017. Mission Start

The control room door seemed to be locked.

After more than twenty years of weathering, the lock had held its ground without faltering.

Lu Ban felt a surge of respect.

He then used his crowbar to decisively pry open the door.

Clang—

With a loud noise, the lock that had held for over twenty years finally met its end.

Lu Ban entered the control room.

The control room was where the opening and closing of the stage curtains, the projection of lights, the playback of music, and the overall stage management took place. The Jiangcheng Grand Theater had three of them, located above the sides of the stage and directly opposite the stage.

This room should have contained many instruments, but now there was nothing.

However, the control room was not dark.

Through the transparent windows, one could see the theater lobby. Since a small portion of the dome had collapsed due to fire, light from outside managed to shine in. The control room consequently received a faint glow, but it was only a sliver of light.

The sky was growing late, and the last rays of the sunset quickly faded. The sky visible from here was already dark; night was about to fall.

Lu Ban looked down from above, seeing the stage enveloped in twilight.

Surprisingly, apart from some scorched marks, the stage appeared quite empty. Although the seats were deserted and in disarray, the stage itself stood alone. The dim light fell upon it like a spotlight during a performance, stubbornly embellishing a past prosperity.

As his gaze shifted, a piano stood on one side of the stage.

"A piano?"

How could a piano still be here?

The moment Lu Ban had this thought.

Ding—

The ancient piano suddenly struck a single, crooked note. Yet, Lu Ban clearly saw no one near the piano!

The hairs on his back stood on end. Lu Ban leaned forward slightly, gripping his crowbar tighter, trying to get a clearer look.

Crash—

At this moment, his foot suddenly missed its mark, and he rapidly lost his balance, about to fall.

Click—

Lu Ban's crowbar hooked onto the edge of the broken window frame, and he managed to avoid falling.

Looking down, Lu Ban saw that the space below his left foot, which he had just stepped forward, was now a void. The floor beneath the protruding control room had likely exhausted its last bit of strength upon the arrival of a guest unseen for many years, and had crumbled.

If Lu Ban hadn't had his crowbar, or if he had stepped a little further forward, he probably would have fallen out of the control room, breaking at least one leg.

He quickly retreated a few steps, trying to exit the room.

But Lu Ban's back soon hit something. The shape of the object transmitted through the touch behind him, and it was distinctly human-like!

Lu Ban's heart skipped a beat. He quickly turned around, shining his flashlight while raising his crowbar.

He saw, in the corner of the control room, in a spot not yet reached by the sunlight from the theater lobby, several pale, humanoid figures standing.

They were mannequin figures.

These mannequins were still dressed in tattered tuxedos, dresses, and the like, as if they were guests about to attend a grand banquet.

"Why would they pile these things here?"

Lu Ban looked up and down the mannequins.

He saw that, as if by someone's mischief, the blank faces of these mannequins had been painted with crooked eyes.

These eyes seemed to be looking in the direction of the theater lobby, carrying a strange aura.

Lu Ban tapped the foremost one with his crowbar.

Unmoving.

He then shone his flashlight on other parts of the control room. It was empty, with only these mannequins, placed there abruptly.

He turned to leave, but cast one more glance at the mannequins, feeling uneasy.

They hadn't moved an inch.

It was just that the eyes of these mannequins seemed to have turned towards the doorway where Lu Ban was.

".There's definitely a big problem."

Lu Ban put away his flashlight and quickly returned to the front hall.

The sky had completely darkened. He glanced at his phone; it was 7:30. He had actually been exploring the corridor for over an hour.

At the same time, the text on his phone screen distorted and turned into cold notification text.

[Mission Start]

[Find the Performer: 0/1]

[Survive Until Dawn: 10:29:43]

"Ten hours. Until sunrise at 6 AM tomorrow?"

Lu Ban set his phone alarm for 6 AM the next morning, pocketed it, and then pushed open the creaking door to the theater lobby.

Even in its current state of disrepair, Lu Ban could sense the former glory of this grand theater. It could hold over a thousand people, a considerable size for its time.

However, a fire had destroyed nearly half the seating area, and the second floor was practically charred to a crisp. Even after so many years, Lu Ban could still smell the scorching, suffocating scent in the air.

The once-ornate dome was shattered, and starlight spilled through the gaps, casting a pale, hazy glow on the stage.

Lu Ban walked to the front row and tapped the stage with his crowbar to test its stability before leaping up.

His shoes made crisp clack-clack sounds on the wooden planks, echoing through the hall, which, despite its damage, still retained its acoustic structure.

He carefully made his way to the piano, the beam of his flashlight sweeping over the instrument shrouded in darkness.

He didn't know how to maintain a piano, nor could he identify the brand. However, this piano gave him a feeling of both ancient antiquity and pristine newness. Lu Ban shone his light on the keys and found not a speck of dust.

Not just the keys, but even the exposed strings of the open piano were dust-free.

Thinking of this, Lu Ban finally realized what had felt off earlier.

He crouched down slightly and rubbed the back of his finger against the floor.

It was spotless.

The stage floor was spotless.

After so many years of abandonment, with no one to clean it, it should have been covered in dust.

But...

"Wait a minute."

Lu Ban snapped back to reality.

The clothes on those mannequin figures in the control room earlier, apart from being tattered, also seemed to have no dust on them!!!

Tap—

Just then, a faint sound came from the direction of the control room on the other side. This should have been a completely unnoticeable sound, but it was so quiet now, and the acoustics in here were so good, that the sound reached Lu Ban's ears clearly.

He glanced over, only to see a human face peering at him through the glass of the control room.

"!"

The flashlight beam quickly swept over. Lu Ban saw it was another mannequin, its face also painted with eerie eyes.

".There isn't one on the other side, is there?"

He shone his flashlight on the control room opposite the stage. Regrettably, there was no mannequin there.

Lu Ban got off the stage and looked around. There seemed to be no other abnormalities.

He stepped off the stage, found an intact chair in the front row, used his crowbar to beat off the dust, and then set down his backpack.

Taking out his self-heating rice and water, Lu Ban decided to have dinner first.

*

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