Skin Hunger Syndrome [11]

At the sound, Che Quan slowly lifted his long, dark lashes, revealing eyes brimming with coldness.

The closer it got to midnight, the shorter the cooldown on his skin hunger syndrome buff became.

His last episode had only just ended, yet Che Quan could already feel another stirring inside him.

Looking faintly listless, he said, "What's the rush? We can solve the mystery now."

Hearing that, Chang Jianfeng steadied himself. Without further hesitation, he told the others, "Then let's organize our clues now. We might miss something if we run short on time later."

Ning Dantong nodded and spoke first. "I'll go first, since my clues are probably the simplest. 'I' am the older cousin of Qiao Qiao, the suspected boss, and Campus Belle Miao's best friend. I bullied plenty of people with Campus Belle Miao, including Qiao Qiao."

Chen Yuxiang nodded and said softly, "My clues are about the same as Dantong's, but I have two things to add. Campus Belle Miao and I weren't close at first, but she kept coming to see me when it was almost time to submit our college choices. I don't know why. Second, Yuan Zhou also bullied Qiao Qiao along with Campus Belle Miao and the others. I think that's why he was singled out and killed."

Chang Jianfeng considered this before saying, "Then, following that logic, anyone singled out and killed might have had a grudge with Qiao Qiao. More specifically, they might all have bullied Qiao Qiao."

Ning Dantong nodded. "That makes sense."

Chang Jianfeng continued, "Right, these are the clues I got. Although my instance character description said I was the highly respected Teacher Chang, I just asked a few of the 'students,' and it turns out I was actually a hypocritical, profit-driven snob of a teacher. Qiao Qiao's shoes looked very old, so their family was probably poor. That makes it quite likely that 'I' humiliated them too."

With the clues they had gathered pieced together, the answer to the puzzle was already becoming clear.

Chang Jianfeng summed it up. "I think something happened to Qiao Qiao because of the bullying. Unable to let go of that resentment, Qiao Qiao became a vengeful ghost and came back to take revenge on everyone."

Chen Yuxiang frowned at this, looking as though she wanted to say something.

Then Miao Rouning said shakily, "Wait. That 'person' just congratulated me. It said my grades were usually near the bottom, but this time I'd somehow outperformed myself and gotten into a top school."

Ning Dantong asked gravely, "Is that even possible?"

Miao Rouning didn't answer. She only continued, sounding even more frightened. "It-it also suddenly started screaming in anger, saying 'I' had ruined them. Ruined every one of them."

At those words, a flash of startled realization crossed Chen Yuxiang's eyes.

Cold sweat beaded on her forehead without her noticing. "I-I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe there's more to this than we thought. Campus Belle Miao barely knew me, yet she kept seeking me out just before we submitted our college choices. She must have had an ulterior motive. So one possibility is that Campus Belle Miao wanted 'me,' Qiao Qiao's best friend, to find out things about Qiao Qiao and steal their household registration booklet or something similar while I was at it. She wanted to take Qiao Qiao's place at a top school."

Chang Jianfeng and the others were left somewhat stunned.

Bullying was one thing. Stealing someone's identity to enroll in college... was something else entirely.

The former ruined a stretch of the victim's life, while the latter ruined their entire future.

Seeing their reactions, Chen Yuxiang hurriedly added, "Um, well... of course! I'm only guessing. We still don't have all the clues."

Chang Jianfeng nodded gravely. "Yes. There's still one place we haven't explored."

But they clearly didn't have enough time now.

Watching the dark figures before her begin to warp and transform, Ning Dantong shouted up to Yuan Zhou on the second floor, her voice taut, "How long until midnight?!"

Yuan Zhou answered with mounting terror, "Four minutes."

Time ticked away, second by second.

Once midnight struck, they would all be exposed to these ghosts and monsters, unable to fight back. They could only wait to be slaughtered.

What were they supposed to do?

No wonder this instance's mystery difficulty was only two stars, yet its survival rate was as low as 0.79%.

At that thought, everyone present except Che Quan and Jiang Cong sank into despair.

Miao Rouning sobbed, "Let's go upstairs. The first floor is too scary. There are so many ghosts. At least there are rooms upstairs where we can hide."

The others seemed to have the same idea.

They hurried upstairs and were about to hide in their respective rooms.

Jiang Cong, who had been walking unhurriedly behind everyone, tilted his head slightly and reminded them, "You're forgetting that these rooms were prepared especially for the 'guests.'"

His words were mild, yet they struck everyone like a thunderbolt.

Chang Jianfeng was the first to react. He stopped short in front of his door and shouted, his voice nearly cracking as he tried to stop the others from running inside. "It's a trap!!! Don't go in!!!"

They knew the owner of this haunted villa hated the identities they represented in the instance with a burning passion, yet had carefully prepared a corresponding room for each of them. The intention was obvious with a moment's thought.

Hiding inside would probably leave them mangled and dead on the spot.

But they couldn't go downstairs now either. Ghostly figures swarmed there, waiting only for midnight to devour them one by one.

Miao Rouning broke down. "Can't we leave the villa? It's full of ghosts. There's nowhere left to go."

Ning Dantong shook her head, her expression grim. "Actually, I tried that earlier while we were looking for clues downstairs. I secretly opened the villa's door-just a tiny crack, of course. It was pitch-black outside, and there were lots of eyes staring this way, looking like they were bleeding. I didn't dare look any longer and quickly shut the door. So I don't think we can go outside either."

After she finished, a deathly silence hung in the air for several seconds.

In contrast to everyone else's hopelessness, Jiang Cong remained composed throughout. As for Che Quan, he only now came upstairs at an unhurried pace, carrying a fully transformed ghostly figure that had been twisted into a braided knot.

The long, amorphous ghostly figure lay motionless, as though knocked unconscious, letting Che Quan drag it upstairs.

Everyone witnessed the scene.

They had already been shocked and incredulous when Che Quan kicked over a dark figure earlier, and had mentally prepared themselves for the fact that he must be a powerhouse. Yet as they stared at the silent, twisted ghost on the carpet, they still couldn't help questioning their grasp of reality.

Why did it feel as though they were on two different channels?

One channel was called Terrified Survival, and the other was called Ruthless Monster-Slaying.

The intense despair that had gripped the group unwittingly eased a little thanks to Che Quan's astonishing actions.

At the sight, Jiang Cong gave a faint, silent smile, the curve of his lips slightly wider than his usual impeccably elegant smile.

Reaching the second floor, Che Quan tossed the ghostly figure aside, dusted off his hands in disgust, then swept his gaze over the group.

His gaze finally settled on Jiang Cong, who stood apart from the crowd, his waist-length silver hair like snow beneath the moon and the smile on his face like a mask he had never taken off.