Chapter 8 (1/2)

The text on the paper was intermittent as if the writer’s mental state was deteriorating. But what he could read made Zhou Bai feel very strange:

Mike sits up every night to look at the door.

His condition is worsening; will he eat him?

Today, Mike didn’t sleep again. He just stood at the door, as if he would go out at any moment. I was too scared to get up…I think he already found out.

Mike tried the door, opening it and going out. I hugged my blanket close, forcing myself not to look outside.

Mike didn’t return the next day. Another person is gone. What shall we do?

I’m so dizzy. I feel like I’m in a daze every day.

I’m sleeping more and more. He keeps staring at me in class. I think I’ve been discovered.

This morning when I got up, I found the paper I put on the doorknob fell. Who moved the doorknob last night?

My chest is hurting more and more. I can feel something inside…

I’m too tired. I didn’t go to class. He came to see me.

Everyone will be eaten; we’ve lost hope.

He’s watching me. At night, he watches me through the keyhole. He’s waiting for me to come out!

I’ve decided not to sleep. I can’t be eaten!

Not sleeping is the right decision. I feel better and better…

***

Zhou Bai furrowed his brows. This person was an insomniac. The rest of the text was mostly babble and was hard to understand.

Alice asked, “What are your thoughts?”

Zhou Bai glanced at the girl who was only 12 or 13 and said softly, “Don’t stay up. Sleep more.”

“That’s not what I’m asking,” Alice said with a harrumph. “Who do you think the ‘he’ on there is?”

“I don’t know. There are too few clues. It could even be you.”

Alice pursed her lips. “Don’t you think teacher and the entire base are suspicious? I found this piece of diary between the bedboards. This person probably used to sleep in my bed.”

Zhou Bai looked at her in surprise. This little girl had grown up in this underground base—this environment had shaped her entire worldview—yet she still suspected something. How unusual.

But Zhou Bai wasn’t planning to discuss it with a child. He nodded and said, “Sleep early at night. Don’t be like him; he’s turning into a god.”

Seeing Zhou Bai was about to leave, Alice stomped her feet in anger. “Don’t you want to leave the base? Don’t you want to see what’s outside? Maybe there’s no Doomsday out there!”

When Zhou Bai continued to ignore her, Alice said, “Since last month, Bando’s personality has completely changed, as if he’s a different person. He saw this diary before too, but when I asked him again, he’d forgotten about it.”

Zhou Bai paused and looked at Alice. “What else do you know?”

“The laboratory at level five—Bando went there,” Alice explained. “After he came back, he was a completely different person. I even suspect he’s not Bando!”

“How did he get to level five?” Zhou Bai rubbed his chin. “I asked Elsa. The door there has a fingerprint sensor. Only teacher can enter.”

Alice said, “If we want to go out, we have to open the alloy door in level one. If you want to open the alloy door, you need an electronic card. Bando and I looked over the entire base and couldn’t find it so that electronic card can only be in the lab.

“We found a vent duct that connects to level five. Bando and I spent months cutting the bars inside.