The team had been living in this house for ten days. Nothing happened during this time. Everyone spent their days as they normally would. The girls occasionally headed to the second floor together for naps. Most of the time, the team stayed in the living room per Zheng’s order but people began to get impatient.

Evening of the tenth night came. Zheng said to the others, “I know. I know. We all stink from not showering for ten days. No wonder the girls covered their noses when they saw us.”

Kampa casually replied, “Not a big deal. It’s only ten days without a shower. I have gone through half a month without washing my face during the most important times of battles. Ten peaceful days are more valuable than anything else.”

“You are not wrong.” Zheng shook his head and said, “It just feels sticky and uncomfortable. Ok. Enough with the useless talks. The bathroom in the third floor can fit the nine of us. Let’s take a bath after dinner. Any objections?”

Kampa didn’t care much. Zero and the others nodded. Xuan was quietly reading a book while holding a piece of chocolate. It seemed as though he didn’t pay attention to what the rest of the team were talking about.

Zheng sighed. Xuan had nether given him any advice nor stated his plan since entering the movie. However, he couldn’t be sure if this was another one of Xuan’s plans. Perhaps Xuan’s plan was already in progress. What Zheng needed to do was go along with it until the movie reached its end.

“Sigh... Is there an end to these kind of days?” Zheng shook his head. He stared out the window to the dark street.

Everyone was indeed quite happy for a bath after ten days. HongLu acted like a kid as he swam in the bathtub and played with water. The bathroom was nearly four bedrooms big. It was obviously chosen by the previous owner of the house. The bathroom included showers, a steam bath, and a massage tub.

“Stay strong. It’s been eleven days already. Nineteen more days until we reach our goal.” Zheng said while people were cheerful. He washed his hair and seemed rather content with the bath.

HongLu swam near him. “Have you found anything out of the ordinary during these days?”

Zheng sprayed his hair with water then asked, “Why did you ask? Did you notice something wrong?”

HongLu shook his head. “No. That’s why I have to ask you. I only know we have thirteen members. Did we lose anyone during this time? How many people did we have? You are the only one who knows. Who else am I going to ask?”

Zheng also shook his head. “Nope. These ten days have been really peaceful. No one disappeared after MoLi and Heng. It would be good if this peace continues. Although Heng... but we still have to live on. Just continue with this peace.”

HongLu gave him a bitter smile. “How can it be so easy? I don’t know why but my special ability somehow still works in this dream.”

Zheng asked in confusion, “Your special ability? What kind of ability?”

HongLu pointed to his head. “Do you still remember that I can see the air of death from people who are about to die? The reason I haven’t mentioned it is because I am a logical thinker. My thinking process will contradict itself if I include such vague information. I excluded this ability as much as I could all this time. But the air of death is clouding most of our bodies. It’s on you, on me, on everyone. I feel like we are going to die at any time.”

That could be really terrible. Zheng replied with a bitter smile. He didn’t know how to respond other than just sigh. He walked to the bathtub and submerged himself under water.

(What should I do? My deduction only has a 30% chance of being right. But it’s the only one I can come up with. I can’t think of another possibility. Yet, the price to testing it might be too high. Furthermore, if it turns out wrong, we will surely get wiped. It’s up to you now, Zheng.)

HongLu swung his head. He pinched a string of hair in front of his forehead. His hair felt oily so he went over to the showers to wash his hair. There were only adult shampoos near the shower. The children one he bought was nowhere to be found.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Did I left it in the changing room?” HongLu ranted. He walked out naked. While searching for the shampoo in the changing room, he heard a faint cry that belonged to a woman. Along with it was the crackling noise of something burning.

HongLu’s body trembled. He recalled he did indeed bring the shampoo into the bathroom. Yet, it wasn’t inside and he mindlessly walked out. This wouldn’t have been possible with how careful he usually was. The only possibility was his mind got clouded. Which meant Freddy had targeted him.

“So the next target is me. I am curious. Is it because the hole in my soul is big or is it because I found the correct ‘key’? As long as I complete this key, I will break your magic... No. That will probably kill you.” HongLu smiled coldly.

He pushed the door to the bathroom open. Behind the door wasn’t the room in his memory just like he expected. It was a set of stairs leading up. A wave of heat was coming from above.

“The hole in my soul...” HongLu pinched his hair. “I haven’t found the hole in my soul. So am I still in the safe dream? I can imagine what tricks you are going to use on me... Disgusting. To be honest, I don’t ever want to walk these stairs again. I was planning to take down these type of houses after I return to the real world.”

HongLu weaved a sign with his hands and chanted a spell. A hound appeared in front of him. He sat on the hound then pointed at the stairs. The hound ran up.

“The soul, or our consciousness is relative.” HongLu said with a cold smile. “You can’t simply watch the side like this is a movie. You can see us and we can see you. If I don’t break apart from this scene that you set up, you will. Nothing is absolutely perfect in this world, including power.”

(Zheng. This is the final thing I can help you. A hole appeared in my soul and it is the same to him. Remember what I told you... Our lives are in your hands. Don’t forget us. There are... no more revives if we die again.)

Despite HongLu approached the situation without turning back, he was trembling within. Tears filled his eyes as though they would burst out any moment. He continued talking to the air and controlled the hound to run up. Fire soon consumed the floor in front of him and spread to the floor behind him.

(For real. If Zheng is a bit smarter, I wouldn’t have to say the correct thing at the wrong time and wrong place. Zheng! If you fail, I won’t let you off even if I become a ghost!)

Tears ran down HongLu’s cheeks. He came down from the hound. He cleared a path using Ray of Frost and came to a burned door. HongLu slowly wept as he pushed the door open. He saw a skeleton that had been completely burned. The skeleton moaned in pain in a woman’s voice as though it was a human being burned alive.

HongLu cried out. A hand wearing scissor like glove reached out from the room and dragged HongLu inside. Pah! The burned door closed.