Strange

The sound of paper rustling came from behind the shelves.

Zhu Yan crouched behind the shelf, keeping his breathing as light as possible.

Similar to the layout of a convenience store, the shelves deep inside the pharmacy were filled with medicines.

He watched Yang Zhanbai's reaction through the gap in the shelves while sparing some thought to ponder what the priced items in the pharmacy could be.

That "police officer" at the station had revealed that every store had three items that required payment.

Was there any logical connection between these items...?

Zhu Yan subconsciously touched the items in his pocket. At the same time, a trembling voice drifted over.

"Brother Yang, this..."

Holding two packets of stark white powder, Zhu Yan peeked through the gap. The speaker was another boy who clearly hadn't recovered from the recent scare.

This angle was just right for Zhu Yan to see the face beneath Yang Zhanbai's hood.

His lips were pressed tightly together as he quickly glanced back outside the glass.

"It's a punishment," Yang Zhanbai said in a low voice. "They obviously want me to be the bad guy."

"If I go and shout, these people will only blame me, thinking that if I don't ask, the time won't be announced."

"You can explain it," another boy wearing glasses quickly chimed in. "Let's just take this opportunity to unite all the sober people."

Silence.

Taking advantage of this brief pause, Zhu Yan shifted his gaze back to the items in his hands. In the span of a breath, his mind raced.

Tinfoil, a lighter, powdered alum, and rock sugar.

Toxic white powder heated on tinfoil and inhaled into the nasal cavity could cause massive damage to the human brain and was highly addictive.

These items all carried a strong and obvious metaphor. In Zhu Yan's understanding, they represented "irresistible addiction."

Condoms were linked to "sex." If Zhu Yan remembered correctly, it was a stimulant after the symptoms flared up.

Addiction, excessive pleasure, loss of reason.

So far, it seemed that the players who had eaten the food already exhibited these three characteristics!

Zhu Yan's eyes quickly swept over the medicine shelf, ruling out several topical ointments on the top tier.

"No."

Yang Zhanbai's voice came from the other side of the shelf, carrying a sharp vigilance.

"We can lie to them, but we can't actually explain it."

As they spoke, Zhu Yan's gaze landed on a box of painkillers.

The painkillers were placed in a corner on the lower shelf. The outer packaging was stark white, with only the word "Painkillers" simply printed in the lower left corner, looking completely out of place among the normally packaged medicines around it.

Zhu Yan immediately reached out and squeezed it through the box.

It didn't feel like a normal blister pack of pills, but more like a bag—

A slippery sealed bag, stuffed full of thick, hard, oval-shaped large pills.

Abnormal!

"Because..." Yang Zhanbai's voice sounded again.

Zhu Yan swiftly swept the box of painkillers into his arms.

He pricked up his ears, focusing his attention entirely.

"The purpose of these things is to kill people, to eat people."

Yang Zhanbai's voice was very low, and he spoke quickly.

Zhu Yan shifted a bit to the side before he could barely make out what he was saying.

"They are highly organized and have a hierarchy."

"That guy who was dragged away at the very beginning was taken to see a superior."

Not stupid.

Zhu Yan evaluated Yang Zhanbai in his mind, his eyes carefully scanning the opposite shelf.

There were three items here.

The painkillers counted as one. What could the other two be?

"Right now we have no clues and aren't strong enough."

Yang Zhanbai's calm voice came from behind, and Zhu Yan heard the rustle of clothing.

The other party seemed to turn his head, casting a quick glance outside.

"If we openly defy the will of the Carnival Paradise, what if they gang up on us first, or find an excuse to take us away—"

Yang Zhanbai sneered.

"Even in broad daylight, could we beat them?"

Another brief silence.

Zhu Yan locked onto the injection syringes on the opposite shelf.

This was a perfectly ordinary medical device, but it could also be used for special purposes.

Taking advantage of the gap when they weren't speaking, Zhu Yan silently crawled over, plucked a small syringe, and tossed it into his arms.

"Are you... just going to take the blame for nothing?"

Another male voice asked with difficulty. The next second, Zhu Yan heard rustling footsteps.

"Let's go, there are only three minutes left." Yang Zhanbai's voice quickly faded away. "What does it matter if I take the blame?"

Zhu Yan immediately climbed up from the ground.

He had no idea whether the task note could be transferred or not.

At a crucial moment like this, he absolutely couldn't drop the ball!

He shoved the two items he found haphazardly into his pocket and jogged to catch up.

...

The sky outside was far less clear than when the instance first began. A gray haze spread, blurring the skyline.

Yang Zhanbai and his teammates stood in the middle of the street, nervously staring at that giant neon dial.

Zhu Yan wove through the players. A girl suddenly burst into loud laughter, startling him.

As he edged closer to Yang Zhanbai, he looked back and realized this was the same girl who had received milk tea at the milk tea shop earlier.

Holding two empty milk tea cups, she was rocking back and forth with laughter, her face flushed red.

Aside from Zhu Yan and a boy next to Yang Zhanbai who turned their heads, no one else seemed to care about this obviously bizarre behavior.

Zhu Yan, however, felt a sense of joy blooming in his body like fireworks.

He bit the tip of his tongue and sidled up to a few meters away from Yang Zhanbai, when a shout suddenly exploded in his ears.

"Mr. Wolf, Mr. Wolf, what time is it?"

Pain and tension overwhelmed the joy in his body. Zhu Yan stopped in his tracks, his somewhat scattered mind instantly focusing.

Unlike the girl's ignored laughter, Yang Zhanbai's shout instantly attracted everyone's attention!

Gazes converged from all directions, and Zhu Yan saw some players stop with stiff movements.

This was not normal.

But right now, Zhu Yan had to pay attention to more important things.

He abruptly raised his head to look at the giant Suspended Clock, his heart beating wildly.

Would it succeed?

Could the note be transferred?

The giant face in the sky maintained a laughing expression, the blood-red light on its lips stinging Zhu Yan's eyes.

Two seconds later, the Suspended Clock suddenly turned down the corners of its mouth, its expression shifting from happiness to terror.

Other than that, it had no reaction at all!

Fuck.

Zhu Yan's heart tightened slightly.

This probably meant he had to be the one to shout it out personally!

Zhu Yan maintained the appearance of "Zhu Zeyu" and rushed over to Yang Zhanbai in a few quick strides.

At the same time, the surrounding crowd suddenly boiled over.

Someone led a scream, and curses and furious roars drowned them like a tidal wave.

"What are you doing?!"

"Are you an idiot?! Why ask for the time when everything is fine!"

"If you don't ask for the time, it will always be daytime!"

Amidst the chaos, Zhu Yan patted Yang Zhanbai on the shoulder, pretending he had just noticed him.

"Yang Zhanbai?" he asked loudly over the din. "What's going on, what are you shouting for?"

Yang Zhanbai's eyes widened, and a surprised exclamation blurted out.

"Holy shit!"

In that moment, Zhu Yan naturally caught a glimpse of the note in his hand.

People in the crowd were still cursing angrily.

"Fuck you, the police bus isn't even here yet, are you a fucking idiot?"

Zhu Yan kept up his act: "What's that in your hand?"

"Brother! I thought you were dead!"

Yang Zhanbai pulled out the boning knife to intimidate the rioting players around them.

"Nobody fucking move!"

The crowd closest to them fell silent for a split second.

"Let me see."

Zhu Yan snatched the slip of paper. 00:01:40.

There was still time. He could act a bit more to make it convincing.

"What is this?" he frowned. "Where did you find it?"

"No time to explain," Yang Zhanbai said. "Look at the time, I—"

"Holy shit!"

Zhu Yan cursed, looking genuinely startled by the countdown.

Yang Zhanbai opened his mouth to speak, but Zhu Yan beat him to it.

He looked up and shouted at the Floating Clock for the second time.

"Mr. Wolf, Mr. Wolf, what time is it?"

Yang Zhanbai followed his gaze to the giant face.

Its terrified expression held for two seconds before the mouth split into a massive grin.

Two seconds later, the entire human face snapped into darkness.

The surroundings plunged into sudden pitch black. There was no gradual fading like nightfall, only the abrupt, heavy darkness of the main light source being instantly snuffed out.

The crowd's short gasps were swallowed by the gloom for a fleeting moment.

Then, the massive outline of the Floating Clock was retraced as lights clicked on one by one.

Against a stark, blinding white backlight, a somewhat dim, dark-gray glow pieced together the giant silhouette of a wolf's head in profile.

Those darting, glass-bead eyeballs were gone.

The dark-gray silhouette slowly turned toward the crowd, then stopped abruptly.

Two specks of scarlet suddenly burst from its eye sockets, searing into the silhouette like branding irons.

They were a pair of eyes!

These red eyes stared fixedly at the crowd for a moment before a silvery laugh echoed through the air.

"It's five o'clock!"

A child's voice said in a cloying, sticky tone.