Luo Feifei sucked in a sharp breath, feeling Zhang Qingyang and Pu Kun both take a few steps back as if they were afraid of being implicated by her.
She ran through several thoughts in her mind before squeezing out a smile. "It's a bit too late for that, it wouldn't be appropriate. How about we watch it together during the day this weekend?"
She looked at the others around her, clearly not minding diverting the trouble toward them. "We can all watch it together then."
As soon as the words left her mouth, Zhao Ming's expression darkened. Luo Feifei's heart skipped a beat, and she spoke almost instinctively.
"Or maybe just the two of us, once it's daylight..."
Zhao Ming broke into a smile. "Great, tomorrow is the weekend anyway, so I'll be waiting for you."
His face changed so quickly that it felt as if the previous gloominess had been nothing more than Luo Feifei's imagination.
Luo Feifei groaned inwardly. She hadn't paid attention to the date on her phone, since everything here was fake to them anyway.
She hadn't expected Zhao Ming to exploit such a loophole.
"...Alright."
Luo Feifei had survived several missions after all, so she didn't panic too much. Seeing that Zhao Ming seemed happy, she followed him upstairs.
The others weren't in the mood to watch the drama and returned to their respective rooms, but Nan Yue remained sitting on the first floor.
"Aren't you going back?"
Chi He hadn't spoken during the discussion and had been very well-behaved. Now, seeing that Nan Yue had no intention of heading back, he was a bit curious.
"You go ahead, I'm going to wait a bit longer."
Besides Zhao Ming, Li Ge seemed to be the only other person in the building who had to go to work.
She was waiting for Li Ge.
Chi He hesitated for a moment before sitting down beside her.
"I'll stay with you."
Nan Yue looked at Chi He with some surprise. She hadn't expected that in a situation where everyone was looking out for themselves, Chi He would be willing to risk staying with her.
"We're both on the 8th floor anyway. In case there's something meant for me too."
Chi He wasn't a fool, and he understood why Nan Yue was staying behind.
The two didn't say much and waited quietly until nine o'clock, when Li Ge finally returned.
"Li Ge, you're back."
Li Ge looked like a typical, exhausted corporate slave, not even noticing Nan Yue until he heard her voice.
"Oh, what are you two doing here?"
Nan Yue smiled and said, "I was just thinking that since we're new neighbors, I'd buy some fruit. Would you like to come over to my place and have some?"
Li Ge was stunned for a moment, then immediately refused repeatedly.
"No, no, it's too late. Thank you for the kind offer."
Without waiting for Nan Yue, he hurried upstairs.
Chi He tilted his head. "He's so strange."
Nan Yue smiled slightly, seemingly not very surprised. "Yes, quite strange. Let's head back as well."
It was easy to link Li Ge's previous actions to Zhao Ming's attitude toward Luo Feifei, but Nan Yue had felt something was off before.
The way Li Ge looked at her didn't hold any romantic or sexual interest.
Furthermore, Li Ge's behavior was very odd. He would press himself against the door, seemingly listening to the movement inside.
It wasn't voyeurism, and it wasn't stalking.
Nan Yue's test today confirmed her suspicions. Only yesterday, after she had just moved in, Li Ge had wanted her to open the door.
Yet today, when she actively invited him, he was unwilling to go.
No, saying he was unwilling wasn't quite right. He was clearly...
Terrified.
Yes, Nan Yue had seen the obvious fear in Li Ge's eyes when she suggested going to her room.
No one understood that emotion better than Nan Yue. She could never mistake it.
What was he afraid of?
Nan Yue could only think of one answer. What Li Ge feared, and what he had been curious about from the start, was the room Nan Yue lived in.
However, there really wasn't much in the room. Nan Yue checked it thoroughly once more before going to bed, and then shared what had happened on her end in the group chat.
It was ten o'clock. Ordinarily, the night was the most dangerous time in a mission, but since Nan Yue could only get a good night's sleep during these missions, she finished washing up and got into bed early, falling into a deep sleep almost immediately.
In the middle of the night, Nan Yue was woken by a rustling sound. The noise was much louder than the night before.
Strange, hadn't she sprayed insecticide?
Nan Yue had just woken up and her head was still a bit foggy. It took a few moments for her to realize that no insect could make that much noise.
The room was very dark. The curtains that usually let some light through now felt like a wall, completely blocking out the light from outside.
In the darkness, Nan Yue had a feeling that...
She wasn't alone in the room.
Something was staring at her.
After thinking for a few seconds, Nan Yue decisively lit up her phone screen. As the faint light hit her eyes, she saw the current time.
Three in the morning.
Nan Yue turned the phone around, and with the help of that small amount of light, she clearly saw the source of the sound, or rather, the thing staring at her.
A pale woman's face was suspended about twenty centimeters directly in front of her.
It was unclear how the woman was maintaining that position. It was as if she were hanging from the ceiling, her face positioned perfectly in front of Nan Yue's eyes as she lay on her back.
The woman's parched white lips, her pitch-black pupils devoid of any white, and the bloodstains on her face... her eyes, much larger than a normal human's, glared at Nan Yue with pure malice and hatred.
This level of a close-up scare would be considered an Ultra-S rank standard in any mock exam. No one waking up in the middle of the night to face such a face so close could maintain their sanity.
Neither could Nan Yue.
Her heart skipped a beat uncontrollably, and she could feel a tingling numbness in her limbs as her adrenaline surged to its peak.
But that only lasted for a second or two. She didn't even feel the urge to scream. Once she moved past the initial physiological tension caused by the visual stimulus, Nan Yue relaxed.
She and the unknown woman stared at each other for a long time, but the woman just watched her without any intention of attacking.
Why?
Was it because she hadn't violated any rules?
Then why did this woman appear?
Nan Yue moved her phone around. The woman seemed to be leaning over her with her limbs braced on the bed to stare into her eyes, but Nan Yue didn't dare look away from the face for too long and couldn't see exactly what the woman's situation was.
After staring at each other for half an hour, Nan Yue eventually grew a bit sleepy. She put down her phone and waited cautiously in the darkness. There truly was no danger.
Fortunately, she just laid her head back down and fell asleep again.
But she didn't know that she wasn't the only one who had an encounter tonight.
Luo Feifei also woke up in the middle of the night, or rather, her consciousness woke up.
Her body couldn't move at all, as if her limbs were being pinned down by something heavy.
Someone was pressing down on her, and she could even feel their hot breath.
Luo Feifei was startled and began to struggle violently, but it was useless.
It took a long time for her to realize she was likely experiencing sleep paralysis.
Luo Feifei breathed a small sigh of relief and adjusted her state, trying to make herself relax.
Sleep paralysis was common for Scavengers. With the high intensity of purification pressure and the mental devastation of missions, they often experienced this even when they weren't on a mission.
However, Luo Feifei tried several times but could not wake herself up. Unease began to rise in her heart.
It was also at this moment that she clearly saw the person pressing down on her.
Rate on N.U.
