Translator: Cinder Translations
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"So you're saying that when I arrived yesterday, Sister Nuan's body was still in the bedroom?"
"Yes, right behind the door," Chen Xiaomeng paused for a moment, then sneered at Jiang Cheng, "If you had taken a few more steps inside, that ghost would've dragged your body here too."
Jiang Cheng ignored her and continued, "Where is Sister Nuan's body now?"
Chen Xiaomeng stood up and walked towards the door. Jiang Cheng immediately followed, maintaining a distance of less than a meter.
"The door isn't open yet; I can't run," Chen Xiaomeng sneered.
Jiang Cheng shook his head as he tightly followed her. "Don't misunderstand. I just feel safer being close to you."
Chen Xiaomeng was momentarily speechless and decided to ignore him. She walked to the wall and fumbled to press a button. Suddenly, the room became clearer.
The overhead light turned on.
Almost simultaneously, Fatty's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He saw the room arranged like a chapel.
A huge cross hung on the wall, and Sister Nuan was tied to it upside down, her face twisted in a grotesque manner, clearly long dead.
Looking closely, the entire cross, along with Sister Nuan, was inverted.
Various torture devices were placed around, all designed with an ancient, bloody style reminiscent of the medieval era, most of them stained with sinister blood marks.
This was a torture chamber.
"The cross symbolizes God, while the inverted cross is a symbol of the devil," Jiang Cheng coldly eyed the torture devices. "It seems this family worshipped the devil."
Fatty was stunned by the scene, but Chen Xiaomeng glanced at Jiang Cheng with interest. "It seems like you guessed this from the beginning."
The setup here wasn't something that could be done in a short time, so the owners of these torture devices could only be the villa's owners, not the two unfortunate outsiders.
Once Fatty regained his senses, he immediately looked at Jiang Cheng. "So the real culprits are the villa's family, not those two men?"
Jiang Cheng nodded. "Didn't you just see them?"
It was like a bolt of lightning flashed through Fatty's mind. Suddenly realizing something, he trembled, "It was the bus that came to pick us up! The male driver, the mother with the child, the female conductor dressed as a man, and the girl from the couple… they are the family! They are the villa's owners!"
"Exactly," Chen Xiaomeng shrugged, "And the man from the couple, and the older boy from the mother-son pair, are the victims, tormented and abused by this family."
Fatty recalled all the strange behaviors of the mother, son, and the couple on the way here. For example, the man from the couple always wore an eye mask, remaining still, and the boy, brought out by his mother, was terrified, silent throughout the journey. It all made sense now.
Hell is empty; the devils walk among men.
The murderous female ghost wasn't seeking revenge. She was merely continuing the evil she had committed in life, ingrained deeply within her soul.
"When did you figure out the truth?" Jiang Cheng asked, looking at Chen Xiaomeng.
"After that ghost killed Sister Nuan, the photo we found on the wall suddenly became clear." As she spoke, she pulled out a photo, the wooden frame gone, likely discarded for convenience.
Jiang Cheng took the photo. It was a family portrait of the villa's four members. Each face matched the ones in his mind, and the background was this torture chamber.
In the corner of the photo were two men, one standing, the other lying down, both bound with chains. Their faces couldn't be seen as they were looking down, but their clothes were identical to those of the two men on the bus.
"So... this time, the forbidden element was disguise." Jiang Cheng looked at Chen Xiaomeng. "The ghost tricked its victims into entering the villa through disguise when it was alive. Even after death, it retained this ability."
"Fan Li and the others died because they couldn't see through the ghost's disguise," Jiang Cheng continued.
Chen Xiaomeng shrugged, "Exactly."
At that moment, a faint glow began to emanate from the door, and the whole space started to tremble.
The door was about to open.
Chen Xiaomeng seemed used to the tremors that occurred when the door opened. While Fatty was still bracing himself against the wall to avoid falling, she had already run to the iron door.
The iron door fully opened, revealing a dense gray fog behind it.
Jiang Cheng reached out, trying to grab her, but he was a step too late. Chen Xiaomeng had already stepped through the iron door, disappearing into the fog.
Jiang Cheng glanced back at Fatty and stepped into the fog himself.
After a strange, dizzying sensation, Jiang Cheng's body suddenly steadied, as if he had stepped onto solid, flat ground.
He looked down and, in the dim light, saw the wooden floor beneath his feet.
Everything around him became familiar.
He exhaled deeply. He had truly returned to his psychology office.
Outside the window, it was still night, with only a sliver of moonlight streaming in. Everything was exactly as he had left it.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that felt slightly rough. In the faint moonlight, he could see that it was a piece of paper, folded many times.
He was slowly unfolding the paper when his body suddenly froze. A hand quietly rested on his right shoulder.
Someone had been lying in wait behind him, as if knowing he would return here.
Jiang Cheng slowly raised his hands. "In the hidden compartment of the third drawer on the left side of my desk, there's 20,000 yuan. The drawer's locked, and the key is in the second-to-last coffee cup in the kitchen."
There was no sound from behind. He paused, then continued, "That's all the money I have. If you're after more, I suggest checking upstairs. There's no bed, just a mattress, though, so you'll have to make do."
After a long moment, the hand on his shoulder shook slightly, and a robust voice rang out, "Brother, you've got a nice place here!"
As soon as Jiang Cheng heard the voice, he grabbed the hand on his shoulder, twisting it as he turned. In one swift motion, he slammed a chubby figure against the wall.
"Brother! Brother!" Fatty yelped, wincing in pain.
Recognizing the survivor from the dream world, Jiang Cheng coldly asked, "Why are you here?"
He quickly glanced behind him at the spot where the door should've been, but there was nothing—just an ordinary wall.
According to Fan Li, if you survived, you'd return to the starting point in the real world. In simple terms, everyone should return to their own home.
But… this clearly wasn't Fatty's home.
Fatty's right arm made a creaking sound, as if it was about to be twisted off. He hurriedly explained, "Before I entered that door, I was just thinking it'd be great if I ended up with you, Brother. Then I came out and saw you standing in front of me with your back turned. Maybe it's fate…"
But before he could finish, Jiang Cheng interrupted him, "Cut the crap, you're just afraid of dying."
(End of the chapter)
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