Nightmare Assault

“Doctor.” Fatty scratched his chubby cheeks and said awkwardly, “Do you mean the girl in the pyjama has the same goal as Chen Xiaomeng?”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes at him. Indeed. The two were rather similar. They both used the rules within the game to target their teammates. In the last mission, Chen Xiaomeng killed Man Li. If not for Jiang Cheng’s caution, he would have died too.

Thinking about it, Sister Nuan’s death probably had something to do with that girl too.

This time, the girl in the pyjama set a death trap for the woman who shared the same room with her. This had happened twice already. This was more than a coincidence. The girl in the pyjama was similar to Chen Xiaomeng in the sense that they had an ulterior motive.

Considering the woman’s body had been searched, Jiang Cheng’s first guess was they were looking for something. Fatty came to the same conclusion. This thing must be very important for them to take such big risks. It was most likely related to the nightmare realm.

“Could it be something that could help us escape the nightmare?” Fatty guessed, “This thing would be given randomly to one of us when the mission started. If the owner manages to survive until the end, they can leave without any danger. This mechanic is very common in games.”

Jiang Cheng thought about it and then nodded. “It’s possible but not accurate. If this thing can increase one’s survival rate, then it’s more likely.” They had no way to verify this, so they didn’t dwell on it. They proceeded to the Prop Room. With Jiang Cheng leading the way, they soon arrived at their destination, which was on the other side of the school. It was a squat building with the sign of the Prop Management Centre hanging in the middle. It had a design from decades ago. The windows were fitted with rusted grille. The iron gate was so aged that the edges had curled up. Thankfully, the gate was not rusted because it had a thin aluminium coating.

Time appeared to have stopped there. Fatty blinked and commented that when he was young, his grandma’s house in the countryside looked just like this.

Jiang Cheng looked around, said nothing and led Fatty over. Just as they were about to cross the front gate, the gate was suddenly opened from the inside. A woman’s face appeared before them.

“Come in.” The woman spoke and turned around. She seemed to want them to follow her. It was the woman with the ponytail from Room 406. Her voice was coarse but not grating. Fatty had a strange feeling that the woman matched this environment. She fitted well with the darkening sun and the wet sand in the red clay pots.

Jiang Cheng glanced at her, said nothing and followed her. The inside of the building was larger than he thought. They crossed a sandy courtyard.

Student tables and chairs were stacked up in the corner. They had been abandoned, and there was no point in fixing them. There was a broken blackboard leaning against the wall. The writing on it couldn’t be seen that clearly anymore. Only the first and last characters could be made out. They were, respectively, No and Come.

“Doctor,” Fatty called after Jiang Cheng softly, pulling him back from his reverie. Jiang Cheng pulled back his gaze. One of the rooms in the building was their destination. The woman in the ponytail, the middle-aged man with the tank top and the other man were all there. The girl in the pyjama stood at the back, looking frightened and cowed. She pulled on the edge of her pyjama, calculating her every action. However, the suited man and the man with the cap were not there.

“It doesn’t matter how many of you are here.” A male voice said. It was aged but powerful. It did not belong to any of their teammates. “I’ve said everything I need to. These are all the equipment sent over. I have nothing to do with them. I have not touched them.”

The lighting was not that good, so the two didn’t see the man in the dark instantly. Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes. This was an elder, around 65. His skin was abnormally white. His body was hunched over unnaturally, but his gaze was sharp. The elder took a step towards Jiang Cheng. It was then that they realised there were some issues with the elder’s legs. He had a hard time walking, and he held a wooden cane in his left hand.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Cheng turned to the woman with the ponytail.

“We came to take the equipment, but we realised something happened to the camera.” The woman said concisely. Other than her, the others didn’t look too good. The man in the tank top gritted his teeth like he wanted to beat up the old man.

Fatty quickly rushed over to ask, “What happened?”

The woman in the ponytail signalled the other guy to take the equipment over. After switching it on, the man pointed at the lens. “It is tinted with water vapour.”

Fatty blinked, “Is that a serious problem?”

The man sighed. “It’ll seriously affect the photography results. It’s fine if there are only some vapours, but this is so damaged that the vapour has condensed into water droplets. At this point, it’s easier to buy a new camera.”

“Is there no spare?”

“There are, but this is already the best among the bunch,” The man said with a sigh.

They were there to film the anniversary, but something happened to the cameras.

The man then leaned in to whisper, “This is probably not an accident. Someone did this on purpose.” He took out the camera bag and pulled the zipper open. “There is a damp-proofing layer on the inside, and the bag itself is water-resistant. This level of damage wouldn’t happen overnight without human tempering.” Then, he glanced at the elder. The meaning was clear.

The elder didn’t react. His eyes were glazed like they were frosted.

“What about the two from Room 405?” Jiang Cheng turned to the woman, “Why don’t I see them?”

“No clue.” The woman in the ponytail was the calmest. “We didn’t see them when we came here. They might be somewhere else, looking for clues.”

She emphasised the word, clues. And gave Jiang Cheng a meaningful profile.