However, before Shao Lan could see clearly, Zhang Fang turned his head and continued walking forward as if he hadn’t seen Shao Lan at all.
As he walked, he sang a song to himself:
“Mother Ming, oh Mother Ming. Thank you for granting us the blooming flowers. Mother Ming, oh Mother Ming. With you, we have a home.”
Zhang Fang walked to the end of the corridor, then turned and walked straight back.
He paced back and forth like this, singing repeatedly.
Shao Lan touched his arm and felt a layer of goosebumps.
This scene reminded him of an opera he had once seen, which was about a mad female ghost in an abandoned ancient castle who would sing on the terrace late every night.
On stage, the actress playing the female ghost was beautiful yet sorrowful, walking back and forth and singing a haunting, wistful song—looking exactly like Zhang Fang at that moment.
The only difference was that as a burly, rugged man, Zhang Fang lacked any sense of tragic beauty in this setting, while having an excess of terror.
To be honest, Shao Lan would rather Zhang Fang had come at him with a knife; that would have felt somewhat more reassuring.
Now, with Zhang Fang wandering and singing so creepily in the corridor, Shao Lan felt a deeply unsettling sensation.
He glanced at the doorplate of Zhang Fang’s room: “Listening Wind Pavilion” (Lingfeng Pavilion).
What about Xu Jiaojiao, who was staying here with him?
As if by coincidence, just as Shao Lan thought of Xu Jiaojiao, he heard her voice as he went downstairs.
“Sister Liru, Xu Nan is really going too far… Hey, don’t cry. Isn’t there still me here to keep you company?”
Shao Lan walked downstairs and saw Xu Jiaojiao comforting Song Liru on the second-floor terrace.
There was a bruise on Song Liru’s face, and her eye sockets were red. Clearly, she and Xu Nan had gotten into another argument over a disagreement and ended up coming to blows.
“It would be better if he just died,” Song Liru muttered. “When does this instance start killing people? It would be great if scum like Xu Nan could die first.”
Xu Jiaojiao didn’t know what to say, and could only try her best to comfort Song Liru.
When the two of them saw Shao Lan, Xu Jiaojiao walked up to him.
“Brother Lan,” she greeted.
“The Zhang Fang in your room seems a bit strange,” Shao Lan said.
Xu Jiaojiao was startled: “What’s wrong with him?”
Shao Lan asked in return: “You didn’t know?”
Xu Jiaojiao shook her head: “After we went into the room, Zhang Fang curled up in a corner. I mustered up the courage to talk to him, but he didn’t pay any attention to me,” she said. “I got a bit scared and came out, and right then I ran into Sister Liru.”
“When I was just coming downstairs, he was singing in the corridor.” Shao Lan wanted to repeat the song Zhang Fang had sung, but for some reason, his stomach churned, wave after wave of nausea hitting him.
“Are you okay, Brother Lan?” Xu Jiaojiao asked hurriedly, seeing that Shao Lan didn’t look too well.
Shao Lan waved his hand to indicate he was fine.
Xu Jiaojiao said, “I’ll go up and check.”
She walked upstairs and came back down a moment later: “Zhang Fang has already gone back to his room. He’s lying on the bed now, and he didn’t react when I opened the door, as if he fell asleep.”
At that moment, the door at the far end of the second-floor corridor creaked open, and a robust figure walked out—it was Xu Zijian, the gym owner.
Seeing everyone gathered together, Xu Zijian walked right over. “What are you guys chatting about?”
Shao Lan and Xu Jiaojiao told him about Zhang Fang’s bizarre behavior. Xu Zijian scratched his head: “Huh, my ‘partner’ doesn’t sing, but he doesn’t pay any attention to people either.”
He was talking about Qin Ning.
After entering the room, Xu Zijian had tried to strike up a conversation with Qin Ning, and as a gym owner, he had blurted out: “You don’t often see among girls…”
“Someone with muscle lines as great as yours must work out a lot, right?”
Qin Ning glanced at him and left him on “read.”
Xu Zijian still tried to start a conversation: “Have you ever learned Muay Thai? I used to teach Muay Thai, and a lot of girls loved taking my classes.”
Still left on “read.”
Xu Zijian made one final attempt: “We’re all players in the same game instance, you…”
“You’re very noisy,” Qin Ning said.
Xu Zijian was completely embarrassed.
To diffuse the awkwardness, he had no choice but to turn and walk out, which led to him running into the others.
Everyone has their own troubles to deal with, and Xu Zijian scratched his head and said, “If only we could switch rooms.”
Xu Zijian wouldn’t mind rooming with Xu Nan or Zhang Fang—though Xu Nan would be better, since Zhang Fang was sounding very creepy right now.
Song Liru or Xu Jiaojiao wouldn’t mind rooming with Qin Ning either.
However, after hesitating for a long time, Xu Jiaojiao finally said, “Forget it.”
“The names of the guests are written on the doors, and I don’t know if that counts as some kind of rule,” Xu Jiaojiao sighed. “If we break the rule, we might all die.”
Hearing this, everyone lowered their heads.
They had all participated in at least one screening instance and understood that rules could not be broken. So, however reluctant they felt, they had no choice but to return to their respective rooms.
Shao Lan and Xu Jiaojiao walked up to the third floor, and Zhang Fang was indeed no longer in the corridor.
“Be extra careful,” Shao Lan said to Xu Jiaojiao. “If you run into danger, knock on the wall. Xu Jiaowei and I will be able to hear it.”
Xu Jiaojiao nodded nervously.
After saying goodbye to each other, Shao Lan returned to his room.
He pushed the door open. The bed hadn’t been touched, and Xu Jiaowei was nowhere to be seen in the room.
Could she still be taking a bubble bath?
Shao Lan cocked his ear to listen, but there was no sound of water coming from the bathroom either.
“Xu Jiaowei?” Shao Lan called out, raising his voice.
No response.
Shao Lan walked toward the bathroom.
The bathroom door was half-open, and the misty steam had not yet completely cleared.
Shao Lan knocked on the door: “Xu Jiaowei?”
No answer. The bathroom was dead quiet.
Xu Jiaowei wasn’t inside.
Shao Lan pushed the bathroom door open and stepped in.
The next second, he felt all the blood rush to his head.
On the left-hand side as you entered was a huge white bathtub.
Inside the bathtub was Xu Jiaowei’s corpse.
She was soaking in foam mixed with a massive amount of fresh blood. One of her legs hung over the edge of the tub at a bizarre angle, and the red foam was trickling down her leg onto the bathroom tiles, already pooling into a large puddle.
Xu Jiaowei’s eyes were wide open, and her delicately made-up face was twisted and terrifying at this moment, looking as if she had seen something utterly horrifying right before her death.
In the air, the scent of various aromatic essential oils mixed together with the smell of blood—rich, sweetish, and deeply eerie.
Shao Lan took a step back, his lower back bumping against the small mirror on the vanity.
Like many hotels, this bathroom not only had a full-wall large mirror above the sink, but also a small mirror specifically meant for female guests to put on makeup.
Right now, both mirrors reflected Xu Jiaowei’s corpse and Shao Lan’s deathly pale face.
What should he do now…
Right, call for help first.
When encountering a death incident, you should notify the other players as soon as possible—this was a universally accepted principle within the game instances.
Shao Lan dragged his heavy legs toward the room’s entrance.
The door, which had previously opened with a light pull, now felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. Shao Lan used all his strength just to pull it halfway open.
At the same time, a hand with four painted red nails gave a push from the outside, and the door swung open.
Shao Lan froze.
A chill spread all the way from the crown of his head, making him barely able to stand.
The person who pushed the door open was none other than Xu Jiaowei.