Using her resources, she found a player who had encountered them. She was a woman around 40. She managed a sizeable tech company in real life. Her constitution was sharpened from decades of working in the business world.
Based on Su Xiaoxiao’s understanding, her background was extremely complicated. She had a part in many grey businesses.
However, such a strong person strangely lost her mind not long after encountering the Disciples in the nightmare realm. She had the semblance of a life being taken care of by her family, curled up in bed all day. Any external stimulus would cause her to sweat in nervousness. Her lips trembled endlessly as she mumbled things that no one understood.
Not long after Su Xiaoxiao visited her, she died. Her cause of death was unknown.
A long time after that, Su Xiaoxiao managed to find out from her friend in law enforcement that the woman’s death was permanently sealed in the system. No one was allowed to read up on it. Other than that, the experienced forensic doctor who was responsible for the woman’s case resigned. Soon after that, he disappeared from the world. Su Xiaoxiao sensed something abnormal.
However, she stopped using her resources to investigate because she was worried that she’d be dragged into it.
In any case… this mission not only had Chen Ran but also Hao Shuai.
The shock he gave her was not smaller than Deep Red’s Chen Ran. This was because, in Su An’s eyes, the colour he represented… was even stranger. When she asked for her brother’s judgement, Su An was rarely silent. Then, he slowly reached out to point at the window. Back then, they were inside the lighthouse. There was nothing outside the window but the silent night.
Su Xiaoxiao blinked before turning to her brother. She didn’t get it. Then, it dawned on her. Her brother meant to say that the man… was black, like the night.
Was it because his heart was dark, or was his danger rating higher than Chen Ran’s red? Or… was it because her brother couldn’t read him as well and used a special colour to categorise him?
Su Xiaoxiao had no clue.
One thing was for sure. Hao Shuai was not simple. Furthermore, Deep Red’s Chen Ran showed interest in him as well. Or… it could be a sense of danger between the same species, so much so that he needed her to cooperate with him to trick Hao Shuai and Fatty into the forest to find the stone plate.
The strangeness of this mission was undeniable. Even her teammates were of a high calibre. The missing biker woman and Liang Long were experienced players.
In the silent stone room, there was a sudden strange soon. Su An, who was curled up at the corner, shivered.
The sound occurred more frequently. They were like drumbeats. It sounded like a creature with a hard exoskeleton stretching its body. As strange as that analogy was, that was what Su An was thinking.
He lifted his head carefully and met a pair of bloodshot eyes.
In the dark corner, the aged woman extended her neck to reveal a twisted face. The pair of bloodshot eyes stared at him. Her mouth opened, and a thin tongue twirled around the cracked lips. Her purplish lips were covered in dry cracks. As the tongue moved over them, they started to bleed.
Su An’s eyes narrowed.
The whale song echoed in his ears again.
Hollow, lonely and deep… It gave the feeling of looking through the thick icy layer of the north pole under the sea. However… the next second, the ice cracked open. The blinding light shot into his mind.
Su An blinked himself awake and realised he was still in the stone room. The blinding light was from the flame in the middle of the room. Su An moved his gaze away from the aged woman to the wall behind her. There was… the aged woman’s shadow.
The shadow flickered due to the flame. It became taller and larger.
The cracking sound came from the shadow. It was originally the aged woman’s size, but then, it grew larger and larger… until it was larger than the stone room itself. It shook and trembled on the wall, radiating a strong sense of misfortune.
The aged woman didn’t move, but somehow, her shadow… slowly approached Su An.
Two colours intertwined in Su An’s eyes.
One was the aged woman’s grey colour. The shadow on the wall was pure… or rather transparent.
Su An used his heart to sense the thing that left the shadow on the wall… it was something that his eyes couldn’t see.
He had no idea, but he was not scared because this creature was no different from the tigers he encountered when he fell into their enclosure. He stood up and puffed up his chest. He extended his hands at the empty space before him as if waiting for the giant cat to nuzzle against his neck.
In the warm stone room, only the aged woman remained. She hid in the inconspicuous corner. A strange light shone in her eyes.
Accompanying that was a brutish and horrifying… munching sound.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Ran narrowed his eyes. He was always 2 metres away from Su Xiaoxiao. That way, if something happened, he’d have plenty of chance to react. However, Su Xiaoxiao suddenly stopped moving without warning.
She clutched her chest, and sweat poured down her forehead. Her body trembled. “What… is going on?” He gasped for air. Then, she whipped her head back to look in the direction of the cathedral. “My brother… Something bad has happened to him!”
“Impossible,” Chen Ran shook his head. “Miss Su saw the clues I shared. Your brother will be fine…”
“No.” Su Xiaoxiao’s pupils shook. “I know something bad has happened to him! I can sense it!”