth-shattering sound like an earthquake. The black mist flailed wildly, leaving chaos wherever it went.