It was close.
So very close.
Ning Qiushui almost died at the hands of that terrifying woman!
If it weren't for Liu Chengfeng rushing out with the blood-red jade at the critical moment, risking his life to help, Ning Qiushui would have surely died!
"Thank you..."
Ning Qiushui sat cross-legged on the floor, one hand resting on his knee, gasping for breath.
That was... truly a life-and-death moment!
Liu Chengfeng, while patting his trembling legs, shook his head and said:
"I should be the one thanking you, brother..."
"If it weren't for you bringing me here, I would have probably been eaten by that terrifying woman sooner or later!"
After saying this, he laughed.
It was an uncontrollable joy of having narrowly escaped death.
Liu Chengfeng laughed like a madman, lying on the floor, laughing hysterically.
After a long while, he finally calmed down.
"By the way, brother... what about the others?"
Liu Chengfeng helped the old lady sit up, making sure she was okay, and then asked Ning Qiushui.
Ning Qiushui's eyes flickered slightly.
"We absolutely cannot go out now..."
"It's too dangerous outside. We'll see if we can contact them from the third floor tomorrow. If we can't, then we've done all we can."
Ning Qiushui seemed indifferent to the deaths of strangers.
Of course, he didn't mind helping those people, especially since they had no grudge against him.
But the前提 was... he wouldn't put himself in danger.
After all, when he asked if anyone was willing to join him in exploring the truth, none of them had stepped forward.
He was the one taking the risks while others reaped the benefits. No one would be happy with that.
He wasn't some saint, spreading compassion and saving all beings.
"By the way, brother... I have another question."
After Liu Chengfeng had mostly recovered, he seemed to remember something.
"Ask."
"How... did you know the killing rules of that thing in the villa?"
At this question, Ning Qiushui fell silent in the darkness for a while.
"Because, before getting on the bus, I received an anonymous letter."
"A letter?"
"Yes, the letter contained a photo and a few lines of text."
After saying this, Ning Qiushui slowly recited the lines:
"Don't light lamps in the wind, don't light candles in the rain."
"Don't climb the stairs during the day, don't close your eyes at night."
Hearing these four lines, Liu Chengfeng's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief:
"Holy crap... it all matches!"
"Brother, you're amazing! You've got some powerful help behind you!"
"Then, what about the photo?"
Ning Qiushui glanced at him, his eyes flickering.
"Do you want to know?"
Liu Chengfeng was momentarily stunned.
"What, is it不方便?"
"If it's不方便..."
Before he could finish, Ning Qiushui reached into his black-checkered shirt and pulled out a slightly yellowed photo, holding it up for Liu Chengfeng to see.
Liu Chengfeng's pupils contracted sharply as he looked at the photo!
"No way..."
Under the moonlight, Liu Chengfeng saw that it was a photo of a person.
And the person in the photo was none other than... himself, Liu Chengfeng!
The two of them stared at each other, separated only by the thin photo, silent for a long time.
Liu Chengfeng saw his own photo but didn't see the words on the back.
Yes, on the back of this yellowed old photo, there was a line of black text:
[A friend worth knowing... but full of questions]
Liu Chengfeng reached out, wanting to take a closer look, but Ning Qiushui pulled the photo back and smiled at him:
"Surprised, aren't you?"
"I was too."
"Originally, I thought it was just a prank, or someone had sent it to the wrong person..."
"But when I woke up on that bus and saw you, I realized that things weren't as simple as I thought."
"That driverless bus, the mysterious fog, the eerie blood door... and all of us on the bus."
"All of this... there must be an unseen hand behind it, controlling everything!"
Hearing this, Liu Chengfeng let out a bitter laugh.
"Brother... to be honest, I don't think anyone in the real world could have done all this."
"You've seen what's outside."
"That's not something humans could accomplish."
Ning Qiushui fell silent.
He didn't continue to argue about this.
But that mysterious letter, up to this point, everything in it had come true.
The eerie blood door, the strange killing rules... and a friend he didn't even know, who had risked his life to save him.
This was a terrifying thing.
It was as if... someone had been watching him from the shadows all along!
The night passed without further conversation.
The two of them hadn't slept much the first night, and now, after such tension, once they relaxed, sleepiness washed over them like a tide.
It wasn't until the next morning that the villa's silence was broken by a shrill scream from the second floor.
Clearly, someone else had died.
And what made the survivors on the second floor even more terrified was not just that someone new had died overnight, but that three people had gone missing!
Among them, besides Ning Qiushui, who had been their pillar of strength, was also an important character for their mission!
After all, the blood door's task for them was to take care of the old lady in bed for five days.
Now, the old lady was gone. What were they supposed to take care of?
Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng, listening to the voices from the second floor, learned that the person who had died last night was the man named Kitajima.
He had been eaten.
"Wuwuwu..."
"Where... where did they all go..."
"Have they all been..."
"Wuwu..."
"I'm so scared! I don't want to die here..."
Yan Youping's intermittent sobs came from downstairs.
Liu Chengfeng shouted out the window, trying to get the message to the people below, but it seemed their voices were trapped on the third floor. No matter how much Liu Chengfeng shouted, no one came to help... or even heard them.
"Alright, stop shouting."
Seeing Liu Chengfeng's relentless efforts, Ning Qiushui shook his head slightly.
Liu Chengfeng felt a bit uncomfortable with Ning Qiushui's indifference.
"Brother, aren't you a doctor? There are two living people down there. Isn't it a bit too much to just abandon them like this..."
Ning Qiushui closed his eyes and said:
"Although I'm a veterinarian, there are three types of animals I don't treat."
Liu Chengfeng was stunned:
"Three types? What are they?"