“It’s fake,” Zhu Shu said. “This is her death cry — I can tell. It’s completely identical.”

But this explanation did nothing to ease Cheng Qian’s terror. On the contrary, she was even more frightened than before!

“Why… why are we being made to hear this?” Cheng Qian said, her voice quivering, tears brimming in her eyes. “I don’t want to hear it… I can’t bear to hear this…”

Yu Yaqing, silent until now, reached her limit — she slammed her fist into the wall!

*Boom!* Blood seeped through the cracks between her knuckles.

“Damn it all!” she bit out between clenched teeth, voice low with fury. “Damn this game! I won’t lose! I won’t let these monsters have their way!!!”

She stormed toward the staircase, calling out: “Hu Ya! Come with me! We’re going through the third floor again!”

The fear in Hu Ya’s heart hadn’t fully subsided, but hearing Yu Yaqing’s voice, she bit her lip, steeled herself, and followed.

Su Man thought for a moment, then turned to Bai Youwei and Zhu Shu: “You two wait in the room. I’ll go take another look on the third floor.”

Bai Youwei couldn’t manage the stairs easily, and Zhu Shu wasn’t agile enough — bringing either of them along might only create complications rather than help.

The two of them nodded, and told Su Man to be careful.

Beside them, Cheng Qian panicked. “What about me? What do I do?”

“You?” Su Man frowned. “Go wait in your own room.”

“No!” Cheng Qian sobbed. “Don’t leave me alone! I’m begging you, let me come with you! Please!”

She was crying and pleading, near to getting on her knees before Zhu Shu and Bai Youwei. The way she looked, even if they refused her, she would clearly cling and not let go.

Bai Youwei said, her tone flat and tired of the whole thing, “If you want to come along, keep your mouth shut. If you dare make a single sound, don’t think I won’t throw you out.”

Cheng Qian nodded over and over, pressing both hands over her own mouth, tears rolling silently down her face.

The three of them went back to the room together.

Zhao Lanfen’s screaming came again.

Cheng Qian shuddered with terror, and followed behind Bai Youwei and Zhu Shu without uttering a word.

—

The screaming did not stop for the entire night.

The manor seemed to harbor some malicious intent — every time they were on the verge of drifting off to sleep, it would release Zhao Lanfen’s final death cry to jolt them awake in fright. Strung taut with terror, they were exhausted yet unable to rest.

At last, they endured until morning. The sun rose, and the sound finally stopped.

Every one of them had stayed up with eyes rubbed red.

The Inspector, which had been absent all night, reappeared.

It brought each of them their breakfast.

Compared to the abundance of yesterday’s lunch, breakfast was sparse — just a glass of milk and a plain, dry bread roll.

Bai Youwei had no appetite at all. She didn’t touch the bread, only drank the milk, and then returned to her room and went directly back to sleep.

Yu Yaqing, seeing how utterly unconcerned she looked, felt a prickle of irritation and asked, frowning, “You can really sleep at a time like this?!”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to sleep?” Bai Youwei looked back at her, expression blank. “Sleep deprivation affects my ability to think. Not only do I need to sleep — I suggest you do the same. Unless you believe you have enough energy to fight that beast again tonight as well. Frankly speaking, I think that would be walking straight into your own death.”

Yu Yaqing bristled: “You—!”

“Team leader… let’s rest.” Hu Ya couldn’t help stepping in to urge her. “Without any leads, continuing to search like this won’t get us anywhere…”

They hadn’t rested all night, and hadn’t eaten properly for a long stretch either. None of them had the physical reserves for another wide-scale sweep of the manor.

Su Man looked between the two of them and said, “Get some rest. Three or four hours will be enough.”

Yu Yaqing chewed her lower lip. A long pause. The tension in her expression finally eased.

She gave a single nod.

—

The entire morning, they rested.

The manor was quiet and still.

Then it was midday, and the Inspector rang the dining bell —

*Ding-ling-ling, ding-ling-ling…*