Published at 28th of April 2023 12:46 am

Chapter 763: And Then There Was None

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“Night has given me black eyes, but I use them to search for light.” The priest held a cross and stood at the trash heap in the black alley. He leaned down to examine a homeless man’s body. “The limbs are broken, and the bone chips are pierced into the flesh. The culprit knows how to amplify pain without killing the victim. What kind of artwork is he trying to create? Even though we have members who would come after their partners, it is rare for someone to have a clear goal of just killing the other participants.” The cross he held was sharpened. He closed the homeless man’s eyes gently with his left hand, but he raised his cross with his right hand to stab into the man’s mouth.

“Hey.” A low voice came from the darkness. The priest felt like a snake was coming. His muscle tensed as he stood up. “Are you a vulture coming for another person’s prey?” Han Fei walked out of the shadow. He planned to leave after dealing with the homeless man, but he felt that a pedestrian was acting very strangely. When Han Fei arrived at Dolphin Bay, the priest was already in the crowd. When he dragged the homeless man into the back alley, the priest ‘happened’ to be nearby too. This was highly suspicious. A normal person wouldn’t notice this, but Han Fei was too sensitive. He pretended to leave and used the homeless man as a lure. The priest fell for it.

“Are you here for the art competition too?” Han Fei felt like he had spoken a lot. He planned to make his move after the priest nodded.

“I’m responsible for recording and observing before handing my report to the judges.” The priest put away the cross. “You can see me as an observer.”

“Observers won’t be going after the participant’s prey. Since you wanted to destroy my art, then you’ll become part of my art.” Han Fei walked forward. When the priest reacted, Han Fei was already standing before him.

“I’m the chat group’s high-class member. You can’t hurt me.”

“Are you seriously going to suppress me with rules?” Han Fei took out his nunchucks. “Your daily prayers are effective because your god has sent me to knock you awake.” The letter Han Fei got didn’t specify who he could attack. The whole Dolphin Bay was the stage. The priest didn’t expect to run into a participant like Han Fei. He quickly took out his cross to defend, but he greatly underestimated Han Fei. There were two crisp echoes. The first was the cross breaking, and the second was the bone breaking.

“It sounds like you have weak bones.” Han Fei was fair. He didn’t go easy because the man was a staff member. Then, two ‘bodies’ appeared on the trash heap. “There’s an Unmentionable in the black rain zone. I can’t fight them now. I don’t even know the extent of their influence in real life. From the worst perspective, the core members might have gotten little gifts from the cryptic world. For example, the woman in the death mask. She could defend against my attack. I can’t be too careful.”

Han Fei’s hunt continued. He wore the scary clown mask and slithered through the normal. Even members of Death Chat Group didn’t want to run into him.

The oil lamp lit up the pier. Deep Sea squatted on a fishing boat. The giant net next to him had a pair of father and daughter trapped inside it.

“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for so long. My artwork last time was too base. Pure gore is not what the judges want. They want our understanding of death.” The fish knife sliced through a living fish. He sliced it like sashimi and started to eat it. “It’s almost dawn. It’s time to choose.”

Deep Sea smashed the fishhead. He picked up the knife and headed to the fish net. He knelt beside the pair. “I can kill both of you, but I want to give you a chance to live.”

“Please let my daughter go. She’s so young. I’ll do anything you want!” The fisherman father pleaded with the monster. The girl was already crying.

“Did I ask you to speak?” Deep Sea aimed the knife at the fisherman’s eye. “If your daughter personally kills you, then I’ll let her go. Of course, you can kill her, and I’ll let you go too.” Deep Sea grinned wickedly. “That is my final kindness.”

He pulled the fisherman’s arm out and then dragged the daughter’s upper body out of the net. Then he gave them a small knife each.

“Kill the other, and you can live, or both of you have to die.” Deep Sea’s white eyes stared at the pair. If they resisted, he would kill them. “Quick. Don’t make me wait for too long!” Neither of them moved. The girl kept crying. She couldn’t even hold the knife. The father didn’t want to kill. He’d rather die.

“I’ll give you another 10 seconds.” Deep Sea used his knife to scratch the deck. The pair also sunk into despair.

“10, 9, 8…” Deep Sea’s voice was eerie. The fisherman made the final decision. He used his eyes to signal his daughter to escape. He would stay to fight Deep Sea. The fishnet had captured them both. For her daughter to escape, the fisherman had to free the daughter from the net first.

“7, 6.”

The man screamed and pretended to stab his daughter. But he was actually trying to slice through the net around his daughter’s calves. Deep Sea grinned wider when he saw the pair struggle. He didn’t stop them. He even told the daughter, “Your father is defenseless now. Kill him, and you can live.”

The countdown was almost over. The fisherman hadn’t cut through the net, but Deep Sea was already standing behind him. “4, 3, 2…” When Deep Sea said one, there was a sound coming from the side of the boat. Five wet fingers grabbed the edge of the boat. A dripping clown mask appeared. Han Fei crawled onto the boat. “I’ve searched the whole town and couldn’t find you. So you’re hiding here.”

Han Fei looked like a water ghost with his soaked, pale skin and emotionless voice.

“Did you swim here?” Deep Sea felt an unknown fear. He didn’t know why the crazy man in the clown mask had targeted him. As a senior, Deep Sea reacted quickly. He tossed his knife at Han Fei. Then, he quickly jumped into the sea.

“Tsk.” Han Fei looked at Deep Sea’s escape. He saved the pair of father and daughter too.

“Thank you.” The pair was still very scared. They didn’t dare to get close to Han Fei. Han Fei stood at the hull and looked out into the ocean. Deep Sea was gone.

“I need to train my swimming skills. I can’t make the same mistake twice.” The sun was coming up. Han Fei still had one thing to do. He had the fisherman drive the boat back to Dolphin Bay. While they were on the boat, Han Fei helped bandage the girl’s wound. When they landed, Han Fei left silently.

Han Fei walked along the dark street and took out a black bag. There were many phones inside. One of them came from the priest.

“Based on their chat history, their base should be around here.” While Han Fei was looking for Deep Sea, he killed a few more staff. Based on the clues on their phones, Han Fei triangulated their lair’s location. He kicked down the old door and went down the rusted stairs. This was a shop selling rare fish and dolphins. The boss should be a member of the Death Chat Group too.

“Dolphin Bay used to be a dolphin protection zone, but this is a shop selling dolphin meat. But then again, not all the meat here is from dolphins.” Han Fei held the bloody nunchucks and walked through the room. He pushed open the inner door. The participants who arrived at Dolphin Bay at different times were all gathered here. Some were seated, while others were dead.

“Why are you alone?” A bearded woman covered in fish smell was shocked. “Where is the staff leading you here?”

“No one led me here. I found this place myself.” Han Fei took out the plastic bag and shook out the phones.

The expressions of the people inside the room changed. The butcher became serious too. “Then how do you plan to showcase your creation process? Have you recorded your artwork?”

“No.” Han Fei said, “Because my artwork is not yet completed.”

“What do you mean?”

“My artwork is called, And Then There Was None. In other words, all of you have to die.” The clown mask cackled. Han Fei charged into the room.

The members of the Death Chat Group were used to spreading fear, despair, and death. They didn’t think they’d one day experience the same feelings.

“There’s an essential difference between us. I’ve experienced true despair, so I will not wish that on others so easily. I know to reflect on myself. When I kill, I’m prepared to be killed.” Han Fei grabbed the butcher by his neck. He stood in the middle of the shop. The other members were all lying around him with their limbs broken. He tossed the butcher into the rotting water. Han Fei collected the phones of all the staff members. He started to rate his own artwork. Then, he sent them to the specified number.

“You need the approval of other core members to become a core member. It won’t work even if you kill all of us.” The butcher lay beside the pool. He looked at the clown mask and was filled with fear. He was the leader of a chat group, but he hadn’t felt such fear before.

“It doesn’t matter. At least I’ve had fun.”

When Han Fei sent the message, there were rapid footsteps in an abandoned building at Xin Lu Northern Countryside. The heavily-encrypted door was pushed open. A man in a crow mask walked in.

“Death has been targeted by the police. Should we dispose of her?”

“I’m not here today because of her. There’s a unique artwork from Dolphin Bay. Perhaps we’ll need to add a chair soon.” The crow mask sat at the table. There were other strange figures in masks around the table.

“What artwork has caught your attention?” A man in a guinea pig mask said with curiosity.

“Death Chat Group will have an offline meeting every month. This time the meeting is held at Dolphin Bay. I’ve personally picked 20 participants. One of them has killed 22 people in one night, and all of them are the other participants.”

“But there are only 20 participants. How can his kill count be 22?”

“Because he has killed the member who is supposed to be recording his art-creating process and the boss of the shop at Dolphin Bay. This person reviewed his own artwork. In so many years, I’ve not encountered someone so crazy.” The crow mask dropped the ‘different’ reviews on the table. The participant got full marks, and the reviews were all written by the same person.

“I can understand killing all the competition, but why would he kill the judges?”

“We haven’t had a new core member in a long time. The crazier he is, the more he matches that person’s requirement.”

“His appearance is too sudden. Could he be from the police?”

“Will people with the police kill 22 people?”

“He wrote the reviews himself. Perhaps he didn’t kill them and only apprehended them.”

The crow and guinea pig argued. Finally, a woman in a queen mask raised her hand. “The new Butterfly has appeared. We need more death-searching humans. I think he’s quite suitable.”

Everyone turned to look at the other side of the long table. There was an empty seat at the end.

“I agree for him to join too. After all, there are not many people who are both crazy and clear. But guinea pig’s worry is not unfounded. I think we can make him a temporary core member. Then, we’ll slowly reveal our secrets to him.” A young man in a pure white mask, who sat beside the crow, said.

“Then, it’s decided.” The crow cackled hideously as he stood up and left the room.

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