Cycle of Death - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
It wasn’t that I hadn’t considered the possibility, but it just didn’t make sense.
503 had been providing reliable warnings from the start-like telling us there was a killer and then emphasizing that we must not meet up under any circumstances.
I told 308, “If they just wanted to kill us, there would be no need to make things this complicated. I think there’s more to this.”
308 asked me back, “Then the fact that there’s such a conflict between them means one of them is lying, or neither of them can be trusted. I think we’re the ones who should form a united front.”
I thought about it and said, “511 is more suspicious. 503 posted the photo, and 511 didn’t deny that the person in the photo was him. Chat logs can be faked; he showed me his photo editing skills before. The logs he posted might have been photoshopped.”
308 replied, “It’s impossible to tell. Look at the group chat.”
I switched back to the group and saw that 503 had sent several messages: “Everything-starting the group, how to resist-you were the one who taught me. Even the part about sacrificing others.
“I’ve already told 404 and 312 to gather at the Platform. They can climb over the dorm wall from there.
“Next, while the killers are busy dealing with those two, we’ll climb out through the back door.
“I don’t care what kind of cognitive impairment you’re having, @511, but I believe this plan is feasible, and it’s already in motion. Whether you follow or not is up to you.”
The Platform was the roof of the Dorm Supervisor’s office, connected to the second floor of our dormitory. It was indeed possible to climb over to it from the window at the end of the hallway by room 201.
The plan sounded very viable, even if it meant sacrificing two innocent classmates as bait.
But then again, who wasn’t innocent?
So, I was the first to respond in the group:
“I’m in.”
To my surprise, 503 immediately sent me a private message:
“In my ass! That’s not the real plan!”
My scalp tingled. I immediately asked, “Then what’s the real plan?”
503 replied quickly: “The bait is real, but the escape is a lie. There are four killers, so they’ll definitely split into two groups-two to kill the bait, and two to intercept the escapees at the back door.
“Our goal is to go to the Platform and kill two of the killers!
“Escaping is impossible, and hiding is useless. Our only way to survive is to kill them back.
“With a three-on-two surprise attack, we’ll definitely have the advantage. Worst case scenario, it’s a two-on-two ambush, because I still can’t figure out what’s going on with that guy in 511.”
Three-on-two? Or even two-on-two?
There were clearly four of us in the group!
If 511 was the unstable factor, then…
308 was being excluded entirely!
I frowned, carefully retracing my memories, and immediately spotted the discrepancy-
When 308 first messaged me, he had tried to convince me to meet up with him!
Though he wasn’t explicit, he said we should be on the same side.
However, after seeing 503’s plan to escape through the back door, he changed his mind.
He didn’t need to win me over anymore because he had found a way to kill us: by waiting at the back door!
I let out a breath and typed out a line: “As I thought, you let 308 in on purpose. He’s a killer.”
He asked me, “I knew you were smart. You understand what I mean by three-on-two or two-on-two, right?”
I thought for a moment and said, “It means you won’t tell 511 the real plan. If he’s the person who met you this afternoon to coordinate everything, he’ll naturally know it. If he isn’t, there’s a high probability he’s a killer, and he’ll go to the back door to intercept us. Since it looks like three of us are escaping from the back door, it’s safest for them to send three people there to match us. That leaves a two-on-two situation at the Platform.”
“Exactly. Get ready. This is a fight to the death.”
But none of us expected that this fight to the death would be far more complicated than we imagined.
