""
Lu Yuan's speaking speed was just like his reading speed—very fast—so he finished that whole long string of babble in just a few seconds.
And what followed was a stretch of silence.
The three people opposite him seemed as if time had frozen for them; they stared at Lu Yuan with dumbfounded expressions for two or three seconds.
"Hiss—"
Brother Ye suddenly gritted his teeth and took a deep breath through his teeth: "Well, okay, let's wait a while then."
"Huh?" Little You finally snapped out of it: "Why did you decide to wait here again? Wasn't it you who suggested we go into that Architecture first just a moment ago?"
Brother Ye tossed his Hair with a flourish: "I did indeed suggest that, but now I think what this guy named Lu said makes quite a bit of sense."
"So you actually understood what he said just now?" Little You asked, eyeing Brother Ye suspiciously.
"Uh, actually I didn't quite understand it, but I understood the summary at the end. Isn't it just waiting here? The Quest hasn't been issued anyway, so what's the harm in waiting a bit? Besides, if he could use that many words to explain this point, I reckon it must be quite reasonable," Ye Qilang replied, then smiled at Lu Yuan.
After Brother Ye put it that way, Little You also seemed to think it made sense: "Then let's wait a while longer."
As for Mu Wei San, although he didn't express much of an opinion, since three out of the four in the team wanted to wait, he naturally couldn't rush into that Architecture alone, so he stayed behind as well. However, while waiting, his gaze would always drift toward Lu Yuan intentionally or unintentionally.
And so, the four of them stood in the wind, waiting and waiting. This was the suburbs, and there were almost no vehicles on the road. Although their perception in the Game was weakened, standing on the side of the road in the middle of the night freezing was definitely not comfortable. Finally, 5 minutes passed.
"Uh, it seems no one is coming," Mu Wei San said with a smile: "So, it looks like Brother Lu Yuan was just overthinking it. We don't need to keep freezing here; let's hurry into that Architecture and start this Instance."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a sound of a vehicle approaching suddenly emerged from the distant darkness, and soon, everyone saw a Sedan speeding toward them, finally stopping in front of the group.
"Yo~ pretty impressive, you actually guessed right," Little You said.
With that, the car door opened, and a Man stepped out.
This Man looked about the same age as Lu Yuan, also in his early twenties, with an average figure and wearing a casual jacket. However, what was somewhat unexpected to everyone was... this person was not a Player, but an NPC.
Because as soon as this guy got out, he gave everyone a very apologetic smile.
"I'm really sorry, the car ran out of gas on the way, so I'm a bit late. Have you all been waiting long?"
"..." The group didn't respond to him for the moment, just staring at him.
"Ahahaha, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zou Qi, the group owner of the 《urban legend hobby group》," the man said, scratching the back of his Head, then looking at Mu Wei San: "So, you must be Big Brother Mu Wei San... you're just as sturdy as the photo posted in the group."
"Oh? You know me?"
"Of course. You are the only ones who signed up for this expedition in the group, and you all sent me your photos back then, didn't you?" Zou Qi replied with a smile, and then read out the names of the remaining people.
I should mention here that because they had previously been in Contact via the Internet, he read out their screen names. When he looked at 【ξForever Solitudeξ‥★】, he simply used Xiao You instead. There was no helping it; who told this girl to pick such a name? In any case, this whole operation avoided the sense of incongruity that would have come from using some strange screen names in the conversation.
Moreover, during this time, while greeting everyone, Zou Qi opened the Trunk of his car. He first took out a backpack and put it on himself, then took out several Flashlights and distributed them to everyone.
"Well, since everyone is here, let's get started," Zou Qi said, signaling that they could move forward.
At this moment—"Please wait." Brother Ye suddenly called out to Zou Qi: "Uh... I'd like to ask, what exactly is this headless legend about?"
Zou Qi was taken aback: "Ah? You don't know?"
Brother Ye replied with a smile: "I've forgotten a bit, because I've been reading too many legends of this type lately, and it's all become a bit of a chaos."
Zou Qi nodded: "I see. In that case, why don't I take this opportunity to tell everyone about it again."
He said, and so, the explanation regarding this 【headless legend】 officially began.
Legend has it that a few years ago, a murder occurred at this hotel.
And it wasn't a simple murder where someone was stabbed to death, but the most insane 'dismemberment case'.
The specific details of the case had long since been spread into numerous versions, and no one knew exactly what happened, but what was certain was that the Murderer was a Man named 'Li Wei', and The Dead was Li Wei's Girlfriend, named 'Meizi'.
What is being told now is the most widely circulated version. It is said that one night, a Tenant of the hotel heard 'thump, thump, thump' noises from upstairs. At first, he didn't suspect much; after all, in a place like a hotel, sounds like a bed shaking, frequent showering, or a Chair creaking were normal.
However, by the next morning, the thumping sound still hadn't stopped. This time, the Tenant was finally a bit puzzled, thinking that even if young people had good stamina, it should have ended after an entire night.
So, the Tenant, holding a skeptical attitude, told the hotel owner about the matter, and afterwards, the two of them went upstairs to investigate what this strange Voice was.
However, just as they arrived at the door of that Guest room, a thick, bloody smell wafted out. This terrified the two of them, and they didn't dare to rush in rashly, so they quickly called the police.
And when the police arrived and kicked open the room door, everyone was stunned.
The room was simply like a living Hell; blood was everywhere, minced meat was splattered all over the walls, and severed limbs were scattered about. In the center of the Guest room, a young man was viciously chopping at a corpse that had already been mostly hacked to pieces with a Kitchen Knife, and each strike made a dull 'thump' sound.
Seeing that the police had arrived, the young man seemed even more insane. He picked up the Head of 'Meizi' from the floor, swung the Kitchen Knife, broke open the police officers who hadn't yet recovered from the shock, and ran out of the Guest room. However, the police cars downstairs were already all in position, so this young man named 'Li Wei' could only run upstairs.
Finally, he ran to the Rooftop of the hotel. Knowing he had nowhere left to run, he didn't think much and, holding his Girlfriend's Head, jumped off the Rooftop.
However, at this moment, a terrifying thing happened!
Because with a 'clang', only a headless corpse slammed onto the ground.
In other words, within those few seconds that Li Wei was falling from the Rooftop while holding Meizi's Head.
Both of their heads had vanished into thin air!!
✦✦✦