The Bloodied Water and the Black Cloth

Outside the window, the faint sound of rain pattering could be heard.

Yu Xing heard the sound of rain pattering against the window, muffled and weaker than he had expected. He waited a few seconds, then pulled back the curtains. The corpse was indeed gone.

The pool of blood had also disappeared, leaving a clean, porcelain-white bathtub. Despite its desolate appearance, it always reminded people of Ye Ming's blood-stained face.

"Is it a real ghost? Or is it the other world?" Yu Xing looked at the bloodstains on her hands and the remaining traces on the curtain. Only these traces could prove that Ye Ming's body had indeed existed.

Was that... a hint? A specific hint about Ye Ming's "cause of death"?

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Yu Xing knew in her heart that this night would not be peaceful, so she bent down and turned on the tap to fill the bathtub with water.

The steaming water quickly spread, and the rising steam dispelled the gloom in the bathroom, but also brought a lot of uncertainty.

Yu Xing tested the water temperature, then took off her clothes and stepped into the water tank.

"Hoo..." He lay back, leaning against the edge of the bathtub, and suddenly felt all his fatigue healed by the hot water. The warm feeling enveloped him, and the bloodstains on his hands were washed away by the water.

Drowsiness crept in again, Yu Xing closed his eyes slightly, but did not let himself fall asleep. He knew that in an environment where everything could turn into danger, falling asleep in the bathtub could only be associated with words like drowning or electrocution, and he was not that careless.

But it felt so good...

Yu Xing resisted his sleepiness and soaked in the bathtub for five minutes. When he looked up, he could see the sky outside the window, which was occasionally illuminated by lightning. The swaying shadows of trees were reflected on the glass, and raindrops hit them, climbing into winding curves and flowing down in streams.

When he tried to get up, he realized he had left his towel outside, along with his clothes.

"..." Yu Xing wondered to herself how she could make a mistake on such a small detail. Had she not only become younger, but also dumber?

He held onto the bathtub with one hand, intending to grab a towel while his body was still wet, when a chilling feeling suddenly ran down his spine.

Unbeknownst to me, the water level in the bathtub had risen slightly, and a feeling of being watched arose spontaneously.

Yu Xing frowned. Before he could turn around, he saw a blood-stained arm reach out from behind him. The hand grabbed Yu Xing's wrist, as if preventing him from leaving the bathtub.

He was startled, and a sudden, sharp pain shot through his head. All his senses became instantly clear; his sight, touch, and hearing seemed to return from afar. Suddenly, the sound of rain outside the window intensified, pounding loudly in his ears. The water temperature was no longer warm, but icy cold. Something that shouldn't be there was in the bathtub with him, its stiff, cold skin pressed against his legs.

In his sight, the blood returned, dripping onto the ground and onto... his body.

Even though Yu Xing had seen many ghosts, he broke out in a cold sweat at this moment because he... had fallen into some kind of hallucination without any warning and ended up lying in the bathtub with Ye Ming's corpse!

No wonder the sound of the downpour was so faint to him, and... the steam from the water tank didn't even fog up the window that was so close by. He had been looking at the window for so long without realizing it, and he had even forgotten things he would never normally forget. His hearing, vision, and even his thoughts were all suppressed in the illusion!

A chill followed, and the sticky blood on his body was already telling him what was going on.

With a dark expression, he pulled away from the hand that was gripping his wrist, slowly turned around, and saw Ye Ming's wide eyes right in front of him. The corpse occupied a small part of the bathtub, leaving most of it for Yu Xing. The cold pool water was filthy, with a layer of blood clots floating on it, and freshly dissolved blood at the bottom.

"..." Yu Xing was a little angry.

He stared at the corpse for a second, then suddenly stood up. The corpse seemed to know he wanted to leave, tearing away its harmless disguise. In a flash, its expression turned ferocious, and it swung its arms to grab Yu Xing's leg.

The force coming from his legs was beyond Yu Xing, a "human," could resist. The numerical balance had suppressed his own strength to that of an ordinary person, and he almost fell into the blood. Then he felt a cold touch on his neck, and a downward force was choking him, pushing him into the blood.

The air was instantly taken away as Yu Xing was forced into the water by Ye Ming's corpse. His vision was covered in blood, and he heard the chaotic sound of flowing water.

He knew this wouldn't end so easily; why would the ghost that appeared return without launching an attack powerful enough to kill him?

At least when he was cooking, if he hadn't called Ye Ming to come and watch, he would have offended "Dad" or "Ye Ming and Yu Wan," and would have inevitably run into trouble. Seeing a corpse in the bathroom, it would be unreasonable not to encounter even more terrifying trouble.

But since he was killed, there must be a chance of survival according to the deduction. Yu Xing's mind raced underwater. He struggled desperately, trying to pry the hand pressed against his neck, while thinking, what was the way out?

The first option was to skip the bathtub and go straight to the room to sleep.

But this is rather unfair to those with strong mental fortitude who don't care about lying in a bathtub where a corpse has been, and to those who are relatively clean.

The second way out is now!

Yu Xing realized he couldn't pry open the corpse's hand; it was a matter of overwhelming strength. He decisively gave up and began groping around at the bottom of the bathtub.

His hand touched the cold bottom of the tub, and also the body's... part, he didn't know. Yu Xing didn't have time to care about that, because he also touched something that shouldn't be in the bathtub!

The long wooden stick has a rough texture and a heavy weight.

He tried to lift the object with one hand, and by touch, he realized it was an axe.

He had previously guessed that the wounds on Ye Ming's corpse were caused by an axe or something similar. Now, when the corpse was about to kill him, an axe appeared in the bathtub. The meaning was self-evident: this was the way out!

However, Yu Xing did not directly chop at the corpse next to him with his axe. Instead, his movements slowed down, and even his struggles became much less intense.

The reason was simple: when he was pushed underwater, he instinctively held his breath to prevent blood from entering his nasal cavity, but he couldn't stand the prolonged suffocation. He had accidentally relaxed his control and inhaled a little air.

But... the discomfort I imagined didn't come.

He paused for a moment, then realized how familiar this situation was.

Isn't this the underwater breathing ability he gained after devouring Shi Wei in his frenzied, half-monster state back then?

The system did not take away this ability...

Yu Xing instantly realized something more. This was an ability he possessed before entering the deduction process, so why couldn't the system detect it?

Or is it that the system only took away the "sacrifices" it created, their extended abilities, and detectable physical attributes this time?

Things like underwater breathing and Spiritual Sense, which lack data and only exist on the surface, do not fall into this category.

This means... the system ultimately cannot penetrate the soul's sensory divination? That's right, the system also failed to sense the vengeful ghost within Zhao Yijiu's body, nor the Lingren's consciousness hidden within Han Yan's body.

He has many such abilities. In the past, he could even use the power of curses to infuse life into the dead, just like he did with Zhu Yan. He could also Silk Drawing and Unraveling away the life force of others like a silkworm pupating its cocoon, but that was a long time ago.

This is indeed a good thing for Yu Xing, because many of his abilities do not rely on the system. If some of his abilities are recovering, it will be a huge surprise.

Similarly, it's likely that he could still use some kind of special ability in the world of formal competitive events.

The next second, Yu Xing came to his senses. Since the system hadn't detected him, he couldn't expose himself to the system, so he had to keep up the disguise!

He opened his eyes in the blood.

The resentment stemming from being forced to sleep in the same bathtub as a corpse erupted at this moment. He symbolically kicked his legs a couple of times in a struggle, then his eyes flickered slightly, and the slight upward curve of the corners of his eyes, after losing his usual composure, finally revealed a hint of ruthlessness.

The axe in his hand slashed out in waves of blood, first striking Ye Ming's corpse. The water created tremendous resistance, Yu Xing did not pause at all, and continued to chop down with the momentum of the water.

This time.

Completely devastating.

The axe was deeply embedded in Ye Ming's corpse. Normally, another wound wouldn't be a big deal for a corpse, but this corpse was different; it feared the axe.

Upon being struck for the first time, the corpse released Yu Xing's neck. Yu Xing immediately pushed herself up to the surface, feigning extreme dizziness from lack of oxygen, and gasped for breath. Meanwhile, she continued to hack at the corpse relentlessly until the blood became thicker and the body sank into the water and could no longer be seen.

His eyes were darker and deeper than ever before, still brimming with barely suppressed rage. He knelt in the bathtub, his bare upper body covered in blood that trickled down his skin. The axe in his hand was menacing, half-submerged in the water.

Another bolt of lightning struck outside the window, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. The power cable snapped, plunging the entire house into darkness, except for a fleeting moment when his face was illuminated.

The light was fleeting.

In the darkness, Yu Xing heard his own heavy breathing, carrying a strange and long-lost sense of danger, announcing that the monster from the past was showing signs of resurgence.

He pursed his lips, lowered his head, loosened his grip, and threw the axe into the water. He actively suppressed the negative emotions that shouldn't have been in his heart, and his breathing gradually became steady.

Outside the bathroom, a faint commotion could be heard. He heard Ye Ming and Ye Ting talking loudly, followed by footsteps. It sounded like Ye Ming knocked on the door and asked, "Ye Qin, are you alright?"

Yu Xing bent down and touched it. Because of the darkness, there was no trace of the corpse and the axe in the water, and even the water temperature gradually rose and became warm.

The sticky feeling had also disappeared without a trace. Yu Xing, who was too familiar with blood, knew that the bathtub water was now normal again, and he could not smell any blood on himself.

He raised his voice and replied, "I'm fine, almost done washing, I'll be out soon."

"Second brother, be careful not to slip, it's too dark," Ye Ting said from outside the door.

"Don't worry," Yu Xing replied as she listened to the two outside discussing whether to continue using the flashlight or dig out the candles and light them.

He stepped out of the bathtub in the darkness, pulled back the curtain, found the towel he had forgotten beside his clothes, dried himself expressionlessly, put on his clothes, covered his wet hair with the towel, wiped it casually a couple of times, and opened the door.

Ye Ming and Ye Ting were no longer outside the door. A beam of light came from Ye Ming's room, shining left and right, sometimes reaching outside.

Ye Ting was asking, "Where did you put the candles?"

Yu Xing walked over quietly, leaned against the door, and watched the brother and sister kneeling by the bed, rummaging through the floor.

The source of the beam of light was an old-fashioned flashlight in Ye Ming's hand.

He pulled out a box, opened it by the light of his flashlight, looked inside, and then put it back in disappointment. "I haven't used candles in a long time, how would I know where it is, but it's definitely nearby..."

Yu Xing looked at Ye Ming's thin figure. Most of the time, he seemed like a normal older brother. Whether it was the face in the car window or the corpse in the bathroom, it seemed to create a serious sense of disconnect between them.

Ye Ting noticed Yu Xing at this moment, and her eyes lit up. "You're out? Oh, I was so worried you'd be scared alone in the bathroom."

As she spoke, she got up, ran a few steps, and hugged Yu Xing's arm. The normal body temperature of a "living person" was transmitted to Yu Xing's skin through her clothes.

Ye Ming: "... It's clearly you who's afraid."

Yu Xing forced a smile, one that no one could see anyway, and ruffled Ye Ting's hair. "Don't be afraid, your brother is here."

It's perfectly normal for a fourteen-year-old girl to be afraid of the dark.

"I wonder when the power will be out again," Ye Ming muttered. Finally, he found a box of candles, placed the candlesticks on them, lit the candles with a match, and held them in his hand. A faint light illuminated the room.

As the candle wax began to drip, Ye Ming tilted the candle, letting the wax drip onto the candlestick surface, and then stood the candle upright on the candlestick.

"I think I just saw lightning strike the cable through the window. If we want the power to be restored, we'll probably have to wait until the repairman comes tomorrow," Yu Xing said.

The utility pole stood not far from the house, visible through the bathroom window. Yu Xing only vaguely saw a piece of something sparking as it fell down when lightning struck.

"Oh? Will it catch fire?" Ye Ting, a little worried.

Ye Ming hesitated for two seconds, then also considered this possibility. "Yes, I need to go outside and check. You all stay home, I'll be back in a bit."

"It's raining so hard, be careful not to get electrocuted," Yu Xing warned.

"I'll be careful. Actually, there are protective measures around the cable, with a large open space set off. It's basically impossible for it to catch fire from the plants. I'm just going to check, just in case." Ye Ming left with a flashlight, leaving Yu Xing and Ye Ting gazing at each other in the candlelight.

Yu Xing noticed that Ye Ting's eyes were frighteningly bright in the dim light.

Ye Ting said softly, "Second Brother, I'm afraid of the dark."

A thought flashed across his eyes, and he asked jokingly, "So timid? Then how come you dare to play horror Yugi?"

"... That's different." Ye Ting retorted, then looked at Yu Xing with her bright eyes, her emotions unclear, and repeated, "Second Brother, I'm afraid of the dark."

"Please, never leave me in the dark, no matter what. Never."

"..."

Yu Xing looked at her, remembered those words, and softened her voice. "Okay."

The broken cable did not cause any accidents, Ye Ming returned quickly, though he was still slightly wet despite having an umbrella.

He sighed at his bad luck, lit an extra candle, and took it to the bathroom to wash up.

When it was Ye Ting's turn, she said that since she hadn't sweated today, she could wash again during the day tomorrow. She then claimed the longest and brightest candle, took it back to her room, and went to sleep.

Yu Xing was able to return to her room, place the candlestick on her desk, and browse through the books inside.

Most of the books were related to studying; he mainly wanted to find any diaries, since the protagonists of horror Yugi love to write diaries.

Unfortunately, Ye Qin is not strictly speaking the protagonist of a horror Yugi. He only cares about studying and doesn't write sentimental diaries to express his daily feelings.

Yu Xing didn't find anything she wanted to read, clicked her tongue in boredom, packed away her various study guides, and then glanced at her daily schedule and other routine information.

After his half-wet hair had completely dried, he lay down on the bed, buried his head in the soft pillow, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

The sight of a corpse and a power outage terrified him, and this time he was completely wide awake from the moment he picked up the axe.

So now, he might need to regroup before he can fall asleep.

With nothing else to do, Yu Xing began to ponder what Ye Ming's corpse and the axe represented.

If we divide this world into two parts, the inner and Yu Wan, then Ye Ming, Ye Ting, Ye Ting, and even himself all possess a terrifying inner world that is already dead. Of course, the inner world is the more real one, and the peaceful life he sees now may just be an illusion, a chaotic and disordered dream.

He used this analogy temporarily, but there's a problem that almost all deductions share: who exactly is the subject of this deduction? Or rather, what is it?

Apart from the first simulation he experienced, due to the intervention of a strange "company," the main identities of the young boss of Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory, his girlfriend, and the reporter became confused. At that time, his attention was focused on entering the simulation, and he did not pay attention to who the main subject of that simulation was until the end.

However, the note left inside the building that reads "You should gouge your own eyes out" most likely belongs to the boss's girlfriend.

Each subsequent deduction basically has a very clear subject. In the case of the Doctor with a dual personality and the killer, the subject is the killer; that is the killer's mental world. The Doctor he plays is just being pulled into the killer's own world.

In Coffin Village, the main character is Zhou Yongsheng, and the deductions are formed from Zhou Yongsheng's desire to be resurrected; the main character of Alice's Park has undergone one change. The first time was due to a murder case in reality, and the main character was "the evil caused by the deducer's crime". The second time, the main character became Alice herself.

The main plot of Nightmare in a Cage utilizes the wizard from Angel's family; Dead Spirit Island, as the background for the Rookie Tournament live stream, is a purely competitive instance and a massive world, where the main plot is not emphasized, and everyone is dispensable.

After that, the main character of the Haunted Bar is Yi Qing; the main character of the advancement instance where the Water Ghost and the Witch Doctor are located is Yu Xing herself; the main character of the Death Parallel Line is different in each of the three stages, but in general it should be Liang Erni; the main character of the Tomb Palace is Ghost Tree, and the main character of the Fear Hospital is the Dean.

Once the subject is known, the deducer can then use the subject's characteristics to make targeted inferences and calculations about the truth. The reason is simple: the subject is what influences the entire deduced world. Empathizing with the subject is the best way to understand the laws governing the world and thus find the hidden truth of events.

The same applies to this simulation. The main characters are Ye Ming, Ye Ting, or Ye Qin and Yu Wan, as well as their parents. Their attitudes toward the same issue will be very different.

If we had identified the main entity yesterday, we could have avoided a lot of unnecessary detours.

For example, if Ye Ming is the main character, then everything his corpse did in the bathroom could be seen as dissatisfaction with Ye Qin, thus leading to a series of possibilities that Ye Qin might have wronged him.

At the same time, the axe wounds all over his body represent his greatest resentment, Yu Xing's goal is clear: to find out who is the murderer who killed Ye Ming.

It cannot be ruled out that the fight in the bathroom was part of a reenactment, and that Ye Qin was the one who killed Ye Ming.

But this is a bit too simple, and Ye Ming's current behavior is the most unusual, making him seem less like the mastermind behind this deduction world.

From this perspective, the father in the refrigerator cannot be explained, and the mother who has been missing without a trace cannot be involved either. Therefore, Yu Xing tends to believe that Ye Ming's image is just a shadow left over from the true main consciousness, which is why he is normal at times and shows a terrifying appearance in other places at other times.

"Well..."

Yu Xing sighed softly. With so little information, it was too early to think about these things. He had to wait until things became more complicated and dangerous, which would mean that the hidden things had surfaced, and that would be the right time to piece together the truth.

What he needs to do now is to memorize every detail that might be used later; if he misses even one, it could lead to a huge deviation from the truth.

After thinking for a long time, he finally fell asleep, just as he had hoped.

This body is indeed useless; it gets exhausted after doing very little, with most of its brain capacity devoted to studying materials, and it gets sleepy even when trying to think about anything.

Yu Xing followed her body's wishes and fell into a deep sleep.

Today, due to the power outage, the three siblings went to bed much earlier than usual. The clock on the wall ticked away, its sound both lonely and precise in the quiet house.

The night grew increasingly quiet, and around midnight, the sudden downpour finally stopped, leaving only the sparse, soft sound of water dripping from the eaves.

The areas without light were pitch black, and compared to the daytime, the empty house was even more eerie, with countless indistinct shadows seemingly lurking in every corner.

The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

A figure whose outline was indistinct slowly descended the stairs, step by step, as if pausing to appreciate every moment of silence.

Finally, the figure arrived in the living room. He passed by the furniture like a ghost, went through the sofa, and entered the kitchen.

"So thirsty..." the figure murmured dreamily, opening the refrigerator door.

Inside the refrigerator, the head of a middle-aged man, his face bluish, stared at the person who opened the door with dead fish eyes. Suddenly, a tear of blood streamed from his eye socket.

The figure remained in the position of having the refrigerator door open, lingering in front of it for a long time, until the constantly billowing cold air made the figure shiver.

Yu Xing woke up.

This clarity is hard to describe; it's like instantly transitioning from deep sleep to a state of absolute wakefulness. So when he woke up and found himself face to face with a head, he remained calm.

I'm very thirsty.

This is Yu Xing's most immediate feeling: he is so thirsty that he has to take a bottle of water from the refrigerator to drink.

Of course, he instantly realized what he was doing. While he was asleep, he got out of bed because he was thirsty, went downstairs, crossed the living room, came to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, and saw the head of his father, who had wanted to trick him during the day.

This sounds a bit like sleepwalking, but Yu Xing knows it's not because Ye Qin's body has a pathological symptom of sleepwalking, but rather because some unseen force is demanding that the deducer advance the plot.

Someone had just died in a nearby house. Yu Wan warned him not to go out at night, but now he was forced to.

Now that he has been forced to break the taboo, something is bound to happen that night.

Yu Xing had only raised his hand halfway when he steadied himself, as if he hadn't seen the head at all, and reached his hand to the head's ear, picking up a bottle of water.

Having already broken the taboo against nighttime wandering, he certainly wouldn't break the third taboo. "Don't let the ghost know you can see it."

"I'm so thirsty..." Yu Xing muttered in dissatisfaction, unscrewed the bottle cap and gulped down several mouthfuls, then let out a satisfied sigh like a traveler who had finally found water in the desert.

He put the half-empty bottle of water back, casually closed the refrigerator door, turned around and went into the living room, intending to walk towards the stairs and return to his bedroom.

But with a casual glance, his Spiritual Sense was suddenly sparked, and a strong feeling told him that there was something new in the living room.

It was pitch black; the brightest light source just now was from the refrigerator. Yu Xing was still conscious, wasn't familiar enough with the layout of the living room. He might be startled by furniture suddenly appearing next to him while walking. Asking him to find the extra items? That was practically impossible.

But the hints given by Spiritual Sense mean that he will definitely gain something from them, so that extra thing will probably be very noticeable, or even very significant.

Before the thought could even form in his mind, Yu Xing had already found his target.

There was a large lump of something on the sofa.

The darkness wasn't a blackness created by the environment; rather, it was something that was probably inherently black.

Judging from the shape, it looks like a person?

Yu Xing couldn't see clearly, so he held his breath and took a few steps forward, getting closer to the sofa.

It's hard to say whether they're even human.

Because what appeared before Yu Xing was a black cloth.

Under the black cloth, something bulged and bulged, resembling a human silhouette. Yu Xing immediately stopped and turned back, continuing to walk up the stairs as if nothing had happened.

In fact, Yu Wan told him about the three taboos, the second taboo was the strangest.

The first two taboos, the first and the third, are at least somewhat understandable, as they are both related to ghosts. However, the black and white cloths mentioned in the second taboo are puzzling, because Yu Xing never saw any black or white cloths on the street on her way from school to home, indicating that these are not things that happen in daily life.

The old woman Yu Wan who had died was not far from their house. When the car approached their home, there was no sign of the black or white cloth. Although Yu Xing only learned about these taboos at his doorstep, it didn't stop him from noticing this beforehand.

No matter how good his memory is, he can't remember every detail of the road, but he will definitely remember things that are particularly eye-catching.

So he had wondered beforehand, where exactly would the black cloth and the white cloth appear?

Now he knew that this thing was probably the most supernatural thing he had ever come into contact with so far. It didn't follow any rules and could appear wherever it wanted, including on his sofa.

Even though he still had doubts about Yu Wan said, the moment he saw the black cloth, a chill ran down his spine.

Adding to the Spiritual Sense he had just received, he fully realized that the Spiritual Sense was merely a warning that there was something dangerous here, urging him to leave quickly, rather than telling him to go and check it out.

Yu Xing had no interest in courting death at a time like this, ignoring the black cloth on the sofa, and had already walked to the stairs.

But just then, footsteps came from the stairs.

Yu Xing reacted very quickly. He immediately hid behind the stairs. At night, from this angle, people coming downstairs would hardly notice him unless they specifically looked for him.

He began to spy on the approaching person in the darkness.

Before long, a tall, thin figure appeared in his line of sight; it was Ye Ming again.

However, Ye Ming seemed relatively normal at this time. He walked a little unsteadily, as if he was in a daze. He stood in the living room, seemed to recognize himself, and then walked towards the kitchen.

Yu Xing wondered if he had suddenly gotten thirsty and come down for a drink of water.

As it turned out, his intuition was quite accurate. Ye Ming opened the refrigerator door, paused his hand above the half-finished bottle of water, switched to another bottle, and then gulped it down as if he had just discovered it.

After taking a few sips, Ye Ming wiped his mouth, put the lid back on, and let out a sigh of relief. However, unlike before, he didn't put the water back; instead, he held it in his hand, seemingly intending to take it back to his bedroom.

Yu Xing's eyes had basically adapted to the darkness, and she could see everything clearly.

He saw that after Ye Ming walked into the living room, he seemed to see the black cloth on the sofa and stopped in his tracks.

Ye Ming didn't think about it from a supernatural perspective. Instead, he hesitated and asked the thing on the sofa with some confusion, "Is that... Ye Qin? What are you doing down here? Why are you sleeping here?"

There was no response from the sofa.

This made Ye Ming a little uneasy. Yu Xing could hear him muttering to himself in a very low voice, "Could someone be sleepwalking? Neither Ye Qin nor Xiao Ting have this problem..."

Unable to find an answer by thinking this way, Ye Ming walked towards the black cloth.

He walked up to the sofa and felt like there was someone underneath it. Then, he remembered something and glanced warily toward the door.

The door should have been locked, so there was virtually no possibility that someone had broken into their house at night and happened to run into him coming downstairs, so he just grabbed a piece of cloth to cover himself up and tried to get away with it, since hiding anywhere was better than lying on the sofa.

Yu Xing looked at Ye Ming with a deep gaze as he extended his hand.

What would happen if something already suspected of being ghostly removed the black cloth?

Yu Xing was quite curious. Ye Ming was set up as a senior high school student, so it was very possible that he hadn't heard the taboo that Yu Wan mentioned. Just like his feigned reaction, Yu Wan also agreed that it was possible for someone focused on studying not to understand these things.

Besides, he was already hiding here, so it wouldn't be good to speak up and stop him now, as it would be difficult to explain. So, he watched helplessly as Ye Ming placed his hand on the corner of the black cloth and gently opened it.

In the darkness, Ye Ming's expression was inscrutable.

The thing he pulled open seemed to be empowered by some kind of force; Yu Xing could only see a blurry image and couldn't make out what it was at all.

Ye Ming stared at the thing for a long time, then said nothing, covered it back with the cloth, took his water, and went upstairs.

Yu Xing: "..." What kind of reaction is this?

He was slightly confused, but he memorized every detail of the scene.

If pulling back the black cloth is really bad, then even if something bad doesn't happen on the spot, it will eventually manifest itself in the next few days. Perhaps Ye Ming in his normal state could help him take the fall and let him see the consequences of violating the second taboo.

As for his own violation of the taboo against nighttime wandering, he felt that the consequences had already come: nighttime wandering makes one prone to seeing ghosts and being approached by strange things, such as heads or black cloths.

Yu Xing listened to Ye Ming's footsteps gradually disappear and the muffled sound of a door closing before tiptoeing up the stairs and back to her room.

After touching the bed, he seemed completely unaware of his "sleepwalking" and lost consciousness before he could react, falling asleep.

This time, I slept soundly until dawn.

Because he went to bed early, Yu Xing woke up early as well. The morning light shone on his face, and he reached out and opened the window of his room. After the heavy rain last night, the fresh air, carrying the fragrance of the surrounding plants, rushed in.

He tidied himself up a bit, then went to wash up and went downstairs. He glanced at the clock and saw it was only six o'clock.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw Ye Ming.

Ye Ming... was sleeping on the sofa, in the same spot where the black cloth had covered him last night. His posture was exactly the same as the silhouette he had seen.

Ye Ting, who was used to getting up early, followed Yu Xing downstairs. Seeing Ye Ming sleeping on the sofa, she asked with some confusion, "Why is Big Brother here?"