Chapter 13

Jeffrey broke into a cold sweat upon hearing it.

"What? Do they all not wear shoes?"

Charles pondered for a moment, then looked up to meet Jeffrey's gaze.

"Did the lady of the house ever mention her job?"

"No, I don't think so."

Jeffrey tilted his head, trying to recall.

"But to support such a big family, even if she didn't work, she would still need to go out, right? Could it be that the lady of the house took everything with her?"

"Do you think women and children would only have a few pairs of shoes? And they've only been gone for less than a week. Is it necessary to pack everything?"

Charles replied coldly.

"Unless there's only one possibility, maybe just as you suspected, no one actually lives in this house!"

Hearing Charles' speculation, Jeffrey felt a chill run down his spine.

Indeed, women and children couldn't possibly not have spare shoes. Especially since the lady of the house seemed so meticulous and refined. Moreover, she was the only one taking care of the entire family. All these clues pointed to one possibility.

This house might just be a "game" venue.

"Let's go back to the living room. Everyone should gather together."

Charles remained silent for a long time before finally standing up.

He glanced through the glass on the door into the pitch-black darkness. Apart from the continuous rain forming a curtain, a chill emanated from it, and there was nothing else.

But precisely because of this, Charles felt even more that something was lurking in the darkness, watching him, watching everyone!

After some thought, he instructed everyone to check the windows immediately and draw the curtains tightly.

In the living room, everyone looked exhausted.

Counting the numbers, apart from the deceased Rachel and the escaped Emily, only five of them were left.

At this moment, Gerald suddenly spoke, startling everyone.

"What were you talking about with that patient just now? How did he suddenly cooperate with you?"

His face, already pale, now looked like a sheet of white paper, almost gray.

Because of his profession as a top university professor, he always carried a bit of arrogance, unwilling to lose composure in front of others. Although he was sometimes as scared as everyone else, he still tried to remain calm and restrained.

Everyone's eyes turned to Charles following Gerald's question.

Charles coughed and replied, "I told him if he didn't eat, I'd force it down his throat."

Everyone was stunned by this statement.

What?

Madeline couldn't help but laugh.

"Just like that? And he ate?" Gerald frowned, trying to discern from Charles' expression if he was telling the truth.

Charles nodded, "It's that simple. What could a patient do to resist me?"

Piper picked up the conversation and said, "I think we should avoid too much contact with that patient. After all, everyone saw the bloodstains around his mouth. Rachel's death might be related to him."

"And that patient is clearly not in a vegetative state. Why did the lady of the house say her husband was in a vegetative state?"

"And why were there bloodstains around his mouth? Could it be..."

Her voice grew smaller and she began to tremble, clearly frightened by her own thoughts.

Piper glanced at the direction of the stairs, then quickly looked away, clinging tightly to Madeline.

"Don't scare yourself," Jeffrey said to Piper, his expression serious. "Stop thinking about it."

Piper covered her face with her hands, sobbing, "I'm scared. I don't want to die."

"Rachel, Rachel died so..."

"I'm really scared. I'm so afraid I'll be the next Rachel."

Madeline kept patting Piper, comforting her, "It's okay, it's okay."

"Everyone is trying to find a way. We will get out of here."

Jeffrey sighed and turned to look at the silent Charles.

He saw Charles biting his nails again. From their time together, he had roughly guessed that this was something Charles did when he was thinking.

"Charles, do you have any ideas?"

Jeffrey moved his chair closer to Charles.

Seeing Jeffrey move closer, Charles shifted his body and glanced at him.

"I want to test my hypothesis tonight."

"What hypothesis?"

Charles stood up and looked around at everyone.

"I need someone to go with me. Who's willing to go?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately recalled the tragic incident from the previous night and silently lowered their heads, not daring to speak.

After a long while, Jeffrey gritted his teeth and stood up straight. "Why does it have to be at night?"

Charles stared into Jeffrey's eyes and said, "It has to be at night, only at night."

As if under a spell, Jeffrey found himself murmuring in response to Charles' olive-colored eyes, "Then I'll go with you."

As soon as he said it, he instinctively covered his mouth.

Why did he instinctively agree to Charles?

Why did his body act before his mind?

He looked up sharply and saw a barely noticeable smile on Charles' lips.

"Alright, then stay close to me tonight."

Suddenly, a piercing scream came from the second floor.

"No!"

"Spare me, please, I'll tell you."

"Ahhhhh!"

The conversation was abruptly cut off by the final scream.

That sense of fear returned to everyone's hearts.

They looked at each other, the terror in their eyes unmistakable.

Because they knew the owner of that voice all too well.

It was Emily, who had just escaped!