Chapter 1: The Game's Forfeit

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In Zhang Xiaofan's class WeChat group.

Bao Lei: Now announcing the punishment rules for grabbing red envelopes. Whoever gets a red envelope ending in the number eight must engage in physical relations with each other within 24 hours. If they fail to complete the task, they die!

“What? But there are three people who got envelopes ending with eight.”

“Yeah, does that mean all three have to do it together? Wow, that’s really wild.”

Many classmates looked on with schadenfreude.

“No, no, why does it have to be me?” A girl looked at the 1.88 yuan she received, tears welling in her eyes as she turned to her boyfriend.

Her name was Zhang Yanyan. She wasn’t the prettiest in class, but she was definitely among the top ten most attractive girls.

Her boyfriend, Guo Daqiang, came from a family that owned a company and had some money. His face fell—his girlfriend was being forced to have relations with other men. What the hell? That was his girlfriend!

Even if he was only playing around with Zhang Yanyan, if this really happened, he’d be the biggest laughingstock—cuckolded right in front of everyone.

Zhang Xiaofan sighed. The ones who got envelopes ending with eight were one girl and two boys. As Zhang Yanyan’s boyfriend, if she really went through with it, it would be a massive humiliation for him.

But if she didn’t…

She would die.

How could anyone choose in a situation like this? Even Zhang Xiaofan himself couldn’t make a decision quickly.

As he thought this, Zhang Xiaofan couldn’t help but recall the events of a few days ago—the night when the class started playing this terrifying red envelope game…

It was after school.

“Bastards, they really played me for a fool!” Zhang Xiaofan walked off the sports field, cursing under his breath.

That afternoon, the class beauty, Chen Jing, had given him a note, saying she liked him and asking him to wait for her after school at the track so they could go out together.

As a typical nobody, Zhang Xiaofan was ecstatic. Chen Jing was not only beautiful but also came from a good family. He had never dared to hope she’d like him. So, thrilled, he waited at the track.

He waited for three hours.

Several times he messaged Chen Jing asking when she would come, but she just kept telling him to wait a little longer. He spent three hours feeding mosquitoes. Finally, when he opened the class group chat on his phone, he realized he’d been set up.

By then, it was already dark. Zhang Xiaofan stared at the group chat in anger.

Class 4, Second Year:

Song Feng: Haha, that kid Zhang Xiaofan is still waiting.

Huang Kaijian: Song Feng, that was a really nasty trick. It’s so hot out, the field is full of mosquitoes. I bet Zhang Xiaofan is covered in bites by now.

Shi Hailing: Where’s Chen Jing?

Chen Jing: I’m with Song Feng.

Zhang Xiaofan: @Chen Jing, do you think this is funny?

Chen Jing: Who told you to stare at my chest during class?

Song Feng: @Zhang Xiaofan, be smarter next time. Know your place. Do you really think you’re worthy of Chen Jing? Toad lusting after a swan!

“Haha, Song Feng is right.”

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Furious, Zhang Xiaofan shut off his phone. Despite his anger, a deep sense of helplessness washed over him. Song Feng was a rich kid—his family owned a big factory, and his monthly allowance was more than Zhang Xiaofan’s family earned in a year.

So, Song Feng was surrounded by lackeys, and anyone who went against him was asking for trouble.

He’d just have to swallow this humiliation.

He walked into the dorm room, where his three roommates looked at him with pity.

Gu Saling, from the lower bunk, said, “That Song Feng is such a jerk, making Chen Jing trick you and then posting it in the class group.”

Jiang Jiehui said, “Xiaofan, don’t be upset. You’ll get your chance for payback.”

Zhang Xiaofan forced a smile. “Forget it, it’s just a bit of embarrassment. I’m not upset.”

He washed up, lay on his bed, and opened his phone, intending to read a novel called “Netherworld Live Broadcast” for a while.

For some reason, after he’d fallen and hit his head last year, a voice had been calling to him in his mind, always whispering about the Netherworld. Sometimes, when he slept, he’d have vivid adventures—catching zombies, fighting monsters, journeying to a world of cultivation. These memories felt so real, as if he’d lived them himself.

Just then, Liu Saijian, from the next bunk, chuckled, “Hey, the class monitor is about to send a red envelope. Get ready to grab it!”

Zhang Xiaofan opened the class group chat.

The class monitor, Sun Yang, was saying, “Let’s stop talking about Zhang Xiaofan. We have an exam tomorrow. I’ll send a red envelope to wish everyone good luck.”

“Great, monitor! How much are you sending?”

“Make it a big one…”

“There are sixty-two people in this class. Make it the max—two hundred.”

Sun Yang: Fine, but let’s play a game. Whoever grabs the most red envelope money has to score zero on the exam tomorrow and tear up their test paper in front of the teacher.

“Whoa, that’s intense.”

“I don’t dare.”

“If you’re scared, don’t grab.”

“Even if someone gets the most, there’s no way they’ll actually do it.”

“Yeah, who can handle the teacher’s wrath?”

Sun Yang: (sent two ghost-face emojis) Hehe, if you don’t complete the game, there will be a punishment.

“What kind of punishment?”

Sun Yang didn’t say, but soon the two-hundred-yuan red envelope was sent—sixty-two portions.

Everyone rushed to grab them. Unexpectedly, a girl named Bao Lei got the most.

She managed to get sixty-eight yuan. There were still a dozen envelopes left unclaimed—some classmates must have been busy with other things and missed it. The red envelopes already added up to more than 150 yuan, so even if nobody claimed the rest, Bao Lei was definitely the winner.

“Haha, Bao Lei, you got the most. You have to follow the game rules tomorrow.”

Bao Lei was usually quiet, but she was cute and pretty, so some boys started teasing.

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“@Bao Lei, you have to accept the consequences of your gamble.”

Bao Lei: I don’t want to. I just grabbed them for fun. I’ll just give up the money.

After chatting for a while, everyone went to bed, not taking it seriously.

Zhang Xiaofan had grabbed eight yuan. He shook his head, not giving it much thought.

The next day, as soon as Bao Lei entered the classroom, some boys started teasing her again. Since she was a girl, the boys joked around, none of them taking it seriously. After all, everyone knew Bao Lei’s personality—there was no way she’d turn in a blank test, let alone throw her paper at the teacher.

She was the quietest, most well-behaved girl in class.

Soon, the homeroom teacher came in with the test papers, took attendance, and everyone noticed Sun Yang, the class monitor, was absent. The teacher said he’d taken leave, so no one paid much attention.

Zhang Xiaofan felt something was off. Sun Yang hadn’t seemed sick in the group chat last night.

He shook his head and prepared for the exam.

He was an unremarkable student—no money, no connections, and mediocre grades. He finished the test quickly, feeling uncertain about how he did. With a sigh, he turned in his paper.

Bao Lei turned in her paper as well, but as soon as she sat down, her face went pale. Suddenly, she grabbed her pencil, stood up, and shouted, “I didn’t complete the game’s rule!”

Everyone was startled. Her desk mate quickly tried to calm her. “Bao Lei, are you okay?”

Her friend behind her said, “Bao Lei, it was just a joke. Don’t take it seriously.”

Bao Lei nodded, but then, without warning, picked up her pencil and stabbed it into her own eye.

Screams erupted throughout the class. No one could believe a living person would do such a thing right in front of them.

“Bao Lei, what are you doing? Call an ambulance!” the teacher shouted in panic.

“If you don’t complete the game, you die.”

With a guttural growl, Bao Lei pulled out the pencil and stabbed it into her other eye. Blood spurted everywhere, splattering on the faces of nearby classmates, who shrieked in terror.

Even in this state, Bao Lei didn’t seem to feel any pain. She pulled out the pencil and finally thrust it into her own neck.

Blood gushed out even more, and she collapsed, convulsed a few times, and then lay still.

“Someone died! Call the police!”

“Yes, call them…”

Soon, the ambulance and police arrived. Two coroners examined the body, and after the police asked a few simple questions, they wrapped up the corpse and took it away.

“Teacher, what did the police say?” a student asked the homeroom teacher.

The teacher replied bitterly, “Bao Lei had a mental illness. She seemed to have an episode during the exam.”