If they couldn’t find the murderer this time, then only god knew when the next chance would come. Besides, this time, the paper man, or the real murderer behind it, was still following the original path and procedure. Since the plot was already known, Su Bai and Childe Hai had some traces to go after; at least they would know when and where the paper man showed up.
But, what about next time?
Who would be the paper man’s next target?
Where would it hide to make a fatal attack?
No one knew, and no one would make any shot. Even if they could carry blood bags around, it would still be impossible to defend effectively. And Childe Hai was hurt; only he could fight against this paper man for a little while. The sunglasses guy had fled, Guo Gang had been killed on site, and Su Bai was unable to handle an attack at this level by himself. Therefore, this was really the last chance. If they failed to follow this paper man back to the real murderer, things would go completely out of control.
This was why Su Bai didn’t take revenge against Childe Hai while Childe Hai was engaged with the paper man. He wanted to survive; if he killed Childe Hai, he could never beat the paper man and the real killer behind it by himself.
The paper man’s vitality seemed to have been greatly sapped after it was dipped in blood, so it wasn’t very fast. Therefore, when Su Bai went downstairs, it hadn’t gone far, and it even seemed to be flying with difficulty. It was no longer high in the air like a kite.
That was good.
Su Bai covered his cheek with one hand, but blood was still running out. He had no other choice. There just wasn’t enough time to deal with the wound. Almost all the flesh on his right cheek had been cut off. It was bad, but luckily, it wouldn’t kill him for the moment, and it didn’t affect his ability to move. Only, he seemed to be extremely horrible.
Only after Su Bai had gone far after the paper man had Childe Hai staggered down. He climbed to the entrance and gave up the idea of chasing them. He sat down against the wall, murmuring:
"Damn, if this newbie got the murderer, he would have most of the award of this task. Must be his lucky day."
Childe Hai knew that although he was unwilling, he had to pray that Su Bai could follow the paper man to the murderer behind it and accomplish the Main Task for everyone else.
Otherwise…
When the paper man was fixed or replaced by a new one…
Everyone would be waiting to be killed one by one. Since this paper man existed in the reality, and this case itself was a supernatural event, it became even more powerful and terrifying after becoming a story of the "Dreadful Radio". In the real world, Childe Hai would be confident that he could put this paper man down or even tear it apart, but in here, he couldn’t.
On the other side, to Su Bai’s astonishment, the paper man waveringly flew into the school.
"The murderer really is someone in the school."
Su Bai didn’t feel so surprised about this. The victims were two students and Chen Chu’s girlfriend was dumped in the campus on purpose. Thus, it was very likely that the murderer was someone inside the school. If it was someone outside the school, then he would not be so obsessed about the school, choosing targets from among the students or disposing the bodies in the school.
Who on earth might it be?
A school staff? A teacher? Or a student?
Luckily, the Omission Function did Su Bai great help. While he was chasing the paper man from the block into the school, he met no one— there was no car in the streets, no guard in the guardian room by the school gate, and no student in the campus.
Otherwise, if there were passengers or students around, or if there were guards in the guardian room, Su Bai would not be able to keep running after a paper man with all the blood on him.
However, from another perspective, if a character in some story had finally found a gleam of hope after so many difficulties, injuries or even death, and all of a sudden, a batch of passengers or guards got in the way and destroyed that gleam of hope, that would be such a suffering to the audience listening to this story. Maybe the "Dreadful Radio" offered such a convenience here, instead of its realistic style, only to make the story go on.
Trying to get rid of Su Bai, the paper man chose to enter the woods. But Su Bai was a student here after all, and thanks to the Murder Club, though he was no rival to professional killers who actually took murder missions, he had somehow formed a habit of observing everything around him.
Therefore, Su Bai was very familiar with the woods, and it would be difficult for the paper man to get rid of him here.
The paper man was running about in the woods and its figure sometimes disappeared. But Su Bai was observing calmly so it was impossible for the paper man to keep out of his sight long enough to completely get rid of him.
Just as Su Bai was getting closer and closer to the paper man, it began to molt. Yes, it was casting off its skin.
And there appeared two more paper men that were exactly the same.
It was so weird that Su Bai was confused. Suddenly, the three paper men went toward three directions in the woods, but Su Bai had no idea which one should he follow. And if he couldn’t make a decision soon, after the paper men went too far away everything would be too late!
"Damn it!"
Su Bai ground his teeth. He was not reconciled to a one-in-three bet, but it was urgent; he had to take a chance, but if he didn’t choose right, the result would be unthinkable.
However, just at this moment, a light came from the path outside the woods. And Su Bai was familiar with this light.
The light shone on the three paper men one by one. Finally, from the paper man in the middle, there came a pale light as reaction.
That one!
Exactly!
Su Bai hesitated no more and went after that reflecting paper man.
On the path outside the woods, a man took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. From the rim of his eyes there was blood dripping down. Apparently, seeing through a tricky appearance from such a distance was a kind of burden, even for him.
As for Su Bai, the chase was still going on. There seemed to be a competition of endurance between a paper man and a real man; both of them were trying their best.
But the paper man seemed to be in worse shape, because Su Bai realized that its height of flying was lowering; at last, it was even flying with half of its body dragging on the ground, impossible to pull up.
It was dying!
It had to return to its master as soon as possible.
And the the place it was heading to…
…must be where the murderer was!
Finally, the paper man could stand no more. It left the woods and seemed to stop the entanglement with Su Bai.
However, what came next made Su Bai even more surprised: the paper man directly went into the dormitory after it went through the woods.
Su Bai chased it all along and finally…
…came back to the dormitory he was living in!
The murderer…
…had always been living in the same building with him?
No kidding!
Su Bai suddenly felt so ridiculous. But he continued to go in after it, because he saw that paper man going in with his own eyes, and he was sure he didn't miss that.
Inside the dormitory, Su Bai was after that paper man which could barely fly. It was really at the edge of being unable to fly at all; it was almost sliding on the floor and it was becoming slower and slower. Actually, if Su Bai were to try harder now, he could catch it, but he didn’t do that. What he wanted was not this paper man, but the person behind it.
If the paper man was gone, the murderer would make a new one; destroying one paper man was meaningless to Su Bai. As for the reason why the paper man had to return to its master even in this condition, was it an instinctive reaction or a plot set by the Dreadful Radio?
If Su Bai was the murderer and his paper man failed, he might immediately cut off the connection between him and the paper man and leave the paper man on its own, instead of letting it lead the rival to himself.
Of course, the murderer might have some secret problems, or he lost control of the paper man after it was let out so the paper man could only do what was told before.
Finally, on the third floor, the paper man was so close to the ground that it went through the gap under the door with its feet first and then the head. Before its head went in, it looked at Su Bai, and the red color on its cheeks became even weirder after soaking some blood.
Su Bai stood right in front of the door with disbelief:
"It’s him!"
Just then, a voice came into Su Bai’s mind:
"Main Task 2 Accomplished…"