That night, Zhou Bai lay in bed early, and the room and the corridor outside were enveloped in darkness.
To conserve resources in the base, the power was cut off early at night, plunging the entire base into complete darkness. Only the bedside night light in the room emitted a faint glow.
The children often went to bed early.
Lying in bed, Zhou Bai couldn't fall asleep; his mind was still filled with thoughts about the base.
"Too weird, this base… no matter how I think about it, it's too weird." He squinted his eyes and looked at Elsa, who was snoring beside him. "An apocalypse base, why are there only children?"
"Compared to adults, children are physically weaker, lack skills, have weaker immunity; the only advantage is they're easier to control."
"And so many children, none of their parents or relatives followed them to this base. It's too much of a coincidence."
"Moreover, they don't even know about China, the United States, or the United Kingdom…"
Zhou Bai recalled the information he gathered from chatting with the children these days, continuously summarizing and analyzing it in his mind. "What they know is completely different from what I know… they've never heard of the history or geography that I know.
But in terms of knowledge, at least the math, physics, and natural sciences these children learned in the base were the same as what I knew. Many things used in the base were also not much different from those in modern society…"
"Is the so-called apocalypse real?"
Thinking of this, he thought of Dr. Zhuang, who not only built this base to avoid the so-called apocalypse but also was responsible for educating the children in various knowledge.
"But these can all be explained, maybe just a madman messing around, the outside world might still be functioning normally. The biggest problem…" Zhou Bai raised his hand, looking at his pale and slender hand, which appeared much younger, his eyes wavering.
"I've become younger, but not more handsome… damn, how could this be explained?"
"And also…"
Zhou Bai looked at the laziness value that remained static on the panel and became frustrated. 'Why isn't the laziness value increasing no matter how I lie down? Could it be the wrong posture?'
These days, Zhou Bai discovered that the auxiliary system couldn't be used, but the power of 10 points of Primordial Spirit still remained, giving Zhou Bai some ability to protect himself.
Zhou Bai tried to use the power of the Primordial Spirit to lift a nearby table and chair. He secretly estimated that the power of 10 points of Primordial Spirit could exert the strength of four or five adults.
'Sigh, if I had this ability in my original world, I wouldn't need to get up to get things when playing games in bed…'
Just then, a sound of footsteps echoed outside the door.
Zhou Bai, 'Footsteps? Is someone outside?'
He was about to get up and open the door but suddenly remembered what Elsa had told him earlier.
…
Elsa, gnawing on the bed sheet, reminded him, "Zhou Bai~~ remember not to go out at night after going to sleep. No matter what you hear outside, don't go out."
"Sound? What kind of sound at night? Many people get up to pee?"
Elsa paused, frowned, and thought deeply while chewing the bed sheet.
"I forgot…"
…
Zhou Bai turned to look at the bed next to him. Elsa had kicked off her quilt and was lying flat with her limbs sprawled, mumbling in her sleep, "Zhou Bai~~~ I'll just lick it! I won't eat it! I'm not hungry~~~"
Zhou Bai said, "This glutton sleeps so soundly every day, no wonder she didn't hear anything outside."
At that moment, the footsteps in the corridor grew closer, seeming to stop directly in front of Zhou Bai's door, then suddenly ceased.
'Is someone at my door?'
In the silence, Zhou Bai seemed to hear his heartbeat, but he didn't hear the footsteps again.
'Is someone standing at the door?'
Feeling the eerie quietness in the darkness, Zhou Bai couldn't help but get up from the bed and walk to the door, pressing his ear against it, listening for any sounds outside.
In the strange silence, Zhou Bai also felt nervous. Just as he was wondering what to do next, the entire door suddenly shook, followed by the sound of the doorknob continuously turning.
'Someone is trying to open the door?'
However, because Elsa had locked the door earlier, the tightly shut door, though making continuous sounds of the lock being turned, never opened.
So after a while, the sound of the lock turning ceased.
Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
There was the sound of a hand slapping the door.
Seeing the door vibrating and making banging noises, Zhou Bai was startled.
"Who is it?" he shouted toward the door. "Who's outside?"
Hearing Zhou Bai's shout, the noise behind the door abruptly stopped.
Zhou Bai gulped, standing silently in place, listening carefully to any movement beyond the door.
In the utter darkness and silence, it seemed as if the person behind the door had vanished.
Zhou Bai couldn't resist turning to wake Elsa, but just as he turned, a white, furry face with crimson eyes stared at him.
Zhou Bai's last conscious thought was that the violent power of the Primordial Spirit surged from his mind and struck the creature fiercely.
…
The next morning, half-awake, Zhou Bai felt someone pushing him forcefully.
"Zhou Bai!"
"Zhou Bai!"
"Stop being lazy! If you don't get up, I'll eat all your breakfast!"
Zhou Bai suddenly opened his eyes, his mind still flashing with the image of that eerie face, saying in a shaken voice, "Last night, something got in last night!"
"Really?" Elsa said curiously. "I slept just fine; didn't hear anyone come in."
"It wasn't a person!" Zhou Bai said fearfully. "It was something else… I…" He looked at the bed under him. "You put me to bed?"
"No, I found you sleeping soundly in your bed when I woke up this morning," Elsa said. "I also locked the door last night; who could get in?"
She walked to the door, checked it, and said, "The door is still locked, Zhou Bai. Maybe you had a nightmare?"
Zhou Bai also stood up to check the door and found it was indeed locked, which confused him. 'Could it really have been a nightmare last night? Were Elsa and I the only ones in the room? Wait…'
His eyebrow twitched violently, and he couldn't help but look at Elsa beside him, a possible thought crossing his mind.
If the door hadn't opened last night and the room only had him and Elsa, could that white face have been Elsa?
Thinking of this made him feel a chill.
But then he thought, he was lying safely in bed. Was it really just a nightmare? But such a vivid dream...