When everyone arrived at the courtyard, the naked male corpse downstairs had already been covered with a white sheet.
Everyone's expression was as still as stone, even their fear forgotten.
Only Wei Dong, utterly distraught, rushed towards Ke Xun and whispered, "Ke'er, did you see it last night? It was devastating!"
"Don't you guys always go to bed early?" Ke Xun retorted.
Wei Dong pounded his chest: "I don't know how I woke up in the middle of the night, they were making such a racket… Hao Wen was peering out the window, and I foolishly went over too, and now my eyes are glued shut. I watched the whole performance… I'm almost blind…"
Ke Xun patted his friend: "Just pretend you didn't see it."
Pretend you didn't see it? The problem is, he'd never forget that scene in eight hundred lifetimes! Wei Dong looked at the corpse covered with the white sheet on the ground, sighed, and suddenly felt sorry for the man. He died from exhaustion… He died, but before he died, all his privacy was exposed to the public, and in an infinitely magnified form.
Qin Ci and the elderly Li Taiyong had just descended the stairs, both with gloomy expressions. Qin Ci turned to those behind him and said, "Bring him down, cover him with a white sheet."
The people's stony expressions instantly came to life. Qiu Lu rushed over like a madwoman, shouting, "Who died? Who else died?!"
Soon, two people carried down a body covered with a white sheet, placing it next to Shou Zhu's corpse.
"Is it Zhishao?" Ke Xun asked.
Qin Ci nodded.
The frantic Qiu Lu turned to Ke Xun and asked, "Is it Zhishao? How do you know it's him? How did you find out?"
Xin Miao, her face as pale as paper, suddenly spoke up: "I saw it. Last night, that woman in red knocked on the door of room 309. After she went in, Zhishao rushed out." She then looked at Qin Ci, "It seems he entered your room."
Qin Ci nodded: "Last night he was probably terrified. He frantically knocked on our door, and Grandpa Li couldn't bear it and opened it for him."
"Was his death related to the woman in red?" Zhu Haowen suddenly asked.
Qin Ci shook his head helplessly: "I can't explain what happened. Last night, he rushed into our room in a panic. First, he said that the woman wasn't Xiao Sang, but a terrifying, snow-white demon. Then he complained that Shou Zhu opened the door for him... Anyway, he just kept rambling on and on about an hour later, he strangled himself." Qin Ci clearly hadn't slept well; his dark circles showed a hint of dejection. "I don't know if this has anything to do with that woman."
"What?! He strangled himself?" Qiu Lu asked, her eyes wide. "Why would he strangle himself? How could a person strangle themselves?!"
Qiu Lu rushed frantically toward the body covered by the white sheet. Before anyone could stop her, she had already lifted the sheet—Zhi Shao was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, his hands tightly gripping his neck, his face was bluish-black, his red eyes bulging out, and his blackish-purple tongue was sticking out...
"Ah!!!" Someone screamed in fright.
Soon, someone covered the body with the white sheet again, and the corpse was lifted and ruthlessly carried out the gate along with Shouzhu's body.
Qiu Lu, as if her bones had been removed, slumped against the wall, uttering, "Zhishao... he promised to marry me, he'd marry me after he got a divorce! He promised to marry me!"
This surprised everyone, as they hadn't noticed anything between the two before, but these private matters seemed insignificant in the face of death.
Sha Liu felt that Qiu Lu's current state was affecting their analysis, so she went over and gently patted her shoulder, saying, "The dead can't be brought back to life. What we need to do now is find a way to escape and survive!"
Qiu Lu didn't react, continuing to repeat her words over and over. No one had time to comfort her anymore, and they urgently began discussing the situation.
Sha Liu spoke first: "The situation is chaotic now. Two deaths have occurred at once. Shou Zhu's death is obvious; he was killed by that woman in red last night... But Zhi Qiao's death is very suspicious."
"Zhi Qiao violated the strict rules by knocking on other rooms' doors," Zhu Haowen said.
Ke Xun nodded: "Zhi Qiao's death is similar to the two girls from the night before last; they were both punished with death for visiting other rooms. Those two girls died in the fire that happened in room 402 before, so Zhi Qiao's death should also be related to his room 309."
"But Zhi Qiao didn't die in 309!" Xin Miao was skeptical.
"This is what we said before: the location of death is not necessarily restricted to the room itself. As long as the strict rules are violated, no matter where you escape to, you will suffer the backlash from that room," Ke Xun further explained.
Xinmiao wanted to ask something, but Zhu Haowen ruthlessly interrupted her: "This matter can be passed over. Let's continue talking about the woman in red."
Mu Yiran looked at Sha Liu: "Where did she come from?"
Sha Liu forced herself to remain calm: "From our 410."
Obviously, no one had expected this result, and all eyes turned to Sha Liu.
"Last night, the white woman appeared in our room. I watched in the dark as she changed into a red dress, put on makeup, wore a wig, and went out in high heels..." Sha Liu still felt lingering fear when she thought about it.
Qin Ci showed a look of realization: "No wonder she didn't knock on 410's door last night." — It seemed he had been observing these situations all night as well.
"If 309 and 402 use the same set of death rules, then the white woman incident in 410 obviously belongs to another set of rules," Zhu Haowen spoke again, "and this set of rules is one we need to figure out ourselves."
Everyone nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with this statement.
A familiar set of keys rang out, and the doorman strolled to the restaurant entrance.
People walked over in twos and threes, listening to the doorman repeating similar things to yesterday: "Is everyone here? Let's talk about two things today."
At times like this, everyone listened intently, including Qiu Lu, who was still wiping away tears.
"Let's start with 309. Old Mrs. Sun used to live there. She was said to have a large family, but none of her children were filial. None of her sons and daughters wanted to take care of her, and in the end, she couldn't bear it and hanged herself." The doorman sighed after he finished speaking.
Zhiqiao had strangled herself last night; like hanging, it was a form of suffocation. It seemed this was indeed a backlash from room 309.
"Let me tell you about 410. That's a long story," the gatekeeper said, sitting on the stool Ke Xun had brought over. He nodded and smiled, then cleared his throat and continued, "The original 410 was home to a family of highly educated intellectuals from our factory. It was Mr. Chen and Dr. Zhou, a married couple with three children. The eldest, Ya Fen, had a condition she'd had since childhood—we call it 'Old Man Tian,' but scientifically it's albinism. Her hair was white, her whole body was white, and she was born with poor eyesight, unable to tolerate light.
All three children were intelligent, and Ya Fen was smart too. But when she went to high school, her classmates kept giving her nicknames, so she simply dropped out. Ya Fen was proud and didn't like going out, plus she was afraid of the sun, so she spent all her time indoors reading. Mr. Chen and his wife had bought a new house long ago and moved out with their children. Ya Fen was left in the dormitory. She didn't want to go to unfamiliar places, but thankfully the neighbors all knew her, so they weren't too startled if they suddenly saw her."
"Her parents lived far away, so Dr. Zhou would come once a week to bring Ya-fen some food and drinks. Ya-fen usually stayed indoors; she was afraid of light, and she even relieved herself indoors, only daring to use the toilet at night. The toilet on the fourth floor in the west corner was her exclusive use, and people didn't like to see her in the middle of the night.
"Ya-fen was talented, loved reading and learning, and often wrote poems and short stories, sometimes sending them to newspapers, and some were actually published. Later, I heard she had a pen pal, and the two corresponded for several years before finally meeting in person, though the other person was obviously not happy.
"Later, Ya-fen changed; she went a bit crazy for a while, which we said was just a case of infatuation. She was constantly thinking about finding a boyfriend, saying she wanted to see the sun and the light, to meet her boyfriend in public, and to have everyone bless them. We all chuckled and tried to comfort her; the poor girl.
"Her parents favored her younger siblings; their family was well-off, and the whole family went on vacation every year, but she couldn't go." She moved to a bigger house, saying she didn't want to go, and her mother didn't try to persuade her anymore. Our tenement building was surrounded by cement walls by those bastards for three days, but her parents didn't know anything and barely cared about her.
"Later, Ya-fen stopped confining herself in the dark room and often came out in the bright sun, no longer wearing hats or sunglasses. That illness is aggravated by the sun, and Ya-fen died young, probably because of too much sun exposure. Besides, she wasn't happy.
"Many people didn't know about Ya-fen's death; they thought her parents had taken her to the city center to enjoy life. Actually, she died in 410. Her parents hurriedly arranged the funeral and didn't even let us old neighbors attend."
After the doorman finished speaking, everyone was silent for a long time.
The Ya-fen the doorman spoke of was completely different from the strange phenomenon that appeared last night—the huge, ecstatic, white woman.
"She wanted to see the light her whole life, and what happened last night was perhaps to let everyone witness it." "As a woman, Xinmiao began to consider the issue from Yafen's perspective.
"Then she shouldn't have harmed people," Qiu Lu murmured, "and directly or indirectly caused the deaths of two people."
"Because she harbored resentment," Mu Yiran's expression remained indifferent, "This resentment is just right as a condition for death."
"Actually, all three cases that have occurred so far have resentment behind them," Ke Xun added, "Just like Grandpa Li said before, everything has a cause and effect."
"Lunch is served!" Fifth Sister called out to everyone.
People entered the restaurant one after another. No one wanted to eat breakfast in the courtyard today; the two corpses covered with white sheets seemed to linger with an unyielding aura.
"The three cases have basically been sorted out. Where should we look for the seal next?" Sha Liu asked, having no appetite.
"The 410 case is not resolved," Zhu Haowen said, "Currently, we only know the cause of death, but the rules of death are still unclear." Qin Ci also fell into thought: "
Indeed, the incidents in the other two rooms were because the people involved violated the ban on visiting other rooms and were killed by the vengeful spirits of those rooms. But Ya Fen in 410 is an exception. Why did she appear out of thin air? The people living in 410 did not violate any bans."
"So Ya Fen didn't attack the people in our room," Sha Liu continued, "Last night she was circling around the building looking for suitable prey, and Shou Zhu opened the door for her, which is a clear response."
A clearly suicidal response—Sha Liu didn't say that.
"But why Ya Fen in 410? And not someone from 411 or 307?" Ke Xun said while peeling an egg.
"Because..." Sha Liu felt she could find the answer, "Because Shou Zhu responded to her during the day! Shou Zhu was the first to discover and point out the poems Ya Fen wrote in the toilet! And only he said those poems were romantic, which in itself is a kind of praise and affirmation!"
"If that's the case, Ya Fen wouldn't have needed to look for prey; she would have directly knocked on Shou Zhu's door in 309." "Zhu Haowen said.
Sha Liu was speechless.
Just when everyone was at a loss, Mu Yiran's voice rang out: "The reason it was Ya Fen from 410 is because someone released her the night before."