Translator: Cinder Translations
--------
After hearing that Jiang Cheng wouldn't be sleeping on the bed, Xie Yu scooted over to the edge, running a hand over the quilt. The bed felt incredibly comfortable.
Unlike Jiang Cheng, he had a bad back and couldn't sleep on the floor.
"What are you touching?" the Fatty shouted at Xie Yu, his voice rough. "Is that something you should be thinking about? Put your hands down and stand up straight!"
He felt quite annoyed with Xie Yu for being so indecisive.
"If you don't want to share a bed, you can take turns sleeping," Jiang Cheng said, turning his head dismissively. "Fatty, you stay up with me; you watch for three hours, then I'll take over."
Jiang Cheng thought Xie Yu's watch was useless, so he took it away.
"What do you need me to do?" Xie Yu wrapped himself tightly in the quilt, with just his head sticking out.
"I need you to shut up."
Feeling embarrassed, Xie Yu shrank back, this time pulling his head into the quilt, turning himself into a cocoon.
Although the villa had electricity, the voltage was unstable at night. The incandescent light above flickered constantly and occasionally made a buzzing sound.
With such an environment and the accompanying lighting and sound effects, it felt like a horror movie.
Jiang Cheng had no choice but to turn off the light.
Thanks to the moonlight streaming in through the window, he could barely make out the room.
The Fatty leaned against the sofa. For the first hour, he was fine, but gradually his eyelids started to droop. Although he knew it was dangerous, strangely, he couldn't control himself and eventually slumped over, falling into a deep sleep.
This sleep was heavy, but it didn't last long. When he groggily woke up, the room was still pitch black.
He rubbed his eyes, feeling a little scared.
There was someone lying by the bed—Jiang Cheng—and on the bed, Xie Yu had rolled himself into a cocoon.
Everything seemed normal.
Although the Fatty was sleepy, he dared not fall asleep again. To make matters worse, he had drunk too much water and needed to use the bathroom.
This bedroom had a small bathroom about five meters away, surrounded by semi-transparent glass.
But ever since a middle-aged man died mysteriously in the bathroom, the Fatty developed a psychological and even physiological aversion to it; he didn't want to go.
He even resisted getting close.
Suddenly, he recalled Jiang Cheng's previous method.
A mineral water bottle!
But soon, he fell into a new round of despair.
Jiang Cheng had thrown the water bottle into the trash before going to sleep, and the trash can was quietly standing in front of the bathroom door.
The Fatty swallowed hard. He had no choice but to move inch by inch toward the bathroom, each step feeling like he was testing the edge of danger.
He finally reached the trash can and quickly, successfully grabbed the empty mineral water bottle.
But before he could feel happy, he caught sight of something unusual out of the corner of his eye. Mechanically, he turned his head and saw an arm sticking out from behind the bathroom glass door.
**Second Floor Master Bedroom.**
Fan Li suddenly sat up from the sofa and quickly walked to the door, pressing his ear against it.
"What's wrong?"
Warm Sister and Chen Xiaomeng, who were lying in bed, also sat up. To prepare for any potential danger, they hadn't even changed out of their clothes, not daring to sleep too deeply.
Fan Li put a finger to his lips, signaling for silence.
Seeing this scene, Sister Nuan and Chen Xiaomeng immediately fell silent, as if the air itself had frozen.
About a minute later, they heard an extremely faint creaking sound.
It was as if a door had suddenly opened.
A few seconds later, slow footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.
Clop, clop.
Each step sounded like it was splashing through water.
Accompanying the footsteps was a strange dragging noise, as if someone was dragging heavy objects across the corridor floor.
The footsteps moved in one direction, gradually fading away until they disappeared completely.
The faces of Fan Li and the other two were as cold as ice, and the direction from which the sound had vanished was at the end of the corridor, where there was nothing but a locked room.
Something happened.
It must have happened!
Who was it this time?
The Fatty who could cook, the timid clerk named Xie Yu, or... that strange Hao Shuai?
In another room, in a cramped bathroom.
The Fatty stared wide-eyed in terror, trembling uncontrollably.
He didn't make a sound.
A hand was tightly covering his mouth.
Jiang Cheng crouched beside him, the hand covering the Fatty's mouth belonged to him.
Both of them were fixated on the door.
The door was ajar, and moonlight spilled in through the window.
The bed was already empty, even the quilt was gone. Just thinking about the scene they had just witnessed made the Fatty's teeth chatter in fear.
A figure lying on the floor by the bed stood up unsteadily, its movements strange, its posture twisted, and its body unusually bulky—clearly not Jiang Cheng.
Of course not.
Because Jiang Cheng was hiding behind the bathroom door, pulling the Fatty in and tightly covering his mouth.
The two crouched on the floor, not daring to make a sound, staring out through a half-transparent glass.
The bulky figure stared at the bathroom for a good ten seconds before finally turning around, crouching at the bed's edge, crawling into the bed along the exposed corner of the quilt. Inside, Xie Yu was either asleep or unresponsive; the figure's movements were so large that the entire bed creaked under the strain, yet he seemed completely unaware.
It wasn't until the quilt shook violently a few times that the room suddenly fell silent.
Jiang Cheng and the Fatty didn't dare to move.
Until the figure emerged from under the quilt and slowly walked toward the door, the sound of water accompanying its steps, particularly clear in the stillness of the night.
In the thin moonlight, Jiang Cheng noticed the figure was dragging a quilt behind it, and he turned to look at the bed—now empty.
The sound of water and dragging objects faded away as they reached the end of the door, yet Jiang Cheng and the Fatty remained still.
They held this position for what felt like ages, until the sound of the door opening broke the silence.
The first to appear was Fan Li, followed closely by Sister Nuan and Chen Xiaomeng. The three of them pressed against the wall, cautiously entering.
Only then did Jiang Cheng let go of the Fatty, and the two emerged from the bathroom.
The Fatty's lips were trembling, so Jiang Cheng recounted what had just happened.
He had been sleeping but was suddenly awakened by a chilling sensation. In the blur, he realized that under the bed where Xie Yu was sleeping, there was a pitch-black shadow.
The shadow was sprawled on the ground, its joints unnaturally twisted, slowly crawling outward.
(End of the Chapter)
---
What happened Next?
Read ahead on Patreon.
Currently up to 65 as of 26Sep24.
Just visit my p atreon: Pa treon.com/CinderTL
If you are content with the free chapters, you can show your appreciation by joining me for as low as $1. You can read this and other series (more coming in the future) on my Pa treon.
AND PLEASE LEAVE SOME REVIEWS, NEED MORE REVIEWS