Nightmare Assault

Jiang Cheng had been on the second floor yesterday. It was, indeed, as the girl said. The separation of the boy’s and girl’s bedrooms was easy to tell. One was decorated with various plushes. The other had the wall covered with posters of various military weapons. There was even a military magazine on the table. The owner was a military fan.

Then, the other two groups turned their attention to Jiang Cheng and the innocent girl.

“This family didn’t have a peaceful family life. We found many broken plates and glasses in the rubbish cans. Some of them have blood on them.” Jiang Cheng said.

The girl added, “There are scratches on the wooden stair railings. We suspect they are left behind by nail scratches.” This was a very important clue. They came to the stairs. With the girl pointing it out, they did discover the traces. The muscular man touched it, and his expression shifted, “Yes. These are scratch marks.”

A family of four, an unhappy family, broken plates, scratch marks and a tied-up girl…

No matter how they parsed it, this looked like a family tragedy. A tormented girl once lived here.

“Then, what should we do next?” The male government worker grumbled, “Save that poor girl?”

“No matter what happened here in the past, it is already in the past, and the change can’t be changed.” The woman with the mole said, “What we should do is find the truth and complete the mission.”

“But haven’t we found the truth?”

The muscular man shouted angrily, “Are you dumb? How was the girl tortured? Who was her tormentor? Is the girl still alive? How can we end the mission without knowing these basic details?” After being yelled at by the muscular man, the male worker shivered and stopped talking.

The innocent girl looked at the male worker with pity. He was too weak and dumb. It was hard for him to survive on the mission. Even though he had survived once, the next time…

Groooo…

Everyone turned to the source of the sound. Fatty held his stomach embarrassedly, “Erm…”

“Forget it. We’ve searched the entire first floor. We should prepare for breakfast.” After a high-tension morning, the muscular man was hungry too.

As everyone prepared to make lunch, a voice came from behind them. “We haven’t searched that place.” Jiang Cheng pointed at the toilet where the middle-aged man’s corpse was. “I believe there will be clues there.”

Hearing that, everyone’s expression turned severe. Everyone knew Jiang Cheng was right, but it was hard to persuade themselves to examine the toilet. After all, someone died there. Perhaps entering the toilet would trigger the death taboo. When they searched the place earlier, everyone avoided that place.

In the end, rationality won over fear. The muscular man took a deep breath. “He’s right. There might be clues there. Even though there might be risks, we’ll all die if we don’t solve the mission.”

The woman with the mole rarely did not object to it. She clearly understood the situation too, but she still said annoyingly, “Then, who’d go?”

Jiang Cheng cut in, “Who has been to the first-floor toilet?” Everyone raised their hands. Jiang Cheng counted and then continued, “Then, everyone has the chance of having triggered the taboo. This is more than just searching for clues. This is also fighting for survival.”

The innocent girl frowned. “You’re not saying that we should search the toilet together, right?”

The muscular man scratched his beard and nodded. “The space is very small. If too many people fit in it, it’s very hard to move.”

“That’s right.” Jiang Cheng nodded. “So I suggest a group of two.”

“Then… who volunteers?” The male worker at the back asked. No one spoke.

“Alright. We can decide it via drawing. It’s the fairest for everyone.” Jiang Cheng shrugged.

“Okay!”

“I agree.”

…

After some preparations, Jiang Cheng took out a few notes. Two of them were shorter. Jiang Cheng crumpled all of them before everyone. He placed them in his palm. “The ones who get the shorter paper will go into the toilet. Everyone is fine with that, right?”

“Yes. But…” Fatty looked at the paper rolls and swallowed. “Why are there only five notes? There are six of us.”

The others noticed this problem and looked at Jiang Cheng with suspicion.

“Because I’m not participating.” Jiang Cheng admitted.

Everyone was stunned and then became enraged. The muscular man yelled, “Why? Who gave you the right?”

“Because I’ve not used the toilet.”

“You’ve been here one day and one night. You drank so much water. How could you not have used the toilet?” The male owner yelled loudly as if he had found the vent he needed, “You are merely trying to wiggle out of this! Just send him in alone!”

The woman with the mole stared at Jiang Cheng with unfriendliness. She scoffed. “You have to pay to be cunning here.”

“I know.” Jiang Cheng said evenly, “But I really have not entered the toilet, and I have proof.”

He raised his finger to point at the window. A wind blew and lifted a corner of the curtain to expose the two bottles behind it.

One was full, and the other was half-full. They contained light yellow liquid. It shone under the dawn sun.

“Is that…” The male worker’s eyes widened.

“That’s right.” Jiang Cheng nodded and admitted with embarrassment. “I was scared to use the toilet because it was too dark, so I…”

The muscular man looked at Jiang Cheng with complication, “...”

The woman, “...”

The male worker, “...”

The innocent girl, “...”

Fatty, “...You are so cunning!”

Since Jiang Cheng had not used the toilet and thus hadn’t triggered the potential taboo, no one had anything to say. The other five drew their lots. Jiang Cheng observed from the side. It was the muscular man and the male worker who were picked. When the two opened the toilet door, the middle-aged man’s corpse was gone. The toilet was small, so it was not possible to hide the dead body of a middle-aged man.

“This is not our normal world,” The woman behind them said, “It’s normal to encounter inexplicable things. Get used to it.”

The muscular man didn’t look surprised. The poor thing was the male worker. He hugged the door and cried until he was kicked into the toilet by the muscular man. The others waited out. The search was very efficient. They exited the toilet after five minutes. The muscular man held a white paper towel.

They closed the toilet door and walked to the living room. The muscular man spread the paper open. It had a strand of hair inside. “I found this inside the bathtub. It wasn’t there yesterday.”

The muscular man was very careful. He didn’t use his hand to touch the hair.

The hair was long. It was probably from a female.