Trembling At A High Altitude

"Ah! Ah! Ah! You bastard! How did you find me?"

In the darkness, the decapitated female teacher's screams and curses echoed.

"When you were in the bathroom, I noticed that Yuki Noto was always looking out and not watching what you were doing. However, I could see you wiping the toilet ring from the bathroom mirror.

"The only person who knew you were wiping the toilet ring was yourself, not Yuki Noto.

"So, you are not Yuki Noto, you are an Evil Ghost embodying a deceased female teacher. You invaded my dreams and tried to trap me there perpetually."

Li Teng answered the decapitated female teacher.

"Alright, you guessed everything correctly. Then why don't you turn on the light to talk?" the decapitated female teacher screamed as she suggested to Li Teng.

"Why should I listen to you and turn on the light?" Li Teng snorted coldly in the dark.

"You..." The decapitated female teacher was furious.

"If I am not mistaken, in the darkness, you will gradually disappear until you completely die. You should not have invaded my dreams; it was simply asking for trouble."

"How did you guess all this, you bastard?" the decapitated female teacher raged.

"Because I already knew how you and several others had died," Li Teng replied to the decapitated female teacher.

"Turn on the lights quickly! I can't breathe!" the decapitated female teacher cried out desperately, but her voice grew weaker and weaker.

"You've turned into a ghost, what need is there to breathe?"

"You bastard..."

The voice of the decapitated female teacher grew fainter and fainter until it finally became completely silent.

Some time later, Li Teng suddenly sat up.

Yuki Noto was sitting on the couch next to him, already extremely exhausted, yet still desperately staying awake.

"You're awake?" Yuki Noto smiled at Li Teng.

"Hmm." This time, Li Teng did not feel the heaviness of his body, nor did he feel dizzy.

It seemed that he had indeed woken up from his dream this time.

The moment Li Teng woke up, the man sleeping on the coffee table also suddenly came to. He stood up in an extremely bizarre posture and then began desperately grabbing his own neck, trying to scream but unable to make a sound, his eyes filled with extreme fear and despair.

Previously, when someone exhibited these 'symptoms', they would fly up the next moment, crash into a wall or ceiling, and have their head turned into a mess of broken bones and flesh.

Yuki Noto also saw this scene, her expression extremely fearful, knowing that another person was being targeted and would soon die tragically on the spot!

Li Teng sprang to his feet and sprinted toward the door.

The man by the coffee table was lifted into the air, seemingly about to be thrown out...

Just then, Li Teng violently pulled down the main power switch beside the door, turning the entire villa pitch black in an instant.

After turning off the main power switch, Li Teng did not stop but rushed to the window and shut all the curtains.

The villa's lobby plunged into complete darkness.

In the darkness, the screams and various shrieks of the man resounded.

The three people who were asleep were awakened by these screams and shrieks, and finding the villa pitch black, they too started yelling in fear.

"Stop yelling! We are temporarily safe!" Li Teng shouted and calmed the panicked crowd.

"I... I... I didn't die?" the voice of the man who had been lying on the coffee table, jubilant and crying out of relief.

"Why is the power out? Hurry up and find a way to turn on the lights! It's so dark, it's scary!" someone shouted in the darkness.

"Yes! There are ghosts everywhere, we're doomed without the lights!"

"I have a phone."

Someone fumbled out a cell phone and turned on the flashlight.

"Hurry and turn it off!" Li Teng rushed over, snatched the phone, and turned off the screen.

"What are you doing?" the man whose phone was snatched yelled out.

"Everyone calm down! Listen to me explain!"

Li Teng yelled out again.

"The aliens in Xianyu Villa or the evil ghost that kills here, they attach to our shadows. As long as there is light, there will be shadows, the stronger the light, the clearer the shadow, and the stronger their power will become!"

"In places without light or shadows, or where the shadows are very faint, they will also become very weak, and even gradually die and disappear due to the lack of shadows to sustain them…"

Li Teng began explaining to the people.

Before going to sleep, Li Teng kept thinking about why these people had died, trying to find a pattern.

He couldn't find any answers.

But he suddenly realized the answer in his sleep.

During the day, it was clear and sunny, the sun hung high in the sky, lighting up the entire Mountain Villa.

And after nightfall, all the lights in the villas of Xianyu Villa were exceptionally bright.

Whether it was the sunlight during the day or the lamps at night, in people's habitual thinking, light brings a sense of security, even to the extent that everyone slept in the main hall on the first floor with all the lights fully on.

Only then could they feel safe.

However, the script's designer precisely used people's sense of security in the light.

The aliens, or the evil ghost, were designed to latch onto people's shadows.

The leader who died in front of Li Teng was killed by his own shadow behind him.

Later, another man died on the mountain path, also killed by a shadow.

The chubby man died in the restroom, where there was also a very bright light.

The female teacher died in the bathroom, which also had a very bright light.

However, none of these deaths provided Li Teng with enough evidence.

The death of the man in the conference hall gave Li Teng an insight, and finally brought him to this realization.

Before he died, the man pointed at the curtain and said, "This thing is wrong! Very wrong! Something is off here! I know what's going on! I know how they died! Ah…"

What he referred to as 'this thing' wasn't the curtain.

It was his own shadow cast on the curtain by the projector's bright lamp!

At that moment, he must have seen his own shadow moving, or something moving within the shadow, which is why he said this thing was very wrong.

In that instant, he also realized that everyone was being killed by their own shadows.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to speak it all out before he was killed by his own shadow.

When Li Teng stood in front of the curtain in his dream and saw his own shadow, he immediately understood.

If he didn't want his own shadow to appear, there was only one way.

That was to turn off all the lights and block out all sources of light, so there would be no shadows.

Or the shadows would be very faint, providing the evil ghost inside the shadow with very little energy, making it incapable of killing the owner of the shadow.

Just waking up, he saw a man by the coffee table about to be killed by his own shadow, Li Teng's first reaction was to turn off the lights in the villa.

After the loss of the lights, the man by the coffee table also had no shadow.

Without a shadow, the evil ghost inside the shadow lost its place to inhabit and the energy to carry out the killing.

Thus, the man by the coffee table was successfully saved by Li Teng!

Through this experiment of turning off the lights, Li Teng also verified what he suspected.

He had successfully solved the puzzle in this mission.

But whether they had found a way out was uncertain.

Because the day would still dawn.

Once it became light, regardless of whether there were lights inside the villa, there would be light outside, and their shadows would reappear.

Then, the shadow Evil Ghosts would appear again, and dealing with them would be a big problem.

Perhaps, in absolute darkness, without the nourishment of shadows, could they be eradicated after a certain period?

"Are you sure you're right? It's so dark, and I'm really scared," someone muttered quietly.

"I was saved by him, I was about to die just now, luckily he turned off the light in time," the man lying by the coffee table immediately defended Li Teng.

There was nothing more convincing than personal experience.

"What should we do now?" someone asked.

"Sleep, everyone sleep. No light, no shadow, no shadows, these ghosts can't harm us. Get a good night's sleep, gather our energy, and tomorrow, we'll continue to think of ways to deal with them or escape from here," Li Teng already had an idea.

There were still at least four or five hours until dawn, such a long time, should be enough to 'starve' those shadow Evil Ghosts, right?

Anyway, there was nothing else to do now, and it was important to rest and regain strength.

At Li Teng's suggestion, everyone set the alarms on their few cell phones for six o'clock in the morning, which was before the break of dawn.

Then, everyone fell into a deep sleep together.

...

At six o'clock in the morning, the alarms on several cell phones went off on time.

Everyone was startled awake from their sleep.

It was still dark, and with no lights in the villa and the curtains closed, the surroundings remained pitch black.

Most people were still very sleepy, and even didn't feel like getting out of bed.

But Li Teng sat up.

For him, sleeping so long was sufficient.

Enough for him to maintain a clear mind and quick reflexes for the day ahead.

Now, Li Teng had found out why they were being killed, but he hadn't found a solution yet.

Starving the Evil Ghosts in the dark was just his guess; it might not be correct.

More importantly, how could they leave Xianyu Villa alive?

...

After six o'clock, daylight inevitably arrived.

Despite the curtains, the villa's hall gradually brightened after dawn.

Li Teng repeatedly checked the ground below him.

Though this dim light allowed people in the hall to see their surroundings, it wasn't enough to cast shadows on the ground.

This should be good news.

But how to leave Xianyu Villa alive was a big problem.

...

At seven-thirty in the morning, the doorbell rang in the villa's hall.

"Is anyone there?"

A female staff member shouted from outside.

"What do you need?" Li Teng asked through the door.

"Your time at Xianyu Villa is up. Would you like to extend your stay? If not, please leave the mountain," the female staff member responded to Li Teng.

Hearing the staff member's words, Li Teng was relieved.

It seemed that how to leave Xianyu Villa was not something they needed to worry about.

Surviving the night, surviving until this morning, meant the plot task deemed them as having completed the mission, allowing them to leave freely!

All this was conveyed through the words of the female staff member.

"Is the road down the mountain open? Earlier, when we tried to pass, a fog was blocking our path," Li Teng still verbally verified with the female staff member.

"The thick fog at the base of the mountain has dissipated," the female staff member answered Li Teng.

Li Teng sighed again in relief.

The staff member probably represented the designers of this script task. Her saying the fog had dissipated meant the Mist Shell blocking their way had vanished.

Indeed, it was clear to leave.

But could it be a trap?

Actually, hiding in the villa hall with all the curtains and lights turned off was quite safe.

Li Teng hesitated over whether to leave.

"Do you want to extend your stay? If not, we need to clear you out and then clean the rooms," the female staff member hurried from outside.

To extend the stay, undoubtedly, meant continuing to stay here, and the Mist Shell might close again.

Not extending the stay meant they could no longer stay in the villa hall.

"Why are the curtains closed? I have to open your curtains now," after saying this from outside, all the curtains made a buzzing sound, then they opened automatically!

These curtains were both manually and electrically controlled, obviously the staff member opened all the room's curtains electronically!

Extending the room meant they had to stay in Xianyu Villa for at least one more day.

Not extending the room meant they had to leave.

Li Teng had to make a choice.

"Now that the Mist Shell at the foot of the mountain is opened, we have a chance to leave, do we want to go?" Li Teng asked everyone.

"Let's leave!" everyone responded unanimously.

"But it might be a trap," Li Teng added.

"What kind of trap?" the people asked.

"I can't tell exactly, it's just a suspicion," Li Teng shook his head.

"I heard the previous conversation, it shouldn't be a trap, right? It seems like you solved the puzzle, so they're letting us go," someone concluded.

"No, I think it's because we survived the whole night and met the conditions to leave," Li Teng reasoned.

"Let's leave this creepy place! Staying here feels too eerie."

"It doesn't feel like a trap, let's leave!"

Everyone was unanimous in their opinion, not wanting to stay any longer, desiring to leave.

"Once we step out, there will be light outside, and we will have shadows; someone might still get killed... Well, since everyone said they want to leave, let's leave," Li Teng always had an ominous premonition, but now it seemed he had no other choice.

Everyone opened the door of the villa hall and stepped outside.

They were relieved that the weather was somewhat overcast, and at seven-thirty in the morning, they couldn't see the sun in the sky.

According to Li Teng's theory, without strong light, it meant the energy of the shadows was weak, not enough to kill them.

Just then, something unexpected happened...