Bai Yuze knew he couldn't just sit around and wait for things to happen. The most important thing right now was to gather information. As for whether Yang Peng's hint was correct, he'd find out once he found it.
With that in mind, Bai Yuze quickly searched the man's corpse. After confirming that the only thing left on it was the scalpel, he stood up, slipped the milk candy into his pocket, and handed the note in his pocket and the one he'd just found to the two women.
"Remember the rules written on these. They're the key to staying alive."
With that, Bai Yuze poked his head outside. After confirming that nothing strange was happening in the hallway, he took a deep breath and pushed open the wooden door to Room 101.
The same shabby bed greeted him, but unlike Room 104, this room had a bedside table.
The table had two drawers. Bai Yuze opened the top one and found it empty. The bottom one was the same.
"There's nothing in this room?"
Yang Peng had said he'd scattered the hints in every corner of the residence. Did he mean that literally?
Bai Yuze froze. He stared at the bedside table for a moment, then yanked out both drawers and crouched to look inside.
Sure enough, a note was stuck to the bit of space left behind.
[Today marks my first week at Sunshine Residence. This place is strange. Supplies appear and disappear at random. Honestly, it's not a pleasant feeling. At night, I keep hearing children making a racket upstairs. My instincts tell me going up there to confront them would be stupid.]
[Monday: The clock in the hallway is broken. It stays stuck at the same time, so I can only check the time on my phone. I need to rest at night, or my body will get exhausted.] The following words are emphasized in red (Even if you can't sleep... stay in your own room!)
[Tuesday: I think I should look for some clues, but I can't go to the floors above, whether it's day or night. It seems the time in the residence doesn't depend on the outside world, but on something inside...]
[Wednesday: How strange. Every so often, I hear chopping sounds upstairs. They went on all day.]
[Thursday: The place is getting stranger and stranger. Moss has started growing on the walls around me, and the residence is becoming damp!]
[Friday: I feel like my memory is getting worse, so I'm incredibly glad I started recording what happened each day.]
[Saturday: I discovered that as long as you don't sleep at night, you can...] <The rest has been scribbled over with a black crayon.>
[Sunday: When I was little, I almost died@#@#￥#@%% I have a bad feeling. It feels just like the sensation humans get when they're about to face death!]
That was where the note ended, but it revealed quite a lot.
"What can you do if you stay awake at night?"
Bai Yuze stared at the note, lost in thought. It was obvious that the being had destroyed the message for Saturday. That revealed two things.
First, it had already found the note. It had probably even changed some of the rules written on it.
Second, staying awake at night would cause something strange to happen. Tuanzi's phone could be used to check the time, but Bai Yuze had a feeling there was more to the fact that only Tuanzi had a phone.
Bai Yuze decided to form an alliance with the two women before continuing to explore. Tuanzi had the only way to tell the time, so whether he looked at it rationally or emotionally, making an alliance with them was necessary.
"Damn! In my previous life, I knew all about the underwear of these anime girls, but the people standing in front of me now are real! Dealing with people and all that! What a pain!"
Bai Yuze irritably tugged at his school uniform, and then something astonishing happened!
There were three marks on his left wrist, clearly resembling shallow cuts from a sharp object.
In this strange world, Bai Yuze's vigilance was at its peak. It wasn't just scratches—if a fly buzzed past, he'd even check whether it was male or female!
So when he saw the three scratches on his wrist, he immediately began checking himself for anything else.
Just then, the two women outside opened the door, intending to ask Bai Yuze some questions. And then...
"Ah!!! Pervert!"
In her panic, Yuigahama accidentally dropped her phone. To save this important item, Bai Yuze threw himself toward the two women without hesitation.
Bai Yuze clutched the phone tightly in his right hand. Seeing that it was unharmed, he let out a sigh of relief.
As everyone knew, when people panicked, if one hand clenched, the other hand instinctively clenched too.
"Mm! Th-that hurts!"
Only when he heard a soft moan from beneath him did Bai Yuze realize what his left hand was doing!
He jumped to his feet and bowed at a ninety-degree angle, then dropped to the ground in a full dogeza.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't do it on purpose!"
Yukino silently helped Yuigahama up. She'd watched the whole thing. At first, when she saw Bai Yuze bare-chested, she'd been a little surprised. She'd thought he was an exhibitionist, but now...
He wasn't just an exhibitionist. He was an exhibitionist with the nerve of a complete pervert!
Sensing the heavy atmosphere, Bai Yuze put on his clothes and gave the two women an awkward smile.
"Sorry. Three scratches suddenly appeared on my wrist, and that's why I acted that way."
Bai Yuze scratched his head, showed the two women the marks on his wrist, and added,
"You should check yourselves too, in case you have any injuries."
After saying that, Bai Yuze fled Room 101 and ducked into Room 102, closing the door behind him.
Bai Yuze leaned against the door and let out a breath. Ever since the strange pill had enhanced his body, his senses had become far sharper than an ordinary person's. He hadn't had time to process it earlier, but now the soft sensation was replaying itself in his mind...
Though there was a hallway and two doors between Bai Yuze and the two women, he could still clearly hear the sounds of clothes being taken off, along with something else...
Was that... snoring?
"Snoring?"
Bai Yuze stood up. He glanced at the corpse in front of him first, and after confirming it was still lying there quietly, he looked elsewhere.
"This position is..."
Bai Yuze opened the door and stepped out. His footsteps echoed alone through the hallway. As he slowly approached Room 106, the snoring grew clearer and clearer.
He also noticed a clock hanging on the wall between Room 104, where he'd been earlier, and Room 106.
The clock had no glass cover, and its hands were firmly stuck at a particular time.
"Half past twelve at night? No, it could be noon."
Suddenly, Bai Yuze's pupils shuddered!
"Why did I instinctively assume it was twelve at night? The lights are so bright..."
"Wait! The lights!"
Bai Yuze finally realized why he'd instinctively thought it was midnight. If it were noon, there'd be no need for the lights to be on!
The common sense that lights were turned on at night had made him assume it was nighttime. He'd also instinctively taken the time on the clock to mean midnight!
Bai Yuze turned on the phone. Tuanzi had set a lock-screen password, but that didn't stop him from checking the time.
The screen clearly showed
21:30
The rule flashed through Bai Yuze's mind at once.
[The residence's soundproofing is sometimes poor. For your safety, everyone is strictly forbidden from going outside at night.]
"It matches! It all matches. The soundproofing is poor, so that's why I can hear snoring..."
Bai Yuze swallowed. He didn't dare recall the rest of the rule... He felt like something was standing behind him.
Now Bai Yuze was sure there really was something behind him, because a pair of large hands had already settled on his shoulders...
A bead of cold sweat slid down Bai Yuze's forehead.
He fought down his fear and reached out to move the clock's hands, setting it to nine in the morning.
Click!
The lights went out!
Bai Yuze felt the hands on his shoulders disappear.
He collapsed to the floor and gasped for breath. He was incredibly glad he'd remembered another hint.
[It seems the time in the residence doesn't depend on the outside world, but on something inside.]
Bai Yuze stood up and took the clock down. Such an important item had to stay with him.
A note was stuck to the back of the clock. A line was written on it in crooked, childish handwriting.
[If only I could stop time.]
Before you continue