The doors opened one after another, and all five carefully stepped out.
Afraid the chef would hear him, Bailey covered his mouth as soon as he came out and leaned close to Song Nan's ear. "Which way did they go?" he whispered.
Feeling his warm breath against her ear, Song Nan drew back a little in resistance.
She also spoke quietly to the others. "They were walking on the carpet, so I couldn't hear their footsteps. I waited a while after they closed the door before coming out..."
But before the others could question her, Song Nan continued:
"Although I couldn't hear their footsteps, I think I heard someone going up or down the stairs."
The villa had three floors, and the spiral staircase in the middle was made entirely of wood. It did make noise when someone stepped on it.
Since the chef had taken Brussels onto the stairs, that meant they were now either on the first floor or the third.
But the villa's owner, Mrs. Caster, lived on the third floor. Although they hadn't found anything wrong with her so far, they didn't believe someone who could employ a servant like the chef was a normal person.
Bailey and Song Nan were torn between splitting up and searching together.
In the end, there were too few of them, and splitting up would make it easy for them all to be caught.
After a brief discussion, they decided to search downstairs first.
They crept toward the stairs. Night had already fallen, and the living room below was shrouded in darkness, with only a little light from candles that hadn't yet burned out illuminating the areas near the walls.
There were candlesticks in their rooms. Although they didn't give off much light, each person carried one, and the light was barely enough for them to feel their way down the stairs using the railing.
While still upstairs, they had assigned everyone a task. There weren't many rooms on the first floor: apart from the kitchen, there was a utility room for storing tools behind the stairs. None of them had been farther back, so they didn't know whether there were any other doors.
They decided to make it quick. As long as they confirmed that no one was behind a door, they would leave immediately. If they took too long, something might happen to Brussels.
Phil, Annie, and Saul decided to check the kitchen, while Bailey, Song Nan, and Sofina went behind the stairs.
[Here it comes, here it comes! The scene I've been waiting for most is coming!]
[Hurry, hurry, hurry! Why isn't there a fast-forward button? I want to see their faces the moment they enter the kitchen (evil).]
[It's so dark they won't be able to see clearly, right? They should come back during the day, haha.]
[What do you know? The darkness is what makes it atmospheric~]
[What are you talking about? What could be in the kitchen?]
[There really are clueless newbies here. Are you watching for the experience? Then you really picked the wrong perspective with this cop. He's basically blind in this instance!]
A group of viewers watching the livestream from Saul's perspective eagerly rubbed their hands. Many had even switched over from other perspectives just for this scene.
But some viewers who had picked one perspective and mostly stuck with it didn't understand why so many people had suddenly flooded in, saying things they couldn't make sense of and acting excited like a bunch of perverts.
They had all memorized the furnishings in the villa's living room during the day, so they easily navigated around obstacles such as the sofa and coffee table and entered the dining room.
The long table where they had sat playing games and eating during the day still lay quietly there. Its wood-brown surface looked even darker and deeper at night, like a giant monster watching them from the shadows.
Fortunately, all three who had come over were quite brave. None of them jumped at every little thing; they simply made their way carefully around the long table toward the kitchen doors at the far end of the dining room.
During the day, they often saw the chef going in and out of those doors, bringing out exquisite, delicious meals every time.
At the thought, all three, who had eaten only one meal a day for the past few days, involuntarily began to salivate.
Saul's thoughts wandered. Since they had come to the kitchen, surely they could check for leftovers or something? Even if there wasn't any hot food, some desserts or the like would fill their stomachs.
As the strongest of the three, Saul naturally took the lead.
The kitchen doors were also made of wooden planks and decorated with intricate patterns. Saul couldn't make out what they depicted, but he thought they looked quite nice.
He first bent down and pressed his ear against the door, listening carefully for any sound inside.
Phil and Annie stayed close behind him, so quiet it was as if they weren't there.
After waiting a long while, Saul was sure there was no one inside.
He turned and shook his head at the other two. Annie had been about to suggest that, since no one was there, they should rejoin the other three.
But then she saw Saul had already put his hand on the door and seemed to be planning to go in.
Phil and Annie looked at him in confusion. Saul whispered to them, "Let's go in and see if there's anything to eat."
At the mention of food, the two immediately abandoned the idea of leaving.
Just because they hadn't said anything didn't mean they weren't hungry. Without another word, the three were of one mind.
Saul gently pushed the door open. Fortunately, it was well maintained and made hardly any noise.
The faint candlelight shone through the gap, illuminating a small area of the kitchen.
Saul cautiously looked around from outside. Seeing nothing unusual, he pushed the door all the way open.
His gaze remained fixed on the distance, so he naturally overlooked the sign right beside his head.
Fingers stripped down to the bone had been twisted into lettering and hung on the sign, which had just brushed past Saul's head.
Saul was the tallest of the three. If even he hadn't noticed the sign, there was no way the other two could have.
And so they quietly entered the kitchen.
[Aw, that's no fun. I wanted to see them get scared.]
[I told you it was too dark. It's nowhere near as shocking as it is during the day.]
[Are they still not going to discover the villa's true face this time?]
[What's that? Animal bones? Who has such twisted taste that they'd make a sign out of bones?]
[Don't jump to conclusions yet. Keep watching.]
The villa's kitchen was large, about eighty square meters. Even with ten people cooking inside, it wouldn't have felt crowded.
The three of them checked along the countertops one by one, but found only clean kitchen utensils set out on them. Let alone food, there wasn't even a single raw ingredient.
The three were almost at the middle of the kitchen when Saul felt a slight itch on his head. He reached up to scratch it, only to find that something soft seemed to be moving in his hand.
He instinctively looked up and saw a long object hanging from the ceiling. Its flesh-colored folds swayed as he tugged it, and he felt its soft, slimy texture against his palm.
"What's this?"
Saul gave it a curious tug, but hadn't expected it to be so flimsy. He pulled it right off.
The two behind him saw his odd movements and came over to see what he had found.
When Annie saw the thing in Saul's hand, her expression changed, and her voice immediately grew grave.
"That's a sheep's intestine."