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Chapter 101: Death Class 7 (Part 25)
Shen Qingqiu also sensed that something was wrong. Her gaze was cautious and dark as she whispered, “Those who have survived until now are the most outstanding among this group of students. I don’t think the girls made a mistake. They would’ve gone right if the symbol had turned into a dot. They wouldn’t have so quickly turned left again. Something must have gone wrong.”
Xiao Muyu fully agreed. She quickly recalled the announced game rules and continuously replayed the arrangements of those rooms, as well as the X, dot, and blank marks in her mind.
“The rules mentioned that the clues to the maze are among us and never forget your identity. It also mentioned that as students of the strongest science class, we should explore thoroughly. Although you’re almost thirty and graduated many years ago, what do you think of when you hear ‘science students’?”
With limited time, Xiao Muyu spoke rapidly, not even sparing a glance at Shen Qingqiu. So, she didn’t see Shen Qingqiu’s hard-to-describe expression.
“It would be better if you hadn’t mentioned ‘almost thirty’.” Shen Qingqiu muttered in dissatisfaction. “I may not be as smart as or as young as you, but I’m still from a science background. When you bring this up, I naturally think of physics, chemistry, and biology.”
She paused, then, with a slight smugness in her expression, continued. “I know what you’re implying. These Xs and dots made me think of the magnetic field in physics. This instance has high school third years, and it’s common for them to study magnetic fields in physics.
“If I’m not mistaken, the Lorentz force in a magnetic field follows the left-hand rule. X means the left palm faces up, with the thumb pointing in the direction of the force, which is left. No mark means no magnetic field, so we should continue in the original direction, which is straight. Am I right?”
If Shen Qingqiu had a tail, it would be wagging right now. The corners of Xiao Muyu’s lips rose slightly. “Yes, you’ve got it right. So, logically, we should be turning right now.”
“Then why did those girls choose wrong?” If this deduction was correct, how did it explain the two girls’ deaths? Besides, they could still figure out the pattern even if they didn’t know it was a magnetic field rule. She didn’t understand how they got it wrong.
Xiao Muyu also couldn’t figure it out for a while, but the lights were already flickering.
Shen Qingqiu took a deep breath. “I’ll go try.”
She resolutely chose to turn left. She believed those two students hadn’t made a mistake but that something had changed.
Xiao Muyu’s heart tightened, and she hurriedly followed.
As Shen Qingqiu stepped forward, something suddenly changed. Both doors on her left and right slammed open. The corridor wasn’t wide to begin with, and when both doors opened with such force, they left less than 30cm of gap between them.
“Don’t come over!” Shen Qingqiu’s voice came sharp and swift. At the same time, she turned her body sideways, did a precise split, slid through the narrow gap, and pressed her torso down until she was flush against the floor, avoiding two sharp claws shooting out from the doors.
These creatures had intended a lethal strike. They were so ruthless that they couldn’t stop in time and pierced straight through each other, roaring in pain.
Xiao Muyu had stopped at the crossroads. When she saw Shen Qingqiu dodge the deadly strike, she finally exhaled in relief.
But then the monsters realized they’d missed their target. They reached out their other hands, intent on tearing Shen Qingqiu apart.
Xiao Muyu quickly moved forward, her gaze sweeping left and right. These doors had X’s on them. Her eyes locked onto one.
She launched herself and grabbed the door on the right, using her body’s momentum to slam it shut. Xiao Muyu grabbed the top of the door with amazing arm strength, angled her legs, and kicked hard at the still-open left door.
The monster behind the right door swung it open again to reach for Xiao Muyu, but it missed entirely.
Meanwhile, the one on the left miscalculated. As it reached out its empty hand toward Shen Qingqiu, the immense force of the right door opening combined with Xiao Muyu’s kick mercilessly slammed the left door back. There was a loud crack of bones breaking.
Shen Qingqiu followed Xiao Muyu with her eyes, and the two worked in perfect sync. While Xiao Muyu distracted the two monsters, Shen Qingqiu seized the opportunity to stand up. She nimbly dodged one outstretched hand, then swiftly drew her dagger and sliced through the broken arm.
The dried-up skin was tough but couldn’t withstand Shen Qingqiu’s strike. Within a short few seconds, she severed the hand.
*Roar!* The monster howled in pain and quickly retreated after losing its hand.
Once Xiao Muyu landed safely back on her feet, she shouted, “Qingqiu!”
The two of them exchanged a glance. They didn’t need words. One smoothly moved to the right, dagger swiftly cutting down the stunned monster. The other leaped forward to the left, kicking the second monster, still reeling from the pain of its severed hand, right in the abdomen.
When the one on the left hit the floor, Shen Qingqiu had already cleaved the one on the right from its chin to its abdomen. These two man-eating mummies didn’t even make it past the threshold before Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu took them down. The doors shut once again.
The two turned at the same time, looking at each other, both smiling. It wasn’t the first time Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu had been so in sync, but they felt different about it this time. They were no longer surprised or bewildered. Instead, a quiet joy rose within them as if to say, ‘See, this is how it should be.’
However, that joy didn’t last long. While they had dealt with the two monsters, Liu Ya reappeared, laughing cruelly. Saying nothing, she jumped over, her long legs carrying her effortlessly. She got behind them in one bound, unbelievably fast.
Xiao Muyu grabbed Shen Qingqiu’s left hand, shouting, “Left!”
Liu Ya had already reached the intersection as they turned left. They knew the pattern hadn’t changed. It was still X = left, and both sides remained clear.
Further ahead, there were no markings on either side. They could continue straight. Shen Qingqiu tightly held onto Xiao Muyu’s hand as they desperately ran forward. Shen Qingqiu didn’t dare confront Liu Ya head-on here. Making the wrong turn would give her more allies and could result in unthinkable consequences.
Liu Ya was hot on their heels. Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu passed the next five intersections by going straight, which wasn’t good news. Liu Ya’s superior speed gave them no advantage on a straight path. Xiao Muyu hadn’t seen her catch up yet, and it felt as if she was toying with them, like a cat playing with a mouse.
But the next moment, the markings on the doors became dots.
Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu didn’t hesitate to turn right—correct again! When they checked at the next intersection, it was still a dot, so they took another right. Everything seemed fine until a dot appeared again, forcing Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu to stop.
Xiao Muyu’s heart tightened. “What’s going on?”
If they turned right again after two consecutive right turns, they would return to where they had made their first right turn. In other words, they had entered a dead loop and would be running in circles forever.
Shen Qingqiu became a little anxious. Fortunately, Liu Ya hadn’t caught up with them earlier. Otherwise, she would have turned without obstacles, leaving them no chance to lose her.
But as soon as that thought crossed Shen Qingqiu’s mind, a sense of foreboding hit her. Why was Liu Ya not chasing them?
Shen Qingqiu quickly looked at Xiao Muyu, and Xiao Muyu had already realized something was wrong. But before she could say anything, something with great force suddenly pulled her straight into the room to the left. There was no warning, and the door didn’t even open. She simply vanished.
The last thing Xiao Muyu saw was Shen Qingqiu’s face turning pale and her hand abruptly reaching out. Before she could fully process the image, Xiao Muyu lost sight of her.
She only heard Shen Qingqiu’s faint and urgent shout of “Muyu!” followed by a fist pounding against the door.
Xiao Muyu furrowed her brows. Doesn’t that idiot feel pain?
After being pulled into the room, she felt suspended in a void. A faint voice reached her ears.
“The best way to ‘understand’ each other is through sharing experience. Enjoy the hell we once went through. You have to hold on, or your beloved will end up like I did—living a fate worse than death.”
It was Liu Ya’s voice. Xiao Muyu couldn’t see anything around her. Yet, she felt no fear, only concern for Shen Qingqiu.
She didn’t even realize that her first instinctive thought when Liu Ya mentioned “your beloved” was of Shen Qingqiu.
“If you didn’t like what I said, come at me. What does she have to do with it? Don’t drag the innocent into this. Whatever hatred one has should always follow this rule.”
“Heh. Don’t drag the innocent. I have much to settle with her. Have you forgotten how ruthless she was to me when she protected you that night? Why should I let her go?” Liu Ya laughed again, her words vicious. “Worry about yourself before you worry about her.”
Xiao Muyu found herself back in Yuanning High’s dorm in the blink of an eye. In front of her stood Class 7’s Chinese representative, Chen Xuan.
“Lin Xue, I have something to ask you. Is it true you and Liu Ya have that kind of relationship?”
Xiao Muyu froze. Lin Xue? She wanted to speak but realized she had no control of her body.
Meanwhile, Chen Xuan hurriedly explained, “I don’t mean anything bad. It’s just that the whole class has been talking about you and Liu Ya. Some people are gossiping behind your back, and I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I wanted to ask you. They even said that the teachers are going to call your parents in.”
Xiao Muyu couldn’t see her own expression and Lin Xue’s reaction. She only heard her calm voice say, “What does our relationship have to do with everyone else? We haven’t hurt anyone or affected anyone’s studies. Why be so curious about this? We just get along well and walked a bit closer. Is there anything wrong with that? And calling our parents in? We study and improve together. We haven’t caused any trouble in class. Why should our parents be called in?”
“Don’t be mad. I think the same way.” Chen Xuan handed Lin Xue a bottle of water. “So what if it’s true? It’s actually pretty cool. You two are the first couple in our school.”
Xiao Muyu understood by now. She was experiencing the past as Lin Xue.
Perhaps due to feeling a bit emotional, Lin Xue took the water from Chen Xuan and drank a few sips. The two of them continued chatting casually.
Once back in the classroom, she sat beside Liu Ya, and evening self-study began.
Their classmates would occasionally look at them. Liu Ya kept her head down, distancing herself from Lin Xue.
Lin Xue glanced at her from time to time and sighed.
But gradually, Lin Xue—or rather, Xiao Muyu—felt her eyelids growing heavy. Her head was spinning, and an overwhelming discomfort spread through her body.
She struggled to hold on but couldn’t keep herself upright and slumped forward onto the desk. Liu Ya, who had been shrinking into the corner, quickly noticed.
Xiao Muyu could already guess what would happen next. Lin Xue wasn’t feeling well, so after the first self-study session, Liu Ya took her back to the dorm.
Not wanting to disrupt Liu Ya’s studies or worry her, Lin Xue urged her to return to class.
However, after some hesitation, Liu Ya picked up a washbasin and headed to the washroom—probably to fetch hot water.
The perspective was Lin Xue’s. After a while, she fell asleep, her consciousness fading into a haze. What happened to Liu Ya during that time, no one knew.
But Xiao Muyu knew very well what Lin Xue was about to experience. She had never been able to figure out why Lin Xue was in the dorm when everyone else was in the classroom. She once guessed that Lin Xue had fallen ill, not that Lin Xue got drugged.
And yet, even though she knew, she had no way to stop it. She could only watch as Liu Ya left, never to return.
As Lin Xue fell asleep, Xiao Muyu’s consciousness faded, too.
When she woke again, she was choking. The moment she opened her eyes, they stung intensely, and her nose burned as she coughed uncontrollably.
Smoke filled her lungs, making her chest ache with every breath. Xiao Muyu tried to get up, but her body was weak and sore, her head throbbing with unbearable pain.
It all felt more real than anything she’d experienced before—tears, coughing, pain—Xiao Muyu could feel each sensation. For a moment, she couldn’t distinguish whether this was an illusion or reality.
She struggled several times before finally managing to lift her upper body. But then, the sizzling she previously heard while stuck in Room 409 appeared.
Xiao Muyu turned her head toward the flickering flames, her gaze dark and unreadable.
The fire was about to spread.
Sure enough, with a crackle, sparks scattered in all directions.
It came from a bunk bed. Near the headboard, an electrical outlet with a charging cable plugged in was producing sparks.
Tiny embers landed on the bedding—at first dimming, then flaring up again, until they fully ignited.
She finally understood what Liu Ya meant.
Understand?
There was no more direct way to make someone understand than this.
Author had something to say:
Almost forgot to explain—magnetic field problems are a required topic in high school physics. Simply put, when a charged particle moves in a magnetic field, it experiences a force called the Lorentz force, which causes it to deflect. In physics, there’s a method called the Left-Hand Rule to determine the direction of this force.
Magnetic fields have direction:
To determine the direction of the force:
I only used the general idea in the story—no worries if you don’t fully understand!
TL: I had to rearrange the two doors action scene to make it flow more naturally. If you find it different from the original, that’s why.
D[Translator]
Hello, I'm D. I mainly translate yuri stories. My language pairs are CN-EN and JP-EN. If you want to commission/request me to translate a story, ping @D in Shanghai Fantasy's Discord server. I don't translate stories over 1 mil character/word count, or ones that contain many NSFW scenes. Support me at ko-fi only if you're able.