The weather outside seemed to never change.
The next day was still overcast, with barely enough daylight filtering into the house. As if by unspoken agreement, the four of them stepped out of their rooms at the same time. Xuanyuan Aoyu was nearly drained of strength, still clutching the rusty kitchen knife in his right hand, sweat trickling down his palm.
“We survived.” He leaned against the wall, trying to steady his breath, but then a sudden thought made him tense up. “Did that little monster get inside?”
Su Er shook his head. “It was close, but not quite.”
After two days of surviving on nothing but dry bread, everyone's strength had taken a hit. Though they were still far from reaching a critical danger point, the oppressive atmosphere made it hard to feel at ease.
Li Li refused to give up and searched the kitchen again. She actually managed to find some dried noodles and seaweed in the back of a cupboard, which she boiled into a soup. It didn’t taste great, but in their current situation, it was more than satisfying.
“If only we had some instant noodles.” Zhang He fantasized about better meals.
Su Er found it odd. “A mansion this big, everyone dead, yet the water and electricity are still running?”
Zhang He shrugged. “Maybe they didn’t die that long ago.”
Li Li focused on a more practical issue. “If we make it out alive, we should always carry food with us.”
In this cruel world, getting killed by ghosts was bad enough, but starving to death? That would be even more pathetic.
As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed everyone looking at her.
Su Er reminded her, “The brochure said weapons, food, and communication devices can’t be brought in.”
That was also the main reason he didn’t want to reveal his stun gun—it had to be special in some way.
After barely managing to eat a full meal, everyone’s mood lightened just a bit.
Zhang He stood up. “I’ll go check the attic again.”
Su Er glanced at the clock hanging in the hall. “At this time, we usually take turns telling stories.”
Ignoring the shifting expressions of the others, he opened the door just a crack. The child outside was struggling to crawl forward, each movement excruciatingly slow. Its bones continuously ground against each other, breaking and reforming in an endless cycle.
Su Er said, “You still have two minutes before you start crying.”
The child lifted its head, its gaze eerily sinister.
Su Er checked the time again. “One minute left.”
Li Li tugged on his sleeve. “Stop… stop provoking it.”
Su Er scoffed. “Two nights ago, I kindly told it a bedtime story to help it sleep, and in return, it sent snakes to bite me. What’s wrong with mocking it a little?”
“…Fair point.”
“Ten, nine, eight… three, two…” Su Er counted down in a singsong voice. “Zero.”
At that exact moment, the child was still a meter away from the main entrance. Su Er turned to Mister Rose and said, “It’s late for work.”
What an unprofessional little monster.
Su Er continued, “Ghosts are stricter than humans. We make one tiny mistake, and they try to kill us. By the rules, shouldn’t it be fired on the spot?”
Mister Rose’s gentle voice carried an unmistakable hint of menace. “That’s not within my jurisdiction.”
No loopholes to exploit, then. Su Er shook his head. “You’re useless.”
“…” If not for the rules holding him back, Mister Rose would have gladly disassembled Su Er joint by joint and turned him into fertilizer for his flowers.
Li Li initially wanted to stop Su Er from pushing things too far, but then she realized something important—if the child didn’t enter the house, the night would remain relatively safe. That meant the materialized horror stories were under the child’s control.
Su Er closed the door and started sorting through the information they had gathered.
Li Li asked, “That’s it?”
Su Er took a moment to understand what she meant, then chuckled. “What else should I do? Throw rotten eggs at it?”
Did he seem like someone that unhinged?
Several pairs of eyes landed on Su Er at once. After two seconds of silent judgment, they all looked away.
Reading the message in their gazes, Su Er frowned. “If we had eggs, we’d eat them first. Why waste them?”
The group fell silent.
“…But,” Su Er mused, heading to the bathroom and retrieving a mop. He opened the door again and carefully pushed it forward. The crawling child, which had just managed to inch inside, was forced back a few steps.
“It works.” Su Er’s eyes lit up. “Looks like the spatial compression outside only affects living beings.” He turned back excitedly. “Thanks for the inspiration, everyone!”
The child’s glare was sharp as a blade, filled with pure hatred as it locked onto the other three in the room, as if it wanted nothing more than to skin them alive.
His unfortunate teammates: “…”
Mister Rose’s vision darkened. He felt like his career was about to end.
Su Er tried pushing forward again, but this time, before the mop even made contact, the child’s sharp nails shredded it to pieces. He clicked his tongue and sighed. Some shortcuts just weren’t viable. Regretfully, he shut the door. “We’ll have to do this the hard way.”
Zhang He took a deep breath, walked over, and patted Su Er on the shoulder. He spoke for everyone when he said, “Try taking your own advice for once.”
Without wasting any more time, he stepped into a room and began a thorough search. Given the current situation, the monster would definitely make its way inside again before lunchtime. Yesterday, it was Xuanyuan Aoyu’s turn—today, it was his turn to tell a story.
Su Er didn’t join the search. Instead, he focused on studying a few photographs.
Li Li was about to go upstairs when she noticed him and walked over. “What’s special about these photos?”
Su Er said, “I feel like I’m overlooking something.”
Li Li hesitated for a moment. “Let me take a look.”
Su Er handed them to her.
Li Li sat down beside him, carefully examining each one. Her falling strands of hair partially covered her face.
Su Er suddenly thought of Zhu Yun—she was also a meticulous person.
“They’re wearing the same sect’s attire, but these photos must have been taken at different times.” Li Li picked out two of them. “You can tell from the blooming flowers on the windowsill. Also, their gatherings mostly happened at night.”
Su Er said, “Night is better for hiding things.”
They might act all righteous, but deep down, even the cult members knew their activities couldn’t be exposed to the light.
The sound of nails scraping against the floor came from outside, making them uncomfortable. Li Li muttered, “This house is terrifying, but the outside is even worse.”
She had no doubt that if she took a step outside, she’d be crushed into pieces.
“Maybe the world outside is the real one.”
“Huh?”
Su Er walked to the window. “If that monster were to suddenly appear out of nowhere, how many people would suffer? That’s why the rules keep it contained.”
Li Li was shaken by the thought and instinctively wanted to discuss it further, but Su Er chuckled. “Just some random speculation. Don’t take it too seriously.”
With that, he turned around and focused on the bloodstains on the child’s bed.
Li Li stared at his back for a long time before lowering her gaze. Everything about him seemed logical—born on the Ghost Festival, had encountered paranormal beings before, and suffered from mild emotional detachment—but none of that fully explained his behavior in this place.
At the very least, she had never seen a hint of reverence or fear toward spirits in Su Er’s eyes.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted upstairs—running footsteps and cursing voices.
Li Li instinctively moved to rush up, but Su Er grabbed her. “Take a weapon.”
All the usable tools from the kitchen had been taken to their rooms the night before. Li Li only managed to find a pair of scissors, while Su Er made do with a kicked-off railing from the child’s bed, holding it in front of him like a weapon. It wouldn’t do much damage, but at least it could help keep enemies at a distance.
Zhang He appeared at the staircase, his face covered in blood. He had twisted his ankle and was limping forward through the pain. Behind him, Xuanyuan Aoyu approached step by step, gripping the rusty cleaver in his hand.
To make matters worse, a loud crash came from the front door. A hole had been gouged out where the lock used to be. The door creaked open, and the child crawled in. His feet had almost completely regressed into sharp beast-like claws, making it difficult for him to stand and walk. He finally reached his usual spot and looked up—only to find that the railing on the child’s bed was missing.
Su Er, caught red-handed: “……”
Zhang He, struggling down the stairs, caught sight of this and couldn’t help but curse. For a moment, he wasn’t sure which was the greater danger—upstairs or downstairs.
“Take a step back and the sea will be vast and the sky wide,” Su Er hinted for him to come down.
Xuanyuan Aoyu’s eyes were blank, but thankfully, he wasn’t moving too fast. He swung the cleaver randomly in the air, attacking indiscriminately.
Before anyone could ask, Zhang He explained the situation on his own: “We found an incense burner in the attic. This guy stared at it for a while, and then he just… changed.”
Su Er asked, “Where’s the burner now?”
Zhang He hesitated. “I think it’s still in the attic.”
Li Li’s voice trembled. “Forget that for now! What do we do about this one right behind us?”
Su Er turned to glance at the child. The boy was sitting by the broken bed frame, staring coldly at him.
Su Er checked the time. “It’s not story time yet.”
To put it bluntly, if the child could attack whenever he wanted, they wouldn’t have survived this long.
Li Li stared unblinkingly at the boy for a while. Seeing that his gaze was hostile but he wasn’t making a move, she forced herself to turn back and focus on Xuanyuan Aoyu.
“We need to find a way to wake him up.”
In terms of numbers, they had the advantage, but a possessed madman was far more dangerous than a group of survivors just trying to stay alive.
Su Er held the bed railing in front of him as he carefully ascended the stairs. The noise drew Xuanyuan Aoyu’s attention, and he swung the cleaver toward him. The railing worked better than expected. Xuanyuan Aoyu, having lost his senses, hacked wildly at it. Seizing the chance, Su Er abandoned the railing, closed the distance, and quickly reached into his pocket. Without drawing suspicion, he discreetly pressed his taser against Xuanyuan Aoyu a few times. To cover up his actions, he dramatically pulled out a photograph, held it up, and shouted, “Let him wake up!”
The woman in the photo hadn’t even reacted before she was stuffed back into his pocket.
The electric shocks caused Xuanyuan Aoyu to slow down, a flicker of confusion appearing in his eyes as if he was regaining some clarity.
Su Er put on a show. “Xuanyuan Aoyu, don’t you remember? We’re teammates! We rely on each other in times of crisis!”
While everyone’s attention was on his performance, he took the opportunity to zap Xuanyuan Aoyu again.
“Xuanyuan Aoyu, wake up! Look at me! Think about everything we’ve been through together!”
Ghosts can only influence a person’s consciousness, but the limits of the human body remain. Overwhelmed by the strong electric current, Xuanyuan Aoyu successfully lost consciousness.
Zhang He quickly ran up to help move him to the sofa, tying his hands tightly just in case. Li Li fetched some cold water and splashed it on his face. After a moment, Xuanyuan Aoyu slowly regained consciousness.
His body felt numb, especially around his waist. Seeing everyone gathered around him, he frowned. “What happened?”
Su Er replied, “You were affected by a ghost.”
Zhang He suddenly realized something and clapped his hands. “That’s right! The photo you found can also influence people’s consciousness—fight poison with poison!”
In reality, the photo hadn’t done anything at all. Su Er had been wary that the woman inside might retaliate by using Xuanyuan Aoyu to attack him, so he had only taken it out as a distraction before quickly putting it away again. But appearances had to be maintained, so he let out a long sigh. “But in the end, what really woke you up was the bond of our team.”
Xuanyuan Aoyu: “The bond of our team?”
Su Er nodded.
Xuanyuan Aoyu furrowed his brows, feeling like there was some kind of misunderstanding. Since when did he have such a deep emotional connection with the team?
“It’s true,” Li Li added, describing the false scene as a witness. “At that moment, you and Su Er locked eyes. You were holding the cleaver high, struggling between cutting and not cutting. In the end, you passed out from the pain of your internal conflict.”
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