They arrived at their destination. Before Yu Ling could even react, Ji Hongxi had already rushed towards the nearest villa, the place where the group had agreed to meet that day. Seeing this, Yu Ling had no choice but to follow. However, before doing so, she took out the Concealing Necklace from her system inventory and put it on her body.

This would allow her to better conceal her ghostly aura and disguise the original owner's ghostly body as an ordinary human, preventing her from bumping into any ghostly creatures that were overly possessive of her territory.

The two entered the villa one after the other. There might be a solar generator in the villa area, with an independent circuit. Although the living room light was dim, it was still working. Inside sat two friends who had come early to set up the props: Qiangzi and Zhou Qi.

They had laid a clean cushion on the sofa in the living room and were sitting on it playing games on their phones when they heard the noise. They looked up at Yu Ling and the other person and asked in surprise:

"Hey, Brother Ji? And the beautiful Ning? What brings you two here so early today?"

Yu Ling pointed to the window and said, "It's getting late, it's already dark."

Wang Qiang & Zhou Qi: Huh? They've been playing games for that long!

I glanced down at the time again. Something was wrong. It was only 6:30 in the afternoon. In the summer, there was no reason for it to be this dark at this hour.

Ji Hongxi subconsciously glanced around the living room. Apart from the two people on the sofa, the surroundings were empty, and the areas outside the light were pitch black and could not be seen clearly.

The walls around the windows were covered with cobwebs, some curtains were torn, revealing the fabric underneath, and some were broken and lying on the floor.

This place definitely has the feel of a 'haunted house'. I bet number 11 is pretty much the same. No wonder these two finished setting up so early and came here to slack off and play games.

"Who cares? It's already dark, and everything's ready. Let's call Xiaoyan and Wu An and ask them to come early." Zhou Qi had been waiting for a long time and was getting bored. As a part-time photographer, he had already taken the equipment from Ji Hongxi and started preparing.

"Okay," Ji Hongxi replied, but he felt a little flustered. However, since even Yu Ling, the girl, hadn't shown any fear, he felt embarrassed to say it out loud.

Xiao Yan's real name is Wang Yan. She is Wang Qiang's older sister. She and Wu An are a young couple. They have just graduated from university and haven't found jobs yet. Wang Qiang, Ji Hongxi, and Zhou Qi are doing a live stream. They know how to edit videos, and the "young couple" label is a gimmick, so they thought they could join in for fun.

At this moment, Wang Qiang had already picked up his phone to call his older sister. If he had observed carefully, he would have noticed that although there was not a single bar of signal on the phone, the ringtone rang very quickly after the call was connected.

"Hey? What's up, Qiangzi?"

Yu Ling's hearing is quite good; she can clearly sense that the person on the other end is a real person, not some ghostly telephone. It seems that the people in the villa want to make the place a bit more lively.

Aside from Ji Hongxi and the mannequin Yu Ling, no one else in the villa seemed to have noticed anything amiss. Wang Qiang, oblivious to the seriousness of the situation, casually remarked:

"Sis, where did you and brother-in-law go? Brother Ji and the others are here, shouldn't we hurry up?"

Wang Yan and Wu An, those two young people, were still out shopping. They hadn't bought anything and were empty-handed. They could just take a taxi and leave. They quickly agreed, saying they would be there in a bit. Wu An had a motorcycle, and they didn't need to bring any equipment. They could just ride in, which would definitely be faster than Yu Ling and Ji Hongxi.

"Okay, be careful on the road as it gets dark. Make sure you wear your helmets and everything. Don't worry about the heat. We'll wait for you in the small villa at the very end." Wang Qiang gave a few instructions as usual before hanging up the phone and invited Yu Ling and the others to sit down and rest together.

On the other side, Wang Yan took Wu An's arm and told him about going ahead. The two quickly set off, but halfway through the ride, Wang Yan realized that her younger brother was talking nonsense. Wasn't it still daylight?

Maybe... it was a slip of the tongue by Qiangzi.

After riding for about an hour, the two finally arrived at the Wenxi Villa area. It was indeed getting dark, but the headlights on the motorcycle made them both overlook this.

As soon as she got off the motorcycle at the destination, Wang Yan smelled a stench that smelled like some kind of laboratory liquid mixed with a putrid odor. She instinctively covered her nose; the smell was simply too unpleasant.

"Wu An, something feels a little off..."

Wang Yan frowned, and Wu An also stopped and looked around. They didn't see anything unusual, but they could definitely smell a stench. This place had been abandoned for a long time, so how could anyone be making such a thing here?

Could it be that I smelled something wrong?

Wang Yan and Wu An exchanged a glance, then walked together into the nearest villa, calling out Wang Qiang's name. Looking around, the villa was pitch black, with nothing visible, but the smell was growing stronger and stronger, making them very uncomfortable.

Seeing lights on upstairs, the two assumed their companions were on the second floor. Just as they were about to head up the stairs with their phone flashlights on, a dark shadow flashed past them...

Immediately afterwards, a "crack" was heard, and a strangely shaped object fell from the sky and hit the floor with a dull thud.

"Ah—!" Wang Yan screamed in fright at the sudden noise. Wu An quickly protected his girlfriend, and the two of them took a few steps to hide behind the stairs.

Wang Yan shakily reached out her hand and carefully held onto the railing of the staircase to look outside.

The staircase entrance was a large, circular iron staircase. They hid in the gap at the corner and looked over by the light of their phones. Right in the center of the lobby on the first floor was a wooden table.

The table was covered with all sorts of bottles, jars, food, and drinks. On top of it was a round, black plush toy, which must have fallen from upstairs earlier. Wu An thought for a moment, then took out his phone and called Ji Hongxi.

Seeing her boyfriend's actions, Wang Yan also took out her phone and dialed her younger brother's number, but unfortunately, the voice on the other end kept saying, "The number you dialed is temporarily unavailable, please try again later..."

Undeterred, Wang Yan dialed Zhou Qi's number again, only to hear the same message: "The user you dialed is currently unavailable."

Wu An's phone rang, but no one answered. Seeing Wang Yan's strange expression, he pulled her into his arms and asked, "What's wrong, Yanzi? What happened?"

Wang Yan shook her head, put her phone back in her pocket, and said to Wu An, "It's okay, let's meet up with Qiangzi and the others first. This place is too dark, I'm a little scared."

"good."