This Damned Thirst for Survival

......

The corner of Jiang Luo\'s forehead throbbed with pain and irritation, and he took a deep breath and was about to look down at the body under the bed. But then the bathroom door opened and Bai Yefeng came out of it, saying curiously, "Honey, what are you doing standing here?"

Jiang Luo moves and turns to look at him.

Bai Yefeng is the genius who became famous in the national competition with Qi Ye, and the first Chi You puppet Jiang Luo found to control for years. Whether he is now a ghost or a man, he does not seem to have any murderous intent towards Jiang Luo, and since he wants to pretend to live in peace with Jiang Luo, Jiang Luo would be wise not to expose him.

But this is a dream world, and death is not really death. With no limits to his desire to live, Jiang Luo is tempted to test Bai Yefeng, but in order to see what Chi You has dragged him into this dream for, he sadly gives up on the idea of revealing Bai Yefeng.

"It\'s alright," Jiang Luo smiled, picked up another towel and said, "I\'m going to take a shower too. By the way Ye Feng, there\'s nothing in the toilet, is there?"

Bai Yefeng said reassuringly, "There\'s nothing inside, don\'t worry. If something goes wrong just shout for me and I will run in and rescue you immediately."

Jiang Luo smiles politely at him, opens the bathroom door and observes, making sure there is nothing there before stepping inside.

The drain in the toilet circulated quite quickly, and the oxygen was a little thin in the tiny room where the fog muddled the quartered mirror.

The soles of his feet were still wet and the air smelled of cheap shampoo, the hotel\'s own toiletries. Jiang Luo brought in Bai Yefeng and his own phone. He tapped a song on Bai Yefeng\'s phone and played it, then tapped into the forum and opened his phone after reading a few ghost encounters to find group messages flashing, and it turned out that a few people in the group had already been chatting.

Jiang Luo scrolled to the top of the message and found the first sentence was an exclamation from Zhuo Zhongqiu.

I never thought I would dream of this group, I love you all so much]

A stone stirred up a thousand waves, the rest of the people hurriedly said: [Dreaming? I was dreaming, it was quite a real dream, the orange I peeled was still on the coffee table, why did I suddenly fall asleep].

[You\'re all dreaming, what a coincidence, I\'m dreaming too ......]

By the time Jiang Luo finished scrolling through the messages, the conversation had moved on from mutual suspicion to revealing the truth about each other. Jiang Luo was so impressed by the black history on the screen that he calmly took a picture of it. He finally understood that the people in this group were all real people who had just coincidentally fallen asleep together and entered this dream.

Jiang Luo thinks this is something Chi You could do.

He cursed Chi You for his companions and joined the conversation when he was done: [You\'re all staying in a small hotel?

After talking for a while, Jiang Luo found out about their situation. Apart from Lu Youyi, who was in a small hotel with him, the others were scattered in small groups in other places. With the exception of Sai Liaoer, all of them had experienced something terrible.

The others in the group were teasing Sai Liaoer about his good fortune, and Sai Liaoer himself was a bit confused, but only Jiang Luo knew that Sai Liaoer was Bai Wuchang, and that ordinary ghosts would not have the guts to challenge Bai Wuchang.

But that would be strange.

Even if Tian Shifu the six clans and the twelve colleges in metaphysics were deserted, there was still Black Bai Wuchang Ah, how could so many ghosts appear in five years\' time?

Hei Bai Wuchang can refer to not just two people, but to a profession. There are many Hei Wuchang and many Bai Wuchang, and they are responsible for the dead all over the country. Even if some wild spirits refuse to be detained and become unjust and stern spirits, there shouldn\'t be so many.

He posted this contradictory point to the group, but no one in the group cared, and Zhuo Zhongqiu even advised him: [It\'s all in a dream, what logic is needed?

Jiang Luo pondered for a moment and typed in one word: [Makes sense.

Bai Yefeng shouted from outside, "Honey, have you seen my phone?"

Jiang Luo raised his voice, "I\'ll take your phone and listen to the song."

"Okay," Bai Yefeng said, "but you mustn\'t click into anything else, and if any messages pop up, you mustn\'t reply."

Jiang Luo\'s eyes narrowed at this comment, and he answered "yes" without moving, and then began to carefully examine Bai Yefeng\'s phone.

At this point, a message coincidentally popped up on Bai Yefeng\'s WeChat.

[. Is it there?

Jiang Luo did not return, but scrolled up to the top, where during the day Bai Yefeng had talked to "." had chatted a few times.

Conversation is minimal, and Jiang Luo\'s fingers reach the top with a flick.

It\'s still "." The message was sent first.

[. I\'ll come and see you for dinner.

[Bai Yefeng: I\'m still hungry].

【.: You have such a small appetite today, you shouldn\'t be able to eat at night.]

[Bai Yefeng: Hahahahaha, are you kidding me?

The fog in the room gradually diminishes and Jiang Luo glances up at the mirror and continues to look down.

【.: Today\'s colleague was killed by a ghost, half of his brains were eaten, and the boss sealed up the toilet, so I hope you\'re not sad.]

[Bai Yefeng: I didn\'t know him well, I wouldn\'t be upset if he was eaten].

[.: How is your relationship with your wife?]

[Bai Yefeng: Well, it\'s good. My wife is young and beautiful, just in the prime of her youth. I can eat two more bowls of rice every time I look at him.

And mentioning him?

Jiang Luo raises an eyebrow.

[.: Is the meat cooked today?]

[Bai Yefeng: Hmm.]

[.: See you tonight at 3:00.]

Jiang Luo read this passage three times over, "Bai Yefeng is still meeting someone at three o\'clock this evening?

Apart from this message, nothing else was out of place. Jiang Luo stood up and washed up and a few minutes later was out the door, discreetly locking the toilet door behind him before walking over to the bed.

Bai Yefeng was leaning back in bed reading a newspaper when Jiang Luo pretended to wipe his hair and handed him his phone, "A man just sent you a message, but I didn\'t bother to read it."

Bai Yefeng was taken aback and only relieved to hear that he hadn\'t gone to see it, "It\'s a good thing you didn\'t, there are some ghosts that can kill people through their phones and I wouldn\'t want to download so many apps if I wasn\'t going to be working outside."

Jiang Luo reassured him and took the other quilt into bed. Bai Yefeng frowned and said, somewhat aggrieved, "Honey. Why did you bring in an extra quilt?"

Jiang Luo coughed twice in a contrived manner, the ends of her eyes teasing and sparkling as she looked at him, "I have a bit of a cold today and I\'m afraid I\'ll infect you, so let\'s sleep under separate covers tonight."

When Jiang Luo said it was not serious, he heaved a sigh of relief and said sincerely, "I\'m glad you\'re okay."

He was so nervous that his forehead was sweating, and he looked terrified.

In the dream, Bai Yefeng seems to be a good man who loves his wife.

But Jiang Luo, who was called "wife" by him, just wanted him to shut up.

Jiang Luo smiled at him and pulled the covers over him, moving away from Bai Yefeng without a trace.

With a corpse under the bed and a man by his bedside, whether he was a ghost or a man, Jiang Luo had already made up his mind to stay up all night. But before he knew it, his eyes were getting heavy and he could feel Bai Yefeng gingerly getting out of bed, turning off the light and returning to bed.

Jiang Luo suddenly recalls the chat between Bai Yefeng and "." as his consciousness falls into a half-asleep, half-awake daze. s chat log.

The slightest hint of something wrong that I felt before came back to the surface.

Their conversations were so stiff that they even had some poor phrasing ......

Jiang Luo recalls it over and over again, and suddenly his scalp tingles and he jolts out of his half-asleep state with a jolt.

Those conversations, totally backwards from the back up!

From the last sentence upwards is the real meaning in their conversation!

At three o\'clock at midnight, "." would come to Bai Yefeng for dinner, and Bai Yefeng would prepare meat and wait for "." The meat was none other than Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo\'s eyes snapped open.

The house was dark and before Jiang Luo could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a shadow, darker than the darkness, standing right next to the bed, looking straight at him.

It is Bai Yefeng.

Bai Yefeng had been standing by the bed for who knows how long, his body rigid, his eyes greedy and terrifying, staring dead at Jiang Luo. Jiang Luo\'s heart clenched for a moment, and then he realised something was wrong.

He stared at Bai Yefeng and slowly got out of bed. Bai Yefeng\'s eyes rolled in time with his movements, but his body stiffened and did not move.

Jiang Luo quickly put on his shoes, not daring to blink at him, and took another second to glance at the clock hanging on the wall.

2:57 am.

Three minutes to three.

Jiang Luo let out a low curse and then said thankfully, "Good, at least three minutes left."

At that moment, the mobile phone sitting on Bai Yefeng\'s bed lights up and the miserable white light shines on the white pillowcase.

Jiang Luo knew he should run, but he couldn\'t suppress his curiosity. He carefully walked around Bai Yefeng, bent down to get his phone from the bed and opened it. The message was from ".

It was a photograph of the outside of a shabby little hotel with a bright red sign in the light, a blackish red in the light, a sign that read "Little Inn of Happiness", and the owner sitting at the front desk inside the glass door, a vicious-looking middle-aged man with the disgusting eyes of a toad. Behind him is a narrow staircase sunken in the darkness.

[. I\'m outside the hotel door].

"." Already here.

Jiang Luo and Bai Yefeng live in 203, with two more floors,". and you will find it here.

On closer listening, it seemed that the sound of the innkeeper and "." had come from downstairs. the sound of a conversation.

The innkeeper\'s voice was curt, "Would the guest like housing?"

Jiang Luo is well aware that the ghosts are under his feet.

As soon as he opened the door, Bai Yefeng\'s mobile phone rang again.

Again, a picture plus a sentence.

[.: I\'m on the ground floor.]

The picture is of a long blackened staircase with wooden planks.

Jiang Luo threw Bai Yefeng\'s phone back and ran upstairs with only his own phone in his hand.

In a world where danger is everywhere and holding a ghost\'s phone is the equivalent of revealing your location, Jiang Luo doesn\'t say a word and runs straight into the darkness.

Just as he ran to the third floor, he heard a knock on the door from downstairs.

Without much thought, Jiang Luo knew that this had to be "." knocked on the door of 203.

Jiang Luo\'s footsteps were so light that they barely rattled. Luckily, he remembered Lu Youyi\'s room, and everyone in the group stayed awake in case there were any other surprises during the night.

When he arrived at Lu Youyi\'s door, Jiang Luo dared not knock and poked Lu Youyi frantically in the group, but luckily Lu Youyi was always looking at his phone and within seconds he opened the door.

Lu Youyi was full of surprise, "Jiang-"

Jiang Luo abruptly covers his mouth, dashes into Lu Youyi\'s room, gently closes the door, immediately turns off the light and makes a silent gesture to Lu Youyi.

Lu Youyi covers his mouth in silence and stands with him on either side of the door, listening quietly to the sounds outside.

After about a minute, there were footsteps outside the door coming from the first floor.

Bai Yefeng called out anxiously, "Wife? Honey?"

Jiang Luo hadn\'t experienced anything this exciting in a long time, and his chest was pounding as he listened intently to the sounds outside.

Bai Yefeng circled the entire third floor, his footsteps becoming more and more hesitant, and after having no luck, he finally left the third floor.

The sound of footsteps disappears.

Lu Youyi, unsure of what was going on, but relieved to be on edge, was about to ask Jiang Luo what was going on when he received a stern glare from Jiang Luo.

--don\'t talk.

Lu Youyi\'s heart tightens and he hastens to keep his mouth shut.

After a few minutes, there was a sudden sigh from outside their door, "It\'s really not here ......"

The voice was close to them, so close that it was as if it was pressing its ear against the door of their room and eavesdropping on the voice speaking from the door.

Cold sweat broke out at the corner of Lu Youyi\'s forehead.

And this time, the voices at the door finally faded away.