NOVEL NEXT Ch. 27
Chapter 27: Lin You
Lin You had always been the mischievous type since he was young.
He was never obedient, and he rarely yielded to anyone.
Starting from elementary school, he constantly got into fights at school.
On top of that, he was tall and strong, towering over kids his age, so he basically never lost in fights.
It was precisely because of this unruly personality that his parents sent him to a strict martial arts school in middle school.
Their original intention had been to temper his rough edges through discipline, but they hadn’t expected that instead of smoothing out his temperament, it had only given him proper combat skills.
With decent grades, Lin You was admitted to Xinli No. 1 High School, but his restless nature quickly got him into trouble.
Less than a week after the new semester began, he fought with three thugs from outside the school.
One ended up in the hospital, and two lost their front teeth.
For a nationally renowned school like Xinli No. 1 High School, this incident had a terrible impact.
Originally, Lin You was supposed to be expelled on the spot, but fortunately his parents used the “power of money” to suppress the matter.
After that, Lin You did settle down for quite a while.
He even once thought that he should start planning for his future and couldn’t always act so recklessly.
But trouble, unfortunately, came knocking right at that time.
One day after school, those same three thugs cornered him again.
This time, they brought more people along, some of whom even carried weapons at their waists.
This time, Lin You became the one beaten up.
Even though he was strong and trained in martial arts, he couldn’t hold out against overwhelming numbers.
Soon, he was knocked to the ground and pinned down.
“Hehe… you broke my arm last time. Today, I’ll give you a scar on your face!”
As he said this, one of the thugs sneered and pulled out a small knife, twirling it in his hand.
At that moment, Lin You truly thought his face was about to be ruined.
But just then, the sound of a camera shutter clicked.
A bright flash of light made everyone turn their heads toward the source.
It was a tall, thin boy with delicate features, holding up his phone and snapping photos of them with great interest.
Lin You immediately recognized him—it was the class’s top student, Lu Feng.
Seeing themselves being photographed, one thug reacted instantly, his expression turning sinister as he walked toward Lu Feng.
“Kid, what do you think you’re doing taking pictures?”
As he spoke, he reached out to grab Lu Feng’s phone.
“I advise you not to move. If you do, you guys will be in serious trouble.”
Lu Feng spoke expressionlessly.
His words made the thugs burst into laughter.
They pointed at him and mocked mercilessly.
“You? Kid, do you think we scare that easily?”
As they spoke, they circled around Lu Feng with malicious intent.
The leader grabbed Lu Feng by the collar, pulling him close.
“Kid, I advise you to mind your own business. Walk away now while you still can, or I’ll cut you up too!”
Beep!
「Kid, I advise you to mind your own business. Walk away now while you still can…」
“Alright, I just recorded what you said. Together with the photos I took, that’s enough to charge you with intentional injury, plus threatening another’s personal safety, don’t you think?”
Lu Feng raised his phone toward the leader, looking at him with a half-smile.
“Oh, and by the way, neither he nor I are of age yet. Hurting a minor carries an even heavier sentence, you know.”
The thugs froze, their expressions instantly shifting.
“You little brat…”
As he spoke, the leader made a move to snatch Lu Feng’s phone.
“Don’t move!”
Lu Feng barked coldly.
“I already drafted a message. With just one tap, the photos and recording will all be sent to the police… Why don’t you try me and see who’s faster—you grabbing, or me sending?”
He glared at them coldly, still wearing that faint smile.
Now it was the thugs’ turn to panic.
Even the leader dared not make a move.
After all, no matter how arrogant thugs were on the streets, once they were in jail, they were nothing.
If they really got caught, losing some skin would be the least of their worries!
“Now that you know what’s at stake, aren’t you going to let go of me?”
Seeing the thug still trying to act tough, Lu Feng impatiently began a countdown.
“3——”
“Y-You’re bluffing! Go ahead, send it!”
“2——”
“Don’t think I don’t know… You don’t even…”
“1——”
“Alright, alright! I get it! Brother, please don’t send it!”
The leader hurriedly released Lu Feng, speaking in a suddenly polite tone.
Lu Feng straightened his collar, then walked over to Lin You, pulling him up from the ground.
“You okay?” he asked.
Lin You only nodded blankly.
This was the first real interaction Lin You had with Lu Feng, and this unexpected encounter made the usually unyielding boy respect the delicate-looking student wholeheartedly.
For the first time in his life, he realized that making the other side back down didn’t necessarily require fists.
……
Bang!
Lin You kicked open a door, startling the person inside.
“Lin… Lin You? What are you guys doing?”
“Yang Yang, you’re fine? Why didn’t you open the door just now?”
“I-I was sleeping!”
“Oh, then keep sleeping. We’re just looking for something.”
With that, Lu Feng, Lin You, and Zhang Tong walked inside, searching the room.
After a while, it seemed they hadn’t found what they wanted, and their faces showed some disappointment.
After saying “Sorry for disturbing you, go back to sleep” to Yang Yang, the three left one after another, closing the door gently, leaving Yang Yang utterly confused.
……
A whole morning passed, and Lu Feng’s group had only kicked down four doors in total.
The others had mostly cooperated by opening their doors voluntarily.
It seemed that after a night’s rest, everyone’s mental state had indeed improved quite a bit.
Another piece of good news was that no one had committed suicide yet.
But as for those with suicidal tendencies…
Lu Feng recalled the kitchen knife they had found in Bai Quye’s room.
It seemed they needed to keep an eye on those who might attempt suicide…
He pondered silently.
After working hard all morning, they finally gained something—
At that moment, three bones were laid out on the table in Lu Feng’s room.
All three had been cleaned, and Lu Feng still remembered the pale, greenish faces Lin You and Zhang Tong had when they found them.
The other two bones also looked very likely to be human—a leg bone and a scapula.
As expected, numbers were written on them—20 and 18.
That meant, the numbers on the three bones they had so far were—
12, 20, 18.
Clearly, these bones were most likely the “limited hints” mentioned in the game rules.
Otherwise, these numbered bones wouldn’t just randomly appear in this old mansion.
But the problem was, with just these three numbers, what exactly could they figure out?
Lu Feng furrowed his brows.
Time… was running out.