This sudden, blood-curdling scream shattered the dead silence of the villa.
Everyone immediately looked toward the second floor.
“What happened?”
“I… I don’t know!”
“Let’s go check it out!”
They rushed upstairs to the source of the scream—it was the room where the paralyzed elderly woman was staying.
There, Wang Yuning, who had earlier gone up with a bowl of food, was now collapsed on the floor in the corner, hugging her knees and trembling violently!
The steaming hot food had spilled all over the floor.
“What happened?” Ning Qiushui asked.
Wang Yuning, in front of everyone, slowly raised a trembling finger and pointed at the elderly woman lying in bed. Her voice was shaky:
“She… she… just now… she spoke!”
Following the direction of her finger, everyone looked toward the elderly woman, who lay motionless in bed, staring blankly out the window.
Liu Chengfeng scoffed.
“That’s it? Didn’t the lady of the house say her mother was only paralyzed?”
“Paralyzed doesn’t mean she’s in a vegetative state—why can’t she talk?”
“I thought you were something special.”
“And a paralyzed old woman scared you this much?”
Having finally seized a chance to retaliate, Liu Chengfeng went off like a machine gun, firing off jabs one after another.
But Wang Yuning, huddled in the corner, looked truly terrified—shaking and unable to respond.
Ning Qiushui glanced at the old woman in the bed, then motioned for Liu Chengfeng to help clean up the mess. He reached down and gently pulled Wang Yuning to her feet.
“She spilled it herself and now I have to clean it up… seriously…” Liu Chengfeng muttered, but surprisingly followed instructions without resistance. He quickly fetched a towel from the bathroom and began wiping the floor.
The scene felt oddly out of place.
Despite his gruff, unruly appearance, Liu Chengfeng listened to Ning Qiushui like an obedient underling.
No one commented on it, though.
After the room was tidied up, Ning Qiushui approached the old woman’s bedside, studied her kindly face, tucked the blanket around her, and left the room with the others.
Back on the first floor, the sky outside had turned completely dark.
Pale indoor lights lit the living room, but for some reason, everyone still felt like they were surrounded by darkness.
The silence in the villa was suffocating.
“Alright, Wang Yuning. You can tell us now—what exactly did the old woman say to you upstairs?” Ning Qiushui sat on the sofa opposite her and poured himself a cup of hot tea.
As soon as the incident was mentioned, Wang Yuning’s face, which had just begun to regain color, turned deathly pale again.
She gripped the edge of her shirt tightly with her fingers.
“Just now… I was feeding her, right?”
“She took one bite of the beef tenderloin and… and immediately spit it out!”
Liu Chengfeng’s eyes widened.
“What the hell—she spit it out?”
“You saying my cooking tastes like crap?”
Ning Qiushui frowned.
“Liu Chengfeng, let her finish.”
Grumbling under his breath, Liu Chengfeng quieted down.
Wang Yuning’s eyes were filled with fear, and her expression showed deep reluctance, like she really didn’t want to recall the moment:
“…I thought maybe it was too hot, so I tasted it myself. But the food wasn’t hot. So I tried feeding her a second bite… and again, she spat it out.”
“And then… she turned her head, looked straight at me, and said… said…”
She couldn’t get a full sentence out for a long moment. Xue Guize, his brows so furrowed they could crush a mosquito, snapped impatiently:
“What did she say? Spit it out already!”
Under his urging, Wang Yuning finally gathered her courage and gritted her teeth:
“Her voice was really soft—I didn’t catch it clearly—but it sounded like… ‘The meat has… the meat has no flavor.’”
“Yes… I think she said the meat has no flavor!”
As soon as she finished, a terrifying bolt of lightning lit up the window, followed by a deafening clap of thunder!
Everyone jumped in shock.
“Damn, that thunder…”
Ning Qiushui walked to the window and pulled it open.
Cold wind and misty rain blew in.
“It’s raining… a heavy storm, strong winds…”
He shut the window again, his expression growing more serious.
“It’s all coming true now…”
“So that letter… wasn’t a prank after all?”
Unlike the others, Ning Qiushui had received a mysterious letter before getting on the bus.
He had never mentioned it to anyone.
As everyone whispered and speculated about the tasteless meat, Ning Qiushui silently shut the window tight, not letting even a single breeze through.
“Alright, if she doesn’t want to eat, so be it. It’s getting late—let’s rest up.”
“We’ll get up early tomorrow and make her some meat porridge.”
“Have you picked your rooms yet?”
The group that had just been discussing suddenly fell into silence.
“Are we… really going to sleep in separate rooms, one person per room?”
This time, it was Yamo—usually the quiet one—who spoke, her expression timid, clearly still shaken by what had happened earlier.
Xue Guize replied:
“We had a quick look at the rooms before. They’re big, each has a double bed, and they’re very clean. Two people per room works perfectly.”
Yan Youping, whose eyes were still slightly swollen, grew anxious upon hearing that they’d be sharing rooms.
“But… but there are three girls!”
Xue Guize sighed:
“The rooms are spacious, and you girls are all relatively petite. Squeezing in together should be fine.”
The three girls exchanged glances but didn’t say anything.
No one liked the idea of sharing a bed with strangers.
But deep down, they already knew—this villa was not safe.
It felt like something was hiding in the shadows… silently watching them.
After the lights were turned off, they all made their way to the second floor.
After a brief discussion, Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng were the first to enter a room together.
The three girls took the room at the very end of the right corridor on the second floor—farthest away from the elderly woman they had to care for.
The two remaining guys took the room next to Ning Qiushui’s.
No one said it out loud, but there was a sense of safety around Ning Qiushui—being near him made people feel calmer.
The last person to head to her room was Wang Yuning.
Still distracted by the earlier events, she remained in the hallway while the others had already entered their rooms.
In that moment, she was the only one left standing in the corridor.
The light switch was at the top of the stairs—just one switch for the whole hallway. But her room was all the way at the end—at least twenty meters away.
If she turned off the light, it meant she’d have to walk the entire corridor in pitch black.
Her eyes fell on the open blinds at the far end of the hallway.
Outside, the trees twisted like monsters, deformed and menacing, swaying in the cold wind as if ready to lunge in and devour her!
She shivered involuntarily and gave up on turning off the lights. She quickly dashed into the room at the end, slamming and locking the door behind her with all her strength.
Bang!
…
Inside their room, Ning Qiushui took off his shirt, revealing a muscular, chiseled physique packed with explosive strength.
Liu Chengfeng, who was brushing his teeth, gave a surprised glance.
When Ning Qiushui wore clothes, you’d never guess he was such a beast under the surface!
“Brother Ning… wow, didn’t expect that! You’ve been hiding this bod pretty well!”
“Those abs, those lines… if you hit a nightclub, the rich ladies would be fighting over you!”
Liu Chengfeng grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at him.
Ning Qiushui rolled his eyes.
“So that’s why you keep sticking to me?”
Liu Chengfeng spat out the toothpaste foam and straightened his face.
“…You’re sharp, bro. But I can’t tell you just yet. When we make it out of the Blood Gate alive… I’ll tell you everything.”
Hearing this, Ning Qiushui was momentarily stunned, then smiled.
“Mysterious, huh?”
Liu Chengfeng shook his head and changed the topic.
“Anyway, bro… don’t you think something’s off about that old lady?”
Ning Qiushui was quiet for a moment.
“It’s not just the old lady. That whole family—and even this entire villa complex—something’s wrong with all of it.”
Liu Chengfeng froze.
“The villa complex too?”
Ning Qiushui explained:
“The lady of the house claimed they were the only ones living in this area. But I passed by several villas on the way here, and they all showed signs of recent occupancy—within the last month or two. I saw at least eight houses like that, and there are definitely more I didn’t check…”
“This proves that people were living here until very recently.”
Liu Chengfeng felt cold sweat forming on his back.
If Ning Qiushui’s observations were correct… then where did those people go?
Ning Qiushui paced over to the window, his expression serious, hands in his pockets.
“Besides, no one would buy such a large garden villa just to live alone. People who move in usually have family or friends. Even if someone was away for work, the house wouldn’t be completely empty…”
“But right now, it seems like… we’re the only ones left in this entire area.”
He pointed.
Following his finger, Liu Chengfeng looked out the window—and was shocked to see that all of the dozen or so houses in view were completely dark.
Not a single light was on.
“This…”
“What the hell is going on?!”
His face turned pale.
Ning Qiushui said slowly:
“Something happened here.”
“Something… very terrifying.”
He double-checked the window, ensuring it was locked tight—no air could get in. Only then did he draw the curtains and return to bed.
Without the wind, the two of them suddenly noticed a strange smell.
“What’s that smell?” Liu Chengfeng asked.
That smell wasn’t strong, but it lingered persistently in the air, like… something rotting and moldy.
The two of them remembered what Xue Guize had mentioned earlier. After some searching, they finally pinpointed the source of the odor—
Right above them.
The wooden ceiling above was damp and sticky, as if some kind of liquid was seeping through.
The liquid was a murky yellow-brown color and smelled awful.
“…Shit.”
Liu Chengfeng felt nauseated and hurriedly pushed the bed farther away.
“What is that stuff?”
Ning Qiushui stood beneath it, squinting up at the damp patch on the ceiling. After a long silence, he finally said:
“Big Beard, do you trust me?”
Liu Chengfeng wasn’t sure what Ning Qiushui meant by that, but he still nodded.
“I trust you.”
Ning Qiushui spoke slowly:
“Tonight, don’t fall asleep. Don’t turn on the lights. No matter what you hear… don’t react.”
Liu Chengfeng froze.
“Bro… you mean… something’s going to happen tonight?”
Ning Qiushui was silent for a long moment, then gave the slightest nod.
He turned off the light. The room was instantly plunged into a deep, suffocating darkness.
Liu Chengfeng lay in bed, his mind a chaotic mess.
He tried to stay awake, but as time passed, sleepiness crept in, spreading through his body until he could barely resist…
He didn’t know how long had passed when a strange sound suddenly woke him up.
It was coming from outside the room.
A sound like… two sharp metal objects scraping against each other.
Screeee—
Screeee—
As that bone-chilling sound echoed through the corridor, the first thing that popped into Liu Chengfeng’s mind was—cutlery.
He cooked often and was extremely familiar with the sound of knives and forks clashing.
Liu Chengfeng bolted upright, reaching to turn on the light, but Ning Qiushui’s warning echoed in his mind. He paused… and lowered his hand.
“Brother Ning… are you awake?”
He whispered quietly. From beside him came a soft shhh sound.
“Don’t speak.”
Ning Qiushui’s voice was also low—barely audible—and carried a faint tremble.
He was clearly nervous too.
The door to their room wasn’t tightly sealed. There was a gap underneath, and light from the hallway filtered in.
As that chilling sound passed right by their door, a shadowy figure flickered across the gap—
That terrifying screeching noise made Liu Chengfeng feel like his heart had leapt into his throat.
The thing outside… had stopped right at their door!
Liu Chengfeng clenched his fists tightly, holding his breath.
What the hell was that thing outside?
If it came in… what would happen?
His mind went completely blank—unable to think, frozen with fear.
It felt like either several minutes or just a few seconds, but finally, the terrifying shadow outside began to move again, heading deeper into the corridor…
The grating, ear-piercing sound returned—
Screeee—
Screeee—
It felt like… an executioner roaming the hallways, searching for its next victim to torture…
It stopped again at the second door… paused… then moved to the very last room at the end of the hall. There, it paused again.
And then—
Silence.
Ning Qiushui suddenly sat up in bed and crept over to the door, pressing his ear to the gap.
He listened for a long time.
There was no sound outside anymore.
It was as if… that shadow had just vanished into thin air.
He remained there, listening for ten full minutes. Only when he was certain there were no more sounds did he finally return to bed.
“Bro… what was that thing?” Liu Chengfeng asked in a low whisper.
Ning Qiushui shook his head.
“I don’t know… but it definitely wasn’t human.”
“It made no sound when it walked.”
Hearing that, cold sweat instantly formed on Liu Chengfeng’s forehead.
No way…
In this villa…
Could there really be something unclean?
Rate and review this novel on NU to help people find this novel. Bonus chapters on reaching milestones. Happy reading!