The Deserted Cinema

As the sun set, dark, gloomy clouds rolled in, threatening rain.

On what was once the city's most bustling street, there stood a movie theater, occupying a considerable area. In this prime location, where every inch of land is precious, one can imagine the immense financial resources behind the theater.

Therefore, when a building is deserted and silent, no matter how luxurious and elegant the decoration is, it will no longer be appreciated by anyone, which will give people a sense of regret.

This shouldn't be; it shouldn't be this quiet here.

This place should be filled with joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. Everything on the screen should affect the audience's emotions. Every smile, every tear, and even every complaint about how boring the movie is, belongs here.

In short, it can't be quiet, and it can't be a movie without anyone watching.

Some people thought this way, and so

"Ta-da! The next movie we're showing is 'A Day in the Life of the Audience'! Please, all ticket holders, take your seats as indicated on your tickets. Please refrain from loud noise and do not stand up and block other viewers. Thank you for your cooperation!"

Inside the movie theater, a large screen shimmered with a soft glow. A gaunt figure stood in front of the screen, shouting in a bizarre voice.

His face was covered in a very peculiar paint, with red and green patterns on a white background, making him look like a mannequin with too much foundation, or an unlucky fellow with his face smeared with flour.

In the screening room, five or six people were scattered around the seats. They included men, women, and children, and each had their own style of clothing. They stared blankly at the thin figure who was gesturing wildly as he announced the movie title.

A girl, holding a bag of expired potato chips, tore open the bag with a blank expression. In that instant, many hairy little insects poured out of the bag.

Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be naturally grown spiders, each only about half the size of a fingernail, crawling incredibly fast and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The girl ignored it, reached into the bag, picked up a soft, moldy potato chip, and stuffed it directly into her mouth.

She ate and ate, without realizing it...

The gaunt figure on the screen has left.

Something began to play on the blank screen. Strange black patterns and designs gradually appeared, seemingly just irregular lines that conveyed distortion and disorder. The girl's listless gaze gradually focused, and she stared at the screen with great interest.

The other audience members were the same; no matter how apathetic or distracted they had been before, or what they were doing, once the "movie" started, they all watched with undivided attention.

Upon seeing some of the messy lines, one audience member burst into laughter, while another sobbed into tears.

The girl quickly finished her potato chips, and the scurrying Little spider spread outwards along her chair, disappearing into the darkness.

"It's so pretty," the girl said.

She let out a soft sigh, still staring at the screen. No one knew what the audience was watching, or what they were seeing.

Silence spread, and a silent movie played quietly.

Because the audience was so engrossed, they didn't see two young men in windbreakers walking up from the corridors on either side of the screening room.

Even if they were discovered, the audience probably wouldn't care.

Yu Xing squinted and looked around the dimly lit screening room, confirming that there were at least six infected people in the room.

A suffocating sense of oppression and silence filled the screening room. This might not just be a psychological illusion; it could also be because the vengeful spirits and viruses in the screening room were so numerous that it was difficult to breathe.

After he and Zhao Yijiu finished preparing at the restaurant, they left to continue their search for infected individuals in various locations.

Before this, they had already found four, and luckily they hadn't bumped into anyone else. Then, as they watched Zhao Yijiu's blade slice through the neck of a very old man, Yu Xing's eyes flashed with images from the movie theater.

He knew this was some kind of omen; the fleeting image contained several people with blank stares, clearly not normal, most likely infected.

And it's not just one or two infected people.

To speed up Zhao Yijiu's mission progress and get to the fourth stage of the mission as soon as possible to see the system's true intentions, Yu Xing immediately took Zhao Yijiu to various cinemas in the city. However, after visiting two cinemas, there was nothing special about them. The vengeful spirit virus was very weak, and it was probably not even able to infect the deducers.

Yes, the vengeful spirit virus varies in strength, which is related to the cause of its formation. In fact, most viruses in the city are the same to ordinary people, but they cannot infect those with resistance. When Yu Xing first learned about the existence of the little light from Yi Qing, the virus was unable to take effect in his body in the area he entered.

There's also Zhao Yijiu's restaurant.

The virus in the restaurant was quite potent, posing a challenge for the deducers, but it still wasn't strong enough to infect Yu Xing. So, after sitting in the restaurant for half a day, Yu Xing felt nothing but rejection and a slight fatigue, showing no signs of infection whatsoever.

This is the third movie theater they found.

The cinema is located in the southwest of the city, which is the most active and prosperous commercial area planned by the city of 015 before the apocalypse. Not only are various plazas and shopping malls very close together, but the streets are also complex and gorgeous.

In contrast, without a map, the hidden cinema would be inconspicuous, as it is located on the top floor of a five-story shopping mall and cannot be directly seen.

After finding this place, Yu Xing knew that his time had not been wasted; what his eyes had "seen" was this family.

Because of the colorless, odorless, and silent virus, Yi Qing immediately expressed her disgust upon seeing it. "It's so crowded here, do you really have to go in?"

It wasn't just Yi Qing's direct reaction; even Zhao Yijiu, who shouldn't have been able to sense the presence of the factor, instantly felt a very bad feeling from the movie theater.

The virus here... is extremely potent.

It's better than the restaurant's, so much so that even Zhao Yijiu wasn't that confident.

But Yu Xing remained as calm and composed as ever. He looked up at the movie theater sign and said to Yi Qing with a grin, "We have to go in. There's a chance we can complete Brother Jiu's mission in one go. How can we let that opportunity pass us by?"

Even if they don't come, other powerful enough predictors, such as the two from the Widow Investigation Team, would definitely rush in and happily reap the rewards if they discovered this place.

"Fine... whatever, you two go in. I'll wait for you outside and we can look around a bit." Yi Qing was utterly disgusted by the things in the air and looked very unwilling.

Zhao Yijiu looked at Yu Xing.

This place is dangerous. With Yiqing here, it will definitely be a great safety net. It's best to bring as much as possible.

His thoughts were accurately conveyed to Yu Xing sighed with apparent regret, "Movies are truly a wondrous invention, something that some old guy could never have seen while he was alive. Now that he has the chance to see one, he's given it up himself. Perhaps some ghost is just destined to be forever separated from something as interesting as movies."

Yi Qing: "..."

If that's the case, it seems he does have some ideas now.