Chapter 16 Various Assumptions

Various assumptions popped into his mind, but they conflicted with each other. Jiang Cheng carefully examined the rest of the room, then took the pillows and blankets from the bed and spread them on the floor, as far away as possible from the strange-looking iron chair.

He was also worried that he might fall asleep and find someone sitting in the chair.

He sat on the makeshift bed and rechecked that the doors and windows were closed. Then, he turned on all the lights and lit two more candles, feeling slightly more at ease.

Even so, he knew that tonight would not be peaceful.

Jiang Cheng wasn't the only one being cautious. After making similar preparations, Mu Wanming lay in bed, her hands and feet tucked into the blanket, her eyes darting around. Combined with the howling wind outside, it was definitely a horror movie scene.

All the lights in the room were on, and she had lit every candle she could find, arranging them in a circle around the bed. If Jiang Cheng were here, he would happily point out that the arrangement looked familiar, like the mourning hall set up when his grandmother passed away.

As time passed, Mu Wanming slowly closed her eyes.

She didn't know how long had passed when Mu Wanming suddenly woke up with a start. She discovered that the lights in the room had inexplicably gone out, and the candles she had placed nearby were also extinguished, plunging the entire room into darkness.

But it wasn't completely black. A faint light shone through the windows, and everything around her seemed to be shrouded in a gray mist. Further away, things were shadowy and indistinct, as if hiding something.

Mu Wanming didn't see anything, but she had a feeling that the surroundings were different from when she had fallen asleep. She didn't dare make any big movements, as if afraid of being discovered awake by something.

She slowly, slowly curled up her body, then pressed the corners of the blanket tightly against herself from the inside. This not-very-thick blanket was her only sense of security now, like an impregnable defense.

Mu Wanming held her breath, her gaze subconsciously sweeping around. She roughly remembered the placement of all the furniture in the room, but now, in the dim environment, only some blurry, dark black outlines remained.

When her gaze swept past the area near the table, Mu Wanming's eyes suddenly froze. A dark shadow had appeared behind the chair at some point.

But there was only a chair there, wasn't there? Mu Wanming remembered that there was definitely nothing else in that area!

Her heart pounded fiercely, and waves of icy coldness stimulated her body. Cold sweat broke out, and she trembled as she reached for her phone. She couldn't worry about anything else at this moment. She needed light; she was suffocating!

But before she could find her phone, she suddenly realized that the dark shadow that had been near the table was actually moving, swaying unsteadily. If she listened carefully, she could even hear a faint rustling sound.

It was moving in her direction!

In the dim light, she finally saw clearly that it wasn't a dark shadow at all, but a person facing away from her, walking towards her on tiptoes!

Fortunately, at the last moment, Mu Wanming found her phone and turned on the flashlight as quickly as possible, shining it towards the dark figure.

The next second, as the light appeared, a bizarre scene unfolded. Her bed was empty, and there was no sign of anyone. Everything before seemed like an illusion.

Mu Wanming stood up, her back against the wall, gasping for breath.

She kept shining her phone around. The scene just now had been so real, as if if she had been even half a beat slower, she would already be a corpse.

After a long time, Mu Wanming finally calmed down a little. She got out of bed, intending to turn on the extinguished lights and candles. In this kind of environment, the fear caused by darkness was unimaginable.

But as she got out of bed, before she could take her first step, her movements suddenly froze. An inexplicable palpitation pierced her like lightning. She clutched her heart and used the flashlight to shine around again.

Nothing near the table.

Nothing behind the door.

Everything normal in the corners.

The closet...

The next second, Mu Wanming's hand began to tremble, and the light from her phone shook along with it.

Nothing near the closet either.

Of course not, because through the mirror embedded in the closet door, she saw a figure standing on the bed behind her, staring down at her from above.

So... it was behind her.

"Ah! Aaaah...!"

A piercing scream echoed throughout the second floor, waking everyone who had been sleeping. Suspecting a trick, Jiang Cheng waited a while, until he heard other people's voices and footsteps outside, before slowly walking to the door and opening it a crack.

"Jiang-ge." The door diagonally opposite also opened a slightly larger crack, and Huai Yi showed half his face, clearly sharing the same concerns as Jiang Cheng.

When everyone arrived, Mu Wanming was curled up in bed, looking extremely frightened, as if her soul had left her body. She just shook her head when asked anything, her makeup smeared from crying.

The lights in the room were all on, and the candles placed around the bed emitted a reassuring glow.

"Wanming." Jiang Zhao sat beside her, softly comforting her, "Shifu (master) is here. Don't be afraid. You are safe now. Shifu and everyone will protect you."

Mu Wanming had no obvious injuries, and most of her body was curled up in the blanket, giving the impression that she had been sleeping just a moment ago.

"I... I had a Nightmare Assault," Mu Wanming raised her head, her eyes red, her lips trembling as she said, "A very scary, very scary dream. I dreamed that a strange person appeared in my room, walking on tiptoes, facing away from me, and then approaching me in a very strange posture. Then he suddenly disappeared. I only saw from the reflection in the mirror that that person was actually standing on my bed, close to my back, just... just staring down at me from above!"

Everyone imagined the scene, and it had to be said that it was indeed quite frightening, but in the end, it was just a dream. Judging from Mu Wanming's current state, there was nothing seriously wrong with her.

"Nightmare..." Bai Xiaojie seemed a little impatient and asked, "You just had a Nightmare Assault; did nothing else happen?"

Perhaps because there were so many people around, Mu Wanming was now a little calmer. "No, nothing else," she shook her head and said, but as if unwilling to give up, she continued to emphasize, "This dream was particularly real; it was really scary! Otherwise, I wouldn't have been frightened awake."

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Cheng interjected, "What happened at the end of the dream?"

"That person grabbed my neck and dragged me under the bed. His hand was very big, and his fingertips were like daggers!" Mu Wanming still felt lingering fear as she recalled the scene. She had woken up screaming.

"This bed?" Jiang Cheng pointed with his finger.

"Y-yes."

"Give me a hand." Jiang Cheng turned to look at Fatty Huai Yi and the others. "Move the bed."