Although he had a conclusion in mind, Wen Xishu still didn’t know what to do next.
After all, the crucial point about these seven households hadn’t been clarified yet.
Wen Xishu tiptoed after this household.
It wasn’t until he heard the sound of the anti-theft door closing that he quickened his pace slightly, following the source of the noise, and arrived at the door of room 49-3.
"I am the neighbor of 14-1. Ah Miao is the neighbor of 35-13, Venerable Wen is the neighbor of 7-5. Xiaowu is the neighbor of 28-11, and Wu Xiangjiao is the neighbor of 21-9."
"The pattern here... seems easy to find. The remaining two people who will die in six days are either 49-3, 42-7, or 49-7, 42-3."
"As it stands now... this 49-3 is very likely one of the seven targets."
Standing at the door of 49-3, Wen Xishu didn’t knock. The time was now 12:47 PM.
He had to go back.
"Previously, interactions with neighbors ended abruptly after about an hour, forcing me to return to my room... I must get back now. If the time runs out, my body will be forcibly controlled by some eerie force."
Wen Xishu wasn’t sure if he would die in the elevator if his body was forcibly controlled on his way back to the 14th floor.
He came to the elevator doors, and when they opened, that "staff member" was once again standing in the corner with his back completely turned to Wen Xishu.
Having learned from the first time, Wen Xishu immediately summoned the Attribute Mirror.
The elevator started ascending to the fourteenth floor, and the "staff member" remained motionless.
Wen Xishu made sure not to touch or speak to the person out of a sudden impulse.
"There’s no need to verify things that would bring me danger yet serve no purpose."
Wen Xishu smoothly returned to his room.
In the neighboring room, Yin Junchi was still continuously revising his manuscript. From time to time, he would shout:
"There are more and more typos, damn it, Yin Junchi, you can’t make such elementary mistakes!"
"Yes, yes, this is it, this is it. If written this way, readers are definitely going to leave comments here, right?"
"Can they guess my plans?"
Yin Junchi kept muttering to himself, neither too loud nor too soft, but because of the eerie silence on the entire floor and the other residents behaving like the dead...
...Wen Xishu could hear Yin Junchi clearly just by leaning against the wall.
"Such energy... just like me."
Wen Xishu couldn’t help but comment.
He was actually still interested. If today hadn’t obviously been more dangerous than yesterday, he would have continued exploring until the eerie force took control of his body.
It was now past one o’clock. Even after expending fifty points of action, Wen Xishu was still full of energy, without a trace of drowsiness.
He sat by the bed, savoring Yin Junchi’s continuous muttering.
But suddenly, Wen Xishu realized something was off.
"No, it shouldn’t be like this."
After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Wen Xishu said:
"There’s something wrong with my energy levels. This isn’t my normal state."
"I should have noticed yesterday. After the meeting, I should have wanted to rest, but I had no desire to rest at all."
"With limited action points, the most sensible thing to do should have been to empty my mind and rest well."
"But I had no desire to rest at all!"
It’s difficult for a workaholic to voluntarily rest.
"I too am being influenced by something!"
When this thought crossed his mind, a slight fatigue finally crept in.
Wen Xishu opened his mouth wide and closed his eyes as he yawned.
As the yawn ended, a flash of light darted through Wen Xishu’s mind.
He stood up abruptly.
The action of yawning turned out to be the key that connected everything for Wen Xishu.
When he yawned, he had closed his eyes, but due to his desire to continue exploring, he felt he should open them again.
Just at that moment, Wen Xishu suddenly understood something.
"It’s not an illusion... not an auditory hallucination! When yawning, with eyes open, yawning! That terrifying scene Yin Junchi described was actually about yawning."
In Yin Junchi’s description, whenever he closed his eyes, he would see hundreds of faces staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths.
This motion represented an extremely frightened expression, and Wen Xishu had focused on this line of thought from the beginning.
But just now, he suddenly realized it was actually yawning.
Driven by amplified work desire, Yin Junchi refused to close his eyes, and due to extreme exhaustion, he desperately desired to yawn and close his eyes to alleviate fatigue.
The eerie thing was, mentally, he resisted closing his eyes. Thus, in his subconscious projection, Yin Junchi saw a crowd of people yawning with their eyes wide open...
The reason he seemed insane, mimicking those actions, was because he was subconsciously yawning—yawning with his eyes open.
Exactly like the people in Yin Junchi’s hallucinations. Even the "ah" sound was identical.
"He can no longer close his eyes... Influenced by some eerie force, he now strictly prohibits himself from any actions that suggest rest."
"As time passes, this influence will intensify, and fear will further augment this effect."
"So, as his neighbor, I’m also affected by this force. Due to deep contemplation on the strange happenings in this building, a subtle terror resides in me as well."