The middle-aged woman speaking was named Song Liru. Based on their current identities, she was Xu Nan’s partner.
Song Liru was the oldest player among the eight, and it was clear that both she and Xu Nan were very unhappy with their relationship. They looked like a disillusioned couple who had lost love but couldn’t get a divorce, arguing every time they met.
At that moment, Song Liru was feeling extremely uncomfortable. She had just swallowed a little when she realized something was wrong and spat out half of it, feeling utterly disgusted.
Xu Nan immediately mocked, “Sorry, she’s never seen anything like this before. She’s just embarrassing me.”
He tried to take a sip of tea with an air of elegance, but he couldn’t help spitting it out as soon as it entered his mouth: “Damn, it’s really fishy.”
Song Liru sneered, “Shameless thing, saying I’m embarrassing you!”
Both of them had explosive tempers, and their exchange quickly escalated into a village brawl, growing increasingly vulgar.
Xu Nan, enraged, grabbed a teacup and hurled it at Song Liru: “You wretched woman, do you want to die even faster?!”
Just as the teacup was about to hit Song Liru, in a flash, a hand reached out from the side and caught it firmly.
It was a young woman sitting next to Song Liru, tall and slender, wearing a black leather jacket, with short hair and a gleaming silver cartilage stud in her ear.
She lowered her head, her wispy hair obscuring half her face, revealing only the smooth, beautiful lines of her jaw and neck, her crimson lips, her pale skin, and her extremely aloof demeanor.
The woman placed the teacup back on Xu Nan’s table; half a cup of tea had just spilled, but not a drop had splashed on the woman.
Xu Nan was slightly stunned—even Zhang Fang couldn’t achieve this level of control.
“It’s seawater,” the woman said.
She seemed very quiet; after saying those three words, she sat back down, her entire being as silent as a stone covered in ice and snow.
Everyone snapped out of their daze and sniffed their own teacups.
Yes, it smelled like seawater.
It was far more fishy than regular seawater, and Shao Lan frowned—it tasted like tea made with dead fish.
This thought reminded him, and Shao Lan discreetly held the teacup up to a brighter light, squinting as he looked inside.
Among the dark green tea leaves, there were indeed some fish-scale-like things floating.
Because they were mixed in with the tea leaves and were translucent, they were difficult to see; only when held up to the light did they refract a glittery sheen.
Xu Jiawei covered her mouth, looking like she was about to vomit, and walked towards the waitress in the red cheongsam: “Where’s your restroom? Take me there quickly.”
The others also didn’t want to touch the fishy, salty tea anymore and put down their cups.
“It seems you’re not used to our village’s food, especially you few. You must have been away from your hometown for too long and forgotten the customs,” the village chief waved his hand. “It’s alright, you’ll get used to it in a few days.”
“It’s getting late, why don’t you all rest first? I’ve arranged some exciting activities for you tomorrow and the day after,”
the village chief said with a smile. He turned and left, and the waitress in the red cheongsam led the eight people upstairs.
“The village chief instructed us to reserve the best deluxe king-size rooms for everyone.” The waiter led everyone up the creaking wooden stairs.
“A king-size room?” Song Liru immediately protested. “I won’t share a room with this Xu guy.”
Xu Nan scoffed, “Old woman, look in the mirror. Your face looks like old tree bark. I wouldn’t want a woman like you even if you were given to me for free.”
Song Liru’s face turned red with anger. Xu Jiaojiao quickly pulled her back, whispering to her not to bother with a scoundrel like Xu Nan.
The waiter explained with a troubled expression, “There are only four guest rooms available, and they’re all is a king-size room.”
Song Liru angrily said, “Whatever, I can even sleep in the utility room!”
“Sister Liru,” Xu Jiaojiao pulled Song Liru aside, “Don’t be willful. Our most important task right now is to survive in the instance.”
“The instance has prepared these four rooms for us. If we don’t stay in them, we might die tonight.”
Song Liru shivered and couldn’t help but look around the inn.
The corridor lights were very dim, and the air carried the salty, fishy smell of the sea, inexplicably exuding an eerie atmosphere.
Song Liru knew that what Xu Jiaojiao said wasn’t without reason.
With no other choice, she reluctantly followed the others upstairs.
“How should we assign the rooms?” Xu Jiaojiao asked.
Xu Jiawei walked closer to the door and squinted to make it out: “Look, there are names carved here.”
They were currently at the first room on the second floor, with “Xu Nan, Song Liru” crookedly carved into the wall by the door.
Xu Jiaojiao quickly went to check the door of another room on the second floor: “There’s carving here too!
It says “Xu Zijian, Qin Ning”.”
Everyone came up to the third floor together, and sure enough, the two rooms on the third floor had the same carvings by their doors.
They were:
“Xu Jiaojiao, Zhang Fang”
“Xu Jiawei, Shao Lan”
Shao Lan glanced over them, memorizing the players’ names and characteristics.
There were a total of four people from the Xu family, with Xu Nan being the thug and robber who had a grievance with him.
Rooming with Xu Nan was Song Liru, the hot-tempered middle-aged woman.
The other male surnamed Xu besides Xu Nan was Xu Zijian. He wasn’t very tall, but his muscles were clearly defined. He was open and enthusiastic, introducing himself in reality as the owner of a chain of fitness clubs.
Sharing a room with him was Qin Ning, the silent and aloof woman who hadn’t let a single drop of water spill when catching the teacup.
Among the female players, two were also surnamed Xu: one was Xu Jiawei, who had driven here with him and looked like a relatively experienced veteran player.
The other was a slightly chubby girl named Xu Jiaojiao, outgoing and friendly with a baby face full of affinity.
Her “partner” was Zhang Fang. While Xu Jiaojiao initiative chatted with everyone else, she fell silent around Zhang Fang—she was clearly terrified of Zhang Fang, who had a fierce, burly build, a full face of coarse flesh, and looked completely like a villain.
Shao Lan and Xu Jiawei entered their room together. The theme of their room was “Moon Gazing,” and pushing open the window indeed revealed the boundless sea with a single moon hanging high in the sky.
There was only a luxury king-size bed in the room with snow-white sheets and duvet covers, rather tacky strewn with a bunch of rose petals.
“You take the bed, I’ll take the sofa,” Shao Lan observed the room. He had originally prepared himself to sleep on the floor, but the room’s condition was better than he expected, featuring a sofa as well.
“We can share the bed,” Xu Jiawei’s eyes were like X-rays, inspecting Shao Lan’s pectoral and abdominal muscles through his clothes before nodding with satisfaction, “I won’t be losing out.”
Shao Lan ignored her, quietly putting all his things down next to the sofa.
Unfazed by being ignored, Xu Jiawei simply shrugged: “Fine, have it your way then.”
She took a stroll around the bathroom and her mood improved: “There’s even a bathtub! The bath bombs and spa oils I bought can finally come in handy.”
“My husband is definitely not going to take a bath with me, so I’ll just wash up clean and wait for my husband.”
Xu Jiawei carried her various bottles and jars into the bathroom, and soon, the sound of water filling the bathtub echoed from inside.
After a moment of thought, Shao Lan decided to go out and take a look.
With a creak of the wooden door, the narrow and dim corridor carried the unique salty, fishy moisture of the seaside.
Just as Shao Lan stepped out of the room, he saw a figure walking straight toward him.
It was Zhang Fang.
What, was he here to pick a fight?
Without changing expression, Shao Lan pulled out the folding knife he bought at the rest stop and concealed it in his hand.
Zhang Fang was still wearing the same outfit he had on when they entered. The sleeve of the arm that had been bitten was rolled up high, and the exposed parts were wrapped tightly in bandages.
Shao Lan squinted, noticing a very strange detail—
In the dim corridor, those bandages seemed to be shimmering.
The medicine applied to a bite wound—what kind of medicine would come with fluorescent powder?
In an instant, Shao Lan suddenly thought of the tea the village chief had given them.
Among the gaps in the tea leaves, those shimmering fish scales.
Could there be fish scales on Zhang Fang’s wound?
Shao Lan didn’t have time to dwell on it. Seeing that Zhang Fang had already walked to within a few steps of him, he tightened his grip on the folding knife and said coldly, “What do you want?”
Zhang Fang turned his head mechanically and looked at Shao Lan.
Shao Lan’s heart skipped a beat.
Zhang Fang’s eyes didn’t look right.