Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 14: Cloudwalk Heights [Complete]

1775: Disintegration

"I told you so..."

In the suffocating silence, only Guan Nan's voice broke through, thin and taut like a spider's web suspended in the darkness. "Someone among us wanted to use this opportunity to harm others, and yet you all thought I was just being paranoid."

No one responded. The only sounds were the rough, uneven breaths of the group, swirling through the dimness like oppressive waves of heat.

Dr. Chen sat slumped behind the desk, the circle of white light isolating him amidst the surrounding darkness. The scene resembled a stage set: an actor under the spotlight, ready to exit in the next act.

"I don't understand..."

After a few seconds, Jiang Tian stumbled forward into the light, stopping short before she got too close. "I don't understand... why? What purpose does killing him serve?"

That was exactly what Lin Sanjiu couldn't figure out.

If the killer's aim was to sabotage cooperation and win the game to escape, it made little sense. Dr. Chen had already explained the record-keeping system's principles. Even without him, the system could still function. Could the murder have been meant as a warning?

Was it a message that participating in the record-keeping system put one's life at risk?

"Nobody move," Lin Sanjiu said, offering a word of caution. "I'll check."

With that, she took two steps forward, bent down, and picked up the flashlight. In response to an audible gasp from someone, she walked toward the desk.

"Do you even know how to check?" Wen Ya followed her immediately, disregarding her warning. "How many corpses have you actually seen? Don't mess up the evidence—"

"Step back," Lin Sanjiu said, casting him a cold glance over her shoulder.

Wen Ya stopped but didn't retreat.

Ignoring him, Lin Sanjiu shone the flashlight directly onto Dr. Chen, sweeping the beam up and down his body. There were no visible injuries. Gripping the dead man's hair, she slowly lifted his head. The moment the light fell on his face, a collective gasp of horror sounded from the group behind her.

There was no doubt; Dr. Chen had been killed by someone's evolved ability.

Beneath his half-closed eyelids and slightly parted lips was a congealed blackness. His eyes were entirely covered by an inky layer, and his mouth gaped open just enough to reveal the same dark substance within. Lin Sanjiu tapped the inside of his lip with the flashlight, eliciting a dull clink against something hard. There were no teeth or tongue to be found.

If Dr. Chen's body were a bag, then the bag had been filled with solidified black cement.

She frowned and thought for a moment but couldn't recall whether she'd seen a similar ability in the hive-like grid of listed powers. There had been too many on the screen back then, and she rarely paid attention to directly lethal abilities.

"If someone's evolved ability involves injecting this black substance into a person's body to kill them," Lin Sanjiu began, letting Dr. Chen's head gently fall back to its original position, "then the pitch-black darkness earlier would have been the perfect opportunity to use it without anyone noticing."

"But... there was no one near Dr. Chen earlier," Muya said blankly. "Can an evolved ability be used from a distance?"

Lin Sanjiu didn't answer. Instead, she picked up the paper from the desk and examined it closely.

"Hey, don't just read it yourself," Wen Ya said as he stepped closer, reaching out a hand. "What's written on it? Is it a message he left before he died?"