The newcor... This resolved many of the doubts in everyone’s hearts, no wonder Wen Chongxian perford so poorly.
After the first night, having seen soone actually die, Wen Chongxian resolved to escape, but he did not anticipate being found by a strong man with his gang who heavily beat him, and eventually chopped off part of his little finger as punishnt.
"To et is fate, to stay is peace," Monk Wukong said, folding his hands together and speaking to comfort him.
While everyone was together, Yang Xiao repeated what he found at Donghui Vocational Technical School, and also presented the notebook filled with vicious curses as corroboration.
"So it ans Fei Rou deceived us; she personally claid that her brother, and those two won, were helpful and good students," Zhang Man expressed her doubts.
"Could it be as an elder sister she needed to consider her brother’s reputation?" Che Xuexiang offered her opinion.
Lian Jinsun silently nodded. "We cannot exclude that possibility, especially since, from the reaction of the school’s teachers, Fei Rou still thought about destroying the evidence of Fei Yong and their bullying of other students, but... are there really no students who died from their bullying?"
"There shouldn’t be; if there were, that teacher would not have concealed it for those three brats," Yang Xiao analyzed.
"Right, and the so-called bullying couldn’t possibly involve driving a car to hit soone to death. They’re not that foolish," Ju Juan, who was also present at the scene, said imdiately.
The case again fell into a deadlock when Ning Houfu’s painting explicitly depicted the existence of the female ghost. Combining all the current information, they analyzed that this was a female ghost who died in a car accident with severe body mutilation, wearing a blue skirt and high heels.
Furthermore, judging from life experience, the ghost’s age at the ti of death probably wouldn’t have been very old, at most around 30.
Basing on these details, everyone took out newspapers again, continuing to expand their search area, but with minimal results.
Whether by coincidence or not, Yang Xiao again stumbled upon the first newspaper he had seen, with a straightforward and eye-catching title: Fierce Ghost Taxi.
The content section was very clichéd. The murdered driver returned as a Fierce Ghost on the seventh day of his death, driving a Ghost Taxi, and killed the culprits who had hard him.
The seventh day...
Yang Xiao rembered that Fei Yong was the first among the three to die; he began searching through the newspapers for any homicide cases that occurred seven days before Fei Yong’s death, and soon, he indeed found one with the headline in bold: Midnight Deadly Truck.
Sitting beside Yang Xiao, Zhang Man noticed Yang Xiao’s actions and, after looking over, shook her head slightly in disappointnt, "You’re thinking about the seventh day the soul returns, right? It’s useless; we also took note of this at the ti, but, unfortunately, the deceased was a man."
The newspaper told a vague story, without specific nas, identities, or locations, only stating that the man was a robber who had recently robbed and killed a truck driver, only to be claid by the ghost of the driver, similar in plot to the Fierce Ghost Taxi, which Yang Xiao realized was just a sensational piece.
"Truck..." Upon hearing this, Lian Jinsun seed to perk up, rolling up the newspaper, "Since we’re out of clues, I’ll check this out tomorrow."
"Hmm," Yang Xiao nodded, "We continue to go to Donghui Vocational Technical School, and see if we can find more clues."
Perhaps it was intuition, or maybe so kind of olfactory guidance, but Yang Xiao keenly sensed that the deaths of the three were not so straightforward. Maybe the root cause really had sothing to do with their misconduct at Donghui Vocational Technical School.
As night fell, everyone prepared to go back to their places, but before that, they shared their views on how to safely spend the night.
"Before we didn’t know, but it is now clear that so have survived an attack by the female ghost, proving that staying in the haunted house isn’t a guaranteed death trap," Zhang Man was the first to speak.
"This Ning Houfu’s na is really not for nothing; truly a profound stroke of luck," Che Xuexiang couldn’t help but lant.
Lian Jinsun gave her a glance, his tone calm and indifferent, "No need to ntion nas now; it’s too late for us to change them anyway. You should know, Ning Houfu survived by staying in the bathroom."
Upon hearing this, Ju Juan got excited, "Right, think about it, according to the clues we’ve gathered so far, no one has ever been killed in a bathroom!"
Could it be... the way out?!
It was uncertain, but given the current circumstances, it gave everyone a piece of hope. They agreed that tonight, whoever stayed in the haunted house would hide in the bathroom. If everyone survived, then the way out was found; even if soone was killed, it would help those who survived to eliminate this wrong answer.
After briefing each other, everyone left. Only Zhang Man and Wen Chongxian were left in the room, Zhang Man looking at Wen Chongxian with a cold sneer, the latter bowing his head, not daring to make a sound.
"What, do I have to spell it out for you?" Zhang Man’s face grew even more displeased.
Wen Chongxian shrank his neck, but eventually couldn’t stand the pressure and replied softly, "I... I’m going in tonight."
"Stop looking so pitiful; it was your turn tonight anyway. I’m not bullying you!" Seeing his look, Zhang Man got even more irritated, worried about any unexpected changes and then threatened fiercely, "I advise you to be smart. If you dare to run tonight, don’t even ntion the people who beat you last ti; even we will not let you go."
"Rember, you will die, and it will be grueso," Zhang Man left him with these harsh words before leaving alone.
...
The night grew deeper, and Ju Juan sat alone in the dark bathroom. She sat cross-legged in a relatively comfortable position inside an old-fashioned white porcelain bathtub, so she did not have to squat for a long ti, preventing her legs from stiffening and affecting her chance to escape.
In front of her were two new shower curtains, one on the left and the other on the right, looking brand new.
Of course, they were new because she had specifically bought them recently to recreate the scene from the night Ning Houfu survived. The original shower curtains in the bathroom had been removed, leaving only a bare stainless steel rod.
Besides, she had adjusted the angle of the shower curtains according to what was shown in the painting, with one on each side and a not-too-big-not-too-small gap in the middle. Theoretically, if the ghost really ca for her tonight, she would be able to see the true face of the ghost through this gap, and if she was lucky enough, the ghost might spare her.
No, no, no, ptui ptui ptui... Huddled in the bathtub, Ju Juan was startled by her own thoughts, quickly embracing herself, as she didn’t want to see a ghost, and preferred never to encounter one in her lifeti. She harbored no grudges against this female ghost and simply hoped that the ghost would bother soone else tonight.
She had already called Fei Rou twice as agreed, to report her safety, and the other party had asked her to be cautious and kindly "comforted" her, ntioning that she had friends nearby the villa and advised her not to make the sa mistake as Wen Chongxian.
Ti ticked by, second by second, and Ju Juan’s heart had risen to her throat as the clock approached midnight.
Never before had Ju Juan so fervently wished for the day to hasten to the next, for dawn to arrive quickly.
In the dim, damp bathroom, loneliness, darkness, and utter silence oppressed and tortured her. What was more terrifying was that she began obsessively imagining the horror Ning Houfu had once faced. She couldn’t stop this feeling that welled up from within.
To overco her fear, she took out her phone and sneaked a peek at the ti — 11:58 PM. It was almost here; it was almost the next day.
This seed like a faith, that as long as she made it past midnight, she would be safe, even though no one or nothing had promised such.
"Click."
Ju Juan suddenly looked up, and under the dim light of her phone, her originally beautiful face beca distorted.
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
She heard a dull sound of high heels, as if soone were limping and tapping along the shoes—it ca from downstairs.
Just like Yang Xiao, she had chosen to stay in a bedroom on the second floor of the villa, which had a small adjoining bathroom.
Soon, the high heels ascended the stairs, step by step heading towards her bedroom, and at this mont, the sound of the high heels was like a death knell in her ears.
But... why? Ju Juan widened her eyes, helplessly clutching herself; her whole body trembled violently. Downstairs, the bedroom where a horrific incident had happened was blocked by a sofa and a bookshelf, and a fragile glass cup still rested on the doorknob. So why hadn’t she heard the sound of the door opening?
Could it be... the ghost hadn’t co out of the room?
Where had it co from, then?
But now, Ju Juan had no ti to ponder these questions, because the sound of the high heels had reached the bedroom and was directly passing the bathroom door, heading inside.
At this mont, a thought fiercely surged in Ju Juan’s mind: escape! She had to escape while the ghost hadn’t noticed her yet.
The escape route was planned in an instant; she would burst out of the bathroom and head straight downstairs.
But just as her muscles tensed, ready to spring into action, she abruptly held back. As an experienced player, she knew too well the cunning and malice of these ghostly beings; this might very well be a trap because the ghost couldn’t kill her in the bathroom and had deliberately exposed a flaw.
It was luring her out; once she left the bathroom door, she would be dood!
anwhile, she had also rembered A Qiang from the previous night, who had likely been beguiled by the female ghost and t a grueso death.
Having realized this, Ju Juan gritted her teeth and forced herself to remain hidden in the bathtub, determined not to make any noise.
Soon, the high heels, after pacing around the bedroom, finally stopped outside the bathroom door. At this mont, Ju Juan’s heart once again rose to her throat.
From so unknown source, a faint ghostly light shone through the gap in the shower curtain, and she saw the bathroom’s inner doorknob slowly press downward.
"Creak—"
The door opened, and a distorted silhouette under the ghostly light stepped into the bathroom first, spreading across the floor.
At the sa ti, a pungent sll of blood pervaded, and Ju Juan dared not even breathe; she... she was so nervous she could barely breathe!
"Click."
"Click."
The next second, a twisted and terrifying silhouette leaped into the bathroom. At that mont, Ju Juan’s eyes widened; she saw it clearly, this ghost.
Indeed, it was a female ghost, her head unnaturally drooping, her body covered in blood, her long hair disheveled obscuring her face, wearing a long blue dress, with only a red high heel on her remaining left leg, her body resembling a tattered doll.
She didn’t walk step by step; she hopped step by step towards her.
The female ghost was thin, slender, with pale skin. She silently stood sideways, just a curtain away from Ju Juan in front of the toilet. Ju Juan was certain she had been spotted.
As ti ticked away, just as Ju Juan was about to break down, suddenly, the standing female ghost with a twisted arm lifted the front of her skirt, and under Ju Juan’s disbelieving gaze, a stream mixed with foul odor and bloodiness poured into the toilet.
"Whoosh..."
User Comments
0 comments from readers