Chapter 6: The Roses Bloomed on Bloodstained Soil

When Pei Liu woke up the next day, he discovered that he wasn’t the only one who had dreamed.

In fact, everyone had the exact same dream.

They all dreamed of a child standing at the head of their bed, smiling eerily and calling them “Mom.”

It was enough to scare anyone out of their wits.

When Wu Kai came down to the first floor, his eyes were ringed with dark circles and his face was haggard; he clearly hadn’t slept well.

The moment he saw Tong Jiaqi, he couldn’t help but say: “I dreamed of a ghost child.”

It had sounded terrifying before, but experiencing it personally was a whole other level of soul-crushing.

He felt very sympathetic toward Tong Jiaqi, and equally sympathetic toward himself.

In the next second, the expressions of Zhao Hai, Jian Yongge, and Pei Liu turned subtle and complex.

They all admitted they had the same dream.

Wu Kai’s legs went weak, and he almost slid into a kneel on the spot, wanting to beg the production team to let him leave; he didn’t want to record anymore.

However, since the only woman present, Tong Jiaqi, hadn’t spoken up, he was too embarrassed to say anything.

It was indeed unusual for several people to have the same dream.

However, Pei Liu believed that “dreams are reflections of daily thoughts.”

They had been focusing on the daughter of the family and had heard Tong Jiaqi’s story, so it wasn’t surprising to dream of her.

Pei Liu then asked: “I also dreamed of a giant python. What about you guys?”

Wu Kai: “A ghost child and a giant python? You’ve got it rough.”

Actually, Pei Liu felt it was fine.

The giant snake hadn’t eaten him; instead, it had kept feeding him until he was stuffed.

The little ghost’s combat power wasn’t very strong either.

After he seriously corrected her mistake in address and told her to call him “Dad,” she had frozen in place and then quietly left.

She was probably embarrassed because she had made such a simple mistake.

Once the little ghost left, Pei Liu continued to sleep until dawn.

Later, he got up to wash and joined the other guests on the first floor for breakfast, where the subject was brought up again.

Halfway through the conversation, Tong Jiaqi subconsciously lowered her voice as if afraid of being overheard.

She asked hesitantly: “Do you think… this place is actually haunted?”

Upon hearing this, Wu Kai’s heart skipped a beat.

He couldn’t handle this kind of talk; he didn’t want to be scared.

He tried his best to maintain his composure and took Tong Jiaqi’s hand to comfort her.

“Don’t be afraid. Even if there’s something here, I’ll protect you.”

His tall, sturdy build and firm tone made him sound exceptionally reassuring.

Tong Jiaqi indeed leaned toward him and held his arm with a look of dependence, not forgetting to provide some “fan service” sweetness.

Besides, she really was afraid in her heart.

Zhao Hai said: “It’s normal for a remote, long-vacant house like this to attract some ‘unclean’ things in such a cold, gloomy environment.”

“Furthermore, a little girl died a tragic death here; she has likely become an earthbound spirit of this house.”

Jian Yongge added: “I’ve heard that some ghosts will intentionally deceive and kill living people to make them scapegoats, taking their place to escape their bonds.”

“So they become a ghost trapped in this house, never able to leave?”

Pei Liu remembered his manager’s instructions and chimed in naturally to secure some screen time.

But Jian Yongge acted as if he hadn’t heard him, turning to address Zhao Hai to continue the conversation.

Wu Kai, however, had quite a reaction to that thought.

Imagining the scene, he couldn’t help but mutter: “Little ghost, please don’t come for me. I’ll even let you call me ‘Mom’ if you want.”

However, the ghosts in the house had zero interest in acknowledging him as their “dear child.”

They were much more interested in eating him.

Their drool was flowing even more heavily today.

As Pei Liu ate his fragrant fried rice, the ghosts watched him, their eyes glowing green with hunger.

They could all feel that Pei Liu’s soul had become even more delicious—a literal walking feast, perfect in color, aroma, and taste.

They had wanted to go to Pei Liu’s room last night to stir up trouble, but an unknown existence they all feared was present.

They didn’t know what it was and had never seen what it looked like, but their instincts filled them with terror.

Getting even slightly close made them want to scream in agony.

Now that Pei Liu had become even more mouth-watering, the ghosts didn’t know what had happened; they only knew their appetites had surged.

Yet, they wanted to eat but couldn’t, leaving them scratching at their hearts in a maddening hunger.

If anyone could clearly see the ghosts floating and crawling all over the room, they would probably think they had entered a “ghost asylum.”

After the meal, it was time for another exploration phase.

Emerging from a room empty-handed, Pei Liu stood by the window at the end of the corridor, looking out.

He asked the others: “Do you want to go take a look at the garden?”

Fragments of sunlight filtered in, creating a beautiful light-and-shadow effect on Pei Liu’s face that further highlighted his superior bone structure.

Tong Jiaqi happened to catch the sight and said with a look of awe: “It’s amazing. Pei Liu, standing there, the window frames you perfectly. It looks like a painting.”

Moving forward, she also looked outside and couldn’t help but praise: “There’s actually such a beautiful garden here.”

There was a large patch of red roses—lush, in full bloom, and vivid.

One could smell the rich fragrance even from where they stood.

“Are there any clues in the garden?”

Pei Liu: “We won’t know until we take a look.”

At that moment, Jian Yongge suddenly approached and said, seemingly offhandedly: “I once saw a movie where it was said that bodies were buried under beautiful flower beds as fertilizer.”

“The flowers were watered with flesh and blood, which is why they bloomed so brightly.”

Upon hearing this, Tong Jiaqi immediately lost interest and said fearfully: “There couldn’t really be bodies buried under there, could there?”

“Come to think of it, it is a bit strange that the flowers in an abandoned villa are blooming so well when no one is taking care of them…”

She didn’t dare go.

Wu Kai naturally stood by her side and didn’t go either.

Jian Yongge said he wanted to continue looking for clues inside the villa, and Zhao Hai agreed.

As a result, Pei Liu was the only one who wanted to go.

“There probably aren’t any clues outside the villa. Let’s not go,” Jian Yongge advised gently.

Pei Liu had his own thoughts; after hesitating for a moment, he still wanted to go.

“Alright, since you’re so persistent, I’ll go with you,” Jian Yongge said with a sigh, appearing to indulge his whim.

Pei Liu shook his head and said calmly: “No need. The garden isn’t large. You can see me from upstairs, and I’ll shout if there’s a problem.”

“You should focus on finding where the key can be used; that’s a very important clue.”

The last sentence carried a bit of hidden meaning.

Only Jian Yongge among those present could understand what he was implying; his smile faltered, and a glint flashed in his eyes.

After these two days, Pei Liu had also come to realize that Jian Yongge harbored hostility toward him, and the incident with the key might have been intentional.

Seeing Pei Liu’s calm demeanor, Wu Kai said admiringly: “You’re going alone? Aren’t you afraid?”

Pei Liu: “It’s fine.”

Wu Kai silently gave him a thumbs-up. Impressive.

The red roses in the garden indeed bloomed beautifully, but in such a gloomy environment, they didn’t possess any radiant vitality.

The deep crimson petals contrasted with the dilapidated yard; at first glance, it looked as if the soil had been stained with foul blood.

Pei Liu reached the first floor.

The grandfather clock in the hall ticked away, the sound cold and hollow.

He pushed open the villa door, and a gust of cold wind blew in fiercely, swirling dead leaves into the house.

The sound of the wind was like the wailing of ghosts.

He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and walked into the yard.

Tables and chairs were placed in the corner, but they were rusted and lay scattered on the ground in a mess.

The swing under the tree moved without any wind, slowly swaying back and forth.

The friction of the iron chains made an odd sound, as if an invisible child were sitting on it playing.

Pei Liu looked around, not wanting to miss any details.

Before long, he arrived in front of the rose bed.

His nose twitched; he actually smelled a faint scent of blood amidst the fragrance of the flowers.

Pei Liu stopped.

He wondered if he should step inside.

After all, everyone has a responsibility to protect flowers and plants. Even those in a haunted house should be treated equally.

While thinking, he moved his feet to the side, leaning in to observe if anything was hidden in the bushes.

At that moment, several roses moved, and a blood-drenched face popped out from between the flowers.

Curved red lines like little worms covered the entire eyeball, which was filled with malice.

Unfortunately, Pei Liu didn’t see it.

His foot tripped on something; he originally thought it was a shrub, but when he looked down, it was actually a hand covered in corpse spots.

The wrist was buried in the dirt, and the fingers were curled tightly around his ankle.

This was the result of two ghosts competing.

They couldn’t manifest at will, so they could only use the props prepared by the production team, attaching their yin energy to them to make the fake props look even more realistic in an attempt to scare Pei Liu.

Normally, an average person would have been screaming in terror by now.

But Pei Liu actually crouched down, sounding a bit impressed: “It looks just like a real body.”

Then, he even reached out and touched it.

“Cold and hard.”

Pei Liu observed it shamelessly for two seconds and discovered a delicate ring on the ghost hand.

After thinking for a moment, he reached out and took it off.

A clue—he’d take it back.

Pei Liu pried the ghost hand away and stood up.

Inadvertently, his fingertip was sliced by the edge of a leaf on the nearby shrub.

A drop of blood immediately surged from the wound, congealing into a bead of blood that trembled, about to roll off.

The flower bed suddenly became violently restless.

A gust of ghostly wind blew through, the roses swaying and creating layers of bloody waves.

The swing swung very high, letting out a piercing screech.

The rusted chairs on the ground trembled violently, and the soil was shaking too, as if something terrifying was about to burst out of the ground.

However, everything fell silent the moment a wisp of black mist emerged from the shadow beneath Pei Liu’s feet.

The thick black mist slowly climbed and meandered, finally wrapping around Pei Liu’s finger.

With a gentle rub, it curled around the blood drop and pulled it in, as if licking it up and eating it.

Pei Liu only felt a slight chill on his fingertip.

When he lifted it to look, there was only a very shallow scratch where the skin had broken; nothing was wrong.

Naturally, he didn’t pay it any mind, lowered his hand, and prepared to head back.

That wisp of black mist wrapped around him again, insatiable, wanting to get even more.