Chapter 19 The Knocking

Touching his chin, Fatty stepped one foot into the doorway, turning back to Jiang Cheng, who was standing in the corridor. "Doctor, does this mean you think there's no problem with Xu Yi and Chu Jiu?"

In his previous judgment, Jiang Cheng had suspected that one, or even both of them, had been killed by a ghost and replaced.

"I don't know." After thinking for a moment, Jiang Cheng shook his head, giving an ambiguous answer. He looked at Fatty. "At least I haven't found any flaws yet."

"Their behavior is quite normal," Jiang Cheng analyzed. "If I were a ghost who had infiltrated, I would throw out some false clues to muddy the waters, and at the very least, I would try to set the pace in discussions and divert everyone's attention."

"But as you can see, they didn't. Moreover, the evidence they found was mutually corroborated by the other two groups."

"It would be difficult to hide it from all of us to achieve this," Jiang Cheng said.

"So they shouldn't be ghosts." Hearing this news, Fatty perked up considerably, his back straightening. Living in the same building as ghosts impersonating teammates put him under a lot of pressure.

Jiang Cheng shook his head. "I said, the possibility is low, but it's not impossible. And..." He looked at Fatty, his sudden change in expression making the latter subconsciously tense up.

"Fatty," Jiang Cheng lowered his voice, "if there really are ghosts mixed in, we might be in big trouble."

After saying these words, Jiang Cheng left.

After all, it was already dark, and the corridor wasn't safe. Until he closed the door, Fatty's mind was still filled with the faces of Xu Yi and Chu Jiu.

The two of them, with pale faces and sinister smiles, pounced on him, pinning him down. Thinking of this, Fatty couldn't help but shudder violently.

Back in his room, Jiang Cheng searched the entire room again, a task that took him a full half hour. But thankfully, everything was the same as when he left.

He returned to the bedroom, sat on the bed, with the phone in front of him.

The scenes from the day replayed in his mind like a movie.

He frowned unconsciously, a weak and painful woman's voice echoing in the depths of his mind, suppressed, tangled, and... a tearing distortion.

"Save me..." The ghost on the other end of the phone had said a few hours ago.

...

"Drip."

"Drip."

Lying on the bed, Xu Yi couldn't help but turn over again. The ticking of the clock on the wall was keeping her awake.

That's right.

She just couldn't fall asleep.

Subjectively, she wanted to sleep.

Unlike her cautious teammates, her understanding of nightmares and the ghosts within them was somewhat biased.

During the day, she had meticulously sorted out the descriptions of the ghosts given by those who had encountered them the night before, and she had discovered a very interesting point.

That was, the ghosts in this instance wouldn't appear silently. Before appearing, the ghosts would use some special sounds to wake people up.

For example... a knock.

Moreover, judging from the results, the three people who encountered ghosts last night were all alive and kicking, none of them had died. On the contrary, Yu Lan, who was safe and sound last night, had died first.

So... she boldly speculated that the ghosts that appeared at night were unable to kill, at least not in the room. As long as she didn't leave the room, she should be safe.

"In the end, I was still reckless." Staring at the ceiling, she sighed to herself.

This morning, at the crack of dawn, after hearing Chu Jiu's helpless cry for help, she couldn't help but open the door and rush out.

She would save whoever she could, that's what she thought, and that's what she did.

Perhaps... it was a habit ingrained by her profession.

Earlier, a teammate had advised her before she opened the door, saying that the nightmare was pitch black, an endless forest.

Here, those who held torches wouldn't live long.

Your good intentions would become a living target for others to aim at in the dark.

She was grateful for her teammate's reminder and could sense their concern, but for her, this had already become a habit etched into her bones.

If she could, she would be willing to be the one holding the torch, dispelling the darkness.

But what she didn't expect was that soon after going out, she would see that teammate who had kindly reminded her again.

The teammate said he admired her persistence, especially her ability to maintain her original intention in the nightmare, that kindness that was not eroded by the nightmare.

This was rare.

He invited her to join an organization called the Night Watchmen.

In his description, this organization was similar to the maintainers of nightmare order, somewhat similar to her work in real life.

"I watch in the dark night, hoping that more people will sing praises to the dawn." With her hands clasped in front of her, she murmured softly to the night.

With that, she patted the pillow under her head, turned over, and continued to sleep.

She wasn't used to these soft pillows filled with cotton. She preferred firmer ones, preferably buckwheat.

They made her feel at ease.

In a daze, she heard a sound, a sound that was sometimes near and sometimes far, seeming unreal, until... she suddenly opened her eyes.

She heard... a knock.

Very light.

And it disappeared the moment she heard it clearly.

But she was sure, it was definitely a knock.

At the same time, she also realized that the lights in the room had gone out without her noticing, with only a little light coming in from the window.

She immediately sat up, looking at the dim darkness around her.

The bedroom was connected to the living room, and the door was open, so she could see the living room from her position.

All the furniture was reduced to dark black outlines, as if they could move on their own at any moment.

Holding her breath, Xu Yi's brow slowly furrowed. She could feel a very strange aura around her.

Hidden in the darkness.

She didn't choose to leave the bed because she felt that thing was very close to her, so close that it felt like it could stick to her as soon as she turned around.

Her throat rolled unconsciously, and Xu Yi was frightened by her own thoughts.

Could it be... behind her?

She quickly turned around, but behind her was only the bedside table and a wall.

But strangely, the feeling of someone behind her not only didn't dissipate as she turned around to confirm, but became even more uncontrollable.

She kept repeating the action of turning around and turning around again.

But each time, there was nothing behind her.

She began to believe what Jiang Cheng had said. The ghost... had indeed come to find her. What was even more terrifying was that it was right beside her, but she couldn't see it.

Suppressing the fear in her heart, she pressed her back tightly against the bedside table, then grabbed the phone and quickly dialed a string of numbers.

After a few rings, the phone was answered.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Cheng's voice was very low, as if he knew that her situation was not good.

"It's here." Xu Yi's voice was trembling. She kept looking around, but still couldn't find the source of the strange feeling.

"I can feel it's behind me, but I can't find it."