The future self had specifically inquired about the crime scene. Although information had been blocked to prevent public panic, he still managed to obtain a clue—the murders had all occurred in Building 3, Unit 3.

Afterwards, the tenants of Building 3, Unit 3 began moving out one after another.

On the 15th, the couple upstairs died under mysterious circumstances, their deaths gruesome.

At this point, the future self also received a message in the tenants’ group chat, prompting him to start sealing the windows and cutting off all sources of light.

Putting the notebook back in his pocket, Adam Carter mentally recalled and compared the contents he had seen in the notebook the first time he entered the simulation game.

The first time he entered the game, the recorded murder happened on the 16th, and the young couple upstairs only died tragically on the 18th.

It was clear that this time, the shadow anomaly had appeared earlier.

Perhaps it was because this ‘butterfly’—himself—had flapped its wings, causing its early arrival.

Or maybe the appearance of the shadow anomaly was never fixed in time, and it could appear at any moment within a certain period.

He needed to check the notebook promptly in future simulations to determine whether the timing of the shadow anomaly’s appearance was truly random, or if it was indeed triggered early by something he had done.

Adam Carter kept this firmly in mind, then opened the social app on his phone.

He first clicked into the tenants’ group chat to look for messages.

At the moment, the group was completely silent; no one was chatting.

He scrolled down with his finger, skipped a few group notifications, and then saw a message from a user whose profile picture was pitch black and whose name was just a blank space: “Attention, residents of all units in Ping’an Garden: In the coming days, be sure to keep your doors and windows tightly shut and cover all sources of light inside your home.

Stay quietly at home and wait for rescue. We are already taking action.

Currently, an unknown substance that spreads via light has permeated Ping’an Garden. If you recklessly open windows for light or use any kind of light source, you will definitely be killed directly by this unknown substance!

Please be sure to cut off all sources of light. Life is priceless!”

This message had been verified by the social app, highlighted in a blue box, and was accompanied by several photos of corpses with mosaics over them.

Even with the mosaics, the brutality of the scene and the horror of the corpses’ deaths were still apparent.

It was precisely because he saw this message in the group that his future self had sealed the windows, turned off all devices, and avoided leaving anything that could emit light.

Adam Carter clicked into the personal page of the user with the pitch-black profile picture.

The bio contained only a string of numbers: ‘20280733’.

“Is this person a staff member in Mingzhou City fighting against supernatural forces?

The shadow anomaly kills people through shadows, but directly explaining to ordinary people that it’s ‘an unknown substance that spreads via light’ can reduce panic.

At the same time, it makes people as wary of ‘light’ as possible, which works too.”

Adam Carter didn’t get any clues from this staff member’s bio, so he exited the tenants’ group and found that there were still people chatting in several other groups.

What caught his attention the most was, without a doubt, the work group from his previous company.

He had left the work group on his own—when did he get added back in?

With confusion flickering in his mind, he clicked into the work group.

Immediately, he saw his former supervisor, whose profile picture was a business-suited professional—‘Samuel Wright’—repeatedly sending messages in the group: “Anyone here?”

“Is everyone dead?”

“Why is no one coming to work today?”

“@Brian Cooper, why didn’t you come to work?”

“@小脑斧, why didn’t you come to work?”

“@Brian Cooper, why didn’t you come to work?”

……

‘Samuel Wright’ kept tagging group members, but not a single person responded.

Did this bastard not know what the city had become? The colleagues he was tagging might have already turned into headless corpses.

Watching ‘Samuel Wright’ mechanically tag every group member, Adam Carter frowned. Just as he was about to exit the group chat again, suddenly, the former supervisor tagged him: “@公子吃饼, why didn’t you come to work?”

‘Damn it, what the hell is wrong with this guy? Is he out of his mind?’

Adam Carter typed out a string of curses, hesitated for a moment, but didn’t send them.

He suddenly felt that something strange was happening in this work group.

However, this time ‘Samuel Wright’ seemed to have it out for Adam Carter. Seeing that he didn’t respond, instead of skipping over him like the other group members, he kept tagging Adam Carter.

“@公子吃饼, I’m asking you!”

“@公子吃饼, why aren’t you coming to work?”

“@公子吃饼, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Say something!”

“Say something!”

“Do you think if you don’t speak, I won’t be able to find you—”

The last message suddenly turned into a line of blood-red, twisted text, instantly covering Adam Carter’s entire phone screen!

Chapter 12: The Infectious Lantern

Blood covered the entire screen.

An eye, veined with red, grew out from the screen!

The eyeball stared fixedly at Adam Carter, and ‘Samuel Wright’s voice came from the phone’s speaker: “I see you!”

“I see you!”

A chill ran down Adam Carter’s spine, and he immediately threw the phone far away.

The phone hit the brick wall, landed in the corner, and kicked up a cloud of dust.

The screen was still lit, but the bloodstains that had covered it vanished in an instant, leaving no trace.