The atmosphere in Room 404 had turned rather eerie.
Yang Jianâs reminder made everyone realize that something was seriously off.
If Wang Shanâs death wasnât due to sudden illness or some underhanded act, then the most likely cause was a supernatural event. The state of the room had been thoroughly checked by everyone just moments ago, though the rotting corpse still lying on the bed remained.
But there was nothing wrong with that corpse.
Therefore, the possibility of an issue with the room itself could be ruled out.
Which left only one possibility: among all the people left in the room, someone might be the ghost.
Everyone knew that the fourth floor had been infiltrated by a ghost. It was precisely because of this that trust among the messengers on the fourth floor had disintegrated, resulting in mutual suspicion, prevention, and even conflicts.
But the identity of the ghost on the fourth floor was still a mystery.
The ghost had hidden itself extremely well.
And it was incredibly hard to uncover. If it were easy, the messengers on the fourth floor would have already found and dealt with the concealed ghost by now.
âSo, among us here, who might be the ghost on the fourth floor? If we donât figure it out, someone else is bound to die tonight. Itâs not even 11 oâclock yet, still over six hours till dawn,â said Li Yang, who was still blocking the door, scanning the others with his eyes.
As soon as the words left his mouth, everyoneâs faces darkened.
Indeed.
If one of them were the ghost, then the next six hours would be filled with paranoia and terror. One person was already dead; it wouldnât be surprising if two or three more ended up the same.
Yang Xiaohuaâs face twisted with sudden realization. She instinctively moved closer to Yang Jian.
The only thing she was certain of was that Yang Jian and Li Yang werenât the ghost. As for everyone else, she couldnât trust them.
âI think the ghost is among the three of you. Like I said before, the ghost is on the fourth floor, and weâre messengers who came up from the third floor. That rules us all out, leaving just you three, along with Eagleâfour suspicious individuals in total.â
Leuk Qingqing was the first to speak. She stared at Wang Feng and Qu Hongtao.
âThe likelihood of Eagle being the ghost is small. On the way here, no one from our team was harmed. If he were the ghost, he wouldnât have waited until now to act. The moment you all appeared, though, trouble began. The answer seems obvious.â
She was adamant that one of the three fourth-floor messengers had to be the ghost.
While she couldnât pin down exactly who, one of them was certainly the culprit.
Leuk Qingqingâs reasoning, while somewhat accusatory, was grounded in logic. If one followed her train of thought, the three individuals did indeed appear most suspicious.
âDonât smear us! If one of the three of us were the ghost, we wouldâve been killed that entire time we were hiding in the wardrobe. How could we still be alive by now? The problem clearly lies with your group!â Wang Feng retorted with firm conviction.
This wasnât a joke.
If misjudged, it would mean people would die.
âWhether itâs true or not can be tested. Letâs kick the three of you out of the room and see if the problems persist,â Leuk Qingqing said coldly.
âYou crazy woman! Just admit youâre trying to kill us already. Why go through all this pretense? I think youâre the real problem hereâtaking a direct hammer blow and still not dying? Thatâs definitely not normal!â snarled Qu Hongtao, clearly incensed.
Leuk Qingqing responded, âYour accusation is baseless. Unless you can provide concrete proof, donât assume everyone here is a fool. To survive on this floor, none of the messengers are incompetent.â
Qu Hongtao was momentarily speechless, anger choking his words.
He knew, of course, that baseless claims held no weight. He simply wanted to vent his frustrations toward Leuk Qingqing.
Besides, if he truly were kicked out of the room, heâd almost certainly die outside tonight.
At this point, Eagle spoke up: âNo matter how much we argue, if the earlier assumption is correct, a second victim will show up soon anyway. Before that happens, we need to come up with a plan. Internal fighting helps no one.â
âYang Jian, what do you think?â
Knowing his own words carried little weight, he redirected the decision to Yang Jian.
In this small room, Yang Jian was the one whose words carried absolute authority.
Everyone else also turned their gazes toward Yang Jian, eager to hear his thoughts.
At Yang Jianâs side, the black Ghost Shadow flickered, slowly retracting from Wang Shanâs corpse.
He had just extracted Wang Shanâs memories.
Though Wang Shan was dead, and not for long, Ghost Shadow could still obtain his memories, albeit incomplete compared to a living personâs.
Yang Jian wanted to use these memories to ascertain the cause of Wang Shanâs death.
It was disappointing.
He found nothing.
Wang Shan had genuinely died mysteriously in his sleep, without even realizing the cause himself.
âWhatâs the rush?â
Yang Jian raised his head slightly, a faint, icy smile on his face. âIf the ghost really is in the room, and none of you want to leave, then letâs all just sit here and wait. Once enough people have died, the ghostâs identity will inevitably reveal itself.â
âYouâve got to be kidding!â Wang Feng exclaimed in shock.
âAre you the ghost?â Yang Jian asked, studying him.
âOf course not!â Wang Feng replied immediately.
âSince youâre not the ghost, your priority should be your own survival, not figuring out who the ghost is. If youâre competent enough, even if the ghost comes after you, you can still survive,â Yang Jian stated.
âThatâs your plan?â Wang Feng questioned.
âNo. Thereâs another option: I handle this myself by killing everyone irrelevant. The ghost hiding among us will naturally be exposed. Itâs just that it might be a bit inconvenient for you all,â Yang Jian said as his gaze swept coldly over the group.
His eyes made everyone he looked atâWang Feng, Qu Hongtao, Eagle, Leuk Qingqing, and othersâinstantly tense up, their hearts racing in fear that Yang Jian might truly take action against them.
After all, Yang Jian was fully capable and willing to carry out such a plan.
âHoweverâif I kill all of you, Iâll also have to deal with the ghosts inside your bodies. That would be an even bigger hassle for me. Itâs much easier to contain one ghost while youâre alive. If youâre dead, this room might turn even more dangerous than outside,â Yang Jian added after a pause.
Hearing this, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
As long as he didnât act recklessly, theyâd be safe for now.
âIn that case, weâll just wait it out. Life or deathâitâs down to fate,â Leuk Qingqing said, giving Yang Jian a glance before falling silent.
Wang Feng also remained quiet, tacitly agreeing to this approach.
The heated argument came to an abrupt halt, and the room plunged into uneasy silence.
A great writer once said: Inside a room full of people, if you propose opening a window, everyone will oppose it. But if you propose tearing off the whole roof, theyâll suddenly be okay with opening the window.
Yang Jian proposed ripping off the roofâkilling everyoneâand the others recognized that theyâd all certainly die. Waiting quietly in a room with a ghost became a much more appealing alternative.
After all, it wasnât a guaranteed death.
With so many people, the ghost couldnât possibly target everyone. There was an eight-to-one chance of survival.
Maybe the ghost would be stupid enough to provoke Yang Jian and get itself dealt withâthat was always possible.
With this in mind, some saw the plan as feasible.
Yet from this point onward, everyone silently put distance between themselves. Trust was no longer an option; even Wang Feng and his two companions grew distrustful of one another.
Leuk Qingqingâs earlier words had planted undeniable seeds of doubt.
Yang Xiaohua, however, was different.
She wasnât afraid of whether Yang Jian was the ghost or not. She simply stayed by his side without daring to leave for even a moment.
An air of fear and uneasiness began to spread throughout the room.
Outside the door, the sound of rapid footsteps continued to echo, never fading away.
Now, ghosts stalked both inside and outside the room.
No place was truly safe.
Staying inside might mean death, but venturing outside seemed even more dangerous.
âI donât want to stay here. I want to hide in the wardrobe. Sitting here feels like waiting to die. If I have to wait, Iâd rather pick a safer spot,â said Qu Hongtao suddenly, standing with the intention of leaving.
Yang Jian glanced at him. âIf you go into the wardrobe, Iâll kill you right now.â
Qu Hongtao immediately froze and shrank back silently.
âWhat if I hide there? Please, Iâm begging you,â Yang Xiaohua whispered, her voice trembling slightly with a hint of pleading. âI have no ability to resist the supernatural. Wang Shanâs dead, and Iâm sure Iâll be next. If the ghost kills anyone, itâll go for the easiest target. Iâm the most likely to die.â
âThe wardrobe wonât stop the ghostâs attacks. Why do you think itâs any safer? Hiding in there just mutes some sound and movement, nothing more. If it were so secure, those three wouldnât have left it earlier,â Yang Jian said calmly, glancing at the wardrobe.
âItâs better than nothing, isnât it?â Yang Xiaohua asked uncertainly.
âSuit yourself. I promised to look after you, but if youâre bent on dying, I wonât stop you,â Yang Jian replied coldly.
âI⊠I understand.â
Yang Xiaohua abandoned the idea reluctantly.
After this brief clash, the room fell into silence once again.
Unbeknownst to them, midnight had arrived.
So far, everything remained calm. No one else had died.
This made some begin to doubt whether Wang Shan had truly been killed by the ghost from the fourth floor. Why hadnât it shown up again after all this time?
But as they waited in tense stillness, new noises began to surface outside the room.
âBang! Bang!â
Low, dull thuds echoed through the hallway of the postal office building.
The ghost had started banging on something once more.
Judging by the sound, the ghost was knocking on a door.
It seemed to be the door of the room across the hall. Though the sound was deeply unsettling, the ghost seemed far enough from Room 404 for them to disregard any imminent dangerâfor now.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
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