IWBL: Chapter 205

At night, the fog was thicker than before. It was layered on top of each other like a solid body. Judging from this change, it seemed that the fog would become thicker with each day they had stayed here. It was as thin as a grey veil when they first entered and now the visible distance in the thick fog had been reduced to only half a metre.

The wind outside the window was very strong. Even if the reincarnators stayed in their rooms and kept the doors and windows closed, they could still hear the strong sound of the wind blowing against the window. Some plants in the small garden outside were uprooted and thrown into the window. Tan Li was heartbroken when she saw it and simply buried herself completely in Xiao Li’s pocket so she wouldn’t see it.

Xiao Li was sitting on the sofa but he couldn’t bear the gossip-filled gazes from Wen Wenwen and the others. After a long time, he got up and hid on the side of the dining table. He thought for a long time with the little yellow book in front of him.

Earlier when Wen Wenwen talked to him, he had given this person a speechless look. He listened to Wen Wenwen’s rambling words and had to change the subject. The strange thing was that he didn’t immediately clarify it.

According to his personality, he normally would’ve clarified it a long time ago. Then what about this time? Did he think that this group of people were too boring, was he too lazy to clarify it or…?

The young man’s eyes lowered as he thought about it. His long eyelashes covered up the confusion in his eyes.

The voices of the others discussing things came from the sofa. Someone got up from there. They walked toward Xiao Li, pulled out the chair beside him and sat down. Xiao Li heard the sound of someone sitting next to him and didn’t raise his eyes completely. Still, from this position, he could see the other person’s sharp jaw.

Shen Chenzhi saw him looking over and asked, “What are they smiling about? They’ve been looking at you all day.”

In fact, they had also been looking at him. From afternoon to night, the gazes of the reincarnators had shifted between Shen Chenzhi, Xiao Li and Wang Huai from time to time. The words ‘watching a show’ were directly engraved on their foreheads.

Wang Huai was really innocent. He heard the rumours and told Wen Wenwen the truth. However, the people eating melons were more willing to believe in their imagination.

Xiao Li heard the question and replied with no patience, “You.”

Shen Chenzhi, “?”

Xiao Li was even more anxious and added more words to complete it. “They are smiling at you.”

At first, Shen Chenzhi had some doubts. He was taller than Xiao Li. Combined with the current posture, he could instantly see that on the back of the neck where the black hair was scattered, the tooth mark had faded. At first glance, it looked like the skin next to it but if someone looked closely, some outlines could still be seen.

Shen Chenzhi blinked like he had understood. He licked his teeth and felt his heart starting to itch again. He wanted to make another mark or something more obvious, such as a kiss mark. After half a minute, Shen Chenzhi also smiled. The jealousy that remained from last night disappeared.

Xiao Li was anxious. Seeing this person’s anxious expression, Xiao Li didn’t let him off easily. “What are you smiling at?”

Shen Chenzhi’s lips curved in an unabated smile. “Myself.”

Xiao Li stared at him for a while and finally felt that this person was a bit too serious. He turned his head and no longer looked at Shen Chenzhi. He just concentrated on writing and drawing in the little yellow book.

His hair was a bit long and hadn’t been cut. It covered his forehead while his lips were slightly pursed. This way, he didn’t have his past sense of distance. On the contrary, he looked angry and made people want to tease him more.

Shen Chenzhi sat next to him with a pen in his hand. He spun it in his fingertips and pretended to be writing something. His other hand was supporting his chin as he looked at the person next to him.

Xiao Li drew images from his memory into the little yellow book as well as the clue given by the fortuneteller. He had previously questioned the others and found that everyone had different dreams last night. Some didn’t even have a dream. This made his speculation about Atlantis vanish.

Peeping, variations in body shape, a change in the parents and the capriciousness of the townspeople.

Xiao Li wrote down these words.

Then tomorrow, it was better to go first…

The moment the tip of his pen paused, the little yellow book suddenly shook.

A line of words appeared: [Baby, why didn’t you clarify your relationship with Shen Chenzhi just now?]

[Are you agreeing by default or do you just not care about this?]

Xiao Li, “……”

He couldn’t hold onto his pen and it fell through the air. Fortunately, he caught it in time and it didn’t fall to the ground. Recently, the little yellow book had been very quiet. Xiao Li hadn’t expected it to come out at this time and to ask such a sharp question.

Xiao Li didn’t answer and the little yellow book’s questions popped up one after another.

[I know he likes you very much. What about you? Do you like him?]

[I haven’t seen you for a long time. He has been with you. Do you like me more… or him?]

Xiao Li looked at these sentences and his body instantly tensed. At this moment, he couldn’t care about such things and had no way to answer the questions. So, he didn’t look at the other person’s words.

Therefore, he didn’t see the way the man behind him was staring at him with pale eyes. The eyes were distant like immortal stars. They were filled with anticipation and some type of deeper expectations.

‘…Tell me what you want and I will give it to you. So don’t run away from love like this anymore. Look at me and hug me. Okay?’

***

Late at night, in the early hours of the morning.

Jin Handong was tossing and turning on the bed, unable to sleep. Her room was next to the dead He Tian. She was fine when the reincarnators were gathered together previously but now that she was alone in a room like this, the quietness made her unable to sleep.

In the daytime, the reincarnators had discussed if it was better to live together. However, they were afraid that the thing that killed He Tian would kill them in one go. In the end, the votes were counted and they chose to sleep separately.

Jin Handong imagined He Tian’s death and took a long, deep breath to calm herself.

Her bed was close to the corner and the window was on the opposite side of the bed. The bed was facing the door. After thinking for a moment, she got out of bed. She pulled the bed and changed the layout of the room so the bed wouldn’t be seen as soon as the door opened.

After all of this, Jin Handong felt a bit tired. She laid on the bed, turned on the lamp and was going to fall asleep like this.

However, the moment she closed her eyes, she felt something was wrong. She believed in her instincts so much that she started sweating. She took out her remaining three live-saving items without hesitation. This was the instinct of a human being when facing danger. It didn’t matter if these items were useful against this instance’s ghosts or not. Her first reaction was to rely on them.

Was… was someone watching? Who was it?

Jin Handong’s brain was spinning quickly as she held the items in her hands. She kept her eyes open as she tried to control herself not to look at the source of the gaze. In the drawer, there was a slight friction sound. It was like the friction of clothes being rummaged through. The drawer was opened little by little.

Should she look? Jin Handong asked herself if she should look. If she looked now and ran out of the room, was it… too late?

Her heart was thumping and she even thought that her heart would jump out of her throat. Forget it! Jin Handong gritted her teeth and chose the opposite decision. She slowly closed her eyes and pretended she didn’t hear the sound. She chose not to look.

For a while, Jin Handong could hear the friction sound in the drawer but nothing really hurt her.

The night passed. Jin Handong stayed awake in bed all night. She confirmed that there was the movement of other reincarnators walking back and forth in front of her door but she didn’t open her eyes directly. She first shouted at the footsteps in the corridor, “Is anyone out there?”

The moment Wang Huai responded, she opened her eyes and told the other person what happened last night.”

The other reincarnators came quickly and Wen Wenwen looked at her. “A sound in the drawer?”

“Yes, I really heard the sound last night.” Jin Handong hadn’t slept all night and had lots of dark shadows under her eyes like bruises. “I didn’t look at it and pretended not to hear it. Thus, I lived to the present.”

“So does it mean that as long as we detect the sense of peeping, we can’t be killed if we don’t open our eyes?” Wen Wenwen wondered.

Xiao Li reached out to open the drawer that Jin Handong mentioned. There was nothing in it. It was simply an empty drawer. He closed the drawer and pulled it out again, repeating this process twice.

Jin Handong opened her mouth while the drawer was opening and closing, “If this is the way to live then why didn’t we leave the dungeon?”

As long as they found the hidden way to live, the task could be completed. Judging from the timeline of the instance rules, this might be a short one.  It applied to one ghost but not the entire Styland Town.

“F*k.” Bruce let out a curse word. “Where is the way to get out of this town? Is there anything about the plot character, Xu Jiaheng that we haven’t discovered?”

“He is a plot character and things started with him. His mother has also changed… looking at the way he acted last night, I think he is very suspicious. Could he be possessed by a ghost?”

“It feels like… peeping. Peeping, yes! Is it the movie theatre? Let’s revise the script. Does this seem feasible?” Kesia asked the question she had been thinking about for a long time.

“Who wrote the script of this movie?” Wen Wenwen asked in an energetic manner. “Is this the key to survival? Revising the script… is the way to survive! Are we in a movie? Is Styland the name of the movie?”

Xiao Li stopped the action of opening and closing the drawer and glanced at him. “Good idea.”

Wen Wenwen, “???”

He endured it for a while before asking, “Why does your tone of complimenting sound like you’re saying ‘A dog can go to the bathroom by himself. Good boy’?’”

“Huh? I don’t have a dog. I do have a cat.”

Wen Wenwen growled out, “That is the wrong point!”

Xiao Li told him, “Well, I mean that we can go find out who wrote the script.”

Normal movie theatres would usually show the director, actors, screenwriters and other key creative personnel involved after the movie finished. The problem was that they didn’t watch to the end of Peeping and the poster didn’t show it. In order to find out, the reincarnators could only go to the movie theatre again.

Wen Wenwen made a decision very quickly. He discussed it with the others for a moment before deciding on the next itinerary. However, before making the decision, he asked Xiao Li, “Go together?”

Xiao Li replied, “I have to go somewhere first. I will find you later.”

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The author has something to say:

One day, the little yellow book suddenly did a test: [Do you like me more or him?]

Xiao Li: You, you are cuter.

Shen Chenzhi: ?

Vinegar.

The sea of vinegar turned over.

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Proofreader: Tofu