Ning Wei looked back and saw that the speaker was the curly-haired woman from her room, the one who had snatched her snacks the night before.
Beside her stood the other two women from the same room, all three looking at Ning Wei with disdain.
Before Ning Wei could retort, led by the curly-haired woman, they quickly left the small garden.
The attendant hadn't been able to gain an advantage over Ning Wei, and now she was being suppressed by a curly-haired woman.
Fu Chengwei glanced at Ning Wei and saw that she didn't seem to take the matter to heart, which relieved him slightly.
The old saying was indeed true: where there are women, there is war!
Ning Wei wanted to walk out of the residential area but found she couldn't. It seemed to be a rule, a mandatory one, that wouldn't threaten her life even if accidentally encountered.
Since she couldn't leave, she decided to take a walk around the complex.
It was morning, and people were constantly entering and exiting the complex gate.
Bored, Ning Wei leaned against the large iron gate, watching the passersby. She accidentally caught sight of a yellow paper pasted inside the security room, which looked like a talisman.
Recalling the guide ghost from last night who was also wearing a security uniform, Ning Wei's expression shifted slightly.
Just then, a security guard walked in. Ning Wei pretended to be passing by and proactively greeted him with a good morning.
The security guard seemed surprised but smiled and responded.
After a brief greeting, Ning Wei left.
Finding nothing else of note in the complex, Ning Wei returned to 1001.
She sat on the sofa watching TV. As noon approached, the sound of cooking suddenly came from the kitchen.
To the left of the living room was the kitchen, separated by a dining area and a transparent sliding door.
There was no one in the kitchen, yet the sounds persisted: the rushing sound of water, the chopping of a knife, and finally, the sound of stir-frying on the gas stove.
Strangely, only the sounds were present; the items themselves didn't move.
After about an hour, the sounds finally stopped.
Ning Wei stared intently in the direction of the kitchen, then heard a voice say, "Dinner is ready."
Immediately after, all the sounds vanished.
If she wasn't mistaken, 1001 should be the former residence of the female ghost. The sudden appearance of sounds could only be attributed to a ghost.
Unfortunately, only Ning Wei was in 1001 now; the other passengers had disappeared somewhere.
Around five in the afternoon, the kitchen started up again, just like at noon, but this time it lasted longer, at least an hour and a half.
It ended with the same phrase, "Dinner is ready."
After the sounds ceased, Fu Chengwei and Song Zhi returned.
They parted ways at the entrance. Since Song Zhi lived alone in 1002, Fu Chengwei patted his shoulder sympathetically, "If you have any problems, come find us immediately!"
Song Zhi nodded and added, "Ning Wei is very smart. Cooperating with her will definitely not be a disadvantage. She was the first to go up and the first to come down at the graveyard station."
Song Zhi said this because he couldn't be in the same room as Ning Wei and had to place his hopes on Fu Chengwei.
Although Fu Chengwei was timid, his intelligence was still sharp. He understood the meaning behind Song Zhi's words, "Don't worry, I know."
Thus, without Ning Wei's knowledge, the two formed an alliance.
Remembering Song Zhi's words, Fu Chengwei's first action upon entering the room was to look for Ning Wei. He found her sitting on the sofa in the living room.
He froze, looking at her subtly. Seeing that her expression hadn't changed, he guessed she hadn't overheard their conversation.
He plonked himself down next to Ning Wei and shamelessly asked, "Did you discover anything?"
Ning Wei nodded, "I tried to leave the complex but couldn't. Then, in the security room, I saw a yellow talisman."
As for what happened at noon and just now, Ning Wei didn't mention it.
"Is that talisman used to ward off ghosts?" Fu Chengwei immediately asked.
Ning Wei glanced at him and replied, "I'm not a Taoist priest, how would I know the use of a talisman?"
Fu Chengwei felt a bit displeased at being rebuffed, but out of consideration for sharing the same living space, he didn't show it. Instead, he lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.
The issue with the nightlight from last night still hadn't been resolved, and he definitely wouldn't dare sleep in the study tonight.
Fu Chengwei had intended to ask to share a room with Ning Wei, but he felt embarrassed to do so.
After all, the nightlight issue was still speculative, and their relationship hadn't reached that level of closeness yet.
Lying on the sofa, Fu Chengwei quickly fell asleep.
He even started snoring, clearly sleeping soundly.
Ning Wei glanced at him and then returned to the secondary bedroom.
At this point, the three women also returned. They noticed Fu Chengwei lying in the living room, but due to Ning Wei's presence, they didn't wake him.
The three women went back to the master bedroom, the largest room in 1001, which also had an en-suite bathroom. They took turns sleeping on the bay window.
Tonight, it was the curly-haired woman's turn to sleep on the bay window.
She was somewhat reluctant, but considering how hard she had worked to get closer to these two women, she couldn't afford to fall out with them before escaping the bizarre bus.
Lying on the bay window, she had been tense all day and quickly fell asleep at night.
However, in the middle of the night, everyone was awakened by a deafening scream!
Ning Wei was the first to rush into the master bedroom. She was the closest and had already gotten out of bed when the scream started.
The second was Fu Chengwei. Before entering the master bedroom, he remembered to open the door to facilitate other passengers entering.
When the third person, Song Zhi from 1002, rushed in, he collided with Fu Chengwei, who was covering his mouth and trying to vomit.
Before Song Zhi could ask anything, Fu Chengwei roughly pushed him aside and ran to the toilet, where he proceeded to throw up.
The gurgling sound, along with the weeping from the master bedroom, formed a creepy symphony that sent chills down one's spine.
Song Zhi was also made nervous by these sounds, especially the mournful cry of the woman, which made him shiver!
He slowly approached the master bedroom but dared not enter, standing at the doorway.
On the bed, the two women were holding each other tightly, their faces covered in snot and tears.
On the bay window lay another person. Their upper body was obscured by Ning Wei, and they made no sound.
Song Zhi bravely took two steps forward. Being tall, he could see further and saw the blood on the floor, pooling like water.
Ning Wei was half-crouching on the accumulated blood. Song Zhi saw that the blood was slowly coagulating on the sole of her shoe.
He had only seen such a large amount of blood back in his rural hometown when a pig was being slaughtered.
At that time, the butcher had plunged a pig-slaughtering knife into the pig's neck. The pig struggled violently, but its limbs and tail were held down by several strong men, rendering it unable to move. When the knife was pulled out, blood gushed out from its neck like a stream, falling into a large red plastic basin placed beneath to catch it.