CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 36: WITHOUT A GROUP, I CAN ONLY CHAT LIKE THIS WITH EVERYONE _1

"Don’t panic, try to calm down..."

Yuwen Hao hadn’t even finished speaking when a loud crashing noise came from the other side of the phone, as if it had been forcibly thrown to the ground. This was immediately followed by Lin Yue’er’s piercing scream.

And then, the call was abruptly cut off.

He trembled, trying to redial, but her number was already unreachable.

The room plunged into an eerie silence. Yuwen Hao clutched the phone, unsure whether to put it down or keep holding it.

Just then, he felt an intense sense of being watched, as if something had been staring intently at him all along.

His gaze slowly shifted to his bedroom door. It was tightly shut, not even a sliver of a gap showing.

He then looked up, his gaze settling on the transom window above the door.

The transom window was transparent, and from his angle, he could see the living room ceiling.

Outside, it was pitch black. It felt as if a head was hanging from the ceiling, staring fixedly at him through the transom.

Yuwen Hao swallowed hard, trying to calm himself.

He scrolled through his phone’s contact list. I need to stay calm... stay calm... I’ll call the others first to see if anything’s happened to them...

His gaze first landed on the name "Gu Mian."

But he hesitated for a moment. It seemed he felt the doctor wasn’t very reliable and talking to him wouldn’t help, so he skipped over Gu Mian and his eyes fell on Qing Huan, listed below Gu Mian.

With slightly trembling hands, he dialed Qing Huan’s number.

After a few seconds, she answered immediately.

"Hello?" Qing Huan’s somewhat breathless voice came through the receiver. "Yuwen Hao?"

Yuwen Hao affirmed, "Yes, I wanted to ask how things are on your end. Lin Yue’er called me just now, and it seemed like... things weren’t good for her."

Qing Huan’s voice on the other end was hurried, "Something is very wrong with this room. I’m pressed against the wall talking to you right now."

Pressed against the wall? Yuwen Hao was stunned.

Qing Huan’s voice continued from the receiver:

"I don’t know why, but ever since I returned to this room, I’ve felt like something is always behind me.

"Whether I’m in the living room, the bedroom, or even the bathroom, I can feel someone behind me!

"When I walk, I hear footsteps behind me. It’s a very soft sound, but I hear it. It’s very close!

"I turn around, and there’s nothing there... but I know it’s always behind me, always following me... I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I pressed my entire back against the wall. Now, there’s only the wall behind me. That makes the feeling a little less intense..."

Yuwen Hao gripped the receiver tightly. "Did you try to leave the room?"

"Yes, I tried. But it kept following me. When I was going down the stairs, I heard footsteps following from above my head. It was following me down!

"There were no lights in the stairwell; it was too dark. I didn’t dare to keep going down, so I came back up using the stairs on the other side..."

Hearing this, Yuwen Hao took a deep breath. It seemed it wasn’t just him who had noticed something amiss; all five of them were likely in danger now!

With this thought, he comforted Qing Huan for a few moments, then hung up and dialed Golden Wings.

I wonder how Huang Yu is doing right now... Yuwen Hao muttered to himself, picturing Golden Wings. A shut-in like him would probably be too scared to even run if he encountered a ghost.

But the phone rang for a long time with no answer.

Yuwen Hao grew worried. What’s wrong? Isn’t he home?

Or has he already...

After another long wait, a cold female voice finally came through: "The number you have dialed is busy. Please try again later..."

Yuwen Hao frowned.

Who could Huang Yu be calling?

Lin Yue’er’s phone isn’t going through, and Qing Huan just talked to me. Could Huang Yu be talking to that doctor?

As he thought about this, his gaze fell on Gu Mian’s name in his contacts.

I should call him and see. I need to understand everyone’s situation. I’ll have to call him eventually anyway.

After a moment’s hesitation, Yuwen Hao dialed Gu Mian’s number from the contact list.

About ten seconds later, the call connected.

The moment it did, all the words Yuwen Hao had prepared vanished from his mind, scared off by the sounds coming from the receiver.

A continuous CREAKING sound came from the other end, loud and distinct, as if something over there was twisting its joints.

Besides this eerie sound of twisting joints, Yuwen Hao could also faintly hear other noises, like the buzzing of flies or the sharp screech of a fork scraping against a plate.

Trembling, he moved the receiver a little further from his ear. "Dr... Dr. Gu, what’s going on over there?"

Could it be that he’s already... met his end?

But then, Gu Mian’s casual voice came through, "It’s nothing. Sadako just climbed out of the TV."

What?

Yuwen Hao shuddered violently. His hand trembled, and the phone receiver fell. By the time he picked it up, the call had already been disconnected.

He didn’t have the courage to call back. He could only stare blankly at the phone.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

Lin Yue’er and Huang Yu’s phones were unreachable.

Qing Huan spent the entire night pressed against the wall, not daring to relax for a single moment.

Yuwen Hao was scared half to death by the sounds of Gu Mian eating popcorn and playing a horror movie he’d heard over the phone.

Only Gu Mian slept soundly until he woke up naturally.

He woke up at 7:48 AM. The five of them had agreed to meet at a restaurant at 8:00 AM.

After Gu Mian had unexpectedly stuck his face out last night, the knocking sound never returned.

Gu Mian had also managed to finish watching the entirety of "The Ring," and the two bags of popcorn were nearly gone.

When he returned the disc and arrived at the designated restaurant, the other four were already waiting, their faces looking drained.

Gu Mian set his chainsaw aside and sat down. He counted them; surprisingly, not a single one was missing.

It seemed this was a very merciful instance.

Yuwen Hao stared intently at him, seemingly astonished that Gu Mian was still alive.

Only after Gu Mian was seated did Yuwen Hao slowly approach. "Dr. Gu, last night when I called you... you said Sadako climbed out?"

Gu Mian replied matter-of-factly, "Yeah, I was watching a horror movie."

At these words, the expressions of the others subtly changed.

Yuwen Hao exclaimed in disbelief, "A horror movie?"

That doctor was talking about a horror movie last night?

Yuwen Hao was sure that even if his parents had given him ten times more courage, he wouldn’t have dared to watch a horror movie in a place like this, especially in the middle of the night.

He composed himself. Never mind, if he enjoys watching horror movies at night, I can’t control that...

Yuwen Hao stopped dwelling on the peculiar doctor and turned to the others. "Let’s talk about what happened last night first."

As he spoke, he looked at Lin Yue’er. "Yue’er, you go first."

During their call last night, the commotion on her end had been considerable, and he couldn’t reach her afterward. Yuwen Hao had even thought Lin Yue’er might have died. He hadn’t expected to see her alive today.

Gu Mian also turned to look at Lin Yue’er. Other than Yuwen Hao, no one else had called him, so he had no idea what had happened to them.