The Survivors' Whereabouts

Outside the door, the light, hurried footsteps disappeared, replaced by a series of loud thumping sounds that grew louder as they approached.

The sound was like a ball bouncing off the ground.

Is someone playing with a ball outside the door?

Forcing a smile, the Traveler tried to ease the tense atmosphere.

"Really? I just remembered a very interesting story."

Bai Zhi glanced at the Traveler, pursed his lips, and leaned against the door with his arms crossed before speaking.

"Well... one day, the man and woman had another argument, and in a fit of anger, the woman jumped off a building. After that, strange things started happening around the man. He knew that the woman was coming to take his life, so he went to seek help from a Master..."

Faintly, the sound of a door opening came from outside the room. Based on the gradually diminishing thumping sounds coming from the corridor, everyone quickly deduced that the "thing" making the thumping sounds seemed to have entered a room.

"... The Master performed a ritual in the man's home and told him that as long as he could hide from the woman during the Seventh Day after his death, he would be safe and sound, because the Dead Person do not bend over. So, after careful consideration, the man chose to hide under the bed."

Looking towards the tightly closed door, Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly. During the time he was telling his story, the banging sound gradually became clearer, as if the thing had come out of the room.

"... I think I've heard this ghost story before."

The Traveler's lips twitched slightly.

"Soon, the Seventh Day after his death arrived. The man hid under the bed, but at that moment, strange banging sounds came from the living room. Suddenly, the man remembered something, but it was too late..."

Bai Zhi shrugged and spread his hands.

"As the Bell Sound twelve, the man ultimately missed the premiere of the Latest Anime."

"..."

"So, does that mean I can't hide under the bed like I did before...?"

Holding the Small Knife in one hand, VerdantRipple struggled to stand up, supporting herself with her hand.

"So, what's your decision? Are you going to hide like before, or just fight it out?"

"My personal suggestion is to hide."

Hearing the increasingly loud thumping sounds coming from room to room, the Traveler sighed and turned his gaze to the Cabinet inside the room.

"Right now, the Orphanage is in Utter Chaos. If we accidentally make too much noise and attract that terrifying creature that climbed through the window, we'll be in big trouble... There are four wardrobes here, one for each of us."

"Um... did that man manage to dodge it or not?"

Just before she was about to crawl into the closet, Temperance Gentleheart, couldn't help but turn to Bai Zhi and ask him a question.

"Since Dead Person can't bend over, we shouldn't be able to find that man, right? Why did VerdantRipple say we can't hide under the bed?"

Traveler: "..."

VerdantRipple: "..."

"Regarding the answer to this question, I suggest you wait a moment and look through the crack in the wardrobe door yourself."

Rolling his eyes, Bai Zhi pressed the other person's head down and shoved them back into the wardrobe, then closed the wardrobe door behind him.

A few minutes later, the previously closed door opened automatically, and with a series of banging sounds, a head-down corpse "jumped" in from outside the door.

Bright red blood mixed with pale brain matter left horrifying streaks on the ground.

Holding her breath, Lian Qing peered through the small crack in the door at the headless corpse outside. The moment she saw the body, VerdantRipple, hiding in the closet, felt a chill run through her body.

... She saw herself.

A few minutes later, as the body, having yielded nothing, was left, the door closed silently. Only after the banging sounds had faded into the distance did the group emerge from the wardrobe.

"As expected, those of us who died in the previous cycle will become new Anomaly in this one."

The Traveler glanced at VerdantRipple, whose face looked quite unpleasant, and let out a heavy sigh.

"... It's also possible that they were completely eaten, leaving Corpse Bone."

Recalling the only shoe she had left, Temperance Gentleheart muttered something to herself.

"Orphanage in the sunlight and Orphanage in the Shadow are two completely different concepts. When the sun comes out, the Danger Level of the entire Orphanage will drop to its lowest point, and all sorts of terrifying things will appear one by one... Under these circumstances, I don't believe there are any survivors in this building other than us."

Looking at the red and white marks on the ground, Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly.

"But the mission doesn't show a failure option, which means there are still survivors inside the Orphanage."

The Traveler reached up and pushed up his Glasses, then began to speak.

"There are two possibilities. One is that there's an absolutely safe place inside this building where the surviving members are hiding. The second possibility is that the survivors aren't in this building, but elsewhere in the Orphanage... But we did thoroughly search other areas when we entered this building."

The Traveler glanced at the mission after bringing up the System Interface again, and frowned slightly.

"Since the description of Mission 1 is to bring the survivors indoors to the outside, I personally lean towards the first possibility: there is an absolutely safe place inside this building... Let's speed up the search after the sun comes out again. Once we find that absolutely safe place, this mission can be completed."

"So far, we've only searched less than two floors in total. Even if we include the missing Iron Blood team, we've only searched three floors at most."

Having readjusted her mood, VerdantRipple calmly shook her head.

"Don't forget, even when the sun was up, there were still many Anomaly inside the building, just not as Utter Chaos as they are now. If we continue searching like this, given our current situation, it will only increase casualties, force us to reload our save files again, and ultimately render all our previous efforts futile, while also increasing the difficulty once more."

"... Let's continue with the group assignments."

The Traveler gritted his teeth.

"As long as we can find that absolutely safe place as quickly as possible..."

"There's no need for that. I already know where the survivors are."

Walking to the window and pulling back the Curtain, Bai Zhi looked at the sun reappearing in the Tian Kong outside and spoke calmly.

"After a short rest, we'll go find the Iron Blood group now."