Chapter 98: Good Night, Sweet Dreams

After the news segment finished playing, the television began to replay from the beginning once again. The expert’s commentary repeated over and over, a dry and tedious voice echoing throughout the bedroom.

Meteorite Purple Eye Syndrome?

Ji Linmo turned off the TV, but suddenly thought of something and switched it back on.

Was the news on the television truly live?

Or was it merely a rerun?

After all, this TV only had one channel; the news could very well be a broadcast from several days ago.

“Mr. Ji.”

While Ji Linmo was lost in thought, he suddenly saw the young boy before him pull down his eyelids with his hand.

“Mr. Ji, are the insides of my eyelids purple?”

Qin Feng smiled brightly, like a child making a funny face.

“No.”

“What about the other eye?”

“Neither.”

“Then take another close look.”

Before Qin Feng could finish, Ji Linmo frowned and turned to leave, but the boy suddenly held him back and reached out to touch his cheek.

“Mr. Ji, can I check yours as well?”

Ji Linmo could no longer tolerate the boy’s overly intimate behavior and swatted Qin Feng’s hand away.

“Qin Feng, one last warning: our current relationship is not that of teammates.”

The man’s dark eyes were cold and indifferent.

He raised a finger and jabbed hard several times at Qin Feng’s chest.

“We are merely temporary adversaries working together.”

“Understand?”

In an instant, the corners of Qin Feng’s mouth, which had been lifted into a smile, slowly drooped.

Yet he still maintained a faint smile, his eyes dimming as he gazed at the man before him—deep and unfathomable like an ancient well.

“Oh right, I almost forgot. Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Ji.”

With that, the boy narrowed his eyes, appraised Ji Linmo from head to toe with a light chuckle, then gracefully left the man’s bedroom.

“Good night then, Mr. Ji. Sweet dreams.”

Qin Feng elegantly closed the door behind Ji Linmo and even switched off the lights.

As darkness enveloped the room, Ji Linmo clearly saw the faint, elusive smile lingering at the corner of the boy’s lips, sending an involuntary chill down his spine.

Impulsive...

This madman was definitely going to cause him trouble...

Ji Linmo sighed deeply, pressing his hand to his forehead.

Buzz—buzz—buzz—

At that moment, his phone suddenly vibrated. It was another message from “Sister.”

[Sister]

[Brother, do not open the door. It’s dangerous.]

In the dark, the phone emitted a faint blue glow.

Reading the cryptic message, Ji Linmo furrowed his brow.

But from outside the door came strange noises.

He held his breath, listening carefully. It wasn’t footsteps—it sounded like something sliding across the floor.

Thud—thud—

The thing reached the bedroom door and began knocking.

The knocks were rhythmic, always striking the lower part of the door.

Ji Linmo thought for a moment. Seeing the thing behind the door showed no sign of stopping, he crouched down, activated the camera on his phone, and took a photo through the crack beneath the door.

As the shutter clicked, Ji Linmo quickly pulled back his phone.

Despite his mental preparation, he was stunned when he saw the image.

It wasn’t some imagined evil spirit or ghost, but an ordinary robotic vacuum cleaner.

Yes, an oval and flat robot vacuum cleaner, perhaps malfunctioning, stubbornly bumping against the bedroom door along the same path.

Wait—looking closely at the picture, the vacuum appeared to be carrying something on top.

Ji Linmo glanced again at the message from “Sister” and pondered briefly. Then, holding his phone in his mouth, he flung open the nearby window.

As it swung open, an escape rope unfurled outside.

—This was exactly how his bedroom was in real life.

Although on the second floor, jumping out wasn’t impossible.

Still, to be safe and avoid alerting anyone, it was better to use the escape rope.

Ji Linmo tugged it; the rope was solid and reliable. He then climbed down easily.

Outside, the entire town was shrouded in darkness.

Every household had drawn their curtains, as if sound asleep.

Ji Linmo scanned his surroundings without hesitation. His body crackled quietly as he slipped through the narrow kitchen window and reentered the house.

Back on the second floor, he cautiously watched as the robotic vacuum continued to bang against the door.

Under the pale moonlight, he finally discerned what was atop the vacuum: an anime figurine resembling a male character from some game or animation, shirtless, making a heart gesture with his hand.

Who in this household would own such a thing?

Ji Linmo did not believe Qin Feng’s room contained such an item.

Nor did he have one himself.

Eliminating his parents, who were unlikely to like such things, left only one possibility—the sister.

After some thought, Ji Linmo approached the vacuum, picked up the figurine, and redirected the vacuum’s path.

The vacuum happily trundled away.

Ji Linmo frowned and checked the message from “Sister” again.

[Sister]

[Brother, do not open the door. It’s dangerous.]

Could the danger lie not in what was behind the door, but in the door itself?

Touching the “Guardian Ring” on his finger, Ji Linmo steadied himself and pressed his hand firmly on the doorknob, gently pushing it open.

The door was unlocked, so it opened without resistance.

“No danger…”

Seeing the blue curtains fluttering softly in the breeze deepened Ji Linmo’s confusion.

Had his sister’s message been a mistake?

Upon closer examination, aside from the first message from “Sister”—which was long, neatly written, and resembled a house rule posted on the wall—the following two messages were suspicious.

Both started abruptly with “Brother,” were brief and urgent, and carried strong personal emotion.

Could it be that the rules his “Sister” gave were partly true and partly false?

With this doubt, Ji Linmo clutched the figurine and returned to his room.

The figurine itself was unremarkable; the only suspicious thing was where it had come from.

He had thoroughly searched the house except for his parents’ and Qin Feng’s bedrooms, which remained unexplored.

Thinking this through, Ji Linmo sat up again, following the sound of the vacuum sliding across the floor.

In the real world, he would never give a second glance to a robotic vacuum.

But in this terrifying world, it seemed fascinating—it really was cleaning, and quickly at that.

As the vacuum reached Qin Feng’s door and was about to knock, Ji Linmo manually redirected it.

The vacuum kept moving forward, bypassing the parents’ bedroom door entirely.

His eyes darkened.

He now understood: the vacuum had been released from his parents’ room.

And the person who had placed the anime figurine on top was very likely the “Sister.”

Cold sweat dripped down Ji Linmo’s forehead.

If his sister was in his parents’ bedroom, that meant the last two messages on the phone were probably sent by his parents, who had taken her phone!

Given that one message was sent while he was chatting with Qin Feng, and the other before the vacuum arrived—both real-time—

It meant his parents were constantly monitoring them!

Ji Linmo cautiously retreated.

He had originally planned to seize the opportunity that night to investigate his parents’ room, but now that was impossible.

Buzz—buzz—buzz—

His phone vibrated again.

Back in his bedroom, sitting on the bed, Ji Linmo checked the message.

It was from his sister, brief.

[Sister]

[Brother, good night.]

The phone displayed the time: 10:00 p.m.

Almost immediately after, Ji Linmo’s head tilted, and he lost consciousness, collapsing straight onto the bed.

In the brief silence, the sound of the door opening suddenly echoed.

A dark shadow quietly entered Ji Linmo’s bedroom.

The shadow glanced at the message on Ji Linmo’s phone, then slammed the phone shut with a cold aura, clearly displeased.

“......”

Ji Linmo seemed to sense something and furrowed his brow.

But the shadow paid no attention, removed Ji Linmo’s shoes and socks, then lifted him up in a waist hug.

At that moment, Ji Linmo’s instincts screamed that something was invading his personal space.

Yet, deep in sleep, he was utterly unable to awaken, left helplessly at the mercy of the nightmare.

The shadow appeared to place him back on the bed and cover him with a blanket.

Though the gesture seemed gentle, the movement was heavy-handed, as if laced with revenge.

“Mr. Ji, if you only listened to my goodnight, none of this would have happened.”

The shadow whispered in Ji Linmo’s ear. He could not make out the words clearly, and no matter how hard he struggled, he could not rise.

After an unknown interval, Ji Linmo finally woke, half-dreaming.

Drenched in cold sweat, he suddenly sat upright on the bed.

[Current Day: Day Two]

[Remaining Players: 7]

Reading the prompt, Ji Linmo frowned and picked up his phone.

The time now read 5:30 a.m.—the same time he had started the game the previous day.