Dark Side

Qin Rang caught Tao Yuan, who was leaning back, while Liang Xinjin hurriedly caught Tao Yuan's phone and saw that it was an alarm reminder.

"Boss, look."

He held his phone out to Qin Rang; it showed 2:30 PM, the alarm clock for waking up.

"Given her identity, she should have a habit of taking afternoon naps." Qin Rang turned off the alarm clock, lifted Tao Yuan under her armpits, and let her lean against him. "We're going back first. You should go back quickly too, and be careful."

"Okay, okay."

Qin Rang in a hurry to take Tao Yuan home. Tao Yuan must have missed her afternoon nap and ended up in a deep sleep. He needed to get her home as soon as possible.

When Qin Rang returned home at dinner time, his daughter was watching TV on the sofa, and his mother had already cooked dinner.

After a close call with dinner, Qin Rang didn't go to the Bathroom to shower. Instead, he made up a lie about being very tired from work, lay down on the bed, pretended to be asleep, and took the medicine Bai Yang had given him.

The Bathroom is definitely Danger Zone with many Rules; you should avoid it as much as possible.

He and the Weird Mother slept in the same bed, and they had to go out at night. From now on, Qin Rang had to be careful not to arouse the eerie mother's suspicion, otherwise it would be difficult for him to go out at night.

I never expected that I would actually fall asleep like that, as the night quietly crept in through the window.

The bedroom curtains were not drawn, and the windows were not closed properly. The moonlight was bright, and a cool breeze brushed against my face, carrying a certain sweet and fishy smell.

"Woof! Woof!"

Qin Rang was awakened by the barking of dogs outside the window. The moment he opened his eyes, he was forced to wake up and bumped head-to-head with the eerie figure opposite him.

On the pink pillow, a pale, bluish-white head that looked like it had been dead for a long time lay lifelessly with its eyes closed, sparse hair falling onto the blanket and the wooden bedside table.

He endured it for a long time before finally suppressing the nausea in his throat.

Quietly lifting the covers and getting out of bed, the old, dilapidated wooden bed creaked. Fortunately, the strange creature seemed accustomed to the sound and didn't react.

Qin Rang picked up the phone on the table. He had found it under his pillow when he got home that night, and judging from the screen saver, it was definitely his phone.

I glanced at the time with unfamiliar eyes; it was 11:57.

Having not used his phone in a long time, Qin Rang frantically searched through it until he finally found his phone balance. It wasn't much, only a little over 20,000 yuan. He figured he could use it to pay Bai Yang's medical bills tomorrow and also try to gather some information.

I don't know if he has a way to leave this place, even though he's part of the organization, he still has to go through Instance to get out.

He put his phone on silent and tucked it into his pocket, then tiptoed lightly across the wooden floor, making sure each step was extremely quiet.

Get up, open the door, close the door.

Stepping out of the bedroom, I found my daughter's room quiet as well, the wooden door tightly shut, as if everyone was asleep.

The living room lights were off, with only the dim yellow light from outside filtering in through the window, creating a hazy, yellowish glow.

The old walls, damp and mottled with gray stains, were covered by a thick layer of dust under the light, making the faces blurry and gray, as if covered by a white veil covering the dead, giving off a chilling feeling at a glance.

He gripped the doorknob and slowly pushed the front door open.

"Squeak--"

The dry, piercing, and sharp sound suddenly woke up the motion-sensor lights in the hallway, their stark white light making one's eyes sting.

Qin Rang froze, his hand gripping the door trembling slightly.

A disheveled woman stood in the Corridor, quietly watching Qin Rang. An empty dog leash was held high in her hand, as if some unseen but still vividly struggling creature was tied to the other end of the leash.

The moment their eyes met, an energy surge no less than that of B-Rank being hit him head-on. Qin Rang cursed his bad luck, how could he have stumbled upon someone coming home the moment he opened the door?

Who would be so kind as to take their dog out for a walk at this hour? I saw her during the day, and she still had her dog on the leash. Did she walk it all day and then it disappeared?

His muscles tensed, and his right hand had silently gripped the Evil Ghost Mask in his pocket, his fingertips digging into the cold, Weird Object.

He took a strange step forward down the Corridor, a fresh, pungent smell of blood assaulting his nostrils as he approached the door, his voice rough, hoarse, and unpleasant.

"My dog is lost, you can be my dog."

Qin Rang's Brain went blank, and he managed to squeeze out a bewildered "Huh?"

You dog, is it serious?

Click.

Qin Rang a chill run down his spine. Just then, he heard the sound of a door lock turning behind him.

A chill ran straight to his head, Qin Rang froze on the door frame, even turning his head became awkward and stiff.

The door was slowly pushed open a crack, and a little girl's clear voice floated from behind him, a voice that, while crisp and sweet, carried an unsettling undertone. "Dad, what are you doing so late?"

The words had barely left his lips when an even more sinister and chilling voice rang out, and a cold hand swept across the back of Qin Rang's neck, resting on his shoulder. "Husband, who are you talking to?"

The stark white motion-sensor lights in the hallway began to flicker wildly. In the blink of an eye, a strange Corridor slowly moved towards Qin Rang with a dog leash in hand. Through the crack in the door, two dark figures stood silently, staring intently at his back.

"An Ying, cheer up! I'm talking to you, so give me a response!"

"Ugh, why did we have to be grouped together? I've been talking to you for ages and you're completely ignoring me."

Sheng Qingqiao sat in the bright and clean Life Supermarket and muttered to An Ying, who was staring An Ying at the glass. But An Ying only gave him a cold look and continued to stare blankly outside.

Under the bright lights inside the supermarket, the dim, old road outside appeared even more eerie and dangerous.

"Right now, only the two of us from our team have entered the Dark Side of this neighborhood. We don't know how the others are doing. Can the boss find us?"

Sheng Qingqiao spoke, she glanced at Hua Yu, who was standing at the cashier, her sorrowful, downturned eyebrows almost flattened by her professional Flower Language, and muttered, "I didn't run into the captain, but the people in this organization are like ghosts that just won't leave..."

Flower Language and An Ying glanced at him in unison.

"It's us, like a persistent ghost, that's been chasing us," An Ying added.

"Oh, that seems to be true."

Sheng Qingqiao sighed, "Why did we have to draw Building Three and Building Six? What if we have to use our brains in the games later?"

An Ying frowned, took a sip of water, and focused his gaze on his precious Weird Artifact. The bamboo umbrella was already broken, leaving only the frame. He was helpless against any further strangeness.

"As long as we don't draw a character who's weirdly associated with a child, everything will be fine."

The huge Life Supermarket was filled with people who had come to participate in the Instance. Those who had come in alone had temporarily formed teams, and now they were all sitting on the benches, clearly separated, each with a worried look on their face.

"La la la, the game begins! Let's see if any new lucky ones will be chosen!"

Suddenly, the sound from outside the glass door rang out again, this time a cheerful child's voice.