In that moment, Ning Qiushui felt as if every single cell in his body had frozen solid!
Screeech—
Screeech—
The chilling sound of metal scraping rang out behind him, making his scalp almost explode with terror!
It was the sound… of knives and forks grinding against each other!
Right behind him!
And getting… closer and closer!
At the same time, the blinds at the end of the hallway were suddenly blown open!
A cold wind, thick with the stench of blood, surged in and assaulted Ning Qiushui’s nose and lungs!
Fear… spread through his entire body!
Was this…
Was he going to die?
In that instant, an indescribable terror surged over him like a tidal wave, threatening to drown him within it!
He raised his hand, instinctively reaching for the light switch!
Light… he needed light!
Only light could drive away this dreadful darkness!
But just as Ning Qiushui’s fingers were about to press the switch—
He froze.
Suddenly, a portion of that mysterious letter he had received earlier surfaced in his mind—
…
【…】
【Do not light lamps when the wind blows, do not light candles when it rains】
【Do not go upstairs by day, do not close your eyes at night】
…
—Do not light lamps when the wind blows.
Ning Qiushui gritted his teeth, forcing himself to resist the unspeakable fear in his heart.
He didn’t flip the switch!
He pulled his hand back and, step by step, walked toward the front of the hallway against the cold, blood-scented wind!
That terrifying metallic screeching felt like it was right beside his ears, needling his nerves with each sound.
As if whatever was behind him could plunge sharp knives and forks into his body at any second—and slice him to pieces!
Ning Qiushui took a deep breath, clenched his fists, ignored the terrifying noise behind him, and moved forward step by step!
He was gambling.
Gambling that he hadn’t triggered a death condition.
That whatever was behind him… couldn’t make a move!
One step…
Two steps…
At that moment, Ning Qiushui felt his adrenaline spike to the limit.
Every step was an immense test of his mental strength!
But he couldn’t run. He didn’t dare to run.
The wind was too cold—
So cold it pierced through his skin, burrowed into his muscles and marrow…
His entire body was stiff.
Fortunately… Ning Qiushui had bet correctly.
The terrifying presence behind him seemed to be blocked by something—it couldn’t harm him. And when he finally, with great difficulty, reached the door to his room and gripped the doorknob, that sharp metal scraping sound behind him suddenly vanished…
The blood-scented wind in the corridor gradually died down, and under the dim moonlight, Ning Qiushui saw that the blinds at the end of the hallway… had somehow shut tight again.
“Was it just an illusion…”
Ning Qiushui panted heavily, his eyes slightly narrowing.
The bone-chilling cold behind him slowly faded away as well, as if whatever had been following him so closely… was now gone.
His mind went blank.
He pushed the door open and entered, only then realizing that his clothes were completely soaked in sweat.
In the darkness, Liu Chengfeng’s rough voice rang out, laced with fear:
“Bro… you okay?”
Clearly, he had also heard the horrifying sound of metal scraping in the hallway just now!
Ning Qiushui shook his head.
“I’m fine.”
Liu Chengfeng stepped forward and groped for Ning Qiushui’s hand in the dark. Only after feeling the warmth of a living person did he let out a long breath, then said admiringly:
“Bro, you are seriously… badass!”
“I thought you weren’t coming back!”
“Just now, outside in the hallway, was that… was there really…?”
Ning Qiushui nodded.
“It showed up.”
Liu Chengfeng’s eyes widened in disbelief:
“It… it didn’t kill you?”
Ning Qiushui was silent for a moment, then said:
“It can’t just kill us whenever it wants.”
“It can only make a move after we trigger a ‘death condition.’”
Liu Chengfeng thought back to everything that had happened so far, and his heart was flooded with waves of emotion.
“So… you know what the death conditions are?”
Ning Qiushui replied in a low voice:
“I know some of them.”
“I already told you earlier.”
“But those aren’t all of them. How many there really are… only it knows.”
“What we need to do now… is uncover the truth as quickly as possible.”
Liu Chengfeng’s breathing grew rapid.
“But even if we know the truth, that might not help us survive, right?”
Ning Qiushui was quiet for a moment.
“The truth… should come with a way to fight back.”
“Do you remember what the man in the suit told us before?”
“In the world beyond the Blood Gate, there’s more than one way to survive. It might seem incredibly dangerous, but it’s not completely hopeless.”
“Besides, that woman in the red dress warned us not to go to the third floor of the villa—there must be something very important up there!”
Liu Chengfeng’s expression shifted, and finally, he gritted his teeth and said:
“Alright!”
“Brother, just say the word, and I’ll go with you!”
“If worst comes to worst, we die together—at least I won’t be alone!”
Ning Qiushui replied:
“Let’s wait a bit longer.”
The two of them waited in the room for quite some time.
Until the latter half of the night, when that nerve-wracking metal scraping sound suddenly echoed through the hallway again!
They both knew—that was the sound of knife and fork scraping together!
That thing from the third floor… had come down to hunt again!
Even though he was mentally prepared, Liu Chengfeng still clearly felt every hair on his body stand on end, his limbs trembling uncontrollably!
This time… who will it be?
Scriiitch—
Scriiitch—
Scriiitch—
As the scraping sound drew closer and closer, Liu Chengfeng’s heartbeat grew faster and faster.
He glanced at Ning Qiushui sitting beside him… and was stunned to see the man casually sipping tea.
Liu Chengfeng was speechless.
Then once again, he couldn’t help but admire Ning Qiushui’s nerves of steel.
“Brother… drinking tea so calmly in a moment like this… you’re seriously the first person I’ve ever seen who can do that!”
He kept his voice low.
Ning Qiushui set down his teacup.
“I’m nervous too.”
“But different people react to stress in different ways.”
“When I get nervous, I like to eat or drink something.”
Though he said that, his voice was steady—there was barely a trace of fear in it.
Outside the door,
That terrifying sound once again paused right in front of them.
The sound of metal scraping rang out again and again, like a starving ghost standing at their door, drooling and craving the flesh inside…
Liu Chengfeng felt pathetic, but his palms were soaked in sweat.
He was really scared.
Afraid that terrifying thing outside would suddenly burst in…
But thankfully, the thing he imagined didn’t happen.
The ghostly presence lingered at their door for a while, then—seemingly realizing it couldn’t harm them—turned its attention to another room.
This time…
It played out exactly like the night before.
The sound… disappeared outside the neighboring door.
About five minutes passed. Still, with his ear against the door, Ning Qiushui heard nothing more. He slowly pushed the door open, just a crack.
After observing for a moment, he widened the gap slightly and poked his head out, scanning the dead silent hallway cloaked in darkness.
Aside from the blinds at the end that had been thrown open, and the cold wind howling through, there was nothing.
“This is it—move!”
Ning Qiushui waved to Liu Chengfeng, and the two of them tiptoed out the door, cautiously creeping through the darkness toward the stairwell…
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