"This isn't a vacation."

The fatty seemed to think of something, his face turning pale as he said, "So, you mean that Nuan-jie from just now... was a ghost?"

"I'm afraid so." Jiang Cheng nodded.

"Then the real Nuan-jie, and the girl in the room named Chen Xiaomeng, wouldn't they be..."

"Alright," Jiang Cheng interrupted him, and after a few seconds, he said, "Let's go to the living room."

To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Jiang Cheng didn't deliberately lighten his footsteps as he went down the stairs, but when he and the fatty arrived downstairs, only the blazing fire in the fireplace remained.

Fan Li, who should have been by the fireplace, was gone.

The fatty was a little scared and asked, "Could it be that something happened to him too?"

Jiang Cheng scanned the surroundings and then said, "Come out, we are people, not ghosts."

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure as strong as a bear stood up from behind the sofa. Fan Li stared at them warily, a sharp knife in his hand reflecting a cold light.

"Why did you come down?" He quickly glanced at the stairs and then focused his gaze on Jiang Cheng's face. "Where are the other two?"

"Something happened to them."

Fan Li stared at them suspiciously. According to the previous deduction, women should be safe in this mission, how could something like this happen.

The fatty quickly told Fan Li about their encounter just now.

Fan Li's expression changed slightly, and then he sighed, "According to what you said, they are probably in grave danger."

More than grave danger, the fatty thought, he only hoped their deaths wouldn't be as gruesome as Xie Yu's.

Now that a ghost had appeared tonight, the three of Jiang Cheng were relatively safer, but after what had just happened, even the fatty lost his sleepiness.

"Let's rest for a while," Jiang Cheng said, "I won't sleep, I'll wake you up in two hours."

Fan Li had probably experienced such things many times, so he was used to it. In short, he lay down, but not on the sofa, but in front of the fireplace.

No one knew if he was really sleeping, and the sharp knife he had found in the kitchen was put away, probably hidden somewhere on his body.

In the warmth of the fire, the fatty's nerves began to waver. It had been a long time since he had a good night's sleep, and only his remaining consciousness was holding on.

He sat on the sofa, and the scene in front of him gradually blurred.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already dawn. Jiang Cheng and Fan Li were gathered together, discussing something in low voices. Jiang Cheng's face looked the same as usual, but Fan Li was occasionally a little excited.

The fatty moved his body, and the sofa made a slight creaking sound.

Jiang Cheng turned his head, looked at him and said, "Awake?"

"Yeah," the fatty rubbed his face a little embarrassedly, "It's dawn, shouldn't we go upstairs and take a look?"

"Don't rush, let's wait until it's completely bright."

And so, they waited for about half an hour. During this time, the three of them ate some small breads and the like, barely filling their stomachs.

When it was completely bright, Jiang Cheng stood up and said it was about time. The three of them took the things in their hands and began to go upstairs along the stairs.

Fan Li was still holding the sharp knife from last night. Jiang Cheng had an extra rolling pin in his hand, and the fatty saw that there was nothing else in the kitchen, so he carried the cutting board away, holding it against his chest as a shield.

The three of them slowly came to the corridor on the second floor, gradually approaching the master bedroom.

At this time, they could already be sure that something must have happened to Nuan-jie and the others.

The door of the master bedroom was open by a third, and there was no sound inside.

Jiang Cheng reached out and pushed the door open.

The fatty immediately raised the cutting board.

They were originally prepared to see two corpses, or even a ghost pouncing on them, but when the door opened, there was nothing inside.

No corpses, no ghosts, no bloodstains.

There weren't even any traces of struggle.

The quilts in the room were folded neatly, the things on the tables and chairs were in order, and a silk robe was draped on the sofa, as if the hostess had just left.

"Where are they?" The fatty asked with wide eyes.

Jiang Cheng went to check under the bed, while Fan Li went to check the closet with a gloomy face, and then the bathroom, behind the sofa... In the end, they even searched the nearby rooms, including the one where Xie Yu's body was found.

No.

Nothing.

Nuan-jie and Chen Xiaomeng, two living people, had disappeared as if out of thin air.

Jiang Cheng thought for a while, then suddenly said to Fan Li, "Is there a possibility that the two of them didn't die, and have successfully left this place?"

"You mean they've already finished the mission?" Fan Li's expression was uncertain, but after a moment, he still replied, "The possibility is very small, but it can't be ruled out."

The fatty interjected from the side, "If that's the case, then how do you explain the ghost we encountered last night?"

Jiang Cheng knew what the fatty wanted to say. Since the ghost turned into Nuan-jie's appearance and appeared in the master bedroom where Nuan-jie and Chen Xiaomeng were, then they should have encountered it.

Before encountering that ghost last night, Jiang Cheng had been on the second floor. He didn't hear anyone walking in the corridor, which meant that Nuan-jie and the two of them didn't leave the room.

The windows in the villa could not be opened either, so there was no possibility of leaving through the windows.

So either Nuan-jie and the two of them had been killed by the ghost, but the bodies were hidden, or before the ghost appeared, Nuan-jie and the two of them had already ended the mission and returned to the real world from the dream realm.

Regarding the way to leave the mission, Fan Li gave his own experience, saying that a black iron door would generally appear after all the clues were found.

Through that door, you could return to the real world.

But he also emphasized that the black iron door could appear in any location, but generally it would not be too remote, and most of them were related to important clues in the mission.

"Like the iron door we pushed open in the dream?" Jiang Cheng asked.

Fan Li nodded, "Yes, you can imagine it as a passage connecting the dream realm and the real world."

Back in the living room on the first floor, Jiang Cheng sat on the thick carpet, and Fan Li and the fatty also sat down, right across from Jiang Cheng.

The situation they were facing now was a bit complicated.

"Alright," Jiang Cheng looked up and said, "Let's assume that Nuan-jie and the others have successfully left this place, and think about how they did it."

The fatty shrank his neck and stammered, "But how do I feel like they were killed by the ghost?"

Jiang Cheng looked at him and said coldly, "This question is meaningless. If you insist that they have been killed by the ghost, then let's just wait for death."

The fatty was frightened by Jiang Cheng's attitude and didn't dare to speak for a while.

Fan Li then nodded and said, "You're right, Nuan-jie and the others must have found a way to leave!"

"So... it's our turn," Jiang Cheng patted his trouser legs and stood up.