014 School of Biochemistry

“Who are you?” I shouted warily into the darkness, scanning my surroundings. With no light, I felt like a startled rabbit, because my special abilities depended on illumination to activate. The current situation was clearly disadvantageous to me; although the layout of the dormitory buildings was similar, this wasn’t my home turf. I couldn’t be certain whether the other side had set traps.

If there were none, it would be fine. But if I acted recklessly and got hurt, I’d have no one to blame but myself.

“You’ve trespassed on our academy’s territory and don’t know who I am?” A rough voice echoed from afar, drawing closer.

I caught a strong chemical scent—this man must have brought plenty of chemical substances. “Are you the leader here?”

“That’s right.”

My eyes began adjusting to the darkness, and his features gradually became clearer—a burly man, a head taller than me. No wonder his voice was so deep.

“I am the representative of the Business School. My name is Lin Zijian. I’ve come to discuss tomorrow’s alliance for the Grand Survival Game.”

“Alliances?” The big guy paused as he heard my words, stopping not far from me.

“I’m the head of the School of Biology and Chemistry, Wang Yan.” Wang Yan put away the chemical vials in his hand, waved, and the corridor lights flickered back on.

“How can I trust you?” Wang Yan stepped up to me, evidently wanting me to show some sincerity.

Since I’d decided to ally with Wang Yan instead of Zhang Yisheng, I naturally offered intelligence on Zhang Yisheng as bargaining chips for Wang Yan.

After listening, Wang Yan seemed surprised but quickly regained composure, muttering, “No wonder the Medical School came to stir up trouble yesterday—someone must have been behind it.”

“The Medical School came?” I was startled by how quickly they acted and responded.

To regroup immediately after that strange slaughter and launch an attack—their psychological resilience was truly exceptional. Yet instead of forming alliances, they attacked the nearest School of Biology and Chemistry. What was their intention? Were they planning to thin out opponents before the second round began? Logically, forming allies first would be a better move.

I couldn’t fathom what Zhang Yisheng and his group were after, but fortunately, this event gave Wang Yan and me a reason to unite—a common enemy. The Medical School’s surprise attack cost Wang Yan’s academy nearly an entire floor’s worth of people, which explained why the first floor was empty. Had Wang Yan not reacted swiftly and organized a counterattack, or if their dormitory hadn’t housed several labs for chemical supplies, their academy might have vanished altogether.

Thinking about it, I couldn’t help but feel relieved. Our Business School was isolated in a corner of D University, far from any other school.

Strange, really—except for the Business School, all other academy buildings were paired off: Medical and Biochemistry, Literature and Arts, Agriculture and Law. Why was ours singled out? And that night when I was drunk, what were those bizarre doors?

To confirm my suspicions, I asked Wang Yan about the taboos at D University, but he seemed unaware.

That was odd. Was this taboo only known to Business School people? In other words, was there something wrong only with our building?

Wang Yan and I kept things brief, finalizing the details of tomorrow’s alliance for the Grand Survival Game. I sent a message to Tan Tou, hoping he could dig up more news from the School of Literature.

After leaving the Biochemistry building, I received a text from Lin Wan.

Damn, I’d forgotten about Lin Wan and the Engineering School—they’d surely be a formidable force. I hurriedly sent Lin Wan a message, only to get the worst possible reply.

Engineering and Medical Schools had formed an alliance. That meant Lin Wan and Zhang Yisheng would stand on the same front. I didn’t know why Lin Wan had done this—was it to conceal the fact that several of us knew each other? But tomorrow’s survival game would pit Engineering and Business directly against each other. Even if the three of us were aware, we couldn’t control the others.

By evening, I’d met up with Tan Tou, and the alliance with the Literature School was secured. According to Wen Lingyu, the leader of the Literature School, Su Mu from the Agriculture School, Lin Xiayue from the Arts School, and Jiang Tingjie from the Law School had met secretly and likely formed an alliance. That meant the camps were now divided into three: Medical and Engineering; Business, Biochemistry and Literature; and Law, Agriculture and Arts.

Tomorrow’s Grand Survival Game would be a brutal battle. Engineering and Medical would undoubtedly have the strongest combat power—Engineering had workshops to produce weapons, and Medical’s killing skills needed no explanation.

We had to rely on the thirty-odd Taekwondo novices trained by Chen Hao in just three days, armed with Biochemistry’s weapons, while the Literature School was largely useless. Yet Tan Tou told me that Wen Lingyu claimed they had their own weapons and needed no special protection.

The alliance of Agriculture, Law, and Arts wasn’t much of a concern, as their academic knowledge posed little real threat. In other words, tomorrow, those three schools might well be the first to disappear. If luck was on our side, wiping out one or two schools might bring it all to an end.

I held a brief meeting with Tan Tou, Chen Hao, and the newly appointed squad leaders for tomorrow—Wu Mingran, Li Feng, and Sun Cheng—emphasizing the need to protect everyone’s safety as best we could. Then, exhausted, I returned to my bed at last.

Third Brother watched me and asked quietly, “Fourth, will we die tomorrow?”

I stretched out, pulled my blanket over, and replied, “Don’t worry, Third Brother. We’ll be fine.”

The next morning at seven, everyone from our academy had already gathered outside the dormitory. We split the two hundred survivors into six squads, led by myself, Chen Hao, Tan Tou, Li Feng, Wu Mingran, and Sun Cheng. Since I couldn’t trust strangers in such a short time, I chose only my reliable companions.

Apart from the thirty-odd people whom Chen Hao had trained and who seemed refreshed, the remaining hundred-plus were little more than walking corpses. I couldn’t think of any way to boost their morale; all I could do was protect them as much as possible.

At seven-thirty, Wang Yan’s men delivered chemical weapons: throwable gas bombs and explosive reagents. These were distributed to the trained thirty, with extra doses for Wu Mingran, Sun Cheng, and Li Feng.

“Survive at all costs!”

I told each of them in turn. When eight o’clock came, everyone in the Business School received a message that the second round was starting, instructing us to assemble at Entrance A of the main teaching building. I confirmed with Wen Lingyu, Wang Yan, and Lin Wan that each school had a different entrance—presumably to prevent quick alliances and immediate bloodshed. There was another requirement: everyone had to wear their academy uniforms.

We finished changing by eight-thirty, then hurried toward the main teaching building. If we didn’t arrive by nine, we’d all be eliminated.

“Tan Tou, Chen Hao, Li Feng, Wu Mingran, Sun Cheng, split up as planned!”

As soon as we entered the teaching building, we divided into six squads, deploying as planned. The building had six floors; we stationed a squad on each, each with a leader and five attackers. Since the rest had lost all will to fight, there was only one strategy: abandon some to save others. Each squad’s ordinary members were randomly split between two adjacent classrooms, their leader and five attackers each guarding one room. When a classroom couldn’t withstand an attack, it would be sacrificed as bait, and the leader would retreat with the survivors and attackers from the other room. At the new base, we’d repeat the strategy—protect half, abandon half.

Some might call me heartless for using others as bait. But remember, these people had already forsaken their will to live. When Chen Hao called people to boost their close-combat skills, they all gave up. If you’ve abandoned hope for survival, how can you expect others to shelter you? Get real—strangers can barely save themselves, let alone worry about you.

My orders to the squad leaders and attackers were clear: if anyone caused trouble, deal with them immediately. If the squad’s discipline broke, our academy would truly be finished.

We hadn’t even been split up for ten minutes when Chen Hao’s squad encountered the enemy on the third floor.