Chapter 640: Kill them all
The child screamed for help.
His voice was so desperate.
Yet, it overlapped with the gentle tone of the young man in the phone receiver by her ear—his voice so calm, as if pronouncing the fate of someone unrelated.
“…”
Orange Candy’s knuckles turned white from clenching, the phone casing creaking under the unbearable pressure, making a teeth-aching sound.
Her feet were planted firmly into the ground, eyes staring fixedly at everything happening ahead until a sharp stinging pain came from her eyeballs.
Finally, the chaotic black shadow turned and left with the faceless Mommas. Their figures gradually moved further away, and the child’s crying was swallowed by the darkness.
In the end… no one heard his cry for help.
Silence returned to the surroundings.
On the phone, the other party seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: “…Thank you.”
He spoke with sincerity.
“…………Shut. Up.” Orange Candy took a slow, forceful breath. Word by word, as if squeezing them through her teeth, her voice suppressed emotions with nowhere to vent: “You better really have something more important next.”
“Of course,” Wen Jianyan replied quickly: “The main gate on the fourth floor of the orphanage. I need you to help me open it.”
“Fine.”
Orange Candy hung up the phone.
Wei Cheng and Zhao Ran watched her worriedly: “Captain…”
Having been with her the longest, they knew Orange Candy’s temperament well. Naturally, they understood that making this choice was by no means easy for her.
“Let’s go, back to the orphanage.”
Orange Candy didn’t say much more, just gave a cold order.
The group returned quickly along the original path. Compared to the laughter and cheer when they came, the return journey was oppressive and deathly silent. The three ran silently all the way, but no matter how fast they moved, they didn’t see any trace of the Mommas on the road—clearly, physical distance meant nothing to them.
Not long after, they saw the familiar pointed roof of the orphanage.
The tall building stood coldly in the boundless darkness, giving an infinite sense of oppression.
“Wait,” as if thinking of something, Wei Cheng’s pace halted abruptly, “What time is it now?”
Zhao Ran froze and checked his phone:
“…Five-twenty!”
In every past loop, they would restart at 5 PM on this day. This was the first time they broke this time limit, entering the time period after five o’clock without returning directly to five days ago!
At the same time, the stagnant [Mission Completion] progress bar on the interface began to move slowly for the first time in a long while.
“Is it the same for other anchors? Or just us?” Wei Cheng asked.
“I don’t know,” Zhao Ran shook his head, putting the phone back in his pocket. He narrowed his eyes slightly, casting his gaze toward the building not far away, and continued, “But either result implies a lot.”
They might be able to find the true reason for the instance loop through this.
“Let’s go, let’s go in.”
Inside the orphanage.
It was time for the end of another loop. The anchors were prepared to start over again. Bored, they counted down the time, waiting for the arrival of the next cycle.
However, this time, the familiar vibration didn’t appear at the fixed time.
The anchors looked astonished.
Wait… could it be…
Instantly, everyone’s gaze focused on the clock, staring tightly at the second hand moving tick by tick.
Tick, tick, tick.
The second hand slowly pointed to the very top.
At that moment, the air seemed to stagnate. Everyone subconsciously held their breath until—
Tick.
The second hand left the top position and continued to start a new round of rotation.
!!!
Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.
This time, they didn’t start a new loop!
Time continued forward!!
Although they didn’t know the reason, it was clearly inseparable from Orange Candy and her group’s actions—before they could recover from the shock of time continuing to advance, a tall faceless Momma appeared at the end of the corridor.
Everyone immediately fell silent.
But strangely, this time, the Momma didn’t react to their whispers. Instead, as if seeing nothing, she raised her voice and shouted: “Assemble!”
“…”
The anchors exchanged secret glances, their hearts raising vigilance to the highest level.
Leaving aside whether the loop really ended, anything happening after this critical node deserved their highest alertness.
However, the Momma didn’t seem prepared to explain further:
“Hurry up, move your hands and feet briskly!”
The children put down their cleaning tools one after another and hurriedly gathered behind the Momma.
The Momma’s featureless face turned slowly, the invisible sense of being watched making one’s hair stand on end—soon, seemingly confirming no one was left behind, she turned around and said: “Follow!”
The anchors quickened their pace, hurrying to catch up with the Momma ahead.
While walking forward, the Momma instructed in a chilling tone:
“Everyone pay careful attention. The visitors this time are our most precious investors. If anyone makes a mistake during this process, see if I don’t skin you alive…”
Investors?
The anchors exchanged grave looks.
Although their level was far below Orange Candy’s, the experience gained from various instances told them that this “visit” was probably extraordinary.
Just like that, they followed the Momma quietly to the cafeteria.
This place was obviously carefully decorated. Rather than a cafeteria, it looked more like an auditorium—however, what attracted everyone’s attention most was the long table at the end of the cafeteria. The place originally occupied by large white tin buckets was replaced by a bowl of beautifully packaged candy. The air seemed filled with a fragrant, sweet creamy scent.
Instantly, even the orphans accustomed to silence and obedience couldn’t hold back. Pairs of longing eyes stared tightly in that direction, not even hearing the Momma shouting “Get over there and sit down” several times. Only when the Momma started kicking people did they finally move again, rushing impatiently to sit in their designated seats.
Unlike these orphans who had never seen good things in their lives, watching this strange scene made the anchors increasingly wary.
They sat down silently, without much joy on their faces, just waiting quietly.
Suddenly, unknown what happened above, the Mommas near the door exchanged a few low words, and then half of them turned and left the cafeteria.
“…Holy crap, someone escaped?”
An anchor sitting closest to the Mommas froze, seeming to catch snippets of their conversation.
This news spread immediately across the long table.
“Yes, they seem to have gone out to catch people.”
“It must be Orange Candy and her group who ran, right?”
“Oh my god, worthy of being big shots… I reckon the changes in the instance this time are inseparable from their actions.”
Since at least half of the Mommas left the hall, taking advantage of the lax guard, a few bolder anchors exchanged glances and sneaked away from their seats.
“Let’s go see what’s going on.”
Several people slipped out of the hall silently. However, before they took a few steps, the leader stopped abruptly, losing his voice:
“Retreat, quickly!”
They hurriedly hid behind a pillar, glancing sideways not far away.
The Mommas who had just left the hall stopped for some reason. Although their faces had no features, somehow, the group perceived a strange fawning expression—and the moment they saw the object of their fawning, the anchors’ hearts skipped a beat.
They immediately knew why their teammate told them to retreat quickly just now.
It was a pitch-black human figure. It had no face, but it wasn’t simply faceless; chaotic lines covered its entire body like a huge black hole burned into existence. Just looking at it gave an extremely unsettling feeling.
Even though there was still a long distance between them, all senses began to scream in fear—“Run!”
That shadow seemed to be conversing with the Mommas.
Nothing could be heard from here, but this time, they dared not approach even a bit closer.
Soon, that terrifying shadow disappeared from their sight along with several Mommas.
But one of the Mommas turned around and walked back.
“Quick, she’s coming back!”
It was too late to escape. To avoid discovery, the leading anchor gritted his teeth and activated a precious item.
A gauze-like shadow covered them, hiding their figures while masking the aura of all living people.
The Momma’s heavy steps approached. As she walked, she muttered to herself:
“…Why suddenly kill them all…”
Her figure disappeared at the end of the corridor.
The item expired, and the anchors gasped for breath on the spot, looking at each other in horror.
What…?
Kill them all???
Now, they couldn’t care about anything else. They started running wildly all the way back to the hall.
“You guys are finally back. They’ve started calling numbers up there.”
Seeing them sit back in their seats panting, the anchor beside them whispered,
“I was worried about you…”
Before he could finish, the returning few hurriedly recounted what they had overheard.
The others were instantly shocked.
“—What did you say???”
“Absolutely no mistake,” the anchor gasped, “One of the Mommas said it herself!”
While they conversed, the Momma continued calling out the children’s numbers. All the orphans whose numbers were called walked up happily, treasured and longing, taking candy from the rare kindly Momma in front, and then were led out of the hall.
This progress was faster than they imagined. In just a moment, the hall was half empty.
“Then… what do we do?”
One person asked softly.
“Strike first.” Another lowered his voice and answered slowly.
First, the number of Mommas guarding the hall wasn’t large. More importantly, rather than being taken out separately and killed, it was better to fight here.
“Three, two… one!”
The moment the last syllable fell, the prepared anchors leaped up!!
The Momma turned her head slowly, her blank face lowering to look down at them. A boundless chill permeated instantly:
“I told you…”
“Causing trouble at a time like this, I will skin you alive.”
The temperature in the entire auditorium dropped骤ly. Boundless shadows rose from the corners, and a great battle was on the verge of breaking out!!
However, just then, with a loud BANG, the cafeteria door was kicked open from the outside.
The person used too much force; the already unstable door skewed off its hinges and fell heavily to the ground, kicking up dust.
“Hm? Fighting?”
A little girl’s voice came from behind. Although her tone seemed to carry a smile, hearing it inexplicably made one’s whole body go cold:
“Haha, just right.”
“I’m feeling really unhappy right now.”
The ensuing battle was almost one-sided.
Only then did the anchors realize that Orange Candy had actually been holding back against them previously.
Although she had a big smile on her face while doing all this, anyone with eyes could see she harbored heavy hostility in her heart, frustrated at having nowhere to vent it—just as she said when she first appeared.
The anchors hurriedly retreated from the battlefield. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to confront the Mommas, but they found Orange Candy was truly crazy, showing no restraint even with allies nearby!!
To prevent becoming a ghost under her blade, they had to run as far as possible.
Finally, the dust settled.
Orange Candy giggled. Standing among broken tables and chairs, black and red blood trails dripped down her cheeks. Her expression was crazed and violent, making people keep their distance, afraid to approach.
Wei Cheng and Zhao Ran were long accustomed to their captain’s habits. They had taken this opportunity to find the other anchors hiding far away and heard everything that happened after they left from them.
So, after Orange Candy stopped, they immediately went to her side and explained the situation they knew in full detail.
“Kill them all?”
Orange Candy’s expression changed.
“Mn,” Wei Cheng nodded. “That’s what they said.”
This also made sense logically.
A instance with a total duration of seven days, yet starting a loop on the fifth day with no major events happening within those five days, clearly meant only one thing—in the remaining two days, there would definitely be an earth-shattering change.
And this was highly likely related to the reason for this instance’s formation.
All orphans dying clearly fit this definition.
“Right, one more thing,” Zhao Ran narrowed his eyes. “At least now we know these anchors entered the events after the fifth day with us—this reveals a lot.”
This meant the loop’s [marker] wasn’t a fixed “time point”; otherwise, even if they were far from the loop location, the loop inside the orphanage would continue undisturbed.
But similarly, Pinocchio’s escape wasn’t the node either; otherwise, the moment they left the orphanage, the loop would have started again.
But regardless…
Pinocchio’s role in this was probably extraordinary.
Outside the door, the light dimmed. All light sources were extinguishing at a visible speed, just like when they declared war on the entire instance before—once a Momma was killed in a non-secret state, the entire instance would enter a hostile state.
Even if they didn’t want to, they had to fight.
Until all Mommas were killed, the instance would automatically start the next loop.
However, they weren’t prepared to repeat the same mistakes this time.
Wei Cheng thought for a moment and waved to the anchors hiding far away: “Come here.”
Everyone looked at each other and approached cautiously.
“I’m giving you a task,” Zhao Ran said kindly. “The other Mommas in this instance should be coming in this direction. You need to hold them here.”
Someone seemed to realize something: “Wait, then what about you…?”
“We have other things to do.” Wei Cheng adjusted the crooked glasses on his nose and said calmly, “You holding the Mommas is crucial for our next action.”
Anchors: “…”
Last time when facing the whole instance, it was mainly because Orange Candy’s trio, the main combat force, was there that they could win so easily.
And this time, the three obviously weren’t planning to fight, but wanted them to hold off the vast majority of threats in the instance while they did something else…
You can’t be serious, just us???
“But…” An anchor hesitated to speak, but before he could start bargaining, Orange Candy turned her head to look over.
She still had a smile on her face, her lingering murderous aura unrestrained:
“Hm?”
The anchor was startled and instinctively shut up.
“Let’s put it this way,” Orange Candy jumped out of the rubble, walking up with a smile. The blood on her face hadn’t been wiped clean, looking terrifying. “If I see any Momma chasing me elsewhere, when the next loop starts, I’ll settle accounts with you first—understand?”
Anchors: “…………”
Sorry, never mind.
Although high-ranking anchors in Nightmare were indifferent and cruel, people like Orange Candy who showed no mercy killing their own kind and even enjoyed it were still a minority.
Compared to fighting Mommas, being enemies with this guy was a bit more terrifying.
After instructing everything, Orange Candy turned and left with the other two.
“Where did the Momma take those orphans?” Zhao Ran wondered.
“Either the second floor or the fourth floor,” Wei Cheng thought and said. “The fourth floor is highly likely.”
Although the second floor had the incinerator, the room was too small to process so many children at once. As for the third floor, they had been there in a previous loop; it was actually the Mommas’ dormitory and activity area, so it was unlikely they were taken there.
Thinking it over, the fourth floor they had never entered was the most likely.
“So, Pinocchio might also be taken there?” Zhao Ran was thoughtful.
Wei Cheng nodded.
Not just possible.
It was highly probable.
After all, the relationship between Pinocchio and the instance loop was deep. So, at this critical node, he definitely wouldn’t appear anywhere else.
Hearing this, Orange Candy walking in front suddenly paused.
“What’s wrong?” Wei Cheng froze.
Orange Candy said concisely: “Wait, I need to get something.”
After speaking, she turned around and jogged back to the hall—seeing her return, the other anchors’ breath hitched instantly, explaining with bitter faces:
“Big shot, we really didn’t…”
However, Orange Candy couldn’t be bothered to even glance at them. instead, she grabbed a handful of candy from the large basin in front, picked out the ones with nice wrappers to stuff into her pocket, and then ran out again without looking back, her pocket bulging with candy.
Watching her disappearing back, everyone was dumbfounded.
…Huh?
No, Big Shot, you came back just to grab a handful of candy?
Returning to the team, Orange Candy finally didn’t look as fiercely oppressive as before but appeared elated:
“Go go go, to the fourth floor!”
