Camera

"You mean Sleepwear Woman and Chen Xiaomeng have the same objective?" Fatty felt he could follow Jiang Cheng's train of thought.

Indeed.

Thinking carefully, the actions of both individuals did have similarities. They had both used the rules within the mission to target teammates.

In the last mission, Chen Xiaomeng had killed off Fan Li.

If not for Jiang Cheng's quick thinking, both he and Fatty would have followed Fan Li's fate.

Thinking back now, Sister Nuan's death might also have an unclear, indescribable connection to this woman.

And Sleepwear Woman had killed off Qipao Woman from the same dormitory.

In the only two missions they had encountered, they had faced almost identical instances of teammates being killed off. This couldn't be explained as a mere coincidence.

Sleepwear Woman was the same as Chen Xiaomeng.

They must both have some kind of objective.

Recalling that Qipao Woman's body had been searched, Jiang Cheng's first reaction was that they were looking for something.

Fatty also realized this.

Willing to take such great risks, it meant this item was extremely important, and most likely related to the predicament they were currently facing.

"Could it be something that can help us escape the nightmare?" Fatty asked cautiously, "At the start of the mission, this item is randomly given to one of us, and whoever gets it can survive and leave in the end."

"Like how it often appears in games."

Jiang Cheng pondered for a moment and nodded, "It's possible, but not entirely accurate. If we say getting this item increases our chances of survival, that would probably be more appropriate."

There was no way to verify their guesses at this point, so the two didn't delve deeper.

They continued walking towards the equipment room.

With Jiang Cheng leading the way, they quickly found the equipment room.

It was at the other end of the school, in a more secluded location.

On a low, single-story building, hung a sign for the "Equipment Management Center."

It had the old-fashioned sliding window design from decades ago, with iron bars on the window, rusty all over.

The sheet metal door was the same, with the edges already curled up.

But fortunately, it wasn't as rusty as the bars.

This was because it had been coated with a thin layer of zinc.

Time seemed to be particularly fond of this place, with traces of age visible everywhere. Fatty blinked and said, "When I was very young, my grandmother's house in the county town looked just like this."

Jiang Cheng surveyed the surroundings and said nothing more, leading Fatty over.

Just as they were about to enter the door, it was suddenly pushed open from the inside.

A woman's face appeared before them.

"Come in."

As the woman spoke, she turned and retreated back inside, her back to them, as if leading the way.

It was Ponytail Woman from Room 406.

Her voice had a slight hoarseness, yet it wasn't rough.

A strange feeling suddenly welled up in Fatty's heart.

He surprisingly felt that the woman inexplicably matched this environment.

Jiang Cheng, walking beside him, glanced at him sideways without speaking.

The space inside the equipment room was larger than Jiang Cheng had imagined. They passed through a courtyard covered with fine sand.

In a corner of the courtyard, student desks and chairs were piled up casually. However, they looked discarded, beyond repair.

Against the wall stood a cracked blackboard with a chipped corner. The writing on the board was blurred, and only the first and last characters could be vaguely discerned.

A "no".

And a "come".

"Doctor," Fatty softly called out to Jiang Cheng, pulling the latter out of his thoughts.

Jiang Cheng withdrew his gaze and realized that the room in the courtyard was their destination.

Ponytail Woman, along with the tank top-wearing Middle-aged man from the same room and another man, were all there.

Sleepwear Woman, whom Fatty had been thinking about, was hiding behind everyone, looking nervous and fearful, clutching the hem of her pajamas, her eyes full of drama.

But Suit Man and Hat Man were nowhere to be seen.

"It's no use how many of you come," a man's voice rang out. It was old but full of vigor, clearly not one of the teammates in this mission.

"I've already said what I needed to say. Your equipment arrived like this, it has nothing to do with me."

The lighting here was poor, which prevented the two from seeing the people in the darkness immediately.

Jiang Cheng suddenly narrowed his eyes.

An elderly man, around 65 years old, stood there. His skin was an unnatural pale, as if he hadn't seen sunlight in a long time.

His posture was unnaturally hunched, yet his gaze gave off an unignorable illusion.

The old man took a step towards Jiang Cheng.

Only then did everyone notice that the old man seemed to have trouble with his legs. Not only was walking difficult, but he also held a wooden cane in his left hand.

"What's going on?" Jiang Cheng turned to ask Ponytail.

"We came to get the equipment and found the camera was broken," Ponytail said concisely.

Besides her, the expressions of the others were grim. The Middle-aged man in the vest, in particular, was gritting his teeth, as if he wanted to beat the old man to vent his anger.

Fatty, upon hearing that the equipment was broken, actively came over. "What's wrong with it?"

Ponytail gestured for another man to bring the equipment over.

After opening the camera, the man pointed to the lens. "There's moisture inside."

Fatty blinked. "Is that serious?"

"Yes." The man sighed. His expression showed that this was no small matter. "It will severely affect the shooting quality. If it were just a little, it would be fine, but now you can already see tiny water droplets condensed inside through the lens. Usually, in such a situation, you'd consider getting a new lens."

"Don't you have a spare?"

"We do, but it's in worse condition than this one." The man said in a low voice, "This is the best one we picked out."

This was bad.

They were here to film the anniversary celebration, but now the camera was broken.

At this moment, the man bit his lip and leaned in to whisper, "This is probably not an accident. Someone tampered with it." He took out the camera bag, opened it, and said to the two of them, "There's moisture-absorbing silica gel in here, and this camera bag also has some moisture-proof function. So, it's impossible for something like this to happen overnight."

After speaking, he looked at the old man, his meaning clear.

But the old man remained the same, leaning on his cane, his eyes blurred as if covered by a layer of fog.

"Where are those two from Room 405?" Jiang Cheng turned to Ponytail. "Why don't I see them?"

"I don't know." Ponytail appeared much calmer than the other three. "We didn't see them when we arrived. Perhaps they went elsewhere to look for clues."

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Ponytail emphasized the word "clues."

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