The watcher’s ability

Naya, the Watcher, spoke up first. Her voice was calm, almost detached. "There's a dead body in the room next to mine. One of our fellow Climbers didn't make it."

The silence that followed Naya's revelation was deafening. A climber was already dead, and they hadn't even begun.

"How?" Neo finally broke the silence, his tone a mix of curiosity and unease. "How do you know it's a climber?"

Naya's long black hair swayed as she turned to face him. "I'll show you."

With a decisive stride, she led the group down the hall. Z followed, his grip tightening on his walking cane. The air felt heavier now, every step carrying an unspoken tension.

They reached the room, its door slightly ajar. Inside, the group found a body sprawled on the floor, lifeless. Z immediately noticed the pajamas—the same ones he was wearing. His brow furrowed. Are we all students in this scenario?

Jack knelt beside the body, careful not to touch it. His muscular frame loomed over the dead climber as he inspected the corpse. "No exterior wounds," he observed. "But—"

"His heart was crushed," T-Jan interjected, his tone eerily calm.

Naya raised an eyebrow. "That's correct. How did you know?"

T-Jan glanced at her before responding quietly, "I kill people."

The group exchanged uneasy looks. Z almost laughed at the bluntness of the response, but the tension in the room kept him silent.

Naya cleared her throat, redirecting the focus. "When I woke up, I heard a scream from this room. I approached with caution and opened the door to find this." She gestured to the body. "From what I've gathered, he woke up, sat on the bed for a while—the warm spot on the edge of the mattress confirms that. Then, for some reason, he went to the bathroom."

She paused, walking toward the open bathroom door. "The door's position suggests he ran out of the bathroom in a hurry. See how far it's pulled back? If it had recoiled forward after closing, it would be closer to a shut position. He likely pulled it open forcefully as he fled."

Neo adjusted his glasses. "Why did he run?"

"Fear," Naya replied, her tone crisp. "Look here." She pointed to the bathroom sink. "He leaned against it for some time. You can see the smudges where his fingers pressed down, likely while he was staring at the wall. There's no mirror in there, so whatever he saw wasn't a reflection."

Z's stomach churned as he imagined the scenario.

"There's still water in the sink," Naya continued. "He turned it on, probably to wash his face. His fingerprints shifted closer, indicating he leaned forward. Then they disappeared entirely—meaning he stopped touching the sink."

Jack frowned. "He left the sink?"

"Not immediately," Naya replied. "Look at the floor. The water is splattered, but the pattern indicates he stood in it for a moment before moving. And when he left, he ran. His feet touched the ground only twice before reaching the door. If he had walked, the prints would be more frequent and evenly spaced."

She crouched near the door. "The freshest prints are on the knob, suggesting he tried to open it. But whatever frightened him, he never got the chance to leave. His heart was crushed."

"By what?" Hao asked.

Naya straightened, her expression grim. "Unknown. But his face…" She gestured to the body's frozen expression of terror. "He saw something. Something that killed him without leaving a mark."

Silence fell once more as her words settled over the group.

"As for how I know he's a climber," Naya added, "look at his footprints. When he first got up, his steps were irregular—like he had a limp. But they straightened out shortly after."

Jack tilted his head. "The Ladder cured him?"

"Exactly," Naya confirmed. "The rules of erasure apply here. Any ailment is removed, even physical deformities. He was new to the Ladder, unused to its effects."

Z's grip on his cane tightened. The Watcher's deduction skills were terrifying. She pieced together a scenario from smudges and footprints as though she had been there herself.

The others murmured in quiet awe, but Z's mind raced. This Watcher… He glanced at Naya as she stood observing the body with cold precision. Lying just got a lot harder.

He forced a smile, masking his unease. It was going to be a long scenario.

Kai sighed, rubbing his temples. "Even if her deduction is accurate, it's still hard to make sense of this. A crushed heart with no visible attacker? What could have caused that?"

The girl next to the cold-faced boy, Gladly, nodded, her voice soft but resolute. "It's impossible to picture how it happened. There's something crucial we're not seeing."

Naya blinked, her piercing gaze scanning the room once more before she straightened. Then, in a tone filled with quiet authority, she said, "I see. I observe. I conclude."

Z's fingers tightened on his cane. He was no stranger to those words! That's an A-rank skill!

A ripple of energy spread through the room as Naya raised her hand. Her ability, Gaze of Absolute Truth, activated, casting a translucent light over the area. The air warped, and suddenly, the scene began to reconstruct itself, as though time itself had rewound.

Before them, the dead climber appeared in a flickering, ghostly form, lying in bed. He stirred, sitting up sluggishly, and rose to his feet. His movements were unsteady, his steps uneven as he made his way toward the bathroom.

The projection followed him into the bathroom, showing the climber leaning heavily against the sink. He turned the faucet, splashing water on his face. His trembling hands left smudges on the sink as he stared blankly at the wall.

Then, he froze.

His ghostly form turned slowly, and the fear in his projected face was thick. He stumbled backward, his breath hitching audibly as his movements grew frantic. The bathroom door slammed open, and he bolted into the room.

"He saw something," Jack mentioned.

But then, he stopped. His body seized, his chest heaving once before collapsing inward as if crushed by an invisible force. The climber crumpled to the floor.

The group stared, transfixed, as the projection lingered for a moment longer.

"What was he scared of?" Gladly whispered, her voice barely audible.

Naya frowned, her gaze sharpening as the image shifted. The climber's shadow stretched across the floor, but it wasn't alone.

"Look," Anarmika said, his voice steady but cold, his finger pointing at the projection.

Everyone's attention snapped to the floor. There were two shadows. One belonged to the climber. The other…

The second shadow was taller, thinner, and grotesquely elongated. It seemed to stretch unnaturally, and its outline bore the unmistakable form of a woman!