The sudden scream shattered the villa's dead silence.
Everyone immediately looked toward the second floor.
"What happened?"
"I... I don't know!"
"Let's go check it out!"
The group quickly rushed to the second floor, arriving at the source of the sound.
It was the room where the paralyzed elderly woman was staying.
Wang Yuning, who had been carrying a tray of food earlier, was now sitting on the floor, leaning against the corner of the wall, hugging her knees, and trembling!
The steaming food... was spilled all over the floor.
"What happened?"
Ning Qiushui asked.
In front of everyone, Wang Yuning slowly extended a finger, pointing at the paralyzed elderly woman lying on the bed with a stiff expression, and said in a trembling voice:
"She... she... just spoke!"
Following her finger, everyone looked at the elderly woman lying motionless on the bed, staring blankly out the window.
Liu Chengfeng sneered:
"I thought it was something serious... Didn't you hear the hostess say? Her mother is just paralyzed."
"Paralyzed doesn't mean she's a vegetable, why can't she talk?"
"And I thought you were tough?"
"An old woman paralyzed in bed scared you like this?"
Liu Chengfeng seized the opportunity, his mouth firing off like a machine gun.
But Wang Yuning seemed too frightened, trembling and unable to retort.
Ning Qiushui glanced at the elderly woman on the bed, then signaled Liu Chengfeng to help clean up the floor, while he pulled Wang Yuning up from the ground.
"She spilled it herself, yet I have to clean it up, what a..."
Liu Chengfeng grumbled, but surprisingly obediently went to the bathroom to get a towel and started wiping the floor.
The scene felt a bit off.
Liu Chengfeng, who seemed hard to deal with, was so obedient to Ning Qiushui.
But no one questioned it.
After tidying up the room, Ning Qiushui went to the elderly woman's bedside, carefully looked at her kind face, covered her with the quilt, and then turned to leave the room with the others.
Back on the first floor, the sky outside was completely dark.
The pale light illuminated the hall.
But for some reason, everyone still felt like they were in darkness.
The silent atmosphere was unsettling.
"Alright, Wang Yuning, you can tell us now... what did the elderly woman say to you upstairs?"
Ning Qiushui sat on the sofa opposite Wang Yuning, pouring himself a cup of hot tea.
As soon as the incident upstairs was mentioned, Wang Yuning's face, which had just regained some color, turned deathly pale again!
Her fingertips tightly clutched the hem of her clothes.
"Just now... wasn't I feeding her?"
"She took a bite of the beef tenderloin and just spat it out!"
Liu Chengfeng's eyes widened:
"Motherfucker, she spat it out?"
"Is my cooking that bad?"
Ning Qiushui frowned.
"Liu Chengfeng, let her finish."
Liu Chengfeng smacked his lips, muttered a few words under his breath, and stopped talking.
Fear was evident in Wang Yuning's eyes, her expression resistant, as if she didn't want to recall what had just happened:
"...I thought it was too hot, so I tasted it myself, but the food wasn't hot, so I fed her a second bite, but she spat it out again..."
"And this time, after spitting it out, she turned her head, stared at me, and said... said..."
For a long time, she couldn't complete a sentence, and Xue Guize's brows furrowed so tightly they could kill a mosquito, urging:
"What did she say, just tell us!"
Under Xue Guize's urging, Wang Yuning finally mustered the courage to say through gritted teeth:
"Her voice was very low, I didn't hear it clearly, but it seemed like she said... the meat has... no taste!"
"Yes... she must have said the meat has no taste!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a terrifying lightning bolt flashed outside the window, followed by deafening thunder!
Everyone was startled by the thunder!
"Damn, that thunder..."
Ning Qiushui looked at the pitch-black sky outside and suddenly went to the window, opening it.
Cold wind mixed with rain mist hit his face.
"It's raining... a storm, strong winds..."
He closed the window again, his expression growing more serious.
"Everything is starting to come true..."
"That letter... wasn't just a prank, was it?"
Unlike the others, Ning Qiushui had received a mysterious letter before boarding the bus.
He hadn't told anyone about it.
While the others whispered, discussing the tasteless meat, Ning Qiushui suddenly closed the window.
He shut it tightly, not letting a single breath of wind in.
"Alright, if she doesn't want to eat, so be it. It's getting late, we should rest early..."
"Let's get up early tomorrow and cook some meat porridge for the elderly."
"Have you chosen your rooms?"
The group, who had been discussing, suddenly fell silent.
"Are we... really going to sleep in separate rooms?"
At this moment, Yamo, who rarely spoke, opened her mouth, her expression timid, seemingly frightened by the earlier events.
Xue Guize said:
"We briefly checked the rooms before, they're large, with double beds, very clean, two people in one room is just right."
Yan Youping's eyes were still a bit swollen, and upon hearing that two people would share a room, she anxiously said:
"But... but there are three girls!"
Xue Guize sighed:
"The rooms aren't small, and you girls are relatively petite, you can squeeze in."
The three girls looked at each other but said nothing.
No one liked sharing a bed with strangers.
But they already knew that this villa... wasn't safe.
Everyone felt as if something was lurking in the shadows, watching them...
After turning off the lights, they all went to the second floor.
After a brief discussion, Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng were the first to enter the same room.
The three girls chose a room at the far end of the right corridor on the second floor, the furthest from the elderly woman they had to care for.
The remaining two men chose the room next to Ning Qiushui's.
For some reason, being near Ning Qiushui made everyone feel safer.
The last to go to the room was Wang Yuning.
While she was still lost in thought over the day's events, the others had already entered their rooms.
For a moment, she was the only one left in the corridor.
The light switch in the corridor was at the top of the stairs, and it was a single switch, but the room they chose was at the far end, at least twenty meters away.
If she wanted to turn off the light, it meant she would have to walk those twenty meters in the dark.
Her gaze fell on the open blinds at the end of the corridor.
The trees outside grew like demons, twisted and menacing, swaying with the cold wind, as if ready to come in and devour Wang Yuning at any moment!
She couldn't help but shiver, too scared to turn off the light, and quickly entered the room at the far end, locking the door forcefully.
Bang!
...
Inside the room, Ning Qiushui took off his shirt, revealing a body with sharp, explosive muscles.
Liu Chengfeng, who was brushing his teeth, glanced over in surprise.
With clothes on, Ning Qiushui didn't look like such a tough guy!
"Ning, I didn't expect you to be hiding this well!"
"With those abs and that V-line, if you went to a club... wouldn't the rich ladies be fighting over you?"
Liu Chengfeng chuckled, winking at Ning Qiushui.
Ning Qiushui rolled his eyes:
"So why do you keep following me?"
Hearing this, Liu Chengfeng spat out his toothpaste foam, his expression turning serious:
"...You're observant, but I can't say yet. Once we get out of the Blood Door alive, I'll tell you..."
Hearing Liu Chengfeng's answer, Ning Qiushui was taken aback, then smiled:
"Quite mysterious."
Liu Chengfeng shook his head, changing the subject:
"By the way, do you think... that old woman is suspicious?"
Ning Qiushui was silent for a moment.
"It's not just the old woman; the whole family, even the villa complex, is suspicious!"
Liu Chengfeng was stunned:
"What's wrong with the villa complex?"
Ning Qiushui said:
"The villa's hostess said only her family lives in this area, but I passed by several villas with signs of recent habitation, within the last month or two. I saw at least eight houses like this, not to mention the ones I didn't see..."
"This proves... this area was inhabited not long ago."
Listening to Ning Qiushui, cold sweat gradually seeped down Liu Chengfeng's back.
If Ning Qiushui's observation was correct, then... where did these people go?
Ning Qiushui paced to the window, his expression serious, hands in his pockets, continuing:
"Also, if someone lives alone, they usually wouldn't buy such a large garden villa, so the people who moved in likely had family or friends. Even if they went to work, the house wouldn't be completely empty..."
"But in reality, it seems like we're the only ones left in this villa complex."
He pointed.
Following his direction, Liu Chengfeng saw that the dozen or so houses outside their window... were all pitch black!
Not a single light!
"This..."
"How could this be?!"
His face turned extremely grim.
Ning Qiushui slowly said:
"Something must have happened here."
"Something... very terrifying."
He carefully checked the window, ensuring it was locked tight, not a breath of wind could get in, then drew the curtains and returned to bed.
Without the wind, lying in bed, they both smelled a... strange odor.
"What is that smell?"
Liu Chengfeng asked.
The odor wasn't strong, but it lingered, like... something rotten and moldy.
They recalled what Xue Guize had said earlier, searched around, and finally pinpointed the source of the smell.
—Above them.
The wooden ceiling was sticky, as if some liquid was seeping through.
The liquid was yellowish-brown, with a foul smell.
"Damn..."
Liu Chengfeng felt nauseated, quickly dragging the bed away.
"What is that stuff?"
Ning Qiushui stood below, squinting at the damp spot on the ceiling, and after a long while, said:
"Big Beard, do you trust me?"
Liu Chengfeng didn't understand what Ning Qiushui meant, but he nodded.
"I trust you."
Ning Qiushui slowly said:
"Tonight, don't fall asleep, don't turn on the light, no matter what you hear... don't respond."
Liu Chengfeng's body stiffened.
"Ning, do you mean... something will happen tonight?"
Ning Qiushui was silent for a long time before finally nodding imperceptibly.
He turned off the light, and the room was immediately plunged into terrifying darkness...
Liu Chengfeng lay in bed, his mind in turmoil.
Though he tried to stay awake, as time passed, sleepiness inevitably crept over him...
He didn't know how long had passed when he was awakened by a strange sound.
The sound came from outside the door.
It was a... sound like two sharp metal objects scraping against each other.
Screech—
Screech—
Hearing this hair-raising sound, the first thing that came to Liu Chengfeng's mind... was cutlery!
He often cooked, so he was very familiar with the sound of kitchen and dining utensils!
Liu Chengfeng sat up abruptly, wanting to turn on the light, but Ning Qiushui's warning echoed in his ears, and he lowered his raised hand.
"Ning, are you there?"
Liu Chengfeng whispered, and immediately a 'shh' sound came from beside him.
"Don't make a sound."
Ning Qiushui's voice was equally low, with a barely detectable tremor.
Clearly, he was also nervous.
Their room door wasn't completely sealed, leaving a gap, and the light from the hallway seeped through the crack.
As the terrifying sound passed by their door, a strange shadow flickered past...
The dreadful scraping sound almost made Liu Chengfeng's heart leap out of his chest!
The thing outside the door... actually stopped at their door!
Liu Chengfeng clenched his fists, his breath halted!
What was the thing outside the door?
If it came in... what would happen?
At that moment, his mind went blank, as if he lost the ability to think.
It seemed like minutes, or perhaps just an instant, before the terrifying shadow outside finally moved again, heading deeper down the hallway...
The piercing scraping sound resumed—
Screech—
Screech—
It was as if an executioner was searching for a prisoner to be dismembered...
It went deeper, paused at the second door, then moved to the door at the far end of the hallway, pausing there as well before finally falling silent...
Ning Qiushui suddenly sat up from the bed, tiptoed to the door, and pressed his ear against the crack.
He listened for a long time.
No more sounds came from outside.
It was as if the shadow had vanished into thin air.
After listening quietly for over ten minutes, he confirmed there were no more sounds outside, then returned to bed.
"Ning, what was that thing outside?"
Liu Chengfeng asked in a low voice.
Ning Qiushui shook his head:
"I don't know, but it's definitely not human."
"It made no sound when it walked."
Hearing this, cold sweat immediately broke out on Liu Chengfeng's forehead.
No way...
Is there really something unclean in this villa?