Broken Surveillance Camera

Ever since they had met this elderly man, he had remained calm. But the moment the Meeting Room was mentioned, his expression slipped out of his control.

Panic, worry, conflict...

Countless emotions flashed across the old man's face. His pupils began to tremble as his gaze darted helplessly around.

What could make this elderly man, who had always been so composed, react like this?

"Just because the surveillance camera broke?"

Li Luo looked at the old man's strange reaction, puzzled.

"Are you all right?" she asked cautiously.

Hearing Li Luo's question, the old man shuddered and pulled himself out of that uneasy state.

"I'm fine, I'm fine..."

His trembling hand rose to his wrist as he looked at his mechanical watch.

"It's time."

Seven o'clock in the evening.

As the second hand swept past the twelve mark, the old man looked toward the Meeting Room where the Missing Persons Case had once occurred.

And yet...

The sound he had expected did not come. The surroundings remained silent.

The bubbles in the sky swayed slowly. Neon halos seeped into every corner of the Research Institute, while the Meeting Room that had once shocked all of Dream City stood quietly there, letting colored light ripple over it.

Silence. Still silence.

The old man looked at his watch and frowned.

The unease that had only just subsided began brewing again, and his body started trembling uncontrollably.

His lips parted as if he wanted to cry out, but his aged throat could only force out a hoarse groan. The warmth of his breath fogged the face of the mechanical watch with a hazy layer of moisture.

The old man's pupils widened again, and his breathing grew rapid. He slapped the mechanical watch in panic, but its hands continued turning clockwise, inch by inch, moving