Deceased?
Zhang Chenyan was completely stunned. He double-checked to ensure he wasn't seeing things.
He knew that his expression must have looked pretty bad, otherwise, the children wouldn't be staring at him with such confusion and concern.
The roster listed 23 children—13 boys and 10 girls.
But in reality, there were 14 boys and 10 girls.
The extra boy was named Matilda, and the roster noted that he was deceased, yet he was standing right in front of Zhang Chenyan.
The dilapidated house was eerily quiet. Zhang Chenyan could even hear the sound of water dripping onto the floor. The place was incredibly damp, shrouded in darkness, and so cold that it made him shiver.
Zhang Chenyan felt an intense chill, the kind that reminded him of the bone-deep cold he'd felt in "Paradise" when he was thrown into the icy wastelands of the surface. The cold made it difficult for him to even speak.
The room wasn't big, but it wasn't cramped either. The children, perhaps out of fear or caution, chose to huddle together, keeping their distance from Zhang Chenyan. Just a few minutes ago, he had been trying to close that gap, but now he found himself instinctively taking a step back.
Although he knew this was an illusion created by the barrier, he never imagined he would step into a realm inhabited by unknown entities.
Or... whether they were actually living beings was still up for debate.
"Mr. Caretaker..." the girl who had first spoken to Zhang Chenyan called out softly. Because the surroundings were so quiet, her faint voice sounded especially clear.
Zhang Chenyan snapped out of his thoughts. He closed the last page of the roster, leaving only the front visible, and approached the girl, signaling for her to point out her name.
To make sure the girl understood, Zhang Chenyan also pointed to his mouth, indicating that he was mute and couldn't speak.
The girl was quick to catch on, immediately understanding what Zhang Chenyan meant. She found her name in the roster and pointed it out to him—Gwendolyn, a slightly difficult name to remember.
Zhang Chenyan's plan was simple: he didn't know any of the children, including the extra boy Matilda, but by matching names to faces, it would be hard for anyone to stay hidden.
However, the children were still wary of him, and since communication was difficult, trying to do a roll call himself was not a wise move.
Zhang Chenyan smiled gently, then handed the roster to Gwendolyn, gesturing for her to help him by calling the roll while he stood by to memorize their faces.
This way, he could efficiently match names to faces and avoid being deceived—after all, the children were communicating right under his nose. If Gwendolyn tried to deceive him, one of the named children might expose the lie. Likewise, if a child tried to deceive him, Gwendolyn might call them out.
Of course, Zhang Chenyan trusted Gwendolyn more. She had been friendly to him from the start, and he felt an inexplicable sense of closeness to her.
Moreover, he was already certain that the extra child was a boy, and Gwendolyn was a girl.
Gwendolyn took the roster from Zhang Chenyan and spoke softly, "I'll go slowly, so listen carefully, okay? Otherwise, you might mix us up later."
"Gwendolyn, why are you helping him?" a young boy suddenly blurted out. "He's a caretaker! None of them are any good! Are you going to be a traitor?"
Gwendolyn paused briefly before replying, "I think he's different from the others. He's got a kind smile, and he hasn't been mean to us or hurt us since he got here..."
"That's just because he can't talk! He's a mute!" the boy snapped back, but after speaking, he shrank back, fearfully eyeing Zhang Chenyan. Clearly, he realized that his words had been rude and might have crossed a line with Zhang Chenyan.
He was afraid—afraid that Zhang Chenyan might retaliate.
In truth, Zhang Chenyan wasn't angry. He knew he wasn't actually mute, just restricted by the barrier here, and he could understand the boy's hostility in an adversarial situation.
The boy waited for a long time, but Zhang Chenyan's face showed no signs of irritation or anger, nor did he move to strike. Eventually, the boy hesitantly asked, "You're really not going to hit us?"
Zhang Chenyan shook his head slightly, indicating that he had no intention of hurting them.
He wasn't just saying that—he genuinely had no plans to be violent. After all, he wasn't a real caretaker tasked with keeping an eye on the children to prevent them from escaping.
Even if he were, would that stop the children from wanting to escape? Zhang Chenyan believed they must have already tried before, and the safety alert wasn't just for show. They couldn't escape, and neither could he—no one could.
"Alston, sit down!" Gwendolyn ordered. "I'm going to start the roll call."
At that moment, Zhang Chenyan realized that the boy who had talked back to him was named Alston. Thankfully, it wasn't Matilda.
Gwendolyn began calling out names one by one, and Zhang Chenyan listened carefully, matching each face to the roster. He wasn't sure how long he'd be in this place or how long he'd be with these children, so it didn't hurt to remember as many names as possible.
However, to Zhang Chenyan's surprise, when all the names had been called and Gwendolyn handed the roster back to him, he hadn't heard the name Matilda.
Even more strangely, the number of children now seemed to match the number on the roster. There were no extras—not a single one!
How could that be? Zhang Chenyan panicked. He counted the names on the roster again, excluding the one on the back, Matilda. He confirmed that there were 23 names, then counted the children again and confirmed there were 24.
"Mr. Caretaker? Is something wrong?" Gwendolyn tugged at Zhang Chenyan's sleeve and whispered, "It's almost rest time."
If it weren't for the strange events that had just occurred, Zhang Chenyan would have let them rest. But now he had to check things again, so he indicated that the children should stay a bit longer while he tried to commit more of them to memory.
Zhang Chenyan was confident in his memory. This time, he didn't trouble Gwendolyn. He took the roster himself and walked slowly past each child, matching their faces with the names in his mind.
He moved slowly, but thankfully, the children seemed well-trained and didn't run around or disrupt the lineup.
This time, Zhang Chenyan walked from one end to the other, matching every name to a face. But just like when Gwendolyn called the roll, there were no extras.
As Zhang Chenyan lowered the roster, preparing to do something else, he noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye. A boy had moved at a speed no human could manage, appearing among the children who had already been called. He must have used the same trick to avoid being called by Gwendolyn earlier.
The boy kept his head down, making his face impossible to see, but his body was thin, about the size of a 14 or 15-year-old.
Zhang Chenyan stared at him coldly, scrutinizingly.
The fear he'd felt earlier was due to the unknown. Now that he could see the boy, most of that fear had dissipated.
For once, Zhang Chenyan felt a bit angry. Now that the boy had revealed himself, why had he bothered with the tricks earlier? It had given Zhang Chenyan a scare, making him think he was dealing with something supernatural.
Whether the name was missing from the roster or the boy was just shy, it didn't matter—he should have shown himself. Hiding served no purpose other than wasting time and scaring people.
But just as Zhang Chenyan quickly walked over to get a closer look, the boy suddenly raised his head, revealing his face.
Zhang Chenyan stopped in his tracks.
Because the boy had no face.
To be precise, he had no facial features.
His face was like a mass of flesh-colored paste, completely devoid of any recognizable features. Zhang Chenyan couldn't find a better word to describe it other than "chaos."
Zhang Chenyan stood frozen, swallowing hard. The fear paralyzed him, as if his legs were weighed down by anchors, making it impossible for him to move.
The boy raised a hand and wrote a name in the air—Matilda.
Was this his way of completing the roll call?
Zhang Chenyan suddenly felt that roll call wasn't so important after all. He definitely didn't want to encounter a student like this.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but just as his legs began to cramp, Gwendolyn's voice broke through his thoughts: "Mr. Caretaker, what are you looking at?"
At that moment, Gwendolyn's voice sounded incredibly sweet to him.
Yes, he wasn't alone. Even if these children were just NPCs, they were still better company than... whatever that was.
Zhang Chenyan raised a hand and pointed in Matilda's direction, signaling for the children to look. But they seemed even more confused, and Gwendolyn asked, "Isn't that Zhao Muyang?"
Zhao Muyang? Zhang Chenyan felt like his head was about to explode from all the names. He was sure he'd heard that name earlier during the roll call.
He looked up again and saw that where Matilda had stood, there was now Zhao Muyang. Like Zhang Chenyan, Zhao Muyang had black eyes and black hair, and when he spoke, it was in the same familiar language.
"Is something wrong? Why are you looking at me?" Zhao Muyang asked.
Zhang Chenyan didn't have time to answer Zhao Muyang's question. He quickly glanced around and saw that the faceless boy had disappeared—or rather, he had blended back in with the other children.
Zhang Chenyan felt a pounding headache. He couldn't figure out what the barrier wanted him to see or do. Was this some kind of spot-the-difference game? It seemed utterly pointless.
The barrier certainly wasn't sending him here for a horror experience. Based on his past encounters with the barrier, it must be trying to convey some kind of message.
"Are you going to punish me today?" Zhao Muyang asked, his voice trembling slightly with fear.
Zhang Chenyan didn't know what kind of punishment the boy was referring to or what the children had been through that made them associate his gaze with punishment. But to avoid any misunderstanding, he shook his head, signaling that he meant no harm and certainly wouldn't punish anyone.
Seeing this, Zhao Muyang visibly relaxed.
"Mr. Caretaker, can we rest now?" Gwendolyn asked.
Zhang Chenyan nodded. His mind was in turmoil, and continuing to investigate at this point wouldn't be productive. Besides, he was alone, and communication was difficult. Rather than keeping the children huddled here in fear, it was better for him to take some time to sort things out.
The children, led by Gwendolyn, filed out of the room, with Zhang Chenyan following at the rear, watching as they orderly entered different rooms.
Zhang Chenyan quickly estimated that there were twelve rooms in this row of houses. As far as he could tell, five of them served as dormitories for the children, with six children per room. The boys occupied three rooms, one of which wasn't full, and the girls occupied two, also with one room not full.
As he watched them enter the rooms, Zhang Chenyan quietly counted and confirmed there were 24 children.
As the doors closed one by one, Zhang Chenyan let out a long breath.
Based on the 13 boys, there should be one boy with a room to himself. Including Matilda, there were 14 boys in total, which meant Matilda was either in one of the six-person rooms or sharing a room with the extra boy.
In any case, Zhang Chenyan had seen two boys enter a double room, meaning there was indeed an extra boy on the boys' side.
Zhang Chenyan leaned against the wall, deep in thought. The damp chill seeped through his clothes, but he didn't care. Right now, his physical discomfort was far less important than figuring out the barrier's intentions.
Zhao Muyang... Zhang Chenyan's mind kept returning to that name.
Xie Han had once told him that some parents name their children based on the five elements or to express their hopes. Zhao Muyang was indeed a name typical of the underground city, and it sounded familiar to Zhang Chenyan.
But these children came from different places, with various skin colors and ethnicities. Zhang Chenyan was curious—how had they all ended up here? And what was the purpose of bringing them together?
What kind of place was this? Or rather, what was its purpose?