Task 017 begins_1

The door to the control room seemed to be locked.

After more than two decades of weathering, the lock still steadfastly held its ground, never slackening or giving in.

Lu Ban couldn't help but feel respect for it.

Then, with the crowbar, he decisively pried the door open.

Clang—

With a loud crash, the lock that had held out for over twenty years finally met its end.

Lu Ban entered the control room.

The control room was in charge of operating the stage curtains, lighting projection, music playback, and overall scene management. Jiangcheng Grand Theater had three, located on either side of the stage and directly opposite the stage.

This room should have contained many instruments, but now it had none.

However, the control room wasn't dim.

Through the transparent windows, one could see the theater's lobby. Since the dome had partly collapsed due to a fire, light from outside could penetrate inside, providing the control room with a faint glow, but that was all it was—just a faint light.

The day was drawing to a close, and the last streaks of the sunset were quickly fading away, darkening the sky as viewed from here. Nightfall was fast approaching.

From his high vantage point, Lu Ban could see the stage draped in twilight.

Surprisingly, apart from some blackened marks, the stage seemed rather empty. Although the seats were unoccupied and in disarray, the stage itself stood alone, bleak light falling upon it, as if a spotlight during a performance, obstinately embellishing the bygone splendor.

His gaze shifted to one side of the stage, where there was a piano.

"A piano?"

How could a piano still be left behind?

The moment Lu Ban contemplated this mystery,

Thump—

The antique piano suddenly produced a crooked, discordant note, but Lu Ban was certain he had seen no one beside the piano!

Goosebumps rose on his skin, and leaning forward slightly, he gripped the crowbar in his hand tighter, trying to get a clearer view.

Clang—

In that moment, his foot suddenly found empty air, and he rapidly lost balance, about to fall.

Crack—

Lu Ban's crowbar caught on the edge of the broken window, preventing him from falling.

Looking down, he saw the very spot where his left foot had stepped—it was now just a void. The floor beneath this protruding control room had likely caved in due to it not having seen a visitor in many years.

If Lu Ban hadn't had the crowbar, or if he had walked even slightly further forward, he would probably have fallen from the control room and broken at least one leg.

He quickly stepped back a few paces, wanting to exit the room.

But Lu Ban's retreat was abruptly stopped by something behind him; tracing its outline through the touch on his back, it was unmistakably the shape of a person!

Lu Ban's heart skipped a beat. He swung around quickly, raising the crowbar as the flashlight illuminated the corner in front of him.

He saw several pale figures standing in the corner of the control room, untouched by the sunlight from the theater's lobby.

They were mannequins.

These mannequins were still dressed in tattered tailcoats, dresses, and the like, as if ready to attend a grand banquet.

"Why would anyone stack these things here?"

Lu Ban examined the mannequins up and down.

He noticed that, as some sort of prank, crooked eyes had been drawn onto their originally blank faces.

These eyes seemed to stare in the direction of the theater lobby, carrying a strange, eerie air about them.

Lu Ban tapped the nearest mannequin with the crowbar.

It remained unmoving.

Using the flashlight, he then checked the rest of the control room. It was empty, except for these few out-of-place mannequins.

He turned to leave, but with an unsettled feeling, he gave the mannequins another glance.

Not a hair out of place.

It's just... the eyes of these mannequins seemed to have turned toward the direction of the door where Lu Ban was located.

"...the problem is indeed serious."

Lu Ban turned off his flashlight and quickly returned to the foyer.

The sky had completely darkened. He glanced at his phone: 7:30 PM. He had already spent over an hour exploring the corridor.

At the same time, the text on the phone screen twisted into a cold prompt.

[Mission Start]

[Find the Performer: 0/1]

[Survive Until Dawn: 10:29:43]

"Ten hours...till sunrise at 6 AM tomorrow?"

Lu Ban set the alarm on his phone for 6 AM the next morning, put it in his pocket, and then pushed open the creaking door to the theater's grand hall.

Even in its current state of disrepair, Lu Ban could feel the former splendor of the grand theater that could accommodate more than a thousand people—a considerable size at the time.

However, the fire had burned away a good portion of the audience seats, and the second floor was almost charred to a crisp. Even after so many years, Lu Ban could still smell the hot, suffocating scent in the air.

The once magnificent dome had shattered, allowing starlight to fall through the gaps, casting a hazy light on the stage.

Lu Ban reached the first row and knocked on the stage with a crowbar to check its solidity before leaping onto it.

His shoes clicked crisply on the wooden planks, echoing in the hall that, despite its ruins, still had an amplifying structure.

Moving carefully to the piano, Lu Ban's flashlight brushed over the piano shrouded in the night's darkness.

He didn't know how to maintain a piano, nor could he recognize the brand, but the piano gave him a sense of both antiquity and newness. Lu Ban shone the light onto the keys and discovered not a speck of dust.

Not just the keys, but the strings of the opened piano as well were free of dust.

Remembering this, Lu Ban finally realized what was off.

He leaned down slightly and rubbed the back of his hand against the floor.

Spotless.

The stage floor was spotless.

After so many years of abandonment and without anyone to clean, logically there should have been dust everywhere.

But...

"Wait a second."

Lu Ban snapped back to reality.

The clothes of those mannequin models in the control room just now, besides being tattered and worn, seemed to be free of any dust as well!!!

Tap—

At that moment, a faint noise came from the direction of the other control room. Normally, this sound wouldn't have been noticed at all, but the quiet at this time, coupled with the excellent echo effect in this place, ensured that the sound clearly reached Lu Ban's ears.

He glanced over there, only to see a face peeking out from behind the glass of the control room, spying on his position.

"!"

The flashlight beam quickly swept across, and Lu Ban saw that it was also a model, its face painted with sinister eyes.

"...There better not be more on the other side, right?"

He directed the flashlight toward the control room opposite the stage, and, unfortunately, there were no mannequins there.

Lu Ban stepped off the stage and looked around. There seemed to be no further abnormalities.

He descended from the stage and found an intact chair in the first row, brushed off the dust with the crowbar, and placed his backpack down.

He took out self-heating rice and water, ready to have his dinner.

*

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