This sudden scream shattered the villa's deathly silence. Everyone's eyes darted to the second floor at once.
"What happened?"
"I...I don't know! Go check it out!"
The group rushed upstairs, heading straight for the source of the sound—it was the room where the paralyzed elderly woman lay. Wang Yuning, who had been carrying the meal earlier, was now huddled on the floor, leaning against the wall, hugging her knees and trembling violently! The steaming hot food... was spilled all over the ground.
"What happened?" Ning Qiushui asked.
In front of everyone, Wang Yuning slowly stretched out a finger, pointing at the elderly woman lying on the bed with a stiff expression. She stammered: "Sh-she... she... just now... she suddenly spoke!"
Following her finger, everyone looked at the old woman, who lay motionless, staring blankly out the window. Liu Chengfeng let out a scoff: "And here I thought it was something serious. Didn't the mistress say her mother is just paralyzed? Paralysis doesn't make someone a vegetative state—why can't she talk? I thought you were tough, but a bedridden old lady scared you like this?"
Finally getting a chance to retort, Liu Chengfeng's mouth fired off like a machine gun. But Wang Yuning in the corner seemed too terrified to fight back, just trembling uncontrollably.
Ning Qiushui glanced at the old woman on the bed, then gestured for Liu Chengfeng to help clean up the floor. He himself pulled Wang Yuning up from the ground.
"She spilled it, but I have to clean it up? What kind of nonsense?" Liu Chengfeng grumbled, but surprisingly, he obeyed. He quickly fetched a towel from the bathroom and started wiping the floor.
The scene felt a little jarring—Liu Chengfeng, who looked so intimidating, was actually so obedient to Ning Qiushui. But no one asked about it.
After cleaning up the room, Ning Qiushui walked to the old woman's bedside, carefully studied her kind face, tucked her in properly, then turned and left the room with the others.
Back on the first floor, the sky outside was completely dark. Pale electric lights illuminated the hall, yet somehow, everyone still felt as if they were trapped in darkness. The heavy silence made people uneasy.
"Alright, Wang Yuning. Now you can tell us... what did the old lady say to you up there?" Ning Qiushui sat on the sofa opposite Wang Yuning and poured himself a cup of hot tea.
At the mention of what had happened upstairs, Wang Yuning's face— which had just started to look better—turned deathly pale again! Her fingers twisted tightly at the hem of her clothes.
"I... I was feeding her, right? She took one bite of the beef tenderloin, then... then spat it out right away!"
Liu Chengfeng's eyes widened: "Damn it, she spat it out? Is my cooking that bad?"
Ning Qiushui frowned. "Liu Chengfeng, let her finish first."
Liu Chengfeng clicked his tongue, mumbled a few words under his breath, and fell silent.
Fear showed in Wang Yuning's eyes, and her expression was resistant—as if she could barely bring herself to recall what had happened. "...I thought it was too hot, so I tasted it myself. But the food wasn't hot at all. So I tried feeding her a second bite, but she spat that out too... And this time, after spitting it out, she actually... actually turned her head, stared at me, and said... she said…" She struggled to get out a complete sentence.
Xue Guize, his eyebrows furrowed so tightly they could have crushed a mosquito, pressed anxiously: "What did she say? Spit it out!"
Urged on by Xue Guize, Wang Yuning finally mustered up the courage to grit her teeth and say: "Her voice was so soft, I couldn't hear it clearly. It seemed like she said... the meat's... the meat's tasteless! Yes... that's definitely what she said!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, a terrifying flash of lightning streaked across the sky outside, followed immediately by a deafening clap of thunder!
Everyone jumped in fright at the thunder.
"Damn, that thunder's loud as hell..." Ning Qiushui stared at the pitch-black sky outside, then walked to the window and pulled it open. Cold wind mixed with rain mist brushed against their faces. "It's raining... a heavy downpour, with strong winds..." He closed the window again, his expression growing more solemn. "It's all starting to come true...so that letter...really wasn't a prank?"
Unlike the others, Ning Qiushui had received a...mysterious letter before boarding the bus. He had never told anyone about this.
As everyone whispered among themselves, discussing the "tasteless meat," Ning Qiushui suddenly closed the window—tight, not letting a single wisp of wind in.
"Alright, if she won't eat it, so be it. It's getting late; we should all get some rest early...tomorrow, we'll get up early and make some meat porridge for her. Have you chosen your rooms yet?"
The chatting group fell into sudden silence.
"Are we...really going to sleep one person per room?" Ya Mo—who rarely spoke—asked at this point, her expression timid, seemingly frightened by what had just happened.
Xue Guize replied: "We took a quick look at the rooms earlier. They're big, with double beds, and very clean. Two people sharing a room will be just right."
Yan Youping's eyes were still a little puffy. Hearing they'd have to share rooms, she said anxiously: "But... but there are only three of us girls!"
Xue Guize sighed. "The rooms are not small, and you girls are all relatively petite. Ya'll can squeeze in."
The three girls looked at each other, saying nothing. No one liked sharing a bed with a stranger. But they already knew... this villa was not safe. Everyone had a feeling that something in the shadows... was staring at them.
After turning off the lights, they went up to the second floor together. After a brief discussion, Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng were the first to enter the same room. The three girls took the room at the far end of the right corridor on the second floor—the farthest from the elderly woman they were supposed to care for. The remaining two men chose the room next to Ning Qiushui's.
For some reason, Ning Qiushui seemed to have a magical aura about him. When people were near him, they felt safer.
Wang Yuning was the last girl to go to her room. She was still distracted by what had happened during the day when everyone else had already gone into their rooms. In an instant, she was the only one left in the corridor.
The light switch for the corridor was at the top of the stairs, and it was a single switch. But the room they had chosen was at the far end—at least twenty meters away. If she turned off the light, it would mean she had to walk those twenty meters in the dark.
Her gaze fell on the open louvered window at the end of the corridor. The trees outside twisted and writhed like demons; with the cold wind blowing, they seemed ready to reach in and devour her at any moment! She couldn't help but shiver, too afraid to turn off the light. She hurried into the room at the far end, then locked the door tightly behind her.
Bang!
Inside the room, Ning Qiushui took off his shirt, revealing a lean, chiseled body with explosive muscles. Liu Chengfeng, who was brushing his teeth, glanced over in surprise. With his clothes on, Ning Qiushui didn't look like such a tough guy at all!
"Brother Ning... I didn't see that coming—you've been hiding this well!" Liu Chengfeng chuckled, winking at Ning Qiushui. "With those abs and that V-line, if you went to a nightclub... wouldn't rich ladies be fighting over you?"
Ning Qiushui rolled his eyes. "So why have you been sticking to me this whole time?"
Hearing this, Liu Chengfeng spat out the toothpaste foam in his mouth, dropped the playful look on his face, and said seriously: "...You're sharp, brother. But I can't tell you right now. After we survive and get out of the Blood Door this time, I'll explain everything to you."
Ning Qiushui was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "How mysterious."
Liu Chengfeng shook his head, changing the subject. "By the way, brother—don't you think... there's something wrong with that old lady?"
Ning Qiushui fell silent for a moment. "It's not just her. There's something wrong with this whole family—even the entire villa complex!"
Liu Chengfeng froze. "What's wrong with the villa complex?"
Ning Qiushui explained: "The mistress said they're the only family living in this area. But actually, many of the villas I passed by had signs of recent occupancy—from just the past month or two. Every one of the eight houses I saw was like that, not to mention the many more I didn't see... This proves that... people were living in this area not long ago."
As Liu Chengfeng listened to Ning Qiushui's words, cold sweat gradually broke out on his back. If Ning Qiushui's observation was correct, then... where had all those people gone?
Ning Qiushui paced over to the window, his expression grave, hands in his pockets, and continued: "Moreover, a single person usually wouldn't buy such a large garden villa. So the people who moved in here mostly had family or friends with them. Even if they went out to work, there shouldn't be no one left at home... But in reality, it seems like... we're the only ones left in this villa complex."
He pointed a finger. Following his gesture, Liu Chengfeng was shocked to see that the dozen or so houses in front of their window... were all pitch-black! Not a single light was on!
"What... How is this possible?!" His face turned extremely pale.
Ning Qiushui said slowly: "Something must have happened here. Something... very terrifying."
He carefully checked the window, making sure it was locked tight—so tight that not a breath of wind could get in—before drawing the curtains and returning to the bed.
Without the wind, both men lying on the bed could smell a... strange odor.
"What's that smell?" Liu Chengfeng asked. The smell wasn't strong, but it lingered persistently—as if something was rotting and molding.
Remembering what Xue Guize had mentioned earlier, they searched around and finally traced the source of the smell—to the ceiling above their heads. The wooden ceiling there was sticky, as if some liquid was seeping through. The liquid was yellowish-brown and smelled terrible.
"Damn it..." Liu Chengfeng felt a wave of nausea, quickly dragging the bed away from under the spot. "What is that stuff?"
Ning Qiushui stood below, squinting at the damp patch on the ceiling. After a long moment, he said: "Beard, do you trust me?"
Liu Chengfeng didn't understand what Ning Qiushui meant, but he nodded anyway. "I do."
Ning Qiushui said slowly: "Tonight, don't fall asleep. Don't turn on the light. No matter what you hear... ignore it."
Liu Chengfeng's body stiffened. "Brother, you mean... something's going to happen tonight?"
Ning Qiushui was silent for a long time, then finally nodded—so slightly it was barely noticeable. He turned off the light, and the room was immediately plunged into a terrifying, silent darkness...
Liu Chengfeng lay on the bed, his mind in a mess. He tried his best not to fall asleep, but as time passed, drowsiness finally overwhelmed him...
Before long, he was woken up by a strange sound. It was coming from outside the door—a sound like two sharp metal objects scraping against each other.
Screech—
Screech—
Hearing this hair-raising sound, the first thing that popped into Liu Chengfeng's mind was... tableware! He cooked often and was all too familiar with the sounds made by kitchen utensils and tableware.
Liu Chengfeng sat up abruptly, wanting to turn on the light. But Ning Qiushui's warning suddenly echoed in his ears, and he froze, his raised hand dropping back down.
"Brother Ning, are you awake?" Liu Chengfeng whispered. A soft "shh" immediately came from beside him.
"Don't make a sound," Ning Qiushui's voice was also low, with a faint, almost imperceptible tremor—clearly, he was nervous too.
Their room door wasn't completely sealed; there was a gap, and light from the corridor outside seeped through the space under the door. As the terrifying scraping sound passed their door, a bizarre shadow flashed by as well.
The horrifying scraping sound made Liu Chengfeng's heart feel like it was about to jump out of his throat! The thing outside the door... had actually stopped right in front of their room!
Liu Chengfeng clenched his fists tightly, his breath catching in his chest. What was that thing outside? If it came in... what would happen? In that moment, his mind went blank, as if he'd lost the ability to think.
It felt like minutes, yet also like just a split second—finally, the terrifying shadow outside the door moved again, heading deeper into the corridor.
The shrill scraping sound rang out once more—
Screech—
Screech—
It was like an executioner, searching for a prisoner to torture... It moved further in, pausing at the second door, then going to the door at the far end of the corridor. It stopped outside that door for a moment too, then fell completely silent.
At this point, Ning Qiushui suddenly sat up from the bed. He tiptoed to the door, pressing his ear against the gap. He listened for a long time—no more sounds came from outside, as if the shadow had vanished into thin air.
He listened quietly for over ten minutes, confirming there was absolutely no sound outside, before finally returning to the bed.
"Bro, what was that thing outside?" Liu Chengfeng whispered.
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 broke out on Liu Chengfeng's forehead at once. No way...could there really be something evil in this villa?