Chapter 13
A chill instantly crept over Jiang Li’s entire body.
During the time the man lay down, there was no sound of the Bedroom door unlocking.
So, who was it lying next to Jiang Li?
Who was chopping meat in the Kitchen?
And whose meat was being chopped?
Jiang Li silently recited Night Rules, Rule Eight:
[If you wake up in the middle of the night and find a second person lying in bed, be sure to pretend to be asleep. Do not open your Eyes.]
Jiang Li kept her breathing steady, still pretending to sleep, not opening her Eyes.
The man beside her let out a heavy sigh.
“Ah… Wife, work at the pig farm hasn’t been going well lately.”
“So many pigs have caught swine fever. I’m afraid the market is about to change.”
It was a familiar voice-her Husband’s voice from the daytime.
But Jiang Li knew very well that the man lying next to her was definitely not her Husband.
Night Rules, Rule Seven was very clear:
[Remember, your Husband does not return to the Bedroom to sleep at night.]
So the man beside her was something disguised as her Husband.
“Wife, I’m a bit thirsty. Hand me the black water cup.”
Jiang Li ignored him, her breathing still perfectly even.
The man pushed Jiang Li’s back. “Wife? Wife!”
But Jiang Li slept deeply, not reacting at all.
Night Rules, Rule Five:
[No matter what, do not agree to any request from ‘it’.]
The man grew angry.
His voice became irritable.
“Water cup! Water cup! How many times have I told you, why are you pretending not to hear?!”
“I know you’re awake. Say something to me! Don’t act like a corpse!!”
Jiang Li still didn’t move.
She lay on her side, her back to the man.
Right in front of her was the black water cup the man wanted, sitting on the nightstand.
The man had no choice. Finally, furious, he climbed out of bed and put on his slippers.
The sound of slippers slapped against the floor, making a “pat-pat” noise.
As he walked, the man cursed:
“Hmph. I cook the meals at home, I take care of the child!”
“Every day I send the child to school, then go to the pig farm to feed the pigs. I do everything!”
“You have it easy. You just need to go to work! Such an easy thing! What exactly are you dissatisfied with?!”
The man circled around the foot of the bed and came to Jiang Li’s side, next to the nightstand.
Jiang Li grew suspicious.
According to what this man said, the wife needed to go out to work every day.
But right now, she hadn’t received any rules related to the wife’s work.
It seemed she needed to pay attention tomorrow morning.
The man came to Jiang Li, squatted down, and said nothing more.
Jiang Li kept her Eyes tightly shut.
But she could feel the man’s face very close to hers.
Close enough to feel his breath.
The man squatted by the bed, tilting his head, his gaze fixed on her.
“Wife, open your Eyes. I’ll tell you a secret.”
The man’s voice was very soft, only a breath, as if whispering right into Jiang Li’s ear.
His tone was full of temptation.
The room was pitch black, not even a hand could be seen.
Just right to conceal the man’s figure.
“I know you’re pretending to sleep.” The man’s breath brushed Jiang Li’s cheek.
Jiang Li remained unmoved.
She was pretending to sleep. She couldn’t move.
Not even turn over.
The man’s Eyes glowed with an eerie light.
He leaned closer to Jiang Li, speaking in a tone of grievance, almost crying.
There were sobs and sniffles mixed in.
“Wife, you’ve made me suffer so much…”
“I love you so much. Why did you hurt me?”
“Do you know, for you, I tricked him in here and killed him!”
“I treat you so well. Why won’t you open your Eyes and look at me??”
At that moment,
Something moved under the covers.
Jiang Li moved?
A cunning grin instantly spread across the man’s face.
“She moved, she moved. Honey, are you awake?”
A strange laugh rumbled in the man’s throat; he was barely able to suppress it, almost bursting out.
If Jiang Li woke up, it would be a violation of the rule to ‘pretend to be asleep.’
And for the man, that meant he could finally have a feast!
There really was movement under the covers.
The man was certain-Jiang Li couldn’t hold on any longer!
He started drooling, his eyes almost popping out of his head!
Suddenly, the blanket was thrown aside, revealing the Red Infant in Jiang Li’s arms, awakened by the noise.
Red Infant raised his tiny hand, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
“Mommy… who is it? So noisy.”
The moment Red Infant’s face appeared, the man was so frightened he almost jumped out of his skin.
He immediately put his feet together and leaped three feet high, landing on the windowsill several meters behind, crouching there, not daring to move.
“If he keeps being noisy… I’ll… smash… his… head.”
Red Infant mumbled, his speech slurred.
The man crouched on the windowsill, inadvertently tugged at the bright red Curtain.
Outside the Curtain, a pair of Eyes glowing red appeared.
“Eat her!” The Red-Eyed Monster outside suddenly called out to him, startling the man so much his hair stood on end!
“Hurry up and eat her, eat her…” The Red-Eyed Monster stared hungrily at the sleeping Jiang Li from afar, drooling with desire.
Clearly, the Red-Eyed Monster had not yet seen Red Infant.
The man realized Red Infant was about to wake up, and alarm bells rang in his heart!
Without a second thought, he quickly jumped down from the windowsill, leapt onto the wall, and returned to the empty Wedding Photo.
As soon as the man left, the Curtain closed again, blocking the Red-Eyed Monster’s line of sight.
The night became quiet once more.
Except for the occasional ‘bang, bang’ of chopping meat from the Kitchen.
……
The next day.
At six in the morning, Jiang Li’s biological clock woke her up.
When Jiang Li woke up, the entire Bedroom had changed drastically.
The wardrobe had collapsed, and spiderwebs covered the surroundings.
The Wedding Photo on the wall had a shattered frame, hanging crookedly.
Maybe it was just Jiang Li’s imagination.
Jiang Li always felt that the man’s smile in the Wedding Photo looked even more sinister than it did yesterday.
Inside the room, the white paint on the walls was peeling and flaking, with faint, blood-colored stains splattered on it.
Only half of the glass window remained, with cold wind howling through.
The entire Bedroom resembled a wasteland-desolate and bleak.
From 23:00 at night until 04:00 the next morning, the Bedroom is a Safe Zone.
Now it was 06:00 in the morning, outside of the specified Safe Zone time.
So this must be what the Bedroom really looks like.
Red Infant had already woken up.
He was sitting by the bed, playing with a woman’s wig.
“Mommy, you’re awake.”
“Mm.”
“Last night, that old man we threw out the window climbed back up.”
“Old man?” Jiang Li was stunned.
Could it be that the person with the blood-red long fingernails last night wasn’t a woman, but actually a man?
In fact, he was an old man.
So her suspicion that her Husband was cheating was actually wrong.
“What time did this happen?” Jiang Li looked toward the windowsill.
There, on the broken glass window, were several bloody handprints. It seemed someone had indeed climbed in through the window.
Red Infant said, “It was just after 4:00 in the morning. The window opened by itself. I grabbed him, ate his heart, and then threw him out again.”
“This is his hair.” Red Infant hiccupped and handed Jiang Li the wig in his hand.
Jiang Li took it and saw it was a woman’s wig.
So why did the old man pretend to be a woman?
Jiang Li was deep in thought.
Just then-
Jiang Li heard a ‘click’ as a key turned in the door lock.
The Bedroom door was pushed open-