But as she lay down, she also said, "I can sleep without the lights off. If you're scared, don't turn them off."
The only one who genuinely wanted to sleep was Ning Wei. So, when she suggested leaving the lights on, Tang Tang and the others exchanged glances, ultimately lacking the courage to turn them off again.
"So, did all that bravado just get thrown to the dogs?" Zhu Yilian chuckled, looking at Tang Tang.
Tang Tang pushed her aside. "I just wasn't psychologically prepared yet. Give me some more time."
The girls who didn't want to sleep huddled under their blankets, talking in low voices.
Once Ning Wei fell asleep, nothing could wake her, so she let them whisper amongst themselves.
After an indeterminate amount of time, a knock sounded at the door.
"Are you awake?" Song Zhi asked softly through the door.
Ning Wei sat up and rubbed her eyes. Tang Tang and the others had fallen asleep pressed against each other.
"I'll come find you in a moment," she told Song Zhi, then pulled the blankets up for the girls.
They slowly woke up, about to say something, when they were startled by a scream.
Tang Tang and the others were jolted awake by the scream, clutching each other in fright.
"I'll go see. You guys get dressed and sober up quickly." Ning Wei nimbly extricated herself from the blankets, making sure to close the door behind her as she left.
Song Zhi and Mei Nan stood outside the door with grave expressions. People from Li Zi'ang's group had already surrounded the room of Bai Xue's team of female passengers.
"Something happened," Song Zhi conveyed to Ning Wei without a sound.
Approaching Bai Xue's room, the crowd of people blocking the way forced Ning Wei to look up. She could only see a dolphin chandelier and heard the hushed sounds of crying.
Tang Tang and the others quickly got dressed and rushed out, craning their necks to peer inside.
A moment later, Li Zi'ang emerged from the room with a frown.
Upon seeing Ning Wei, he hesitated, then told the others, "Let them go in and see."
The people moved aside, allowing Ning Wei and the others to finally see what had happened inside.
The first thing that greeted their eyes was hair scattered all over the floor, followed by two bodies lying amongst the strands.
They were naked bodies, covered in fine threads. Some had pierced the skin, drawing thin lines of blood.
No wonder Bai Xue and the others had screamed. No one could bear to see such a sight.
Ning Wei silently picked up a white cloth and covered the bodies, believing that even in death, dignity should be preserved.
"Whoever wants to stay in this room can have it. I'm not staying!" a woman with a ponytail shouted.
Bai Xue covered her mouth. "We'll switch rooms soon. Don't make a scene!"
Since everyone had seen the bodies, Bai Xue's group insisted on changing rooms. Li Zi'ang's team had no choice but to help them move their belongings.
The two bodies were left there, as no one knew how to handle them.
Everyone felt a sense of dread and left after a glance.
Finally, only Ning Wei's group remained. Yuan Yuan and Wang Jing stood guard at the door, while the rest went inside and lifted the white cloth again to examine the scene closely.
Zhu Yilian, suppressing her nausea, looked around and pointed at a needle in one of the bodies' hands. "It looks like she sewed her own wounds."
"Not only that, I think they shaved their own hair," Yuan Yuan added, her gaze falling on a razor nearby.
Li Zi'ang's group, having calmed the distressed female passengers, walked towards the room.
"Any discoveries?"
"You should ask the others who shared the room. Did they hear nothing while they were shaving their hair and cutting their bodies?" Ning Wei retorted to Li Zi'ang.
Li Zi'ang felt a headache coming on. If only those women could cooperate.
Even after experiencing one station, they still only knew how to shriek loudly and were of no help!
"Could it be a hidden rule?" He could only attribute such a bizarre phenomenon to the rules.
"I'll say it again. No matter what, we must figure out what these two people did. Even if it's a hidden rule, we have to understand it, or they died for nothing?" Ning Wei saw Li Zi'ang was relatively serious and decided to offer him some guidance.
Whether he could achieve it was not her concern.
Li Zi'ang pondered for a moment, then walked back towards Bai Xue's room.
Although his team had many members, they had not formed a cohesive unit. Consequently, even with a death, he was the one running around investigating.
Ning Wei glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon.
This meant they had arrived at the aquarium in the morning. After lunch and a short rest, a death had occurred.
This was only the first day, and less than half a day had passed.
Given the pace of events, if they didn't become more vigilant, more people would die.
Ning Wei's team gathered in the room to discuss countermeasures. The room where the bodies were was next door, and they had heard nothing.
Ning Wei had been the first to fall asleep. When she rested, the other four were still talking. How had they suddenly fallen asleep?
Tang Tang also found it strange when this was mentioned.
She tried to recall. "I remember we were talking, and then we suddenly fell asleep. How?"
Zhu Yilian and the others also tried to remember but found they couldn't. They only recalled talking just a moment before.
Furthermore, when Ning Wei woke up and saw them, they were all huddled together, not looking like they were about to sleep, but rather...
"We were drugged," Ning Wei said slowly.
Everyone suddenly understood. No wonder they had all fallen asleep and had no memory of it.
As for Mei Nan and the other two, they had returned to their room intending to sleep, so they were unsure if they had been drugged.
Ning Wei looked at Li Ye. "Were you asleep too?"
Li Ye nodded slightly. "I need rest too. Otherwise, how could I help you resolve so much resentment?"
Li Ye was their last hope, as they had not treated him as a person.
"Did you really fall asleep?" Song Zhi asked again, unwilling to give up. Li Ye, however, ignored him.
"So, what do we do next?" Mei Nan asked Ning Wei.
Ning Wei glanced at the room. "First, investigate!"
If they had all been drugged, there would surely be traces, especially if it caused people in multiple rooms to fall asleep simultaneously.
"Then, you check your room. We'll go inspect ours." Without delay, Mei Nan and the other two returned to their room.
Li Zi'ang's team, confused, saw them rummaging through the room, searching for something. Someone naturally asked what they were looking for.
Mei Nan thought that they were all in the same boat, so he warned them that there might be some information in the room.