“They said ten days, so now should be considered ‘Day Zero,’ right?” Lin Qin switched to covering her nose and mouth with her other hand and continued, “If you go out now, you won’t be able to see the road clearly in a moment. After all, there are no streetlights here.”
Qi Xia knew Lin Qin’s words made sense, so he quietly walked to the side and found a clean shelf to sit down on.
He really had been too anxious—he had even forgotten to check the time.
But he couldn’t wait to leave this godforsaken place and see his wife.
To see Yu Nian’an.
To see that girl who liked to wear white.
“Xiao An, I’ll escape from this godforsaken place very soon,” he muttered to himself. “Wait for me. We’ll have money soon.”
Qi Xia’s expression remained different from the others. He wasn’t panicking, wasn’t grieving—just somewhat anxious.
As the sky gradually darkened, everyone found clean spots to sit down.
Fortunately, the nights here weren’t cold. Everyone was just a bit hungry. Having gone without food or water for nearly a day, each person felt they had no strength left.
No one spoke anymore. They just slowly watched that earthy-yellow sun in the sky set, and the world fell completely into darkness.
This day’s experiences had been like a terrible nightmare for everyone. They all fantasized that when they opened their eyes again, all the strange phenomena before them would disappear.
The entire city seemed to quiet down, as if brewing something. Everyone heard what seemed like rustling sounds in the distance, but couldn’t make them out clearly.
It was too dark here—so dark they couldn’t tell if their eyes were open or closed.
Everyone had grown up in cities and had never seen a night so pitch-black you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
“Liar, are you asleep?” Qiao Jiajin suddenly asked from not far from Qi Xia.
“What is it?”
“Do you think… there are other ‘Participants’ here?”
Qi Xia was silent for a moment before answering, “I’ve thought about that question too. The ‘Man-Dragon’ said over ten million people have walked through those doors. Logically speaking, there should be more than just the nine of us here…”
Qiao Jiajin was also silent for a while before asking again, “Could that female shopkeeper be someone who once walked through the doors?”
“Hm?” Qi Xia was slightly stunned. He had never thought in that direction—after all, that woman looked like she had lived here for many years.
But thinking about it carefully, there was no conflict. Whether someone was captured ten years in advance or ten days in advance didn’t matter. What mattered was that according to the “Man-Dragon,” this place would be annihilated in ten days.
They might have different starting points, but the same ending.
What was fortunate was that they probably wouldn’t go completely insane like the female shopkeeper—after all, they only needed to stay here for ten days.
No matter what, they would see the “result” after ten days.
“Liar? Are you asleep?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
Qi Xia ignored him, instead turning his head to the side and seriously contemplating what had happened today.
All these bizarre circumstances—what was the reason for them?
Unable to get an answer from Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin stopped making himself unwelcome and gradually fell silent.
After a short while, two more people began talking in the darkness. It sounded like Doctor Zhao and Officer Li.
“Doctor Zhao…”
“What is it?”
“I want to ask… if a woman is malnourished for a long time, can she conceive life?”
Doctor Zhao was silent for a moment, understanding what Officer Li meant. The female shopkeeper in the room looked like she hadn’t eaten in a long time, yet why could she give birth to a baby?
The others seemed interested in this question as well, all quietly waiting for him to answer.
Doctor Zhao organized his thoughts and said, “This question is very complex. If a woman is malnourished for a long time, it’s easy to cause irregular menstruation, or even amenorrhea. In other words, lacking basic essential elements will cause them to be unable to ovulate, and naturally unable to conceive.”
“So… is this another thing that science can’t explain?” Officer Li asked in a heavy voice. “That female shopkeeper’s physical condition looked very poor.”
“I can’t make a definitive conclusion about the specific situation. In certain regions of Africa, people’s nutritional intake is also very low, but they also have relatively high birth rates…” Doctor Zhao sighed. “But this isn’t my area of expertise after all. It involves each person’s constitution and the intake of key nutrients. What I know isn’t much.”
After hearing this, Officer Li stopped talking and made no more sound.
The people in the room fell into silence again.
Qi Xia hadn’t wanted to sleep, but in the situation of completely losing his vision, a person’s perception becomes blurred and eventually stops thinking.
Accompanied by the quiet “rustling” sounds from the street, Qi Xia’s eyelids grew heavy.
He didn’t know when he fell asleep. In his dream, he saw Yu Nian’an’s figure.
“Xia, do you know? There are many roads in this world, and everyone has their own path.”
“Yes, Xiao An, I know.” Qi Xia in the dream nodded. “I’ll be able to get out soon. Wait for me.”
He didn’t know how much time had passed when he heard a massive bell sound, almost right next to his ear, ring out like thunder.
Qi Xia opened his eyes and hastily stood up, discovering that it was already light outside.
Turning around, everyone was still shaken, all looking around like Qi Xia. That bell sound had been too loud—it had startled them awake.
“What’s happening?!” Xiao Ran instinctively hid behind Officer Li.
Before everyone could react, a series of eerie coughing sounds came from the corner of the room.