CHAPTER 6

Sheng Qing was awakened by a series of urgent knocks on the door.

"Did I oversleep again?" The door was suddenly pushed open before the words were even out of my mouth.

With a snap, the bedroom light came on.

"What time is it?" Sheng Qing was still a little dazed. He rubbed his eyes and saw Meng Yunxi leaning against the door with a blank expression.

"Twelve o'clock, midnight." The voice was cold.

Well, it really is midnight; you can tell by the sound.

“You woke up five minutes later than last night,” Meng Yunxi said abruptly, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Sheng Qing sensed something was amiss in his words and pressed for an answer. "Is there something wrong?"

“This is very inappropriate.” Meng Yunxi lowered her eyes, as if recalling something unpleasant, and her tone became serious. “Perhaps in a few more days, you will not be able to wake up.”

"What do you mean?" Sheng Qing's mind suddenly cleared.

“Xiang Wan, she used to be one of us.” Meng Yunxi turned her gaze back to Sheng Qing. “At first she was only five minutes late, and no one paid any attention, but then it gradually became an hour, until she never woke up again.”

“But I see her every day, she isn’t…” Sheng Qing then realized what Meng Yunxi meant by “waking up” and stopped talking.

"Change into something neat, we'll talk on the way." Meng Yunxi turned her back and closed the door.

"Do you remember the male neighbor who was with Xiang Wan?" Sheng Qing tried to catch up with Meng Yunxi's pace, her breathing slightly disordered due to the mask.

"Hmm." Meng Yunxi slowed down slightly.

"Do you remember what happened when you went out this morning? When you walked into that white fog?" Sheng Qing asked for confirmation.

"He didn't lie to you." Perhaps feeling that the wording was a bit strange, Meng Yunxi paused and changed her words, "What I said during the day was the truth."

"That's strange then." Sheng Qing unconsciously stroked his chin. "Are you sure?"

Meng Yunxi stopped and stared at Sheng Qing: "What you saw wasn't it?"

Sheng Qing shook her head, recalling the situation and the bizarre, absurd nightmare. Looking up into Meng Yunxi's dark eyes, should she tell him?

"You might not believe it, but I saw Xiang Wan's male companion being eaten by a huge monster." Sheng Qing smiled bitterly, feeling like he might be going crazy.

"What kind of monster?" Meng Yunxi didn't question it at all.

As they spoke, the two arrived at the open space from the previous night, where several masked men were already waiting.

"Its body is enormous, but its mind is not very mature, roughly the intelligence of a child," Sheng Qing said in a low voice, finishing quickly.

Meng Yunxi glanced at Sheng Qing with a strange expression, unsure whether she believed him or not.

Oh no, I think I said too much. It's one thing to be huge with the naked eye, but how easy is it to judge someone's mind and intelligence? Sheng Qing gently covered her mouth, glancing at Meng Yunxi with a flustered look.

The latter didn't seem to think much of it, and at that moment he took out the map that was covered with markings and circled an area again with a pen.

Sheng Qing was assigned to the area between 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock, while Meng Yunxi was responsible for investigating the area between 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock.

Did she feel that she had dragged him down yesterday? Sheng Qing didn't shamelessly follow her today, watching Meng Yunxi's figure disappear into the crimson moonlight in a few breaths.

"Let's go!" urged one of the girls in the group.

"You can't stand his personality either, can you?" Another male voice, somewhat eccentric and gossipy, said, "Brother Meng is quite skilled, but his mouth is a bit sharp. It's a pity about his looks that make him so popular with young girls, tsk tsk tsk."

"My name is Qin Feiyu, I'm 23 years old and single. What's your name, little sister?" the boy said, reaching for Sheng Qing's hand.

"Sheng Qing." Sheng Qing reacted quickly, slapping the other person's hand and then crossing her arms around her waist in a defensive posture.

Qin Feiyu awkwardly withdrew her hand and walked side by side with Sheng Qing.

"Brother, is this the kind of occasion to flirt?" a female voice in the group scolded angrily. When she looked at Sheng Qing, her eyes softened, and she extended her hand, saying, "I am Qin Feiyan, nice to meet you."

"Please give me your guidance." Sheng Qing gently squeezed Qin Feiyan's hand.

"Don't take it to heart. He's just a smart aleck, but he's not a bad person," Qin Feiyan explained helplessly.

"And he also has a handsome face." Qin Feiyu muttered unhappily. "This mask is really in the way, blocking Sheng Qing from seeing my handsome face."

"Why do we need to wear masks?" Sheng Qing asked, puzzled.

“There’s a creature here that’s good at mimicking and changing its appearance. One of my companions was tricked and killed by a monster that disguised itself as a teammate.” As she said this, Qin Feiyan carefully looked around, wary of any strange creatures that might suddenly appear.

"A faceless monster?"

“It’s even more terrifying than that.”

"What's the point of wearing a mask?"

"It has face blindness."

Upon hearing this simple and easy-to-understand reason, Sheng Qing was momentarily speechless.

They could hear Qin Feiyu muttering complaints under her breath as the three of them approached a dilapidated building by the faint moonlight.

The moment Sheng Qing passed through the entrance gate on the first floor, he felt dizzy and lightheaded. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing next to a courtyard on a rooftop.

Looking down into the courtyard, one can see the interconnected layers of buildings, with the stone steps winding and rising clearly visible.

Is it some kind of creature with the ability to transform into space?

Sheng Qing turned around, and behind her was a door with an exit sign that kept flashing, but there was no sign of the Qin siblings.

Why worry about so much? Sheng Qing opened the exit sign without hesitation and called out softly, "Qin siblings, are you two there?"

Sheng Qing cautiously refrained from calling out his real name and even deliberately mispronounced it.

Such a strange place would be difficult to deal with if some creature with ulterior motives overheard it.

Passing through the door, the next second you find yourself in the same courtyard again.

It wasn't that easy after all!

It seemed that he would have to find some mechanism or defeat some monster that created this space to leave. Sheng Qing sighed and reluctantly moved to the stairs next to the courtyard.

Huh? Is there a figure at the bottom of the courtyard?

Sheng Qing wondered if she was seeing things. She blinked, but the figure was still there.

Sheng Qing tried to count how many floors there were, but gave up when he reached the 18th floor. He figured there must be at least 40 floors.

Suddenly, a masked figure was moving around at around the 18th floor. It was too far away to see clearly, but the clothing and figure looked a bit like one of the Qin siblings.

"The Qin siblings?" Sheng Qing's voice echoed in the courtyard, the sound lingering for a long while before finally stopping.

Then, a figure dressed in the same clothes appeared from a slightly higher floor, gesturing to Sheng Qing with outstretched arms.

Is this telling me to keep quiet, or to go and meet up?

Sheng Qing waited for a while, and seeing that no other figures peeked out, he was about to go downstairs.

But how can we confirm that these are indeed the Qin siblings?

A thought popped into Sheng Qing's mind, and he stopped firmly in place. Then, he cautiously poked his head out again to check the situation inside the courtyard.

The dark shadow at the very bottom has disappeared!

Wait, how did it move to a position about 10 floors away from the top floor in such a short time?

Was it because of his own call just now? Sheng Qing held his breath, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

Sheng Qing suppressed his fear and carefully observed the creature. It stood still and did not move. It looked like a strong man who was 1.9 meters tall. It was wearing a tattered gray-green field combat uniform and its hands and legs were bound by something like iron chains.

The monster's head was covered by a dusty gray burlap sack, with only two black holes where its eyes should have been. Yellow strips of cloth were pasted in a cross shape over these holes, and something seemed to be written on them in red ink or cinnabar. Just looking at it made Sheng Qing feel the hairs on his entire body stand on end.

If it can't see and its legs are bound, how does it move?

Sheng Qing glanced at the Qin siblings, who were climbing the stairs at a normal pace and had already gone up another 3 or 4 floors.

Huh, it's gone? Sheng Qing glanced at the spot where the monster had just been. A wave of panic washed over him, and his gaze quickly moved upwards. The monster had suddenly reappeared, only six floors away from Sheng Qing.

Sheng Qing felt a chill run down his spine and his mind buzz. In the blink of an eye, it was so close to him. But when he stared at it intently, it didn't move at all, as if rooted to the spot.

A guess popped into Sheng Qing's mind, so she quickly looked away and then quickly looked back. Sure enough, the monster was one step closer to her.

So as long as I keep watching it, it won't move anymore, right? Sheng Qing breathed a sigh of relief. He'd figure out how to deal with it once the Qin siblings arrived.

"***!" Qin Feiyu's voice, swearing loudly, came from the courtyard, clearly indicating his agitation.

Sheng Qing was extremely curious, but dared not make a sound or look away.

"Quick, come up here, I'll keep an eye on things." Then came Qin Feiyan's anxious voice.

What does this mean? There's more than one of these bizarre things? Sheng Qing's mind was about to crash.

"Damn it, another one!" Qin Feiyan's curses echoed from the courtyard, her agitation surpassing even that of her brother. True to their sibling bond, they shared the same fiery temper.

"How do we deal with it?" Sheng Qing asked the Qin siblings in the courtyard, his eyes fixed on the monster.

"I don't know," the Qin siblings said in unison.

"What would happen if it caught me?" Sheng Qingxin felt a chill run down her spine.

It will disappear.

"Your neck will be broken."

The Qin siblings answered one after the other.

Sheng Qing's heart turned completely cold, and soon his body would also turn completely cold.

"A mirror!" Sheng Qing suddenly had a bright idea and asked at the top of her lungs, "Is there a mirror? What would happen if the monster looked at its reflection in the mirror?"

"Uh, maybe it will have a miraculous effect?" The Qin siblings said in unison, expressing their doubt.

Qin Feiyu paused, then hesitated and said, "But I don't carry a mirror with me, it's too girly."

Sheng Qing couldn't help but roll her eyes. Oh no, that monster is getting even closer.

"I don't have any either," Qin Feiyan said sullenly.

Sheng Qing wanted to cry but had no tears.

No! I can't cry yet, because tears will blur my vision. In that split second, the monster might close in and grab me.

So that's why she couldn't find a mirror even after searching the whole room?

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but Sheng Qing remembered the hallucination about the little girl and the doll that was always with her; there must be something wrong with them.

The more urgent the moment, the more Sheng Qing's thoughts wandered, leading him to think about things that were irrelevant to the current situation.

"Damn it, there's another one!" It was the Qin siblings' outburst of curses that pulled Sheng Qing back from her reverie.

The good news is that the monster Sheng Qing was watching didn't move, but the bad news is that three pairs of eyes can't possibly keep track of four monsters.

If this drags on, there won't just be four monsters left.