By the time the landlady finished speaking, Qing Huan, standing beside her, was already quite pale. Gu Mian saw his hair standing on end, his face ashen.
When they left the landladyâs house, his steps were still unsteady, and he nearly fell, but Gu Mian was quick to catch and support him.
"If youâre this easily scared, why enter an instance at all?" Gu Mian looked down at him.
The first time entering an instance was compulsory, but now, players should be entering voluntarily. It wasnât like someone was holding a gun to their head, forcing them in.
Qing Huan, his face white, replied, "To live, to not starve to death... to survive..."
He stammered, "D-donât you know? Outside the instances, near our homes, itâs already chaotic. There are even people daring enough to commit home invasion robberies...
"You might think Iâm exaggerating, but thatâs how it is. Some people roam the streets in gangs, robbing anyone they see.
"The signals are down, so we canât contact the police. All regions are cut off from each other, so itâs impossible to issue commands. Even if the state wants to manage the situation, itâs difficult.
"And although my grades werenât great, I did pay attention in history class. Doctor, donât you think this game is like human evolutionary history?
"Itâs always been survival of the fittest. Historically, how many unambitious nations were invaded by stronger ones? How many people from less advanced civilizations were sold as slaves?
"Isnât the current situation so similar to those times? People all over the world are starting to evolve. If we donât become stronger, weâll be the weak ones, destined to become sacrifices.
"This evolution game has only just begun, and many might not have sensed it yet. But I believe that as the gap between the strong and the weak gradually widens, thatâs when history will repeat itself."
Although this wasnât an apocalypse with zombies roaming everywhere like in horror movies, it was another kind of end of the world.
It compelled each person to become stronger; otherwise, they would face a tragic end.
Qing Huan looked at Gu Mian. "Doctor, since this evolution game began, havenât you encountered people with ill intentions towards you?"
Ill intentions? That sounds like they were after his body.
Gu Mian touched his chin. "Of course, I have. A group of people wanted to rob me of my things."
"And then?" Qing Huan asked, curiosity apparent.
"And then?" Gu Mian lowered his hand. "Then their heads were almost sawed off by me."
Qing Huan: "..."
By the time they arrived at the restaurant where they were supposed to meet, it was already past four. But the others didnât complain. They were waiting there, their expressions distant, lost in who knows what thoughts. It wasnât until Gu Mian took the chainsaw off his back and put it down that they seemed to react and come to their senses.
"Whatâs going on with you guys?" Gu Mian asked Yuwen Hao.
Yuwen Hao swallowed before speaking. "I was thinking about todayâs investigation... We first went to Huang Yuâs place... Huang Yu had received a terrifying phone call, so naturally, we started by investigating the call... We asked the landlady if anyone had died in that house and if the deceased had any connection to the phone. But the landlady said no one had died there, and no one had ever encountered any supernatural incidents. At first, we didnât believe her, so we went to ask Huang Yuâs neighbors and people living nearby. But their accounts were all the same; theyâd never heard of any supernatural incidents. It was very strange. Just when we were at a loss, Huang Yuâs landlady suddenly found us again, saying sheâd remembered something...
"She said the phone number for the house Huang Yu rented had been changed not long ago because the original number was a bit unlucky. The landlady believed in that sort of thing, so she specifically had the number changed. The landlady said what we encountered might be related to this newly changed phone number. We then copied down the phone number and went to the phone companyâs service hall to check it. And a check indeed revealed that this phone number had a problem! The previous owner of this phone number was named Zhou Guanglei. Because he died, the phone number was canceled. Coincidentally, he also lived in this town."
Yuwen Hao paused here and took a sip of water. The three of them had a heavy workload, investigating the house and then the owner of the phone number.
"We followed the trail and got the phone number and work address of Zhou Guangleiâs parents. But he was from out of town; his parents didnât live here at all. Calling them was useless; they didnât know anything. With no other choice, we had to go to his workplace. Fortunately, that place hadnât closed down yet."
Just as Yuwen Hao said this, Gu Mian suddenly asked, "What was Zhou Guangleiâs workplace?"
Yuwen Hao paused slightly. "A plastics factory, called Mingliang Plastic Factory."
Sure enough...
This was also the workplace of Zhao Wen, who had been killed by the Knocking Ghost.
Hearing this, Qing Huan opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but Gu Mian stopped him. "Let Yuwen Hao finish first."
Yuwen Hao glanced at the two of them strangely but didnât press further and continued, "When we investigated at that plastics factory, we discovered that more than one person had died there! Someone was burned to death several years ago. Later, two more died, one of whom was this Zhou Guanglei. The man who had partnered with Zhou Guanglei back then was still working there, so we asked him about things before Zhou Guangleiâs death. That person actually knew quite a lot. He told us that before Zhou Guanglei died, he was acting very strangely. He kept saying someone was knocking on his door, but no one else could hear any knocking..."
As Yuwen Hao said this, he glanced at Gu Mian.
Originally, he had thought the knocking Gu Mian mentioned had nothing to do with any ghost, but now it seemed that wasnât the case.
Could it be that this Doctor really dragged a chair over, stuck his head out, and cursed furiously at the ghost?
He shook his head, pushing the thought away, and brought his focus back. "Zhou Guanglei was alright at first, just a bit paranoid. But he got progressively worse. Heâd mutter things like âItâs close,â âItâs closer now,â all day long. Eventually, he just hid at home, stopped going to work, and wouldnât even show his face. This situation lasted for about a week, and then Zhou Guangleiâs colleagues started receiving phone calls from him... Not normal calls... Zhou Guanglei seemed to have lost his mind back then, constantly calling people in the middle of the night... And the content was also...
"...also somewhat terrifying.
"The people who received his calls late at night back then said, when Zhou Guanglei called, he would say things to them likeâ
"âYouâve been to my house, havenât you?â
"âStop knocking on my door!â
"âAre you sick?â
"Later, the content of the calls changed... It became something like this...
"âWhere do you live?â
"âAre you home alone?â
"âIâm outside your door.â"