Sunglasses

Translator: Cinder Translations

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"Are the death conditions the same?"

"Yes."

"And the time of death?" Jiang Cheng pressed on, continuing to ask.

"People started dying the day after Chen Yao committed suicide. It began with the security guards," Li Yanwei nodded as she spoke. "The end date..." She thought for a moment, and then, as if suddenly remembering something, immediately said, "It was before the third rehearsal!"

"Yes," she recalled. "It was definitely before the third rehearsal! Because after that incident, the time left to prepare for the celebration was very tight. Some key performances even had to be rehearsed until late at night."

"The third rehearsal started at midnight!" she said excitedly. "I remember it very clearly!"

Midnight...

A total of nine people died.

Fatty secretly tensed up in his heart.

According to the information they received, the upcoming third rehearsal would also take place at midnight.

Coincidentally, the number of people on this mission... was also exactly nine.

The blood drained from Fatty's face little by little, his pupils slowly contracting.

Could it be that this time, they would repeat the tragedy of ten years ago?

"Miss Li," Jiang Cheng suddenly said.

Fatty's train of thought was interrupted. He turned his head and stared blankly at Jiang Cheng, thinking this eccentric man might be the last straw in the mission.

He wasn't sure about the others.

But for him, Jiang Cheng definitely was.

Fatty pressed his lips together, clinging to his deeply rooted belief in staying with the strong. 'Even if I die, I'll die with the doctor!' His resolve was firm.

When Li Yanwei turned to face him, Jiang Cheng suddenly switched to a soft, gentle tone. "May I call you that?" he asked.

Li Yanwei's voice pulled Fatty back from his daydreaming. She nodded, "Yes."

"Miss Li," Jiang Cheng said while buttoning up his coat, "I have a question. It might sound offensive, but please bear with me."

Li Yanwei's brow furrowed slightly. After a few seconds, she responded in her usual flat tone, "Please go ahead."

Tilting his head, Jiang Cheng spoke slowly: "If Chen Yao really killed all those people out of revenge, as you say, then..." He lifted his head, staring at the eyes behind Li Yanwei's sunglasses. "Why didn't you die?"

"As Su Yu's fiancée, I can't think of any reason why she would spare you."

The atmosphere instantly froze. Fatty, sensing the tension, didn't dare to breathe.

Jiang Cheng had flipped the table so suddenly.

Fatty had assumed that Jiang Cheng was going to play it safe, try to placate the woman, and then strategize once they were out of her sight.

Being caught in the middle, Fatty felt a bit of pressure. He tried to discreetly shift his legs, only to find they were already cramping.

In the next moment—

The woman in front of him reached out and took off her sunglasses.

As soon as she removed them, Fatty's body went rigid. His mouth hung open, his face pale as a sheet.

Beneath the sunglasses weren't eyes, but a pair of flesh-colored, deeply sunken cavities!

Around her eye sockets were centipede-like, grotesque claw marks, as if something had forcibly and violently gouged out her eyes!

"If Mr. Hao believes this counts as sparing me, then I'd rather she hadn't," Li Yanwei said coldly, facing Jiang Cheng.

---

"Drip, drip."

"Drip, drip."

Yu Wen and Zhou Taifu walked side by side, with the thin Feng Lan leading ahead. She occasionally turned back to remind Yu Wen to watch her step.

The reason? At some point, a large puddle had formed on the floor beneath them.

The puddle covered a significant portion of the hallway leading to the music room.

Yu Wen asked if they could avoid it, but after some thought, Feng Lan said it would be difficult unless they waited until the next day.

Tomorrow... Yu Wen stared at the puddle at their feet, her throat tightening.

This place gave her an ominous feeling. The dim hallway seemed to be stripped of all light, and the water at their feet rippled with each step, sending out dark waves.

The ripples spread down the hallway, but showed no sign of returning.

It was as if there was no end.

Maybe... she should take Feng Lan's advice and leave, wait until—

She wavered for a second, but in the next moment, she bit her lip, her eyes returning to the cold, deadly focus of a battle-hardened warrior.

There wasn't enough time... The situation was becoming increasingly abnormal. The ghost was continually evolving, and each transformation made it stronger.

The limitations imposed by the rules were wearing thin.

If they delayed any longer, their chances of survival would become even slimmer.

She declined Feng Lan's suggestion, giving the reason that her camera equipment was too delicate and could be ruined by water.

It seemed Feng Lan, whose intelligence was questionable, didn't suspect anything.

The sound of splashing footsteps echoed down the empty hallway, devoid of warmth. The ripples, shifting and distorted, seemed like blades slicing everything around them into fragments.

They could even hear each other's heartbeats.

"Miss Yu, please hurry," Feng Lan said as she pulled out a key and unlocked the door to the music room.

In the dim light, her face flickered between light and shadow, looking unfamiliar the longer one stared at it.

Feng Lan peeked into the music room, quickly scanning the interior before immediately retreating. "I-I won't go in," she whispered. "I'll wait here for you."

"Where's the light switch?" Zhou Taifu asked.

It was already dark outside, and the music room was huge. Without lights...

Zhou Taifu slowly swept his gaze across the room, which was filled with dark mist. Larger objects were barely discernible.

A sense of dread began to grow in his chest.

"Mr. Zhou," Feng Lan's voice sounded urgent. "We can't turn on the lights. At this time of night, no one is allowed in Building C."

She paused for a moment, then added, "If we turn on the lights and the school security sees, they'll come to investigate."

The female guards, huh...

Zhou Taifu thought for a moment, then decided against turning on the lights.

Though he and Yu Wen, both former mercenaries, could easily handle a few female guards in a fight, there was no need to risk alarming anyone.

Moreover, there was an unspoken rule in these nightmares—

Unless absolutely necessary, one shouldn't attack teammates or NPCs, as doing so could trigger unknown consequences.

That was why it wasn't until halfway through the mission that they finally decided to eliminate Zhang Yinyin, the unstable factor in their group.

She had been too devious, constantly scheming against them.

Once, if not for Yu Wen's timely warning, Zhou Taifu might have been the next to fall victim to the ghost.

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, they quickly decided to search the room, aiming to finish before the darkness completely consumed Building C.

(End of the Chapter)

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