Rong Qing Lin took advantage of the chaos and secretly ran toward the main gate of the academy, unaware of two pairs of eyes staring at him from the dark.

 

He reached the academy entrance and stood beside the security booth and looked at where the large iron gates should have been, which was now a wall.

 

He walk forward and hesitantly touched the wall, half expecting it to be a holographic projection or something, only to feel the rough-painted surface of the wall.

 

"The Academy gate...disappeared."

 

These four words were extremely confusing.

 

I mean, how can the gate suddenly disappear...right? The gate.... which connects the academy to the outside world.....An entrance as well as the............Exit.

 

No gate, no exit.

 

Rong Qing Lin had seen how the Penguin descended from the sky, heard all his words, and witnessed the director's death.

 

Thousands of possibilities ran through his mind: it’s possible that the director was just a suicidal lookalike and had secretly installed a microbomb; this may be a secret government experiment; murder also cannot be ruled out, or maybe their Academy was under attack by terrorists……. But when Rong Qing Lin saw what happened to the Academy gate, he was sure that they had encountered a paranormal event, because, really, no human means can just make those big gates vanish into thin air!!!

 

If someone had told him before that he would see a talking penguin descend from the sky, blurt out some absurd game rules, and would blow the director up like a balloon. Then you are afraid he would not curse the 18 generations of your family in his heart, all the while putting a surreal smile on his face.

 

Now seeing it for himself……

 

He still cursed the 18 generations of the families of the masterminds responsible for this shitty situation in his heart while putting on a surreal poker face.

 

It was as if there was never a gate, to begin with.

 

But there was still a glimmer of hope in his heart. The window of the security room which was facing the outside could not be opened.

 

Climbing the wall, the whole property was seemingly surrounded by eerie white fog.

 

'White was actually more intimidating than black.'

 

Of course, Rong Qing Lin would not take any chances and step into the fog.

 

He’s not an idiot.

 

He only has one life!!!

 

Even if he had an extra life, he would not waste it on something obviously, stupidly suicidal like that.

 

Now that he had confirmed that they could not get out of this place unscathed, and the authorities could not come in to help them, he started to do what any sane person would do in this situation.

 

Scavenge the security booth !!

 

What else!?

 

Rong Qing Lin almost carpet-searched the whole security booth and found a half-eaten packet of biscuits, 2 tasers, a baton, 2 walkie-talkies, 2 torches and a few cells. He could not take all these things with him so he pocketed a taser and hide the remaining inside the bushes behind the booth.

 

What benefits the enemy, obviously, harms you.

 

He wouldn't just leave those things there.

 

Who knows if it will fall into the hands of a hostile party?

 

Why leave it up to chance?!!

 

The teachers arrived at the gate, just as Rong Qing Lin was about to get up from his place behind the well-trimmed bush. Annoyed, he hides back down in a huff.

 

The group of adults were still holding a sliver of hope in their hearts, but then afterwards, they all went silent.

 

One of the teacher’s lips trembled. He stuttered out, “Can we climb over the wall?”

 

“I do not recommend that. I think that the scope of our activities is limited to only inside the Academy premises. We should probably not overlook what the penguin said.”A gentle-looking teacher, Bai Lian with elegant gold-rimmed glasses, spoke up. 

 

“I second that. But, it is best to first get the students to their classes and not let the situation get any more out of control than it already is. ” The young and handsome principal looked at the gentle teacher with loving eyes as he backed him.

 

The young CEO, possessively wrapped his hand around the gentle teacher’s waist as he gave the principal the stink eye.

 

Now everyone’s attention was on the gentle teacher.

 

“How can you say that for sure?”A beautiful teacher, Zhi Ruo, also Rong Qing Lin’s class maths teacher and class in charge with long black hair countered. Although this teacher of theirs was very strict, she was also very kind and considerate. It was extremely unnatural for her to oppose someone so strongly.

 

But Rong Qing Lin could understand her feelings. This Bai Lian gave him a very green tea¹A green tea is basically someone who is innocent looking but is actually a bit*h vibe. He was more of an 18th-tier star than a teacher.

 

Bai Lian ignored Mrs Zhi and started inspecting the wall which was supposed to be the Academy gate for a long time. One of the elderly teachers couldn’t help asking, “Did you see anything?”

 

Bai Lian: “No. The wall is flawlessly connected to the other walls. Even the degree of how old it was made was the same. It’s as if the Academy gate had never existed."

 

Mrs Zhi sneered at his reply and must have given a snarky remark. But Rong Qing Lin had already sneaked too far away to properly hear it.

 

“The priority is to stabilize the students,” the principal said, “Vice principal Fang, you need to go back to the field and inform all the headteachers of each class to lead the students back to their classrooms from the east door. Do not, under any circumstances, let them know that the gate is gone. What’s next, we’ll think of a solution.”

 

Vice principal Fang left in response.

 

------------

 

In the high school building, senior year Class S was extremely loud. Actually, all the classes were extremely loud.

 

At this time, the entire Academy was discussing the public explosion of their principal and the mysterious penguin which descended from the sky. It’s naturally impossible for classes to continue now.

 

Younger people are always more accepting of strange events than older people. And there was an example in the Director’s death, so no one dared to treat that penguin only as a prank. Their discussions concealed agitation and a deep fear of death. 

 

Many students had already retired to their dorms, traumatized by the way the director died.

 

Rong Qing Lin sat in his seat in the second row beside the window. He supported his chin with one hand and with the other scrolled through his smartphone. 

 

His phone had no signal, no net, no nothing.

 

The main question right now was if they were still in their original world. Or had they already been taken into another dimension?

 

If they were still in their original world, there was still be a chance to dissipate the white fog. But what if they were not...

 

Who was behind all this? The penguin? Or was it someone else? 

 

The fact that the Academy gate disappeared won’t be hidden for long. There will always be one or two rebellious students who will find out.

 

And when the news spreads to the whole student body? What then?

 

And what about him? How will he survive?

 

No matter how careful one is, accidents are bound to happen.

 

As they say, one can never be too cautious.

 

First things first, is to secure food and water. And also secure a weapon.

 

On top of that, according to the penguin, they must eliminate all the players without skill cards. But what are the skill cards? Is it a card that grants special power? If they are the players, then have cards already been given to the players or should they first find these skill cards?

 

And, with 10 days to go, will that penguin really leave them unresponsive?

 

It said violence against the system is prohibited. So, is the penguin the system? Could they ask questions? Asking some harmless Questions should be alright. Right?