Nightfall descended again, shrouding the villa in darkness.
Lying in bed tonight, Xie Mingchi couldn't sleep at all. During the day, he had cleared He Qi's age and, since He Qi hadn't been selected the night before, and after dismissing his age, He Qi had no chance of being picked for the four-corner game. That meant He Qi would definitely be the fourth player.
Xie Mingchi took a deep breath and instinctively pulled the blanket tighter around him. Damn, this was getting intense.
With He Qi tracking the movements of the stairs during the day, they had roughly figured out the staircase patterns. Every two hours, one level of the stairs would shift positions. The three floors would rotate in sequence.
Based on Xie Mingchi's experience from the previous night, he speculated that after midnight, the stairs would change every half hour, and all the stairs would rotate.
Since they hadn't checked the rooms on the third floor yet and hadn't figured out the exact position of Mr. Du's soul line, they couldn't risk making any moves yet. They would have to survive the night first.
They could only hang on with the two clues Wan Wuqiu had provided and get through this night.
At first, He Qi and Shen Finian were still awake. Now that they were almost certain they were safe, their concerns had eased, and they started chatting with Xie Mingchi to help him alleviate his tension.
He Qi: "Bro, I actually don't like the steak here. I want to eat one of your egg-stuffed pancakes."
Xie Mingchi: "When we get out, I'll make you as many as you want."
Shen Finian, confused: "Egg-stuffed pancakes?"
He Qi, surprised: "You've never had egg-stuffed pancakes, Finian?"
Shen Finian let out a soft sound of confusion and shook his head.
He Qi instantly changed to an expression of deep sympathy: "That's so sad. When we get out, you have to come over to my place and try my brother's egg-stuffed pancakes, okay?" Then, as though remembering something, he looked at Wan Wuqiu. "How about you, Wuqiu? Wanna join us?"
Wan Wuqiu, without hesitation: "Sure, I'll try them too. I'm curious to see what kind of egg-stuffed pancakes your brother makes."
Xie Mingchi thought to himself, *You guys are done for.*
While he understood why He Qi trusted Wan Wuqiu, since he had been leading them through the puppet world and had saved their lives more than once, it didn't completely remove Xie Mingchi's wariness.
Xie Mingchi was still glaring at He Qi with an expression colder than ice when Wan Wuqiu suddenly asked, "So, what do you do?"
Xie Mingchi blinked in confusion. "What?"
Wan Wuqiu quickly clarified: "I mean... what's your job in real life?"
Xie Mingchi saw no reason to hide it. "I'm a music producer."
When Wan Wuqiu and Shen Finian both looked at him blankly, he added, "I make music."
Wan Wuqiu finally understood and smiled. "Nice, that sounds pretty artistic."
They chatted for a while, but gradually, He Qi and Shen Finian's voices softened, giving way to their steady breathing. The ones not selected for the game had already fallen asleep.
Xie Mingchi felt a growing unease.
Suddenly, a deep rumbling sound filled the air, followed by the familiar shift of the stairs. Midnight had come.
The sound of the door lock being broken echoed again, and the door creaked open to reveal two small ghosts.
When Xie Mingchi saw them, his blood ran cold—the ghosts were none other than the pair of partners who had died the night before.
They floated in front of Xie Mingchi and Wan Wuqiu, grinning grotesquely. "Mr. Du invites you to play a game."
"Mr. Du invites you to play a game."
The ghost who was taking Xie Mingchi had the same pale, translucent skin as the boy who had died last night. Xie Mingchi suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of existential dread. *If I die here... aside from He Qi, would anyone care? Would anyone genuinely mourn my death?*
They walked down the dark hallway again, and this time, Wan Wuqiu stopped at the third person's spot. Xie Mingchi's heart sank—just as he expected, after a few more steps, the boy led him to the fourth person's spot.
The eerie children's song reverberated in his ears like a curse. This haunting melody was as chilling as ever. Soon, the small ghost in front of him perked up again, "Everyone's here! Let's play the game!"
With that, the red light consumed their vision and the four-corner game officially began.
Xie Mingchi found himself waiting even longer this time. He didn't mind, though; the longer he waited, the greater the chance that Wan Wuqiu would catch up. Once the stairs turned back to their original positions after another half hour, Wan Wuqiu could take over, just like last night.
...But what if Wan Wuqiu faced the same situation as the boy from last night?
Xie Mingchi shut his eyes and started thinking about what happened to the boy last night—he had handed his candle to the "ghost" that suddenly appeared.
Xie Mingchi took a deep breath. What if my candle goes out too?
The eerie melody continued. Then, suddenly, a faint sobbing filled the air.
Whimpering... crying...
Xie Mingchi shivered, feeling as though the sobs were right next to him, as if something was right behind him, whispering in his ear. His mind flashed back to the ghost from the first floor who had crouched on his back.
He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to keep moving forward. The sobbing grew louder. First, it was soft whimpers, then it escalated to loud wailing, a cry filled with anguish and despair.
Xie Mingchi's face tightened in discomfort as he focused on protecting the candle's flame, nearly inching forward, step by step.
His gaze dropped to the flickering candle in his hand, and then he remembered the boy's candle had extinguished before he screamed. Would his candle go out too?
Just as he wondered this, Xie Mingchi accidentally lifted his gaze and, in that split second, something appeared right ahead of him—a shadowy figure, human-shaped.
The candle in his hand suddenly flickered and went out.
Xie Mingchi acted instinctively, quickly pressing the lighter, relighting the candle.
But when he looked back up, he froze.
There, standing five steps away from him, was a figure with a calm expression, a slight smile on their lips, one hand casually tucked in their pocket—Wan Wuqiu.
Xie Mingchi furrowed his brow. Why is Wan Wuqiu here?
He didn't speak. He was cautious of Wan Wuqiu's sudden appearance, and as much as he wanted to believe in him, he couldn't shake off the feeling of unease.
Wan Wuqiu smiled and spoke, "Don't be scared. I'm here to take you. Shen Finian and the others found the soul line, and we can leave now."
Xie Mingchi blinked, stunned. Found the soul line? How?
But Shen Finian and the others were still asleep, weren't they? They were still playing the four-corner game. How could they have...?
Then, it hit him. The moment his candle had extinguished, all the eerie sounds—the crying, the song—had vanished. Everything went silent.
For a split second, Xie Mingchi considered Wan Wuqiu's words, but he suddenly recalled the warning Wan Wuqiu had given him last night: *Don't look back.
That's when it clicked.
This "Wan Wuqiu" isn't real.