Thanks to Lord Hei Bao for the Grand Reward

The few people kept their eyes tightly shut, but their ears were perked high.

They huddled together, hearing Gu Mian lift the bed board by himself.

Since it was a single bed, it wasn't difficult to lift.

After hearing the bed board being lifted, Gu Mian paused for a moment, and only after several seconds did he put the bed back down.

Immediately after, the three heard Gu Mian's voice: "You can open your eyes now."

Only then did they slowly open their eyes. Qing Huan first squinted his eyes open a crack, and after seeing that the bed had been put back in place, he opened his eyes with relief.

Yuwen Hao's face showed hesitation as he asked, "How is it?"

Gu Mian rubbed his chin, paused for several seconds before replying, "Currently, the deceased's emotions are very stable."

Upon hearing this, all of them paled and took several steps back.

Qing Huan asked, "Lin Yue'er... is she really down there?"

Gu Mian nodded, "Mmm, she was forcibly dragged in. Because the space below was too small, a layer of skin was torn off. After being dragged in, she seemed to have been alive for a while. There are scratch marks from fingernails under the bed. I didn't see a ghost. Do you want to confirm?"

The three trembled, "No!"

Since they couldn't save the person, there was no need for them to stay any longer.

When they left Lin Yue'er's apartment, Yuwen Hao and the others had ashen faces.

The second day hadn't even ended yet, and they had already lost one person. Now, they still had over eight days to endure.

After finally finishing everything and returning to the hotel, none of them could sleep anymore.

Huang Yu was slumped dejectedly on the sofa, "What do we do for the remaining eight days?"

Although he hadn't personally witnessed Lin Yue'er's death, he could imagine some of it. The thought that his own death might be even more terrifying than Lin Yue'er's made Huang Yu's scalp tingle.

Yuwen Hao sat beside him and comforted him, "Don't be discouraged. If we find the source of the curse, there might be a turning point. We can't be too far from the source."

Huang Yu looked up, "But those ghosts are constantly getting closer to us... Lin Yue'er died today, and someone else might die tomorrow... Can I really survive..."

Yuwen Hao was momentarily speechless, clearly unsure how to answer Huang Yu's question. He fell silent for a moment before saying, "Let's sleep first. We'll deal with tomorrow's matters tomorrow."

There was nothing else they could do now but sleep.

Huang Yu agreed, but the atmosphere around him remained gloomy.

They had been tossing and turning for several hours tonight, and it was already 3:45 AM.

Gu Mian paid no mind to everyone else's gloom. He lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. When he opened his eyes again, the sun was already hanging in the sky. He turned to look at the wall clock in the living room; it was already seven o'clock.

The people in the living room were groggily getting up. Gu Mian specifically counted them; no one was missing.

However, everyone's expression was not quite normal, especially Yuwen Hao's.

He had slept by the door of another bedroom last night, but this morning, he had moved to the middle of the living room, and the bedroom door had been closed by him.

Qing Huan looked at the abnormal Yuwen Hao, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

While on watch, he had seen Yuwen Hao tossing and turning, unable to sleep. After a while, he got up to close the bedroom door and finally moved his bedding to the middle of the living room.

Actually, Qing Huan himself wasn't feeling great either, having not slept well for two days. But Yuwen Hao's situation seemed much worse than his.

Yuwen Hao nodded with pale lips, "I'm a bit... uneasy..."

"After lying down when we got back early this morning, I started feeling something was wrong. My back was to the bedroom door, and I kept feeling like something in the room was staring at me..."

"Later, I turned over and slept facing the door... but then I felt like something was pressed against my face... as if I could see it if I opened my eyes."

"I couldn't stand it anymore, so I closed the door... and then moved to the middle to sleep..."

"But even with the door closed and moving to the middle, every time I closed my eyes, I felt like something was staring at my back. I slept with my head tilted back..."

"Sleeping with my head tilted back... when I closed my eyes, I felt like something on the ceiling was staring at me. It wasn't until this morning that the feeling of being watched seemed to intensify..."

This was because the ghosts were gradually getting closer.

Qing Huan gasped, "Let's act quickly. We'd best investigate the source of the curse before tonight."

Everyone knew the ghosts were getting closer, so they didn't dawdle. They left in a hurry as soon as they got up early.

When they left, the hotel owner gave them a strange look, probably wondering why a woman was missing.

Gu Mian had left Lin Yue'er's body under the bed to avoid trouble, as there were law enforcement officers in the dungeon.

Gu Mian found a local map in the hotel, which marked the location of Mingliang Plastic Factory. It wasn't far from where they were.

The few of them followed the map and soon saw the small factory.

There was a large iron gate in front of the plastic factory. It was possible to see inside from the outside.

Currently, the gate was bound with several coils of iron chains, likely to prevent anyone from slacking off and leaving during work hours.

Right behind the iron gate was a small room, like a guardhouse, though guardhouses from this era weren't as sophisticated.

It was just a small, dilapidated house with a large window facing the factory entrance. At a glance, they could see an old man sitting at a desk, dozing off.

Qing Huan quickly walked to the gate and shook the iron bars, "Grandpa!"

The dozing old man was startled awake by his voice and looked up towards them. After seeing them clearly, he relaxed, probably afraid of being seen by his superiors slacking off.

The old man steadied himself on the table and stood up, walking to the entrance of the security booth. "Who are you guys?"

Gu Mian looked at Yuwen Hao beside him. "Didn't you guys come yesterday? Why doesn't he recognize you?"

Yuwen Hao shook his head slightly. "The security guard yesterday wasn't this old man. That one was much younger than him."

Mingliang Plastic Factory wasn't large. At most, there were seventy to eighty employees inside, so everyone should know each other. Gu Mian and the others were clearly unfamiliar faces.

Qing Huan scratched his head. "We're here to investigate something."

"Investigate something?" The old man hesitated upon hearing this and walked to the fence gate. "Investigate what? No one in our factory has done anything bad."

His tone suggested he suspected they were police officers.

"No," Qing Huan began to explain. "We're here to investigate two people, one named Zhao Wen and the other named Zhou Guanglei. You should know them, right?"

Both had been employees of this plastic factory, both had died two years ago, and both had been killed by the Knocking Ghost.

Gu Mian suspected that these two had provoked something together two years ago, which led to them being targeted by the Knocking Ghost.

The old man's expression turned strange after hearing the names. "I know them. They've been dead for a long time, gone two years now."

Qing Huan quickly nodded. "Yes, I know. We're here to investigate their matter."

Upon hearing this, the old man's expression became even stranger. "Then you've come to the right person. I'm an old employee here, and I know those things from years ago best. There are many hidden details here that outsiders don't know."