As the light went out and the secret room plunged back into darkness, they had to proceed with caution. They were afraid that any careless move could harm their companions unintentionally.
"Place your hand on each other's shoulders and declare your name!" Steven's voice echoed through the dark, inviting them to step forward and reveal their name through the connection of their hands on his shoulders.
"Zion."
"Rachel," said Rachel, her voice trembling with fear.
Rachel gently placed her hand on the shoulder of the person standing in front of her. The other person uttered, "Michael."
"Yasmin."
"Eason..."
"Howard..." Howard's voice was forbearing, probably because he was injured.
Amid the darkness, Howard's voice resurfaced. His hand rested on the shoulder of the person in front of him. "Reveal your name! Speak up!"
In an instant, the entire secret room was engulfed in darkness once more. "Ugh!"
Howard was unlucky as he encountered the murderer. Perhaps, in the mere three seconds when the light flickered on, the murderer had set his sights on Howard as his target victim.
I believed that Howard should be been dead by now. His death would have exposed the murderer, allowing Zion and Steven to take control.
But the interior was too dark, and the hidden room felt like Schrödinger's cat. I couldn't anticipate what would happen next until the light was turned on.
Indifference acted as the shield of highly intelligent beings, and their ruthlessness became unparalleled.
"My life has been incredibly miserable. I feel miserable not because I've lost my legs but because I've lost faith in humanity. Turn on the mechanism of the secret room. With Steven's wits, he can find a way out…"
"What do you want to do..." I stared at Benjamin, my eyes filled with intense determination as I yearned to take immediate action. However, it was too late. He retrieved a pistol from the nearby corner and firmly pressed it against his own temple.
A deafening noise erupted through the room, and the small control room fell silent.
The final words he uttered to me before taking his own life were, "Stephie... live on."
He asked me to carry on living, yet he chose death decisively and without hesitation.
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