"I see... Then, can I group up with you two? To be honest, I also don't trust the people from the main building."
It could be said that, other than the people lacking in financial resources, some questionable individuals were also living in the abandoned school.
With a location quite hidden and also distant from the outside world, the abandoned school was the perfect place for breeding evils; hence, it was often used as a prime location for lawless transactions, such as selling illegal substances and items, making it hard for him to trust anyone from the building.
"But these two...' Thinking of something, Hans then gazed at the two in silence.
Although he's not familiar with these two, upon living in the same building for a couple of years, he still gleaned a thing or two regarding their personaloties.
It could be said that, other than Naib's face that had always been clouded with gloom, thoughts always wandering from some unknown space, the behavior of Jerome was much better than most residents of the building, making him slightly at ease in his presence.
"I see..."
Hearing the other party's words, Naib didn't immediately reply; instead, he stared at Hans' eyes for a couple of seconds, silent before eventually nodding his head.
"Up to you. However, if you do something stupid, then don't blame us."
Speaking those words coldly, Naib then slightly raised his shirt, showing a small rusty knife hidden in his waist, making the latter nod in silence.
With the lesson from the past, Naib always hid a small knife on his body for self-preservation, although he didn't know if he would ever use it; having a safety measure was never bad.
As for the reason why he had accepted Hans proposal instead of refusing him to reduce potential trouble, the other party arriving here before them and immediately noticing the problem with the invisible barrier gave him a good impression of him.
In this time of disaster, having a person of this caliber on their side wasn't bad. Who knows, it might increase their chance of survival later?
Ding!
[ Number of Participants 18/22 ]
At the same time, while the three were heading toward the western part of the abandoned school in a concealed manner, a sudden notification popped up in front of the residents.
In just a span of 10 minutes, another two people have died—increasing the number of casualties from 2 to 4—further fueling the chaos coming in all directions!
While chaos was escalating and unease enveloped everyone, despair spreading like a locust...
In the northeast direction, on the second building of the abandoned school, a middle-aged woman can be discerned hiding in the corner of the broken library—hiding beyond the shelves as she stares into the darkness outside.
After ensuring that no one was around...
With hurried breathing, the middle-aged woman then began furiously typing on her phone, attempting to contact someone from the outside world, but to no avail.
"Son, where are you? Mom needs your help."
Uwa~
Uwa~
However, while the middle-aged woman was looking at her phone in anxiousness, calling the same number from time to time, fear creeping up her whole being, a cry of an infant suddenly entered her ears.
In an instant, upon hearing the cry, her eyes, which were filled with anxiety, suddenly widened, and her heart skipped a beat.
Without further ado, she swiftly shifted her gaze away from her phone toward the outside, only to see nothing.
With her maternal instinct acting, despite having doubt in her mind and knowing the risk of going outside, she still chose to leave her hideout and look for the infant, planning to take it for protection.
But, unbeknownst to her, among the residents of the building, the youngest was already 4 years old.
...
Ding!
[ Number of Participants 17/22 ]
"The number of residents has reduced again. It's not even an hour since the screen appeared, yet 5 people have already died. If this continues, I'm afraid that most people will die even before the sun comes out."
"Shh~ Don't make a sound."
Upon reinforcing the lock on the door of the warehouse, Naib gestured toward the two to lower their voice.
While doing so, his eyes scanned the dim surroundings, looking for items that could be used for self-protection while carefully listening to the faint shout echoing from the outside of the building.
"The sound outside already started to die down; people probably wised up and started to hide by now. But if some choose the first option, then it's inevitable that some courageous people would choose the second one.
"I hope they succeed.'
Naib thought while handing the rusty pipes that he casually picked up from the ground toward the two before moving to the nearest window.
Peeking from the broken window, Naib can see some light flashing from afar, moving at a quick speed as if chasing something before vanishing in the intersection.
Huff~
"I hope they can buy us time."
...
Soon, time passed by; amidst the unease, only half an hour was left before the morning arrived.
In the warehouse where the three were hiding, Naib's expression, which was gloomier than the night, could be seen staring at the void in front of him in pure silence, although there was only half an hour left before they could accomplish the goal of the panel. The death toll in the past hours intensified his unease.
[ Number of Participants 10/22 ]
Out of 22 residents of the building, 12 had died in the span of 2 and a half hours!
Meaning that the killer would kill a victim every 12.5 minutes.
If these continued, the killer could still kill 3 or more people in the rest of the time.
"However...' Thinking of something, Naib's expression eased somewhat.
It could be said that, despite killing 12 people so far, Naib noticed that the killer seems to be targeting only one person at a time.
A thing that he realized upon observing the panel in front of him for a long time.
"Every time the killers struck, there would be a clear interval. With this, I can assume a couple of things.
"The killer, it's either he/she is treating this as a game (hunting people one by one to increase the difficulty) or his/her ability was limited.
"Maybe... the killer doesn't have confidence facing several people at once!" Thinking of it, Naib's unease eased a little bit.
However, despite having an assumption, he remained in the warehouse with the two.
Even though he felt that his guess was right, if there's a safer option, he wouldn't mindlessly risk his life.
Moreover, what if his assumption was wrong? Wouldn't it be seeking death then?