Chapter 295: “It”
Did he see something in his dream?
Upon reading these two entries, Chen Chen immediately discovered something unusual. This man named Ando seemed to be afraid of his own dreams.
According to the diary’s description, he had had the same dream for three consecutive nights and this dream seemed to signify something.
It seemed to be signifying something dreadful. In other words, this was that “it”...
Chen Chen wore a thoughtful look, but he did not dwell too long on this. In any case, the answer should be found in the next few pages.
Thus, Chen Chen flipped to the next page.
“4 September 2028!!!
“D*mn it, I had that dream again last night. It’s that woman with disheveled hair. She’s getting closer and closer to me! D*mn it, d*mn it! On the first day, she was still outside the door, but last night she was already standing by the head of my bed. I could even see her white eyes, d*mn d*mn d*mn d*mn d*mn d*mn!!!
“I daren’t tell Daitetsu-kun about all this. Otherwise, if everyone knows about this, I’ll be kicked out of the team. I’m only 30 this year — I haven’t lived enough of life. I don’t want to die!”
Woman with disheveled hair? White eyes? A dream that continued where it left off?
After reading this paragraph, Chen Chen narrowed his eyes in response. He glanced at the corpse in front of him again and observed how the corpse was sprawled quietly across the desk. Its face shrank into a pucker, its mouth turned into a black hole due to the loss of moisture...
At this moment, Chen Chen suddenly realized that the hideous expression of this corpse was not caused by postmortem shrinking, but rather, that the person had seen something extremely terrifying when he was alive, which resulted in this look...
Chen Chen stepped back subconsciously. Something was weird about this corpse...
Chen Chen turned to the next page again:
“5 September 2028. Weather: fine.
“I’ve left the team — Kotetsu-kun and Sakura-ko and the rest. They drove me out, but I know that this isn’t their fault. It was I who caused everyone trouble.
“I’ve made preparations for my death. I didn’t sleep last night, so now I have to stay active all the time. Otherwise, if I’m not moving, my eyelids will start becoming heavy. I don’t know how long I can hold on. Maybe I can try to sleep for a short five minutes and wake up before the next move has been made. Perhaps I might be able to escape death in this manner?
“Still, I’m terrified. I’ll probably die, right? And after being kicked out of the team, how long can I last by myself?”
On this page, the handwriting started to become smudged. When the author wrote this pa.s.sage, he was crying the entire time.
Chen Chen instinctively flipped the page again but was taken aback to see that the diary was completely blank after this.
This diary was cut off on 5 September 2028.
Chen Chen could not believe this at first, so he turned to the back pages again, but they were all blank. This was the last time the person had written his diary.
That was to say, it was either because in the following period, he was in no mood to write an entry as he was attempting to avoid the dream or he had not even had time to write anything before he died right here...
Chen Chen looked at the corpse again with a pensive look.
Could it be that this corpse in front of Chen Chen was killed by his own dream?
“‘It’, ‘continuous nightmare’, ‘woman with disheveled hair’...”
In this diary, from beginning to end, the man named Ando never mentioned what was it that had destroyed human civilization, but only alluded to it by saying “it”. These three key phrases comprised all the information that was revealed in the diary.
“However, based on his tone, this ‘it’ he mentioned that destroyed human civilization seems to be different from the nightmare he encountered.”
Chen Chen pondered out loud, “Or maybe the nightmare he had was a part of ‘it’?”
There was still too little information. Chen Chen did not learn much that was useful.
With this in mind, Chen Chen took a long final look at the corpse, then gestured to everyone. The three Black Knights followed Chen Chen and left the office.
Next, Chen Chen simply asked the three Black Knights to split up, each searching a floor, to look for new clues as quickly as possible.
Although it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, what Chen Chen was facing was a whole lost world after all. There was no other way except this most straightforward method.
Even so, fortunately, this office building was not as eerie as the previous apartment. After the Black Knights split up into three, they did not encounter any abnormalities. Instead, as the search continued, more and more bodies were found.
When Chen Chen received the updates and came to the fifth floor of the office building, he immediately saw the word “Bvlgari” that was carved in large j.a.panese characters upon the door using green and yellow acrylic panels.
Chen Chen still remembered that this was an internationally renowned luxury brand.
Nonetheless, that level of prosperity had long since vanished with the pa.s.sing of human civilization. At this time, in the office hall that should have been extraordinarily lively, there were five withered corpses lying in disorder on the floor.
It was clear that these five corpses were older than that “Ando” guy, much older. They were practically air-dried and blackened, looking like lumps of charcoal, full of indescribable, grotesque wrinkles.
Based on their clothes, the five bodies had all been women.
Without Chen Chen having to give an order, the three Black Knights squatted and started searching for clues on the bodies. However, this time Chen Chen was disappointed. There was nothing on these corpses.
Even so, Chen Chen noticed that these five corpses all had one common feature. That was, if one lifted them while maintaining the posture they had when they died, one would find that their faces were all turned in the same direction...
Chen Chen looked in the direction where the five corpses had looked. It was the floor-to-ceiling window opposite the elevator.
At this time, the floor-to-ceiling window was no longer as clear as it used to be as it was covered in dust and fallen leaves. Still, Chen Chen could just about see the world outside through the gla.s.s.
The external world was blank. There were only the buildings on the opposite side of the road and the old mottled billboards that were near collapse.
Other than that, there was nothing outside the window.
“In other words, these five women seemed to have seen the same thing, but when they saw that thing, it also harvested their lives?”
Chen Chen murmured.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen’s eyes flashed decisively. Then he pulled out the GS Blade that was hanging over his PK Armor and flicked it lightly. Suddenly, the GS Blade that had only been a handle in his hand ejected a ten-centimeter-long blade.
After that, Chen Chen squatted directly and cut the belly of one of the female corpses.
The GS Blade came with a high-frequency shock effect. Even though the corpse in front of him had hardened into a tough leather-like substance, Chen Chen only had to swipe lightly to cut it open at once.
However, after cutting it open, Chen Chen discovered that everything inside the corpse was as usual. Although it had been thoroughly air-dried, the shape of the organs from when they were alive could still be vaguely seen.
This meant that these corpses did not die from some internal injury, but something else.