Silent Despair

The moment Shingo stepped into the dim villa living room, a chill ran through his body. His gaze was instantly locked onto the ten pale masks marked with numbers inside the room. The lifeless masks turned toward him.

The deathly white masks gave off an eerie air beneath the dim candlelight. He shuddered violently, nearly crying out.

He instinctively turned his head and saw that the white mask on A Ping's face, which had been blank moments ago, now bore a conspicuous number eight. Unease surged through him, as though some terrifying truth was about to surface.

He slowly turned toward Yu Hai, who had spoken, his voice trembling despite himself. "Who are you? As far as I know, the only group that puts numbers on masks is Spider..."

"We are Spider, and I am Spider's leader." Yu Hai's voice was low and calm as he slowly raised a hand and gently removed his white mask.

The dim yellow candlelight flickered over his stern features, outlining an immature face. He was not yet sixteen, still two months short of it. Since crossing over, nearly three hundred days had passed.

If he did not reveal his true face to Shingo, Shingo would never believe the truth before him, much less believe that he was Spider.

"You're... A Hai? What's going on? Spider is A Hai? A Hai is Spider's leader?" The instant Shingo recognized Yu Hai's face in the candlelight, he staggered back two steps, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The news exploded in his mind like a massive bomb, leaving him completely unable to react for a moment. He never could have imagined that Yu Hai, someone so familiar in daily life, had such a connection to the infamous Spider organization. Didn't that mean...

Spider, the mysterious group that had