Everyone was stunned when they saw this scene.
What was going on?
Drinking beef porridge made the old woman vomit, but drinking plain porridge didn't?
After feeding the old woman all the porridge in the bowl, Ning Qiushui handed the bowl to Liu Renfeng, then left the room.
"Xiao Ge… what's going on?" Liu Renfeng asked quietly, full of curiosity.
Ning Qiushui shook his head."It's complicated. I'll explain later… Oh right, where's Ya Mo?"
Following his question, everyone suddenly realized Ya Mo, who had just been scared and ran downstairs… had disappeared at some point!
"Ya Mo!"
Liu Renfeng shouted.
But there was no reply in the villa—only a chilling silence.
A bad feeling filled everyone's hearts.
They went downstairs, searching for Ya Mo everywhere.
Finally, Ning Qiushui stood before the wide-open front gate, staring at the storm outside, and said:
"Don't bother looking."
"She ran."
"What? She ran?"
Liu Renfeng approached, glanced at the wind and rain outside, and couldn't help shivering.
For some reason, after hearing this, everyone instantly thought of… the fat guy who jumped out of the bus window and ended up being skinned by something!
The mission required them to take care of a bedridden old woman in the villa for five days.
During this time, if they left the villa… what would happen?
Ning Qiushui was about to return to the first-floor hall when his eyes fell on the shoe cabinet near the door.
He bent down and searched through it.
"Little bro, what are you looking for?"
Liu Renfeng rushed over.
Ning Qiushui narrowed his eyes.
"There are no men's shoes."
"Huh?" Liu Renfeng blinked.
Ning Qiushui's mind spun rapidly.
Even he didn't realize why his thoughts had suddenly become… so sharp.
"The female owner of the villa kept repeating earlier that her husband went to work."
"But in this house… there are no men's shoes at all."
Liu Renfeng froze.
"You mean…"
A cold glint flashed in Ning Qiushui's eyes.
"There are two possibilities."
"First, for some reason, her husband moved out."
"Second… she never had a husband."
Liu Renfeng raised an eyebrow.
"She doesn't have a husband? No way! But if that's true, then her daughter…"
Before he could finish, Ning Qiushui looked straight at him and slowly asked a question that sent chills down Liu Renfeng's spine:
"On what basis do you assume… that little girl is actually her daughter?"
"Just because… she was holding the girl's hand?"
Facing Ning Qiushui's gaze for a few seconds, Liu Renfeng broke into a cold sweat.
He swallowed hard, realizing the severity of the situation.
That's right.
There wasn't a single piece of evidence proving that the girl she was holding… was her daughter.
"…Let's go back first."
After thinking for a moment, Ning Qiushui glanced at the storm outside and felt a chilling sensation—as if something terrifying was watching him from within the rain.
He immediately shut the door, checked it carefully, then went with Liu Renfeng back to the hall.
Everyone looked pale.
The villa was huge. Initially, they had seven people, enough to feel a bit of vitality.Now Wang Yuning had died horribly, Ya Mo had run out into the storm, and only five remained.
"Ning Qiushui, earlier… what did that old woman say?"
"Xue Guize asked nervously.
He had been the calmest one so far—only because he used to do makeup for the dead and had seen many gruesome corpses, so his tolerance was better than most.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Ning Qiushui said frankly:
"She said… 'the meat is unfamiliar.'"
Everyone froze.
The meat… is unfamiliar?
"She's talking nonsense!"
Liu Renfeng immediately snapped, cursing angrily.
"Would I not know whether meat is familiar or unfamiliar?"
Seeing Liu Renfeng's anger, everyone felt slightly relieved.
His fierce aura seemed to dispel some of the eerie atmosphere.
But unlike everyone's fear, Ning Qiushui remained strangely calm, as if he had experienced scenes like this countless times.
"Which means, those three words… were not 'meat unfamiliar.'"
Everyone instantly fell silent again.
"What do you mean?"
Xue Guize frowned.
Ning Qiushui explained:
"The old woman upstairs… is very old, weak, and mentally unstable."
"Her speech is unclear."
"And we were influenced earlier by Wang Yuning, who just died."
"So we subconsciously assumed the first two words she said were 'meat unfamiliar.'"
"But actually… I don't think she was trying to say that."
Bei Dao snorted coldly with disdain.
"Who cares what that murderous ghost said?"
"Did none of you notice the fork and knife placed next to her this morning?"
"Clearly, she killed Wang Yuning last night!"
After pausing and glancing fearfully upstairs to ensure no one was there, he whispered:
"For all we know… the missing pieces of flesh from Wang Yuning's body… were eaten by her!"
His voice trembled. After he finished, Yan Youping shrieked in fear and clung to Liu Renfeng!
Liu Renfeng, startled, also shivered and cursed:
"Bei Dao! Are you trying to tell ghost stories now?"
"Look, you scared the girl!"
Bei Dao's own face was pale. He cracked his knuckles nervously and muttered:
"I don't want to die…"
"And I definitely don't want to die like Wang Yuning…"
"Didn't you see it? She was clearly… eaten…"
"So terrifying… it's really terrifying…"
Hearing Bei Dao, Xue Guize became irritated.
"Enough!"
"Stop talking!"
"Who wants to die, huh? Who?"
"Shouldn't we be thinking of a solution?!"
Liu Renfeng looked at Ning Qiushui, who was deep in thought.
To be fair, Ning Qiushui's calmness and composure gave everyone a sense of security—he had quietly become their emotional anchor.
"Xiao Ge, did you figure something out?"
Ning Qiushui looked up and glanced at him.
"I have a hypothesis. Tonight, I'll need someone brave… to verify it with me."
The moment they heard tonight, and remembered what happened the previous night, everyone fell silent once again.
After a long moment, Liu Renfeng gritted his teeth:
"Why at night? Can't we go during the day?"
Ning Qiushiu shook his head.
"No."
Liu Renfeng stiffened.
He wanted to stay quiet, but when he met Ning Qiushui's calm eyes, he blurted out:
"…Fine. I'll go with you!"
The moment he said it, he wanted to slap himself.
Damn it!
Why couldn't he control his mouth?!
"Good. Follow me tonight."
Right then, a blood-curdling scream suddenly echoed from the second floor:
"No! Don't!"
"Please… I know… Aaaaah!!!"
Everyone felt goosebumps explode across their skin.
They exchanged glances, seeing pure terror in each other's eyes.
That voice was unmistakable.
It was Ya Mo, the person who had just run out of the villa!