Rainy Night Theater (15)

Complete silence fell over the room, leaving only the slightly rapid breathing of a few people filled with fear and horror.

After a long while, Filament slammed the notebook shut, her face looking incredibly grim. “In progress... Which means we are currently in this ‘Calamity of Mad Poison’ game?”

“No, I have to find a way to end the game. I don't want to participate in this kind of sick, murderous game.”

Fu Liu's face also darkened. Since entering the theater, the bright smile on his face had rarely appeared. He remained silent, tightly gripping Bai Ci's hand in his fear.

His grip was a bit too tight in his loss of control, squeezing her bones. Bai Ci patted the back of his hand. “Gently. That hurts a bit.”

“...I'm sorry.” Fu Liu snapped out of it, the corners of his eyes instantly reddening. He hurriedly loosened his grip a bit but still had no intention of letting go.

He stared at her, his eyes serious and stubborn. “I won't let you die here. Absolutely not.”

Bai Ci didn't say anything more, only quietly squeezing his hand back.

The boy with the flashlight, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke up, his tone carrying a hint of hesitation as his gaze swept between the notebook and everyone else. “Should we... tell the others about this? If everyone knows the truth, maybe we can be more united. It's better than everyone guessing blindly.”

Bai Ci nodded slightly, agreeing with him. “We can—no, we should tell everyone.”

“For this record to be preserved so completely suggests that there has likely always been an organizer behind this game, or perhaps even... spectators. Whether they are human or not, if we want to fight against such an existence, fighting alone definitely won't work. Sticking together is much safer.”

“Yeah, let's tell...” The boy with the flashlight subconsciously glanced toward the corridor. “Wait... It's been quite a while. Why hasn't Weiwei... come back yet?”

Realizing this, Filament also grew uneasy. “It was just getting a tablecloth and then covering the body on the stage. It shouldn't take this long.”

“I'll go check on her.” The boy with the flashlight could no longer sit still, his tone urgent. “You guys keep looking for clues here. I'll go to the second floor where she went to get the tablecloth, and then check the stage. If I find Weiwei, I'll bring her back.”

“Wait, I'll go with you,” Filament said immediately.

“No need, I'll go by myself,” the boy with the flashlight waved his hand. “You guys stay here. On one hand, you can keep searching for clues. On the other hand, you can keep watch here in case Weiwei comes back and meets up with you.”

“I'll be right back.” With that, he didn't wait for the others to persuade him further, turning and running toward the study door.

Not long after the boy with the flashlight ran out, the high-ponytail girl returned.

“Weiwei, you're finally back,” Filament immediately went up to meet her. “What took you so long? Did something happen? Shanxi went to look for you. Did you run into him?”

Hearing this, a look of confusion flashed across the high-ponytail girl's face, and she shook her head. “I didn't run into him.”

“I went to the second floor to get the tablecloth, and then I went to the stage to cover that sister's body. After covering her, I came straight back. I didn't run into anyone along the way, and nothing happened.”

“Maybe I was just walking a bit slowly, which is why it took so long.”

“You didn't run into him?” Bai Ci had a bad feeling. “He just went out to look for you. Logically speaking, you two should have crossed paths in the corridor.”

The high-ponytail girl also grew tense, her eyes filled with worry. “I really didn't see him... Could something have happened to him?”

“Don't panic, we'll go look for him right now,” Bai Ci said immediately. They couldn't keep going out one by one; it was starting to feel like a classic horror movie where characters get picked off one by one.

“Let's go check the second floor and the stage together. Maybe he just got delayed by something on the way.”

The four of them walked out of the study. Just as they reached the corner of the corridor, they ran into Fu Yan and Cheng Xi coming from the opposite direction.

Fu Yan's face was still expressionless, but his eyes were graver than before.

Seeing Bai Ci and the other three, he stopped and said, “We were just looking for you. There's something we need to tell you.”

“Liu Shanxi is dead.”

The confusion and worry on the high-ponytail girl's face were instantly replaced by panic. She stumbled a step forward and grabbed Fu Yan's sleeve. “W-what did you say? He only went out to look for me. How could he...”

Standing beside Fu Yan, Cheng Xi reached out and gently pulled Liu Siwei's hand away. “It's true. We found him in the kitchen in the right corridor. He's already gone.”

“The kitchen?” Bai Ci was puzzled.

The boy with the flashlight had gone out to look for the high-ponytail girl. According to his route, he should have only passed by the stage, or at most the second-floor dormitory. Why would he detour to the kitchen in the right corridor?

There was definitely something wrong here.

“Let's go take a look.”

Before Bai Ci could even finish her sentence, the high-ponytail girl shook off Cheng Xi's hand and ran toward the right corridor. The others quickly followed.

Pushing open the wooden door to the kitchen, they saw a spacious area equipped with a stove and cabinets. However, the floor was a complete mess, with pots, pans, and bowls scattered everywhere. The body of the boy with the flashlight lay on the floor right next to the stove.

He lay flat on his back, his eyes wide open, with a trace of shock still lingering on his face. It was obvious he had met with an unexpected end, caught completely off guard.

Most shocking of all was his forehead, where a hideous wound was glaringly visible. An exceptionally sharp kitchen knife lay beside his hand, its blade stained with dark red blood, and even a bit of white brain matter slowly oozing along the cracks in the floorboards, making everyone's skin crawl.

A kitchen knife capable of piercing a human skull—this theater had truly spared no effort to facilitate the participants killing one another.

“Shanxi...” The high-ponytail girl let out a heart-wrenching cry and threw herself beside the boy's body. Yet, she didn't dare touch him, only kneeling on the floor, covering her face tightly with her hands as tears streamed through her fingers.

Filament quickly knelt down, gently wrapping her arms around the high-ponytail girl's back. Her own eyes were red, but she held back her tears, whispering comfortingly, “Weiwei, don't be like this. Don't scare me...”

Fu Liu frowned and subconsciously pulled Bai Ci behind him, blocking her view. “Babe, don't look. It's too gruesome.”

Bai Ci shook her head and gently pushed Fu Liu's hand aside, her gaze falling on Liu Shanxi's body. “He came out to look for Weiwei. Why would he end up in the kitchen?”

“This place is far from both the second-floor dormitory and the stage. Logically speaking, he shouldn't have detoured here.”

“Could he have gone the wrong way, ended up here by accident, and then slipped and fell onto the kitchen knife?” The man in the suit rubbed his hands, his tone laced with uncertainty.

He and the muscular man had been nearby and came over after hearing the commotion. “Look, the floor is a bit wet and slippery. Maybe he just accidentally slipped, and that's how the accident happened.”