When Bai Yanliang bumped into Li Yuejun's shoulder, he felt her fear even more clearly.
Her whole body was trembling like a leaf, her face was deathly pale, and her pupils were shaking violently.
However, after Li Yuejun blinked and looked under Bai Yanliang's bed again... it was pitch black, with nothing there.
But having experienced two curse journeys, Li Yuejun knew very well that this was definitely not her imagination, nor was it an illusion.
"No... I'm fine." Li Yuejun forcibly suppressed her inner fear, but her left hand was gripping Bai Yanliang's arm tightly, as fear often gives people great strength unconsciously.
Bai Yanliang's right arm had been scratched by her sharp nails to the point of bleeding, yet his expression did not change at all.
He only said, "That's good, let's go find them."
Then, without looking back, he closed the door.
Li Yuejun finally breathed a sigh of relief. When she completely snapped back to her senses, she already found herself by the elevator with Bai Yanliang.
The elevator descended from the sixth floor and stopped in front of them; it was empty inside.
Bai Yanliang entered the elevator as usual, and Li Yuejun hurriedly followed him in.
Only at this moment did she realize she had scratched Bai Yanliang's right arm.
"Why... why didn't you remind me?" Li Yuejun asked, looking at Bai Yanliang with some embarrassment and a harsh tone.
But Bai Yanliang shook his head, not even glancing at the scratched hand, and casually wiped the blood with his clothes, saying, "It doesn't hurt."
Li Yuejun was stunned, staring at him blankly.
She knew very well what kind of person she was. The three months in Fog Gathering had almost driven her mad; her emotions became more intense, and she had made more enemies.
Although she was not unattractive, people trapped in a curse are essentially just a heap of dying flesh.
No one would be interested in a pile of nearly collapsing emotions, nor would they tolerate her.
It must be said that Bai Yanliang was quite perceptive. She was indeed very lonely, but because of that, fear and loneliness made her personality even more eccentric, creating a vicious cycle.
The elevator was silent.
Bai Yanliang glanced at the buttons, this hotel surprisingly had six floors.
He couldn't be sure if "Xu Zhi'an" was still on the first floor, but now the situation was different from before; it was already daytime.
Though he couldn't pinpoint what had changed or confirm if the daylight would affect "him," at least the atmosphere of this hotel had shifted from suffocating depression to being slightly more relaxed.
If they didn't take advantage of the daytime to investigate, Bai Yanliang didn't think the night would be a good time.
The sound indicating they had reached the first floor startled Li Yuejun, and she gave Bai Yanliang a peculiar look, as if she wanted to say something.
However, seeing Bai Yanliang already stepping out of the elevator, she quickly followed him and did not speak after all.
The first floor was a decent-looking lobby; in 2006, this kind of decor was quite good. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novel·fiɾe·net
A woman in her thirties approached them and asked, "Sir, Miss, do you need breakfast prepared?"
Her demeanor was professional, her smile perfectly timed, but there wasn't the slightest hint of pleasure in her tone; rather, there was a faint trace of malice.
Bai Yanliang was sensitive to emotional responses, even though his own emotional reactions were very subdued, it didn't prevent him from observing others.
Furthermore, judging from her address, the two of them seemed to have just arrived here.
"Yes, please prepare two Chinese breakfasts for us."
With the logic of accepting a free meal, Bai Yanliang responded with a smile.
The waitress had just nodded when Bai Yanliang suddenly seemed to remember something and casually asked, "By the way, is there something... here?"
Before he could finish his sentence, the waitress's expression completely changed.
"Sir, if you are a journalist, please leave immediately, otherwise I will call security," she said, her face looking unpleasant, her sharp eyes fixed fiercely on Bai Yanliang, as if trying to see through him.
Bai Yanliang's heart was stirred; such a blatant attitude was overly dramatic.
It was as if she was deliberately trying to tell him something had happened here.
But on the surface, Bai Yanliang shook his head and said, "No, I'm not a journalist; I just came here for a vacation. By the way, I was actually going to ask if you could change my pillow? In fact, I didn't sleep very well last night."
The waitress's expression was strange, her eyes wandering oddly between Bai Yanliang and Li Yuejun, but one met her gaze calmly and the other kept their head down, lost in thought.
Moments later, she said, "Alright then, I'll change your pillow, and I hope you sleep well."
Her words seemed to carry a meaning, but Bai Yanliang acted ignorant, glanced around, and this time he saw three people.
Xu Zhi'an, Feng Xinghan, Jiang Li.
Xu Zhi'an looked exactly the same as before, dressed like an office worker, meticulously groomed hair, not very old but slightly stooped in posture.
Feng Xinghan seemed to be someone who had been engaged in physical labor for a long time. He wasn't tall, but he was sturdy and strong, around the same age as Yang Wanlong, but physically he seemed even healthier than that police officer.
The peculiar one was Jiang Li; Bai Yanliang couldn't discern his gender.
He had short hair, wore a white shirt on the top, casual jeans on the bottom, wasn't very old, possibly younger than twenty, and his eyes roamed openly over Bai Yanliang.
Bai Yanliang and Li Yuejun approached the sofa by the window in the lobby and finally met up with the three.
"Sit," Xu Zhi'an said wearily, looking at the two.
Bai Yanliang kept his expression unchanged and sat on the sofa opposite them.
This experience was truly novel, after all, not long ago, someone identical to him, "Xu Zhi'an," had knocked on his door.
Looking back now, if he had opened the door then, the game of life and death might have ended immediately.
"I didn't expect a newcomer like you to be the resentful," Xu Zhi'an said, his voice very hoarse, seemingly not having rested well.
Bai Yanliang looked at the four of them with a puzzled expression; this was indeed a new term to him.
"Remember the three whose names turned red first in Fog Gathering?" Feng Xinghan suddenly spoke.
It seemed this was what they called the eerie place behind the door.
Bai Yanliang nodded and turned his gaze to this sturdy middle-aged man.
"The term 'resentful' literally means those most likely to be haunted by a fierce ghost. For instance, currently, if the probability were one hundred, then our chances of being targeted by the ghost are fifty percent, but for you, it's ninety percent. And if we're discovered by it at the same time, your chance becomes one hundred percent," Feng Xinghan explained.
Feng Xinghan wasn't implying any glee in his tone. After all, whether it's fifty percent or ninety percent, the final result is simply life or death, nothing particularly worth celebrating.
"However, there is a benefit. If the resentful safely completes the current task, the next task won't select them at Fog Gathering," Feng Xinghan added.
Bai Yanliang nodded in understanding, and at this moment, two waitresses came over with breakfast.
"Gentlemen, Miss, here's your breakfast."