This is a bizarre rule, isn't it? It's supposed to grant me many children and good fortune

Marcus stood frozen in place, his heart pounding.

Then he heard—

A very faint, wet sound came from the shower, as if something was slowly rising from the bottom of the water.

Then came Kane's voice, filled with terror, coming from behind the curtain:

"...What's grabbing my foot!"

Before he could finish speaking...

"Crack, crack," the sound of bones breaking was dense and crisp, like someone twisting a bundle of chopsticks one by one in their hand.

Immediately following was the harsh scraping sound of fabric and flesh rubbing against the drain hole, wet and sticky, mixed with the muffled sound of water gurgling.

Kane's scream lasted only 3 seconds before turning into a muffled gurgling sound blocked by the floodwater. In an instant, all sound came to an abrupt end.

Marcus felt ice-cold all over, his throat felt like it was being squeezed by something, and after several seconds he suddenly managed to tear a slit open and squeeze out a short, distorted scream.

He reflexively dropped the candlestick in his hand, turned around abruptly, and frantically groped along the wall with both hands, almost tumbling and crawling out of the bathroom.

He rushed back to 304 in one breath, pushed open the door, almost tripped over the threshold, and stumbled into the room.

"Where's Kane?" Cidiato, who was sitting on the bed, was the first to stand up, his brows furrowed.

"Where is he?" Hassan also came closer, his eyes fixed on Marcus's face.

Marcus's chest heaved violently, his dark face appearing ashen in the candlelight, and his lips trembled for a long time before he finally managed to squeeze out a sound:

"The candle...the candle was blown out by a strange wind..."

"He...he was dragged into the drain...I heard the sound of bones breaking..."

The room suddenly fell silent.

The expressions of the remaining three Black men changed from shock to unfathomable fear.

Kana Kazuko was still curled up on the innermost bed, hugging her knees with her arms.

She didn't utter a sound from beginning to end, only burying her face in the shadows between her knees.

She seemed to have shrunk even more than before.

........................

Time flew by and it was 11 p.m.

The temperature inside the north-facing room had dropped to near zero degrees Celsius, and the white mist exhaled by everyone was clearly visible in the dim air.

305 Dormitory.

As previously agreed, Tasia was in charge of the first shift.

From 11 PM to midnight, a total of one hour.

Lin Feng, Wasim, and Evelyn had already crawled into their sleeping bags, zipping them up to their chins.

Park Tae-rang and August wrapped their upper bodies in heavy down jackets and covered their lower bodies with blankets. Although it wasn't as warm as a sleeping bag, it was enough to keep out the cold and get a good night's sleep.

Dormitory 303, which is separated from 305 by only one wall, presents a completely different scene.

Five people, no sleeping bags, no down jackets, only thin blankets.

The cold wind seeped in bit by bit, like fine knives, spreading along the ground.

Everyone was curled up on their beds, knees pressed against their chests, fingers hidden under their armpits, but still trembling.

In this situation, no one can sleep at all.

There was no dispute about who would be on the first watch, since everyone had their eyes open anyway.

Marco huddled on the bed near the door, the blanket pulled down to his nose, leaving only his eyes showing.

He turned his head to look at Lina in the next bed.

She was curled up in a ball, wrapped tightly in the blanket, her shoulders trembling slightly, and her lips were white from the cold.

Marco's Adam's apple bobbed, and a surge of impulse welled up inside him—

He wanted to go over and hug her; the combined body heat of the two of them would at least help them get through this long night.

But Rule 8 hung like a sword of Damocles, suppressing all his thoughts.

Rule 8: Each bed is for one person only; two people sharing a bed is strictly prohibited.

Marco was unwilling to give up. His mind raced for a few moments, then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he lowered his voice to speak:

"It's too cold. If we keep going like this, we'll freeze to death."

"How about we take the mattresses off and lay them on the floor so we can all huddle together for warmth?"

"That way, it won't count as sleeping in the same bed, so it shouldn't trigger the rule's penalty, right?"

Lina turned her head to the side, her teeth chattering slightly, her voice weak yet resolute:

"A mattress counts as a bed. You can try it if you don't believe me."

Marco then looked at another boy—the lean guy with a light blue stubble around his chin.

"How about... we give it a try first?"

The boy immediately shook his head, his expression resolute: "I would never joke with my own life."

After saying that, he threw off the blanket, rolled off the bed, and started doing push-ups on the floor.

The movements were fast and fierce, as if trying to squeeze the chill from his body into each rise and fall.

Just then, a knocking sound suddenly came from outside the door.

Under the flickering candlelight, the five people in the room all changed their expressions at once, quickly exchanging terrified glances.

The middle-aged man wearing black-rimmed glasses quickly raised his hand, making a shushing gesture, indicating that everyone must not make a sound.

[Rule 2: If you hear any sound coming from the hallway at night (including knocking, calling, or crying), you must not open the door or respond.]

There was a three-second silence outside the door, then a young man's voice rang out, sounding normal and natural through the door:

"I'm Lin Feng from room 305—I have a sleeping bag in my personal storage space, anyone want it?"

Upon hearing the word "sleeping bag," Marco instantly lost his composure and, without thinking, blurted out:

"I!"

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized what was happening, abruptly covered his mouth, and his face turned deathly pale.

But it was too late.

A wisp of extremely thin black mist silently seeped in from under the door, like a living snake, crawling along the ground, and coiling straight and precisely toward Marco.

Before he could even scream, the black mist had already entered his nostrils, mouth, and eyes—his seven orifices were instantly filled.

His skin quickly lost its color, becoming ashen, dry, and sunken, as if something had drained all his moisture and vitality from within.

In just a few seconds, a living person was reduced to a cold, empty shell.

Then, a gust of wind, seemingly from nowhere, swept through the room, and the empty shell was lifted up lightly, like a piece of paper, and crashed into the mirror in the room.

A ripple, like waves, spread across the mirror's surface. The empty shell was swallowed, the ripple subsided, and nothing remained in the mirror.

The remaining four men felt their hair stand on end, and their blood seemed to freeze in their veins.

No one dared to make a sound; only suppressed, heavy breathing rose and fell in the dim candlelight.

........................

23 points.

Lin Feng rolled over in his sleeping bag, the urge in his stomach pushing him in waves, forcing him to sit up.

The zipper of the sleeping bag made a distinct "zip" sound in the quiet room.

Tasia immediately turned to look at him and asked in a low voice, "Why are you awake? Are you feeling unwell?"

Lin Feng clutched his stomach, his face pale. "I have an upset stomach... I need to go to the toilet."