The one who screamed was Su Huijun.
She was slumped at the door of Room 405, covering her mouth, her face pale with fright.
Qi Zhiyong angrily demanded, "What now?"
"The bodies… the bodies are gone!"
Everyone was shocked and hurried over.
There had been two corpses in Room 405: one was Lu Yuzhu, turned into a cement statue, and the other was Fang Zhi, whose head was missing.
The survivors, worried about causing unnecessary trouble, hadn't moved the bodies but kept them stored temporarily in Room 405.
But now, both corpses had disappeared.
The floor was covered with bloodstains and torn pieces of clothing. The cement statue had been completely smashed open, and inside, only broken bone fragments of Lu Yuzhu's body remained. Fang Zhi's condition was similar.
It was clear as day — these two corpses had been eaten.
Everyone felt their mouths go dry.
There had been the door spirit that broke down the door, the knocking spirit, and the little child spirit that appeared last night — and now, a creature that ate corpses? How could they possibly feel safe?
Wu Xian smirked slightly. "Look on the bright side — at least we don't have to worry about these two bodies rotting and causing an epidemic."
His attempt to console them only cast a darker shadow over everyone's mood.
Among the group, the calmest was Wen Chao.
He walked over to Yue Mei's door and, imitating Wu Xian's method from yesterday, restored the door to its original state.
"Come look — there are cement handprints here, but someone wiped them off. I'm afraid…"
Su Huilan suddenly realized.
"It's that Yue Mei!"
"I remember now — yesterday morning I heard noises outside. It must've been Yue Mei discovering she was marked, and she wiped off her mark. Otherwise, why would she be too scared to come back to sleep here at night?"
Her reminder jogged everyone's memory of Yue Mei's odd behavior yesterday morning — definitely suspicious.
Qi Zhiyong pondered deeply.
"If she was the one marked yesterday, then does that mean my handprint is…"
Wu Xian's heart tightened — no, they couldn't let him figure it out. He immediately interrupted, "Do you all remember the first morning?"
On that morning, there had been a handprint on Lu Yuzhu's door and one on Fang Zhi's door.
Shi Ji's eyes suddenly widened and he slapped his palm on his thigh. "I get it now! Multiple handprints can exist at once, and the order of attacks by the big spirit follows the order the handprints were made!"
Qi Zhiyong's previously relaxed expression tensed again.
If that was true, then tonight's victim was definitely him. He had been on alert all night, but his courage and resolve had drained halfway — he didn't want to wait around for a duel with the big spirit.
Su Huijun raised her hand.
"Um… maybe we don't need to overthink this. If the big spirit only attacks marked rooms, then as long as we all stay in unmarked rooms, wouldn't everyone be safe?"
Qi Zhiyong nodded. "Makes sense. Then I'll switch rooms tonight."
He scanned the remaining rooms. So far, five rooms hadn't been destroyed by the big spirit.
From Qi Zhiyong's perspective, his Room 402 and Shi Ji's 403 had both been marked, so the safe rooms left were Wu Xian's 406, Wen Chao's 401, and the Su sisters' 404.
The Su sisters, their big eyes sparkling, looked at Qi Zhiyong expectantly. Their suggestion was clearly a subtle invitation for him to stay with them.
Su Huijun looked at Qi Zhiyong. "You can stay with us tonight. We're not worried you'll act inappropriately."
"Several little ghosts came into our room yesterday. Without a man to bolster our courage, we might have scared ourselves to death."
Su Huijun's cheeks flushed, her voice soft and sweet, her meaning clear.
Qi Zhiyong refused without hesitation.
"Men and women don't touch. No thanks."
Qi Zhiyong was never a gentleman, but if the Su sisters really were as innocent as they seemed on the surface, he wouldn't mind staying over. Besides, they were pretty enough, and if anything went wrong, he could always use them as scapegoats.
But the problem was:
These sisters ran deep.
Heqi Qiong, suspected of being a cult follower, was already dead. Why had these two survived? Last night, a child spirit had crept into their room — so how come they didn't have a single bruise?
A woman's heart was a mystery, like a needle at the bottom of the ocean...
He then looked toward Wen Chao.
Wen Chao shook his head. "You'd better not stay with me…"
Inside Wen Chao's room, piles of clutter left no space to even stand. He had managed to mess up his room so badly in just two or three days — it was terrifying.
So, the only choice left was Wu Xian's room.
"You give me your room. You can move into mine, or go stay with the Su sisters to give them courage, or go keep company with Old Wen or Shi Ji."
Though it sounded like a suggestion, it was really an order.
Qi Zhiyong had long since deeply offended Wu Xian—there was no way he would share a room with him. So he forcibly took Wu Xian's key and tossed his own room key to Wu Xian.
Everyone frowned at the scene.
But no one came to Wu Xian's defense. After these past few days, everyone had come to accept that Wu Xian was Qi Zhiyong's punching bag.
Wu Xian refused twice, but Qi Zhiyong ignored him both times. His eyes reddened from anger, his lips trembling uncontrollably, but in the end, he held back and went into the room to pack his things.
Shi Ji watched silently as Wu Xian packed and couldn't help but think to himself, "This bastard's acting skills are really something."
Wu Xian hugged his luggage and first looked longingly at the Su sisters, only to be met with two pairs of cold eyes. Wen Chao had also refused to share a room with him.
So Wu Xian had no choice but to approach Shi Ji.
"Enough talk. Let me stay with you. I've got your back."
Shi Ji grabbed Wu Xian's arm, tears welling up.
"Boss, welcome!"
After working together yesterday, Shi Ji realized Wu Xian was no ordinary guy and had actually been planning to ask him for help. Unexpectedly, Wu Xian came knocking on his door first.
With the room swaps settled, everyone dispersed to search nearby for supplies and statues.
At this point, Qi Zhiyong's initial cover-up had completely fallen apart. Even Shi Ji understood the importance of the statues, let alone Professor Wen Chao, or the others who had known about them all along.
As everyone left, Shi Ji hurried to follow.
After yesterday's ritual, his body had started showing signs of abnormality. He had barely survived by spreading filth in his room, but this problem had to be resolved today.
However, Wu Xian stopped him.
"Wait a moment. Let's move first. Tonight, we stay in Qi Zhiyong's Room 402."
Shi Ji blinked in surprise. "Why?"
Wu Xian chuckled, "Because the room that's getting attacked tonight is yours."
He told Shi Ji about the handprints he'd made and erased, and as Shi Ji's mouth slowly opened, his eyes grew wide with a mixture of fear and disbelief.
"Also, there's something else I need your help with."
"What is it?"
Wu Xian pulled out two pieces of wire and a screwdriver.
"Since no one's around, let's switch the doors on our rooms. I want to test whether it's the rooms or the doors that get marked."
Shi Ji opened his mouth but said nothing.