Chapter 15: A Door-Knocking Ghost (1/2)

Despite having expectations early on, everyone’s moods couldn’t help but dampen when they heard this dreadful new information.

After a short discussion among themselves, an hour had finally gone by and the hungry and still unsatisfied people wolfed down their compressed biscuits, drank a few sips of water, and left the room in a hurry to continue their work.

Their afternoon in the villa was quiet and uneventful. After attending to the master, the madam, and the young master, the day had finally concluded.

In the evening, Su Xiaoqian prepared the master’s bed in advance and was told that she could go rest for the night since they didn’t need her to be on night duty.

Upon hearing this command, Su Xiaoqian felt a weight off of her shoulders. Although there were no dead people today plus the villa’s owners seemed pretty happy, she still didn’t feel comfortable staying the night with the masters. In every horror movie, the first person to leave the group is most likely the first one to be in an accident. In her point of view, sticking together with the other players of the game made her feel the most reassured.

As it reached noon, she finally finished her work and hurried into the servant’s quarters without even having time to drink a glass of water to refresh herself.

There, everybody was already gathered earlier, leaving her to go back all alone.

Seeing her enter the door, An Qing greeted her with a charming smile. Su Xiaoqian was relieved that there was no one else in the room and picked up a compressed biscuit, listening to what everyone had discussed during the afternoon while eating her biscuit.

“Yes, it’s a ghost story and it wasn’t the only one in his room. When I took a small break while drinking water, I glanced around and found that the other books’ titles were far more disturbing than the one I was reading. If I guessed correctly, these books were all horror novels, and each one was a ghost story.”

After reading all afternoon, An Qing’s voice became hoarse. She took a sip of water and continued, “This story is quite long, so I won’t go into detail. I’ll probably summarize the story, so it goes like this. One day, in a certain village, there were numerous cases of missing people. Every victim disappeared during the night. After undergoing these terrible events, the two village children discovered the reason behind the mysterious deaths. There was a ghost in the village——a terrible ghost that knocks on doors!”

“Every midnight, this door-knocking ghost will select one person, knocking on this family’s door, standing quietly at the head of this person’s bed, and waking him up using various ways. Once the door-knocking ghost realizes that the person is awake, it will instantly kill this person. This was the reason behind the murders.”

“Door-knocking ghost…Why did he make you read this tale?” Bai Yan suspiciously narrowed his eyes and pondered if there was a deeper meaning to the story, “Is this the story’s ending? What happened to the two children’s fates by the end of the book?”

“Unfortunately, this was a tragedy and both children ended up dead.” An Qing sighed, “After coming back, I was thinking that this might be a hint that the game gave us. The bloodstains on the headboard indicate that there was an accident with the previous servants. Isn’t it similar to the way the door-knocking ghost in the story killed people?”

“Then… what should we do?” Yang Qi, the least courageous of all, was terror-stricken and wept loudly, “The story didn’t say how we could avoid getting killed by the door-knocking ghost?”

“As long as the door-knocking ghost thinks you are still asleep, you can save yourself. That was the suggestion from the book.” An Qing said, “Sadly, the two children were awakened by the door-knocking ghost and died at the end.”

“Interestingly, if this is all true, then the young master wasn’t as simple as we first thought.” Bai Yan touched his chin, a slight smile appearing on his lips, “In the forum, I read about some experiences of the older players regarding games that lasted several days. The most dangerous times in the game were at night. If this book really gave us a way to survive, then we may have to protect the second son that gave us the clue. Maybe he and the older son are the same, both knowing crucial information for us to use.”

“But if this kid is also an accomplice of the game, wouldn’t we die faster if the events followed the book?” After the deaths of the previous players, Lu Tianyi was skeptical of any clues they gathered, “In my opinion, I think it’s enough for us to know about this clue. If we encounter the same situation, we can’t follow it blindly. We still need to judge the actual decision and think critically.”

Seeing that everyone listened to what he said, Lu Tianyi added, “In short, according to my experience from my last few games, tonight, we will surely encounter an unforeseen event, maybe someone will be found by the ghost. No matter what happens, I hope everyone can stay calm, and only if need be, cry out for help. Only when we stay calm can we find a way out of the crisis.”

After Lu Tianyi finished speaking, several people looked anxious.

Everyone was worried sick after listening to Lu Tianyi’s story. If everyone were situated in one room, they would feel more courageous.

However, the hostess did not allow them to squeeze into one room for the next few days, and they did not dare go against the direct orders of the mistress, fearing that they would be kicked out as a consequence.

So, around eight o’clock, the boys ended up leaving the three girls’ room.

Liu Kui and Li Hao planned to continue their stroll around the garden to see if they can find any clues in the garden at night. Bai Yan and Lu Tianyi accompanied Zhu Fugui and waited by the gate for the delivery truck to arrive at eight o’clock to investigate the source of the ingredients.

…

At eight o’clock, a delivery truck was punctually parked in front of the villa.

When the delivery truck driver got off the truck and unloaded the cargo, the three stepped forward and received the new ingredients. But of course, like the ones in the freezer, the ingredients delivered were all dead cats and dogs. Furthermore, they were rotten and spoiled too. They had the kind of smell that could be detected from far away.

“Mister, why were all of the things you delivered rotten?”