My Cell Prison - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Chapter 18 – Gear Shift

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

It was now the third night. 

After Han Dong met up with the ‘Accursed Chenli’ during dusktime, he headed back to his room and did not leave it after.

The other members of the team had returned back to their rooms by 2300 as well. The electricity was still cut off at 2300… leaving just the red lanterns shining.

This would be the final night for this event, and the two women in the team had taken out all the candles that they brought in their backpack, placing them in every corner of their rooms and lighting them up, relying on the light that they gave off to conquer their fears.

As for Edward, who was someone familiar with the hidden rules, once he was done inspecting his steam prosthetics, the man calmly went to sleep.

Han Dong was resting as well… Even though he had already rested for the entire day.

————————-

This 3rd night was somewhat different.

He was no longer awakened by the footsteps outside in the corridor.

Han Dong did manage to get some sleep until he naturally woke up from it.

The first thing he did upon opening his eyes was to quickly check the clockwork timepiece on his wrist.

There were still 9 hours until the end of the event.

“Strange… Is this an issue with the time, or is it an issue with the environment that we’re in?”

Looking out the window, a full moon was in full view in the night sky, and no matter how he looked, it was night time.

However, Han Dong and the others had arrived at the villa at precisely 1800hrs in the afternoon, so with how much time was left, it should end at around 1800hrs after 3 days… Going back 9 hours from that point means that it should be 0900 in the morning right now.

Yet it was not even in the least bit bright outside.

“Don’t tell me… that ‘Gear Shift’ that Edward had talked about has already begun.”

It was at that moment when Han Dong heard an urgent knock on his bedroom door.

Standing outside was the panicked Edward Murray, as well as the two female teammates with dark circles around their eyes. At least this meant that no one had been killed last night.

“Nicolas my friend, it’s good that you’re fine… The ‘Gear Shift’ that I mentioned last night should already be upon us.”

Han Dong looked like he was at a loss as he anxiously asked, “Team leader! What should we do?”

Edward gave his suggestion, “First, let’s meet up with the key characters. There’s no telling that we might be able to get their help. Rumors were that one of the reasons why the Cavalier Captain from Black Rose had been able to survive with a good portion of his teammates and left the Space of Destiny alive was because he had borrowed the help of the key characters.”

“Okay.”

The four of them left together, with Edward standing right in front, taking the lead.

Unfortunately, the changes to their situation went well beyond what Edward had initially gauged…

When they pushed open the creaking wooden door to the living room, the flashlights in their hands shone about the room and the blondie Monica got scared to the point that she planted herself butt first on the ground in the next moment. Even the usually calm and composed Edward began sweating profusely as the acolyte Ackmann had already collapsed to the ground on her knees, clutching onto her crucifix as she recited some strange scriptures, attempting to assuage the fear she was feeling inside.

The living room was indeed the same as it was every morning, and the pair of siblings were waiting for everyone to come in to dine on the breakfast that they had prepared.

However, the siblings had become paper people today.

It was the same as the paper human that was used for the ‘Soul Recovery ritual’ from before, a man and a woman, made with rough workmanship, but the four of them could tell that it was Chenli and Daqing.

As for the breakfast prepared, there were six bowls of rice with joss sticks stuck into them.

Even Han Dong had a fright from this strange sight and really believed that something actually happened to the siblings.

But he quickly realized Chenli was still alive through the link he had with his Portable Prison, and she was not the paper woman in front of him.

“AHHH!!!” Ackmann had let loose a piercing shriek all of a sudden.

In the direction where she had shone her torchlight, there was a paper van similar to what Granny Wong and her spouse had driven, parked right at the dirt road outside the bungalow. Nobody from the team was aware that the couple had been killed, and that included Edward. All of them had believed that they had gone back home by themselves after the ritual was completed.

Edward led everyone out and slowly approached the somewhat shoddily made van. 

It was only on closer inspection that they realized the van was actually more like a large paper-made hearse. And at the same time, there were paper humans of both Granny Wong and Uncle Liu sitting in it, both of them bearing warped smiles that were stuck on their faces using red stickers.

“Is there no way out of this? There’s not even a single key character left that can help us…”

Just as Edward was mulling over their present situation, the red lanterns hung up on the corridor on the second floor all snuffed out… The bungalow that had been an illuminating light source suddenly left all of them bereft of any light in the darkness around them. 

All of them subconsciously brought their flashlights to shine toward the corridor up on the second floor. In the silence of the lonely night around them, the sound of an old wooden door creaking open was particularly crisp. It came from room 6.

It was the very same room that the ‘Accursed Chenli’ stayed in, and out walked a woman whose black hair covered her face… She very quietly stood in that corridor, staring right at the team of four that was standing next to the hearse through her hair.

The two pieces of information that ‘Chenli is the evil spirit’ as well as ‘no way to return to the bungalow’ surfaced in Edward’s mind. Edward kept himself composed as he pulled out the map that the newsboy had drawn up these few days and quickly formulated a plan, “The situation is a lot worse than I had imagined! Returning back to the bungalow is a death sentence… Our only way to survive right now would be to use the 500 meter area where we are allowed to move in and attempt to avoid the evil spirit from hunting us down. The four of us will be wiped out the moment we run into the evil spirit if we were to keep moving together. As such, I suggest that we split into two pairs and act separately! We’ll be able to increase the chance for some of us to survive this way… Sorry, there’s a limit to what I can do, so I can’t bring everyone and ride this out together.”

“I’m grouping up with you!!” The blondie Monica had of course stuck herself together with this lifeline. In her eyes, Nicholas was physically weak and had been resting in his room the whole time, while the acolyte Ackmann who appeared to only know how to pray was completely incapable of surviving.

The woman in red that stood in the second floor corridor had begun moving by this time, and there was hardly any time left for them to discuss how they were going to split up.

“Then let us group ourselves accordingly… Miss Ackmann and I will be a team,” Han Dong bitterly said.

Edward revealed a slight smile and handed Han Dong a map, “Everyone split up and run for your lives. You and Ackmann will head on up the mountain to the south of here… Everyone’s gotta stay alive!”

Edward seemed to be concerned, but he had handed Han Dong a route that was the hardest to traverse.

Han Dong and Ackmann were not physically fit, so if they were to make the journey up the mountain, it would sap plenty of their strength and constitution… The moment they run into the evil spirit, they would pretty much have no chance of escaping.

But Han Dong did not offer any objections to this.

“Let’s run… I hope we can all meet each other back in the Holy City.”

The four of them split into two pairs, fleeing to the north and south of the bungalow… Edward was running downhill, and there were also plenty of abandoned buildings to hide down the mountain that they were on.

After the teams had departed from the bungalow in their respective direction, Chenli slowly revealed a strange smile when she got down to the first floor.

That was when her younger brother Daqing came walking out from the direction of the latrine, holding a lamp in hand.

“Sis… Are we really going to help that foreigner who can speak Chinese? There’s really no need for us to risk ourselves like this.”

“Of course!”

The disheveled Chenli had already entered a sort of ‘evil’ state, and just her two words had sent shivers down her brother’s spine, who no longer dared to raise any further objections.

Indeed, even though the inclusion of the paper man had nothing to do with Han Dong, Chenli’s appearance had all been arranged by Han Dong…