Nan Yue was indeed worried.
Her concern was less about the mission itself and more about Number Two within Zhu Xi Ning.
Wen Xiang Yuan had previously mentioned that Zhu Xi Ning's situation was very special and not the split personality they had initially assumed.
They were artificial humans; they didn't get split personalities.
So what could it be?
Ultimately, they were just tools created to be scavengers, and it was normal for a tool to have a malfunction.
You would just replace it.
In fact, there was no need to even replace it; plenty of such tool persons were being produced constantly.
Nan Yue was worried that Zhu Xi Ning had developed a "malfunction."
She forced a smile and remained silent. Seeing that Zhu Xi Ning was unwell, she told her to go rest first.
Jiang Siyan was as sharp as a needle; he knew what Nan Yue was worried about just by the furrow of her brow, while Gu Xiang Kai was a bit more oblivious.
"Maybe the intensity is just too high. Don't worry too much."
Gu Xiang Kai tried to lighten the mood. "I've been feeling exhausted these past couple of days myself."
Nan Yue looked over. "You feel exhausted too?"
Gu Xiang Kai waved it off. "I'm fine. It's that Shi Xiaojie. He's so young, yet he's only been working for a few days and I already hear him panting just going up and down the stairs."
"Is there something wrong with Shi Xiaojie?"
Gu Xiang Kai shook his head. "No. I plan to follow him for a day tomorrow to rule him out as a suspect."
"But he really did just come here for work. He was in the north with people from his hometown before this, so the suspicion isn't high."
Nan Yue nodded. Shi Xiaojie was just an NPC they had met along the way; he wasn't necessarily useful. After all, in real life, not everyone who appeared was "useful."
As the three of them spoke, they didn't realize that Shi Xiaojie had already returned.
He wasn't feeling well today, likely because he hadn't rested well last night. The commotion over the dead body on the first floor had lasted half the night.
He had struggled to get to the construction site this morning and nearly fell asleep. His coworkers, seeing how young and pitiful he looked and knowing what had happened here, told him to go back and rest first.
Shi Xiaojie could just cover their shifts later.
And so, Shi Xiaojie dragged his exhausted body back.
It was currently the lunch break. After the excitement of the previous night, the demolition area was as silent as a graveyard at noon, and not a single shop was open.
Presumably, people felt it was a bit unlucky and wanted to keep a low profile.
The cicadas were deafeningly loud, and the air was so dry and stifling that it felt like his lungs were going to catch fire.
Shi Xiaojie just wanted to go back and sleep. Each step he took felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
After a few days of work, his hands had grown much rougher and he looked older, but there was no helping it; everyone went through this.
He slowly climbed the stairs, resting every few steps. While on the fire escape outside, Shi Xiaojie looked out toward the Oasis Community across the way.
It looked so nice, so big and spacious. The people living there probably didn't have any worries.
Shi Xiaojie collapsed into bed as soon as he got back and didn't wake up until he felt hungry in the evening.
It was already after midnight. Shi Xiaojie had only eaten one wrap all day, and his stomach was growling.
He was out of instant noodles, but the small supermarket downstairs stayed open until 3:00 AM, specifically to make money off the night owls.
Shi Xiaojie dragged himself up to go buy some instant noodles.
As soon as he moved, Gu Xiang Kai woke up. "What's wrong?"
Shi Xiaojie felt a bit embarrassed. "I'm going to buy some instant noodles."
Gu Xiang Kai gave a grunt of acknowledgement and listened as Shi Xiaojie opened the door and left.
After a moment, he quietly went downstairs, following him from a distance.
Shi Xiaojie rubbed his eyes and yawned as he walked down, completely unaware that someone was following him.
Gu Xiang Kai watched him loop around to the small shop. Everything was peaceful. After a while, when the boy started back up, Gu Xiang Kai listened to his footsteps and returned to the room one floor ahead of him.
Shi Xiaojie walked through the hallway holding a cup of instant noodles. It was pitch black and terrifyingly quiet.
But he didn't mind. After all, having lived here for a while, he felt everyone was quite decent, and he was satisfied.
Just as he reached the corner leading to his room, he heard a very strange sound.
"Urgh..."
"Urgh... Urgh..."
It sounded like someone struggling to make a noise.
But it sounded muffled, accompanied by the rustling of plastic.
Shi Xiaojie's sleepiness was instantly scared away. His trembling hand touched the wall, and he immediately shrank into the corner.
The person making the noise seemed to be squirming, causing the plastic to rustle loudly.
"Urgh! ...Urgh!"
They were trying their best to scream.
The instant noodles in Shi Xiaojie's hand dropped to the floor. He crouched down and hugged himself, having no idea what was happening.
Could it be like what Uncle Zhong said... a haunting!
Before he could figure it out, his eyes were met with a bright light; someone was holding a flashlight.
Just as he was about to call for help, he was terrified by what he saw.
Because that thing... no! That person! Had already crawled right in front of him.
It was a man with a look of pure terror on his face, his entire body wrapped in plastic sheeting like a cocoon, with only his head exposed.
His face and mouth were covered in blood. It seemed his tongue was injured, leaving him unable to speak, only able to emit panicked "Urgh! Urgh!" sounds.
Suddenly faced with such a close-up scare, Shi Xiaojie let out a sharp scream.
He shook like a leaf, hurriedly covering his own mouth. Only then did he realize belatedly that the man... seemed unable to hear or see him.
The other person just knew this was a corner and wanted to hide here.
It was then that Shi Xiaojie saw a figure behind the man wrapped like a cocoon, slowly swinging a flashlight in his hand.
The flashlight belonged to him.
Due to the lighting, Shi Xiaojie couldn't see who the person was until they walked right up to him.
Shi Xiaojie's eyes widened violently.
Both the person and the man on the ground were unable to see Shi Xiaojie. Right in front of him, the person set the flashlight on the ground and methodically pressed the plastic sheeting over the man's face.
The "cocoon" on the ground struggled even more violently, only to fall still after a few moments.
Just when Shi Xiaojie felt his nerves were about to break, the person finally let go of the now-dead "cocoon."
Then, he pulled a small knife from his jacket.
He twirled the knife in his hand. In the dim light, Shi Xiaojie watched with eyes bulging in horror as the person slowly sliced away the face of the "cocoon" on the ground, bit by bit.
Until it was mangled beyond recognition.
"La... la... la... la..."
The person hummed softly while he worked, staining the entire stairwell with a macabre atmosphere.
It was only after a long time that Shi Xiaojie snapped out of his terror.
The bloody murder scene was nowhere to be found.
Was it... a hallucination?
Shi Xiaojie felt a chill run through him. He tried to stand up, but his legs had gone numb.
Was it a hallucination brought on by exhaustion, or was it really a haunting!
Shi Xiaojie wanted to move out.
This place was definitely wrong!
Tomorrow... no!
He would leave right now.
He didn't have much in the way of bedding anyway; he could just pack up and go. If he encountered something like this a few more times, he might actually be scared to death.
He glanced at the instant noodles by his feet. The dark red cup had rolled a short distance away, and he didn't even want to pick it up.
Wait... wait a minute...
He could see the noodle cup!
There was... there was light in front of him.
Rate on N.U.
