Nightmare Assault

He glanced out the window. The sunlight was blinding, but he knew that based on the previous calculation, the morning would only stay for 3 hours. And half of the three hours had already passed.

When the night descended again, their world would forever be dropped into the eternal night.

“We don’t have enough time. We have to split up.” Jiang Cheng looked around. “Man Li, you can go alone. Fatty will come with me. We need to move fast and pay attention to things like keys. There might be clues behind that iron door on the third floor. However, I’ve tried everything. Without the key, we aren’t opening that door.”

“Okay.”

The two teams went to work.

Since Jiang Cheng’s group had one more person, they would handle the larger first floor. Man Li searched the second floor. Soon, the search bore results. Jiang Cheng found a piece of rope at an inconspicuous corner behind the staircase. One end of the rope was tied to the corner of the second-floor staircase. The other end extended to the first floor. Jiang Cheng ran up the stairs to examine the knot. The place was where he and Fatty were hiding yesterday. There was no rope there yesterday.

When Man Li heard them running up the stairs, he also walked out of the study, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Cheng pointed at the rope.

Then, they returned back to the first floor and followed the rope. They walked to the end of the living room, and the small room where the wood was stored had its door open.

Man Li’s face dropped. “I remember tying a rope between the door handle and the nail beside the door. Where’s the rope?”

Fatty walked into the room and picked up a rope from behind a stack of wood. The rope was snipped into two parts, and the cut was clean.

Man Li took over and touched it. “It was cut by a tool like a dagger.”

There was another door inside the small room. The wood before the door had been moved away. Jiang Cheng walked over and gave it a push. The door didn’t budge. He looked through the glass on the door. It led to the back of the bungalow. There were some fallen leaves on the ground. However, due to the earlier rain, the ground was muddy. There were clear tire tracks in the mud.

“It is left behind by the bus.” Fatty gasped. However, they were surrounded by woods. There was no path for a bus. Regardless, that was not important. The important thing was they knew how Sister Nuan and the girl left.

Fatty learned from Jiang Cheng and shook the door heavily. The door didn’t want to open.

“Stop doing that.” Jiang Cheng said, “You won’t be able to open it.”

Fatty stopped, but he asked, “If this door won’t open, how do they leave?”

Man Li suddenly answered, “It’s the time.”

“Time?”

“Yes.” Man Li looked at the confused Fatty and nodded. “We have the wrong timing. The bus and the door will only work when the time is right.”

“3.07 am.” Jiang Cheng said.

Man Li looked at him in surprise and nodded. “You’ve thought of it too.”

“What are you talking about?” Fatty blinked. “Why 3.07 am?”

“Do you remember Xie Yu’s time of death?” Jiang Cheng said, “Back then, I looked at the clock. It showed 3.07 am.”

Fatty was shocked. “But isn’t time unreliable in this world.”

Man Li continued, “Correct, but that doesn’t mean we cannot use it as a frame of reference. On the night Xie Yu died, I heard a strange sound, and I also looked at the time.” He took the pocket watch from his pocket and shook it before Fatty. “It also showed 3.07 am then.

“However, not too long ago, I just glanced at the time. It showed 6 am. In other words, all the clocks in the room would show 3.07 am at a specific moment.”

Fatty’s pupils trembled. He whipped his head at Jiang Cheng. “So yesterday, you were waiting for the time to reach 3.07 am in the study! Because the ghost would show up then!” Jiang Cheng showed no response, but Fatty continued, “The ghost didn’t show up, so you went to probe Sister Nuan. When you saw that Sister Nuan was still alive, you said Man Li was…”

He suddenly stopped because Man Li was still standing there. The rest was simple. They returned to the living room. Jiang Cheng sat on the couch. Man Li stayed beside the fireplace. Fatty went to cook. After food, they gathered around. Man Li said he saw 6 tire threads behind the bungalow. In other words, the bus had been there for the past three nights. They had spent three nights at the bungalow already.

The sky was fully dark. Man Li glanced at the watch. Soon, just as Fatty was about to fall asleep, Jiang Cheng suddenly announced, “It’s time!”

Man Li stood up and put the pocket watch in his pocket. Everyone walked to the storage at the corner of the living room. Jiang Cheng and Man Li were very careful. After all, no one could confirm no ghost would show up near the end. Just as they entered the storage, the empty space behind the bungalow lit up.

A bus drove over from the distance and then paused about 20 meters away from the bungalow. Man Li took a deep breath and then placed his hand on the door handle. He pushed.

The door opened.

Fatty was so excited. He almost cried. Man Li was the first to leave. Then, Fatty. Finally, Jiang Cheng. The bungalow was very warm, so when they first came out, they were shocked by the cold. Man Li pulled his coat around his body. Jiang Cheng did the same. Fatty could only hug himself.

The three slowly moved towards the bus.

It was the same people on the bus, the pair of couple, the pair of mother and son. They were all in their seats.

Director Zheng stood on the bus and welcomed them with passion, “Sorry for the wait, travellers. We’re going home now.”

Home… It was so captivating. Fatty wanted to get on the bus, but someone pulled him from behind. In that opening, Man Li walked past him and got on the bus.

Fatty turned around and saw Jiang Cheng looking at the bus calmly.

“What’s wrong?”

Jiang Cheng didn’t answer.

“Travellers, do you not want to go home?” Director Zheng smiled and bowed slightly. She exposed the pretty rose tattoo on her slender arm, “If you’re late, you won’t be able to go home.”