Chapter 6

"Were you all just upstairs?"

Charles finished the last bite of his meal, then looked up at the three people.

Gerald silently nodded, then said, "Besides the patient's room and our rooms, there are no other hidden rooms on the second floor."

"Also, the patient's room takes up the entire left side, and our rooms are all across from it."

Charles bit his nails, thinking for a moment.

"Are there any other clues?"

Gerald looked towards the stairs, paused, and said, "There is something."

"There's always a strange smell upstairs," Emily interrupted Gerald, "but I can't tell what it is. It just makes you feel uneasy."

"Does every room have this smell?" Charles asked.

"I should say the entire second floor has it."

Madeline, who had been observing the surroundings, suddenly spoke up, "There's something else that's strange. Every room has its own bathroom, like in a prison."

Gerald scoffed, "How do you know what a prison layout is like? Have you been to jail? And what's so strange about that?"

"Gerald, haven't you watched TV? Don't you know what a prison layout looks like? Does it have to do with being in jail?" Madeline suddenly stood up angrily.

"No, it is indeed strange." Charles also stood up, further preventing the two from arguing.

"The whole building only has the lady of the house, the man of the house, and the children. And as you all saw, there were so many children just now, they should all live on the third floor. Logically, the other rooms shouldn't each have their own bathroom."

Emily continued from where Charles left off, "Maybe the lady of the house is very hospitable, even though it's such a remote place..."

Emily's voice grew smaller and smaller, as if even she couldn't convince herself with the reasons she was coming up with.

Everyone fell into an eerie silence again as the conversation ended.

At that moment, the sound of glass breaking suddenly came from upstairs, followed by Rachel's piercing scream.

The scream caught everyone's attention, and they all stood up and looked towards the stairs.

"What happened?"

"Should we go check it out?"

"Let's go! Together!"

Everyone huddled together and quickly moved towards the second floor.

As soon as they reached the second floor, Charles quickly noticed the strange smell, a weird rotting protein odor.

But there was no time to think about it, they had already burst through the door to the patient's room.

The room was dark, with only the red moonlight shining in.

The man's swollen belly rose and fell with his heavy breathing, and the heart monitor was beeping.

Food was scattered all over the floor, and Rachel was curled up in a corner, muttering incomprehensibly.

Piper quickly stepped forward, holding Rachel's hand and comforting her.

"What just happened here?" Charles walked over, squatting down to ask.

Rachel didn't look up, just shakily pointed her hand straight at the man on the bed. "He...he talked to me."

Everyone looked at the man on the bed, who was like a vegetable, only breathing. The large room was silent except for his heavy breathing and the beeping of the heart monitor.

Gerald, standing with his arms crossed, said, "Ms. Taylor, there's no need to make such a fuss. Vegetables aren't dead, they can talk in their sleep."

"No! It wasn't sleep-talking!" Rachel looked up, her voice trembling with tears, clearly terrified.

Charles stared at the patient for a moment, then turned to help Piper lift Rachel up.

"Let's go downstairs to rest."

"Jeffrey, let's clean up the room," Charles said to Jeffrey, who had been leaning against the wall observing the situation.

Jeffrey picked up the mop standing in the corner, muttering as he cleaned, "Why do I have to clean up? It was her mess."

Just by looking at Jeffrey, you could tell he was not someone to mess with, but he listened to Charles.

This combination was quite dramatic.

But given the current atmosphere, everyone was too preoccupied to care about such things, only wanting to know what the patient had said to Rachel.

After cleaning the room, Charles walked quietly to the bedside, slightly bending over to look at the man's face.

The man was still like a vegetable, only heavy breathing, showing no signs of speaking.

Even with his features squished together from obesity, Charles wondered if he could even open his mouth.

In the end, Charles left the room following Jeffrey.

But what he didn't know was, the moment he closed the door, the man on the bed twisted his stiff neck and slowly opened his eyes.