The glowing blue text clearly said he had three minutes, yet the system gave him no time to wait at all.
Almost instantly, Yu Qing felt the world spin around him. The holographic screen reappeared before his eyes, as unreasonable as ever.
【Player's appearance set does not match the instance level.】
【Automatically adjusting...】
【Adjustment complete.】
【Matching teammates...】
【5/5 players matched. Teleporting into instance. Loading...】
His surroundings abruptly went dark.
By the time Yu Qing regained his bearings, he was standing in front of an old building. An enormous sign hung from its roof:
BLUE BAY HOTEL.
He actually had some recollection of this hotel. It was in the Lower City.
When he had gone to the low-income apartment building to return the skin, he had happened to pass behind the hotel.
Uncle Yuan had even pointed it out at the time.
"Murders happen here every other day. The Rose Daily has covered several of them in vivid detail. Looking at it now, I can see why. The sinister energy practically seeps out of the building."
But the hotel before him now was different from the one he had seen that day.
It stood like a ghost on the seashore in the middle of the night. Beside it were only a few even darker little shops. Beyond them, everything was pitch-black, shrouded in a fine mist of rain that stretched as far as the eye could see.
So this is the so-called beginner instance?
A hotel?
Yu Qing was still puzzling over this when he suddenly felt something weigh down his pocket.
He reached inside and discovered that a phone had appeared there. Its body was a deep matte black, but a ring of neon pink ran around its edges.
Yu Qing: "..."
Disgust was written all over his face, but he unlocked the screen anyway.
For now, the home screen contained only an identity code and a messaging app.
The identity code contained his basic information, while the messaging app had four sections: World Chat, Team Chat, Friends, and System Notifications.
Yu Qing opened World Chat.
It was a chaotic mixture of all kinds of people, with messages scrolling past at a dizzying speed. Within a second, the sheer racket was already assaulting his eyes.
He immediately closed it and opened Team Chat instead.
Five profile pictures sat quietly inside, without any noisy messages popping up all over the place.
Finally, he opened the Friends section.
There was only one person on the list.
That person's profile picture was completely blank, and beside it was that irritating, provocative name:
^ ^
"Can't get rid of you..."
Just seeing the name made Yu Qing angry.
He pressed and held the blank profile picture, intending to delete the contact.
A notification immediately appeared:
You cannot delete yourself.
Useless.
Yu Qing switched off the screen.
Just then, he felt something rubbing against his ankle.
He looked down and saw a fluffy little white kitten.
He was about to tell the cat to get away from his leg when it let out a soft meow.
The sound was extremely familiar.
It was exactly the same as the voice of the little skeleton he kept.
Yu Qing: "..."
He looked down at the tiny creature from his considerable height.
"Have you gone moldy?"
The skeletal kitten, now covered in white fur: "?"
Yu Qing recalled what the holographic screen had said during the teleportation. Something about his appearance set being incompatible with the beginner instance and requiring adjustment.
Presumably, some game mechanic had given the little skeleton an outer covering to make it look ordinary.
While he was considering this, the irritating holographic screen appeared again.
This time, another exclamation mark was flashing incessantly.
【Beginner Guide — Quest 1: Proceed to the hotel reception desk and check in.】
Since the annoying thing couldn't be closed and refused to stop flashing, Yu Qing set off toward the shabby hotel with a dark expression.
*******
Someone was already checking in at the reception desk.
He looked like a student, with short, fiery-red hair and a black hooded sweatshirt covered in metal studs.
Afraid that this rambutan might prick him, Yu Qing kept his distance.
Unfortunately, the rambutan was remarkably outgoing. After giving Yu Qing a thorough once-over, he struck up a conversation.
"Hey, is that outfit supposed to be a cosplay of Painted Skin from the character trailer?"
The real Painted Skin: "?"
"The clothes are pretty close, but your character's face doesn't look anything like his," the rambutan added.
What the hell is he talking about?
Yu Qing turned his head and caught a faint glimpse of his reflection in the glass behind the reception desk.
He was still wearing a pure black suit, and his height hadn't changed, but his facial features had been altered. There wasn't the slightest resemblance to his original appearance.
Despite receiving no response to either of his first two remarks, the rambutan was undeterred.
He asked a third question.
"What's your name?"
Mr. Painted Skin disliked his new appearance and had no intention of giving his real name.
Instead, he decided to pin it on a certain irritating bastard.
Remembering that provocative ^ ^, he casually replied, "Two Points."
"Oh, what a coincidence!" the rambutan exclaimed.
Yu Qing asked coldly, "What's coincidental about it?"
"My name's Three Ks!"
Yu Qing: "..."
Three Ks burst out laughing.
"No wonder we got matched as teammates! Oh, right, the other three teammates got here even earlier than I did. They've already checked in and gone to their rooms. I've just finished checking in myself, so it's your turn."
The receptionist was a somewhat puffy middle-aged man.
He glanced at Yu Qing, pulled out a newspaper, and slapped it onto the counter.
Its masthead read ROSE DAILY in large, bold letters.
Yu Qing was thoroughly familiar with this newspaper. Almost everyone in the island city had a copy.
Uncle Yuan was constantly carrying one around, engrossed in its serialized novels by unknown authors and its gossip columns.
But the front page of this particular issue of the Rose Daily wasn't devoted to gossip.
It was a news report.
【DISMEMBERED REMAINS DISCOVERED FLOATING IN BLUE BAY! FAMILY OF FIVE BRUTALLY MURDERED!】
The receptionist tapped the newspaper.
In a hoarse voice, he slowly said, "The murderer hasn't been caught yet. No matter which room you're staying in, remember to shut your doors and windows properly at night. If something happens, don't blame the hotel for not warning you."
With that, he pointed to a machine beside him.
"Scan your identity code. We assign rooms according to your assets."
Yu Qing's hand froze halfway through the motion of scanning his code.
"According to what?"
"Your assets."
Three Ks helpfully explained, "The assets listed in your player information."
Expressionless, Yu Qing opened his identity code and checked the numbers and symbols displayed there once again.
The receptionist waited, equally expressionless.
The rich young man had clearly never suffered such indignities before.
When Uncle Yuan was around, Yu Qing didn't even have to handle these matters himself.
With a dark expression, he asked, "How much for a standard room?"
"Five hundred."
"What about the worst room?"
"One hundred and eighty."
"Where can someone with negative four hundred and seventy thousand stay?"
The receptionist went completely still for a full five seconds.
Then he picked at his ear.
"How much did you say???"
Yu Qing's face remained cold. He had no desire to repeat that filthy number.
The receptionist spread a hand toward the front entrance.
"On the street."
Yu Qing: "..."
Beside him, Three Ks was utterly stunned.
He couldn't help blurting out, "Negative four hundred and seventy thousand? You mean your assets are negative four hundred and seventy thousand?"
Yu Qing had already killed ^ ^ several times over in his imagination.
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
His tone was so displeased that Three Ks immediately lost his nerve and waved his hands frantically.
"No, no, no! I just think that's pretty rough. But if your assets are already in the negative, how did you still dare to buy cosmetics and a pet?"
Yu Qing: "What pet?"
Three Ks pointed at his feet.
"The little white cat."
Yu Qing followed his finger and glanced at the little skeleton covered in white fur.
"But seriously, that pet of yours is so round and fluffy. How much did it cost? It must be pretty low-grade, right? You can tell just by looking at it that it probably doesn't have any useful bonuses. But that's fine. At the beginner stage, these are pretty much the only pets you can afford anyway. At least it's cute."
It really was adorable!
Three Ks looked left and right, but in the end, he couldn't restrain himself.
He crouched down and made a series of kissing noises at the little white cat.
The kitten wrinkled its nose and sniffed his finger.
Then, returning the gesture, it gave him a little suck of its own.
The next instant—
Thud!
Three Ks collapsed onto the floor.
"Help me, help me, help me," he began repeating automatically as he crawled toward the receptionist.
The receptionist was so frightened that he nearly dropped to the floor and started crawling himself.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
He had never seen anyone collapse like this the moment they entered the hotel. He frantically hammered the emergency call bell.
"How can you just fall over like that?!"
Three Ks groaned incoherently through his dizziness.
"I don't know... My health bar suddenly emptied."
"What health bar? I can't understand a word of this nonsense! Hurry up and take him to the clinic next door."
The receptionist summoned the security guard on duty, a man with a deathly pale face and eyes like tiny holes, and the two of them hurriedly dragged Three Ks toward the depths of the corridor.
Before leaving, the receptionist tossed Yu Qing a room key card with curling laminated edges.
"Room 1811 on the eighteenth floor isn't occupied. It's empty anyway, so if you've got nowhere else to go, you can make do there for the night. Better than actually sleeping outside. Remember to lock your door and shut your windows tonight."
Apparently worried that Yu Qing might not heed his warning, he added, "We're talking about murder and dismemberment here!"
With that, he and the security guard disappeared into the darkness at the end of the corridor.
Yu Qing picked up the key card and turned it over.
One side bore a photograph of the hotel. Because the image had faded, its windows resembled countless black holes.
The other side displayed the room number: 1811.
Strangely, however, the gap between the final two digits was slightly too wide.
An ordinary person probably wouldn't have noticed unless they examined it carefully, but Yu Qing spotted the gap at once.
The hotel lighting was dim.
He held the card up to the light and could faintly make out traces of a printed stroke in the gap. Someone had altered the original number, taking great care to conceal the change.
Judging by the remaining traces, the card should originally have been for Room 1814...
But none of that mattered at the moment.
Forget 1814. Even if the room number had been "Certain Death," it wouldn't have frightened Yu Qing in the slightest.
His most pressing concern was dragging a certain someone out of his body.
He took the key card and headed straight to the eighteenth floor, where he swiped it to open Room 1811.
The moment he entered, an unusual floral fragrance drifted toward him.
Yu Qing wasn't accustomed to such overpowering scents.
He held a hand over his nose as he approached the bed.
Surprisingly, despite the hotel's thoroughly dilapidated exterior, the bed was exceptionally clean. It was just about acceptable enough for him to lie down on without removing his clothes.
If only Uncle Yuan were here. At least I'd have someone to disinfect every last corner for me.
Such were Mr. Painted Skin's thoughts.
He was holding one corner of the bedspread, pulling it taut to straighten out the wrinkles, when the phone that had been quiet for so long suddenly buzzed.
What noisy thing is it now?
Yu Qing picked it up and saw a small red notification dot beside System Notifications in the messaging app.
He tapped it.
A message appeared.
Your pet has knocked down a teammate and reduced them to a near-death state, completing the 【First Blood】 achievement.
Combat EXP +500. Character Level +1.
Combat rewards available to claim.
Yu Qing: "?"
He lowered his head and glanced at the little skeleton.
The creature was looking up at him, eagerly seeking praise, its tail sticking straight into the air.
Yu Qing tapped the Claim Rewards button.
A line of text quietly appeared on the panel.
Assets +1,000.
Player Total Assets: -469,000
Yu Qing: "..."
Immediately afterward, his phone vibrated again.
Another message had appeared under System Notifications.
Thinking there might be more rewards, he opened it.
Instead, he found the following notification:
Because your pet knocked down a teammate and reduced them to a near-death state, the following instance achievements have failed:
【Perfectly Unscathed】
【Fighting Side by Side】
【Be a Decent Human Being】
Rewards available to claim.
Yu Qing knew perfectly well that nothing good would come of this.
But he couldn't stand the sight of that little red notification dot bouncing around, so he tapped the Claim button anyway.
Another line of text quietly appeared on the panel.
Assets -30,000.
Player Total Assets: -499,000
Yu Qing let out a cold laugh.
He looked down again.
The little skeleton, now wrapped in white fur, was busily pretending to chase its own tail, meowing away as though it had nothing else to worry about.
Who knew what sort of person it had learned that behavior from?
For some reason, Yu Qing found himself thinking of that goddamn ^ ^ again.
After all, the bastard had forced the skeletal kitten to spend nearly an entire day in his company...
At that thought, Yu Qing wasted no more time.
He rummaged through the desk drawer, found a pen and a pad of notepaper, and tore off a sheet.
Then, pressing so hard that the strokes nearly went through the paper, he wrote a message:
What the hell is this ridiculous beginner instance? Get your ass out here and clean up your own mess.