Ten Day Ultimatum

Chapter 403

Chapter 403

Ten Day Ultimatum

Chapter 403 Nothing but People

“Su Shan, there’s no one there,” Zhang Chenze said. “Did you see wrong?”

“See wrong…?” Su Shan slowly widened her eyes, the whites turning blood-red once more, and those two humanoid silhouettes grew ever clearer. “I didn’t see wrong… there are people standing there…”

With a smile, Su Shan took a step forward. “You really can’t see them? A man and a woman, standing there. What are they doing…? Why aren’t they moving at all…?”

The three other women glanced at the display screen and bell, a sense of unease creeping in.

“Su Shan…” Lin Qin reached out and pulled Su Shan back. “You’re {overusing your Reverberation}. You need to stay clear-headed… remember, it’s you who has control over your {Reverberation}, not the other way around.”

“No… I’m perfectly fine…” Su Shan turned her head toward Lin Qin, her eyes once again shedding blood tears. “Everything is clearer now… I’m looking at this world anew…”

Qin Dingdong’s brows slowly furrowed. When she previously teamed up with Su Shan, they had only operated indoors—never outdoors—so at this moment, she could not tell whether Su Shan had gone mad or was truly seeing something.

“Lin Qin… your {glimmers} are so warm…” Su Shan went on smiling as she grasped Lin Qin’s wrist. “All around you floats the two words {Boosting Touch}… you’re like a sun, radiating warmth…”

Then she turned to Zhang Chenze. “Chenze, the shape of your {glimmers} are peculiar. They float above your head, swirling with murky {Soul Reposition}. From afar, you look like a black lighthouse.”

Hearing the words {black lighthouse}, Zhang Chenze’s expression visibly dimmed.

“Xiao Shan, you really need to rest. We don’t need to know what our {Reverberations} look like right now, but you need to close your eyes for a bit.” Qin Dingdong turned to Lin Qin and said, “Lin, let’s take her inside somewhere to sit down.”

“Alright…” Lin Qin nodded. She was just about to steady Su Shan, when the latter pushed her hand away.

Su Shan smiled as she swept her gaze around, then spoke, “Haven’t you noticed? There are more and more {people}…”

“What {people}?” The three women also glanced around, but there were only ruined buildings.

“We’re surrounded by {people}…” Su Shan laughed aloud. “So {End Point} actually has so many people? How lively…”

She slowly stepped forward a few paces until she stood beneath an old lamppost, reaching out to touch the metal pole.

“Why aren’t you moving…?” Su Shan asked with a smile. “Have you been standing here all along?”

“Su Shan…” Zhang Chenze started forward to stop her, but the other two restrained her.

“Chenze, there’s nothing we can do now…” Lin Qin said regretfully. “She’ll be back next cycle…”

The three of them watched Su Shan speaking to the lamppost, each feeling uneasy. Were it not for her eyes, they would all have died in Terrestrial Dog’s game. Yet it was precisely those eyes that had stripped Su Shan of her sanity.

{Reverberations} that affect the eyes seemed somewhat different from other {Reverberations}.

After all, human curiosity is boundless; people simply ignore what they cannot see. But once they begin to perceive vague outlines, they feel compelled to look harder.

Now Su Shan wanted to make sense of these blurry silhouettes, and to see all the {glimmers} around her.

These eyes would very well be her undoing.

“How strange…” Su Shan smiled as she turned to face them. “Can you all hear them talking?”

The others noticed her eyes had turned a dark red, looking particularly terrifying.

Zhang Chenze glanced at the lamppost before her, shaking her head gravely. “No.”

“Me neither…” Su Shan’s expression began to dull. “This person has been moving their mouth, but I can’t hear a thing… I thought maybe my ears had gone bad too…”

She then studied the numerous {people} surrounding her… they seemed to be speaking, yet all was utterly silent.

“How fascinating…” Su Shan paused, “It’s like watching a silent film.”

“Lin…” Qin Dingdong whispered, “Should I just kill her? She can’t go on like this.”

“Sigh…” Lin Qin heaved a sigh. “Do you even have the strength? Su Shan used to be a police officer, she must have received training…”

“It’s fine. I’ll find a stone. Even if she’s trained, a direct hit to the head will—”

“What… are you two discussing?” Zhang Chenze froze.

“Chenze…” Lin Qin furrowed her brow as she looked at her. “We’re preparing to put Su Shan out of her misery. It might sound irrational, but you’ll get used to this sort of thing eventually…”

Zhang Chenze thought it over carefully; while it felt unfair, it was indeed a helpless measure. If Su Shan continued surviving in this state for the remaining six days, it would be a torment for her.

“In that case, I’ll do it…” Zhang Chenze said after a moment’s reflection. “You two don’t have the strength to complete this task.”

With that, she stepped aside and picked up a stone from the roadside.

The other two stared at her blankly, feeling this woman was far too rational.

Was it normal for an ordinary {novice} to have made this mental preparation at the outset?

Zhang Chenze held the stone in hand and quietly stepped behind Su Shan, a sense of déjà vu washing over her—yet felt somehow different.

This time, she was about to kill someone who had treated her kindly, and the thought weighed heavily on her heart.

‘I already bear the responsibility for killing another…’ Zhang Chenze gritted her teeth and raised the stone in her hand.

Su Shan, still facing away from her, slowly lifted her head to gaze at the sky.

Moments later, she took half a step back and nearly bumped into Zhang Chenze.

“Huh…?” Su Shan looked up at the sky in confusion, her expression one of sheer astonishment.

Zhang Chenze had intended to strike in that instant, but her curiosity got the better of her. She followed Su Shan’s gaze upward.

Above them hung a pale, dirt-colored sun streaked with faint black lines.

“Look…” Su Shan slowly raised her hand, a smile spreading across her face. “It’s really lively here… even a woman is floating in the sky… why is she floating up there?”

The three others felt an icy chill crawl down their spines.

A woman? In the sky?

Not a single cloud marred the dark red sky, with a lone sun hanging in it.

“Do you want to come down and play with us…?” Su Shan extended her arms as if to embrace, “floating that high… isn’t it dangerous?”

As her words fell, her eyes turned pure black, and the black blood gradually streamed down her cheeks.

In just a few seconds, her arms fell limply to her sides, and she collapsed face-first onto the ground.

Zhang Chenze froze for a moment, quickly setting down the stone and checking Su Shan’s pulse—she was already dead.

Not far away, the bell above the display screen chimed, and the line related to {Prompt Descry} vanished.