"Since it''s supposed to be ten days later, should we consider today as ''Day Zero''?" Lin Qing said, covering her mouth and nose with one hand. "If you go out now, you won''t be able to see the road soon, since there are no streetlights here."


    Qi Xia realized that Lin Qing had a point and quietly walked to one side, sitting on a clean shelf. He had been a bit too anxious, forgetting to even check the time.


    But he was in a rush to leave this haunted place and see his wife—Yu Nian''an. To see the girl who liked to wear white clothes.


    "Xiao''an, I''ll get out of here soon," he muttered to himself. "Wait for me, we''ll have money soon."


    Qi Xia''s expression was different from the others. He wasn''t panicking or feeling sad, just a bit anxious. As the sky darkened, everyone found a clean spot to sit. Fortunately, the night wasn''t cold, though everyone was hungry. They hadn''t had anything to eat or drink for almost a whole day, and each person was feeling weak.


    No one spoke anymore. They just quietly watched as the yellowish sun in the sky set, plunging the world into darkness.


    The day felt like a horrible nightmare to all of them. They all wished that when they opened their eyes again, everything strange would vanish.


    The entire city seemed to have quieted down, but in the distance, they could hear faint sounds, though nothing was clear.


    It was so dark here that they couldn’t even tell if their eyes were open.


    Everyone had grown up in cities, so none of them had ever seen such pitch-black nights where they couldn’t even see their hands in front of them.


    "Conman, are you asleep?" suddenly asked Qiao Jiajing, sitting not far from Qi Xia.


    "What''s up?"


    "Do you think... there are other ''participants'' here?"


    Qi Xia remained silent for a moment, then answered, "I''ve thought about this too. ''Longren'' said that over ten million people have come out from that door. So, logically, there must be more than just the nine of us here..."


    Qiao Jiajing was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you think the woman in the store was one of those who came out of the door before?"


    "Huh?" Qi Xia was slightly stunned. He hadn''t thought about it that way, since the woman seemed like she''d been living here for many years.


    But when he thought about it carefully, it didn''t conflict with the idea. Whether they were brought here ten years or just ten days ago didn’t matter. What was important was that, according to "Longren," this place would disappear in ten days.


    Perhaps their starting points were different, but their ending was the same.


    Fortunately, they probably wouldn’t go crazy like the storewoman. After all, they only needed to stay here for ten days.


    No matter what, after ten days, they would see the "result."


    "Conman? Are you asleep?" Qiao Jiajing asked again.


    Qi Xia didn’t answer him. Instead, he turned his head to one side, thinking seriously about everything that had happened today.


    What was behind all these strange occurrences?


    Unable to get a response from Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajing stopped asking and fell silent.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    After a while, two people spoke in the darkness. It sounded like Dr. Zhao and Officer Li.


    "Dr. Zhao…"


    "Yes?"


    "I want to ask... if a woman is malnourished for a long time, can she still bear children?"


    Dr. Zhao paused for a moment, understanding what Officer Li meant. The storewoman looked like she hadn’t eaten for a long time, but why was she still able to give birth to a child?


    The others seemed interested in the question and waited quietly for his answer.


    Dr. Zhao organized his thoughts and said, "This is a complicated question. If a woman is malnourished for a long time, it can cause irregular periods, or even menopause, meaning she wouldn''t ovulate and therefore wouldn''t be able to conceive naturally."


    "So... is this another thing science can’t explain?" Officer Li asked in a low voice. "The woman in the store looks very unhealthy."


    "The specifics can’t be concluded," Dr. Zhao sighed. "In some areas in Africa, people have very low nutritional intake, yet the birth rate is still high..."


    "But this is not my area of expertise. It depends on each person’s constitution and the intake of key nutrients. I don''t know much more."


    After hearing this, Officer Li didn’t say anything else. The room fell into silence again.


    Qi Xia hadn’t planned to sleep, but in the pitch-black environment, his senses began to blur, and eventually, he stopped thinking altogether.


    With the soft "shh" sound of the street outside, his eyelids drooped, and he fell asleep.


    He didn’t know when he fell asleep, but in his dream, he saw Yu Nian''an’s figure.


    "Xia, do you know? There are many roads in this world, and everyone has their own path."


    "Yes, Xiao''an, I know," Qi Xia nodded in the dream. "I’ll be out soon, wait for me."


    He didn’t know how much time had passed, but suddenly, a loud, almost ear-splitting chime sounded, like thunder ringing in his ears.


    Qi Xia opened his eyes, jumped up in a panic, and found that it was already dawn.


    Turning around, everyone was still in shock, just like him, staring at the sound. It had been so loud that it had woken them all up.


    "What’s going on?!" Xiao Ran instinctively hid behind Officer Li.


    Before anyone could react, a strange coughing sound came from the corner of the room.


    The cough sounded like it had something stuck in the throat.


    Dr. Zhao noticed the sound came from behind and slowly turned around, only to be met with a terrifying sight.


    Han Yimo was lying on the ground, with a massive black sword piercing through his abdomen. The sword seemed to have been driven down with great force, with more than half of it buried in the ground.


    Blood was gushing from his mouth as he kept coughing.


    "Hey! Writer!" Qiao Jiajing rushed up to check on him.


    "Cough... Qi... Qi Xia..." Han Yimo extended his hand. His voice didn’t sound like pain or fear, but more like confusion.


    Qi Xia frowned slightly, then walked over, squatted down, and took Han Yimo’s hand.


    "I’m here," he replied, then raised his head and looked at the ceiling of the building.


    The entire ceiling was intact, so the massive black sword didn’t seem to have fallen from above.


    Han Yimo’s lips moved weakly. His eyes began to glow as he made a choking sound and then started crying.


    "This... this place isn’t right... Qi Xia... cough... this can’t happen... this ''Seven Black Sword''... absolutely... cough... impossible... Qi Xia... the ''Seven Black Sword'' is... "


    His coughing intensified, and he couldn’t complete his sentence. Blood poured from his mouth, flowing into his nose.


    Han Yimo coughed loudly a few more times, then stiffened and lost his life.


    Under the suffocating conditions, just a few words drained all of his strength.


    Yes... truly dying people wouldn’t have time for long last words.


    Then, there was silence.


    A long silence.


    Everyone knew Han Yimo probably still had many things to say, but time had run out for him. A living soul had just died in front of them all.


    Qi Xia saw Han Yimo''s lifeless eyes, frowned, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head.


    He pressed his forehead, crouched down, feeling as if something was trying to escape from his mind. Then, he let out a heart-wrenching scream.


    "Ahhh!!"


    Before anyone could process Han Yimo’s death, they were all startled by Qi Xia’s scream.


    "Conman, are you okay?" Qiao Jiajing asked cautiously.


    After half a minute of silence, Qi Xia slowly calmed his breathing and said, "I’m fine... Let’s check on Han Yimo first."


    Seeing that Qi Xia seemed fine, everyone turned their attention back to Han Yimo’s lifeless body, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.


    One thought kept swirling in their minds.


    Had they really died?


    And if a person dies, can they die again?


    "Han Yimo... was killed by someone..." Xiao Ran whispered.


    Her words, "killed by someone," shocked everyone.


    Yes, now the question wasn’t whether "death after death" was possible, but "who the murderer was."


    When Han Yimo was found, he still had some consciousness, meaning the black sword had only recently been driven into his abdomen.


    In other words, the person who killed him hadn’t gone far and was most likely hiding among the remaining eight people.