“scar?” Yu Sen’s eyes flickered, and Si Nan motioned for him to come inside. “Let’s talk inside.”

The room was littered with broken glass fragments, some already crushed into tiny pieces, and it would be easy to step on them if not careful.

Yu Sen carefully avoided the fragments, sat down on the edge of the bed, and leaned against the wall. “What happened? Tell me everything from the start.”

Si Nan slowly exhaled, patting his chest to calm himself, and began to recall, “The four of us have been splitting into two rooms each time, and Luo Yu and I never dared to sleep too deeply, afraid that we might fall into some trap and wouldn’t be able to react in time. Last night was the same. I was half-asleep, half-awake, with one ear listening to the surroundings.”

“Oh, you’ve got that skill? Impressive, my Si Si,” Yu Sen smiled.

“Of course! I’m afraid of dying,” Si Nan said proudly, shaking his head. “Where was I? Oh, the sound! It was really quiet in the middle of the night, so any little sound was really noticeable. I was lying in bed and suddenly heard very faint footsteps. It wasn’t the sound of hard-soled shoes; it was light, like the dance shoes they wear. If the wooden floor in these rooms weren’t so old and creaky, I probably wouldn’t have heard it.”

“And then? You opened your eyes and saw Ruan Xin?” Si Xuanyang asked as he walked over to Yu Sen and handed Si Nan’s coat to him. “It’s cold, wear Si Nan’s coat for now.”

Si Nan clicked his tongue, “I’m cold too.”

“You can be cold for a bit while you finish the story. A cold head helps you remember the details,” Si Xuanyang calmly glanced at him.

“…A married daughter is like spilled water!” Si Nan shook his head, not wanting to look at them, and continued his recollection. “I heard the sound, and my hair stood on end. When I opened my eyes, I indeed saw Ruan Xin. But here’s the strange thing—she had reapplied that white stage makeup. Late at night, she looked like a ghost standing by my bed, and it almost scared the life out of me.”

“That’s odd. Didn’t she remove her makeup after dinner? Why would she reapply it in the middle of the night? It couldn’t have been just to scare you, right?” Yu Sen pulled Si Xuanyang closer to him, hanging his upper body on his shoulder like hugging a stuffed toy.

So comfortable, like a soft, warm heater.

Si Nan rolled his eyes at the two of them, “If you don’t believe me, ask Luo Yu. He saw it too.”

“It was exactly like she looked on stage,” Luo Yu nodded repeatedly. “She even had lipstick on, and probably her eyes were made up too—completely different from how she looked in the dining hall. There’s no way we were mistaken.”

Why does this feel so strange? Yu Sen touched the corner of his mouth and then asked, “So what do you mean by the scar?”

“Ah, that’s even weirder!” Si Nan excitedly punched the wall. “You know, the items we got from the clock are always with us, and we don’t dare to leave them far away at night. I placed the mirror under my pillow before sleeping. When Ruan Xin smiled that creepy smile and reached out to grab me, I didn’t have time to think. I just pulled the mirror out from under my pillow and blocked her with it.”

Luo Yu sighed, “At that time, we didn’t know what the mirror was for or if it could save our lives. We thought we were done for.”

“When the mirror reflected Ruan Xin, her face changed as if it had been exposed by a demon-revealing mirror. The dark scar emerged from under the white makeup, and the makeup slowly disappeared. It couldn’t cover the mark at all—it was really ugly. The mirror fell when she hit it.” Si Nan explained.

Luo Yu added from the side, “When Ruan Xin saw herself in the mirror, she looked very flustered. She didn’t have time to do anything to us and just covered her face and ran away.”

“It sounds like she’s quite concerned about the scar on her face,” Yu Sen murmured. Suddenly, he thought of something, shivering involuntarily, and exclaimed, “But the Ruan Xin we saw in the dining area last night didn’t have any scars on her face!”

“So… the Ruan Xin we saw twice might not be the same person?” Si Xuanyang furrowed his brows.

“Ah—there’s indeed a possibility! I didn’t realize it when I was speaking earlier!” Si Nan exclaimed. “So which Ruan Xin is the one mentioned in the task note to be killed? Or do we need to kill both?”

“The red ballet shoe girl should refer to the Ruan Xin dancing on stage wearing red ballet shoes.”

Yu Sen suddenly remembered that the Ruan Xin he saw in the dining area last night seemed to have difficulty moving her legs. He originally thought she got injured in the latter part of the performance. After all, how could a dancer with leg problems perform such an amazing dance?

But now he wondered if she might not have been injured on stage at all and if there are actually two Ruan Xins.

—One Ruan Xin with a leg injury but no scar on her face, and another Ruan Xin without a leg injury, outstanding in dance, but with a terrifying scar on her face.

This would explain why there was such a big difference in her presence on and off stage. The white face powder that could cover the skin might not be makeup but a disguise.

After Yu Sen voiced his guess, a sudden itch in his throat caught him off guard, and he began to cough violently, as if trying to expel his entire internal organs.

“Cough cough cough!! Cough cough cough!! Cough cough—!! Cough cough cough… Damn it!”

The intense coughing seemed to affect his stomach, and with another cough, his intestines felt like they were being twisted together, accompanied by uncontrollable spasms of the outer thin muscles, causing a sudden wave of pain.

“Ugh—!”

He coughed up blood again.

“Yu Ge!” “Yu Ge!”

“Yu Sen—!”

Si Xuanyang tightly hugged him, his face pale, almost scared out of his wits: “Yu Sen? Yu Sen? Ge? I told you not to overthink and exhaust yourself! Open your eyes, don’t scare me…”

“Don’t move me… Let me… rest a bit,” Yu Sen weakly waved his bloodstained hand, tapping Si Xuanyang’s chin lightly, with a gentle force, like a playful gesture.

Si Xuanyang froze, holding the limp person in his arms, his brow furrowed tightly, overwhelmed by anxious and frantic emotions.

In contrast, Yu Sen, with his pale face leaning on Si Xuanyang’s shoulder, looked calmer except for the bloodstains at the corners of his mouth.

After a long pause, Si Nan cautiously spoke: “Yang Yang, put Yu Ge on the bed to rest. You two can sleep here for the rest of the night. Luo Yu and I will go next door.”

“Don’t…” Yu Sen opened his eyes weakly, “I don’t want to end up like that woman who died in the last room switch. Your memory, it’s just like a goldfish’s…”

Si Nan suddenly remembered and lamented, “Shit, I forgot in my hurry…”

“I remember! Don’t worry too much,” Si Xuanyang said, staring at Yu Sen’s face. “Do you feel any better?”

“A bit,” Yu Sen rubbed against Si Xuanyang, “Just hold me a little longer.”

“Oh right,” he added, “What did you call me just now? Ge? Did I hear that correctly?”