...In the thick fog, a dilapidated bus slowly made its way along an endless highway.
There were seven people on the bus: three women and four men.
They sat in their seats, gazing out the windows at the dense fog outside, their expressions varied.
Confusion, bewilderment, fear...
But aside from that, their faces shared the same pallor.
It was as if they had experienced something horrifying along the way.
The bus continued its journey until it finally came to a stop outside an ancient, decrepit villa.
The villa, shrouded in the surrounding fog, was entirely black, exuding an air of mystery and eeriness.
The bus door opened, as if telling the passengers inside... it was time to get off.
The seven people slowly stepped off the bus. They glanced back, their eyes filled with an indescribable fear.
Because, in the driver's seat of the bus, where a driver should have been... there was nothing.
Yes, this bus... had no driver.
As the last passenger stepped off, the bus door automatically closed, and the vehicle began to move again, disappearing into the depths of the fog...
The seven people standing outside the black villa exchanged uneasy glances, seeing the dread etched on each other's faces.
"Let's go..."
"I think we have no other choice."
At this critical moment, a thin man in the group spoke up. He wore deep brown square wooden glasses, and his delicate features displayed a calmness that set him apart from the others.
"R-really... are we really going in?"
A beautiful woman with gold earrings trembled as she spoke.
She was dressed lightly and shivered from the cold, her hands clutching her arms, rubbing them constantly.
"What if... it's not safe inside?"
The others remained silent.
At first, they had thought this was some kind of prank or an invitation to participate in a show...
But when they realized there was no driver on the bus, they were plunged into deep fear!
Although they had all once been staunch materialists, the events that had occurred earlier were simply too unbelievable!
"So, do you want to walk into the fog instead?"
Ning Qiu Shui took a deep breath, trying to appear calm.
In truth, his heart was racing.
From the moment he received that mysterious letter to arriving at this place, it had taken less than an hour.
But that one hour had shaken his worldview to its core!
"Have you forgotten about the fat guy who jumped out of the bus at the crossroads?"
At the mention of the fat man, the woman's beautiful eyes immediately filled with immense fear!
Her legs went weak, and she nearly lost her balance!
Originally, there had been eight people on the bus.
Everyone had appeared on the bus after falling asleep.
Among them was a fat man who had been cursing nonstop, insisting that some unscrupulous show producer had brought them there for a reality show.
The fat man impatiently claimed that their phones had been swapped, that the driver was actually beneath their feet controlling the bus, and that the thick fog was just dry ice for effect...
Finally, when the bus paused at a crossroads, the fat man opened the window, jumped out, and walked alone into the fog...
Up to that point, things had still seemed somewhat normal.
However, when the bus reached the next crossroads, they noticed something fluttering on the fog-shrouded traffic lights...
As the bus slowly approached, they saw clearly what was hanging there... It was the bloody, flayed skin of the fat man who had left earlier!
The skin had been completely stripped off, and they could even see the fat man's expression, twisted in extreme terror, as if he had witnessed something horrifying before his death!
The pole of the traffic light was dripping with large amounts of crimson blood!
This scene completely terrified everyone on the bus!
Someone, refusing to believe in the supernatural, pulled open the bus window, and the nauseating stench of blood instantly filled the entire vehicle...
...
At the mention of the fat man, everyone's expressions turned grim, and some even began to gag.
"...Since no one dares to venture into that fog, we have no choice but to enter this black villa..."
Ning Qiu Shui took a deep breath.
He was also afraid.
But for some reason, whether it was seeing the bloody flayed skin hanging from the traffic light or smelling the metallic stench of blood, his reaction was far less intense than the others'.
Moreover, he was deeply intrigued by the mysterious letter he had received earlier.
What exactly did the sender of that letter want to tell him?
With Ning Qiu Shui leading the way, the group followed him, pushed open the iron gate of the black villa, and entered the garden outside.
The surroundings were eerily silent.
A silence so profound it was terrifying.
The group had no choice but to huddle closely together. The beautiful woman with gold earrings felt someone groping her but merely frowned and said nothing.
Being groped was better than being inexplicably flayed alive!
And so, they arrived at the entrance of the black villa. Ning Qiu Shui knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock—
As soon as he knocked, footsteps could be heard from inside. The people behind him couldn't help but take a few steps back, their eyes fixed on the door, clearly tense!
Creak—
The door opened.
However, the terrifying scene they had anticipated did not appear.
The one who opened the door was a delicate, beautiful girl.
She appeared to be only fifteen or sixteen years old.
"You're here?"
"Come in."
When the girl spoke, everyone realized that... she was actually a boy.
A very beautiful boy.
But his voice was cold and devoid of emotion.
The group watched as Ning Qiu Shui followed the boy inside, exchanging uncertain glances, unsure whether to follow.
"You'd better come in quickly..."
Just as they hesitated, the boy's voice came from inside the house again.
"That fog... is not safe."
At the mention of the fog, everyone remembered the gruesome death of the fat man and shuddered, rushing into the house in a panic.
The villa's hall was spacious, decorated in a classical style. To the left were neatly arranged bookshelves, to the right was a wooden staircase leading upstairs, and in the center were three large sofas surrounding a burning fire pit.
Inside the room, four people sat around the fire pit, staring blankly at the flames, saying nothing.
The atmosphere grew colder and colder in this silence.
"Excuse me... where is this place?"
"Why have we been brought here?"
"What's going on with the fog and the bus outside?"
"..."
Finally, after a moment of thought, Ning Qiu Shui asked these three questions.
But still, no one answered him.
In fact, the four people by the fire didn't even glance at him.
At this point, the bearded man behind Ning Qiu Shui, Liu Chengfeng, couldn't hold back any longer:
"We're talking to you!"
"Are you all mute?"
His voice was loud, echoing through the room, making everyone's ears ring.
Finally, the man in the suit sitting across from Ning Qiu Shui by the fire spoke:
"I know you have many questions..."
"If you can survive the first Blood Door, I will answer them for you."
Upon hearing this, a sense of foreboding washed over everyone.
"Blood Door? What's that?"
Ning Qiu Shui's heart stirred as he recalled the mysterious letter he had received earlier. He asked the question.
The man in the suit didn't even look up, simply pointing to the third floor of the villa.
"Your time is running out. The Blood Door will open in less than five minutes. When it does, you will enter the terrifying world behind it and complete the task written on the door."
"Once the task is completed, the bus will come to pick you up."
After he finished speaking, a short, thin woman with twin ponytails, Yan Youping, timidly asked:
"What if... we don't complete the task?"
The man in the suit slowly raised his head and met Yan Youping's gaze.
His calm yet cold eyes made her tremble.
"You will die."
"And it will be... a very gruesome death."
Hearing this, everyone felt their legs go weak.
They desperately wanted to believe this was all just a joke.
But... the serious expression on the man in the suit shattered their last shred of hope.
"Can we... not go?"
A young man with dyed blond hair swallowed hard and asked.
The man in the suit glanced at him.
"You can."
"But... you'd better never sleep again."
The blond man was stunned:
"Why... why not?"
The man in the suit gave a hollow smile:
"Because if you don't complete the task behind the Blood Door, something will come out to find you."
"No matter where you run, they will find you."
"And then..."
The man in the suit didn't continue, but everyone already knew the outcome.
Ning Qiu Shui glanced at the third floor and finally asked the man in the suit:
"Do you have any advice for us before we go in?"
The man in the suit was slightly taken aback. Then, he shifted his gaze to Ning Qiu Shui, and upon seeing his calm demeanor, a hint of admiration flickered in his eyes.
"Advice... yes."
"Although the stories behind the Blood Door are extremely dangerous, there is always more than one way to survive. If you find the right path, completing the task and staying alive... isn't too difficult."
Ning Qiu Shui nodded.
"Thank you."
After saying this, he was the first to step forward, heading upstairs.
Liu Chengfeng, the bearded man, seeing Ning Qiu Shui's decisiveness, struggled internally for a moment before gritting his teeth and following.
"Damn, kid... you've got some guts!"
Walking behind Ning Qiu Shui, Liu Chengfeng muttered under his breath.
Earlier, he had already noticed Ning Qiu Shui.
It was hard not to.
Whether it was discovering the fat man's flayed skin or smelling the overwhelming stench of blood, Ning Qiu Shui had shown little reaction.
"Guts?"
Ning Qiu Shui chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"Do you think we have a choice?"
Liu Chengfeng was tall and burly, so even though he was one step below Ning Qiu Shui, he was only slightly shorter.
"Earlier, when you saw the fat man's skin, you didn't even blink. Were you... in that line of work before?"
"What line of work?"
"A hitman."
"You've been reading too many novels. There aren't that many hitmen in real life."
"Uh... then..."
"I'm a doctor."
"Oh~ I see, a forensic doctor?"
"Close. A veterinarian."
Liu Chengfeng: "..."
As they chatted, they reached the third floor of the villa.
As soon as they arrived, their conversation stopped.
The pungent smell of blood mixed with the musty odor of rotting wood filled the air.
The third floor of the villa was empty, except for a wooden door soaked in blood...
On the door, written in crimson letters, was a line of text:
[Take care of the bedridden old man for five days.]
"Taking care of an old man... that's our task this time."
Ning Qiu Shui's eyes flickered.
The others gradually made their way upstairs and, upon seeing the bloody words on the door, were stunned.
"Is it... really that simple?"
The woman with gold earrings, Wang Yuning, found it hard to believe.
Everyone whispered among themselves, but suddenly, they all stopped, as if sensing something, and turned their gaze toward the door in unison.
Creak—
Something inside the door seemed to be pushing it open.
Soon, the door was pushed open by a pair of pale hands!
As the blood-stained door slowly opened, everyone's vision suddenly went dark, and they lost consciousness...