Midnight Factory

Midnight Factory

The cicadas' chirping, which had echoed throughout the summer, continued unabated at the market in September.

Shen Muwei stood at attention under an old sycamore tree with the military training team, the cicadas chirping overhead making her drowsy.

"At ease!"

The instructor's hoarse, loud commands rang out, pulling Shen Muwei back to reality.

This is a relatively shady spot at the university, and many teams choose to train here.

Shen Muwei likes sports, but dislikes military training because standing at attention is really boring. Throughout the process, she started to drift off, her eyes glancing towards the formation next to her.

Which department is next door? Civil Engineering? Mechanical and Electrical Engineering? Information Technology?

I think I just saw a pretty good-looking guy...

Just as she was thinking this, a gust of wind suddenly swept past her ear, and then a person fell at her feet, a fair hand with distinct knuckles resting on her military training shoes.

She felt a chill run down her spine and didn't dare move her head, only glancing downwards with her eyes. The boy's camouflage hat had slipped off, revealing his pale and frail face, his lips devoid of any color.

A slender hand covered the surface of her shoe, radiating warmth.

Seeing this, the instructor rushed over, helped him up, and patted his face, but the boy still did not wake up.

Shen Muwei saw him clearly this time; it seemed to be the handsome guy she had thought was alright before. But wasn't he a little too frail? Was he sick?

The instructor wasn't tall, so he simply picked up the boy in a princess carry, leaving behind an indescribable silhouette.

Everyone present was stunned. If they weren't standing at attention, they would have loved to take out their phones and capture the scene.

The two formations were standing close together, and someone couldn't help but chuckle quietly.

Shen Muwei struggled to suppress her laughter, biting her lower lip tightly, her mind filled with the image of that fair wrist dangling in mid-air.

From then on, Xiang Zhixing became famous, not only because of his handsome appearance, but also because of his frail body. He became a frequent visitor to ask for leave during military training.

...

In the darkness, there was a faint, flickering green light.

Xiang Zhi walked at the front of the group. The room was so dark that he could only see the dilapidated green emergency exit sign in the corner.

Zhou Chengming swallowed hard, gripping Xiang Zhixing's sleeve tightly: "How about we call it quits? I heard from Lei Zi that this is the scariest escape room he's ever been to. I don't think we can handle it."

Xiang Zhixing glanced at him, pointed at his nose, and asked, "What's the last character of my name?"

Zhou Chengming said uncertainly, "...Okay?"

"Okay, just follow me." After saying that, Xiang Zhixing looked around again, saw a certain mechanism, and smiled: "Heh, simple."

Then, he went over, fiddled with it for a bit, and the lights in the room came on.

Before Zhou Chengming could even catch his breath, two people behind him forcefully pulled on his clothes, dragging his collar back so tightly that he could barely breathe.

The lights did indeed greatly reduce people's tension.

Zhou Chengming shrugged: "Is it really necessary for you two? You're grown men, so scared."

Xiang Zhixing glanced at the three people standing at the door and raised his chin: "Hurry up and look for clues, stop chatting there, or we don't know when we'll be able to get out."

The three agreed and began to look around aimlessly, trembling.

Shen Muwei leisurely sipped her milk tea behind the monitor, and smiled as she watched the room being opened by T in less than two minutes: "Pretty clever."

Then she saw the group move on to the next level. Shen Muwei put down her milk tea, twisted her neck, and cracked her wrists.

The boss fanned her from the side: "Xiaowei, just teach them a lesson, don't scare them too much, I'm afraid we'll get into trouble."

He pointed to the man walking at the front on the screen and said, "Mainly to scare him, he's a bit too arrogant."

Shen Muwei nodded: "Don't worry, I will take good care of him."

Shen Muwei stood among the many NPCs and said, "I'll chase after the one in front, you guys go after the others."

Everyone present had heard about what had just happened, and they all knew how terrifying Shen Muwei was when he was pursuing someone, so there was no objection to that.

Zhang Wenhao asked her, "Do you need my help?"

She shook her head: "No need, you just follow them and chase after the other three."

"Okay, just let me know if you need my help."

Shen Muwei nodded.

Xiang Zhixing finally unlocked the door to this challenge, but the scene before him inexplicably sent chills down his spine.

Through the dim light coming from the corridor, Xiang Zhixing was able to see the scene in front of him.

Five NPCs stood before me, all dressed in identical white long gowns, each with a different posture, like a chilling wind blowing in my face.

This wasn't a scene he hadn't seen before, but Xiang Zhixing suddenly sensed a hint of danger.

Jiang Chao, standing behind Xiang Zhixing, tugged at his sleeve: "Something seems off. Is this the scariest part Lei Zi was talking about?"

Xiang Zhixing scanned each NPC in front of him. The environment was too dark, and he couldn't see their facial expressions clearly, but the girl in the middle was obviously more like a key figure.

The group stood at the door, not daring to make any rash moves.

After a moment, Xiang Zhixing analyzed, "They must have triggered some kind of mechanism to move."

Li Gan, who was at the back of the group, was timid and had been dragged here by his roommate.

Seeing this situation, he was already considering quitting. In addition, the people in the next dormitory had been telling them how terrifying this part was, so his fear now outweighed his fear of reality.

"I'm done playing, I'm leaving now."

As soon as he finished speaking, he took two steps back. Without looking closely, he tripped over something and lost his balance, falling to the side. He frantically waved his hands to maintain his balance.

In the narrow passageway, his hand touched something, and suddenly a red and green light flashed alternately at a steady pace throughout the room.

Xiang Zhixing felt his heart pounding.

Then, the girl standing in the middle suddenly moved her neck. It was unclear whether it was a sound effect or a real sound of her neck moving, but a "clack" sound was definitely heard.

The group was so frightened that they dared not move.

After the girl made the gesture, the people around her also twisted their necks, only to feel a chill coming from in front of them, making them shiver.

Even though Xiang Zhixing knew that these NPCs were all played by people, he still felt uneasy.

Jiang Chao and Li Gan were standing very close together. He immediately squatted down and helped Li Gan up. In that instant, the group noticed that the NPC in front of them had moved!

The scene quickly descended into chaos.

The four people ran wildly without any destination, and then they got separated.

Xiang Zhixing was panting heavily when he looked back and saw that it was pitch black; no one was chasing him at all.

He felt something was off. He took a breath at the corner of the stairs and could still hear his roommate's screams from not far away.

He quickly realized, why run? Wouldn't the boss see him on the security camera if he ran?

So they prepared to turn back and return to the room to look for clues to solve the mystery.

After taking two steps, he paused. The female NPC who had been standing in the middle was now standing at the top, tilting her head and looking at him.

Xiang Zhixing swallowed hard, feeling utterly pathetic for having ended up like this.

It's unclear where the source of today's terror lies. Perhaps the boss had been giving them a heads-up before they even entered, and once inside, he did indeed find that the place was quite well-designed.

Before he could react, he watched helplessly as a girl in the distance contorted her body into an inhuman pose and charged straight at him.

Startled, he turned and ran. Before he had taken two steps, he looked back. It would have been better if he hadn't looked, for he saw a faint green light shining on the NPC.

The other party's distorted shape terrified him.

Shen Muwei, who was gradually getting excited, froze when she saw this scene. She quickly stood up straight and belatedly realized that she had made a big fuss.

Could she say that she actually did restrain herself to some extent?

She ran to Xiang Zhixing's side, placed her fingers on his neck and touched it. Thankfully, his pulse was still beating.

She nudged him: "Hey classmate, wake up..."

Xiang Zhixing slightly opened his eyes, and his lips moved twice.

Shen Muwei bent down and leaned closer: "What do you want to say? Are you feeling unwell?"

She heard Xiang Zhixing's faint voice: "Chen...Mu..."

Shen Muwei immediately covered his mouth. How could he know her name!

-

An hour later, in the emergency room, doctors were conducting a brief examination on Xiang Zhixing.

She thought to herself, "When bad luck strikes, it's hard to stop."

I thought waking up to heavy rain was bad enough, but I never expected it would be so scary it could make me faint.

She should have been more lenient with him; he's so easily frightened. He's the kind of person who faints even when standing at attention, why did she scare him like that?

She regretted it no matter how much she thought about it, but she was too competitive. After hearing what Xiang Zhixing said at the front desk at noon, she couldn't help but want to compete with him.

But it's no use thinking about it now.

She forced herself to calm down, but her mind was still a complete mess.

I've wasted half a day's work, and I still have a lot of medical expenses to pay. I can only pray that his life isn't in danger.

Xiang Zhixing lay on the makeshift hospital bed, his eyes closed, his face pale and haggard.

Looking at his thick, long eyelashes covering his eyes, making him look frail, Shen Muwei felt even more guilty for arguing with him in the first place.

A moment later, the doctor came over and said, "You just fainted. Rest here for a while, and we'll check you again when you wake up. If there's nothing seriously wrong, you can be discharged."

Thank goodness.

Shen Muwei finally smiled and thanked the doctor.

She pulled up a chair and sat down, her gaze unconsciously falling on Xiang Zhixing, her eyes unfocused and unfocused. She was thinking about what she should do next.

She probably can't continue working. Even if her boss doesn't take it to heart and tries to persuade her to stay, she won't be able to overcome this mental block and continue.

Her phone rang at just the right moment, interrupting her thoughts. Hearing her roommate's voice, she felt like she could finally breathe again.

Her roommate, Zhao Ranzhu, was waiting for her at the hospital entrance.

"Holy crap, what kind of look is that?!"

Zhao Ranzhu handed her the paper bag and quickly took a step back.

Her hair was disheveled, and she still had the ghost makeup on her face. In addition, when she brought the person over, she carried the person around and sweated a lot, so her makeup was almost completely wiped off. Now she looked dirty and messy.

She waved her hand and said, "Don't say anymore, I'm just incredibly unlucky."

When she called Zhao Ranzhu to ask her to bring the things over, she had already explained the situation in general terms. But she spoke so quickly that Zhao Ranzhu didn't realize it was true. Only now, seeing her in such a disheveled state, did she realize that what she had said on the phone was all true.

"So what are you going to do? Just stay here and wait for the 'male god' to wake up? You won't get killed, will you?"

Shen Muwei's pupils dilated. She was so worried about whether his life was in danger that she completely forgot whether he would hold a grudge.

He seemed to call his own name when he fainted...

She asked uncertainly, "We haven't had any contact with Xiang Zhixing before, have we?"

Zhao Ranzhu shook her head and smiled, saying, "No, it was just us making fun of him privately... that's all."

Shen Muwei recalled that the scene was chaotic at the time, and the person calling out his name might not have been calling his own.

"That's true, it's probably impossible."

"Okay, then you'd better go wash your face, it looks kind of creepy. I'm going to my tutoring class now."

"Okay, be careful on the road."

Shen Muwei carried the bag into the first-floor restroom, washed her face with makeup remover, applied face cream, and then went into the inner room to change into clean clothes.

She stood in front of the mirror and checked herself; she looked much cleaner and fresher.

Meanwhile, in the temporary ward, the boy on the bed by the window slowly woke up, opened his eyes, and looked around at his surroundings.