Just thinking about some unseen filthy thing in the room watching him from the shadows made Ning Qiushui’s skin crawl.
He quietly left the room and stepped into the hallway.
But what he saw next made his hair stand on end…
The red glow from the blood jade in his palm didn’t fade—on the contrary, it grew even brighter!
“Shit!”
Ning Qiushui couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
He waved the blood jade around, his unease growing heavier with each passing second.
Because he quickly realized—so long as he was inside the guesthouse, the blood jade continued to glow!
Could it be… the entire guesthouse is tainted?
He hesitated for a moment, then quickly found Bai Xiaoxiao and Liu Chengfeng, called them into his room, and shut the door.
Then Ning Qiushui took out the blood jade and placed it in front of them.
“Hey, isn’t that the one from the last instance—wait, shit! Why is it glowing?!”
Liu Chengfeng’s face first showed surprise, then turned to horror.
He instantly remembered the female ghost from the first blood door and started scanning every corner of the room.
But he didn’t see anything frightening.
“Don’t bother looking…”
Ning Qiushui shook his head, his expression growing serious.
“As long as we’re inside the guesthouse, this blood jade keeps glowing.”
He then explained the origin and function of the jade in detail to Bai Xiaoxiao.
After listening, her brows furrowed tightly.
She parted her lips and said,
“This guesthouse definitely has something wrong with it.”
After that, Bai Xiaoxiao glanced around the room carefully, her gaze settling on the wooden bed.
The bed had been thoroughly cleaned—it was neat, even the small corners of the headboard were spotless. But…
She extended a slender finger, gently running it across the floor under the bed. When she lifted her hand, her fingertip was covered in a thick layer of dust—and a strand of hair.
“See that?”
The two nodded. Ning Qiushui looked thoughtful, but Liu Chengfeng was still confused.
“It’s just that no one cleaned under the bed, right?”
“Totally normal…”
Ning Qiushui said:
“That’s not the point. It’s the dust—it’s way too thick.”
“Like this room hasn’t been used in a really long time… and was suddenly cleaned up just for us.”
Liu Chengfeng paused.
“Exactly.”
Bai Xiaoxiao gave Ning Qiushui a glance of appreciation.
She’d worked with many newcomers.
Very few were as sharp and observant as Ning Qiushui.
In fact, most rookies weren’t even as good as Liu Chengfeng. When trouble hit, they’d just scream and beg for help.
“…Wait, that doesn’t make sense. This place is the village’s official guesthouse run by the tourism agency. That NPC named Hou Kong said the village cares a lot about tourism. How could it possibly have gone unused for so long?”
Liu Chengfeng suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Ning Qiushui followed up:
“You’re right—unless…”
As he spoke, his expression shifted slightly. He looked up, just in time to meet Bai Xiaoxiao’s gaze.
Her face was equally serious. She gave him the faintest of nods, as if she already knew what he was thinking.
“Unless what?”
Liu Chengfeng was getting anxious. He leaned in and practically shoved his face forward to ask.
Ning Qiushui shook his head.
“…We can’t be certain just yet. I’ll tell you later.”
Bai Xiaoxiao glanced at the time.
“There’s not much left of the day, and we don’t know exactly when night falls here in the village. So after dinner, let’s just rest early.”
“We’ll explore more tomorrow morning.”
Liu Chengfeng raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve got all evening and we’re not going to check things out?”
He thought back to the last blood door—where the female ghost had warned them never to go to the third floor, but the way out had been hidden there.
This time, that NPC Hou Kong also warned them not to go out at night. Maybe…
Bai Xiaoxiao gave him a look and said flatly:
“The worlds behind the blood doors are almost always extremely dangerous at night.”
“Think about your last instance—didn’t the ghost only come out at night to kill?”
“If we don’t have a clear clue or reason that requires taking the risk, I don’t recommend moving around at night.”
“Of course, if you think you’re the chosen one or something, then feel free to ignore me.”
Liu Chengfeng immediately deflated.
The three of them had dinner and then went back to their rooms to rest.
As it turned out, Bai Xiaoxiao’s experience was spot on.
Because at around 7 PM, the sky over the Village darkened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
From bright sunshine to pitch black—it took less than ten minutes!
Even the closest sightseeing spot couldn’t be reached and returned from in that short a time!
Which meant… anyone still out looking for survival clues had to make their way back in complete darkness!
“It’s not midnight yet… we should still be okay, right?”
That was what Ning Qiushui told himself.
The moonlight was bright and clear. Even though night had fallen outside, the dirt-paved road was still visible.
The blood jade was glowing faintly, resting on the bed.
Ning Qiushui lay down and closed his eyes, quietly resting.
Around the latter half of the night, he suddenly woke up.
He had been startled awake.
Ning Qiushui heard something… it sounded like there was movement in the room.
In an instant, he was wide awake.
Holding his breath, he listened carefully. It felt like something was crawling across the floor of his room!
Creak—
Creak—
That thing seemed to have claws, making a nerve-wracking scraping sound as it moved along the floor!
Ning Qiushui froze completely.
He was almost certain—that thing… absolutely wasn’t human!
In his palm, the blood jade grew hotter and hotter.
“What… is under there?”
A strong smell hit his nose—the same scorched odor he had noticed during the day!
Ning Qiushui really wanted to turn his head and see what was under the bed… but his instincts screamed at him not to move.
One wrong move… could mean the difference between life and death!
Grrrrrk—
The horrifying thing under the bed let out a guttural, ugly sound. As it crawled around, it suddenly seemed to notice Ning Qiushui—and started crawling toward his side of the bed!
The sound of claws scraping against the ground grew more terrifying by the second. Cold sweat broke out all over Ning Qiushui’s body. That scorched, nauseating smell had completely filled the room. If he weren’t holding it in with all his strength, he would’ve burst out coughing!
But he knew—he absolutely could not cough!
Though he hadn’t seen the ghost crawling under the bed, Ning Qiushui had a gut feeling—it couldn’t see him, and it didn’t know he was right there on the bed.
Under immense psychological pressure, he didn’t make a single sound.
Sure enough, due to some unknown limitation, the ghost under the bed couldn’t climb up. After crawling around a while and failing to find what it was looking for… it crawled back out the door.
Before leaving, it even closed the door behind it.
“…Polite little ghost,” Ning Qiushui mocked inwardly.
But only he knew just how close to death he had been.
He guessed that if he’d made any loud movement—or made eye contact with that ghost—it might have dragged him away… or killed him on the spot!
Once the scorched-smelling ghost left, the burning odor in the room faded significantly.
The blood jade in Ning Qiushui’s hand also cooled down, no longer scorching hot.
Just as he was about to go back to sleep, a man’s agonized, soul-wrenching scream suddenly echoed from outside the window!
That scream pierced through the night, chilling Ning Qiushui to the bone—and instantly erased all thoughts of sleep from his mind.
Rate and review this novel on NU to help people find this novel. Bonus chapters on reaching milestones. Happy reading!