It's late at night.

In the early morning, sunlight streamed through the beige curtains.

"Bang bang bang—"

A series of loud knocks on the door startled Xia Yao awake from his dream; he thought that thing had come back again.

But seeing the natural light filtering through the curtains and the time on his phone screen brought him some peace of mind.

It was noisy outside, and I could vaguely hear other people's voices.

Xia Yao looked through the peephole and saw that the person outside the door was a middle-aged man who looked to be the oldest in the group.

At this moment, the man was banging on the door anxiously, and after receiving no response for a long time, he became fearful.

"I hope this young man didn't get into trouble too?"

He was about to peer through the peephole when Xia Yao opened the door.

The man lost his balance and almost fell inside, but luckily he managed to grab the door frame.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're alright, young man."

After standing up straight, the man touched his sparse hair to ease the awkwardness.

Xia Yao stepped out of the room and asked bluntly, "What happened?"

At this point, the man slapped his thigh.

"Someone's dead! My goodness! Room 703 is in a terrible state!"

703? The man who guided them, intending to seize the power of discourse and become the leader of the team?

He actually died? This was somewhat unexpected for Xia Yao.

After all, that man seemed very professional and capable, so how come he was finished on the first night?

703 was right across the door. When Xia Yao arrived, the others were already in the room.

Upon entering the room, a strong stench of blood assaulted the senses.

Xia Yao spotted the corpse by the windowsill at a glance; it was so badly disfigured that it was almost unrecognizable.

The body was bent over, with its hands covering its head, seemingly in a protective posture.

Something heavy fell and smashed half of his head and one of his hands.

The flesh was mangled and bloody, a truly gruesome sight.

His once handsome face was now unrecognizable, and his artistic ponytail was now soaked in blood and flesh, making him look nauseating.

Red and white seeped into the gray carpet, and splattered blood and flesh stained the off-white curtains red.

Tragic, absolutely tragic.

This was the first time Xia Yao had ever seen such a scene. Her stomach churned, and she almost vomited up everything she had eaten yesterday.

However, he was quite composed and managed to hold back.

Meanwhile, a girl who also appeared to be a newcomer emerged from the restroom with a deathly pale face.

"Who was the first to discover the body?" Xia Yao asked instinctively.

The first people to arrive at the scene may make some special discoveries.

The girl, looking somewhat weak from vomiting, spoke frailly, "It's me. I saw it was eight o'clock, so I wanted to come out and find you, but I saw the door to room 703 was open, and then..."

She glanced at the mangled corpse again, then covered her mouth and rushed into the bathroom.

Judging from her expression, she probably hasn't discovered anything.

"Hurry up and look for clues to see if we can discover the ghost's killing pattern."

The bespectacled man, having probably seen too many bloody scenes like this, was already rummaging through drawers and cabinets with a blank expression.

Xia Yao had recovered. He ignored the mangled corpse and went to observe his surroundings.

Something capable of smashing a person like that must be incredibly heavy, but no weapon was found in the room.

Xia Yao subconsciously thought of what had happened to him the night before. He walked straight past the corpse and pulled back the curtains.

To his surprise, the glass window was closed from the inside, and there were no signs of damage or opening.

The ghost didn't come from outside the window, but from somewhere else?

Seeing Xia Yao's actions, the bespectacled man was very perceptive and immediately pressed her for answers.

Why did you go straight to the window? Did something happen?

Xia Yao was just as perceptive, and she was also searching, but the bespectacled man noticed her actions, which was clearly not a coincidence.

Could it be that he also experienced ghosts knocking on his window and door?

As a newcomer, Xia Yao knew far too little. He didn't think it would be more advantageous for him to keep it a secret at this time, so he told her everything.

"Last night, something knocked on my door and window. I was afraid of being discovered, so I hid under the bed."

There might be potential risks in revealing this, but he desperately needs information right now, especially regarding avoiding ghosts.

Fortunately, his guess about the bespectacled man's reaction was correct.

"I encountered that too."

The bespectacled man spoke calmly, as if he were simply talking about eating and drinking.

Xia Yao sighed inwardly. He was unaware of the situation, but this young man was quite cunning.

Obviously, being targeted by a ghost is not a good thing, so even though the bespectacled man knew there might be something wrong with the window, he didn't go there, but waited for someone to go and test the waters first.

He only spoke after observing the reactions of others and confirming that someone was in the same situation as him.

If no one gets near the window, will he never bring it up? Will he simply hide the fact that he encountered a ghost?

How cunning! Xia Yao became more wary without realizing it.

To Xia Yao's surprise, the others also spoke up.

"I encountered that too."

"I... I heard strange noises outside, and I was so scared I fainted. I don't even know what it was."

……

Upon discovery, everyone encountered knocking on windows and doors.

Good heavens, this ghost has visited everyone, but the tricks are too old and no one is buying it.

"If you encounter this ghost, hiding and not making a sound should be fine."

The bespectacled man summarized the pattern, then changed the subject, "But how did 703 die? He doesn't seem like the type to run away rashly."

"He must have violated some taboo, the kind that guarantees death."

The speaker was a beautiful young woman whose silver nail polish shimmered with tiny sparkles.

"The most urgent task now is to analyze the rules of how ghosts kill people, otherwise no one can expect to live in peace," the middle-aged man who knocked on the door reminded us.

"Is it possible that the order in which ghosts kill people is related to the order in which they enter the room?"

Xia Yao hesitated before speaking, making a bold guess.

After all, they followed the steps of the man with the ponytail into the room yesterday, so he was naturally the first one to enter.

Everyone's expression changed upon hearing this, and they asked in surprise and doubt, "Who is the second one?"

However, their rooms were located at a corner, so it could only be confirmed that 703 was the first to enter, and the others could not be sorted.

"Don't panic. In eerie games, killings rarely happen in the order of entry. It's mainly about observing the ghost's killing patterns. Everyone, carefully check the room for anything unusual."

Fearing that everyone would panic and lose their composure, the bespectacled man quickly changed the subject.

Xia Yao also discerned another layer of meaning in his words, namely that ghosts would prioritize killing those who triggered the death pattern, and she wondered if there was any room for manipulation in this matter.

Seemingly in an attempt to alleviate their anxiety, everyone began to thoroughly search the room.

Xia Yao immediately noticed that something was missing.

The green has lost a touch of its vibrant green.

The glass coffee table by the window was empty; the potted plants had long since disappeared.

There seemed to be some black dust on the soft carpet, but it blended in with the gray and red and was not easy to spot.

What was the plant in 703 again?

Xia Yao searched her memory and quickly found the answer.

"The orange tree is gone!"