I did my utmost to ignore that voice. As I recited the scripture, the figure of the woman in red vanished by the window, yet the terrible roar continued to echo in my mind, though it gradually faded until it finally ceased.

For a time, nothing but the sound of wind and rain disturbed the room, but I dared not stop chanting. I wondered if the downpour was responsible, as wave after wave of dampness washed over me.

I had no idea if the female ghost would return, so I simply remained seated by the ** chanting, strangely not hearing any reaction from the neighbors next to Pi Hou'er’s place. Had they not heard it? Or had something happened to them all?

It seemed the Abbot’s worry was justified; I was like a walking disaster, easily drawing that thing over wherever I stayed.

I was quite relieved I hadn't decided to seek shelter in a temple. For one, I believed you could only evade fate for so long, not forever. Secondly, my true intention was never to bring trouble to others, especially the kind of trouble that thing brought.

This distraction broke my concentration; I couldn’t continue the scripture, and I felt an involuntary, pressing discomfort—I suddenly had an intense urge to use the restroom.

It was uncanny. Why now, and not earlier or later? The more I tried to push the thought away, the stronger the feeling became.

There was no avoiding it; it needed immediate resolution. I rose from the ** and walked to the room door, carefully pulling it open just enough to peer out. The hall was silent enough to hear a pin drop. The power was still out, forcing me to pull out my phone. However, the light it emitted was pitiful, casting an eerie, ghastly green glow around me.

I glanced around furtively, cleared my throat forcefully—though my voice trembled with fear—gripped my prayer beads tightly, and bravely made my dash straight for the lavatory.

A complication arose: fearful of soiling my prayer beads, I placed them and my phone on the washing machine just outside the restroom door.

The restroom wasn't large. I stood before the commode and had just undone my trousers when I heard it—a distinctly chilling, sinister laugh that sounded directly behind me.

My entire body locked up, a jolt like electricity shooting through my scalp. What I feared most had arrived, and it sounded right behind me. I instantly regretted leaving the prayer beads by the door.

In that moment, my mind raced through countless thoughts until I realized that, besides the laughter, there seemed to be no other movement behind me.

The sudden fright killed any desire to finish using the facilities. Trembling, I fastened my clothes and stiffly turned, sneaking a look back.

There was nothing there.

Only then did I exhale, concluding it must have been a brief auditory hallucination, purely my own terror manifesting.

I snatched the prayer beads and the phone in one swift motion and sprinted back into the inner room, feeling only the security of the **.

That night felt like years passing in moments. I kept my eyes fixed on the window, watching the sky slowly lighten, thinking I had finally made it through the night safely. Unexpectedly, the piercing shriek of a siren suddenly shattered the calm of the early morning.

Unsure of what was happening, I leaped up from the ** and rushed to the window to look down. An ambulance had arrived; it seemed someone in this building had a medical emergency.

What astonished me even more was that barely had the first one left when another ambulance sped below and pulled up.

It seemed as though numerous residents had fallen gravely ill overnight. I kept watching below; four ambulances had stopped beneath the building within half an hour, and the last one carried away two patients simultaneously.

Since I was covertly staying at Pi Hou’er’s place, I didn't dare show myself immediately. It wasn't until noon that I quietly slipped out, ensuring no one noticed me, and quickly fled the building.

After circling the area, I returned to the base of Pi Hou’er’s building just as I overheard a few neighbors chatting outside. Without needing to inquire further, I learned that strange events had occurred in the building last night: five households, both men and women, had been hospitalized after falling into comas. Curiously, even those sleeping next to them hadn't noticed them falling ill; everyone in the building had slept soundly, and the five patients were only discovered by their families after daybreak, prompting the calls for ambulances.

This immediately made me connect the situation to last night’s encounter. Could it be that the woman in red, unable to kill me, had begun wreaking havoc on the entire building’s residents?

Regardless, I had already decided I would no longer stay at Pi Hou’er’s place. Past safety didn't guarantee future immunity; it seemed I had been careless.

That evening, I found an internet café, intending to make do for the night. Unexpectedly, in the dead of night, the brightly lit café suddenly plunged into darkness. Immediately following, every computer shut down sequentially. Before the patrons could fully process what happened, the screens flickered back to life, displaying a woman in red with long, flowing black hair.

“Ah…”

Terrified screams erupted throughout the café. Some people couldn't help but stand up and bolt toward the exit.

I heard an attendant yelling, “It’s a virus… it’s a virus…”

Of course, I didn't believe it. Taking advantage of the chaos, I also rushed to the café entrance, forcing my way out despite the risk of being trampled.

I truly couldn't fathom how the female ghost had managed this. Were evil spirits this powerful?

Emerging from the café, I fled in near-panic, running until I reached the shelter beneath an overpass, where I finally stopped. I spent the rest of that agonizing night huddled there.

I expected the woman in red to pursue me, but nothing terrifying happened near me until dawn.

Perhaps she was playing with me like a cat with a mouse; I didn't know.

The next day, I planned to go to Pi Hou’er’s to organize and take my materials, but upon reaching the entrance of his housing complex, I saw several fire trucks parked below. I immediately noticed that all the glass in Pi Hou’er’s apartment was shattered, and the window frame was damp, showing clear scorch marks.

Had Pi Hou’er’s place caught fire last night?

I was stunned, but at that moment, I had no way to enter and investigate. If there was any scrap of luck, it was that I had kept the laptop with me at all times; it was just a pity that most of the data was likely reduced to mere fragments within the machine.

At that moment, I felt a definite sense that that place had won.

However, I wasn't ready to give up entirely; I opted for a method of living one day at a time.

Honestly, choosing a near-reclusive existence as a lone individual was terrifying, especially for someone who had to worry about being haunted by a female ghost every night.

Daytime was manageable. Once darkness fell, I could only find deserted places to crash temporarily, forcing myself through the night. Although I had my prayer beads, that rainy night had taught me they weren't infallible.

Eventually, I knew, I would die at the hands of an evil spirit.

But before that inevitable end, I still needed somewhere to stay.

…