Chapter 1 Pei Qian's Death

Pei Qian opened his eyes wide in terror. He suddenly realized that with his strength, he couldn't break free from Zhou Rong. The latter's arm was like an iron clamp.

He immediately thought of Jiang Cheng, who had left on the pretext of finding clues, and a look of undisguised fear appeared in his eyes.

"Zhou... Mr. Zhou," he said almost pleadingly, his body trembling uncontrollably, "how about we go find Mr. Yin together? He should be outside and has already discovered some clues."

Zhou Rong was now standing in a corner of the room, which was unusually dark. Beside him was an unusually large water tank.

The surface of the water tank was extremely rough, and a black iron pot was placed upside down on top of it.

"No hurry," Zhou Rong said, "it's not too late to find Mr. Yin after you've seen the clues I found."

As he spoke, his voice was mixed with the sound of wind, as if there was an old bellows in his lungs, or as if his throat had been cut and there was a hole.

Zhou Rong lifted the heavy-looking iron pot with one hand. Pei Qian, who was caught in a bind, summoned up his courage and looked inside. It was dark and filled with a liquid that looked like water, reflecting faint light from time to time.

Just as he frowned and his lips tightened unconsciously, a series of small bubbles suddenly appeared in the water tank.

Immediately afterward, a pale white human face emerged from the dark water.

The eyes were wide open, the eye sockets almost cracking, and the mouth was wide open in terror. From the expression, it could be seen that the person was terrified before death. He should have been drowned, or perhaps scared to death.

But none of this mattered to Pei Qian anymore, because... this face was Zhou Rong's face.

And Zhou Rong was standing right in front of him at this moment.

Just as he couldn't help but open his mouth to shout, a flash of cold light flashed before his eyes.

The next second, his world turned upside down.

In the last moment, he saw a distorted figure, and in the figure's hand, a huge knife was clenched.

...

After leaving the kitchen, Jiang Cheng immediately tiptoed and went straight to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and gently tried it. He felt a click, and the door was locked.

He immediately gave up the idea of leaving through the door, glanced back at the dark stairs, and then turned and walked quickly towards the stairs without hesitation.

As he carefully chose where to step, cautiously ascending the wooden stairs, he suddenly heard a heavy object falling to the ground in the kitchen behind him.

"Bang!"

"Glug glug..."

The object that fell to the ground seemed to be quite round. After falling to the ground, it rolled around twice before stopping when it hit something.

Jiang Cheng immediately quickened his pace.

The windows and doors on the first floor were sealed by some force. He wanted to try his luck on the second floor.

After all, there would be no inevitable death in a nightmare. If he still couldn't get out on the second floor, then he planned to set a fire and see if he could create an opportunity to escape.

After all, he had already discovered the problem with Zhou Rong.

His posture when moving was very strange, and the strangest thing was the footprints he left when he retreated.

The footprints only showed a little bit of the toes.

It was as if he was always walking on tiptoes.

This was obviously not right.

The layout of the second floor was completely different from that of the first floor. The entire second floor was a large room without any partitions, offering a wide and unobstructed view.

Moreover, due to the lighting, the view was much better than on the first floor.

A bright window was about 10 meters away from Jiang Cheng. All he needed was a running start to rush over.

But Jiang Cheng still turned around to observe his surroundings first.

Although the second floor wasn't high, there shouldn't be any danger normally.

But this was a nightmare, and no one knew if something would suddenly appear and push him after he jumped.

Or maybe a broken tree would suddenly appear below, impaling him like Jiang Zhongyi and hanging him on the tree in a miserable state.

His gaze slowly swept around. The layout of the second floor was relatively simple. It seemed that it had been used as a study in the past.

Against the wall were a wooden screen, an old-fashioned armchair, and a very formal desk.

On the desk were a brush holder, an inkstone, a paperweight, and tools for calligraphy and painting.

Several brushes of varying thickness hung on the exquisitely crafted brush holder.

A dusty rocking chair was placed in the corner.

Several strangely shaped stones were thrown beside the stairs, looking somewhat out of place.

His gaze rarely lingered on these things until he saw a rather large wardrobe.

The shape of the wardrobe was somewhat similar to modern wardrobes, but the workmanship and materials were obviously more solid.

This wardrobe could be said to be the most modern-looking thing in this building.

But at the same time, this wardrobe was very uncomfortable to look at.

Because the surface of the wardrobe... was covered with dense scratches.

The scratches were of varying lengths, but without exception, they were all very deep.

The moment he saw the scratches, a desperate scene suddenly appeared in Jiang Cheng's mind.

"Creak—"

The sound of a door being pulled open suddenly came from downstairs.

The current environment couldn't be called silent, and the sound of a door being pulled open downstairs shouldn't have been so clear when it reached Jiang Cheng's ears.

Everything was too deliberate, as if it was done on purpose.

Without a doubt, it was the ghost.

The kitchen door was opened.

Then there was a slow but long rubbing sound. Jiang Cheng's heartbeat fluctuated, and he could even imagine the scene of the ghost's limp, boneless body wriggling on the ground.

It seemed that Pei Qian had completely cooled down and hadn't held the ghost back for long.

"Pa!"

The ghost had already stepped on the stairs and was coming straight to his location.

Now there were only two paths to choose from.

One was to rush to the window and jump out.

The other was to immediately hide in the wardrobe, hold his breath, and not make a sound, leaving his life to fate.

Normal people would undoubtedly choose the first one. After all, jumping out of the window meant leaving the building, and the ghost probably wouldn't chase after him in the scorching sun.

Moreover, the wardrobe covered with scratches made people feel uncomfortable, and something terrifying must have happened there.

The worst possibility was that there were actually two ghosts in this building, and the other one... was hiding in the wardrobe.

The moment someone opened the wardrobe, they would trigger a sure-kill easter egg in the mission.

Time was running out. The sound of the ghost's footsteps had already appeared at the corner of the stairs, accompanied by a sharp rubbing sound.

It sounded like a sharp knife was slowly scraping along the rough mud wall.

It was that ghost!

She was dragging her broken body, holding the huge knife in her hand, the blade pressed tightly against the wall, slowly walking towards him.

Like an experienced old hunter toying with a desperate prey in a trap.