Chapter 23: Mother

Chapter 23 Mother

Sleepless through the night, Han Rao felt an unsettling emptiness in his hands, constantly searching the room for a suitable weapon. He actually found a pistol in a hidden compartment under the bed, but it contained only five bullets.

Unbeknownst to him, the clock’s hands had advanced to 6:15.

If his suspicions were correct, Shen Zhili should now be in Li Xiao’s room, which was next to Han Rao’s. To conceal her maneuver of using Li Xiao as a scapegoat, she would likely return to her own room before 6:30, emerging from there when it was time to gather.

Sang Xu and Han Rao pressed themselves against the wall, tiptoeing, straining to hear any movement from next door.

Sure enough, a faint sound of a door opening emanated from the adjacent room. The two then moved to their own door, pressing against it to listen intently. Soft footsteps were heard, receding in the direction of the staircase.

As the clock struck 6:30, everyone reconvened in the living room. Through the glass patio doors, they saw a woman in white, her neck grotesquely twisted, hanging from the withered tree in the backyard.

It was Li Xiao, her eyes wide open in death.

Her eyes were bloodshot and bulging, fixed in a terrifying stare into the room, her face contorted in a horrifying grimace.

Gao Zhen sighed softly, saying, “Let’s bring her down.”

Han Rao climbed the tree, severing the rope that constricted Li Xiao’s neck. Gao Zhen caught her below, gently laying her by the edge of the pool. Li Xiao’s eyes remained wide as saucers, a truly chilling sight. Gao Zhen closed her eyelids and was about to rise when Xu Zhidong blurted out, “Holy crap!” Gao Zhen looked down to see Li Xiao’s eyes had sprung open again, staring directly at them.

Gao Zhen attempted once more to close her eyes, but they stubbornly remained open, refusing to stay shut.

“Died with eyes open… she must have a deep grievance,” Han Rao remarked meaningfully.

After speaking, he subtly observed Shen Zhili beside him. Since coming downstairs, she had been covering her mouth with a handkerchief, feigning heartbreak and an inability to look at Li Xiao’s corpse.

Finally, Sang Xu retrieved a floral-patterned bedsheet and covered Li Xiao.

“Ghosts on the very first night—the difficulty of this D-level dream has significantly increased,” Gao Zhen stated. “We must act quickly.”

Shen Zhili said, “Let’s stick to the original plan and search for the remaining memory cards.”

“F-level dreams usually don’t have ghosts during the day, but with D-level dreams, it’s unpredictable,” Gao Zhen said, glancing around. “It’s best if no one acts alone. How about pairing up?”

“Better to form groups of three for safety,” Han Rao was the first to suggest. “Manager Gao, how about my handsome friend and I team up with you?”

Gao Zhen looked at Shen Zhili, who smiled sweetly and said, “Then I’ll join the two Xu brothers.”

Xu Zhixi whistled and said, “Don’t worry, sis, we’ll protect you thoroughly.”

Since Shen Zhili had no objections, Gao Zhen naturally didn’t oppose. “Alright then.”

Sang Xu, however, had a different idea. “I’d like to stay and review the surveillance footage. Is that permissible?”

Gao Zhen’s eyes lit up, seemingly pleased with Sang Xu’s suggestion. “Do you think there’s information we might have overlooked?”

“Yes. There are many mirrors in this villa. Although the killer deliberately avoided the cameras, he might have been captured in the mirrors during his movements,” Sang Xu explained.

Shen Zhili chuckled. “Actually, I specifically noticed yesterday that when this killer passed by mirrors, there was no reflection of him.”

Gao Zhen rubbed his hands together. “We certainly watched it quite superficially yesterday. If Mr. Liu here reviews it frame by frame carefully, he might just find clues to a way out.”

The Xu brothers cheerfully chimed in, “We have no objections.”

Han Rao was a bit worried and quietly asked Sang Xu, “Will you be okay alone?”

Sang Xu nodded.

The villa was neither small nor excessively large. If Sang Xu remained in the living room, even if something happened, Han Rao could return within half a minute.

“If anything happens, just shout, and I’ll be right down,” Han Rao said.

They each went upstairs to search for memory cards, while Sang Xu stayed in the living room, powering up the recorder and monitor. He rewound to the first day’s recording, fast-forwarding to the moment the killer emerged from the grandparents’ room, preparing to descend the stairs.

The screen displayed the third-floor hallway, with a floor-length mirror at its end.

As Shen Zhili had stated, the mirror showed no reflection of the killer.

Sang Xu paused the footage, pulled out the Yinjiao Nuo mask tied to his lower back, and prepared a Heaven-Mending Pill as backup. Slowly, he donned the Nuo mask.

Through the mask’s eyeholes, a black figure immediately materialized in the mirror. This figure had a talisman pasted on its face, obscuring most of it, with only faint glimpses of its pale, bloodless skin visible.

It wasn’t human.

Fortunately, the creature’s face was covered by the talisman, and the image was very blurry—he could only discern its outline. If he were to see its face clearly, it might induce madness, wasting another Heaven-Mending Pill.

Sang Xu removed the mask, and the figure on the screen vanished, the mirror once again empty. He took out his phone, aimed the camera through the mask’s eyeholes, and recorded the TV screen. The pale, eerie figure appeared on Sang Xu’s phone. Sang Xu continued playing the footage; the killer entered the parents’ room and passed by the window.

Sang Xu paused again, using his phone to film through the mask’s eyeholes. The reflection in the window clearly showed the killer’s talisman-covered pale face. As the surveillance footage continued, when the killer dragged the mother through the living room, his figure was reflected in the dark TV screen.

After reviewing all the surveillance footage, Sang Xu had captured four images of the killer.

One in the third-floor hallway mirror, one in the second-floor hallway mirror, one in the parents’ room’s full-length mirror, and one on the TV screen.

What exactly was this killer? What were its weaknesses? Sang Xu mentally reviewed the people he could consult—Zhou Xia, but even if he knew, he wouldn’t tell. If only Shen Zhitang were here—she was knowledgeable and might have some insight. He wondered if Shen Zhili knew, but even if she did, she might not tell the truth… Sang Xu didn’t dare trust her.

Sang Xu examined the killer’s images on his phone and uploaded them to various reverse image search tools but found no clues. The killer looked too bizarre—a talisman-covered pale face that grew more sinister the longer he looked. Sang Xu switched off his phone, looked up, and suddenly noticed a sinister pale face appearing in the dark TV screen.

Sang Xu jolted in shock, but when he blinked, the reflection in the TV screen was his own.

Was it an illusion? He frowned.

The others were still searching for the memory cards and hadn’t returned. After some thought, Sang Xu returned to the pink room and meticulously searched it, checking under the bed and inside the wardrobe to ensure no one else was there. He locked the door behind him and inserted the office key into the keyhole of the bathroom door. The bathroom door had been smashed by the father, leaving only half of it, but fortunately, the lock remained. He hoped it would open a passage to the company.

He pushed the door open, and before him was the brightly lit office lobby.

The two paper-doll receptionists, named Cui Hua and Er Ya, stood gracefully behind the counter. Sang Xu heard a faint, ethereal call:

“Hello, Boss—”

Sang Xu entered the lobby and asked, “Where’s the person who came in yesterday?”

Cui Hua and Er Ya simultaneously raised their hands, pointing to the second floor.

“Lead the way,” Sang Xu said.

If the father wasn’t restrained, he could use the two front desk attendants as shields.

Cui Hua and Er Ya drifted out, fluttering like moths toward the second floor. Sang Xu followed and saw a decapitated body lying on the floor. Black blood was everywhere, and only half of the body remained. The suit pants were ripped to tatters, and the upper body bore bite marks, some deep enough to reveal bone. The head, like a ball, had rolled to the other side.

The security guard was quite brutal.

As soon as Cui Hua and Er Ya saw the corpse on the floor, drool dripped from their lips.

“So fragrant…” Cui Hua’s voice drifted faintly. “An outsider, so fragrant…”

Er Ya said, “Not as fragrant as the boss…”

Sang Xu frowned and asked, “You said he’s an outsider?”

“Yes…”

Father is an outsider? Sang Xu pondered.

No, could it be…

Sang Xu crouched down and searched the headless corpse’s suit pants pockets. Nothing. He then unbuttoned the suit and checked the inner pockets. A business card holder fell out, and Sang Xu pulled out a business card from it, which read:

Gao Zhen, Product Manager, Tengda Limited.

Sang Xu thought: “…”

This is Gao Zhen, so who is the one outside?

Sang Xu’s mind raced, and he instantly understood everything. The D-Class Dream was far more difficult than they had imagined. Gao Zhen, the outsider, had died right after arriving, and his head had been stolen by Father, who then infiltrated their group. No wonder why that “Gao Zhen” outside had wanted to room with Li Xiao yesterday and wanted to pair off today. He had also agreed to let Sang Xu stay behind to review the surveillance footage—he wanted someone to be isolated in his presence.

Oh no, could Han Rao be in danger?

Sang Xu immediately left the company and returned to the villa, texting Han Rao.

Sang Xu: [Gao Zhen is suspicious—he’s Father in disguise. Are you okay?]

Han Rao: [Suspicious? No way. I’m fine. I ditched him. Coming to you?]

Sang Xu: [Yeah.]

Han Rao: [So you’re not in the living room? Where are you?]

Just as Sang Xu was about to type a reply, his fingers suddenly froze on the screen.

Han Rao had responded way too fast.

Sang Xu: [I’m in the attic.]

Sang Xu planned to regroup with the other outsiders and was about to leave the room when his innate programmer’s caution made him pause. He lay on the floor, trying to peek under the door to check the situation outside.

He was always careful—after all, one wrong move and his code wouldn’t run.

As soon as he lowered himself, through the narrow gap under the door, he met a creepy eye looking right at him.

“Heh-heh, I knew you were lying to me.” “Gao Zhen’s” voice came from outside. “You’re not in the attic at all. You’re in the room.”

Sang Xu: “…”

Since when did the evil spirits in D-Class Dreams get this clever?

But thankfully, he had locked the door, so “Gao Zhen” couldn’t get in.

However, the next second, he heard the sound of a key in the lock.

A string in his mind snapped—

Father had the keys to the rooms in the house!

“I’m coming in.” The door began to slowly creak open as “Gao Zhen’s” eerie voice grew clearer.