"How dare you push me!"
Lin Qiao's furious scream cut through the corridor's silence with rage, fear, and raw panic trembling in her voice.
She stood behind Song Yao, her clothes were disheveled, her knees were bruised and bleeding, and her eyes were full of tears and anger.
"I didn't mean it!" Xing Wang looked flustered and stepped back, "I just.. I just got into a hurry...
"You pushed me and then ran away by yourself!" Lin Qiao pointed at him, her fingers trembling. "You used me as a human shield!"
If it was not for Jiang Che… She bit her lip, unable to finish the sentence.
"When I ran back to save her," Jiang Che said, his voice sharp as a blade, "you ran faster than anyone else... You didn't even glance back."
Xing Wang's mouth opened, pale and trembling, but no words came out.
Jiang Che didn't even look at him again. But just stepped aside, as if standing near him was unbearable.
Qin Yan and I stood nearby, watching everything in silence. Gu Wenqiang leaned against the wall, his face pale, his arm wrapped in a makeshift bandage, still gasping for air.
"Then the 'staff' came after us," Song Yao said calmly. "We thought it was over… but they just stopped."
Qin Yan and I exchanged glances.
"We have the same thing going on." I nodded. "At midnight, they appeared, attacked us... and then suddenly retreated."
"It's like some force is controlling them," Qin Yan murmured.
"Or, only releasing them during certain periods of time," I added.
Everyone fell silent, no one argued anymore.
"We can't fight alone anymore." Song Yao looked at us with her firm voice, "We might not survive next time."
Everyone nodded including Xing Wang.
"What should we do next?" Lin Qiao asked in a low voice.
I took a deep breath and looked at them. "We found Laine's room. His diary was very clear... he poisoned Evelyn and planned to run away with Vivienne."
"So her long-term illness was not an accident. It was his doing..." Song Yao's voice was low.
"We tried to get into her room, but it was locked or blocked by something else," Qin Yan added.
"Maybe the truth is inside," I said. "But we can't risk it again until morning."
"Tonight, we stay together in the lounge," said Song Yao. "We take shifts. No more stragglers."
We nodded silently, then turned away from the hallway where the "staff" once stood.
But the fracture between us… had already begun to spread.