They had now figured out the identities of four of the ghosts. The only one they still knew nothing about was the Knocking Ghost following Gu Mian.
"The Knocking Ghost killed Zhao Wen and Zhou Guanglei..."
"Before Zhao Wen died, he showed signs of paranoid delusions. He suspected someone was behind the knocking, so he was always out late at night, keeping a close eye on anyone who might knock on his door. After he died, Zhao Wen became a vengeful ghost himself—the one lurking around Yuwen Hao."
"The other victim was Zhou Guanglei, who was also killed by the Knocking Ghost. He showed signs of paranoid delusions before he died, too, frantically calling other people to interrogate and threaten them. After his death, he also became a vengeful ghost—the Phone Ghost who calls Huang Yu."
"After Zhao Wen became a vengeful ghost, he killed two people he'd had contact with: Li Dongqiang and Wang Erwa."
"Both Li Dongqiang and Wang Erwa felt they were being watched while they were alive, confirming that they were killed by Zhao Wen after he became a vengeful ghost."
"After Wang Erwa died, he became a vengeful ghost, too—the ghost following Qing Huan around."
"As for Li Dongqiang, before he died, he developed a habit of squeezing into very small spaces. He died under a bed, so he's most likely the one beneath Lin Yue'er's bed."
Zhao Wen, the lurking ghost.
Li Dongqiang, the Under-the-bed Ghost.
Wang Erwa, the ghost following people around.
Zhou Guanglei, the Phone Ghost.
They'd now investigated all four of them.
As Gu Mian laid out his analysis, Yuwen Hao still found it hard to believe. "You two found out about three ghosts in a single day?"
"It's because these ghosts are connected. We followed the trail and found out about all of them at once," Gu Mian said.
"You're moving way too fast..."
Gu Mian continued, "Our goal is to find the source of the curse, so we need to trace things back one layer at a time. Based on the connections between the five ghosts we know about, the Knocking Ghost is at the top."
The Knocking Ghost had killed Zhao Wen and Zhou Guanglei, leading to the deaths that followed.
But the Knocking Ghost's origins were shrouded in mystery. They had not a single clue.
Gu Mian tapped the table. "Zhao Wen and Zhou Guanglei, the two people killed by the Knocking Ghost, had one thing in common: they worked at the same place. We could start with Mingliang Plastic Factory."
Just then, Yuwen Hao suddenly spoke up in a hurry. "Wait... It's already late. We need to figure out where to stay first."
It was already past five in the afternoon, and night would fall before long.
This was a very supernatural instance to begin with, and the players were naturally reluctant to go out at night.
Yuwen Hao continued, "We definitely can't go back to our own places. We should stick together tonight. There are a few hotels nearby. How about we rent a room?"
"Whatever you want," Gu Mian said indifferently.
Qing Huan looked at Lin Yue'er. "Would that be okay with you, though?"
After all, she was the only woman. Being surrounded by four men wasn't ideal.
Lin Yue'er nodded. "At a time like this, I'm not going to care about that. Staying alive is what matters."
That settled it.
Yuwen Hao quickly found a hotel and rented a room. When the owner saw their strange group of four men and one woman, he gave them several extra looks.
Since five people would be staying there, they rented a large family suite with two bedrooms and a living room.
The group didn't dare split up to sleep, so they all chose to bed down in the spacious living room. Gu Mian, however, resolutely chose to sleep in one of the bedrooms.
"Doctor Gu," Qing Huan said hesitantly, standing in the doorway and looking into the bedroom. "You really shouldn't sleep alone in there."
In horror movies, the ones who got killed first were always the ones who wandered off alone.
Gu Mian didn't seem to care. He leaned his chainsaw against the head of the bed. "It's fine. I'll leave the door open. You'll be able to see me at a glance."
Yuwen Hao was still working out the night's rest schedule in the living room.
The four of them hadn't gotten a proper night's sleep the night before, and by now they were suffering from splitting headaches. They had to sleep tonight, but they couldn't afford to sleep too deeply.
"Let's take turns keeping watch. Lin Yue'er's a girl, so she can sit this one out. The three of us will take turns. If anything seems wrong, we'll wake everyone else immediately."
Yuwen Hao naturally left Gu Mian, who was sleeping in the bedroom, out of the plan.
"It's almost seven thirty. I know you're all tired enough to fall asleep the moment your heads hit the pillow."
"Here's what we'll do: I'll keep watch first, from seven thirty to eleven thirty. Four hours."
"Then, when my shift's up, I'll wake Huang Yu. Huang Yu, you'll take over from eleven thirty at night until three thirty in the morning. That's four hours, too."
"Last is Qing Huan. You'll keep watch from three thirty in the morning until seven thirty. That's four hours. This way, we can all get at least eight hours of sleep."
"Tomorrow morning, once we're up, we'll investigate the plastic factory."
The others had no objections.
When Lin Yue'er went to sleep, she deliberately picked the spot farthest from the bedroom. She was afraid of the bed in there.
The overhead lights were still on. Keeping them on would affect their sleep, of course, but nobody cared about that right now—except Gu Mian.
Yuwen Hao sat alertly on the sofa in the living room.
Every so often, he looked around for anything out of the ordinary, then turned to check on Gu Mian in the bedroom.
As Yuwen Hao watched the surroundings, he suddenly noticed Gu Mian move on the bed.
The doctor in the white coat climbed out of bed, walked straight to the bedroom light switch, and pressed it without hesitation.
The bedroom plunged into darkness. Gu Mian, satisfied, flopped back onto the bed and went on sleeping.
Yuwen Hao stared at the pitch-black bedroom, his hair standing on end. "He actually dares to turn off the lights and sleep."
What was up with this player? Come to think of it, the name Gu Mian sounded a little familiar...
Gu Mian slept very soundly. He could fall asleep the moment he closed his eyes, and nothing could wake him.
Once, in the middle of the night, a violent storm had blown in. A bolt of lightning had struck a brick right in front of his window and blasted it apart, yet Gu Mian hadn't heard a thing. He'd slept like a log.
So it didn't take him long to fall asleep.
He had no idea how long he'd been asleep when a rustling sound suddenly woke him.
Even thunder had trouble waking him from a deep sleep, which showed just how loud that rustling was.
When Gu Mian opened his eyes, it was the middle of the night. The sky was pitch-black, and the moon hung high overhead.
The rustling was coming from almost directly behind his head. Gu Mian lay there in a daze for a moment before realizing the sound was coming from under the bed.
He rolled over and came face-to-face with several frightened expressions.
The living room lights were still on. Clearly, the people outside had noticed something was wrong and had gotten up. Now they sat on their bedding, eyes wide as they stared beneath his bed.
They didn't dare make a sound. They covered their mouths tightly and stared beneath the bed. When they saw Gu Mian sit up, they frantically shook their heads at him, signaling for him not to make a sound.
Yuwen Hao even mouthed, "Don't move."
Gu Mian couldn't make heads or tails of it.
The rustling grew louder, drawing closer to the edge of the bed, as if whatever was underneath was about to crawl out.
The people outside looked even more terrified and scrambled backward on their hands and feet.
At that moment, Gu Mian moved, too.
With everyone watching, he grabbed the edge of the bed, then suddenly leaned his head down to look underneath. "What the hell is that?"
Before you continue