The room on the east side is where Brian Carter lives. Could there still be relics in there that the old man used…? Unconsciously, he bit down hard on his cigarette butt and looked at Ashley Grant, only to see Ashley Grant still staring at the chicken feet. “Hey? Are you still there??”

“Yeah.” Ashley Grant was still reluctant to look away. “Go ask the stage manager if there are any other rooms. If not, I’ll switch rooms with you.”

He sounded very casual, making Brian Carter wonder if he was overreacting—maybe he really had been scared by the older ladies. But after thinking it over, he still felt uneasy. He went to ask the stage manager to switch rooms, but unfortunately, they were too busy and just brushed him off.

Ashley Grant was true to his word and insisted on switching rooms with Brian Carter, which made Brian Carter feel even more embarrassed. If word got out, he—at over 1.8 meters tall—would seem even more delicate than Ashley Grant. “That’s not really okay…”

“Achoo!” Ashley Grant sneezed again. “It’s fine, let’s switch.”

They say if you’re not afraid of the strange, the strange will defeat itself. Ashley Grant actually seemed tougher than him. Brian Carter shyly mimicked the fans he’d seen visiting the set: “Thank you, bro. Are you catching a cold? Take care of yourself!”

…

Brian Carter moved into Ashley Grant’s room. It wasn’t originally a bedroom—he didn’t know what it used to be for. There was a lot of tea stored there, all homegrown; many people in Yantang Village grew tea.

Because the room was rented out to the crew, there was a simple wire bed, but someone like Brian Carter, who was used to working with crews, wasn’t picky at all.

If there was any inconvenience, it was that in this old house, you had to go outside the room to use the bathroom.

At night, the village was almost completely dark. There was only a lonely, dim yellow bulb in the yard. He didn’t know if the people in the other rooms were dead asleep, but everything around seemed extremely quiet. Yet faintly, Brian Carter could hear the distant sound of drums and music drifting over…

It was the mourning music from the funeral hall. Other than that, there was no other sound.

Brian Carter got goosebumps all over and tried to reassure himself that he shouldn’t let his imagination scare him. He turned and saw that the light in Ashley Grant’s room was still on, which made him feel a bit more at ease. He hurried to finish in the bathroom and went back to bed.

Just sleep, just sleep. He still had to get up and work tomorrow.

Half-awake, half-asleep, Brian Carter just felt a chill all over. He fumbled around, trying to find the air conditioner to turn up the temperature. Suddenly, he heard an old man coughing forcefully, with a wheezing, leaky sound. “Cough! Cough, cough!”

He woke up instantly, though his eyes were still closed, and his face felt numb. Where was that sound coming from? Was he dreaming, or was the soundproofing just bad and a villager was passing by?

Then Brian Carter remembered—there was no air conditioner in this room. At most, it was cool during the day because the room was shady. But it shouldn’t be this cold; the chill from the bed was bone-deep and getting worse.

Even with his eyes closed, he inexplicably felt darkness and oppression, as if something was covering him from above.

Ding. That was the sound of the teaware. Splash—the sound of pouring tea. Creak—the bamboo lounge chair groaned under someone’s weight.

The sounds seemed right next to him. They were so ordinary, so domestic, yet they made his skin crawl. He wanted to get up and call for help, but he was so heavy he couldn’t move. He couldn’t remember the names of anyone in the crew… No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall a single name, couldn’t shout a single word.

“Knock, knock.”

Suddenly, the door was knocked on.

The whole world seemed to open up. Brian Carter felt like he’d just burst out of water, his senses suddenly clear. He opened his eyes and truly woke up.

He realized his undershirt was soaked with sweat, and all he could hear was his heart pounding, filled with intense lingering fear.

Just now…

“Old Cheng?”

It was Ashley Grant’s voice.

Brian Carter mustered all 180 pounds of himself, tumbled out of bed, and rushed to open the door. The moment he saw Ashley Grant, he almost wanted to cry. “Bro, this room is really…”

Really haunted!

But he didn’t dare say those words out loud. Everyone said you shouldn’t mention such things at night. After what just happened, he was afraid of really attracting something.

He’d heard plenty of stories before, but this was his first time experiencing it himself.

That feeling of being unable to wake up no matter what wasn’t like a normal nightmare—it made him think of the legendary “sleep paralysis,” even though he wasn’t sleeping in the old man’s room.

Wait, they always said old people sleep less. The old man didn’t like sleeping in bed—did he go to the next room to drink tea?

…How awkward. When you’re unlucky, even drinking cold water gets stuck in your teeth! Why did he have to switch to this room!

“Did you have a nightmare? I heard you talking in your sleep—really loud,” Ashley Grant said. “Do you want to come sleep in my room?”

“No way!” What if the old man finished his tea and wanted to go back to the bedroom?

“You shouldn’t stay in that room either. Just find someone else to bunk with, seriously. Just now I… you get it, right?” Brian Carter said, his face pale. Even just standing at the door, he still felt weak. “I’ll go sleep with Old Brooks.”

Old Brooks was another cameraman in their crew, also staying in the same courtyard. They all worked the same hours, and more importantly, Old Brooks had practiced martial arts before. He’d heard that people like that had strong “yang energy” and weren’t afraid of supernatural stuff.

“Alright, go ahead… Achoo!” Ashley Grant took a step back.