Chapter 17: Dong Xie’s Speculations
Dong Xie had been haunted by nightmares from time to time ever since he entered the apartment. This time, he was still lingering in his nightmares as well. In his dream, he once again saw his deceased grandmother. And Grandma looked just like she did in that moment before she died. She stared at herself as if she wanted to say something to herself. "Ghost …… ghost …… ghost …… ghost ……" After saying those three words, blood suddenly flowed out of Grandma's face! "Ah!" The realistic nightmare caused Dong Xie to awaken! The first moment he woke up, he just felt cold. He was lying on the floor of a tatami-mat room, while the quilt was flipped to the side. He subconsciously looked to his side, and Dong Ning was originally supposed to be sleeping there. But …… at this time on Ning's bed, there was no one there! This made Dong Qi horrified! "How long have I …… I been sleeping?" His first reaction was to take out his cell phone. It …… was now five in the morning. "I slept for three hours?" Last night, Dong Xie and Dong Ning had made an appointment to take turns keeping watch. Earlier, as a precaution, he had brought some coffee and then relied on it to stay up all night. After staying up until two in the morning, he made an appointment with Ning to wake himself up when it was four in the morning. Ah Ning should have woken himself up an hour ago! Dong Xie quickly climbed up, rushed to the sliding door and pulled it open, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Ah Ning! Ah Ning!" There was no echo, and the corridor was similarly dark. He took his cell phone for illumination, having recharged it with a rechargeable battery when he fell asleep earlier. However, had he known that he would be involved in the Bloodletter, he would have brought more lighting equipment over. At this moment, Dong Xie was extremely nervous, this was the location of the Blood Word execution, so anything that happened would be unsurprising. Before, if there was no Ah Ning to keep watch beside him, he would never have dared to go to sleep. Dong Xie's heart was now hanging in his throat, and he forced himself not to think about the most terrifying possibility. A Ning might be distressed that he stayed up late and wanted him to sleep for an extra hour, and at this time she was going to the restroom …… But that didn't match the logic when you thought about it. Ah Ning was well aware of how dangerous this place was right now, to say it was a dragon's den would be an understatement. Even if she had to go to the restroom, she would definitely choose to wake herself up before going. Dong Xie knew very well that Ah Ning was very thorough in her considerations, and it was impossible for her to not think of this and leave herself alone. Therefore, the current situation …… At the thought of this, Dong Xie was terrified to the core. At this moment, he began to repent inwardly that he shouldn't have brought Ah Ning to the shrine. He had thought that it was still early enough for the bloodletter quest to begin, in time to pull out, but he hadn't expected the danger to come so quickly. He managed to feel the location of the light switch in the corridor and pressed the switch …… However, the interior was still pitch black. A power outage??? There was no doubt that power outages were commonplace in Bloodletter missions for no apparent reason, and Dong Xie had already learned about them before. What exactly had happened in the three hours after he had fallen asleep? What exactly was happening to Ning now? However, there was still no signal on his cell phone now, and he was unable to contact Ah Ning. "Anyone? Come to someone! Is there anyone?" Dong Xie searched all the places he could find, ran all the way to the entrance hall, and opened the door …… No one appeared during this process. And outside, the torrential rain had intensified to a terrifying degree, but it seemed that this place had perfect drainage facilities, otherwise such heavy rain would have been entirely sufficient to accumulate into a small flood. Dong Qi walked back to the entrance hall, grabbed an umbrella, and walked out. Under the torrential rain, he could be said to be anxious. Now, what exactly should be done? Last night's banquet, everything was so bizarre, and the woods outside didn't know what kind of terrifying mutation had occurred, causing so many servants to go missing there, but even so, Beishan Zhenxin remained unperturbed. Only to say that they really had what it takes to deal with the sixth difficulty of the Blood Word released by the apartment to test the residents, he ate the cell phone in his hand right off the bat. It must be said that there should exist some sort of clues to a way of life for the secrets of the Kitayama family, and it was not known if the clues had already been acquired by him. According to the time projection, Mo Yuan and the others had probably already arrived in Japan by airplane, and they would come here in the afternoon. He had to find a way to find some clues to the way of life before then, to minimize the attrition of Mo Yuan and the others in the Bloodletter. Every occupant with the ability to return to their apartment instantaneously had the potential to make the death rate of the occupants much lower. Holding an umbrella, Dong Qi walked out into the pouring rain. This shrine was really quite large, and the distance between the different courtyards wasn't short. After he had walked for a while, suddenly, a gust of wind blew, blowing the umbrella in his hand in such a way that the direction of the umbrella's bulge was completely reversed, and then Dong Xie also stumbled and fell to the ground without standing still. "Shit!" He gripped the ground with one hand in a death grip, picking up the umbrella as he did so! At this time, Dong Xie was near the edge of collapse! Could something have happened to Ning? If she were to die, it would be an absolutely unbearable blow to Dong Xie! But then, Dong Qi gritted his teeth and stood up, grasped the umbrella and walked towards the front step by step! There was no point in complaining to the heavens. No matter when, he would never give in! Never! He began to quicken his pace, traversing past one of the other courtyards, however, he soon realized that none of those courtyards actually had lights. This, caused an intense fear to arise in him. This feeling was just like the one he had previously experienced on Blackwater Island. However, Dong Xie knew very well that this was the sixth difficulty Blood Word mission prepared for Mo Yuan and Qin Ziyuan, and the terror of the evil spirits was bound to be far more terrifying than Blackwater Island. Originally, he had come to this shrine because he wanted to get rid of the back spirit that was most likely still following him, but if, according to what Himura Kara had said, there was no Evil Spirit entangled behind him at all. Then one's arrival here and being caught up in this Bloodletter would be a complete unmitigated disaster. The only benefit would be to know the new apartment's hidden rules through this Bloodletter, but the risk was also just too terrifying. "It's just that, since the situation has developed to this point, it's useless to regret. What I have to prioritize is how to survive this Bloodletter!" Although there wasn't any evidence, Dong Xie was still willing to believe that Ning was still alive. In the past, neither Mo Yuan nor he had died after being involved in the bloodletter. Mo Yuan, in particular, did not die even after being taken out of the screening room by the evil spirits during that movie theater blood word. In fact, this very thing always puzzled Dong Qi a bit. To the evil spirits, killing an occupant was nothing more than an instantaneous matter. However, until the end of the Bloodletter, Mo Yuan did not die! So, after that, Dong Xie had a vague speculation. This speculation was that perhaps the non-executing occupant of the Bloodletter had intervened on his own accord, and the apartment might even have intentionally encouraged it. In the past, because there had been a tenant named Xia Yuan who had died tragically before the bloodletters he had executed, it was believed that only during the bloodletters would the apartment impose restrictions on the evil spirits. But would it be …… possible that if it was a resident who took the initiative to go to a blood word that was not executed by him or her, he or she would instead be taken care of in a greater way than the resident who executed the blood word? Even if they went ahead early, or even if they were caught by the evil spirits, they would be protected even further by the apartment? Of course, there is a limit to this protection, and it will certainly still result in the miserable death of the occupant. Yet, this is the only existing method for the residents to learn the hidden rules of the apartment. Although the hidden rules that were currently obtained did not have the means to change the current situation of the residents to too great an extent, however, Dong Xie always felt that perhaps the hidden rules in this could help with the problem of the entrance to hell. If this speculation held true, this would also mean that he and Ning would actually be restricted and protected by the apartment to a certain extent before the Bloodletter Quest officially began. Of course this restriction shouldn't be able to guarantee their absolute safety, but at the very least, Ah Ning wouldn't die so easily. Only, this was only Dong Xie's speculation, and he couldn't be sure if this speculation was correct or not. But right now, he could only use this speculation to comfort himself. As the torrential rain poured down, he only felt his body shivering. And just at this time, he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind him! He immediately turned his head back with a wary expression, and then saw the door of a separate courtyard being opened. From inside the door, a handsome-looking man walked out. Dong Xie immediately walked up to him, while the man also rushed out despite the heavy rain outside. The two were still about three meters away from each other, and in unison, they uttered a similar phrase. "Have you seen my sister (my wife)?"