ATFBETIBM Chapter 568

“Hahaha, if this is really Xiaohua’s revenge, then what makes you think you are so noble!”

“She brought us all here, do you think you can survive? Su Hong is dead, Shen Shukuang is dead, Cao Ji’an is dead, we’re all going to die, we’re all going to die!”

“Hahaha, none of us can escape!”

Xiao Xin stared wide-eyed. When Zhang Li turned her smiling face towards her, she finally couldn’t bear the fright and burst into tears.

For a moment, Xiao Xin’s crying, Mrs. Shen’s curses, Zhang Li’s eerie laughter, and Li Chongming’s curses overlapped, filling the space.

“Wuuu, Mom, I’m scared, Mom.”

“Fuck, what are you laughing at, are you crazy, what’s wrong with you?”

“Hahaha, hahahaha, hahahaha.”

“Damn it, let me go! Officer Wang, let me go! There are monsters, there are monsters! How can I escape if the monsters come in later!”

Outside the four tense emotions, there were three relatively calm individuals.

Bai Lixin, Ran Jingjing, and Wang Tou looked at each other.

After some thought, Wang Tou walked up to Li Chongming and untied his restraints. “Who among you has a phone? Call the police.”

Li Chongming rubbed his reddened wrists and said irritably, “I was in the detention center, how could I have a phone?”

The other three seemed lost in their own emotions, paying no attention to Wang Tou’s words.

“I have a phone.” Finally, Ran Jingjing took out a smartphone from her pocket.

Her calm and clear voice was like a shot of adrenaline into everyone present. Mrs. Shen and Zhang Li’s voices paused for a moment as they both looked at Ran Jingjing.

It seemed like they were waiting for some kind of miracle.

Ran Jingjing shook her phone helplessly. “But there’s no signal.”

The large red cross in the upper right corner was very conspicuous, extinguishing the hope that had just ignited among the people present.

Zhang Li laughed wildly twice, staggered and fell to the ground, her expression alternating between numbness and a sinister smile. She kept muttering, “Retribution, retribution, everyone’s going to die, everyone’s going to die, no one can escape.”

Outside, fog enveloped everything, but inside the wooden house, everything was clear and bright.

Bai Lixin surveyed the wooden house. The area was about a hundred square meters, and he could see from one end to the other at a glance.

Apart from the furniture like rattan chairs, coffee tables, and sofas in the living room, there were three wooden doors extending forward.

He walked to these doors and inspected them. They led to the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom respectively.

Inside the bathroom, toothpaste and toothbrushes were neatly arranged. The toothpaste was squeezed halfway, with the end folded neatly on top.

The toilet lid was flipped down, and faint blue toilet seat covers could be seen sticking to the toilet seat.

Next, Bai Lixin came to the kitchen.

Opening the cupboard, he found several packs of instant noodles and a few wooden bowls and chopsticks.

All the metallic materials in the kitchen were frosted, giving them a textured appearance.

After inspecting the bathroom and kitchen, Bai Lixin moved on to the bedroom.

There was only a simple wooden bed in the middle of the bedroom, and a blue quilt with a starry sky was neatly spread on the bed.

The curtains were tightly drawn, and there were no wardrobes or entertainment devices like televisions in the bedroom.

As he observed the wooden house, the others seemed to realize that waiting passively was not an option and followed suit.

Upon reaching the bedroom, Li Chongming subconsciously looked up at the corner of the wall.

After scanning the corner with his eyes, he muttered something.

Wang Tou: “What did you say?”

This sentence successfully attracted everyone’s attention. Seeing everyone’s attention turned to him, Li Chongming swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said embarrassedly, “I mean, there are no surveillance cameras installed in this bedroom.”

Mrs. Shen sneered, “You’re really a workaholic.”

Li Chongming’s cheeks suddenly turned red, and he lowered his head in embarrassment.

Wang Tou walked behind the tightly closed curtains and pulled them open.

Behind was nothing but a plain wooden wall and a closed window.

The window was also frosted, and everyone could see nothing but a blur of white.

“Do we want to open it and see what’s going on outside?” Ran Jingjing suggested.

“Are you crazy?” She had just finished speaking when Mrs. Shen immediately retorted, “What if those monsters are right outside the window?”

Li Chongming hurriedly added, “Yes, yes, we must not open it!”

Wang Tou glanced at Ran Jingjing and then around at everyone. Eventually, he withdrew his hand. “We’ve checked the whole house. It seems there are only a few of us in this wooden house. Let’s first sort out the cause and effect of the matter, and then think about what to do.”

As soon as he finished speaking, an untimely “gurgle” sound echoed in the air.

Xiao Xin clutched her stomach, her eyes red. She looked at Mrs. Shen timidly, her voice still carrying some lingering traces of crying, “I’m so hungry.”

Yes, Mrs. Shen had just mentioned she was preparing dinner for Xiao Xin.

“If you’re hungry, just endure it for now,” Mrs. Shen said impatiently. “Where am I going to get you something to eat in this shabby house?”

“Aren’t there some noodles in the kitchen?” Ran Jingjing recalled seeing noodles in the kitchen earlier. “How about I cook some noodles for Xiao Xin?”

“Who knows what’s in those noodles,” Mrs. Shen disagreed. “What if they’re poisoned?”

Xiao Xin’s stomach gurgled again.

Ran Jingjing frowned. Just as she hesitated to speak, Zhang Li interjected, “The noodles in the cupboard are open and half gone. It means the owner of this wooden house must have eaten them too. Can you endure it? I’m hungry too. Since we’re all going to die anyway, it’s better to die full than hungry.”

After saying that, she left on her own and went to the kitchen next door.

Soon, the sound of water boiling and fire crackling came from the kitchen, followed by a faint aroma of wheat wafting into everyone’s nostrils.

“Gurgle gurgle.”

Xiao Xin’s stomach growled even louder.

“Gurgle.”

There was another stomach growl, and Mrs. Shen froze, her expression awkward. She glanced at the crowd, then quickly lowered her head.

“Mom, your stomach growled too. Are you hungry?”

As soon as Xiao Xin asked this, Mrs. Shen immediately glared at her and whispered sharply, “Don’t talk.”

“What are you showing off to a child,” Zhang Li retorted from the kitchen while cooking noodles, “Your daughter is just concerned about whether you’re hungry.”

Mrs. Shen: “This is my child, not yours. Who gave you the right to speak? If you have the guts, say it to your own child.”

The woman in the kitchen suddenly turned around and stared at Mrs. Shen with a pair of hateful eyes.

If looks could kill, Mrs. Shen would have died thousands of times over by now.

Mrs. Shen’s sharp words stopped abruptly. Zhang Li glared at Mrs. Shen for several seconds before silently turning back to cook noodles.

While Zhang Li was cooking noodles, the others had returned to the living room.

Cao Jiyun was still slumped weakly in the rattan chair, her head hanging limply without any sign of awakening.

“So what’s the situation now? Why are we here?” Mrs. Shen was utterly confused, “Officer Wang, you’re a police officer. In such an unexpected situation, you should have more experience than us. Do you have any thoughts or findings?”

Wang Tou looked troubled. “I only have experience in handling cases. This is my first time encountering this kind of bizarre experience. If there’s anything I’ve found, it’s that this wooden house is obviously inhabited. We just searched the whole house and found no traces of anyone else. Unless someone else comes in, it’s just us here. As for why we ended up here, I have no idea.”

He thought for a moment, then looked at Bai Lixin. “Young man, did you really take the ‘roll of film’ from Shen Shukuang’s house as Mrs. Shen mentioned?”

Bai Lixin nodded. “Yes, I took it.”

Wang Tou stretched out his hand. “Give it to me. Stealing is never right. That roll of film may be an important clue. I can turn you into a tainted witness.”

Seeing Bai Lixin hand over the film to Wang Tou, Mrs. Shen’s eyes flickered a few times. “Officer Wang, I bought that roll of film through legitimate means. Besides that, I haven’t done anything else.”

Wang Tou glanced at Mrs. Shen, smiled faintly, and shook his head lightly without saying much.

Seeing this smile, Mrs. Shen was somewhat stunned. “What do you mean by that?”

Wang Tou: “I only want to uncover the truth of the case. As for how it will be judged, that’s the court’s responsibility. Whether your actions will be punished, I don’t have a say.”

He said this and unrolled the film. When he saw the contents inside, his expression became serious. Just as he was about to roll up the film, a hand suddenly reached out and snatched the film away.

Ran Jingjing stared at the photos imprinted on the black-and-white film gloomily, her face pale.

In the hall, the atmosphere suddenly became tense and quiet.

Even Xiao Xin could sense Ran Jingjing’s anger, and she shrank into Mrs. Shen’s arms.

“Why are you angry?” Mrs. Shen muttered in a low voice, “Now that Su Hong and Shen Shukuang are both dead, it’s a kind of redemption for Xiaohua.”

Ran Jingjing lifted her eyes and looked at Mrs. Shen coldly. “Redemption? If any of you had stood up back then, maybe Xiaohua wouldn’t have died at all.”

“We should have stood up?” Mrs. Shen raised her voice, “Why? That was Su Xiaohua’s own business. She didn’t even stand up herself, why should I stand up for her?”

“Can you please be reasonable?”

The articulate Ran Jingjing unexpectedly faltered and was unable to speak for a while.

Zhang Li walked out of the kitchen with a steaming bowl of noodles. It was unclear whether she had heard the conversation in the living room just now, she ignored everyone, placed the bowl on the coffee table and started to eat.

The sound of slurping noodles continued incessantly. Ran Jingjing returned the film to Wang Tou with a gloomy face and coldly watched Zhang Li eating noodles.

Perhaps influenced by Xiao Xin’s hunger or soothed by the brief aroma of food after the extreme shock, in addition to Xiao Xin, who was staring eagerly at Zhang Li, Mrs. Shen and Li Chongming’s attention was also drawn to her.