r18novel Chapter 242, 4th Hall, 7
Chapter 242, 4th Hall, 7
The next day, a quarter of an hour before the six o'clock curfew ended, the sky was still not fully bright. The morning light, like pale ink, seeped in through the cracks in the old wooden window, spreading a few faint streaks of light on the ground.
The people inside were no longer sleepy. The players woke up almost one after the other. No one said anything, but they all knew that they would have to investigate today to find some clues about the fragmented anomalies from yesterday.
The glow of the kerosene lamp shrank into a small ball in the bungalow, barely illuminating the shoes scattered on the ground and the mottled floor.
Lin Caiwen was the first to get up, moving very quietly so as not to wake Su Xiao, who was still dozing. Using the dim light, she put on her white coat, straightened her collar, and then pulled a small notebook from her backpack. In it, she had written down all the clues everyone had mentioned the night before:
Chen Wenyu: Medicine Bottle Label (Heart)
Song Guicheng: Late-night activity at the supply and marketing cooperative
Chen Mo: Ancestral hall, the smell of incense
She frowned and thought for a while. Hearing a noise behind her, she turned around and saw Su Xiao sitting up, rubbing her eyes.
After letting her catch her breath, Lin Caiwen said, "We'll be staying at the clinic to see patients and carefully observe the residents' symptoms, especially their skin and breathing."
Su Xiao nodded obediently.
"Tsk, this crappy place doesn't even have an alarm clock, I have to rely on my biological clock to get through it." Shi Sui stretched and slowly sat up, his hair was messy from sleeping, but it didn't affect his carefree attitude at all.
He turned his head and caught a glimpse of Song Guicheng standing by the window, his long white hair cascading over his shoulders, his eyes slightly lowered, clearly deep in thought. His gentle profile appeared exceptionally aloof in the dim morning light.
Shi Sui kicked Chen Wenyu next to her: "Little Wenyu, where's your precious notebook? Go to the clinic today and keep an eye on the medicine cabinet. Maybe you'll remember something again."
Chen Wenyu yawned, rubbed his eyes, and sat up, his vision still a little blurry. He couldn't remember the nightmare from last night, but a lingering fear made him shiver. "I can't remember exactly which medicine bottle it was..."
He scratched his head and turned to look for his notes in his bag: "If I can see them again, maybe I can remember them."
Chen Wenyu quickly pulled a crumpled notebook out of his bag, which was filled with a list of medicines he had sorted out the day before. Some parts were crossed out and rewritten repeatedly, because he had written them down on purpose so that he would not forget them.
As Song Guicheng stood by the window, he could already hear noises coming from the alleyway: the rustling of brooms across the ground and the creaking of doors as residents opened them—a sound unlike the numbness he had felt during the day yesterday.
Song Guicheng's brow twitched slightly. These residents were so sick, did they still have the strength to clean?
Yesterday, seeing the dirty and messy state of their entrance, they didn't seem like people who cared about cleanliness.
Inside the room, Lin Caiwen put away her notebook and spoke, her voice just loud enough for everyone to hear: "It'll be six o'clock in ten minutes. Let's quickly wash up and eat something. There's still some food that Brother Liu and Sister Zhou Fang brought back from the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday."
After a quick wash, everyone gathered around the table, just like they had done the night before when exchanging clues.
Lin Caiwen wiped her mouth and said, "It'll be six o'clock soon, and the curfew will be over. Let's divide the work today. Su Xiao and I will go to the clinic to see patients, register their names and symptoms, and pay close attention to their physical condition."
"Sun Zhida, Zhou Fang, Liu Qinggen, the three of you go to the supply and marketing cooperative to re-inventory the supplies. While you're at it, check if the gnawing sounds Song Guicheng mentioned last night have left any traces, and also check the box that was sealed with a talisman..."
Sun Zhida was already fully dressed, with his military water bottle hanging from his waist and the iron rod he had used on night watch the previous night in his hand: "I'm fine."
Zhou Fang and Liu Qinggen exchanged a glance. Liu Qinggen rubbed his hands together, his tone cautious: "Okay, we'll follow Brother Sun. But... do we really want to open that wooden box and take a look?"
“It can’t hurt to take a look,” Song Guicheng said, his long white hair tied back with a simple rubber band, revealing his smooth forehead and deep-set eyes. His voice was gentle. “If there are any problems, it’s good to investigate them as soon as possible.”
Lin Caiwen nodded in agreement and continued, "Shi Sui, Chen Wenyu, Zhao Xiaoyun, you go with Song Guicheng to register patients door-to-door in the alley. Pay attention to the residents' reactions, but don't be too deliberate."
In the corner, Zhao Xiaoyun was fixing her curly hair in front of a small mirror. Her burgundy nail polish gleamed coldly in the dim light. She said, "The talismans on the wooden crates from the supply and marketing cooperative... do you think they might be related to the ancestral hall?"
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Lin Caiwen shook her head: "It's hard to say."
Chen Wenyu quickly wrote down this guess.
Zhao Xiaoyun's gaze fell on the notebook in Chen Wenyu's hand. Her fingertips traced the fine lines on the mirror surface, her eyes filled with complex emotions. The notebook belonged to Chen Wenlin and had a simple sketch of the two of them drawn on the cover.
Zhao Xiaoyun suppressed the surging emotions in her heart and silently stuffed a small flashlight into her bag. It was the one she had redeemed from the system last night and could illuminate traces that ordinary people could not see.
Lin Caiwen glanced at Chen Mo, who had been silent all along, knowing that he was used to acting alone: "Chen Mo, do as you please, but don't go too far. If you encounter anything unusual, tell everyone immediately."
Chen Mo nodded without saying anything more.
Chen Wenyu and Shi Sui had no objections to the task assignment, but Song Guicheng spoke up: "Team Leader Lin, I want to go to the supply and marketing cooperative first, and then register the patients."
Upon hearing this, Shi Sui was the first to look at him, raising an eyebrow with a hint of curiosity in her eyes, but she didn't speak immediately. Chen Wenyu kept his head down and didn't offer any opinion. He knew that his brother was always perceptive in the dungeon, and his mention of going to the supply and marketing cooperative meant that there was something important there.
Song Guicheng unconsciously rubbed his little finger: "I heard the gnawing sound at the supply and marketing cooperative last night. I know the exact location and the details of the sound quite well. If we go together, we can find the traces faster."
He paused, then naturally shifted the conversation to the box of talismans: "And the wooden box with talismans that Sister Zhou Fang mentioned, I have more experience in handling these kinds of things."
Zhou Fang and Liu Qinggen immediately nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, it's better to have someone experienced in this kind of thing, so as not to break anything and cause trouble."
Lin Caiwen frowned slightly. This middle-aged couple was truly a case of one being greedy for life and the other afraid of death, only wanting to protect themselves... But now was not the time to say such things.
Lin Caiwen tapped her fingertips lightly on the notebook and quickly made a decision: "Alright. Song Guicheng, you go to the supply and marketing cooperative with Sun Zhida first. Zhou Fang and Liu Qinggen, you go to the clinic to help Su Xiao and me pack up."
Sun Zhida nodded readily: "Okay."
He was cautious by nature and didn't have a good impression of the middle-aged couple, so it was more reliable for Song Guicheng to go with him.
Shi Sui pulled out a piece of candy from somewhere and stuffed it into her mouth, mumbling, "Then Xiao Wenyu, Zhao Xiaoyun, and I will go register at the first few places first, and you can join us later."
He knew Song Guicheng too well and knew that the other party would never make baseless accusations. The box in the supply and marketing cooperative might contain something more important than the talisman. However, Song Guicheng didn't say anything, and he was too lazy to expose him. He could just watch the show.
Zhang Haoqing leaned against the wall, his eyes sweeping over Song Guicheng with a gloomy gaze, then glancing at Shi Sui, and snorted coldly: "Stop dawdling, don't delay the important business."
He was only thinking about finding an opportunity to target Shi Sui, and he wasn't very interested in the boxes from the supply and marketing cooperative, but he didn't object either. After all, if more people shared the burden, he could save himself some trouble.
Shi Sui raised an eyebrow: "Don't worry, we're not that free. We just want to get rid of all the rats in this instance as soon as possible, so that things don't get complicated."
"Who are you calling a rat?" Zhang Haoqing's voice turned cold instantly, and his hands clenched involuntarily.
"Whoever answers first, that's who it is." Shi Sui chewed on her candy, smiling nonchalantly, completely ignoring his hostility.
"Alright, stop arguing," Lin Caiwen interrupted at the right moment, her tone authoritative. "Now is not the time for infighting. Our goal is to complete the mission. Whether it's treating patients or finding clues, we must unite as one."
Zhang Haoqing snorted coldly, turned his face away, and didn't say anything more, but his expression remained gloomy.
Just then, Chen Mo interjected, "It's six o'clock."
It's six o'clock. The curfew is over, and the second day of the dungeon has officially begun.
The people in the room paused subconsciously, and the atmosphere became somewhat tense.
Song Guicheng walked to the door first, reached out and pulled the latch. The morning breeze rushed in, carrying a musty and stale smell, and made the wisps of hair on his forehead flutter.
He looked up in the direction of the ancestral hall that Chen Mo had mentioned, but it was shrouded in a thin mist, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
Song Guicheng turned to Sun Zhida and said, "Let's go."
Sun Zhida nodded.
The other players also set off towards the door.
As the morning light slowly climbed the mottled walls, it stretched the players' shadows long, and it also laid bare the vigilance hidden beneath the numbness and the strange smells concealed in the morning mist in the alley.
The truth behind this instance, and where the escape route lies, may only be revealed when the fog completely clears.