Chapter 105
The light at the other side of the room flickered on and off, and the encroaching darkness surrounding it slowly eroded inward.
Drip, drip.
The sound reflected off the wall and echoed throughout the empty and cold room, seeming as if it was coming from all sides.
The rows of bathtubs in the room were vague and overlapping outlines in the dark. They were deeply hidden in the shadows and only their dim edges could be seen, gleaming faintly under the light.
The rhythmic dripping sound resounded in the room, seeming almost melancholic.
Mo Yi stood at the doorway. His tall and thin figure blended into the dark room.
His gaze was fixed at the far end of the room. There was an undulating shadow in that bathtub, which appeared rather… humanoid.
The corridor was deathly silent. There were no footsteps, no crying, no rustling.
After listening intently for a while, Mo Yi took a step forward and moved further into the room.
He walked on the cold and wet ground. The dripping sound filled the silence. The gloomy air was held a strong smell of blood which became thicker and thicker as he approached, which made him feel uneasy.
The blurry shape in the bathtub also gradually became more vivid.
Mo Yi took a deep breath to calm his heartbeat, and moved closer.
The light was flickered, illuminating the edge of the bathtub in the darkness—Mo Yi could see the dark brown stains under the flaking sides of the bathtub, those deep patches seeming like scars.
Mo Yi’s gaze moved upwards. He saw the half-dried blood on the pale surface of the bathtub, along with smears of bloody fingerprints messily imprinted on the protruding edges, the stark contrast in colour so vivid that it seemed horrifying.
Next, he noticed, at the side which was nearly fully encloaked in shadows, there was a pale hand resting on the edge of the bathtub.
The fingers were hanging down feebly on the porcelain surface, looking like dying butterflies. Dark red blood left vivid trails on the skin, winding down the drooping fingers and forming beading globules on the fingertips, looking as though there would drip onto the ground anytime, but have not fallen yet.
Drip, drip.
A pool of dark red blood had already formed on the ground. However, the new droplets were still hanging precariously to the fingertips, yet to drip down.
The sound he’d heard was not coming from here.
A deep furrow slowly formed between Mo Yi’s brows, and he looked away from the pool of blood on the ground.
The dripping sound was loud and clear in the dark, echoing in the empty room. Every sound was like a rhythmic knocking thundering against the human heart.
That hand was hanging quietly. A web of dark blue veins stretched out under the blood-covered pale skin, and the combination appeared in a shade of light grey under the light.
There was a familiar watch loosely secured on the slender wrist with well-defined bones.
Mo Yi frowned. He took a few steps forward slowly, narrowed his eyes slightly, and squinted at the watch—
His expression froze.
This watch… He recognised it.
Mo Yi pulled out the flashlight. He clasped his stiff fingers on the protruding switch and exerted a slight downward force to switch it on.
The faint light shot out in the darkness, dispelling some of the shadows in front of him. Mo Yi lifted his wrist and directed the flashlight in his hand into the bathtub.
A pale beam of light illuminated the undulating silhouette in the stained bathtub, illuminating a figure lying in it.
Jiang Yuanrou.
She was lying in the bathtub in an awkward position. Her unsupported head was leaning softly against the edge of the bathtub, her curly long hair which covered her face was in a mess, with clumps were congealed by blood.
The bathtub was filled with half a tank of light red water. Through the water, he could see Jiang Yuanrou’s clothes slowly floating in the blood-stained water. Her petite body was half submerged in the water, and blood was steadily leaking from her abdomen.
There was a rusty faucet protruding from the wall by her neck and it was slowly dripping water into the bathtub.
Drip, drip.
The round and full water droplets fall rhythmically into the half-full bathtub, and the resulting shallow ripples slowly spread along the surface.
One of her hands was hanging onto the side of the bathtub, while the other was awkwardly bound by a restraint belt, and her body curled up in a twisted posture.
Her dark brows and eyes were closed and unmoving, looking lifeless.
Mo Yi frowned. He took a few steps forward and pressed his fingers to the side of her neck. Her skin was cold and damp with sweat, without any of the warmth associated with a living person.
Yet he could still feel a slight pulse moving up and down.
She was still alive.
Mo Yi withdrew his arm. He stared at Jiang Yuanrou who was lifelessly lying in the bathtub with an unreadable expression, then subconsciously began stroking his own cold palm with his fingers.
The instance this time was really… very scary.
It continuously came up with illusions to confuse the players. Although he has yet to fall for any of them so far, it has to be said…
It made him paranoid.
He now had doubts about everyone and everything he finds around him. It even made him doubt where he currently was.
Did he really manage to break the illusion from earlier, or did he simply fall into another deeper and more realistic illusion?
A chill slowly rose from Mo Yi’s back. The dangerous and horrific thought he had forcibly suppressed earlier emerged again, climbing up his spine.
This instance was gradually wearing away his sense of reality.
Mo Yi even felt…
That this mental asylum was slowly turning him into a lunatic.
Losing the sense of reality, not knowing whether one was in an illusion or in reality—that was the hallmark of a mentally unstable patient after all.
This instance did not rely on any external monsters or even chase battles to accomplish its purpose. To be precise, this instance itself was the weapon.
Mo Yi’s back was icy cold. The fingertips he’d used to touch Jiang Yuanrou’s cold neck just now felt an unbearable chill and it was slowly spreading upwards along his fingers, which made him feel uncomfortably.
There was an invisible psychological pressure in this dark and empty room with the endless rhythmic sound of dripping water.
Mo Yi forced his eyes close and cleared his chaotic mind. Then, he raised his eyes again, looking intently at Jiang Yuanrou who was breathing weakly in the bathtub.
The expression on his pale face was one of calm, and his eyes were dark and deep. Under his long and drooping eyelashes, small spots of light were reflected on his black irises.
Instead of allowing his thoughts to run wild now, it is wiser to counter the incoming soldiers with arms and blockade the oncoming flood with earth.
Besides… he didn’t have the luxury of time now, not when he didn’t know when that crying voice might come back.
Mo Yi stepped closer and patted Jiang Yuanrou’s cheek with more force. The skin under his palm was cold and stiff. If it wasn’t for her weak breathing, Mo Yi would almost have thought she was a corpse.
Jiang Yuanrou’s eyelashes fluttered a little.
Mo Yi bent down and pried at the belt which was binding Jiang Yuanrou’s wrist. Although the iron buckle on it was tightly welded closed due to rust, the binding was not as indestructible as the restraint belts on the -3F.
After he diligently tugged at it for several minutes, a soft ‘clank’ came from the belt buckle and Jiang Yuanrou’s wrist was released.
Her arm slumped down limply and the hard bone of her elbow slammed into the edge of the bathtub while the upper half of her arm slipped into the water of the bathtub, making a distinct splash in the silence.
Mo Yi couldn’t dodge in time and was splashed with the blood-tinged ice-cold water droplets.
His heart tightened—the sound just now was really loud, especially in such a quiet room, even the smallest sound would be amplified to the extreme.
This made Mo Yi uneasy.
While he was distracted, he only heard a slight groan coming from the bathtub, accompanied by the sound of water. Mo Yi couldn’t help being surprised and glanced down at Jiang Yuanrou in the bathtub.
Her brows were pulled into a tight furrow. Her trembling eyelashes moved slightly and slowly opened her eyes.
Under the pale eyelids were a pair of out-of-focus light brown eyes. They silently stared at a point in the darkness, and it took them a long time to focus.
Jiang Yuanrou blinked. Then as if she realising her situation, the muscles all over her body tensed instantly, and her light brown eyes became sharp and vigilant—
Soon after, her expression twisted, as though her movements had touched the wound on her abdomen. Large beads of sweat slid down her temples, her lips pressed into a tight line as she swallowed down the low gasp in her throat.
The sound of rippling water in the bathtub and dripping water rang in the darkness and echoed through the empty room.
Mo Yi hurriedly stretched his hand out to hold Jiang Yuanrou’s arm resting on the edge of the bathtub. When he felt her muscles momentary tense, he increased the pressure he was applying, then leaned closer to Jiang Yuanrou’s ear and whispered to her in a breathy voice.
“Don’t move, it’s me.”
Jiang Yuanrou’s movements stiffened and she didn’t move anymore.
The sound of water rippling in the bathtub disappeared slowly, leaving only the sound of dripping water—
Jiang Yuanrou sat quietly in the darkness. She lowered her voice and asked tentatively, “…Mo Yi?”
Her familiar voice, those similar words, the exact same tone as before, all of these made Mo Yi recall the bad memories just now.
His heart skipped a beat, and the hand gripping Jiang Yuanrou’s arm subconsciously tightened.
The slender arm in his hand was as cold as a corpse, and the sticky dampness of her skin was transmitted from their point of contact.
Jiang Yuanrou’s low gasp sounded within the darkness.
This snapped the distracted Mo Yi back to attention and he relaxed his grip.
Sucking in a deep breath, he replied with a low “hmm” to Jiang Yuanrou’s earlier question.
But before he could do anything else, he caught a low whimper coming from the dark corridor in the distance—slowly, from a point neither near nor far, he heard the weeping.
The ominous sound of footsteps and rustling fabric resounded in the distance again, akin to a nightmare surfacing in the middle of the night and lingering in his mind.
It passed through the silent and empty corridor, and it was transmitted clearly into Mo Yi’s ears.
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