NOVEL NEXT Chapter 466 He Disappeared
However, now that the Black and White Dice have disappeared, the female journalist has indeed escaped the boundary of those rules.
After feeling the restraints on her body vanish, she remembered something and immediately looked up at the corridor ceiling.
The ceiling was still charred black, but the Dark Matter that had seeped in before they entered the Dice's domain was absent. The smoke-stained ceiling looked just the same as when they had first arrived.
"Even if you think I am presumptuous, I still managed to get out," the journalist asserted, surveying her surroundings with stubborn pride.
Hearing this, Xu Shuo was silent, merely curling his lips in a cryptic smile.
He closed his notebook and then turned to leave.
"Hey, wait, where are you going?!"
The journalist instinctively followed him a couple of steps, only to see the young man in black collide directly with a classroom door in her view, then disappear entirely into the room.
With that, even if she wanted to follow, there was no way she could.
The journalist approached the door of the now-vacant classroom, stood on her tiptoes, and peered through the transom to inspect the inside.
It was an ordinary classroom inside, furnished with four rows of five desks each, the seats neatly tucked under them, the whole room appearing clean and orderly.
There were no people, no books, nor any signs of activity.
In the dim orphanage, these classrooms seemed like standardized models set up for viewing and photographing.
The journalist did not open the door to enter but looked up at the ceiling again.
The sense of danger on the third floor had vanished too.
Could it be that the effects of the explosion on the third floor had disappeared after they had engaged with the rules of the Black and White Dice?
Or maybe, they were still in an alternate space, and leaving the domain of the Black and White Dice would not return them to their original space?
The journalist walked to the stairwell, intending to call out to the photographers upstairs, but just as she opened her mouth, she remembered the orphanage's rule.
——Do not shout or make noise in the school.
And in this pitch-black, spine-chillingly eerie place, an abrupt shout might attract the attention of some creature, right?
After hesitating, the journalist was about to step up the stairs when she suddenly heard footsteps from downstairs.
She quickly spun around and hid herself behind the corner near the first-floor staircase, ready to react immediately if someone from the first floor ascended.
She pulled a marble from her pocket and rolled it between her fingertips, her gaze firmly focused on the stairway.
The footsteps approached, unhurried, and the person's figure appeared as they stepped onto the last stair—the girl was wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt and a red sleeveless jacket with the Qiming Community emblem on the chest.
It was that... the female social worker.
Seeing her, the journalist was momentarily stunned.
"Huh?!"
At that moment, the social worker spotted the person hiding behind the wall and, startled, quickly sidestepped to the side.
The journalist came to her senses, eyed the social worker from a distance, and asked suspiciously, "How did you get out? Have you completed that thing of yours?"
Yet, there was no system prompt indicating that side mission three was complete.
The social worker, with a bewildered look on her face, took a moment to respond awkwardly, "I didn't finish it, and I don't know how I got out either. Then I thought I'd try to catch up with you guys, so I went upstairs first."
"What did you encounter inside?" the journalist asked, frowning.
"A little boy, he kept asking me 'what's this, what's that' questions, and after I answered a few, I suddenly realized he'd gone missing," the social worker said, equally puzzled.
"What... 'what's this, what's that'?" the journalist echoed, perplexed.
"Like, 'is this a pigeon?' 'is this a panda?' 'is this a dolphin?'..."
"How did you answer?"
"Well... I've never seen those animals, so I didn't know what they looked like. I just kept fobbing him off saying 'yes', and he seemed to believe it, hehe~" the social worker said, scratching her head sheepishly.
"..." the journalist.
Though it sounded implausible, it somehow seemed entirely suitable for this person.
So, did this guy just sneak through the checkpoint?
But why hasn't side quest three been completed yet?
Or does it not count because some objective wasn't achieved?
At this moment, the female social worker looked around the corridor and asked curiously, "By the way, where are the photographer and the guide? Have you separated too?"
The female journalist momentarily let down her guard and nodded, "Just now at the second-floor staircase, there was an unavoidable rule that caused all three of us to unintentionally get separated."
"Eh... So now it's just the two of us left, huh? Where to next?" The female social worker asked with a worried look, seemingly regarding her as the leader now.
"Let's go straight to the third floor," said the female journalist.
"What about that rule you mentioned earlier?" The female social worker looked at the stairs leading up to the third floor.
"It's gone now, we can go straight up," she replied.
"Oh, oh!"
The female social worker took the lead, having just come up from the second floor, and went directly to the third floor. The female journalist stood behind and watched her figure, waiting until she had safely reached the middle of the corridor before she started to follow.
...
The third floor seemed to have suffered even more damage from the fire compared to the second floor.
Standing in the stairwell, the smell of charred remains wafting from the third floor was already evident. The walls alongside the staircase were blackened, and touching them would leave one's hand coated in black soot.
The female social worker had subconsciously placed her hand against the wall and, feeling the gritty texture, looked at her hand to find her pale skin smeared with dirt.
"Besides not being allowed to start fires, there don't seem to be any other requirements for the third floor, right?" The female social worker asked in a low voice, standing midway up the stairs.
"Not necessarily, it's still better to be careful... after all…"
Upon hearing this, the female journalist instinctively started to argue, but she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
She now understood why that person accused her of being "self-righteous."
After all, rules can change.
"What happened?" The female social worker tilted her head.
"This place is very strange. It's best to be more cautious in areas with inexplicable anomalies," continued the female journalist.
"That's true, sis has really considered everything!"
The female social worker seemed to have an epiphany and immediately praised her, her voice cheerful.
The female journalist paused slightly, then looked up.
Qiming Building had no electric lights, and the moonlight spilled into the corridor from outside, only managing to permeate faintly into the stairwell. The girl, standing with her back to the corridor and the moonlight, had an indistinct and obscure face, making it difficult to discern her expression.
Perhaps it was the casting of the cold moonlight or something else that made her exposed arms appear somewhat pale.
...
At the end of the third-floor corridor.
Room 301.
The room was large, filled with rows of neatly placed single bunk beds. Opposite the beds, there was a row of cabinets with desks. Your journey continues on My Virtual Library Empire
This was the orphanage's dormitory.
At the moment, a nine-year-old boy dressed in suspender trousers sat neatly on a chair, a Bible resting on his knees, while his amber-colored pupils stared at the book, reflecting not the text but something else.
Yueshu's face was calm. No matter the time, he always seemed to carry an effortless yet indifferent elegance.
Suddenly, the boy furrowed his brow.
"How come he's disappeared?"
That investigator who runs around indiscriminately...
Why is he nowhere to be seen all of a sudden?
Where did he go?
...