A scream echoed through the house.
Several of them scrambled back downstairs.
Dan Lee didn’t follow them down.
He took a moment to observe the way Calami had died—his internal organs had been ripped out while he was still alive, but his brain was completely intact.
He thought it might really be the Midnight Man.
He had originally assumed it was a demon that liked to eat human brains, but it turned out he had guessed wrong.
Earlier, Mike and the others had played several paranormal games without anything happening, everything remaining completely normal.
Dan Lee’s vigilance had naturally relaxed, but he hadn’t expected trouble with this very last game.
He didn’t know much about this Midnight Man.
Mike squatted down, his tone tinged with excitement.
“The Midnight Man is here.
Its favorite way to kill is tearing out a person’s heart piece by piece.” Jessie’s fragile heart couldn’t take much more.
Terrified, she screamed on the spot, “Mike, are you crazy?
Calami is dead!
What Midnight Man?
A murderer must have snuck in!” “I’m calling the police!” Jessie pulled out her phone to dial 911, but the moment she saw zero bars of signal after dialing, she completely broke down.
“Fuck!
This piece-of-shit phone has no signal again!” Jessie made up her mind to replace this phone the second she got back.
Dan Lee was already used to phones losing signal.
In fact, you couldn’t really blame the phone.
The moment a paranormal event occurred, electronics were essentially ruined; it was completely normal for calls not to go through.
“Dan, what should we do now?” Jennifer clung to Dan Lee’s arm, her huge bust pressed tight against him, refusing to let go.
“Let’s go down and take a look first.” Before leaving, Dan Lee called out to Mike, “Come with us, Mike.
Staying here alone isn’t safe.” Calami had died precisely because he was off by himself.
Mike held his candle with an unhinged expression.
“As long as the candle doesn’t go out, I’ll be fine.
You guys go on.
I want to see what the Midnight Man actually looks like.” There was no saving someone determined to die.
Dan Lee really didn’t believe a single candle could stop the Midnight Man.
“If there’s danger, remember to shout or make some noise.” Mike replied, “Trust me, buddy.” Dan Lee led Jennifer and Jessie downstairs.
Brad and Sam were looking around for someone—the raven-haired girl had disappeared.
She had screamed just moments ago, and no more than thirty seconds had passed before everyone ran downstairs.
For someone to vanish instantly under these circumstances seemed impossible no matter how you looked at it.
Mia was clamoring to leave, no longer wanting to search for the raven-haired girl.
Brad had thrown up all over the floor upstairs earlier and now just wanted to go home.
But a cold wind was howling outside, and just as they were about to leave, torrential rain began pouring down.
Even so, several of them still insisted on leaving.
Even in the pouring rain, they didn’t want to stay in a house with a psycho killer.
In the eyes of Brad and the others, the murderer had to be a psycho killer, not some Midnight Man.
Mike had played so many games earlier without anything happening; how could something suddenly go wrong now?
“Jessie, come with me.
Staying here isn’t safe.” Facing Brad’s invitation, Jessie shook her head and refused.
After what had happened last time, she felt that even if there really was a killer, staying beside Dan Lee was the safest option.
Brad didn’t press her.
He grabbed his keys, took Mia and the blonde girl, opened the door, and ran through the rain to the jeep parked in the yard.
They sped off, unwilling to stay a single second longer.
Sam didn’t leave.
He used to be a bit of a school bully, but after getting beaten up by Dan Lee last time, he had turned into a follower.
Dan Lee watched the jeep depart into the rainy night.
He didn’t stop them.
When people wanted to leave, you couldn’t stop them even if you tried, and forcing them to stay might only lead to resentment.
The sudden downpour and cold wind outside showed no sign of stopping.
Dan Lee had a growing feeling that something was deliberately dividing them.
The original ten-person group was now fractured, looking very much like a divide-and-conquer strategy.
If Dan Lee were just an ordinary person, he definitely wouldn’t have let Brad and the others leave.
Normally, the more people there were, the safer it was to huddle together.
They would gather in the living room and go nowhere—even if someone needed the bathroom, all ten would go together.
Of course, that was an ordinary person’s strategy.
Dan Lee was no longer an ordinary person, so he naturally didn’t care whether Brad and the others stayed or left.
A few more or a few less made no difference.
They returned to the living room.
Now only five remained: Dan Lee, Jennifer, Sam, Jessie, and Mike upstairs.
Calami was dead, and the raven-haired girl was missing.
Even after turning this old house upside down, they couldn’t find the raven-haired girl.
Although no one said it out loud, everyone knew in their hearts that she was most likely dead.
Perhaps because the house had fallen into disrepair.
When they turned on the lights just now, the bulb flickered once and blew out completely.
The group had no choice but to sit around the table in the living room, relying on candles for light.
Dan Lee had just walked over to the window to look outside: the only few houses nearby were completely dark.
There were no hints of any other presence on the Ghost Card either.
Gradually, Dan Lee began to lose his patience.
*Are you playing hide-and-seek with me?* Dan Lee wasn’t planning to waste any more time.
If a demon truly wanted to play hide-and-seek with him, it would be extremely hard to track down.
He stood up and said, “Let’s go check if Mike is still up there.
Once we find him, we leave.” “Whatever you say, Boss.” Sam raised no objections and took the lead out front.
After agreeing, the five went back up to the second floor.
Fortunately, Mike was alive.
Unfortunately, Mike was soaking in the bathtub by himself, and when Sam hauled him out, the guy was completely out of his mind.
“Mike, what happened to you?
Hey, buddy, say something!” Sam grabbed Mike by the collar and shook him violently.
Mike’s eyes were glassy as he smirked foolishly at Sam.
Sam looked back at Dan Lee.
“Boss, what do we do now?
Seems like Mike went crazy?” “Carry Mike on your back.
We’re getting out of here.” Just a moment ago, Mike was a completely fine guy; now he looked like a patient who had escaped from a mental asylum.
This state reminded Dan Lee of someone from *Grave Encounters*.
Since the boss had spoken, Sam had no choice but to sling the deadweight Mike onto his back.
Jessie reached out to open the door.
Even though she clearly remembered the door had been open when they entered, she didn’t overthink it.
Sam walked in front carrying Mike, Dan Lee and Jennifer were in the middle, and Jessie brought up the rear.
The moment they stepped out, the bathroom door slammed shut with tremendous force.
*Bang!* Jessie shrieked in terror because she was positive she had been the last person out.
Jennifer handled it slightly better, merely shrinking into Dan Lee’s chest like an ostrich.
She truly believed now and was terrified out of her wits.
Sam looked on in shock.
“Holy shit!
Did you guys see that?
The door closed by itself!” Dan Lee frowned.
“I saw it.
Don’t worry about it—let’s leave first.” They rushed downstairs, opened the front door, and piled into the car.
Ignoring the pouring rain, Sam threw Mike into the back seat, hit the gas, and tore down the main road.
Even though Sam was a big guy, facing something unknown still filled him with primal fear.
Luckily, that thing didn’t seem to follow them.
As they had hoped, everyone returned home safely, and life seemed to return to normal.
Dan Lee stared out the window into the pitch blackness, wondering when “it” had actually appeared.
Even now, he couldn’t determine what the hell it was.
He pulled out the Ghost Card.
It was still completely blank…
Wait!
Dan Lee suddenly snapped awake.
He remembered the Ghost Card had shown traces of a demon’s presence before—it couldn’t possibly be blank!
A cold sweat broke out across his back.
Almost frantically, he selected the Four of Diamonds in his mind.
“Fusion: Evil Spirit Wendigo!” As the power surged into him, the world before Dan Lee began to collapse.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in…
The bathroom!
From beginning to end, they had never left.
Or rather, the moment they entered the bathroom, they had already lost their way…