As Jing Minghe and Gu Chenhui passed the second floor, they saw the exhibition room's lights on. The doors to other rooms were closed, suggesting Chi Hao and You Mi had gone to inspect the exhibition room first.
The two proceeded to the third floor. This floor lacked a long corridor. After ascending the stairs and moving a short distance inward, they found only small doors on the left and right sides. The doors were ajar, but the interiors were dark. Peeking through the cracks from the outside, they could see nothing within.
Gu Chenhui took a small spotlight from his pocket and said to Jing Minghe, "I'll be quick and find you."
Jing Minghe responded with an "Okay" and continued upstairs.
Passing the fourth floor, his gaze inadvertently swept over An Ruo and Xia Rong, who were loitering in the corridor. Jing Minghe did not yet know these two and currently had neither the time nor opportunity to understand them. He could only observe as he walked, wondering if any friction between them and Gu Chenhui would affect their future cooperation.
Upon reaching the fifth floor, Jing Minghe discovered it was nearly identical to the fourth. A long corridor flanked by several guest rooms.
"These must be the rooms the art troupe is staying in, right?"
Pondering this, Jing Minghe cautiously approached. Similar to when they checked in, each room had a nameplate, and each person had their own room.
All eleven rooms were tightly shut. Jing Minghe tried each one, but none could be pushed open. He figured knocking would yield no response, as the landlady had explicitly stated the art troupe members were all out for a group dinner.
Since the fifth floor yielded no clues, Jing Minghe had no choice but to continue upward.
There was a staircase leading from the fifth floor. What lay above, only ascending would reveal.
The screaming continued to assail his ears, but after passing the second floor, he could no longer discern its direction.
Following the stairs from the fifth floor upwards, he rounded a corner and saw a small door. If his guess was correct, it led to the rooftop rather than a sixth floor.
Jing Minghe stepped forward and tentatively pushed the door. With a creak, it swung open. It wasn't a rooftop, but a massive flower garden. Blinding light streamed from within. Embedded in the glass roof were countless miniature fluorescent lights, illuminating the entire garden as if it were a spring day bathed in warm sunlight.
Various fresh flowers bloomed vibrantly, and a few butterflies danced among them.
This scene was a stark contrast to everything downstairs, feeling like it belonged to a different world.
"That's not right!"
Jing Minghe suddenly thought of something.
With such strong illumination, why hadn't he noticed it from outside the door just now? Could that door have had no cracks at all?
How was that possible?
Bewildered, Jing Minghe immediately retreated, closing the door behind him.
Indeed, not a single ray of light emanated from within. Yet, there were clearly gaps between the door and the wall, both above and below.
Could the lights on the ceiling be motion-activated? Only turning on when someone entered?
Jing Minghe opened the door again. Inside, it was still brightly lit.
"Is it really motion-activated?"
As he finished speaking, something flashed through Jing Minghe's mind. Because of this fleeting thought, coupled with the bright lights, Jing Minghe completely missed the blue glow emanating from the pendant on his chest.
Taking a deep breath, Jing Minghe stepped into the flower garden. The further he walked, the more familiar the scene felt. He rounded a flower wall and found a hanging chair behind it.
Seeing this hanging chair, Jing Minghe became even more certain he had seen such a scene before.
"Where exactly have I seen it?"
"Minghe!"
Chi Hao's voice came from outside the door. Jing Minghe retreated from behind the flower wall and turned towards the entrance.
Besides Chi Hao, You Mi, and Gu Chenhui, Gong Liang and Qiao Qiao had also joined them.
"This place," Qiao Qiao said, peeking inside, "it has such a large, bright flower garden. It's incredible."
Gong Liang, however, described it in four words: "Out of place."
Chi Hao remained silent, walking directly towards Jing Minghe. His eyes were fixed only on the person in front of him and the mysteriously glowing blue pendant on his chest. Where did this flower garden come from?
Following him, Gu Chenhui also entered, using the same four words as Gong Liang to describe it: "Extremely bizarre."
You Mi, pulling Qiao Qiao along, followed Gu Chenhui. They continuously observed the surroundings, up and down, left and right. When they saw butterflies, they couldn't help but pause, seemingly not yet fully disengaged from the previous instance.
Jing Minghe nodded at Chi Hao, indicating he was fine, then asked the others, "Did you find anything?"
"Yes," Gu Chenhui was the first to speak. "The third floor is a performance hall. In the center of the hall, towards the back, there's a huge stage. In front of the stage are dozens of rows of seats, the audience area. One thing is very strange: the stage is very high, much higher than the audience seats. If one were to watch a performance, the audience below would have to tilt their heads up very high to see."
"Are those two small doors the entrances to the performance hall?" Jing Minghe pressed.
Gu Chenhui shrugged. "Sort of. The small door on the left leads directly to the audience seating. The small door on the right leads to the backstage dressing room of the performance hall."
Gu Chenhui moved to Jing Minghe's other side, leaned in to glance behind the flower wall, and continued, "I checked thoroughly, but didn't find anything special in the main performance hall. However, in the backstage dressing room, there's a strange large wooden chest covered with a red cloth. I tried to open it, but couldn't. I didn't have any suitable tools, so I'll try again later."
"Mm," Jing Minghe nodded, then turned to Chi Hao. "Brother, did you find anything on the second floor?"
"No," Chi Hao subtly drew Jing Minghe closer into his space. "That exhibition room was the same as what we'd seen before. The doors to the other rooms couldn't be opened."
After Chi Hao spoke, You Mi nodded emphatically, confirming Chi Hao's statement.
"Did An Ruo and Xia Rong not come up?" You Mi asked with confusion. "We just passed the fourth floor and didn't see them. We only encountered Mr. Gong Liang and Ms. Qiao Qiao as they were leaving their rooms."
Gu Chenhui chuckled. "Perhaps they finished their checks, found nothing unusual, and returned to their rooms. Those two are very cautious about instances."
Jing Minghe's brow furrowed slightly. "Fang Chao didn't come up either."
"I can't hear it anymore," Chi Hao said softly. "After entering here, the screaming has completely disappeared."
"Yes," You Mi only noticed after Chi Hao spoke, her face showing surprise. "We could still hear the screaming when we first came up."
Jing Minghe immediately walked towards the door. "Let's go out and try."
The others quickly followed.
After leaving the flower garden room, they all stopped. Besides their own breathing, there was no other sound.
"Has it stopped?" You Mi guessed. "Is it unrelated to this flower garden?"
"No," Jing Minghe negated You Mi's guess. "Sister You Mi, you just said you could still hear it when you came up, but by that time, I already couldn't."