novelraw Chapter 135
Chapter 135
Useful information provided in Chapter 135
"Let me think, let me think carefully..." The cleaner's murky eyes never left the gold ring for a single moment.
That was exactly what he had asked Cheng He and the others to find on the first day.
The golden-glowing ring was the embodiment of his desires, and the beginning of all sin.
He was trapped in this place day after day, repeating his past life every moment, unable to atone for the sins he had committed.
Orphans and players normally had no way to see him; he was like a specter, hidden in the deepest shadows, unable to see the light.
Only during those brief moments specified by the rules could he be 'seen' by them.
He wanted to continue 'living,' yet when facing the agonizing torment night after night, he only wished to die immediately.
"Back then, there was a cell phone... sent by one of the children who left, for communication... I heard about it later from the director... it was discovered, confiscated... probably, probably..."
"I don't know if it's still there now... all those forbidden items were handled by the financial management committee member. I heard she has a box specifically for storing those things..."The financial management committee member?
Xu Zisheng leaned against the wall, listening nearby, frowning slightly.
This was contact with another component of the orphanage's staff. From the first day until now, they had never heard of this person.
If not for the cleaner's words, they probably would never have known such a role existed.
The cleaner stopped talking and reached out to take the ring from Cheng He's hand, but the other lightly raised his hand to avoid it.
"Where is that committee member? Does she have her own office?"
Cheng He clearly wanted to ask for more information, but the cleaner gave a sinister chuckle, "I've said enough already. Anything more... I can't quite remember..."
Although hunched over, the cleaner's aura suddenly turned cold and gloomy. The light in the entire corridor seemed to be blocked by something, instantly darkening.
The boy with thick glasses stood in stalemate with him, while Xu Zisheng outside straightened up slightly and cast his gaze toward them.
"But, but—"
Amid the stalemate, the other changed his tone—there was still room for negotiation.
"If you're willing to help this old bone clean this wall outside, maybe I can remember more things."
The old man bent down to pick up the bucket by his feet, pushing it forward. Some of the murky, greasy water splashed out.
A few palm-sized objects floated slightly up and down.
He seemed to have known all along that Xu Zisheng was outside too.
Cheng He was no fool.
This was probably the biggest concession they could get right now.
The boy handed over the gold ring, placing it in the cleaner's wrinkled hand.
The other picked up the ring and examined it carefully, gently stroking it as if reminiscing about this hard-won treasure, his eyes revealing traces of greed and desire.
He clumsily slipped the ring onto his finger bit by bit, fitting perfectly into the indentation.
The cleaner's throat emitted an extremely eerie, distorted sound, like laughing yet also crying, as unpleasant as a broken bellows.
Taking advantage of this moment, Xu Zisheng had already walked over and, together with Cheng He, carried the bucket outside.
Looking at the purplish-blue objects floating on the water's surface, both could roughly identify what they were.
There were human internal organs, along with other flesh and blood mixed with unknown substances combined into these things.
Neither of them hesitated, treating them as if they were ordinary sponges and rags. There was no foul smell, nor any sticky, disgusting texture. They picked them up with normal expressions.
The two began wiping the walls, one on each side.
As for whether using these things could actually clean the wall wasn't within their consideration.
The cleaner took all of this in, "Heh, heh..."
He lightly tapped the ring on his finger, "It's just when it's nearing the end that something different comes along. How it will ultimately turn out... I have no idea..."
After Xu Zisheng and the others finished as requested, the cleaner walked over smiling, bent down to retrieve the bucket.
"Good, after resting for a bit, I remember more now."
"That committee member's office is in the west office building, second floor I think... can't remember clearly."
After providing this information, the cleaner added one more thing.
"Here's a bonus—the security guard at the back gate used to love reading newspapers. The newspapers he's read could probably stack into a small mountain... but if you ask me, some news just loves chasing shadows..."
"What should be properly reported isn't, they only write those empty, unreal things."
He seemed somewhat disdainful, as if genuinely complaining about inaccurate news reporting.
Holding a broom and dustpan in one hand and carrying water in the other, the hunched, short figure turned around and eventually faded into the darkness, disappearing from the two's sight.
They had delayed for some time already; they needed to return to the group.
But this trip had indeed yielded plenty of useful information.
It seemed they now had destinations for tonight's wandering.
One was the west office, and the other was the security booth in the backyard.
The only problem was how to allocate personnel for exploration.
They were only temporarily allied now, and due to lack of trust, it was very possible that someone might find useful information and keep it to themselves.
They would need to discuss later how to handle this.
If all three went to one place first, then doubled back to the other, they might run out of time.
If they encountered obstacles on the way back to the dormitory and got delayed until last night's timing again, that would be terrible.
No one present wanted to face that thing again.
Splitting up would at least provide some insurance, preventing complete failure on both fronts.
When the separated groups of orphans reunited, the [Writer]'s team—the one with the most players and the most deadweight—had indeed returned with everyone accounted for.
You could even see that the role-playing players had grown more trusting and dependent toward the [Writer].
However, it wasn't just them crowding around trying to get close; those ghosts disguised as ordinary people also gathered by his side.
Xiao Gui'an walked calmly, but his gaze occasionally fell on the boy beside him who always maintained a gloomy expression.
Unlike the other children, Xiao Fan remained wary and withdrawn.
He never wanted to get too close to the [Writer].
The surrounding orphans didn't seem to like him much either, basically treating him as invisible.
Once they stopped in the open area, his few companions gathered around.
Compared to Xiao Fan's perpetually gloomy face, even Xiao Yong with his limp occasionally smiled.
And it always seemed to be the three of them who approached him; they'd never seen him take the initiative to come over.
Xiao Gui'an glanced down at the birthmarked boy's slightly limping foot but said nothing.
Noon time was usually short.
After eating and chores, it wasn't long before afternoon classes began.
If you wanted to rest, you could nap at the classroom desks.
But in this environment, players couldn't truly fall asleep; their nerves remained taut.
They were just mimicking the other orphans' behavior.
If they were worried about being late for the second-floor interest class later, they needed to prepare in advance.
This afternoon's two classes belonged to Teacher Tang and Teacher Luo respectively.
The Acting Director's words had come true—or perhaps she had been pulling strings and manipulating things behind the scenes all along.
Among the orphans, someone was going to be locked in the Punishment Room again.