"You… you… who are you?" The man struggled to speak, his voice raspy. "How… how did you get in here?"
"And who are you?" Hank quickly pressed, "Are you one of the Ouyang family's people?" He continued, "We came after seeing an online job advertisement. It said we were needed here to take care of a mentally ill person locked in the basement, offering a daily wage of a hundred thousand!"
"What? So... that's how it is…" The man struggled to lift himself, leaning heavily against the doorframe. "I understand now… She... she wanted to kill four young people. Through the curse of the 'blood porcelain,' she would transform into an undying vengeful spirit! So that's the truth…"
Hank pointed at the lifeless body of Zhao Xiaoya, his voice trembling with horror as he asked, "Who... who is she? How did she die?"
"Her? She is..."
"Her… how long has she been dead?" Hank's voice faltered, his heart already quivering.
"She... she died seven days ago."
Hank nearly lost his footing. He had been staying in the same place as this vengeful spirit for nearly three days!
"How... how did she die? You… you killed her, didn't you? I know the secret of the Ouyang family's blood porcelain. If they didn't seek to take lives, they wouldn't have murdered so many of us! Don't lie!"
"Fine… fine. I'm going mad staying here. It's better to go to prison. My name is Ouyang Zuping. She... she was my girlfriend, Zhao Xiaoya. But I didn't realize that her intention for being with me was to steal the blood porcelain and sell it! Do you know? The blood porcelain from the Ouyang family is worth a fortune! Even billionaires like Li Ka-shing have tried to buy it! You're really unlucky, coming here… Well, seeing that we're both miserable, I'll tell you…"
"That night, I discovered she was trying to steal the blood porcelain. I fought with her, and in the struggle, she was cut by a broken piece of porcelain. In a fit of rage, she grabbed a shard to kill me. But she was a woman—how could she overpower me?" He paused for a moment. "We fought our way into another room, and in the end, I managed to knock her down. She… she wanted to steal our family heirloom!"
Such a fool! Can't he just get to the point instead of rambling? If he said less, he wouldn't be losing any chances to redeem himself! Just convey the essential details! Hank thought to himself.
"So... you killed her?"
"She was trying to steal my family's treasure. I had no choice but to kill her. But it wasn't intentional! At that moment, I accidentally slit her throat with the shard of porcelain... But after she died, to my shock, she reappeared in front of me! I panicked and hid her body here, placing the blood porcelain my father had left me on her corpse. That way, nothing would happen. But then the door was locked… I couldn't get out! I was terrified, so I used this computer…" Ouyang Zuping pointed to a computer in the corner of the room. "Look, it's been destroyed now, but it was working before. I contacted a few relatives nearby, telling them to come save me in seven days. When I came down here, there was some food stocked up, so I thought I could wait it out. But when I woke up the next morning, I found her body lying in front of the computer, and the computer was broken! I thought it was just the computer malfunctioning, but then... you all arrived!"
"Yes… the food you've been eating these past few days... we brought it to you."
"The food stored here was supposed to last seven days if I rationed it, but to my surprise, it was only enough for three! Although I tried to make it last, by the fourth night, there was nothing left! By the final three days, I thought I would starve to death. That was when, unexpectedly, meals started to arrive at regular intervals—morning, noon, and night. At first, I thought my family had arrived early, but then I realized that was impossible. The last three days were the most dangerous, and they wouldn't have come during that time. It turns out… it was you... So, it was you who also sent the phone down? Had I known, I would've left a distress signal on it! I was so excited when I took it out to contact the outside world, only to remember that the villa blocks electromagnetic waves. But why, on one occasion, did you send down raw meat? There was nothing to eat down here, so I had no choice but to eat even that!"
"We also sent a letter down. Why didn't you reply to us?"
"A letter? What letter? I don't know anything about it!"
Hank immediately remembered—the letter was supposed to have been placed by Zhao Xiaoya along with the food in the elevator… Now that he thought about it, she hadn't placed the letter inside at all!
"Is there any way?" Hank asked urgently, knowing there was no time for more pointless questions. "Is there still a way now?"
He had already figured it all out.
Zhao Xiaoya had been murdered by the man standing before him, Ouyang Zuping. The bloodstain on the chair in that other room was likely left by her hand after it was cut by the porcelain shard, and she must have pressed it there. Ouyang Zuping must have wiped away the other bloodstains, leaving only this one behind. The scratches on the floor beneath the broken glass of the coffee table in the other room could now be explained. After killing Zhao Xiaoya, Ouyang Zuping saw her ghost, and in fear, he fled to this basement room, taking the successfully made blood porcelain hidden here and placing it on her corpse.
Now, for Zhao Xiaoya's spirit to kill Ouyang Zuping, according to the legend, she must kill four young men and women in the final three days before her seventh day. The job advertisement had said 4–7 people, meaning at least four people should be hired. But in reality, six people had been recruited: Liu Haiping, Lu Zenan, Hang Qingshu, Zhang Hua, Wu Jun, and Liu Ying!
Because of the blood porcelain's binding power, the dead spirit couldn't stray too far from the body. Ouyang Zuping, in turn, was trapped here. Zhao Xiaoya's spirit was filled with vengeful hatred toward the man who had killed her, so she even left that A4 note asking them to bring him food, ensuring he wouldn't starve down here. It was as if she had to personally exact vengeance on him! She also prevented them from opening the basement door to stop Ouyang Zuping from escaping!
No wonder...
No wonder I was killed once!
At that time, the spirit had already killed two people—Hang Qingshu and Wu Jun—half of the necessary victims, and had nearly become a vengeful ghost herself, weakening the curse's influence on her. Although it was a low-difficulty horror scenario, if the plot were left to develop freely, it could still lead to a complete wipeout.
And now, four people were already dead. Under the curse of the blood porcelain, Zhao Xiaoya had become an immortal, undying vengeful spirit. That was why she could easily take Cheryl's painting. After storing the painting away, out of sight from the cameras, the curse of the painting was completely sealed.
"Earlier... when I woke up, I found... I found the corpse at the door. It was as though... it had been constantly knocking on the door!"
As Ouyang Zuping spoke these words, Hank's face paled in shock.
The sound of banging on the door… was it because of this?
What should I do now?
There are only two hours left!
What if the curse doesn't work?
Blood porcelain!
The thought of blood porcelain immediately flashed into Hank's mind.
"Where did you put the blood porcelain?"
"On… on her chest…"
Hank, suppressing his nausea, reached into the corpse's chest and quickly retrieved a small porcelain bottle. This small bottle bore the Ouyang family crest, and… it was small enough to fit into a pocket!
Extracting the blood porcelain was not a directive from the script. Soon after, a prompt from the script echoed in his mind: You have obtained the cursed item of the deceased, blood porcelain. Since the deceased has already killed four young men and women, transforming into a vengeful spirit through the blood porcelain curse, the porcelain has undergone a mutation. If you drip a single drop of your blood onto it, it can disperse the spirit. However, the possibility of the curse reviving is significantly higher than that of an ordinary cursed object. Ideally, it should not be used for more than five seconds (This ability is not part of the original script's horror props but is tailored for the actor's role).
Without hesitation, Hank placed the porcelain bottle into his pocket and, with a swift motion, deducted fifty "redemption death tickets" to claim it for himself.
At that moment, he also thought of Allen. He and Zhao Xiaoya were together!
"Do as you will!"
Hank dashed towards the basement entrance. Allen had been absent for so long; Hank knew something was terribly wrong!
Bursting from the basement, candle in hand, Hank pressed his finger to his lips. If something went awry, he would immediately bite his finger and drip blood into the porcelain bottle. The longer it took, the more likely the blood would clot, so the key was to wait for the critical moment.
It couldn't exceed five seconds… or else the curse would revive…
Once the curse revived, Zhao Xiaoya, transformed into an unholy vengeful spirit, would drag him straight into the realm of the dead, wouldn't she? Her soul had already been directly cursed by the blood porcelain, making her an undying, relentless force!
"Wait for me!" Ouyang Zuping shouted, running towards Hank, clutching him tightly. "Don't... don't leave me! I'm... I'm so scared!"
"Four people are already dead," Hank said coldly, his voice edged with finality. "Now… I..."
What happened to Allen? Was he dead?
Only fifteen minutes had passed. There was still time, but how much longer could he hold off with the porcelain bottle? Even with Allen's talisman, it likely wouldn't be enough by now. Cheryl was dead, and Zhao Xiaoya had already transformed into an unstoppable vengeful spirit, with no way to counter her except the blood porcelain. But how long could this last? He had received a special prompt: because of the unusual circumstances, if the blood porcelain was used for more than one second but less than ten, two times the actor's fee would be deducted from their "redemption death tickets."
If Allen was also dead, what could he do now?
What could he do?
At that moment, he suddenly saw Allen emerging from the corridor ahead. Upon spotting Hank, Allen immediately smiled and said, "Liu Haiping, you're here? Zhao Xiaoya and I finished reading the book on how to make the blood porcelain… Um, who's that person behind you?"
Allen immediately pulled out a high heel and shouted to the unseen corner of the hallway, "Zhao Xiaoya, don't come any closer, run!"
"Zhang Hua!" Hank shouted at the top of his lungs. "Run, hurry! Zhao Xiaoya… she's a ghost!"
As he spoke, he bit his finger hard, then quickly took out the porcelain bottle and dripped his blood onto it. The blood was immediately absorbed into the porcelain, and the Ouyang family crest began to glow eerily.
Allen reacted swiftly, his face filled with terror as he rushed toward Hank. But when Hank reached the corner of the hallway, holding the porcelain bottle aloft, the other side of the hallway was already empty.
Hank quickly placed the porcelain bottle back into his pocket. Just in time—it had been exactly five seconds.
He let out a breath of relief and turned to Allen. "Zhang Hua, this is Mr. Ouyang Zuping. He's the owner of this villa. But it wasn't him who called us here. In the basement… in that room… is Zhao Xiaoya's body! She's dead—she died three days ago!"
For now, they had at least gained a fleeting moment of respite.
After hearing everything, Allen pointed at Ouyang Zuping and asked, "So... does this mean Zhao Xiaoya wanted to kill you?"
Hank knew that already. But at this point, Zhao Xiaoya, transformed into a vengeful spirit, would never let them escape. It was either they die, or… they find a way back to the Thirteenth Hell Cinema!
But how long would the porcelain bottle last? What if it was less than thirty minutes?
In less than half an hour, they would not be able to use it again.
"How long does the curse effect of the blood porcelain last?" Allen asked, looking to Ouyang Zuping. "Do you know?"
"I… I don't know, so the blood on it really works?"
"It's useless." Hank knew this ability was custom-designed for the actors. He didn't know how long it would last.
Thirty minutes…
In this half-hour…
What should they do?
Because now, the only thing that could combat that vengeful ghost was this porcelain bottle. Any other cursed object was completely useless!