Trembling At A High Altitude

"If you know what's going on, just say it! Why all the nonsense? You haven't said a single important thing..."

Having had the experience of several previous victims, this time, when they saw the man die tragically, the others didn't react with the same fear or intense response as before.

Instead, they were quite dissatisfied with the man's last actions before his death.

From the man's words, it was certain that he had discovered an important clue.

But he wasted a lot of time on nonsense, and before he could reveal the clue he had found, he was already controlled and killed tragically.

As a result, his death did not bring any useful help to the others.

"This thing isn't right! It's very wrong! There's something off here! I know what's going on! I know how they died! Ah..."

Although Li Teng hadn't managed to use his phone to record the first part of the man's final words, having only captured the latter part, he still clearly remembered the last few sentences the man said.

Li Teng carefully studied the video he had hastily shot of the man's final moments, while recalling and analyzing the man's last few words.

"This thing isn't right, very wrong, there's something off..."

The man stood in front of the screen, pointing at it and shouting loudly before his death.

So, was it the screen that was off, or the video that was playing on the screen at that time?

"I know what's going on! I know how they died..."

The man must have discovered an extremely important clue at that moment, otherwise, he wouldn't have said such a thing.

At that instant, he must also have realized that he was going to die; amid the extreme tension, he shouted a few times, unfortunately without voicing the key point, the clue he had discovered.

As a result, his death was in vain.

Li Teng projected the video of the man's dying moment onto the screen so that everyone could watch it closely to see if they could find any traces.

Regrettably, Li Teng was a bit late in filming, and he failed to capture the footage of the man pointing and shouting at the screen; only the image of the man attacked by the mysterious power was captured.

Li Teng replayed the video to the moment when the man pointed at the screen, then paused it and went to observe the screen up close.

What clue had the man discovered here?

It was truly baffling.

Perhaps only in the moment before death can one discover a truly useful clue?

But at that time, facing the extreme fear of death, who would speak aloud the secrets they found?

"Is there surveillance in this meeting hall?" Li Teng walked over and asked two female staff members.

"The meeting hall does not have a surveillance system," one of the female staff replied to Li Teng.

"How can that be? This meeting hall obviously gets rented out frequently for hosting meetings and the like, with many people coming and going. In case something happens, isn't it troublesome without surveillance?" Li Teng expressed his disbelief.

"This meeting hall has not been officially put into use yet, so many of the equipment are not yet complete," one of the female staff explained.

Li Teng went to the wall to look around by himself.

He felt very frustrated.

There really was no surveillance installed in the hall.

Li Teng's plan to use surveillance footage to determine what exactly happened to the man before he died had fallen through completely.

Li Teng stood there, zoning out. The night was getting deeper, and after a whole day of high tension and hectic activity, he was becoming increasingly sleepy, his mind starting to drift.

"What should we do next?" Yuki Noto came over and asked Li Teng, also on behalf of the others, as they saw him standing there in a daze and couldn't help but feel worried.

"Let's go back to our rooms and sleep," Li Teng thought for a moment and replied to Yuki Noto.

Continuing to rack his brains would not bring any answers; if his mental condition got worse, it would be even less ideal to cope with the situations to follow.

Might as well get some rest.

The others have been unable to hold up for a while now.

These past two days have been tough on them, and now, one by one, they are yawning tirelessly. Hearing Li Teng say it's time to sleep, of course, no one objected.

It feels terrifying to fall asleep, but what else can be done?

These people who died were killed in full view of everyone by a Mysterious Power for no reason at all.

This Mysterious Power seems to kill without any pattern, selecting its victims randomly.

If you're chosen, there's no resisting, no escaping, just suffering the cruel abuse of this Mysterious Power until death.

Rather than staying awake in fear, it might be better to sleep.

Perhaps dying in one's sleep wouldn't be too painful.

Originally ten members of the Suicide Squad entered Xianyu Villa, and now, only six returned to the living room of the guest villa.

One died on the mountain road, the fat man in the restroom, the female teacher in the restroom of the living room, and one man in front of the projector screen in the conference hall.

From the two groups taking turns watching the night, now only three people remain in each group.

It's not yet the middle of the night, so it's still Li Teng, Yuki Noto, and the male doctor on watch, while the other three rest first.

The three on watch are also yawning incessantly.

The male doctor sits by the coffee table, propping his head with one hand, trying to act as if he's not sleeping and still on watch, but after a while, he actually fell asleep on the coffee table, even snoring loudly.

Li Teng and Yuki Noto glanced at him but did not wake him up.

"You won't be able to hold up without rest. You should also sleep for a bit on the sofa. I'll keep watch right next to you, and if anything unusual happens, I'll wake you immediately. It's fine," Yuki Noto whispered to Li Teng.

"Aren't you very sleepy too?" Li Teng shook his head.

"I'm different, I don't really need to use my brain much, I just have to follow you. But you can't, you must maintain a fully alert mind in order to find a way to lead us out of here. So, you must rest well. Don't worry! I won't let myself fall asleep," Yuki said as she pinched her own arm hard.

"Alright, I'll sleep for a bit. If you really can't hold up, just wake me, and I'll take over for a while," Li Teng said, really too exhausted to hold on.

"Mm-hmm, you sleep. Or, you can lie down with your head on my lap," Yuki Noto said as she patted her legs while sitting on the sofa.

Li Teng didn't stand on ceremony and lay his head down directly.

...

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Suddenly, Li Teng woke up.

He was gasping for air and sat up abruptly.

The living room was brightly lit, so bright that he had difficulty adjusting to the light for a moment.

He even felt quite dizzy.

It was like being drunk.

"Yuki?"

Li Teng felt around on the sofa next to him, but there was nothing.

He rubbed his eyes vigorously and finally adjusted to the brightness of the lights in the living room.

Sleeping with all the lights on was a necessity; staying in the Mountain Villa was scary enough, and being in complete darkness would only be more terrifying. Fortunately, the villa's electricity never went out, so while people slept, all the lights were on, keeping the inside and outside of the guest villa brightly lit.

However, as Li Teng's eyes adjusted to the light in the living room, he looked around...

Now the living room was empty.

Yuki Noto was not by his side, nor was the male doctor who had been sleeping sprawled on the coffee table.

On the beds placed in the hall, his sleeping companions were also nowhere to be seen.

Only an empty hall remained, as if everyone mysteriously disappeared after Li Teng fell asleep.

"This has to be a dream," he said.

Li Teng touched his face and quickly concluded.

This kind of lucid dream had already become a standard feature in many scripts within Film and Television City.

The first experience might be unfamiliar and frightening, but after many, it's no big deal.

Since it was a dream, it meant he was still sleeping, and his body was at rest.

So he should take advantage of this lucid dream while his mind was clear to thoroughly analyze the clues he had gathered and see if he could find a way out.

Sitting here wouldn't yield any results.

Had the man who died in front of the curtain been silenced for discovering some secret?

Those about to be killed must see something in the last moments before death that others overlook.

Li Teng decided to think about the problem by putting himself in their shoes.

Therefore, he stood up and went to the bathroom, sitting on the toilet to simulate the last moments of the female teacher, to see if he might notice something he had previously overlooked.

After sitting on the toilet, Li Teng looked around to the left, right, up above, and then down at the ground beneath him.

Suddenly, Li Teng thought of something, and his brow furrowed slightly.

Could it be...

To verify his guess, Li Teng decided to check the bathroom where the fat man had died and the curtain in the meeting hall of Villa 6.

He would start with the bathroom where the fat man had died.

Leaving the guest villa, Li Teng suddenly felt an intense dizziness.

It was the kind of dizziness that nearly had him crashing to the ground.

After collapsing, Li Teng felt an urge to just sleep there and not get up again.

"Must be the dream causing this. I am indeed sleepy. The body is asleep, but the mind doesn't want to rest, leading to this discord," Li Teng speculated.

Slapping his face, Li Teng struggled to get up from the ground, looked around to confirm the direction of the bathroom where the fat man had died, and then hurried towards it.

Li Teng had an exceptional ability to remember routes, a skill honed from navigating various scripted worlds. Even though the female staff had only shown them once, he had already memorized the exact location of that bathroom.

Xianyu Villa was lined with streetlights along its roads.

However, the streetlights weren't close together, inevitably leaving some not-so-bright spots between two lights.

Ordinary people walking like this at night would certainly be afraid.

Especially when there was no one else around.

Li Teng, on the other hand, didn't mind.

Plus, he knew he was dreaming.

Speaking of which, the villa he was in now wasn't the real one.

Daytime thoughts lead to nighttime dreams.

Li Teng knew that the villa he was walking through was actually the one from his daytime memories.

His brain automatically composed everything he had observed during the day. Even places Li Teng couldn't remember, but had glanced at, would be recorded by his brain, which would then use these overlooked materials in creating this dream, crafting a complete, flawless dream world.

Li Teng was essentially retracing his own memories, using the stage built by the dream to look for those details his conscious mind had missed but his subconscious had noticed.

He passed a street lamp.

Arriving in a dark area, Li Teng glanced attentively to both sides of the road.

As expected, the scenery on either side was somewhat blurry.

This was because when he originally walked here, he hadn't looked around, so the dream couldn't create the scenery on both sides.

Li Teng tried walking closer to the roadside, wanting to know how his dream would handle the memories he didn't have.

The result...

The scenery by the roadside suddenly became clear, with flower beds and various plants appearing.

Li Teng smiled. He knew this was his 'brain's compensation' effect.

When the dream couldn't find real material to fill the blind spots of vision during the daytime, it would automatically search for similar objects by the roadside and then fill them in here, keeping the world complete and free from flaws.

The dreams created by the human brain probably feared most being discovered by their owner as dreams, right? Once the dream was discovered, people were likely to be jolted awake from it.

So no matter how broken the world, once in the realm of dreams, it would be compensated by the brain to appear whole, making it impossible for a person inside to sense inconsistencies and thus not wake up easily from the dream.

Of course, this was the case with deep dreams. If one's sleep was lighter, that kind of superficial dream, even if compensated for, was prone to various mistakes, making the person realize they were dreaming and then wake up.

Li Teng abandoned this boring exploration of the dream and continued walking towards the next illuminated street lamp ahead.

These street lamps lit the way, like safe islands within the Mountain Villa.

Humans are phototropic creatures, feeling safe only in the light.

Li Teng was no exception; he quickly walked to the next street lamp...

Just then...

Li Teng suddenly felt something was off somewhere, giving him a strong sense of palpitation.

He turned his head back sharply.

Behind him...

There was nothing.

Li Teng glanced at the street lamp subconsciously, then looked back again.

After a while, Li Teng continued walking towards the next lit area.

Moving forward, the light became brighter and brighter.

That was because Li Teng was nearing the restroom where the fat man had met his incident.

The restrooms, inside and out, had plenty of lighting, illuminating the whole area.

The restrooms, both inside and out, were silent, not a soul in sight...

This was not surprising; it was all a dream, and Li Teng's purpose in having this dream was for his brain to help him sort and analyze various clues, unnecessary personnel were not needed in the dream.

Li Teng walked into the ladies' restroom.

The fat man's body was no longer on the restroom floor.

This was because, in Li Teng's memory, he had already moved the fat man's body away.

So the floor here had become a blank space.

There was a very bright light right in the center of the restroom's ceiling, making the floor bright as well.

Li Teng stood where the fat man's body had lain before.

He decided to try assuming the position the fat man had been in before death, to see if he could discover anything new.