Time

He glanced out the window. The sunlight was slightly blinding, but he knew that, according to their earlier calculations, daylight would last at most three more hours. And half of those three hours had already passed.

When night fell again, the world they were in would enter an eternal night.

"There's not much time. Let's split up and search." Jiang Cheng looked around. "Fan Li, search on your own. Fatty, you're with me. Move as quickly as you can, and pay special attention to things like keys. There may be clues behind the iron door on the third floor, but I tried it. We can't open it with the tools we have unless we find a key."

"Okay."

The two groups split up without wasting any time.

With one more person, Jiang Cheng's group took on the larger search area on the first floor, leaving the second floor to Fan Li.

They soon found something. In an inconspicuous corner behind the staircase, Jiang Cheng found a rope. It was tied to the corner of the second-floor hallway near the stairs, with the other end hanging down to the floor.

Jiang Cheng ran up the stairs and found where the other end of the rope was tied on the second floor.

It was the spot where he and Fatty had hidden the night before, but there hadn't been any rope there then.

Hearing them come upstairs, Fan Li ran out of the study. "What's going on?"

Jiang Cheng pointed out the rope.

After a while, they returned downstairs and followed the rope's hanging end toward the other side of the living room. The door to the small room where firewood was stored stood ajar and opened with a push.

Fan Li's expression suddenly changed. "Yesterday, I tied the handle of this door to the nail beside it with a rope. How come the rope's gone?"

Fatty had sharp eyes. He went inside and found a rope behind a stack of firewood.

It had been cut in two, and the cuts were very clean.

Fan Li took it and ran his fingers over it. Looking up, he said with certainty, "It was cut with something like a dagger."

There was another door behind the small room where the firewood was kept. Someone had moved the firewood away from in front of it, clearing a space.

Jiang Cheng walked over and pushed, but the door wouldn't budge.

He looked through the glass in the door. This was the back of the villa.

There weren't many fallen leaves on the ground, but it had rained earlier and the water hadn't dried yet. The ground was wet and muddy.

Several clear tire tracks marked the muddy ground.

"Those were left by the bus," Fatty said in surprise.

But strangely, the area was surrounded by forest, with no road that a bus could have taken to get there.

That no longer mattered, though. What mattered was that they now knew how Sister Nuan and the other woman had left.

Like Jiang Cheng, Fatty gave the door a hard shake, but it showed no sign of opening.

"Stop shaking it," Jiang Cheng said. "You won't get it open."

Fatty stopped, but still asked, "If the door won't open, how did they leave?"

Fan Li, standing behind them, suddenly spoke. "It's about the time."

"The time?"

"Right." Fan Li looked at Fatty's confused face and nodded. "The timing was wrong. The bus only appears at a specific time, and the door can only be opened then."

"3:07 a.m.," Jiang Cheng said.

Fan Li looked at him in surprise, then nodded. "You figured it out too."

"What are you talking about?" Fatty blinked. "What do you mean, 3:07 a.m.?"

"Remember when Xie Yu died?" Jiang Cheng said. "I checked my watch, and it showed 3:07 a.m."

Fatty asked in surprise, "But in this world, aren't watches inaccurate?"

"They are, but at a certain time, they become accurate again." Fan Li continued, "On the night Xie Yu died, I heard the strange noise and checked the time too." He took the pocket watch from his pocket and held it up for Fatty to see. "It showed 3:07 a.m. as well."

"But I just checked the time a little while ago, and it showed six o'clock. That means every timekeeping device suddenly synchronizes to 3:07 a.m. at some point."

Fatty's pupils contracted. Then, as if he'd suddenly realized something, he looked at Jiang Cheng. "So last night in the study, you were waiting for your watch to show 3:07 a.m.! Because that's when the ghost would appear!"

Jiang Cheng's expression gave nothing away, but Fatty continued, "When the time came and the ghost didn't come after us, you went to test things by looking for Sister Nuan. And when you first saw that Sister Nuan was still alive, you told her that Fan Li had already—"

He suddenly stopped there.

After all, Fan Li was standing right here, in perfect health.

The rest was simple. The three of them returned to the living room. Jiang Cheng sat on the sofa, Fan Li stayed by the fireplace to warm himself, and Fatty kept thinking.

Fan Li said he'd counted six tire tracks on the ground behind the villa. That meant the bus had come three times, and they'd spent exactly three nights in the villa.

It grew completely dark. Fan Li clutched his pocket watch, glancing at the time now and then.

No one knew how long had passed. Just as Fatty's head began to ache and he was drifting off to sleep, Jiang Cheng suddenly said, "It's time!"

Fan Li stood up at the same time and put the pocket watch back in his pocket.

Together, they headed for the storage room in the corner of the living room. Jiang Cheng and Fan Li were both cautious as they went. The mission was in its final moments, and no one knew whether the ghost might suddenly appear.

Just as they entered the room where the firewood was stored, a light suddenly appeared in the open space behind the villa.

A bus drove over from the distance and slowly stopped about twenty meters from the villa.

Fan Li took a deep breath, placed his hand on the door in front of him, and gently pushed.

The door opened.

Fatty's face was full of excitement. He nearly burst into tears.

Fan Li was the first to step outside, followed by Fatty, then Jiang Cheng.

They'd been in a warm environment inside the villa the whole time, so the cold outside took them by surprise.

Fan Li turned up the collar of his leather jacket, Jiang Cheng pulled his coat tighter around himself, and Fatty could only hug himself.

The bus doors opened slowly, and the three of them walked over.

The same people were on the bus: the couple and the mother and son, all sitting quietly in their seats.

The tour guide, who'd introduced himself as Zheng, stood on the bus, still as enthusiastic as ever. "Thank you for waiting, everyone! We're heading home now."

Home was such an enticing word that Fatty nearly climbed aboard at once, but an incongruous voice stopped him.

"Step back!"

Fatty turned around and saw Fan Li staring at them with a sinister look, the butcher's knife in his hand gleaming in the moonlight.

"I said, step back!" Fan Li, his face covered in folds of fat, waved the knife at them. They had no choice but to back away a few steps and leave the doorway clear.

Fan Li was the first to run onto the bus.

Just as Fatty was about to pull Jiang Cheng aboard, he saw that Jiang Cheng hadn't moved at all.

Fatty looked at him, puzzled.

Jiang Cheng's gaze swept slowly over the bus before settling on Guide Zheng's face.

"Traveler, don't you want to go home?" Guide Zheng smiled brightly and gave a slight bow, revealing a slender wrist with a beautiful rose tattoo. "If you're late, you won't be able to go back."