The New Prophet

[Faceling!]

At the sight of the word, Lin Yang's pupils contracted sharply! His heart skipped half a beat.

Faceling!

Though his heart was now pounding so hard it seemed ready to burst, he still pretended to know nothing, wearing a professional smile.

He tentatively tried to stall him.

Perhaps they couldn't be interrupted while they were talking.

"Li Wei, what have you been doing for work lately? You're looking sharp."

Li Wei paused as expected and gave a wry smile.

"Ah, once I entered the workforce, I went straight from graduation to unemployment. Now I'm just scraping by delivering food with an ironman triathlon."

"How did you do on the college entrance exam back then? Didn't you score pretty well? Over six hundred points?"

"You must be remembering wrong. I only got four hundred and something. Four hundred and thirty-two. I didn't even make the undergraduate cutoff."

"Oh! I must have remembered wrong, then. By the way, I remember you liked Zhang Yuanyuan from our class. She's outside right now. Why don't you go chat with her?"

"Better not. She didn't like me in high school, and I heard she already has a boyfriend. I'm not good enough for her. Sigh."

"..."

Lin Yang asked many more questions, and the guy answered every one smoothly, recounting their shared experiences from back then in clear detail.

His answers were flawless, and that made the goosebumps on Lin Yang's back rise a little more.

This Faceling... actually knows everything.

Li Wei froze for a moment, then asked him, "By the way, do you know who the prophet is?"

There was a barely perceptible glimmer of eagerness in his eyes.

Lin Yang thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, but I don't think this is as simple as a variety show!"

Li Wei studied him closely, then the corners of his mouth twitched into a smile as he nodded.

"Yeah, that's right! This really isn't that simple! You always had the most clever ideas back then. Let's talk about how to get out of here."

He moved a little closer to Lin Yang.

Lin Yang could clearly see that the curve of the man's twitching mouth was unnatural, as if it had been deliberately pulled upward. The curve was also somewhat long, making it look very strange.

You really wouldn't notice that detail without looking closely!

Rather than follow him toward the corner, Lin Yang slipped sideways past him. Then he moved closer to the storeroom door.

Li Wei's expression stiffened. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Lin Yang pretended everything was normal, but his hand quickly and gently opened the locked door.

He looked at Li Wei and said, "Staying in here forever won't solve anything. Let's go outside and find a way out of here."

Li Wei, however, didn't seem to care.

"There are so many people out there. Let them look for it themselves. We wouldn't be much help anyway. Come over here. We can talk without anyone bothering us."

Instead of going along with him, Lin Yang said, "We have to eat something. I haven't eaten all day. Aren't you hungry?"

"I am, but there should be something to eat soon."

"What?"

"Nothing... I mean, we're old classmates, after all. We know each other well. We still don't know who out there is a Faceling, so how about we team up?"

Lin Yang nodded, pretending to agree. "Yeah, that's true. It's reassuring to team up with an old classmate."

"Then come over here."

"Let's go outside and find a few more people first. I saw quite a few familiar faces."

Li Wei seemed to realize he couldn't trick him, so he simply shook his head helplessly.

"Look how tense you are. You don't think I'm a Faceling, do you?"

"How could I?"

"All right, since you're scared, let's go out." He was letting him go in order to reel him back in.

Lin Yang opened the storeroom door and let Li Wei go out first.

As Li Wei walked out, he said, "I think it's still too noisy out here. In a little while, we should go back into the room..."

Halfway through, however, he realized no one was responding. "Lin Yang, what do you think?"

He turned around, only to find that Lin Yang was nowhere behind him.

The storeroom door had slammed shut. Lin Yang had retreated inside and secured it with the latch.

Li Wei rushed forward and pounded frantically on the door. "Lin Yang! Lin Yang?"

Lin Yang ignored him and simply collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.

"This Li Wei... is too creepy!"

"No matter what, I can't go out today!"

Time ticked by, and his stomach began to growl.

He wanted food, but he had already used today's inspection opportunity. He could only wait for it to refresh tomorrow.

Noon gave way to afternoon.

There was a peephole in the room through which he could see what was happening in the classroom outside.

Many people were frantic with hunger. The sun was almost down, yet no one had brought them any food.

Some tried to break down the door, but it was strangely sturdy, as if steel had been welded over it. They couldn't smash it open at all.

Others tried to break a window, but after smashing at it for a long time, they had only left two scratches.

It seemed even thicker and harder than bulletproof glass.

Everyone fell into a panic.

"Damn it! Did we really transmigrate into a horror instance?"

"What do we do now? How do we get out?"

"Are we going to starve to death? Could there really be Facelings?"

Suddenly, someone thought of something and shouted, "Quiet!"

Everyone looked at him.

He was a middle-aged man wearing glasses, a suit, and a tie. He looked like a white-collar worker from some office building.

He straightened his collar, looked around at the crowd, and instructed them, "Everyone, listen to me. I know how we can get out of here!"

Everyone's eyes focused on him, and a flicker of satisfaction appeared in his eyes.

A girl asked, "Then tell us, what should we do?"

The middle-aged man said, "The broadcast said there's a prophet among us! Only by following the prophet can we escape!"

At those words, everyone's eyes lit up.

"That's right! The broadcast said there's a prophet among us. Now all we need is for the prophet to come out and guide us with their prophecies!"

Someone immediately objected, however. "But the broadcast also said there are Facelings among us! How can you be sure whether the person who comes forward is the prophet or a Faceling?"

As soon as he said that, a fat man stepped forward to argue.

The fat man was 1.78 meters tall! He had a tiger-head tattoo on his neck, calluses on his palms, and a menacing look on his face. One glance was enough to tell he was trouble.

"Facelings? You actually believe that crap? Look at us. Which one of us looks like a Faceling? We're obviously all normal people!"

Once he said that, everyone looked at one another, seemingly relieved. "Exactly! How could there be any Facelings here? Old Zhang, are you one?"

"No. Are you?"

"What kind of joke is that? How could I be a Faceling? Would a Faceling admit to being one?"

The two exchanged a smile. "Shameless!"

"..."

Everyone laughed in unison.

The young man from before, however, shot back, "If there aren't any Facelings, how do you explain everything that's happening right now?"

The fat man froze for a moment, then looked around and snorted. "I'll say it again: it's probably some show's crew taking a stunt too far! I'll sue them afterward!"

He turned and said, "Now, whoever the prophet is, hurry up and come out! Tell us how to get out!"

The young man wanted to argue, but the fat man rolled up his sleeves and pointed at him.

"Kid, don't fucking argue with me! If the prophet doesn't come out, we can't get out, and I sure as hell don't want to starve! Keep running your mouth and I'll beat you up, you hear me?"

Just as the two sides were about to fight, the middle-aged man in glasses reached out to stop them.

"All right! Stop it, all of you! I know who the prophet is!"

At that, everyone looked at him. "You know who the prophet is?"

In the crowd, several people's eyes visibly lit up. Their pupils contracted almost imperceptibly, seemingly with excitement.

The middle-aged man straightened his collar and declared with a smug, proud look, "That's right! The only prophet here is me!"