Chatting With Everyone Without a Group

"Don't get agitated, try to calm down first..."

Before Yuwen Hao could finish speaking, there was a violent crashing sound from the other end, like a phone being forcibly yanked and dropped, followed immediately by Lin Yue'er's scream.

Then, the call was abruptly hung up.

His hands trembled as he reached out to redial, only to find the number was no longer reachable.

An eerie silence fell upon the room. Yuwen Hao held the phone, unsure whether to put it down or keep holding it.

Just then, he felt a strong sense of being watched again, as if something was intensely staring at him.

He slowly shifted his gaze towards the bedroom door. It was still tightly shut, not even a crack visible.

He raised his eyes further, finally fixing his gaze on the ventilation window above the door.

The ventilation window was transparent, and from his angle, he could see the ceiling of the living room.

Outside was pitch black. It looked as if a head was hanging from the ceiling, staring intently at him through the vent.

Yuwen Hao swallowed, trying to calm himself.

He flipped through his phone book: "I need to stay calm... calm... I'll call the others first, see if they're experiencing anything too..."

Yuwen Hao's eyes first landed on the name "Gu Mian."

But he hesitated for a moment, seemingly deeming this doctor unreliable and that talking to him would be of no help. He skipped over him and looked at Qing Huan, listed below Gu Mian.

With slightly trembling hands, he called Qing Huan.

Within seconds, the call was answered.

"Hello?" Qing Huan's slightly breathless voice came from the receiver. "Yuwen Hao?"

Yuwen Hao responded, "Yeah, I wanted to ask how things are on your end. Lin Yue'er just called me, and her situation seems... not good."

Qing Huan's voice on the other end was hurried. "Something's really wrong with this room. I'm pressed against the wall right now, talking to you."

Pressed against the wall? Yuwen Hao froze.

Qing Huan's voice continued to come through the receiver:

"I don't know why, but ever since I came back to this room, I've felt like something's been following me."

"Whether I'm in the living room, bedroom, or bathroom, I feel someone behind me!"

"When I walk, I hear footsteps behind me, very faint, but I hear them, and they're close!"

"I turn around, and there's nothing there... but I know it's always behind me, always following me... I can't take it anymore, so I'm leaning against the wall. The wall is behind me, so that feeling is slightly less intense..."

Yuwen Hao gripped the receiver tightly. "Have you tried leaving the room?"

"Yes, I tried, but it kept following me. When I went downstairs, I heard footsteps coming down from above. It followed me down!"

"The hallway has no lights, it's too dark. I didn't dare go further down, so I came back up from the other staircase..."

Hearing this, Yuwen Hao took a deep breath. It seemed he wasn't the only one sensing something was wrong. All five of them were likely in danger now!

With that thought, he comforted Qing Huan a few times, hung up, and then called Golden Wings.

"I wonder how Huang Yu is doing..." Yuwen Hao muttered to himself, recalling Golden Wings' appearance. "A shut-in like him probably wouldn't be able to run if he met a ghost."

But after the phone rang for a long time, there was no answer.

Yuwen Hao grew worried. "What's going on? Is he not home?"

Or has he already...

After another while, a cold female voice came from the receiver: "The number you have dialed is currently in use. Please try again later..."

Yuwen Hao frowned.

Who else could Huang Yu be calling?

Lin Yue'er's call was different, and Qing Huan had just spoken to him. Could Huang Yu be on the phone with that doctor?

He thought as he looked at the name Gu Mian in his phone book.

"I should call him and see. I need to know everyone's situation. I have to call him eventually."

Yuwen Hao paused for a moment before dialing Gu Mian's number from his phone book.

About ten seconds later, the call was answered.

As soon as the other side picked up, Yuwen Hao's prepared speech completely vanished because he was startled by the sound coming from the receiver.

A continuous "crackling" sound came from the phone, loud and like something was twisting its joints on the other end.

Besides the eerie sound of twisting joints, Yuwen Hao also heard other faint noises, like the buzzing of flies or the sharp scraping of a fork on a dinner plate.

Trembling, he moved the receiver slightly further away from himself. "Doc... Doctor Gu, what's going on over there?"

Could he have already... met his end?

But immediately, Gu Mian's voice, sounding perfectly normal, came through. "Nothing's wrong, Sadako just crawled out of the TV."

What? Yuwen Hao jolted, his hand spasming, and the receiver dropped. By the time he picked it up again, the call had been disconnected.

He no longer had the courage to call back, just staring blankly at the phone.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

Lin Yue'er and Huang Yu's calls couldn't get through.

Qing Huan leaned against the wall all night, daring not to relax in the slightest.

Yuwen Hao was scared half to death by Gu Mian's popcorn-eating and horror movie-watching sounds.

Only Gu Mian slept soundly until he woke up naturally.

It was already 7:48 AM when he woke up. The five of them had agreed to meet at the restaurant at 8:00 AM.

After Gu Mian unexpectedly stuck his face out the door last night, the knocking had stopped.

Gu Mian was also able to finish watching the entire Ring, and the two bags of popcorn were almost gone.

When he returned the disc and arrived at the restaurant where they were meeting, the other four were already waiting with dejected expressions.

Gu Mian put the chainsaw aside and sat down. He counted heads and found that not a single person was missing.

It seemed this was a very merciful Dungeon.

Yuwen Hao looked up and stared intently at him, appearing surprised that Gu Mian was still alive.

Only after Gu Mian sat down did he slowly approach, "Doctor Gu, I called you last night... you said Sadako crawled out?"

Gu Mian replied nonchalantly, "Yeah, I was watching a horror movie."

As soon as he said this, the expressions of the people around him changed slightly.

Yuwen Hao exclaimed in disbelief, "A horror movie?"

Did this doctor say it was a horror movie last night?

Yuwen Hao was certain that even if his parents had given him ten more guts, he wouldn't dare watch a horror movie in a place like this, especially in the middle of the night.

He calmed himself down. Fine, if he's willing to watch horror movies late at night, I can't control that...

Yuwen Hao stopped focusing solely on the strange doctor and turned to the others, "Let's talk about what happened last night first."

As he spoke, he looked at Lin Yue'er, "Yue'er, you go first."

There had been quite a commotion on her end during their call last night, and later her phone couldn't be reached. Yuwen Hao had even thought Lin Yue'er had died, but unexpectedly, he saw her alive today.

Gu Mian also turned to look at Lin Yue'er. No one had called him yesterday except Yuwen Hao, so he had no idea what had happened to these people.