Translator: CinderTL
Jiang Cheng turned to Gao Yan. "What? Does Mr. Gao not trust this Jiang?"
Gao Yan forced a few awkward laughs, his face looking unnatural. "Of course not. I'm just concerned for Brother Jiang's safety. After all, we must remain vigilant around this Yuan Xiaoyi."
"That's not what you said just now!" Fatty's face flushed red, his sleeves rolled up, clearly still angry.
"Hehe, it was all a misunderstanding."
"Alright, stop arguing," Shen Mengyun said, looking troubled. She then turned to Jiang Cheng. "Mr. Jiang, what exactly did Yuan Xiaoyi say?"
At these words, Gao Yan, Fatty Huai Yi, and the others finally fell silent, all turning to Jiang Cheng in unison.
Jiang Cheng glanced at Gao Yan, who quickly averted his gaze, looking slightly guilty.
"Where's Wang Qi?" Jiang Cheng asked after a moment.
This person gave Jiang Cheng an unsettling feeling, so he had been paying him extra attention.
"He disappeared after class. We waited for him for a while, but everyone else had left, and he still hadn't shown up," Huai Yi explained.
Shen Mengyun spoke first. "I called him earlier. He said he was bored and wanted to wander around the campus."
Judging from her expression, she was also exasperated by this aloof classmate.
After some thought, Jiang Cheng summarized the information he'd obtained from Yuan Xiaoyi in the most concise terms possible.
This time, there was little information about the library, and Jiang Cheng himself was puzzled by many aspects. Gao Yan listened with a slight frown, clearly suspecting that Jiang Cheng was withholding some details.
Jiang Cheng didn't bother to explain.
Wang Qi finally showed up after lunch. The afternoon classes proceeded as usual, except Jiang Cheng was summoned to Professor Wu's office.
Professor Wu seemed to value Jiang Cheng highly. He earnestly lectured him on the importance of not wasting time, urging him to discipline himself and focus his limited energy on his studies.
Darkness fell earlier than usual today. Before 4 p.m., students had already finished dinner and dispersed from the school cafeteria.
Jiang Cheng and his group walked back to their dorms, chatting as they went.
Looking around at the deepening darkness, Shen Mengyun couldn't help but voice her concern. "It's getting dark earlier and earlier."
"The days are getting shorter and shorter," Fatty added.
"In a few days, daylight will vanish completely, and the entire world will plunge into Eternal Night," Huai Yi said, gazing at the endless rows of streetlights lining the road. Their dim, yellow glow gave off a sense of impending doom, making the atmosphere within the group even more oppressive.
Based on their current clues, the Heart-Corroding Demon had never been known to attack them during the day. It seemed to be limited to nighttime activity.
But this delicate balance could shatter once the world was plunged into Eternal Night.
The Heart-Corroding Demon would no longer be constrained, and it could unleash a slaughter on the remaining survivors.
Of course, that depended on whether any of them would even live long enough to see that day.
Wang Qi looked up, squinting at the sky.
The sky resembled an impenetrable ink stain, not just plain black, but a murky, indescribable darkness.
"Three days," Wang Qi murmured.
Fatty turned to him, puzzled. "Three days? What do you mean?"
"In three days, daylight will disappear," Wang Qi replied with unusual patience. His gaze at Fatty was also different from how he looked at the others.
Jiang Cheng had noticed this at the abandoned sports field.
"Three days." Gao Yan suddenly paused, as if struck by a thought. "We still haven't checked the library, the Sculpture Hall, and the swimming pool. The remaining three missing girls must be hidden in one of these three locations."
"Have you considered why the Heart-Corroding Demon has been following us in the Medical Building and the abandoned sports field but hasn't attacked us?" Jiang Cheng asked. "The few times it has intervened, its goal has been to prevent us from finding clues, not to kill us. Why?"
Thinking back, Shi Xiaoya had been killed by the ghost in the Medical Building's Urban Legend, and Wen Liangshan had died at the hands of the Red-Clad Woman on the abandoned sports field.
"Because the Heart-Corroding Demon can't kill us directly," Wang Qi said matter-of-factly. "All it can do is follow us and use us to eliminate the girls hidden within the Urban Legends."
"Each time a girl is killed, the daylight in this world shortens," Wang Qi continued, his eyes gleaming with interest. "Once it kills all five girls hidden in the Urban Legends, daylight will vanish. And then..." He tilted his head, staring at Jiang Cheng. "We'll be next."
"To be precise, it was the survivors among us at that time," Jiang Cheng added calmly.
"That's right."
Their conversation opened up a new perspective for everyone, and their faces lit up with a mix of excitement and apprehension.
The dangers in this mission primarily came from two sources: the ghosts from the Urban Legends and the Heart-Corroding Demon.
While the ghosts from the Urban Legends were unlikely to wipe them out completely, if the Heart-Corroding Demon found and killed all five girls hidden within the Urban Legends, it would become an insurmountable terror, harvesting the remaining survivors.
"What do we do now?" Fatty asked cautiously.
Whether it was the Heart-Corroding Demon or these campus Urban Legends, it was all the same to Fatty—they could all easily kill him.
"Remember the notes in the Activity Center warehouse?"
Shen Mengyun nodded, her gaze shifting strangely as she looked at Jiang Cheng. "You're saying that if we go to the library today, we'll find the book with the corresponding number?"
"That book was left by the museum owner. Based on the clues we have so far, it should contain the origins of the Heart-Corroding Demon and how to defeat it," Jiang Cheng replied.
Back in the dorm, everyone rested to prepare for their nighttime mission.
At 11:00 sharp, they quietly slipped out of the old dormitory building and gathered under a crooked tree nearby.
Jiang Cheng glanced back at the dormitory, its silhouette barely visible in the inky darkness. "Let's go," he said.
Led by Jiang Cheng, the group headed toward the library.
Jiangtan University was eerily silent at night. Though they weren't new to this, walking through the pitch-black, deserted campus still made them uneasy.
A few buildings in the distance flickered with scattered lights. But the longer they stared, the less comforting it became, and the more unsettling.
It felt like countless eyes had opened, watching them.
Watching them step by step into the abyss.
Just as Yuan Xiaoyi had described, the library was pitch-black at night, with no lights even at the entrance.
But as they approached, they noticed something strange.
The library's door was made of glass. Through the glass, they could see a blackboard standing right inside the entrance.
(End of the Chapter)
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