Chapter 91 |
The hall was packed with people, more than fifty of them. Some of the newcomers had given up their seats to the old-timers, standing in the shadows or lean against the walls. Silent dread filled the air as they all listened to the speaker, or at least pretended to.
Lin Chu stood by the window, away from the crowd. She gazed out into the dark night, as if she was drawn to the abyss. In reality, she was observing everyone else, carefully studying their faces and movements.
She had a few individuals in her sights.
One of them was Xi Men Yuan, who sat on the far left of the sofa in the living room. His long hair was tied back in a messy bun, giving him an artsy vibe. Xi Men Yuan rarely spoke and seemed unconcerned about others. He would often simply stare at his long fingers, as if they held the most fascinating secrets in the world.
Behind Xi Men Yuan sat Tan Xu, who claimed to be his friend. Tan Xu was the kind of guy who blended in with the crowd and never stood out. He had a plain face, a plain voice, and a plain personality, making him easy to overlook.
On the opposite end of the sofa sat Shen Zhu (沈竹).
(沈 (Shěn) is another common surname that means “sink” or “immerse”. 竹 (Zhú) is a unisex given name that means “bamboo”. 沈竹 could be interpreted as “a sunken bamboo” or “an immersed plant”.)
She had a short haircut and a stern expression. She always pursed her lips, as if holding something back. Her thick black eyebrows made her look angry, or maybe just fierce. Shen Zhu was a survivor, one of the few who had made it out of several group wipeout missions alive. Some people said she had killed her teammates, labelling her as a traitor or a monster. She was feared by many but respected by few.
Shen Zhu was surrounded by a swarm of girls, all of whom were newcomers. They clung to her, as if she were their defender, their leader. Lin Chu's eyes paused on one of them, a girl with a feeble and fragile appearance named Yi Zhen Zhen.
Lin Chu smiled back, a faint and polite smile, as if she were shy. She quickly looked away, pretending to be intrigued by the night sky. However, she secretly continued to observe the others through the reflection in the glass window.
It seemed like none of the taskers were ordinary folks.
Shen Zhu drummed her fingers on the table. "Since we have a crowd here, why don't we assign some roles and responsibilities?"
On her right, another woman lounged on the sofa, presenting a striking contrast to the average Asian lady. She had a dark complexion, a muscular frame, and a height that surpassed most men. She radiated a forceful aura that demanded attention.
"I'm with you, gal. We can't afford to waste time sitting on our arses. Let's work out a strategy and get cracking first thing in the morning," she agreed.
Xi Men Yuan nonchalantly commented, "Miss Di Ying, there's no need to get your knickers in a twist. We're operating on a shoestring of information right now."
At the opposite end, a man called Ling Tong (凌桐) nodded in approval. "Without a trace of the missing person or a clue about this Lu Yan character, it would be foolish to act rashly. We'd be flying blind and heading straight for trouble."
(凌 (Líng) is a unisex given name that means “exceed” or “surpass”. 桐 (Tóng) is another unisex given name that means “paulownia” or “phoenix tree”. 凌桐 could be interpreted as “a surpassing paulownia” or “an exceeding phoenix tree”.)
Di Ying (狄英), whose skin was as dark as the night sky, interjected, "If we don't have enough information, we have to find it ourselves. Running around like headless chickens won't get us anywhere. The best thing to do is to divide and conquer."
(狄 (Dí) is a rare surname that means “barbarian” or “foreigner”. 英 (Yīng) is a unisex given name that means “hero” or “flower”. 狄英 could be interpreted as “a foreign hero” or “a barbarian flower”.)
Among the assembled group, a man who had remained silent until then finally spoke up. "There's something I don't quite understand."
He scanned the faces of the others, looking for signs of agreement or dissent. "We're supposed to either locate or eliminate two targets, right? But there are fifty-three of us here. It's obvious that once someone accomplishes the mission, we'll all be free."
His words raised a simple question: if they all shared the same goal, what was the point of fighting each other?
The tension in the air eased slightly.
After a brief pause, Xi Men Yuan shrugged. "I don't care either way. Anyone want to join me?"
Although they were a large group, they were vastly outnumbered by the countless households in the town. To overcome this challenge, they devised elaborate strategies. As soon as they reached the town centre, they split into four teams based on the cardinal directions, each assigned to a different quadrant. They agreed to meet every evening to share their findings and avoid missing anything.
Lin Chu decided to follow Shen Zhu's lead. Yu Huai Yao, who had initially intended to join Xi Men Yuan's group, changed his mind and followed her instead.
Shen Zhu's team was mostly composed of women, the same as Di Ying's team. The other two teams had the opposite composition.
Once the teams were settled, the man who had raised the question earlier tried to lighten the mood once more. "I hope none of you are underestimating this mission just because we have a lot of people. On the contrary, the sheer number of us should tell you how difficult this task is going to be."
With a faint smile, Xi Men Yuan nodded. "I appreciate the reminder, Jiang."
Jiang Yu (姜御) remained silent, his expression unreadable.
( 姜 (Jiāng) is a surname that means “ginger” or “surname”. 御 (Yù) is a unisex given name that means “imperial” or “control”. 姜御 could be interpreted as “ginger control” or “An imperial surname”.)
Unnoticed by them, in a dark corner of the room, the shadows of several people began to shift and morph.
Gradually, they contorted into grotesque and unnatural forms.
Huddled in the corner, the little girl Yi Zhen Zhen felt a surge of despair. She had a vague suspicion about her mother's fate but was too afraid to face the truth. So, she could only stare at her own toes.
As she did, something strange caught her eye.
The shadows... they were moving.
She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could utter a word, a shadow detached itself from the wall and darted towards her. It merged with her own shadow, and suddenly, Yi Zhen Zhen was assaulted by a horrifying vision.
It was her mother.
She lay in a dank and dismal chamber, covered in blood and wounds, still calling out for her daughter.
Tears welled up in Yi Zhen Zhen's eyes, blurring the image that burned into her brain.
She couldn't tell where the image came from, but something deep inside her knew it was real, that it was the last thing her mother ever saw.
Suddenly, another hand invaded the picture.
She followed that hand up, and found a young man she didn't know, covered in blood and bruises, but still able to move his hand to her mother's neck.
"No!!"
Yi Zhen Zhen sensed the horror that was about to happen.
But the hand showed no mercy. It clamped down hard, crushing the windpipe of the woman lying on the ground.
In the final frame, the man's emotionless face faded into the darkness.
"No, please!!"
At that moment, all eyes turned to the corner, where the girl had erupted into sobs and shrieks of agony.
"Do not..." A piercing scream tore through the air as Yi Zhen Zhen collapsed to the ground, clutching her chest. Her mind was assaulted by a horrific vision: the face of her mother's murderer, Lu Yan.
It was him. It had to be him. He was Lu Yan.
She wanted to rip him apart, to make him pay for what he had done.
Kill him... Kill him!
A dark and sinister force seeped out of the cracks in the floor, creeping towards the girl's trembling form. It merged with her shadow, feeding on her rage and sorrow. Yi Zhen Zhen bowed her head, tears streaming down her face, but her eyes glinted with a cold and ruthless light.
The woman next to her recoiled in shock. "What's the matter with you? Why did you scream like that?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Did you have a sudden nightmare?"
Yi Zhen Zhen inhaled sharply, trying to regain her composure. "No, it wasn't a nightmare," she said, her voice hoarse.
She looked around at the others, who were staring at her with a mix of curiosity and concern. "I know what Lu Yan looks like now," she announced.
Her words caused a stir among the group, and Di Ying rose to his feet in a flash. "What do you mean? What happened?" she demanded.
Yi Zhen Zhen wasted no time in telling them what she had seen in her vision.
As she spoke, the others exchanged uneasy glances, all feeling a sense of disbelief and dread.
A surge of hope and curiosity filled their hearts as they wondered: could this be the clue for the mission?
But why would it only reveal itself to one underage girl?
The others racked their brains, but they came up empty. They felt even more frustrated when they heard Yi Zhen Zhen say that she couldn't draw what she had seen.
Meanwhile, in a hidden spot, a bloodied figure lurked on the branches, gazing intently at everyone inside through the narrow slit of the open window.
**
Lu Yan knew that the jade pendant didn't make a copy of him, but brought his future self to past. And now, he had doomed his future self to die, which meant he had to alter his fate before the looming death node arrived to claim his life.
The taskers had already entered the world, and everything returned to normal.
"Give me one of the jade pendants," Lu Yan from the future stretched out his hand, "I don't have time to explain, but you have to trust me."
Lu Yan stared at the other.
The eyes, mirroring his own, reflected the same icy wariness. He nodded and handed over one of the jade pendants to his other self, watching as they disappeared.
What secrets did his future self hold, what decisions did he face? Lu Yan wondered what he had uncovered in the future that had drawn such attention to him.
He had to act fast, before he got entangled in the mission.
Elsewhere, another Lu Yan strolled along the street.
He had made it back, thanks to his past self summoning. He had used various methods to find a way to travel back in time, but nothing had worked. He had struck a bargain with that god, and as a consequence, he had used his one chance to wish himself back to the past, after planting the idea of using the Pisces jade pendant in his past self's mind.
It was time to move on to the next phase.
He had the advantage of knowing what the task was this time, as a traveller from the future, but he kept it to himself, to avoid altering the course of history.
Lu Yan hired a car, preparing to depart.
"Driver, take me to the Spirit Vale Town," he instructed. The town's entrance was within the city limits, so it wouldn't take long by car.
The driver nodded silently, swerving the steering wheel and taking a different route.
The journey was shrouded in silence.
But the car did not glide smoothly towards the Spirit Vale Town, as he had expected. Instead, it abruptly veered off the road, the tires screeching loudly.
He jerked his head up, but the rearview mirror showed an empty driver's seat. The driver had vanished.
He cursed under his breath.
Lu Yan reached for the backseat handle, but the rear door was locked, resisting his attempts to open it. He whipped out a metal knife from his pocket, carving a slit in the glass, then smashed the window with a powerful elbow. He wasted no time in jumping out of the opening.
He had barely landed when the car hurtled into a dark vortex that had appeared out of nowhere, swallowing it in a thick blackness.
Lu Yan spun around and sprinted back.
The taxi had ended up in an unfamiliar place, where a bleak silence hung in the air. On both sides of the road, bushes of various sizes loomed in the darkness, casting ominous shadows.
He sprinted forward, pushing himself to the limit. But it seemed that the thing that was after him was relentless. As he ran, he snapped out of his trance and realised that he had stumbled into a graveyard.
The darkness swallowed him, surrounding him with rows of grim tomb mounds. Lu Yan felt a chill of dread, and as he tried to escape, he discovered that the way he had come had disappeared, leaving behind a sea of graves that spanned the horizon.
On the other side, the dark tide rose again.
He was in trouble!
Lu Yan had a vague idea of what hid in the darkness. He attempted to run, but the grave in front of him burst open, unleashing a flood of blood that soaked him to the bone.
He was paralyzed.
The light around him slowly grew brighter. He squinted his eyes and saw that every tombstone in the graveyard bore his name!
There were no dates, only his name etched in crimson, with a single word below it—Death!
He was dead. Lu Yan was dead.
Grave after grave erupted, burying him in a sea of blood. A shriek of unbearable pain reverberated in the darkness.
Lu Yan, reliving his nightmare, had never imagined that he would die even sooner than before.
But he had no second chance now.
There was no link between his past self and his future self.
He could only pray that his past self would heed the clues he had left for him.
Under the watchful eye of that thing, he was powerless to do anything, or he would risk endangering his other self.
Hurry... find it.
**
The original Lu Yan was plagued by a gnawing unease.
He felt a sinister presence lurking in the shadows.
Ever since the world had changed, he had felt a faint hint of something special within him, but he had no clue what it was. He had been fumbling in the dark, searching for answers. When the tasker from another world showed up, he saw the similarities between the two worlds. He kept on fighting, hoping to find a way to restore the world to normalcy.
He had spent five or six years searching for answers, but he still had nothing to show for it. His goal had shifted. He had given up on restoring the world to normal. Because... this was nothing but a world of the dead. He only wished he could escape to that normal world.
He didn't care if he became a tasker. He didn't mind if he faced supernatural events now and then. He didn't bother if he never met anyone he knew again. He just wanted to live a normal life.
But... ever since he had this thought, Lu Yan noticed that the tasks that had been manageable for him before became harder and harder, and in the final stages, they were downright lethal.
Was it his fault?
Did his thoughts alter his future, endangering the thing that was after him? Was it hunting him down?
Feeling that omnipresent stare, Lu Yan clenched his muscles, but he had to act oblivious.
What had his future self found out?
Was he in mortal danger?
Lu Yan instinctively wanted to create another copy of himself, but as soon as this idea crossed his mind, the overwhelming sense of danger made him quash it.
He's going to die.
If he does this, he will definitely die.
A sudden shiver ran through his body.
Lu Yan had always trusted his gut feeling, and right now, it was telling him that something was terribly wrong. The other him, the one he had created, was in grave danger.
Without wasting any time, he bolted out of the room, sprinting down the stairs.
He had barely left when a loud explosion rocked the building. Someone in the next room had been tampering with a microwave and a can of insect spray, causing the entire floor to go up in flames.
Lu Yan reached the roadside, his heart pounding in his chest.
If he had stayed in that room, he would have been dead.
But as this thought crossed his mind, he saw a taxi hurtling towards him from afar. It was swerving wildly, as if the driver had lost control, and it was headed straight for him.
He glanced at the driver's seat of the car, and his blood ran cold. There was no one there. It was a ghost car.
Lu Yan leapt to the other side of the road, dodging the car by a hair's breadth. He watched as it smashed into the gas station behind him, erupting into a ball of fire.
Hold on! The gas station!
He ran for his life, feeling the heat on his back. A moment later, a thunderous blast shook the ground, sending flames and debris into the air.
Someone was targeting him!
Lu Yan had no choice but to keep running.
He knew that whatever was hunting him could not harm him directly, like sending a ghost to strangle him. It had to use the environment, creating deadly accidents that looked like coincidences. But he also knew that these were not real coincidences. They were traps. And he had very little chance of escaping them.
