CH 4

”Why!” Huang Tao was the first to yell. Then, seeming to realize she had overreacted, she immediately quieted down. “I…I hate it, sleeping in a coffin bed. It’s too ugly.”

Feeling the same, Aunt Li echoed, “That’s right! This bed is so unlucky, ah! If you want to sleep in it, you can sleep in it! But I won’t sleep in it.”

Finished speaking, she plopped down cross-legged on the floor, pulling Huang Tao’s clothes to let her sit with her. The two sat side-by-side in a demonstration.

Wang Jianguo frowned. “Look at these two rule papers. There are four places where this bed is mentioned, and it’s recommended to sleep in bed at night. If you refuse to go to bed, you will be polluted by “Him.” Don’t blame me for tying you up when you do, regardless of any affections.”

”Who cares about them?” Zhao Peng sneered, “They have packed their bags for the afterlife. At least the two of them won’t be alone on their way to hell.”

An aunt with so many complaints and a big coward who he hated since the beginning, it was better for them to die!

It could be seen that Zhao Peng really didn’t care about their life or death, and spying Wang Jianguo’s cold face, Aunt Li shivered. She stood up embarrassingly. “Don’t be angry, aren’t I just afraid of problems? Sleep, we’ll just sleep in the bed.”

”What about the rest of you?” Wang Jianguo glanced at the remaining few.

Min Jingyi and Su Rong, who thought that the bed was safer, expressed their opinions. “Of course, we’ll sleep in the bed.”

Seeing Li Hui betray her so easily, Huang Tao was quick to change her tune and briskly stood up. “Then it’s okay if we remove the wooden baseboards around the bed, right? It also said so in the rules.”

“Yes, yes, yes! It won’t be as unlucky if we remove them.” Aunt Li, the grasshopper on the wall, jumped up again.

”That’s……”

“No!” Su Rong couldn’t help standing up to refute.

Although she still wasn’t sure whether the scarlet letters she saw were polluted, as Wang Jianguo pointed out, three of the four rules showed the importance of the bed. How could they remove it so easily?

The fourth rule was likely to be contaminated by “Him”.

She concealed the matter of the scarlet letters and offered her own speculations. Min Jingyi immediately nodded in agreement. “I think so too, let’s not touch the bed. Let the coffin be a coffin, as long as it is safe.”

“Hey, I found the toilet!” Zhao Peng suddenly interrupted their discussion, pointing to a door behind the daily living area and shouting.

Posted on the wall were signs with male and female symbols on the left and right sides of the doors. The left side was the men’s toilet while the right side was the women’s.

”There should be no problems with these signs. If you need to use the bathroom, do it quickly. Don’t forget to pay attention to whether there is paper in the toilet.”

Although he said so, no one dared to take the lead. Bathrooms have been a breeding ground for horror incidents since ancient times, and humans had an innate fear of them.

”Wait?” Zhao Peng suddenly thought of something. “Why can’t we just urinate on the ground? Knowing that this place is dangerous and still heading in, aren’t we just looking for death?”

This method made everyone’s eyes shine. If they didn’t have to go inside the restroom, there would be no better outcome.

However, Wang Jianguo stopped him with a solemn face. “No, that is absolutely not possible!”

”Why?” Zhao Peng questioned with dissatisfaction.

“Have you forgotten the “General Rulebook of Ghost Talks“? In ghost talks, we must conform to our roles. We are now customers. Would customers urinate and defecate freely in the mall?”

After Wang Jianguo finished speaking, he was the first to go in and lead the charge.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, not daring to follow in.

After thinking about the rules she saw, Su Rong resolutely walked in on behalf of the girls. She chose to temporarily believe in the rules and the red letters she had seen. The sign on the toilet was fine and there was paper in the toilet, so the bathroom was safe.

The toilet was enclosed with only a small window sealed by frosted glass. A dim orange chandelier hung on the ceiling, flickering from time to time, looking ghastly. A faint stench lingered in her nose, and there was also a faint smell of blood-like rust.

This kind of space would undoubtedly give people a great sense of oppression. The chandelier swayed making a creaking sound, and the “drip drip” sound of water leaking from the water pipe. All made people shudder and want to run out directly.

Su Rong quickly pulled open the door of the stall and there was toilet paper in it. She quickly solved her physiological problems in the small confined space, flushed, washed her hands, then opened the door and went out.

She did not breathe out in relief until she reached the door. Facing everyone’s questioning eyes, she shook her head. “It’s okay, there’s no danger inside. It’s just scary.”

Still a little scared in her heart, Min Jingyi glanced at Huang Tao, hesitated for a moment, then turned to Li Hui. “Auntie Li? How about we go inside together?”

Noticing this scene, Su Rong’s eyes flashed thoughtfully.

Min Jingyi was avoiding Huang Tao? Why? Did she notice anything?

However, Aunt Li shook her head. “I don’t want to go now.”

Seeing her refusal, Huang Tao was puzzled why the other party didn’t find her first. She was overjoyed and opened her mouth to speak. “I—”

Su Rong interrupted her in time. “Sister Min. I’ll accompany you inside one more time.”

As she spoke, she walked up and held Min Jingyi’s arm. Under Min Jingyi’s grateful gaze, the two walked into the toilet together.

When they got inside, she deliberately asked with suspicion. “Why didn’t you want to come in with Huang Tao just now?”

Surprised by her cautiousness, Min Jingyi smiled wryly. “Maybe I’m overthinking it. After we came out of the clothes department, I felt a little change in Huang Tao.”

”What change?”

”I can’t say exactly, but I still remember when she came out of the clothing section. Her face was rosy, which was really weird. And she stayed in there for too long. From the time when the sound of her footsteps stopped to the time when she came out, it was well over ten seconds.”

This was what Min Jingyi thought of later. The loss of her footsteps should mean that the other party met the mannequin mentioned in the rules. Then if she did what she said, the mannequin would have disappeared after ten seconds. With Huang Tao’s timid personality, she would definitely run out immediately after finding out that she was safe.

But no, she dragged her feet for two or three minutes before coming out.

Remembering she had walked alone with her for a long time, Min Jingyi immediately had goosebumps on her arms, feeling deeply afraid.

Su Rong originally suspected that Huang Tao was polluted by “Him”, but now she was even more sure that at least the scarlet letters pertaining to the clothing area in the rules were completely wrong.

”Maybe the solution to the abnormality in the clothes section is wrong.” She frowned slightly. “But how can we convince the others of this?”

Min Jingyi had already finished using the bathroom and spoke while washing her hands. “Let’s head out first. We’ll find a chance to talk to Brother Wang. There’s nothing in the clothing area, so there shouldn’t be any problems in the short term.”

Walking out, the two tacitly agreed not to say anything more and each found a bed to lie on.

It was the first time for everyone to experience a coffin bed, which was really novel. Min Jingyi originally came to the mall to buy snacks and distributed them to everyone for dinner. After eating hastily, they were ready to rest.

It’s a bit early to rest at 7 o’clock, and the daily living area is brightly lit so everyone couldn’t help but chat.

The greatest concern was naturally the place where they were trapped now. Aunt Li’s voice conveyed the uneasiness of living in an unfamiliar environment. “Is it really okay to live in the daily living area?”

Wang Jianguo nodded. “I was selected for a ghost talk before. There was also a similar safety zone there. During the early stages, “He” cannot enter until a specific amount of time.”

“If the lights in the daily living area are turned off, will something dangerous happen?” Min Jingyi queried.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Zhao Peng sneered, “It definitely will! Why else would it tell us to come back immediately after the lights go out?”

Su Rong thought of something. “In that case, when we go out to explore tomorrow, we should leave a person in the daily living area. If the lights turn off, they can alert others.” After thinking about it, she added, “Make that two. You will feel insecure if you are alone.”

Truthfully, the reason she asked to keep two people was that if Huang Tao was alone, she might play some tricks in the safe zone. Su Rong couldn’t trust her for the time being.

“You’re right.” This was what Wang Jianguo wanted to say. “When we go out to explore tomorrow, we’ll choose two people to stay here in turns. If the lights are suddenly turned off, one person will come out to call others, and the other will stay behind.”

Everyone gradually fell into a deep sleep as they chatted.

Late in the night, Li Hui suddenly felt the urge to pee. She didn’t go to the toilet earlier because she didn’t want to urinate. Now she couldn’t hold back in the middle of the night, so she had no choice but to wake up.

When she came to the door of the toilet, she deliberately looked up at the sign at the door.

——A water drop-shaped yellow head.

“Ah!”

Aunt Li was frightened and crawled back into bed screaming.

The others were awakened by her and Zhao Peng cursed at her blearily. “What are you screaming for!? Did you see a ghost?”

“I did see a ghost.” Auntie Li sobbed. “That toilet, the sign on top wasn’t human!”

Su Rong was sleeping shallowly at first, but she woke up to the commotion. Hearing this, she looked past and sure enough, the symbol on the sign seemed different from before.

“Wait and go again.” She comforted. “It should change back in a bit.”

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Aunt Li held back for a long time in shock and fear. But she finally couldn’t help it and walked over again. Fortunately, the signs above this time were the normal symbols for men and women, and there were no abnormalities.

She breathed a sigh of relief and her desire to urinate welled up. She couldn’t help rushing into the toilet quickly, opening the door of the nearest stall and quickly squatted over the bowl to relieve herself.

She breathed a long sigh of relief after relieving herself and reached for the toilet paper with her opposite hand.

After feeling for it twice, there was nothing. Aunt Li turned her head in confusion and found that the place where the toilet paper should have been was empty.

Aunt Li froze, suddenly remembering that she was in a hurry when she came in and forgot to check whether there was toilet paper in the stall.

And one of the rules was — if there is no toilet paper in the bathroom, please don’t use the toilet.

“Knock knock knock.”

Someone rapped on the toilet door from outside. The abrupt knocking sound was especially noticeable in the quiet bathroom. Aunt Li turned around stiffly, unable to make a sound as if her voice was broken.

Something spread from the toilet door to the woman’s feet, soaking the toes of her shoes.

Aunt Li’s eyes widened in terror, teardrops rolling down her pale face uncontrollably.

“Crack.”

The door opened. A human voice, seemingly synthesized by machinery, softly asked, “Are you here to play with me?”