48 Hours a Day

On the surface, there was nothing out of the ordinary. From the reason that drove him into madness to being sent to a mental hospital, it appeared the decision had been all but his parents’ last resort. Despite that, Zhang Heng couldn’t see how his parents were harming him.

Zhang Heng also remembered his grandfather telling him about the college student who lost his mind. He was at school the afternoon at the time of the incident, and it was talk of the entire neighborhood for a week. The student’s parents seemed deeply saddened by this incident, so Zhang Heng’s grandpa visited them, hoping to offer some comfort.

If that was the case, Zhang Heng could not explain the student’s terrified expression when he heard the door opening. After Zhang Heng completed the Deductive Reasoning quest, his observation skill had significantly improved, and saw that the student’s fear was genuine, the sort of fear that emerged from the depths of the soul.

It meant the student was indeed afraid of the person behind the door, just like how he turned and ran after seeing Zhang Heng from under the bridge pier. He must have thought that he’d come across someone like his parents.

The whole incident only seemed to get more interesting. Zhang Heng was now sure that gradually, he was getting more involved in the main quest of this dungeon.

Undoubtedly, the college student was the key to it.

Hence, Zhang Heng planned to pay him a visit again later tonight.

“You should leave the yogurt at room temperature for a while. I don’t want you to catch a cold,” said grandpa while walking into the kitchen with the drain basket he used to wash vegetables.

After a long wait, the hour hand finally pointed at twelve.

There was almost no difference between this world and the real one. If the time did not stop, it would be almost impossible to tell which world he was in.

As he did the previous night, Zhang Heng sneaked out of the living room carrying a backpack on his back.

After considering the possibility that a battle might occur, he brought along his Pestilence Bone Bow and Paris Arrow. Instead of going through the main entrance, Zhang Heng climbed from the west wall to the second floor and tapped lightly on the college student’s room window.

Zhang Heng had already found out earlier on that this was the student’s bedroom. The latter had probably left the house from this very room last night. Nonetheless, similar to what happened during the day, there was no one there to answer him.

Zhang Heng knew that the student did not believe him. Right now, the unwell man seemed to be in a state of extreme paranoia, unable to trust anyone but himself. It might why he chose to stay at home all the time.

Zhang Heng was well prepared for a situation like this. Since the student was unwilling to open the window, Zhang Heng decided to pry it open. First, he threw his backpack into the room, making sure he wasn’t being ambushed.

Even if the student had a knife and was waiting to stab him, Zhang Heng was not worried. The man seemed frail, and it would be difficult for him to harm anyone even if he stood face to face with them. To be cautious, however, Zhang Heng did not jump into the room immediately after his backpack landed. He first took a quick glance around the room, and to his surprise, nobody was there.

The room was in an awful mess. The quilt on the bed was undone, and ubwashed plates and bowls were stacked on the computer desk. It was exactly the kind of room where its owner spent most of his time there. Even more of a shame were many poorly maintained action figures and comics scattered all over the floor. Other than that, Zhang Heng caught sight of a slipper and the door that was slightly opened.

Given the degree of fear the student had toward his parents, Zhang Heng couldn’t have imagined that he’d leave the door slightly ajar, something that would only serve to increase his psychological trauma.

Zhang Heng quickly realized that the student might not have left the room under his own will.

Instantly, he became vigilant, grabbing the Pestilence Bone Bow on his back as he strung the Paris Arrow onto it. When he passed the computer desk, he grabbed a Lego Gundam on the computer table and shoved it into his backpack.

To put his Infinite Building Block into use, other Lego bricks had to be built around it. However, a box of Lego was too way too expensive for a high school student, and there was no way he could afford it. Hence, all he could do was borrow the bricks from the college student first.

Zhang Heng then pushed the door lightly, and with a creak, the door started to open. He found another slipper under the sofa as he walked into the living room.

At this point, he could basically deduce what happened earlier-something or someone must have dragged the college student out of his room. The guy must have struggled a lot, explaining the scattered books and figurines. Amid his futile attempts to free himself, he had inadvertently kicked off one of his slippers in his room and left the other in the living room.

Zhang Heng even found a lock of hair by the sofa. It appeared that whatever that had dragged him out of his room must have been very strong. A sinking feeling started welling from within Zhang Heng’s heart.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have left him alone during the day. Zhang Heng thought that the student would be fine since he only left for a few hours. Now it seemed the decision had robbed the student of his last chance to survive.

Stuffing the lock of hair into his pocket, Zhang Heng looked around the living room as quickly as he could. Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the kitchen behind him, prompting him to turn around. It was then that he saw a shadow on the frosted glass of the kitchen door. The silhouette stood there, staring at him with the coldest of stares.

Even at this moment, Zhang Heng managed to remain calm. He did not back up when he saw the silhouette. Instead, he kicked the door open.

Just as he was ready to fight, he discovered it had been a false alarm.

The silhouette turned out to be a mop. The moonlight casting a shadow on the glass door, coupled with a wild cat, had probably caused the sound. Zhang Heng, however, did not let his guard down. He had a strange feeling that the whole thing was only getting weirder.

When he kicked the door, the loud noise should have woken up the other people in the house. But until now, there was no movement in the master bedroom.

Zhang Heng did not hesitate. Since he was here, he might as well check out the master bedroom. If he did not figure out what happened to the college student, it would be difficult to know more about the aliens he needed to deal with in the main quest.

So Zhang Heng covered his face with a facemask before entering the master bedroom. Then he held his bow and arrow and walked towards the master bedroom.

If someone called the police now, not only would the authorities accuse him of trespassing, but they would charge him for attempted murder as well. When Zhang Heng walked into the master bedroom, however, he realized that his worries were unnecessary. The room was empty as well.

The college student was not the only one that went missing, but also his parents.

It was hard to imagine any family would go out together at this hour when most people were already asleep. Maybe they had an emergency that required them to leave the house. After a while, Zhang Heng’s eyes were attracted by the bed.

There was nothing strange about this bed, save for it being a little too tidy. Especially the bed sheet-it wasn’t wrinkled. Someone must have spent a reasonable amount of time to tidy up the bed. When Zhang Heng compared the master bedroom with what he saw in the living room and the college student’s room, it did not make sense that the master bedroom was so tidy and clean.

This showed that the owner was not at all anxious when he tidied up the room, as if he was about to go on vacation.