The first thing that came into view was a pair of dangling feet in the darkness.

Before anyone had time to react, the entire scene unfolded, leaving everyone in stunned horror.

In the spacious room, a woman in a red dress hung from a high beam, her back facing the door, with a tilted wooden stool beneath her feet. Her arms hung limply, her long hair was disheveled, and her frail body was tightly bound by a thick rope, void of any life.

"A...a dead body?!"

Panicked breaths spread through the crowd. The room was empty, with nothing in it except the hanging corpse and the stool. The entire scene felt unnervingly staged, as if set for dramatic effect.

Something wasn’t right.

Fang Chen’s pupils narrowed as he noticed something under the stool, like a piece of paper.

“There’s something under the stool. I’ll go check it out.”

He took a step forward, but Meng Qiyan grabbed his sleeve tightly.

"Are you crazy? Of course there's something there! There’s a dead woman hanging right in front of us!"

"No, under the stool."

Ever since Meng Qiyan had seen the inside of the room, she hadn’t dared to look up. Hearing Fang Chen’s words, she forced herself to look around the stool area. Sure enough, a half-concealed note peeked out from under the stool—a detail easy to miss without close inspection.

She whispered cautiously, "Maybe we shouldn't touch anything here."

"Don’t you think that paper is positioned a little too deliberately? Almost as if it’s waiting to be read."

Saying this, he freed his sleeve from her grip and slowly walked toward the center of the room. His body was tense, every nerve on edge, alert to anything that might happen.

As he moved deeper into the room, the surrounding lights were swallowed by the darkness. Reaching the woman’s dangling feet, he deliberately avoided looking directly at her, carefully lifted the stool, and extracted the piece of paper beneath it.

It was a letter. Using the faint moonlight streaming through the window, he began to read it softly.

[December 12, Overcast]It all feels like a nightmare.I deeply regret my decision.If I had only listened to my parents and not married so far away…Would this terrifying nightmare have never happened?In just six short months, I’ve come to realize a bloody truth.I can’t bear this life any longer.Mom, Dad, I’ll repay you in the next life.Farewell.

It looked like a note filled with regret and resentment. Strangely, though, unlike the handwritten diary, this letter was printed, its words set in neat, precise typeface.

The date in the red notebook was June 1, while this farewell letter was dated December 12. Could this girl who died with resentment be the “she” mentioned in the carpenter’s diary? What drastic change could have turned their love into tragedy in only six months?

“Fang Chen—come back now!”

An urgent shout interrupted his thoughts. Meng Qiyan’s voice, barely held in check, was trembling with fear.

A faint rustling sound came from above. The friction of the rope was amplified in the quiet.

As he stood up, he was startled by a shocking sight that made his breath stop.

The corpse, which had been facing away, had somehow rotated 180 degrees, her feet now aligned directly in front of Fang Chen’s face!

A chilling wind rushed over him.

Now, mere inches away, he could see disturbing details in stark clarity.

The impact of this sight was overwhelming.

Everyone screamed and backed toward the stairs, even Liu Mang showing signs of shock. Only Yan Xuan stood by the door, looking thoughtfully at the scene.

Nobody dared to move, and they stood in uneasy silence for what felt like an eternity. The hanging woman had merely turned her body around; her limp form still drooped, with her dirty hair covering her face.

Others couldn’t see it, but Fang Chen noticed clearly.

Bloodshot eyes moved ever so slightly from behind the tangled hair. In the shadows, her head tilted down, her unblinking, lifeless gaze hidden behind strands of hair, fixed directly on him.

It felt as if two different times were flowing within the room. The screams from behind reminded him that time was moving normally, but around the resentful corpse, time seemed frozen, like a still painting.

A wave of calm washed over Fang Chen as he folded the letter and placed it in his pocket, turning to leave.

Seeing him return unharmed, Bai Li, trembling, spoke up, “Most people hang themselves in closed rooms. When the door opens, or someone enters, the room’s air pressure changes.”

“When a body is hanging, the air currents can make it slowly rotate. That’s why people often think the dead are staring back at them.”

“So everything we saw just now was… coincidence.”

This logical tech guy still attempted to explain the strange phenomena scientifically. But nobody was listening.

The thought of spending the night in the same building as a corpse had them all unnerved.

“Maybe we should head back to our rooms…” Lu Wanting rubbed her arms, covered in goosebumps.

After Fang Chen stepped out, Yan Xuan quietly closed the door. “It’s too late to investigate further. Let’s wait until morning and follow the carpenter’s advice. Staying in our rooms should keep us safe tonight.”

His voice, low and calm, was soothing, providing a small comfort. Others quickly agreed, fearful of encountering more horrors if they stayed.

After each person received a room key, they headed to the second floor. The previously crowded hallway was soon empty.

Fang Chen’s room was the first one near the stairway.

Inside, the room was well-furnished. It seemed more like a small guesthouse, equipped with an old air conditioner and a computer, both covered in a thick layer of dust.

The computer screen faced the bed, a dark, hollow void staring back. It made him feel as if something could reach out at any moment.

The whole horror setup like in The Ring is outdated by now, isn’t it?

Fang Chen shrugged and grabbed a cloth to drape over the screen, preferring not to look. Just as he pulled his hand back, he felt a slight tug on his pocket.