The Vault tidied up the things on the desk, then changed into her pajamas and half-sat on the bed.

If there was no case-related plot, this period of the night would pass quickly.

A few roommates moved their books onto their beds, sat and rested for a while, and after relaxing, became lively again. They joked with each other, lined up to wash up, and got ready for bed.

It was obvious that the three of them had a good relationship. Although they were all roommates, no one came over to talk to The Vault.

Maybe they didn’t want to make it too obvious, but that evasive look in their eyes was so deliberate that The Vault couldn’t ignore it.

In such a cramped space, they didn’t even glance in her direction.

But Wendy Ward had indeed been acting very strangely in the days before her suicide, so it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t get along with her friends.

An ordinary player would probably try to get information from their roommates at this point, attempting to repair their relationships. The Vault had no such intention.

She pulled the covers over herself and lay down.

Not long after, the dorm lights went out.

The Vault hadn’t really slept much these past two days, and under the influence of the environment, she actually started to feel sleepy. She closed her eyes, her consciousness hazy, unable to properly sense the passage of time.

She didn’t know how long had passed when, in the quiet night, some unusual sounds suddenly appeared.

The sounds were faint at first, then gradually became clearer.

The drowsiness The Vault had just managed to accumulate was quickly dispelled by the increasingly loud, irregular noise.

She focused, realizing the sound was coming from right at the foot of her bed.

It could be under the bed, or maybe right by her feet. Or somewhere else nearby. This discovery made her catch her breath.

It was a sound similar to teeth grinding, impossible to tell what materials were rubbing together to make it. Under its cover, every detail around her was amplified and delivered to The Vault’s senses.

Every tiny noise made her feel as if danger was drawing closer.

The Vault slowly opened her eyes.

The dorm was very dim; the lights in the hallway were off, but some light still filtered in from outside the window.

It was a pale yellow beam, its source unknown, shining through the glass and casting an image right onto the security door.

From where The Vault lay, as soon as she opened her eyes, she could see that mottled, human-shaped shadow.

The Vault was startled, feeling a painful tightness in her chest from the breath she hadn’t exhaled.

The girl on the upper bunk by the window suddenly whispered, “Are you guys asleep? Who’s grinding their teeth?”

Someone replied, “I’m not asleep.”

“It’s not me either.”

The Vault stayed silent.

A moment later, someone took the initiative to ask, “Hey? Winter Gray, are you awake?”

The Vault: “I’m awake.”

After she spoke, the sound in the corner paused unnaturally, then sped up its chewing, adding some creaking, swaying noises. It was almost as if it was blatantly announcing that the place was haunted.

That familiar sound was like a fuse, igniting a bomb that hadn’t gone off in years. The Vault felt her adrenaline spike instantly. Her heart raced, blood pressure rose, her arrector pili contracted, and goosebumps stood up. Her body was gripped by intense fear.

The night seemed too deep in her eyes, like a giant abyssal mouth swallowing the world around her, not leaving a single gap.

Bizarre memories surged from every corner of her mind, quickly occupying her vision and hearing.

That feeling she hated most—losing control—had returned.

In the darkness, The Vault licked her lips, suppressed her emotions, and waited for the sensation of full-body stiffness to pass, not showing any sign of abnormality.

“What the hell is that sound?” the girl on the opposite bed called out in a low voice. “Winter Gray, it’s right by you, go take a look.”

“Could it be a ghost?”

“I think it might be a mouse.”

Someone chuckled softly, “What kind of ghost could our dorm have? If there is one, it could only be Samuel North. We’re all sisters—why would she come out to scare us? Right, Winter Gray?”

Their conversation pulled her out of her abnormal state. The Vault blinked hard.

“From a scientific perspective,” she said coolly, “as long as you don’t mess with it, it won’t come for you.”

Everyone was stunned. “Huh??”

A girl asked, “What kind of science is that?”

“Pseudoscience,” The Vault’s tone grew even calmer. “Just like some people believe there are actually ghosts in this world.”

Her words left the others speechless, and the room quieted down for a while.

At that moment, the light outside the window suddenly changed color. The pale yellow turned to red, flickered several times, then disappeared completely.

After this creepy change, the girls took deep breaths, wanting to scream. But because The Vault on the other side was so quiet and unresponsive, their performance couldn’t continue naturally, and in the end, they only let out a few awkward, unconvincing sounds.

The awkward atmosphere spread through the air, and with the teeth-grinding noise, shattered the earlier horror.

The Vault couldn’t help but laugh at her roommates.

Out of the corner of her eye, she finally noticed the suicide progress bar on the character panel had, in just a short time, shot up from 87% to 92%, peaking at 95% before quickly dropping back down, now fluctuating constantly.

Alright. Now she knew why Wendy Ward had bought that so-called peace talisman.

The girl on the opposite bed didn’t settle down for long before calling out again, “Hey, Winter Gray, Winter Gray! Listen to me!”

The Vault turned over.

The other girl suddenly turned on her flashlight, shining it upwards onto her own messy-haired face.

She lifted her head, her face crisscrossed with light and shadow. She said, “How about this: let’s play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever loses goes to check it out, okay?”

The other two quickly chimed in.

“Sure.”

“I… I guess that’s fine.”

“Winter Gray, you said you’re not afraid of ghosts anyway, right?”

The Vault stared motionlessly at the girl.

She wasn’t deliberately trying to create a scary atmosphere, but at that moment, her face was pale, her expression haggard, her lips almost bloodless, and with her gloomy gaze, the other girl immediately felt a chill under her stare and wanted to back out.

The Vault threw off her covers and sat up. The others were surprised by her boldness, thinking she was really going to go out.

But The Vault didn’t get up to take the next step. She placed her hands on her knees, sitting upright. Adjusting her tone, she said calmly, “You want to pick someone, right? Rock-paper-scissors isn’t fair. If you collude beforehand, the chance of picking me is 100%.”

The girl raised her voice, “What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t trust you. Can’t you tell? Who do you take for a fool?” The Vault sneered. “If you really want to pick someone, use permutations and combinations. Pair up for one-on-one matches, one round decides the winner. Winners get a point, losers lose a point, ties are zero. Whoever has the lowest score at the end goes. How about it? You can discuss how to cheat to give me a higher chance of losing. This is basic senior high school knowledge, not hard, right? I can take a loss, consider it compensation for your intelligence. But whoever goes out, let’s see if I’ll let you back in tonight.”

There was no trace of anger in The Vault’s tone, but no one doubted the threat in her words.

She was absolutely serious.

No one responded. The three seemed completely cowed by her sudden aura.

The Vault patiently asked again, “No one wants to go?”

Silence.

The Vault: “If no one’s going, then behave yourselves and stop playing ghost tricks.”

She walked to the foot of the bed, felt around under the mattress for a while, and pulled out a small tape recorder. As soon as she got hold of it, the switch was remotely turned off.

The dorm finally returned to silence, leaving only the tense breathing of the girls.

A chilly breeze seemed to blow in through the window cracks, making everyone’s skin prickle with cold.

The Vault gripped the recorder tightly, raised her arm, and threw it straight at the opposite bed.

The object hit the wall with a loud bang, shattered into several pieces from the impact, and bounced off in all directions, scattering across the floor.

Screams rang out. The girl on the opposite bed was terrified, but quickly realized the lights were already out, so she hurriedly stifled the rest of her cries. She covered her mouth with her blanket, gasping in short, suppressed breaths.

The Vault brushed off some imaginary dust from her hands. “If anyone dares to try that again, for whatever reason, I’ll make sure she gets a close whiff of the dorm bathroom drain. Isn’t that more fun? What do you think?”

The sobbing grew louder, but no one dared make another sound.

If only they’d listened earlier, right? When it’s time to sleep, just sleep. Why go looking for trouble in the dark?

The Vault pulled the covers back and lay down again.

Chapter 5: Surveillance