When Ludville threw Ban Yue away into the dumpster, he hadn’t paid too much attention to the angle at which he had chucked him in. Regardless of whether the box fit well or had to be adjusted didn’t matter, it seems he was just in a hurry to get rid of the smelly thing that terrorized his already worn-down room. Thanks to this, Ban Yue could still barely see his surroundings through the little gap between the bin and the cover.

  Ban Yue could smell the scent of fresh roses that the wind carried away from the rose gardens. From where Ban Yue currently was, the crisp sound of huge garden scissors snipping through branches of leaves could be heard clearly. He could also hear the sound of light footsteps as people walked in and out of the buildings in the campus. Even though Ban Yue’s field of vision have been upgraded to 360 degrees, it did nothing for his eye prescription, so all he could see from this distance was the silhouette of the students in uniform.

  As Ban Yue watched them from afar, he couldn’t help but feel that something was amiss with the way they moved. It was only after he saw a shower of leaves from a nearby tree fall on a group of students’ heads that he realized what it was that he couldn’t put his finger on.

  Ban Yue felt his skin crawl.

  These people, although some headed north and others headed south, they all walked in the same exact cadence with the same exact facial expression. They cked the youthful and chaotic energy of young children after they finally managed to get out of their day-long csses. None of them chatted along the way nor reacted in any way when a bunch of leaves got stuck in their hair. Their movements were efficient, with not a single unnecessary movement wasted. It seemed more like they were trying to imitate the routine of students but cked the essence of being human. These people – no, these things shaped like humans – moved as if their limbs were hanging by a string. To Ban Yue, they looked more like puppets who only came out at night.

  If this was a game of survival, then Ban Yue was sure that these were the things he and Ludville would have to survive against. And although they looked quite tame at the moment, the same may not be the case three days ter during the final countdown to the deadline.

  Ban Yue’s head was starting fill with anxiety. Since he entered the scenario, eight hours had already passed, and there were approximately forty-nine hours left before the deadline of the game. He was an hour away before the end of the first day, but he could barely move around to gather information.

  His pace was too slow.

  Crack.

  Ban Yue’s head snapped to the side when he heard the sound of a twig breaking on the ground.

  Someone was approaching his location.

  Ban Yue swallowed and tried his best to become a very unassuming and very inconspicuous box.

  When the two figures approached, they lifted the cover of the garbage bin and stuck their hands inside. Ban Yue only had enough time to see their green overalls and the abnormally bluish skin peeking in between their gloves and sleeves before his vision went completely dark. They had grabbed all four edges of the bin bag lining the inside of the dumpster and tied a knot. From their attire, it was clear that these two were mimicking the routine of the school’s cleaning committee. Ban Yue didn’t have to guess what was going to happen next.

  “Well, this is quite the experience,” he mused as he felt himself being hoisted up along with the books and trinkets.

  [Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 91/100.]

  [Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 89/100.]

  [Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 88/100.]

  [Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 85/100.]

  Ban Yue hummed as he felt himself being transported to another perhaps even bigger dumpster. He was getting smmed and poked by all sorts of things in the bag with every step, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. So instead, he sung himself a song to break his nerves. At least this way, he could think about other things than have his mental value spiral downwards over things he could no longer control.

  Ban Yue recalled the things he learned about the scenario setting today.

  The game was set inside the campus grounds of Clodine Becket Academy. Aside from him, Ludville Eckart seemed to be the only intelligent character in the story, and both of them needed to survive through the third night to clear the game. The final night would most likely involve a big event that would trigger a chase. Since these puppets only came out at 9PM in the evening, Ban Yue suspected that their weaknesses may have something to do with daylight. But since they couldn’t wait until the sunrise, the time between 9PM and midnight would become a battle of endurance. Ludville Eckart clearly had low stamina based on Ban Yue’s observation during the day, so just running around aimlessly while carrying Ban Yue and leaving it all up to luck wasn’t a viable option. Ban Yue needed information about the event that will happen in three days and the puppets that roamed around Clodine Becket Academy. Ludville couldn’t run forever, so instead, he needed a way to stop the puppets from chasing. And all these were on the assumption that Ban Yue would somehow be able to find a way to convince Ludville to work with a talking cardboard box.

  At the moment, Ban Yue had 0 Cosmos Points in his C-Wallet, so he couldn’t afford to buy any item from the market to help him survive during the final hours. He didn’t have any complementary offensive or defensive skills, and the only personal skill he had was “Inspect”. He had two remaining in his inventory which he bought because its active and passive effects were mostly negligible. This meant that Ban Yue was going to have to be resourceful and make use of anything he could find inside the game to help him and Ludville survive through the night.

  Ban Yue was still deep in thought when he heard the sound of a gate being opened. A few moments ter, Ban Yue felt the movement stop. It seems they had entered the location of Ban Yue’s second destination for today. He felt himself being lowered on the ground together with the other items in the bag.

  A moment ter, Ban Yue heard someone untying the knot before light eventually started to stream inside and shine on him. Even as pitiful cardboard box, Ban Yue still had to squint to adjust to the light. When Ban Yue’s vision finally returned, the pce he found himself in was not a trash mountain but a medium-sized warehouse with white walls and a simple and wide square-shaped high ceiling. He realized with a start that he could hear the low murmur of machines from somewhere nearby.

  “N-no way…” He said in disbelief the moment suspicion hit him.

  A hand reached into the bag and took out a bunch of several books and boxes. As soon as they disappeared from Ban Yue’s sight, the sound of a machine cutting into what seemed to be thick piles of papers followed. Then, Ban Yue felt himself being taken out of the bag. The pair of hands grabbed him by one side and threw him on the ground along with a pile of rger boxes.

  [Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 80/100.]

  He felt the soles of a shoe repeatedly sm against his “face”.

  Ban Yue turned into a fttened box.

  [Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 76/100.]

  [Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 71/100.]

  Ban Yue felt himself floating in the air towards a single direction. The sound of the machine seemed to be getting closer and closer. Ban Yue’s suspicions have been confirmed to be in fact the reality.

  Ban Yue shouted in panic, “No way! Impossible! No way! No one ever told me that prestigious schools even did their own recycling!! I mean this is also good, we must save the environment of course, otherwise we’ll all die anyway, but to die as a cardboard box being shre - gyaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!“

  But Ban Yue was just an old tattered carboard box from the Eckart’s old storage cabin that could barely hold anything due to its flimsy material.

  Yes, his bottom has been wrapped in yers of waterproof packaging tape to reinforce it.

  But he was now against a row of sharp-toothed knives, so these wouldn’t save him right now, and nobody would be armed by his inaudible scream!

  Have mercy on this incredibly pathetic and incredibly fmmable old carboard box!

  Take pity on this cowardly man whose only sin was to faint at the train station during a stormy night because he was too much of a pushover to protest about his company’s unreasonable work arrangements!

  On other days, Ban Yue would argue that he was pretty much driven into a corner that didn’t allow him to make that choice, but just for today, he would admit that the fault was his if it could save him from this moment.

  “Don’t be scared, Ban Yue. This is just a dream. A highly realistic, a bit too immersive dream, but still a dream, nonetheless. Maybe if we pass through this shredder, we might finally wake up from this nightmare. Yes, this is perfectly fine. Everything is going according to pn…” Ban Yue recited in his head.

  He squeezed his eye shut.

  At that exact moment, just before his lower edge touched the teeth of the shredding machine, Ban Yue heard the sound of a system window opening.

  A red window appeared above him.