However, after hearing her words, no one was willing to believe her. They all just said that she had misseen or had a nightmare.
Those were clearly the things she had seen with her own eyes.
Her brother's words and her father's reaction made her feel isolated and helpless.
The next day, everyone went about their daily business as usual, eating when it was time to eat and going out when it was time to go out. She had had a nightmare all night, and the scene of what she saw in the middle of the night filled her dream.
This went on for several days in a row.
She even felt a bit absent - minded and began to think that it was just a nightmare of her own.
After that, her step - mother behaved quite normally.
Lu Yiyi didn't dare to have any more contact with her. She suppressed the uneasiness in her heart and fled to school, escaping from that home that made her feel eerie everywhere.
As time passed, she had almost forgotten the fear of that night.
But three months later, she suddenly received a call from her father. Her father said that her brother, Lu Ming, had been in a car accident on his way home and died on the spot.
On the day of Lu Ming's burial, the whole world was gloomy. Lu Yiyi's mind was in a daze. She didn't know how she got home. She absent - mindedly went upstairs and pushed open Lu Ming's door. Her brother's voice and appearance lingered in her mind.
She picked up the only family photo on the table. In the photo, her father was holding her brother, and her mother was holding her. The whole family was smiling happily. But few of the people in the photo were still alive.
Tears pattered on the photo frame. After crying for a while, Lu Yiyi began to sort out her brother's relics. Many of them were things related to herself.
In the drawer, Lu Yiyi also found a study notebook that her brother had compiled for her. It was densely filled with problem - solving ideas and words of encouragement. Page after page was full of care and love.
When she turned to the last page, Lu Yiyi stopped. There were several big characters written on it: "Sister, run away quickly. Don't stay at home. There's danger."
The words were a bit distorted, and the end was scribbled. It could be seen that the person had written this in a very urgent situation.
Just then, the door opened, and her step - mother suddenly walked in. Lu Yiyi quickly closed the notebook and nervously hid it behind her back.
Seeing Lu Yiyi's panicked look, her step - mother seemed to realize something.
She simply stopped pretending and asked coldly, "What are you hiding?"
"I... I'm not hiding anything. I'm just sorting out my brother's relics." Lu Yiyi pretended to be calm. From the moment she saw her brother's notebook, she realized that this family had changed long ago.
"Show it to me." Her step - mother clearly didn't believe her and reached out her hand to pounce on Lu Yiyi.
Lu Yiyi fought with all her strength, desperately protecting the notebook in her hand. But her step - mother's strength was surprisingly great, not at all like that of a middle - aged woman.
"Dad! Dad! Help! Dad! Come quickly!"
Lu Yiyi instinctively shouted for help, screaming at the top of her lungs for her father.
Lu Guoying, who came late, saw his daughter and step - mother wrestling with each other. Without thinking, he rushed up, pulled them apart, and unhesitatingly protected his step - mother.
Seeing her father unhesitatingly protecting the person who had hurt his daughter, Lu Yiyi stared at him in disbelief with wide - open eyes.
But her father was furious and slapped her across the face.
Lu Yiyi was stunned. Her father had never laid a finger on her since she was a child, but now he had hit her for a woman. She covered her slapped cheek, and her emotions began to collapse. She rushed towards her step - mother, looking like she was going to fight to the death.
Her father stopped her and firmly protected her step - mother, not allowing her to hurt a single hair on her.
After several rounds of struggle, until Lu Yiyi was exhausted and was pushed down by her father and fell sitting on the bed.
"I advise you not to make a fuss. Enjoy your last days in peace. After all, you've called me mom. Your dad and I will still give you the best materially. Have a good rest and slowly miss your brother here."
Her step - mother said casually while tidying up her appearance.
These words were like an explosion in her mind.
The last days.
What did "the last days" mean?
Lu Yiyi suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. The villa, which used to be filled with laughter and joy, had turned into a cage, and there were two man - eating monsters in it.
"Why?"
Lu Yiyi turned to her father with tears in her eyes. She couldn't figure out what could make a father do something to his own child.
"See the baby in my belly? This is the reincarnation of your mother. As long as I give birth to her, your mother will come back. But there's still one last step, which is to sacrifice the flesh and blood of two blood - relatives to her soul. Lu Ming is already gone, and only you are left."
"Dad? You knew about this too? Then my brother..." Lu Yiyi's body trembled. She felt as if her heart and body had fallen into an ice cellar. Being in hell couldn't be worse.
"Your mother gave you life, and I've raised you for so many years. Now it's time for you to pay back and show your gratitude. What's wrong with that? You've always wanted your mother. In a month, your mother will be back. You should be happy!" Lu Guoying impatiently interrupted his daughter's questioning.
Since the day he made the decision, these words had become the reason for his self - consolation. Now he was still trying to use the same reason to persuade his daughter to give up her life.
Lu Yiyi stopped sobbing. She stared straight at Lu Guoying, unable to imagine that these words could come from a father. Facing his hideous and crazy face, she couldn't even say a single word of refutation.
"You can think it over here." With that, Lu Guoying left with his step - mother and closed the door.
In the following days, Lu Yiyi was imprisoned in this twenty - square - meter room. She kept track of time by the rising and setting of the sun.
"Just this morning, the nanny brought me food. After I ate it, I fainted. When I woke up at night, I was here. There were many other people locked up with me, both men and women. There were also more than a dozen people watching us. Later, I don't know why they all ran out. I took the opportunity to escape when there was no one around. I know today is the day I'm going to be sacrificed. Wuwuwuwu..."
"Do you want to find your father or escape?"
Shen Weixun saw her crying uncontrollably. Recalling the tragic situation in the first - floor hall, she lowered her voice and asked.
"I... want to do both..."
The girl sobbed and tried hard to suppress the choking sound in her throat.
Niannian and Shen Weixun both frowned at the same time.
It was good to be filial, but it was a bit disrespectful to them, her two saviors, to want to go back when she clearly knew that her father was going to harm her.
They might as well not have saved her.
But since they had already saved her, it was too late to regret. Shen Weixun unceremoniously decided to tell her the truth.
"I have some news. I don't know if it's good news or bad news for you."
"What news?"
The girl was slightly stunned. Her eyebrows twitched, and she had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the next words from Shen Weixun almost made her legs go weak and faint.
"There are no living people left in the banquet hall where the banquet was held, the one where your father was. He should have suffered a backlash for offering sacrifices to the evil idol and turned into a mummy by now."
Shen Weixun said this expressionlessly.
None of the people who died in the hotel were good people.
They didn't die at the hands of the evil idol but at the hands of their own greed and desires.
Signing a soul contract with such a thing.
They were doomed to die sooner or later.
"What? My father..."
The girl exclaimed, but before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by a loud rumbling sound.