The captain glanced toward the tower, a brief flash of coldness in his eyes. "Pay it no mind. If something actually goes wrong, a cold flare will be lit."
Gu Xiang Kai only then realized that the extra item on the captain's waist was a cold flare stick.
"Newcomers are always clumsy and cowardly. I don't know why we always get a few like that."
It made sense. Of the three scavengers assigned to the security group, one of them did look a bit timid, appearing quite flustered when the teams were being formed earlier.
The castle was filled with incredibly lifelike decorations like animal heads and statues, which could indeed be frightening in the dark.
Yet, unease lingered in Gu Xiang Kai's heart. The locations each team was responsible for were too far apart. If something happened, they wouldn't be able to support each other, and they might not even know something had gone wrong.
"Stand your post properly."
Gu Xiang Kai abandoned the idea of investigating, deciding to stand guard obediently to build up some goodwill.
He was certain the captain knew something, but he wouldn't tell a rookie like Gu Xiang Kai right now.
On a night when one would normally be most drowsy, Gu Xiang Kai's nerves were taut.
Unlike the natives, he knew exactly what night represented in a mission and didn't dare relax for a single moment.
...
Fifteen minutes earlier, Zhao Xiao Shu followed the captain and three others toward the tower.
This was once a place for lookout and defense, but it no longer served any military purpose. Instead, it had been converted into a spot for afternoon tea and watching the sunset.
The interior of the tower was painted entirely in bright red, even the ceiling. The moment Zhao Xiao Shu stepped inside, he felt as if he were walking into a prison cell made of blood.
"Captain... why is the inside of the tower completely red?"
Zhao Xiao Shu was trembling slightly. His psychological value had been unstable since he finished his last mission, and he knew that being paranoid was the ultimate taboo in such a situation.
Whether it was a lingering mental influence or if there was truly something wrong with the place, Zhao Xiao Shu felt a heavy scent of blood the moment he entered.
He even suspected that it wasn't paint, but blood splashed onto the walls.
Zhao Xiao Shu asked the person next to him. That person was also a newcomer, but they hadn't smelled anything.
"Are you okay? Why have you been so jumpy all night?"
Reliable teammates were the most important thing during a night patrol. Zhao Xiao Shu's nervousness throughout the journey had made his teammates somewhat repulsed by him.
Zhao Xiao Shu stopped asking. He didn't want his favorability with his teammates to drop into the negatives on the very first day.
Taking advantage of a moment when no one was looking, he carefully touched the wall.
It was hard and cold, and nothing suspicious stuck to his hand.
Zhao Xiao Shu sniffed his hand. There was no scent of blood, but rather a hard-to-describe fishy smell.
Was the tower so old that something had died inside it?
Zhao Xiao Shu lowered his hand. Since it wasn't blood, he must just be too tense.
He took a long, deep breath, thinking to himself that he would have to spend some money to see a psychologist once he got out of this mission.
Although the price wasn't high, it was still a burden for an ordinary scavenger like him.
But he couldn't wait any longer. Once a decline in psychological value started, it would keep dropping, which severely affected one's judgment during missions.
The five of them were responsible for duty in the tower tonight, primarily to look out from a high vantage point to see if there were any intruders in Eden Garden.
Zhao Xiao Shu looked down. He rubbed his eyes. Why did the garden look so red, as if it were shrouded in blood?
He looked up. There was no moon tonight, yet it looked as if a blood moon were casting its red light over Eden Garden.
But there wasn't one. Where was this red light coming from?
To see more clearly, Zhao Xiao Shu placed both hands on the tower wall, leaning his body against the stained glass window to look out.
Suddenly, his entire body froze.
He felt... the wall beneath his hands had just come alive.
Zhao Xiao Shu jerked his hands back in shock. He stared at the wall, but everything seemed like an illusion; the solid wall remained motionless.
Zhao Xiao Shu rubbed his hands, still shaken.
Just now...
He really felt the wall pulse once.
The sensation was hard to describe. It was like touching a balloon that was very thin and tough, and then that balloon vibrated.
What the hell was that?
While Zhao Xiao Shu was staring at the wall, he heard a very faint sound.
"Thump-thump."
"Thump-thump."
It sounded like something beating.
Zhao Xiao Shu swallowed hard. He felt as if he were under sleep paralysis, his eyes fixed deathly on the wall.
He didn't know if he wanted to see something or if he was terrified of seeing something.
Suddenly, to his horror, a blood-red vessel the thickness of a man's torso bulged out from the wall.
A blood vessel!
There were blood vessels inside the tower walls!
A sharp scream escaped Zhao Xiao Shu's mouth.
"What are you doing!"
Zhao Xiao Shu had only managed one scream and hadn't even had time to react before someone struck him hard on the head with a baton.
Blood immediately flowed from the top of his head.
The sharp pain snapped Zhao Xiao Shu back to his senses, only to find the other four men glaring at him fiercely.
"I... I saw blood vessels in the wall..."
"What nonsense are you talking about! I think you're a lunatic! You've been acting crazy all night. If you don't want to work, don't drag us down with you!"
Before the captain could say anything, the other teammates were already hurling abuse at Zhao Xiao Shu.
The pain in Zhao Xiao Shu's head felt a bit numb, but he was still as jumpy as a startled bird.
"If you don't believe me, look..."
Zhao Xiao Shu hurriedly turned to point at the spot where he had seen the blood vessel, only to find nothing there. The wall was perfectly flat, its deep red color appearing almost black under the flashlight.
"Psycho."
"I'm applying for a team transfer tomorrow."
No one paid any attention to Zhao Xiao Shu. Everyone stayed away from him as if he were bad luck.
Zhao Xiao Shu haphazardly wiped the blood from his head. He didn't dare go near the walls anymore, pacing neurotically within the tower like a madman.
After an unknown amount of time, the sky began to brighten, like a thin mist waking the sleeping Eden Garden.
"Phew, let's go."
"Talk about bad luck, being given a scare by this lunatic. Fortunately, nothing else happened afterward."
"Yeah, I have no idea how he got selected."
The night watch ended, and the security group headed back to rest. Zhao Xiao Shu followed behind them.
Indeed, nothing else happened for the rest of the night. Zhao Xiao Shu's nerves, which had been taut all night, finally relaxed, and a wave of exhaustion followed.
Could I really have seen it wrong?
Zhao Xiao Shu was starting to doubt himself. His psychological value had taken a massive hit in the last mission, and it had taken him a long time to recover even a little.
Could those things last night... have been his imagination?
Zhao Xiao Shu felt a bit of regret. He really had been jumpy last night. He still had to stay in Eden Garden, and now his teammates' favorability of him was definitely in the negatives.
Zhao Xiao Shu followed the four men, wondering how he could make amends.
Rate on N.U.
