Translator: CinderTL
"I know you're doubting my identity, but please don't hang up!" Liu Guo's voice wasn't pleading; instead, it carried a resolute tone, as if he were entrusting his final wishes.
"Hu—, hu—" Liu Guo steadied himself and continued, "You don't need to speak, just listen. I think this letter sent to Room 808 is very important, likely a crucial clue. But I'm not sure if opening it will trigger something unexpected."
"Please remember," Liu Guo took a deep breath, "if I die, you must be careful of Wu and Wei Jinting. I believe one of them is suspicious, and that Room 808 is also problematic!"
"Alright, I'm going to open the letter now. The recipient is Lin Chen, and the sender's name is smudged, but the address is a place called Hezong Cultural Group."
Jiang Cheng turned and gave Fatty a look. Soon, Fatty brought over a pencil, and Jiang Cheng casually picked up the notebook by the phone to jot down the number.
In the blank space, he wrote down the name "Hezong Cultural Group."
A crisp tearing sound followed, and a few seconds later, Liu Guo's voice came through again, "I've opened the letter. Inside... it looks like the draft of a comic."
Suddenly, Liu Guo seemed to have noticed something, his breathing becoming rapid. "How could this be?"
Amidst his confusion, Jiang Cheng heard the sound of pages being flipped quickly. It seemed Liu Guo had discovered something shocking.
Jiang Cheng remained silent, but his fingers gripping the phone unconsciously loosened and then tightened again.
"This is a draft of a comic created by Lin Chen!" Liu Guo exclaimed excitedly. "It records various urban legends."
"The first legend is called 'The Hunchback.' It's about a ghost that jumps onto people's shoulders when they bend over."
"As the story progresses, the person's back becomes more and more hunched, their bones increasingly painful. From a distance, they look like a hunchback."
"The second legend is called 'The Unseeable Shadow.' This ghost cannot be seen directly. You can only hear its footsteps, and wherever it passes, light is gradually stripped away. All the lights go out silently."
Liu Guo's voice grew faster, though it was clear he was trying to control his emotions.
He flipped through the pages rapidly while interpreting them.
"The third legend is called 'The Crevice.' It's about a voyeuristic ghost that hides behind doors, under beds, in sofas, wardrobes, bookshelves—any crevice. It approaches you bit by bit, from far to near, until you can't bear it anymore and emotionally collapse. Only then will it strike."
"The fourth legend is called 'The Wig.'"
"The fifth legend is called 'The Nails in the Drawer.'"
In contrast to Liu Guo's excitement, Jiang Cheng's side was eerily quiet.
Hua Luo held his breath, and as Liu Guo narrated, flashes of light occasionally appeared in their eyes.
It matched.
Everything matched.
The hunchback from the first legend was the ghost that had haunted Chen Yi.
The second legend, the unseeable shadow, reminded them of Qiao Yu's brother's recollection.
In his memory, his younger brother heard footsteps late at night in the café downstairs but found no one.
The third legend, the crevice, was the ghost that had been spying on Wei Jinting in Room 503.
The fourth legend, the wig, was what had killed Yu Lan in the underground storage room of the mall, even wrapping her into a cocoon.
The fifth legend, the nails in the drawer, was what Banana Wolf had experienced. Fortunately, like Wei Jinting, he had survived.
Jiang Cheng began to form a suspicion. Lin Chen had mentioned these ghosts to Li Maoshen, but Li Maoshen must have dismissed it as her being under too much pressure or going crazy, making Lin Chen think she was the only one who could see the ghosts, driving her further into despair.
And when she created her work alone, she infused that despair into her art.
According to Liu Guo, everyone in the work was tortured to death by ghosts.
But before Jiang Cheng could think further, Liu Guo's voice came through again. He seemed to have seen something incomprehensible. "No, no!" he said in confusion. "The letter says that out of the six urban legends in this comic draft, one was deemed too dark and was temporarily excluded. The other five, after some revisions, can be discussed in person at the company."
Jiang Cheng frowned slightly. There were six legends, but Liu Guo had only mentioned five.
What was the sixth legend?
"This draft is incomplete!" Liu Guo said. "A part of it has been removed. There should be... there should be one more legend!"
Everyone had a sinking feeling that the missing legend was the most important one.
"Hu—, hu—" Liu Guo was breathing heavily, his lungs like an old, leaky bellows. He seemed to be looking around. "That thing is getting closer to me. I can feel it, but I can't see it."
"It's nearby, watching me. Maybe... maybe it's right behind me. I can't wait any longer. Please remember what I've said!"
"I'm going to try to leave now, but I don't think it's likely. In any case, I'll do my best to hide this letter. If you ever find it, you'll know the truth of what I've said." After a moment of silence, Liu Guo spoke again, "I hope you all survive."
The phone clicked and went dead.
A dozen seconds later, Jiang Cheng slowly put down the phone. The bedroom was silent, everyone weighing and analyzing the situation.
"This Liu Guo..." Fatty was the first to speak after a while.
"He's probably telling the truth," Wan Yuanning said. Her expression was unreadable, but Fatty felt she was different from before.
If that call really was from Liu Guo, then the situation he was facing was likely even more dangerous than he had described.
Being pulled into a past timeline, the abilities of this ghost were astonishing.
And after going to such lengths, it probably wasn't just to deliver a clue to Liu Guo. He most likely wouldn't survive.
Liu Guo was a smart man. He must have realized this and used his final opportunity to pass on the clue.
In the Nightmare, we've seen many bad people, a significant portion of whom think, 'If I die, I'll take a few people with me.'
People like Liu Guo are truly rare.
"It seems the problem really lies in Room 808," Chu Jiu said after some thought. "Li Maoshen probably never expected that Lin Chen, behind his back, turned the horror stories he had concocted into urban legends in her comic."
"Now I think the focus should be on the missing legend," Fatty chimed in. "Since this legend was removed, it only makes it more suspicious."
"And think about it, the remaining five legends are already terrifying. The missing one must be even darker."
"What kind of legend..." Fatty couldn't help but swallow hard, his voice trembling, "could it be?"
(End of the Chapter)
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