Chapter 327: 323 Different

Battling the sandman is a very difficult thing; Huang Zhengdao wanted to laugh at his own situation, yet he could not.

How he had longed for sleep before, and yet how he now feared and evaded it.

"It's fine, sleep." Huang Zhengdao suddenly recalled a memory from his Forest Cabin, where a white-clad youth with a kind smile had said this to him.

For some reason, Huang Zhengdao was suddenly as if bewitched, thinking with a sense of self-abandonment that he would fall asleep sooner or later anyway; no one in this world had endless energy, and even an insomniac would eventually be unable to resist the victory of change and close their eyes—even if the sleep was brief, it was still sleep, let alone an ordinary person like himself, how could he fight against physiological instinct?

It's fine, sleep.

One will always sleep.

People will also always die.

If he cannot choose how to die, let him at least choose how to live; let him enjoy a period of peaceful sleep before death.

What a short life it is...

At 4:32 AM, Huang Zhengdao slowly closed his trembling eyelids, a black curtain obscured his vision, his senses granted him illusions, and dreams slowly formed...

"Report, the target is asleep." A Mysterious Investigator responsible for monitoring Huang Zhengdao on the shift reported to Bu Gaojun.

Hearing this, Bu Gaojun, who was resting silently in a corner, straightened his body, quickly rose, and walked to the observation window; he picked up the surveillance scope to peek, discovering that Huang Zhengdao had indeed given up resistance and was lying on the bed, sleeping soundly.

"Let's go, according to the pre-arranged groups, Group A is responsible for evacuating the apartment members, and Group B will enter Huang Zhengdao's room with me." Bu Gaojun put down the surveillance scope and turned to say to the Mysterious Investigators who had all risen.

The entrance and exit of the apartment where Huang Zhengdao lived were like insects evacuating a nest, running out of the apartment building in a swarm, and immediately after, Bu Gaojun, leading the temporary action team Group B, pushed the door open and walked into Huang Zhengdao's room.

The moment his hand touched the door, a cold sensation, as if his entire body had been instantly locked onto by eyes, pierced Bu Gaojun's heart; this clear sense of crisis told him that the inside was absolutely riddled with crises and full of danger.

Creak—

The door was pushed open, and the door hinge made a harsh sound like a scream; everything inside the room looked ordinary and plain, yet there was a feeling of having stepped into a demon's den, a feeling that everywhere was filled with an eerie aura, and that eyes were peeking at the Mysterious Investigators who had broken into this room from everywhere.

"Before we came, were the lights in here off?" Bu Gaojun noticed the incongruity; he remembered that when he was watching the surveillance footage, Huang Zhengdao's room was brightly lit, but now it was pitch black.

"No, they weren't." The Mysterious Investigator who had been on the previous shift replied; he was very certain he had not remembered incorrectly.

The voice of the Mysterious Investigator left behind in the surveillance area came through the earpiece; the other party stated that Huang Zhengdao had been sleeping the whole time, had not moved, and furthermore...

"Furthermore what?" Bu Gaojun frowned.

The voice of the Mysterious Investigator currently responsible for monitoring was trembling: "I can clearly see that the room is lit from here... Team Leader Bu, where have you reached?"

"We are still in the hallway leading from the foyer to the room, walking very slowly," Bu Gaojun said. "We are almost at the bed, you should be able to see us very soon."

Bu Gaojun and the other Mysterious Investigators who heard the exchange felt their hearts tighten; this phenomenon of inconsistent environments indicated that the space in Huang Zhengdao's room was chaotic at this moment, with different spaces superimposed there, and what was seen upon entering the room was naturally different from what was seen from outside the room, and this precisely explained a terrifying fact: that they had very likely broken into the hunting domain of a Shadow-Devouring Insect.

"Ah!"

Just as Bu Gaojun and the others stepped across the hallway and had just walked into the bedroom, about to enter the surveillance field of the Mysterious Investigator peeking here from outside, a scream from that monitoring Mysterious Investigator came through the earpiece.

"Team... Team Leader Bu, I see you guys!?"

"So you see us, so what? Why are you so jumpy?" Upon hearing this, Bu Gaojun could not help but feel speechless and sternly reprimanded the other party.

However, the words of the monitoring Mysterious Investigator made everyone's hearts sink.

"But you guys are lying on the ground... with your eyes open... motionless, it's so scary..."

Goosebumps rose all over Bu Gaojun's body, and he questioned the other party: "Are you sure you didn't see wrong!?"

"I'm sure, very sure! I didn't see wrong, who are you!? You aren't Team Leader Bu!" the monitoring Mysterious Investigator shouted loudly; he even turned the tables and questioned Bu Gaojun's identity.

Zzz—

Bu Gaojun and the others who had entered the room heard a harsh electrical sound and immediately took off their insert-style earpieces and threw them to the ground; that sound was almost piercing their brains.

The Mysterious Investigators looked at each other, all feeling their brains starting to uncontrollably run wild with thoughts.

Was the person they were just connected to really their teammate? Was the other party really not insane? Was what he said true or false... then were they themselves true or false?

They were shaken in their own existence.

Bu Gaojun sensed the chaotic state of mind of his teammates and immediately said: "Do not deny your own existence, do not deny that you are alive; otherwise, if your will dies, you are truly dead!"

Bu Gaojun's reprimand had an immediate effect; the Mysterious Investigators present were all trained and accepted reality earlier and faster than the average person.

Subsequently, Bu Gaojun walked to Huang Zhengdao, who was lying by the bed, and attempted to wake him, yet Huang Zhengdao slept deeply, with not a single sign of waking up.

For this, Bu Gaojun even resorted to force; a slap landed with a thunderous sound, and a large handprint was visibly red and swollen on Huang Zhengdao's left cheek, yet Huang Zhengdao's snoring continued.

"Team Leader Bu, this... this is a dream, right?" Bu Gaojun intended to take Huang Zhengdao out of the room; just as he stood up, he heard someone say this to him. He looked up and discovered that the two Mysterious Investigators who had acted with him were both standing by the window, as if frozen, stiff and wooden, looking outside with terrified eyes.

Bu Gaojun's heart tightened; he lowered his head and took a step forward, grabbed their shoulders, and pulled them away from the windowsill, deliberately not looking at the scenery outside the window.

Although from the angle he had just seen, the night outside was clearly very ordinary, he dared not look in the direction his two teammates were looking; there must be something terrifying in the field of vision seen from that angle.

Both teammates were cold all over, their muscles tense, falling to the ground like wood with hideous expressions. Bu Gaojun checked their condition, but when he saw their eyes, the emotion known as fear occupied the area of his rational activity in a split second.

Their eyes reflected that deep red scenery like a canvas; although their field of vision had left that place, the reflected scenery was carved and frozen in their eyes.

In their eyes, swarms of huge Shadow-Devouring Insects occupied this city, watching this place with malicious intent.