Black Crow Prison (20) Good night, Feng Xuanxuan

Feng Xuanxuan? She really is a troublesome character.

Mu Xinning smiled inwardly and replied, "It's fine. Since she's already here, we might as well see her off."

Feng Xuanxuan must be dying to kill her, right? She wasn't merciful enough to spare someone who wanted her dead. Since there was a ready-made tool available now, it was time to prepare her "boxed lunch."

Mu Xinning walked to the elevator door. It was unlocked, so she entered with ease. Fearing that Feng Xuanxuan might not have a good vantage point to eavesdrop, Mu Xinning thoughtfully closed the door behind her.

Feng Xuanxuan had followed her to the entrance, feeling puzzled. *Is Number 3 trying to take the elevator?* She pressed her body against the wall beside the door, listening intently to the movements inside.

Mu Xinning knew that although Feng Xuanxuan was full of malice, she was somewhat clever and quite cautious, unlikely to take the bait easily. Therefore, she intentionally used ventriloquism to mutter to herself inside the room: "Heh... talking about special authorization? Isn't it just a piece of junk card? With this, you can ride it, right?! There's no need for any authorization; these rules are just meant to confuse people."

Jin found it quite interesting; the show was about to begin.

"But that man was truly stupid... It was so easy to steal this card from him. He even told me that as long as I had the card, I could ride it. To tell me something like that—what a dim-witted NPC..."

After saying this, Mu Xinning took the access card out of the doll's body and tapped it against the control pillar. The elevator door opened.

Listening to the sounds inside, Feng Xuanxuan realized that the access card was indeed the item needed to operate the elevator! There was no need for any authorization; having the card meant she had permission! Since the elevator had already started after the card was tapped, she didn't believe Number 3 would risk her own life, so her deduction must be correct.

Next, Mu Xinning threw the access card onto the floor, pretending she had dropped it by accident.

"Wait! If you throw that away, what if you can't get back later?" Jin hurriedly reminded her in her mind.

"High risk, high reward." Mu Xinning stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the basement level. The elevator began to descend.

She knew she was playing with fire, but Feng Xuanxuan was currently trapped and desperate to clear the level; this access card was like a lifeline. She didn't believe Feng Xuanxuan wouldn't be tempted. She was indeed without a card now, but that wouldn't last long. Knowing that Mo Yichen would rush to the fifth floor the moment he realized she was missing, she was certain she would be able to return.

Jumping off a building—it was just a game. That was how confident she was.

Once the elevator reached the basement level, Mu Xinning stepped out and looked back at the elevator. *So, you won't disappoint me... will you?*

...

Listening to the sound of the elevator descending, Feng Xuanxuan finally stepped into the room. It seemed her guess was right: the elevator really could go down! To escape the prison, she would have to run through the main gate, or perhaps there were other exits on the basement level!

Thinking of this, Feng Xuanxuan gritted her teeth in anger. Number 3 was truly freakish! She could get her hands on anything.

On the other hand, everything went wrong for her. Heaven was truly unfair! Soon, she noticed the white card lying on the floor and picked it up. *Could this card be...*

Feng Xuanxuan’s heart leapt with joy. She hurriedly tapped the card against the control pillar, and the elevator began to ascend from the basement.

Watching the elevator go up, Mu Xinning smiled faintly. The prey had taken the bait.

Seeing the elevator rising, Feng Xuanxuan's eyes sparkled with excitement, her gaze fixed on the card in her hand. This was indeed the access card to operate the elevator! It had come without any effort; heaven was indeed looking out for her!

Number 3 was truly careless, letting her pick up such a huge bargain! Now that the card was in her hands, Number 3 wouldn't be able to get back up! Whether or not anyone could use the elevator was up to her now. Just thinking about Number 3 unable to find the access card later made Feng Xuanxuan feel exhilarated.

A moment later, the elevator door opened before her. Feng Xuanxuan stepped in and pressed the button for the basement.

The doors slowly closed, and the metal interior reflected the irrepressible triumph in Feng Xuanxuan's eyes. She gripped the card tightly. Once she cleared the level, she would have plenty of time to slowly mock the self-important fool that was Number 3.

The elevator began a steady descent. The numbers on the display jumped from 4 to 3, then to 2...

Feng Xuanxuan hummed an off-key tune, tapping her toes on the floor of the cabin, imagining the panic on Mu Xinning’s face when she discovered the card was missing. The arc of her lips grew wider and more arrogant.

But in the next second, the elevator jolted violently!

"Clang—!"

The intense shaking caused Feng Xuanxuan to stumble into the handrail, bruising her elbow. Just as she was about to curse, she felt a dampness on her head. Then, another drop of warm, viscous liquid landed on her shoulder.

Feng Xuanxuan looked up abruptly to see dark red, sticky fluid slowly seeping through the cracks in the cabin ceiling, much like melting blood-wax, winding its way down along the metal seams.

Terrified, she scrambled backward, pressing her back firmly against the elevator door. The triumphant expression vanished instantly.

"Wh-what's going on..." Her voice trembled. The card fell from her hand to the floor. She could only bang on the door, crying for help, "Open the door! Open the door!"

But no one answered her calls.

The screen that had displayed the floor numbers now slowly revealed three distorted, blood-red characters:

[MORGUE]

"No—!" Feng Xuanxuan’s scream caught in her throat. Suddenly, the elevator began to plummet!

A sense of weightlessness gripped her, her stomach churning. She grabbed the handrail with both hands. The blood on the ceiling seeped faster, soon forming streams that drenched her face and hair. The pungent, sweet scent of blood filled her nose.

"Help! Someone save me—!"

She finally broke down, sobbing and screaming, but the only response was the whistling sound of the elevator's wild descent.

The characters "MORGUE" on the screen grew clearer, the blood color seeming to spill out from the display! Through the blurred, bloody haze, Feng Xuanxuan faintly saw countless pale hands reaching in through the gaps in the elevator, their nails turning a greenish-black, leaving shrill, screeching scratches on the metal walls.

"Don't touch me! Get away!" She flailed her arms wildly, only to touch something slick and cold.

*No, it shouldn't be like this! I didn't break any rules!*

But Feng Xuanxuan had no time to think now; she could only dodge the attacks of those ghostly hands.

After falling for an unknown amount of time, the elevator came to a sudden, jarring halt. The massive impact made Feng Xuanxuan’s vision go black; she nearly fainted. The cabin doors slid open, but outside was not the basement corridor she expected, but a thick, impenetrable darkness.

A shadow slowly crawled out from the depths of the dark. It had no fixed shape, formed from countless pale, mangled limbs, its surface covered in wet, sticky mucus. Every movement produced a squelching sound. Most horrifyingly, it had no face; above its neck was only a black hole, lined with sharp teeth, constantly opening and closing.

Feng Xuanxuan’s pupils contracted sharply. A wheezing sound escaped her throat; she didn't even have the strength to scream. She tried to shrink back, but her back was already pressed against the elevator wall—there was nowhere left to go.

The grotesque creature crept closer, its black-hole mouth beginning to emit a low, mournful whimper.

The creature didn't give her a chance to react. Feng Xuanxuan could only watch in horror as it extended a mucus-covered tongue, instantly wrapping it around her ankle and dragging her out of the elevator.

"No... don't..." She kept trying to crawl back into the elevator, but could only be pulled, bit by bit, into the darkness.

Then, the sound of chewing and the crunching of breaking bones echoed through the morgue, soon returning to dead silence.

...

In the basement corridor, Mu Xinning stood not far from the elevator entrance, clearly hearing the activity inside.

The elevator's display had suddenly changed to the letter M; if she wasn't mistaken, that stood for "Morgue." Now, the elevator had returned to this floor, as if nothing had happened.

She held the mummy doll, her expression blank. This was the first time she had killed someone since her rebirth. Although she hadn't done it with her own hands, the person was indeed dead.

She felt no guilt. In the past, she had believed that faith was sacred and that one should remain kind at all times. Unfortunately, her previous life had taught her that faith was the most useless thing of all. Human nature could not withstand the test. In the moment before her death in her past life, she had realized that life and death were nothing more than that.

That was true even before the game arrived, let alone in a game involving life and death. In order to survive, even inherently good people would eventually resort to any means necessary.

Perhaps being alive was the true hell? A long sleep meant not having to face these things anymore.

Feng Xuanxuan was dead. Many more people like her would exist in the future, but unfortunately for her, she had had the bad luck of running into Mu Xinning. So, it was time to bid this world farewell.

Thinking of this, Mu Xinning turned and walked away.

Goodnight, Feng Xuanxuan.