The room was eerily silent.
Accompanied by the unpleasant smell lingering in their nostrils, the two felt a chill running through their bodies.
Drip—
A drop of liquid fell beside them, hitting the floor.
The sound was not loud, but in the deathly quiet room, it was magnified infinitely...
Ning Qiushui could even feel Liu Chengfeng beside him shudder as the unknown liquid dropped.
"Little, little brother..."
Liu Chengfeng's voice trembled as he slowly raised his hand, seemingly wanting to touch something.
Ning Qiushui took a deep breath and said:
"Don't turn on the light."
"If you don't want to die."
Liu Chengfeng was stunned.
"Wh-why?"
Ning Qiushui shook his head.
"I can't say for now."
"...Just know that in a windy place, it's best not to turn on the light."
"If the light is on, then stay away."
After hearing this, Liu Chengfeng suddenly remembered that whenever Ning Qiushui passed by the window, he would always close it tightly!
For some reason, he felt a chill run through his entire body!
Then, Liu Chengfeng's gaze fell on the crack of the door, and he couldn't help but curse in his heart.
Who was the bastard that was the last to enter the room and didn't turn off the light in the corridor!
With such an incident, neither of them could sleep, and they disregarded the awkwardness of being two men sharing a bed, as if each other's body heat could provide some comfort.
In a daze, they didn't know how much time had passed, but the outside gradually brightened, and the rain wasn't as heavy.
Liu Chengfeng checked the time; it was already eight in the morning.
The light from outside wasn't bright, but it was enough to see clearly.
His gaze fell on the floor to his left hand.
The constant dripping sound from yesterday came from here.
Liu Chengfeng got out of bed, carefully examined the stains on the floor, and leaned down to smell them.
"Ugh—"
The pungent stench almost made him vomit.
Ning Qiushui, noticing his reaction, came over to take a look.
Ning Qiushui leaned down to sniff, his expression changing slightly.
"This is..."
Liu Chengfeng came closer:
"What is it?"
Ning Qiushui was silent for a moment before slowly saying:
"Corpse fluid... or corpse oil."
"It's usually when an animal is highly decomposed, and the fat turns into oil and seeps out..."
Liu Chengfeng couldn't take it anymore and quickly interrupted Ning Qiushui:
"Alright, alright, little brother, stop! I... I get it."
His face was pale as he looked up at the stain above.
The wooden ceiling, soaked with corpse oil, had expanded from the size of a fist to the size of a human head!
God knows what was upstairs...
As Liu Chengfeng pondered, two extremely shrill female screams suddenly came from outside the door!
"Ah!!!"
The two exchanged glances.
Something happened!
"Let's go check it out!"
Ning Qiushui was the first to open the door, leading Liu Chengfeng out of the room.
As soon as they stepped out, Ning Qiushui frowned.
The smell of blood was overwhelming!
A trail of crimson blood extended from the room at the end of the corridor to the stairs...
The screams came from the direction of the louvered window at the end of the corridor.
A large group of people was gathered there.
Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng walked over, pushing through the crowd, and saw Yamo and Yan Youping sitting limply on the floor by the door, shaking like leaves, their faces devoid of color.
Beside them, apart from a large pool of blood, there was also vomit...
"What happened?"
Ning Qiushui asked seriously.
The two women looked at Ning Qiushui, their eyes filled with intense fear, as if they had experienced something extremely terrifying!
They trembled, unable to form a complete sentence, pointing towards their room, tears streaming down their faces.
Ning Qiushui looked towards their room, about to open the door, but was stopped by Xue Guize.
His face was extremely grim.
"It's not a pretty sight in there."
Ning Qiushui glanced at him, pushed his hand aside, closed the nearby louvered window to stop the draft, and then opened the door.
Upon seeing the scene inside, everyone outside held their breath!
They saw, on the bed closest to the door, a corpse soaked in blood!
The corpse... was none other than Wang Yuning, wearing her gold earrings!
Someone had died!
Ning Qiushui, holding back the urge to vomit from the stench of blood, entered the room, and as he moved closer, he finally saw the bloodied and mutilated corpse clearly!
The sight nearly made Ning Qiushui throw up!
The body lying on the bed had an intact head, with a long, white neck, but below the neck, the skin was brutally torn open, revealing crimson muscles everywhere, covered in hideous wounds!
The internal organs were missing, large chunks of muscle were torn apart, scattered and missing...
Even more horrifying was Wang Yuning's expression...
Her eyes were closed, and there was no sign of pain on her face, instead... there was an eerie smile.
"Fuck..."
Liu Chengfeng, who had followed him in, widened his eyes, his legs shaking, and if he hadn't clenched tightly, he might have wet himself on the spot!
"This, this, this..."
Now, he finally understood why the two girls outside were in such a state!
Not to mention women, even if it were him, he probably wouldn't be any better off!
Ning Qiushui, suppressing his discomfort, approached the corpse.
Everyone else remained outside, unwilling to step into the room.
Inside... it was just too terrifying!
After examining the corpse, Ning Qiushui suddenly remembered something, his face changing dramatically, and he turned to run outside!
"Little brother, what's wrong?"
Seeing Ning Qiushui run, Liu Chengfeng dared not stay in the room any longer.
The others also didn't dare remain on the second floor, following Ning Qiushui all the way down to the first floor, arriving at the kitchen.
Ning Qiushui stared at the utensils hanging on the wall for a long time before murmuring:
"One set is missing..."
Bei Dao, already scared out of his wits, hurriedly asked:
"What's missing?"
Ning Qiushui slowly uttered a few words:
"The steak knife and fork."
Upon hearing this, Liu Chengfeng was the first to be shocked.
Last night, when he heard the metallic scraping sound in the corridor outside the room, he thought it sounded like knives and forks scraping!
Could it be...
Liu Chengfeng seemed to think of something terrifying, his whole body trembling!
"Is there a connection between the missing cutlery and the corpse upstairs?"
Bei Dao continued to ask.
Most of the people present still didn't understand.
Ning Qiushui slowly turned his head, staring at them, and said words that sent chills down their spines:
"The wounds on Wang Yuning's body... were made by a knife and fork!"
As his words fell, several people's faces turned pale.
"Ning Qiushui, what are you saying?"
"Are you sure?"
Ning Qiushui didn't respond to Bei Dao, instead asking the two girls:
"Did you hear Wang Yuning calling for help last night?"
Both women shook their heads, fear in their eyes.
"No, we were too tired last night and fell asleep quickly..."
At this moment, Xue Guize suddenly gritted his teeth with a strange expression:
"I... I heard it last night..."
"Heard what?"
"...The sound of metal scraping, now that I think about it, it sounded like a knife and fork!"
Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng exchanged a glance, and Ning Qiushui said to him:
"Go make some porridge."
"Add more meat."
"I'm going to check on... the old woman upstairs."
Liu Chengfeng nodded.
"Little brother, be careful!"
"What about us?"
"You come with me."
Yan Youping and Liu Chengfeng stayed in the kitchen to make porridge, while Ning Qiushui led the others upstairs to the room where the paralyzed old woman was.
As soon as they entered the room, everyone was stunned.
Because, on the table beside the paralyzed old woman... was the missing knife and fork from the kitchen!
As if sensing their presence, the old woman lying in bed slowly turned his head, giving them a benevolent smile.
"Ah!!"
Yamo screamed in fright, scrambling downstairs.
Bei Dao and Xue Guize weren't much better off, their faces pale, and if it weren't for Ning Qiushui standing firm as a rock, they would have followed Yamo's lead and fled!
After experiencing such a terrifying event, Ning Qiushui faced the old woman without fear, even... taking the initiative to approach!
"Fuck! Ning Qiushui, are you crazy?!"
Xue Guize's face was grim.
Anyone with eyes could see that the old woman lying in bed was the one who killed Wang Yuning!
And... the old woman was likely not human!
Ning Qiushui ignored Xue Guize, walking straight to the old woman's side, picking up the knife and fork to examine them closely.
They were clean.
He brought them to his nose.
No smell.
Ning Qiushui frowned.
He looked at the old woman in bed, deep in thought.
Ning Qiushui leaned close to the old woman's ear, whispering:
"Old woman... is there usually only you in this house?"
The old woman mumbled with her lips.
"Meat..."
"Meat... no..."
She seemed to have some mental issues, repeating the words.
Ning Qiushui squinted.
No meat?
No meat what?
No meat taste?
He listened carefully for a long time, but never heard the old woman say the third word.
At this moment, Liu Chengfeng came up with a bowl of porridge.
"I cooled it with water, it's not hot, you can drink it directly."
It must be said, the porridge smelled really good.
The aroma of beef.
With a sprinkle of scallions.
Ning Qiushui personally brought it to the old woman's mouth, scooping a bit of meat porridge with a spoon, offering it to her.
Everyone watched nervously, their breathing slowed, as if afraid the old woman would suddenly open her jaws and swallow Ning Qiushui whole.
However, the anticipated horror scene didn't occur.
The old woman quietly ate the porridge.
But when she tasted something, her eyebrows furrowed, and she spat it out disdainfully.
It was a piece of beef.
Then, the old woman continued spitting, until she had expelled all the meat porridge from her mouth, then she was quiet.
"Meat... meat no..."
She began repeating those two words again.
Ning Qiushui leaned close to her ear.
This action, in the eyes of the others, was extremely risky!
Because if the old woman was indeed the one who killed Wang Yuning last night, then now... Ning Qiushui's action was undoubtedly courting death!
Fortunately, the old woman didn't bite off Ning Qiushui's ear.
And it was precisely this risky move that provided Ning Qiushui with a... crucial piece of information!
"Meat... no... cooked..."
The third word wasn't 'taste', it was 'cooked'!
But... why was it that the meat wasn't cooked?
Ning Qiushui tasted the beef porridge himself.
It was cooked.
Definitely cooked.
Standing there pondering for a while, Ning Qiushui suddenly thought of something, and said to Liu Chengfeng:
"Big Beard, quickly, make a bowl of porridge without meat!"
Standing outside, Liu Chengfeng felt a bit strange, but he still followed Ning Qiushui's instructions.
Soon, he brought in a bowl of plain rice porridge.
This time... the old woman ate it.
She didn't spit it out again.