The Droop-Eared Crow Room was eerily quiet.
Xu Dengming saw no threads of fate other than her own three.
She stood in the dimly lit room for a long while before her dark eyes finally shifted slightly.
The floor inside the room was covered with an old but dust-absorbent rug, where the fresh footprints vanished upon entry.
Neatly stacked on the rug were pyramids of cleaning supplies, each can still perfectly in place.
A thin layer of dust coated their surfaces.
Judging by the arrangement, if a fight had broken out earlier, the cans would have been scattered everywhere.
But if nothing had happened, where had the person who entered gone?
Arms crossed, Xu Dengming considered a possibility-could these footprints be the subject of the essay prompt?
The thought made her sigh inwardly.
She was clearly slipping into work mode, interpreting every detail as part of the assessment.
Near the entrance, to the left, was a small washroom.
With a “since I’m already here” mindset, Xu Dengming decisively stepped inside to investigate.
The harsh light from her phone dispelled some of the washroom’s oppressive darkness.
Her gaze swept over the aged fixtures, but she found nothing.
The washroom was colder than the outside, its damp chill clinging to her like a net.
She rubbed her arms, feeling goosebumps rise on her skin.
Just then, her phone-doubling as a flashlight-vibrated twice.
The Droop-Eared Crow Room was the third storage area she had checked, and her slow pace had brought her to noon.
Earlier, they had agreed to regroup at the dining area by midday to share findings, regardless of discoveries.
Exiting the room, Xu Dengming retraced her steps.
From a distance, she heard heated arguing outside the dining area.
Two teams blocked the entrance.
A young man in a black T-shirt pointed angrily at his accuser, shouting, “If you didn’t steal our teammate’s notebook, how did it end up in your hands?”
The accused flushed red, defending himself, “I picked it up when I saw it! I thought it was a clue left by the Bureau!”
The black-shirted man scoffed in disbelief.
The accused intern took a deep breath, suppressing his temper.
“I have a bag if I stole it, why would I carry it openly?”
Abystander hesitantly interjected, “If you found it, where exactly was it?”
The intern gestured down the hallway.
“In the sixth storage room, on a cabinet near the door. There was a pen next to it.”
He added, “At first, I thought the notebook might contain the essay prompt, so I took it out to check.”
Everyone followed the intern’s directions to search the indicated room and indeed found a pen on the cabinet.
The black T-shirt guy who arrived later confirmed it belonged to his companion.
At first glance, it seemed like his companion had simply forgotten the pen while exploring.
But the black T-shirt guy disagreed.
“Old Zhou has a great memory-he wouldn’t just leave his things behind.”
Standing nearby, Dong Shaodan suddenly spoke up, her voice tense.
“If I were you, I’d pray that he really did just forget it.”
Her rare interjection made the black T-shirt guy’s expression darken.
“Are you saying something might’ve happened to Old Zhou?”
He shook his head forcefully, as if trying to convince himself.
“This dorm is full of interns-what could possibly happen to him?”
The conversation thickened the already uneasy atmosphere in the hallway.
Another intern chimed in, trying to lighten the mood.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. Maybe Old Zhou had a sudden stomachache and rushed to the bathroom without grabbing his stuff. If we wait, he’ll probably show up soon.”
Hearing this, Xu Dengming checked her phone-it was 12:10.
Lunch in the cafeteria was served from 11:00 to 13:30.
Xu Dengming sat there, waiting for the situation to resolve itself.
But by the time lunch service ended, the legendary “Old Zhou” still hadn’t appeared.
At the same time, seven other interns had mysteriously vanished during their explorations.
One or two missing interns could be explained away as getting lost or simply overlooked.
But eight people disappearing without a trace was enough to unsettle everyone.
In the cafeteria, the food had been cleared away, the tables wiped clean by cleaning bots.
A large group of interns huddled together, speaking in hushed tones-no one had told them to keep quiet, but they all instinctively lowered their voices.
After learning the task details, teams had initially split off to discuss privately.
But now, with people missing, the interns had regrouped, seeking safety in numbers.
Being in a crowded place felt reassuring as if sheer numbers could ward off danger.
Qin Linge looked pale, her eyes tense as she shared her findings with her group.
“After we got back, I never saw Jin Zhiran. Shaodan, Yunhui, and I just searched the nearby storage rooms-still no sign of him.”
Jin Zhiran was one of the eight missing.
Other groups had also lost members.
The remaining interns in the cafeteria were divided into two camps: one believed the disappearances were part of the Bureau’s test, while the other suspected something had actually gone wrong in the dorm.
So far, the first group was in the majority.
Xu Dengming leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes.
They were starting to feel uncomfortable.
The rain continued to pour outside, the pollution in the acid rain was severe, with harmful substances constantly evaporating.
Prolonged exposure could cause damage to the human body…
“…I think I want to leave.”
An intern suddenly spoke up, his brows tightly furrowed, looking uneasy and agitated.
His companion didn’t quite catch on, asking blankly, “Where are you going?”
The intern took a deep breath and revealed his plan:
“I’m going home. Since the notice said the internship officially starts on December 7th, there’s really no need for us to stubbornly stay in the dormitory.”
“…But we’ve already moved in. Wouldn’t it be inappropriate to just leave?”
After hearing his opinion, some voiced objections, some seemed tempted by the idea, while others watched coldly from the sidelines.
Xu Dengming stood nearby, an inexplicable sense of dissonance rising in her heart.
The dormitory wasn’t locked down by external forces, nor was it a restricted zone, and it was quite close to the management bureau.
By all accounts, it should be a relatively safe place.
So why would an abnormal incident occur here?
Lin Yunhui moved closer to Xu Dengming and whispered, “Do you want to go back?”
Xu Dengming, who had already terminated her apartment lease before coming, shook her head.
“Not for now.”
Aside from the cost of staying at a hotel, everything here paled in comparison to what she had recently experienced.
Xu Dengming felt she could tough it out a little longer and asked in return, “What about you?”
Lin Yunhui frowned and replied: “I haven’t decided yet…”
Some were willing to stay, while others absolutely refused to remain in the building any longer.
The intern had already made up his mind and stood up to leave.
Xu Dengming stared at his retreating figure.
If there weren’t so many eyes around that might notice something amiss, Xu Dengming would have liked to stop him—at least to take something from him to use for [premonition] of his fate.
She took a couple of steps toward the intern.
No one found her actions odd-whether those who supported leaving or those who wanted to stop him, everyone was now gravitating toward the intern.
Surrounded by the crowd, the intern visibly grew tense.
He took a step back, then roughly pushed aside his companions, snapping impatiently, “Don’t crowd me!”
His companion called out in confusion, trying to stop him at least to discuss plans, but the intern forcefully shoved through the crowd and dashed downstairs.
Xu Dengming noticed the intern had brought an umbrella-judging by its style and condition, it seemed to have been scavenged from the storage room.
The intern quickly reached the first floor.
The rain was still falling.
Before rushing out of the dormitory, the intern threw on a dark blue hooded jacket for extra protection against the rain.
Like many others, Xu Dengming followed him out of the dining hall.
On her way out, she casually grabbed a broom from the corner— whether to clean up after someone or to hit someone, it wasn’t clear.
With so many people rushing downstairs at once, their progress was slowed.
By the time the crowd reached the first floor, the intern had already impatiently stepped out of the dormitory doors.
The sky was murky and overcast, as if the entire world was shrouded in the dense curtain of rain beyond the eaves.
The incongruously dark blue figure stood out starkly against the environment.
The misty vapor blurred the scene as he struggled to run forward.
At that moment, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the intern’s figure suddenly sank-his lower legs were instantly swallowed halfway by the ground.
Xu Dengming remembered that the area near the entrance was supposed to be solid concrete pavement.
But perhaps due to the acid rain, the surface had somehow softened like a swamp, severely hindering the intern’s movement.
Now, nearly half of his body had already sunk into the mire, visibly slipping deeper at an alarming rate.
After the initial shock, the intern began thrashing desperately, crying for help as he struggled.
Among those who had followed Xu Dengming downstairs were the intern’s colleagues, who quickly snapped into action, searching for tools to rescue him.
The first-floor lobby was littered with discarded items-old furniture, broken tools, assorted bottles and jars, rotting fabric, and some rusted metal rods of unknown purpose.
But just then, the intern let out a shrill, panicked scream, his voice laced with unmistakable horror, confusion, and terror.