60: Chapter 60: The Festival of Sacrifice (Part 5)

At this time, the crowd, who were only concerned with their excitement, didn't notice Old Madam Zhou's eerie gaze behind them.

"Hehehe, I hope you enjoy your meal tonight."

With the eerie laughter, that hunched figure gradually disappeared into the night, along with the Tour Guide, who had disappeared once again.

Pushing the door open, the whole group went inside. With a heavy "bang," the door slammed shut, startling everyone.

"Who was last? Why did you close the door so loudly!" Zhang Yan scolded coldly.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one answered.

"It's almost midnight, don't argue anymore. We should find a room to rest first." Seeing the Boss had spoken, Zhang Yan didn't continue, and the group began to choose rooms.

Those rooms were easy to distinguish; candles were burning on the walls to the left and right of every doorway.

From the outside, it looked like a three-story building, but inside there were only two floors, with staircases on both sides leading upstairs.

Walking up the stairs, it made a "creak, creak" sound.

Zhang Yan patrolled the first and second floors and shook her head at the Boss, "Found nothing."

The Boss nodded, "The Yin energy here seems very heavy. It's better to be careful. As per the old rules, men and women will stay in separate rooms. If anything happens, we can look out for each other."

"We'll stay on the first floor; it'll be more convenient if anything happens." The one called Boss was indeed the leader, making a decision quickly.

The group of men and women in trench coats quickly chose to stay on the first floor, while the group of young people were still carefully picking on the second floor.

Jiang Meimei had been following Song Hao closely. Ever since the incident in the Dense Forest, she was afraid of everything and suspicious of shadows.

While they were looking at the rooms, Jiang Meimei stared blankly at the candlelit wall.

With a "swish," something flashed past, and a dark shadow settled on the wall, motionless.

Jiang Meimei didn't care, thinking it was just someone else standing beside her.

"Hehe~"

Hearing this sound, Jiang Meimei was stunned. Suddenly, this voice overlapped with the voice from the Dense Forest, and her face turned pale.

"Song, Song Hao!"

"Song Hao!"

No matter how she called, there was no response. Jiang Meimei stared at the dark shadow on the wall and gritted her teeth; it must be an illusion, she was just too scared.

"Who exactly is playing tricks?"

"Hehe~"

"Smells so good."

"Ah!!!"

"Shh, I told you you were being noisy. Why are you still screaming?"

"Ahhh! There's a ghost! Help, help!" Jiang Meimei was so scared that she covered her ears and closed her eyes, running wildly down the hallway.

"Jie jie jie... I'm about to catch you~"

The candlelight in the hallway suddenly went out, plunging the corridor into darkness.

"Help, help, Song Hao! Song Hao!"

Jiang Meimei cried out her boyfriend's name in a breakdown, but still received no response.

She crashed around blindly, hitting the railing, but didn't even feel the pain.

She just wanted to get away from that voice.

"Sigh... how boring. Such a coward."

"Hehe, I'll come find you to play with me another day~"

Jiang Meimei covered her ears tightly and muttered to herself, "Can't hear, can't hear..." She was on the verge of madness.

"Mei Mei? Mei Mei!"

Jiang Meimei felt her body was very heavy. Who was shaking her? Her eyelids were so heavy! This voice was so familiar.

"Mei Mei!"

Suddenly, there was another shout. Jiang Meimei snapped her eyes open and instinctively looked at the wall.

People were surrounding her, candles were burning quietly, and there was nothing on the wall.

"W-what happened to me just now?"

"Baby, why did you fall asleep in the hallway! The floor is so cold!"

Song Hao looked disapproving. In just a moment, when he came out, she was already asleep on the ground, and he couldn't wake her up.

"I... I fell asleep?"

"Then... was that just a dream?" Jiang Meimei muttered to herself. No, the dream just now was too real; she still had lingering fears upon waking.

"Was the journey too tiring?" Song Hao looked gentle.

Jiang Meimei was distracted, on the verge of a breakdown.

On the wall, the candlelight burned dimly. Jiang Meimei turned her head and saw a cut on her arm, her pupils shrinking.

"No, it wasn't a dream..."

Jiang Meimei pushed Song Hao away, causing him to stagger.

"She couldn't really be possessed, could she?"

Xie Hong frowned. Although she didn't like her, this appearance and mental state were truly worrying.

"Song Hao, why don't you take her to a room to rest first," Xie Hong suggested.

Others chimed in agreement.

In places they didn't notice, where the candlelight couldn't reach, countless shadows were moving frantically, dancing with excitement.

"There are only four rooms on each floor."

"There are eight of us. Song Hao and Jiang Meimei in one room."

"That leaves six of us for three rooms. How about we girls share one room and the boys share another?"

"Eight people? Six people?"

"Where did six people come from?"

Xie Hong's words made a boy nearby confused.

Only seven of them had come out together. Where did eight or six come from?

"Yeah, there are eight people!" Xie Hong counted the people around her, plus Song Hao and Jiang Meimei.

"We came as a group, and there are only seven of us! You're bad at math."

"Are... are you sure... only seven people?"

Instantly, Xie Hong's face changed drastically. Thinking of Jiang Meimei's situation, her voice trembled.

"I... I might have miscounted. You guys count again?"

That boy started counting them one by one, calling out the numbers.

"Three, four, five... seven, eight..." The boy held out his hand, pointing at heads as he counted. The final count was still eight.

How... how is that possible...

There were clearly supposed to be only seven people.

"How... how can this be..."

"There's... there's an extra person!"

Hearing this, everyone's hair stood on end. They quickly looked around, but saw nothing unusual.

"Sigh~"

"Don't scare yourselves. It's all Jiang Meimei's fault, making us all paranoid."

"Liu Bing, I-I'm scared. I don't dare sleep alone."

"Then how about this: you girls share one room, and we boys share another." It was Liu Bing who spoke, making arrangements in a low voice.

"Xie Hong, Linlin, Wang Yue, the three of you take one room."

"Okay."

Late at night, everyone had fallen asleep. The whole house was silent. The candles had quietly gone out at some point.

"I... I want to go to the bathroom." Xie Hong felt someone pushing her in a daze, but she just rolled over and ignored it, continuing to sleep.

"Mmm, Wang Yue? What are you doing?"

"I-I really need to go!"

"Then go take care of it."

"I... I'm scared."

...

For a long time, there was no sound from the bed.

Wang Yue bit her lip, looking at the two of them resentfully. What kind of friends were they?

But she couldn't hold it in any longer.

Wang Yue gritted her teeth, looked at the pitch-black night, and slowly felt her way out of bed.

—

"Hungry..."

"So hungry..."

"Hehe, I smell it!"

"Crunch, crunch..."

"Crunch, crunch..."

Continuous sounds kept coming from the stairs.

The main door opened quietly.

—

"Ah..." A scream pierced the air.

At dawn, Linlin rubbed her sleepy eyes and walked out of the room. Looking at her surroundings, she was stunned.

Rubbing her eyes again, the surroundings remained unchanged. Seeing the main door half-open, she curiously walked downstairs.

Taking a closer look, her soul nearly left her body.