"Doctor..." the fat man's voice trembled with nerves. They'd been through similar situations plenty of times. If nothing went wrong, then something was about to go wrong.
Neither of them dared move. Jiang Cheng held his breath and scanned the room inch by inch: the bed, the desk, the wardrobe, the coat rack... He was identifying each dark silhouette, terrified there might be one too many.
Or that one of the silhouettes might suddenly move.
Thankfully, neither happened. Jiang Cheng had just breathed a sigh of relief when the fat man's voice came from behind him. "Doctor, do you smell that? There's a... a burnt smell."
A moment later, Jiang Cheng caught the scent too. The familiar smell stirred up bad memories. Teacher Zi Gui's body in the underground prison had given off the same odor.
Could there be a charred corpse hidden somewhere in this room?
Clearly, the fat man had thought of the same thing. His voice trembled as he asked, "I think we'd better leave. There's something wrong with this room."
"Don't panic. Maybe that thing just wants to drive us out. It can only deal with us once we're outside." Jiang Cheng remained calm as he analyzed the situation.
Even so, the two of them slowly edged toward the door, ready to open it and run if anything happened.
When they reached the door, they were surprised to find the burnt smell even stronger. It was as if its source wasn't inside the room, but out in the hallway.
At the same time, light seeped in through the gap beneath the door.
It wasn't as soft as ordinary lamplight. It was orange-red, flickering on and off.
"That looks like firelight, Doctor," the fat man couldn't help saying.
Combined with the increasingly strong smell of burning, it