The meat had no flavor

The sudden scream shattered the villa's deathly silence.

Everyone immediately looked toward the second floor.

"What happened?"

"I... I don't know!"

"Let's go see!"

They hurried upstairs and reached the source of the scream.

It was the paralyzed old woman's room.

Wang Yuning, who had carried the meal upstairs earlier, was now on the floor in a corner, hugging her knees and trembling!

The steaming food... was scattered all over the floor.

"What happened?"

Ning Qiushui asked.

In front of everyone, Wang Yuning slowly raised a finger and pointed at the paralyzed old woman lying on the bed, her expression stiff. Her voice shook:

"She... she... just... suddenly spoke!"

Following her finger, everyone looked at the old woman, who lay motionless on the bed, gazing absently out the window.

Liu Chengfeng scoffed.

"And here I thought something serious had happened... didn't you hear the lady of the house? Her mother's just paralyzed."

"Being paralyzed doesn't mean she's in a vegetative state. Why wouldn't she be able to speak?"

"I thought you were supposed to be so tough."

"One bedridden old woman scared you this badly?"

Having finally found an opening, Liu Chengfeng fired off his remarks like a machine gun.

But Wang Yuning seemed terrified. She huddled in the corner, shaking, without a single retort.

Ning Qiushui glanced at the old woman, then motioned for Liu Chengfeng to clean the floor while he pulled Wang Yuning to her feet.

"She spilled it, but I have to clean it up. What kind of bullshit is this..."

Liu Chengfeng kept grumbling, but he was surprisingly obedient. He quickly fetched a towel from the bathroom and began wiping the floor.

The sight felt rather incongruous.

Despite looking like someone not to be messed with, Liu Chengfeng did everything Ning Qiushui said.

Still, no one asked about it.

Once the room was clean, Ning Qiushui approached the old woman's bedside and studied her kindly face. He tucked her blanket around her, then left the room with the others.

By the time they returned to the first floor, it was completely dark outside.

Pale light illuminated the hall.

Yet for some reason, they still felt as though they were standing in darkness.

The silence was unsettling.

"All right, Wang Yuning, you can tell us now... what did the old woman say to you upstairs?"

Ning Qiushui sat on the sofa opposite Wang Yuning and poured himself a cup of hot tea.

At the mention of what had happened upstairs, the little color she had regained drained from Wang Yuning's face again!

Her fingers clutched the hem of her clothes.

"Just now... I was feeding her, right?"

"She took a bite of the beef tenderloin and... and spat it right out!"

Liu Chengfeng's eyes widened.

"Fuck, she spat it out?"

"Is my cooking that bad?"

Ning Qiushui frowned.

"Liu Chengfeng, let her finish."

Liu Chengfeng smacked his lips and muttered a few words under his breath, then shut up.

Fear showed in Wang Yuning's eyes. She looked reluctant, as though she desperately wanted to avoid recalling what had happened:

"...I thought it was too hot, so I tried a bite myself. But it wasn't hot, so I fed her another bite. She spat that out too..."

"And this time, after she spat it out, she actually... actually turned her head and stared at me. She said... said..."

She struggled to finish the sentence. Xue Guize's brows drew together so tightly they could have crushed a mosquito, and he demanded:

"What did she say? Just tell us!"

At Xue Guize's urging, Wang Yuning finally steeled herself and forced out the words:

"Her voice was very quiet. I didn't hear it clearly. I think she said... the meat had... the meat had no flavor!"

"Yes... I think she said the meat had no flavor!"

The moment she said that, a terrifying flash of lightning streaked past the window, followed by a deafening thunderclap!

Everyone jumped at the thunder!

"Holy shit, that thunder..."

Looking out at the pitch-black sky, Ning Qiushui suddenly walked to the window and opened it.

Cold wind swept against his face, carrying a mist of rain.

"It's raining... heavy rain, strong winds..."

He closed the window again, his expression growing much graver.

"These things have already started coming true..."

"That letter... really wasn't a prank?"

Unlike the others, Ning Qiushui had received a... mysterious letter before boarding the bus.

He had never told anyone else about it.

While the others whispered among themselves about the meat having no flavor, Ning Qiushui suddenly shut the window.

He sealed it tightly, leaving no gap for even the slightest breeze.

"All right, if she won't eat, then forget it. It's getting late. We should get some rest..."

"We'll get up early tomorrow and make her some meat congee."

"Have you picked your rooms?"

The discussion abruptly fell silent.

"Are we... really going to sleep in separate rooms?"

Yamo, who rarely spoke, finally piped up. She looked timid, seemingly frightened by what had just happened.

Xue Guize said:

"We took a quick look at the rooms earlier. They're large and clean, with double beds. Two people could easily share."

Yan Youping's eyes were still slightly swollen. At the suggestion of sharing rooms in pairs, she said anxiously:

"But... but there are three girls!"

Xue Guize sighed.

"The rooms aren't small, and you girls are all fairly petite. You can squeeze in together."

The three girls looked at one another without speaking.

No one liked sharing a bed with strangers.

But they already knew that this villa... wasn't safe.

They all felt as though something in the shadows was watching them...

After turning off the lights, they went upstairs together.

Following a brief discussion, Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng were the first to enter a room together.

The three girls took the innermost room along the right-hand corridor, farthest from the old woman they were supposed to look after.

The two remaining men chose the room beside Ning Qiushui's.

For some inexplicable reason, Ning Qiushui seemed to possess a strange sort of magic. Being near him made everyone feel safer.

Wang Yuning was the last of the girls to head to their room.

While she was still lost in thoughts of the day's events, everyone else had already gone into their rooms.

Suddenly, she was alone in the corridor.

The corridor's only light switch was by the stairs, while their room was at the far end, at least twenty meters away.

Turning off the light would mean walking those twenty meters in the dark.

Her gaze fell on the open louvered window at the end of the corridor.

Outside, the trees grew like demons, twisted and hideous. With the cold wind, they seemed ready to reach inside at any moment and devour Wang Yuning!

She shuddered. Not daring to turn off the light, she hurried into the innermost room and firmly locked the door.

Bang!

Inside their room, Ning Qiushui took off his shirt, revealing sharply defined muscles that looked packed with explosive strength.

Liu Chengfeng, who was brushing his teeth, glanced over in surprise.

With his clothes on, Ning Qiushui hadn't looked nearly this muscular!

"Man... I had no idea you were hiding all that!"

"With those V-lines and abs, wouldn't rich women fight over you if you went to a club?"

Liu Chengfeng chuckled and waggled his eyebrows at Ning Qiushui.

Ning Qiushui rolled his eyes.

"So why do you keep following me?"

At that, Liu Chengfeng spat out his toothpaste foam. His playful expression faded, and he said seriously:

"...You're observant, man. But I can't tell you yet. Once we get out of this blood gate alive, I'll tell you..."

Ning Qiushui was taken aback by his answer, then smiled.

"How mysterious."

Liu Chengfeng shook his head and changed the subject.

"By the way, man, don't you think... there's something wrong with that old woman?"

Ning Qiushui was silent for a moment.

"Not just the old woman. There's something wrong with the whole family, and even this villa complex!"

Liu Chengfeng froze.

"What's wrong with the villa complex?"

Ning Qiushui said:

"The lady of the house said her family was the only one living in this area, but quite a few villas I passed showed signs of being lived in, left within the last month or two. All eight houses I saw were like that, never mind the many others I didn't see..."

"That proves... people were living in this area not long ago."

Listening to Ning Qiushui, Liu Chengfeng felt cold sweat slowly seep down his back.

If Ning Qiushui's observations were right, then... where had all those people gone?

Ning Qiushui walked to the window, his expression grave, and continued with his hands in his pockets:

"Besides, someone living alone generally wouldn't buy a garden villa this big. Most people who moved here would have family or friends with them. Even if they went out to work, their homes wouldn't be completely empty..."

"But in reality, it seems the only people left in this villa complex... are us."

He pointed outside.

Following his finger, Liu Chengfeng saw that the dozen or so houses beyond their window... were all pitch-black!

There wasn't... a single light!

"This..."

"How is this possible?!"

His expression turned extremely grim.

Ning Qiushui said slowly:

"Something must have happened here."

"Something... very frightening."

He carefully checked the window, making certain it was locked tight enough to keep out even the slightest breeze. Only then did he draw the curtains and return to bed.

Without the wind, both men lying on the bed noticed a... strange smell.

"What's that smell?"

Liu Chengfeng asked.

It wasn't strong, but it lingered without fading, as though... something had rotted and gone moldy.

Recalling what Xue Guize had said earlier, the two searched until they finally identified the source.

-Right above their heads.

The wooden ceiling there was coated in something sticky, as though some liquid was seeping through.

The liquid was yellowish-brown and smelled awful.

"Holy shit..."

Nauseated, Liu Chengfeng hurriedly dragged the bed farther away.

"What is that stuff?"

Ning Qiushui stood beneath it, squinting at the damp patch on the ceiling. After a long while, he said:

"Beardy, do you trust me?"

Liu Chengfeng didn't understand what Ning Qiushui meant, but nodded anyway.

"I do."

Ning Qiushui said slowly:

"Tonight, don't fall asleep. Don't turn on the lights. No matter what you hear... ignore it."

Liu Chengfeng went rigid.

"Hey, are you saying... something's going to happen tonight?"

Ning Qiushui remained silent for a long time before finally giving an almost imperceptible nod.

He switched off the light, and the room immediately sank into a silent, terrifying darkness...

Liu Chengfeng lay in bed, his thoughts in turmoil.

Though he did his best to stay awake, as time passed, drowsiness finally spread through his body, impossible to resist...

After an unknown stretch of time, a strange sound woke him.

It came from outside the door.

It was a sound... like two sharp metal objects scraping against each other.

Scrrrape-

Scrrrape-

Hearing that hair-raising sound, the first thing that came to Liu Chengfeng's mind... was a knife and fork!

He cooked often and knew the sounds of kitchen utensils and cutlery all too well!

Liu Chengfeng abruptly sat up, intending to turn on the light, but Ning Qiushui's warning suddenly echoed in his ears, and he lowered his raised hand.

"Qiushui, are you there?"

Liu Chengfeng asked in a hushed voice, and a "shh" immediately came from beside him.

"Don't make a sound."

Ning Qiushui's voice was just as quiet, with an almost imperceptible tremor.

Clearly, he was nervous too.

Their door didn't seal completely; light from the hallway seeped through the gap beneath it.

As that terrifying sound passed their door, an eerie shadow flashed past with it...

The dreadful scraping nearly sent Liu Chengfeng's heart leaping into his throat!

The thing outside... had actually stopped at their door!

Liu Chengfeng clenched his fists and stopped breathing!

What exactly was that thing outside?

If it came in... what would happen?

In that instant, his mind went completely blank, as though he had lost the ability to think.

It might have been several minutes, or it might have been only an instant, before the terrifying shadow outside finally moved again, heading farther down the hallway...

The shrill scraping rang out once more-

Scrrrape-

Scrrrape-

It felt as though an executioner was searching for a prisoner to slice to death...

It continued deeper into the hallway, pausing at the second door before moving to the door at the very end. After lingering outside that one as well, it fell completely silent...

Ning Qiushui suddenly sat up in bed, crept to the door, and pressed his ear against the gap.

He listened for a long time.

No more sounds came from outside.

It was as though the shadow had simply vanished without warning.

After listening quietly for over ten minutes and confirming that all sound outside had ceased, he returned to bed.

"Hey, what was that thing outside?"

Liu Chengfeng asked quietly.

Ning Qiushui shook his head.

"I don't know, but it definitely wasn't human."

"It didn't make any sound when it walked."

At those words, cold sweat immediately beaded on Liu Chengfeng's forehead.

No way...

This villa...

Could there really be something unholy here?