The wind howled and lightning flashed outside the window, casting a dim light on the study within. Anna was alone, seated at the massive desk, with a pen in her hand, as she slowly turned the pages of Victor Ravencourt's diary.
In total, there were eighteen diaries, with some years inevitably missing. However, only two significant periods were unaccounted for, allowing the rest to be pieced together.
Anna roughly categorized the entries into three phases: early, middle, and late.
During the early period, Victor Ravencourt was approximately thirty years old. His entries from this time were filled with thoughts, experiences, and aspirations concerning mysticism. It appeared he had recently encountered the subject, and his tone was notably enthusiastic and passionate.
The middle period corresponded to his forties. By this time, Victor Ravencourt had likely developed his own mystical abilities and had begun to collect and study related artifacts from around the globe. Some entries resembled research notes, even listing names of collections not mentioned in the accompanying booklet. The recorded effects were peculiar, including descriptions of formations and talismans used to directly contain ghosts.
In the later period, presumably Victor Ravencourt's final years, mysticism took a backseat. Family issues, both internal and external, troubled him, and his research seemed to stagnate. It was evident that Victor Ravencourt had grown to resent his family. He frequently used words like "burden" and "waste" in his complaints and mentioned events such as "execution" without hesitation.
The Ravencourt family experienced a gradual decline during this time. Victor Ravencourt's two sons had left home to forge their own paths, but their circumstances were not favorable. The eldest son was deemed "mediocre." Had the Ravencourt family been merely wealthy, this might have been manageable.
However, Victor Ravencourt's foundation was in mysticism. While he had made numerous friends, he also had many enemies. He could have humbled himself to ask a few friends to protect his family after his death, but that was not a permanent solution.
Anna spent the entire night meticulously sorting through the information in Victor Ravencourt's diary. As dawn began to break, a wave of dizziness washed over her.
Her fever had not completely abated, and now she had compounded it with a night of reading and intense thought. Anna coughed twice, glanced at the lightening window, and then slowly retrieved three booklets from her pocket.
Besides her own copy, there were two others that had belonged to the individuals who died at the beginning. Anna had seized the opportunity during the autopsies to obtain them.
She carefully examined the maps, then tore off the plans for each floor, took them to the window, and overlapped them.
Since all the maps used the same scale, their outlines should align. If the laboratory mentioned in the diary was hidden within the main house, there ought to be some anomaly in the map.
The result confirmed Anna's suspicion.
The corridor on the second floor was slightly wider than the one on the first floor. The difference wasn't significant, but the corridors in the main building ran along both sides, forming a "concave" structure with rooms on either side. The added width on the second floor, combined from both sides, would be enough to allow someone to pass in and out unnoticed.
"The ghost's first murder occurred in the corridor on the first floor... It wasn't accidental," Anna mused. The first-floor corridor only contained toilets and a few simple rooms. With ample rooms available on the second floor, few would consider that area. Moreover, the initial death in the first-floor corridor had subconsciously marked it as a dangerous place in everyone's minds. Who would pay attention to the subtle detail that the corridor was a little narrow?
Yet, even so, the first floor contained many rooms. Including the toilets, there were a total of sixteen rooms on the inner side. Searching them one by one would risk a sudden encounter with the ghost and certain death.
Hiding the laboratory directly in this area was unlikely, but the secret passage leading to it was probably located there.
Anna sank into deep thought.
"If I try to persuade others now, Sister Ling Yan and Beom Seok might be willing to help, and perhaps Grandpa Cairo as well, but the others might not. Searching haphazardly without a plan is pointless. Splitting up would give the ghost an opportunity to attack us – it's a real dilemma."
Just then, her mobile phone chimed, signaling a new message.
"Is it this time? Perfect, something to consider..." Anna opened the window wider, stood directly in front of it, and began to read the message.
[ Dear visitors, according to the weather forecast, the next two days will be pleasant and sunny, but the probability of precipitation will increase to 100% during the weekend. Please cherish the good weather for two days, enjoy the leisurely life in the villa, and engage in more outdoor activities beneficial to your health.
Additional tips on ghosts:
4: The second ghost lurks in mirrors and can move freely within the mirror world but cannot manifest in the real world. It can locate any "face" that clearly reflects a human image and manipulate its reflection to move. Any damage sustained by the reflection will be fully inflicted upon the original body. Furthermore, when manipulating the reflection, the mirror ghost can transfer all virtual and real objects between the mirror and reality, including sound. The mirror ghost must kill by severing the throat with a sharp weapon, as a clear image is required, thus it cannot kill in darkness. Similarly, when attacked by the mirror ghost, extinguishing the light and making its own image disappear will prevent it from killing.
5: ( To be unlocked at the end of the fourth day. )
Wishing you all a happy journey. ]
"Ha," Anna said, a sudden laugh escaping her lips as she looked at the text message.
A more powerful ghost with stricter limitations, even accompanied by a practical counter-strategy, yet all Anna could perceive was malice.
It was the complete opposite of the invisible ghost's killing environment, offering faster kills and making it impossible to target the main entity. Grace's final attack would have been futile against such a monster, and this information confirmed that the fifth item would undoubtedly be detailed information about the third ghost.
"All the information about the ghosts has been revealed to us in four days, so what are they planning to give us on the fifth and sixth days?"
"Anna!"
Beom Seok's figure suddenly appeared in the doorway.
"I found you! Hurry up and get out of here!"
"Do you have something to ask me? Why the rush?"
Anna didn't bother to cover the diary on the table. She simply folded the few papers she had sorted twice and slipped them into her pocket before walking towards the door.
Beom Seok, unconcerned, replied, "The safe time is almost over. If you get into trouble again, I'll be exhausted to death! Come back to the hall with me!"
"Something happened?"
"Something happened... It wasn't a ghost, just everyone arguing."
Anna glanced at him. Beom Seok had just received a text message and rushed over. He hadn't seemed to check it yet, so it might genuinely be something urgent.
However, she regretted this thought as soon as she went downstairs.
"What are you two hiding? Hand it over!"
"I was wondering why that guy had nothing on him after he died, and it turns out it was with you!"
In the hall, the two followers of the nouveau riche – Ron and Amir, she recalled their names – were being chased by several people. Rami was leading the charge, with his two younger associates, Couple Man and Dyed Hair, close behind. Even the doctor and the two band members were participating in the pursuit. While the others weren't actively chasing, unhappy expressions were etched on their faces.
"This morning, the two of them sneaked into the corridor while everyone was asleep to eat something but were caught by Rami, who had gotten up to use the bathroom. He discovered a bottle of pills with more than a dozen inside, which immediately enraged him."
"Is it... the Clearwell Pills the nouveau riche had?" Anna thought for a moment and understood.
"Yes, Rami threatened them, and they claimed this stuff could prevent ghosts from killing them. Although I don't believe such a cheap trick, many people clearly do," Beom Seok shrugged helplessly. "Ling Yan had to stay here to prevent any accidents, so she sent me upstairs to call you down... Do you want to get involved?"
"No one can stop you if you want to die," Anna deliberately raised her voice, immediately drawing the attention of several people.
"Good morning... It seems everyone had a good rest last night. I hope you can maintain your energy today," Then, she added with a hint of mockery.
Beom Seok offered a bitter smile. Since Grace's death, Anna had been treating everyone this way. Only he and Ling Yan received slightly better treatment. He couldn't fathom the source of such intense anger.
"Hey, you've been with that woman the longest. Do you know what this stuff is for?" Rami, having already subdued one of them, looked up and asked loudly, disregarding Anna's sarcasm.
"Of course, I know."
Anna extended her hand.
"Throw me a pill, and I'll tell you the real effect of that thing."
At that moment, the other man was also restrained by the others. Without hesitation upon hearing Anna's words, he retrieved the bottle, poured out a pill, and tossed it to her.
"Speak!"
Anna caught the pill and wrapped it in a piece of paper. Then, she chuckled and said, "Clearwell Pill, its specific effect is to give you an aura that ghosts dislike. For example... imagine placing two bowls of noodles in front of someone who hates cilantro. One bowl has cilantro, and the other doesn't. That person will naturally avoid the bowl with cilantro."
"You're saying this thing is like cilantro?" Rami considered this and grasped the analogy.
"Yes, after taking it, you become a bowl of noodles with cilantro. But this is just a temporary fix; the effect only lasts for one day."
"One day?" Everyone stared at the medicine bottle. Seeing that there were more than a dozen pills, one day per pill seemed insufficient.
"Wait, so if they take this and stay with us, the ghosts will target us first?" The doctor suddenly realized.
"What?" Rami's eyes widened. "So it's a scam?"
"It's not entirely a scam. If we consider the initial nine people, this bottle of medicine would have been enough for three people to survive until the end of seven days... ah!" A band member with a crew cut suddenly clapped his hands. "So, after you found it in the beginning, the three of you huddled together and hid it, right?"
"I was wondering why that idiot looked so arrogant; it turns out he had something like this," Rami scoffed. "No wonder... but he still died."
At this point, Ron, who was being held down, spoke in a low voice, "We don't know the exact duration of its effectiveness... He took it first and then gave it to us. I'm afraid he didn't time it properly and was caught off guard. Otherwise, why would Amir and I have rushed out in such a hurry this morning?"
"There's something wrong with your brain... Hey! Do you have any other questions?" Rami looked up and asked Anna.
"Well, let's use the same analogy again. If there are two bowls of noodles with cilantro in front of this person, and he is starving and has no choice but to eat, what do you think will happen?"
"Nonsense! He's almost starving, why would he care about cilantro..." Rami muttered, looking down. He was a bit slow on the uptake, but many others present understood immediately.
"So, it's not effective just by eating it; it only works if you are with people who haven't eaten it?" Noah asked, frowning.