Everyone has awakened, but I am the only mortal!

Su Bai's gaze fell on Luo Zheng.

Luo Zheng's Adam's apple bobbed. After a moment of silence, he asked, "How long have we been out?"

"About ten minutes," Su Bai said.

Luo Zheng forced a bitter smile, his tone filled with exhaustion and horror: "Can you believe it? We walked outside for over an hour."

Su Bai frowned slightly, and then heard Luo Zheng continue, "Someone couldn't bear the fear in his heart and insisted on going back, but after he went back, he never came back. We only heard a shrill scream from the darkness, and then there was no sound. Later, we saw light over here and reached the window."

The crowd, who had not yet recovered from the previous shock, tensed up instantly and turned pale when they heard the word "scream".

Some people's teeth chattered, some couldn't help but sob quietly, and panic, like an icy tide, once again overwhelmed everyone.

Su Bai remained silent, his fingertips gently stroking the syringe in his pocket, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

The time distortions in this other world, the invisible barriers, the mysterious disappearances of people—everything about it is eerie.

Yet it's impossible to discern any pattern!

Luo Zheng took a deep breath, suppressing his unease: "We haven't figured anything out yet. We can't delay any longer. We must find clues as soon as possible. If we keep dragging this out, we might all die here."

His words served as a wake-up call, jolting the panicked crowd awake.

Everyone forced themselves to stay alert, their eyes frantically scanning the room, afraid of missing any clue.

The old newspapers on the table naturally became the focus of everyone's attention.

Luo Zheng leaned closer and carefully read through the pages, word by word.

This is a city daily newspaper, dated seven months ago, just before the end of the world.

The newspaper was only turned to the first page, and it's clear that most people reading it at the time were probably interrupted by the sudden disaster halfway through.

Luo Zheng and Zheng Yi were engrossed in studying the contents of the newspaper, while Su Bai turned around and slowly surveyed every corner of the lounge.

He noticed that several people were staring intently at the picture frames on the east wall, their eyes glazed over and their bodies trembling slightly, as if they were frozen in place by something.

Su Bai paused slightly and subconsciously looked at Old Zhou beside him.

Old Zhou's forehead was covered in cold sweat, his face was as pale as paper, his eyes were wide open, his whole body was trembling uncontrollably, and a look of terror still lingered on the corner of his mouth, as if he had seen the most terrifying scene in the world.

Looking at the other people staring at the photo frame, they all looked the same: vacant eyes, rapid breathing, and stiff bodies, as if trapped in some inescapable predicament.

Su Bai pursed her lips, about to look up at the photo frame, when a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

He gave a barely perceptible smirk, and then without the slightest hesitation, he stepped onto the stool beside the bed and reached out to take down the picture frame from the wall.

The instant the picture frame left the wall, those who had been staring at it suddenly exhaled a heavy breath, their bodies went limp as if a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders, the fear on their faces gradually faded, and their eyes slowly regained their clarity.

Old Zhou wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his voice still trembling: "Holy crap... I actually fell asleep standing up just now, and I had a nightmare. I dreamt that I fell into a river, and it kept sinking deeper and deeper until I was about to drown. No matter how hard I struggled, it was no use."

The others echoed their sentiments, their voices filled with lingering fear.

"Me too! I had the exact same dream as you!"

"I thought I was really going to drown in my dream..."

Old Zhou gritted his teeth, pointing at the photo frame in Su Bai's hand, but not daring to even glance at it. He said urgently, "This frame is too cursed! Something bad will happen if you look at it even once. Smash it right now!"

Su Bai glanced at him indifferently, her tone as calm as if stating something trivial: "If we smash it, what if the things hidden inside escape?"

Old Zhou and the others froze instantly, their faces showing even more lingering fear: "..."

That seems to make sense.

Ma Jun and Hei Zi, who were searching for clues in the room, heard the commotion and quickly came over.

They dared not look at the photo frame, but instead asked Su Bai curiously, "Why can you look at it and be trapped in an illusion, but we are trapped after just one glance?"

Su Bai raised an eyebrow, his tone remaining calm: "I was squinting, so it doesn't count as 'seeing' in the true sense."

Everyone: "...!!!"

Is it even possible to exploit loopholes in the rules like this?!

Ignoring the shock of the crowd, Su Bai narrowed his eyes slightly and gently wiped the dust off the glass of the photo frame.

Soon, two lines of small characters on the inside of the picture frame became clearly visible.

He recited, word by word: "The sleeper is sacrificed, the speaker is buried with him. The true monster has no body, yet feeds on breath. The way to break this deadlock is to slay the true spirit."

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights in the room suddenly started flashing wildly.

The alternation between light and dark grew faster and faster, the blinding light making people's eyes blurry, and the already oppressive atmosphere became even more eerie and terrifying.

"Ah—!" Someone gasped in fright at the sudden change, shrinking into a ball.

Luo Zheng and Zheng Yi immediately looked up from their newspapers, their expressions grave as they looked at Su Bai: "What happened?"

"I only read the words on the picture frame," Su Bai said calmly.

"What word?" Luo Zheng asked excitedly.

Su Bai repeated the twelve-character motto again.

The lights continued to flash wildly, casting flickering light and shadow on everyone's faces, making them appear particularly ferocious.

But Luo Zheng couldn't care less about any of that. He shoved the newspaper into Zheng Yi's hand, strode over to Su Bai, his eyes glued to the words on the picture frame, his voice brimming with excitement: "This is the clue the other world gave us! We finally have a direction!"

It seems that a clue has appeared, and looking at the painting again no longer plunges one into a nightmare.

Luo Zheng paused, then suddenly remembered something and looked at Su Bai again: "By the way, was there any clue on that syringe you found before?"

"There's only one set of numbers, 007," Su Bai said truthfully.

"007?" Luo Zheng frowned, muttering to himself, "Could it be the number of days we'll be stuck in this other world?"

His words were like a flash of inspiration, instantly enlightening Su Bai.

Su Bai nodded slightly: "We'll know tomorrow."

At this moment, the lights flickered even more intensely, stinging people's eyes and making their breathing erratic.

Old Zhou muttered impatiently, "If this keeps flashing, this broken light will break sooner or later!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a crisp "snap" rang out—

The lights went out completely.

The room was instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness, so thick that it was impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face, as if one were in an endless black hole.

"ah--!!!"

Some people were so frightened that they heard screams.

Immediately afterwards, more screams and hurried footsteps mingled together, plunging the entire room into chaos.