“Do they die in the same way?”
“What about the time of death?” Jiang Cheng pressured.
“People started to die the day after Chen Yao’s suicide. It was the guards.” Li Yanwei nodded as she said, “It only stopped…” She thought about it and then added as if struck by inspiration. “Before the third rehearsal! That’s right!” She reminisced, “It has to be before the third rehearsal! Because of her incident, the preparation was on a time crunch. Some of the bigger performances had very late rehearsals. The third rehearsal started at midnight!” She said agitatedly, “I remember it very clearly!”
Midnight rehearsal… Nine deaths in total…
Fatty calculated in his mind. Based on what Xu Wen said, the imminent rehearsal would be at midnight. Coincidentally, there were nine travellers for this mission. Fatty’s face paled. Was the tragedy from ten years ago going to repeat itself?
“Miss Li,” Jiang Cheng suddenly said.
Fatty’s thoughts were interrupted. He turned to look at Jiang Cheng. This strange man was his lifesaver. He didn’t know about the rest, but he was sure Jiang Cheng was going to live. Fatty pressed his lips, and he swore to hold onto Jiang Cheng. “Even if I die, I will die with the doctor!”
When Li Yanwei turned her head to him, Jiang Cheng asked in a gentle tone, “Do you mind if I call you that?”
“Miss Li,” Jiang Cheng put his buttons back on and said, “I have an offensive question. I hope you won’t mind.”
Li Yanwei’s brows twitched. A few seconds later, she continued in her even tone, “Do ask.”
Jiang Cheng tilted his head. “If what you said about Chen Yao is true, and she killed out of vengeance. Then…” He lifted his head to look at Li Yanwei’s eyes behind her sunglasses, “Why are you still alive? As Su Yu’s fiance, I can’t figure out a reason for her not to kill you. Why did she leave you be?”
The atmosphere froze. Fatty didn’t even dare to breathe. This was too sudden. Fatty thought Jiang Cheng was about to act dumb and leave this woman behind first. Standing between the two, Fatty felt a lot of pressure. He tried to move his legs, but he realised they were numb.
The woman lifted her hands to remove her sunglasses. At the same time, Fatty’s face started to drain of colour. Behind the glasses were not eyes but sunken holes!
There were centipede-like scratches around the sockets. It looked like something had yanked her eyeballs out with the fiercest method.
“If Mr. Hao thinks this is her kindness for not killing me, I’d rather she kill me.” Li Yanwei started at Jiang Cheng and said coolly.
Xu Wen walked beside Zhou Taifu. The frail-looking Feng Lan walked in front on her own. She occasionally turned back to warn Xu Wen to be careful. Suddenly, they came across a puddle of water. The puddle was quite large, and it was in the corridor that they had to use to reach the music classroom. Xu Wen asked Feng Lan if they could take another path. The latter thought about it and said it would be difficult and they would have to wait for the next day.
Xu Wen stared at the puddle, and her throat moved. It gave her a very bad feeling. The dim corridor seemed to have lost the protection of light. The puddle rippled from their movements. The ripples moved down the corridor, but they didn’t ripple back… like the corridor had no end.
Should they wait for tom…
Her conviction wavered for a second, but her gaze soon sharpened like she was on the battlefield. Time would not wait for them… The anomalies were getting more obvious. When the ghost finished her last mutation, she would become so much stronger. The limitations on her were weakened by the minutes. If they continued to wait, their survival chance would become infinitely smaller.
She rejected Feng Lan’s suggestion with a valid excuse. She said that the lens would be ruined if it were exposed to the water. Feng Lan didn’t suspect anything.
The sound of splashing water reverberated down the empty corridor. The ripples cut everything in the reflection into shreds. The place was so silent that they could hear each other’s heartbeat.
“Miss Xu, please be quick,” Feng Lan said after she took out the key to open the door to the music classroom. In the dark, her face seemed to take on an unfamiliar quality.
Feng Lan poked her head in to look around the music classroom. Then, she walked back. “I… don’t think I’ll join you.” She whispered, “I’ll wait here.”
“Where is the light switch?” Zhou Taifu asked. The sky was dark, and the music classroom was huge. Without lights…
Zhou Taifu slowly looked around. The large silhouettes of instruments were like monsters. A bad feeling festered.
“Mr. Zhou,” Feng Lan sounded worried, “You can’t switch on the light. Block C is supposed to be off-limits at these hours.” She paused before adding, “If you switch on the lights, the guards will see it and come over to check.”
Zhou Taifu thought about the female guards and cancelled his thoughts. If they got into a fight, the female guards wouldn’t be able to fight the two former mercenaries, but there was an unwritten rule in the nightmare…
Unless necessary, one shouldn’t attack teammates or NPCs, or there would be horrible consequences. That was why they waited until the mission was almost over before they killed Zhang Yinyin, the unstable stable around them. She was too dangerous to keep around. If not for Xu Wen’s warning, Zhou Taifu might have been harmed by her already.
The pair had a quick discussion and decided to leave Block C before the night fully arrived.