Ma Yue’s face looked as though he had swallowed excrement. He sneered, “You were the one who seduced me first. Don’t play the whore and now pretend to be virtuous.”
Huang Lina was speechless. Her brows furrowed as she sank into deep thought. She had never been interested in Ma Yue, this so-called “spiritual youth,” and even found him utterly repulsive.
But after entering this room, why did she take off her clothes of her own accord and want to…
Huang Lina shivered all over. She pulled her clothes tightly around her body and trembled.
Since entering this room, everything seemed to spiral out of control.
Night fell quickly. The hotel was gradually swallowed by darkness. In the empty corridor, the voice-activated lights suddenly flickered on.
“Tap—tap—tap—”
The sound of heels on the floor echoed from far away, approaching closer and closer, finally stopping abruptly outside Room 403.
“Creak—”
The sound of the door opening was like an old, dying wooden plank, releasing a grating, dragging noise.
A graceful black shadow was cast onto the door, but the person was nowhere to be seen.
The shadow’s neck slowly elongated, stretching into the room…
In the darkness, Ma Yue, who was sound asleep on the bed, felt a tickling sensation near his ear, as if strands of a woman’s hair were brushing back and forth over it. The delicate, tingling sensation caused a sudden heat to rise in his lower abdomen.
Immediately after, he felt a warm, wet touch on his face, as though a slippery tongue was licking him.
“Langjun, I’ve come to keep you company.”
A soft, seductive woman’s voice echoed beside his ear, numbing him to the bone.
“Beauty, you are so beautiful. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
In his blurred vision, Ma Yue saw a woman’s face—her jet-black hair cascading down, strands hanging over his face. He looked intoxicated, deeply inhaling the scent of her hair, his expression growing even more obsessed.
The woman’s face became clearer and clearer—it was unmistakably the same face as the beauty pictured on the hotel room card.
“Langjun1Langjun (郎君) is a classical Chinese term that literally translates to “gentleman” or “young lord.” It was traditionally used as a respectful or affectionate way for a woman to address her husband, lover, or sometimes even a romantic interest. , earlier you said that if you could share a moment of passion with me, even death would be worth it. Do you mean it?”
The woman’s alluring face was breathtaking, her enchanting eyes flowing with a blood-red light.
At this moment, Ma Yue was entirely driven by lust, with no mind to think about the implications of her words. He hurriedly nodded, eager to swear his devotion.
“My life, everything I have, it’s all yours.”
“Heehee, then I’ll take it,” the woman giggled sweetly.
“Take it, whatever you want, take it all.”
Ma Yue’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he impatiently embraced the woman, wanting to press her beneath him and ravage her thoroughly.
But in the next instant…
His body froze, his arms trembling as they wrapped around the woman.
“Langjun, what’s wrong?” The woman slowly raised her head, her black hair cascading over her face. That once breathtakingly beautiful face now showed an unnaturally pale complexion.
“You… your body…”
Ma Yue’s fingers trembled. What he was holding in his arms was not a woman’s body, but an unnaturally long neck. A bone-chilling cold spread from his palms, making him feel as though he had fallen into an ice cave. He wanted to fling the woman’s neck away but lacked the courage to move.
“Langjun, are you despising me?”
The corners of the woman’s mouth curved upward, stretching further and further, until they split all the way to her ears, forming a grotesque, terrifying smile.
Ma Yue could no longer endure it. He let out a miserable scream and flung the woman’s neck aside, bolting toward the door with the fastest speed he had ever managed in his life.
The motion-sensing lights in the corridor turned on, but the light was an eerie blood-red.
“Langjun, are you afraid of me?”
The woman’s voice drifted hauntingly from behind him.
Ma Yue was so terrified that tears and snot streamed down his face. He ran to the door of Room 404 next door, pounding on it with his fists, making a loud bang sound.
“Open up!”
“Open the door, hurry!”
“Save me, hurry, save me!”
But no matter how loudly he screamed, the door to Room 404 remained tightly shut.
Fear and despair consumed him.
“Langjun, Langjun, Langjun…”
The woman’s voice called to him over and over again.
The voice that had once stirred his desires now sounded like a death curse.
“Don’t come near me, don’t come near me—”
Ma Yue turned his head for a glance and nearly lost his soul in fright.
The woman’s neck was infinitely elongated, her beautiful head trailing closely behind him.
Ma Yue sprinted to the far end of the third-floor corridor in one breath. Seeing the door to Room 301, a sliver of hope reignited in him.
“Open up, save me, save me, please!”
“Save me, save me…”
“Please, I’m begging you, open the door!”
His fists pounded the door endlessly, until his hands were bloodied and mangled.
“Langjun, you promised me. You said everything you have belongs to me.”
“Don’t… don’t come near me…”
The woman’s head dropped next to Ma Yue’s ear. Her torn mouth opened wide, and her crimson, elongated tongue licked the sweat off his face.
Ma Yue’s body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground. He was so paralyzed with terror that he lost all ability to move. His eyes widened in horror as he watched the woman’s face inch closer to his own. That icy, snake-like neck coiled around his throat.
“Crack—”
Accompanied by the sound of bones shattering, Ma Yue’s neck slumped at an unnatural angle. His wide eyes bulged, nearly popping out of their sockets, and crimson blood slowly trickled from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth…
The dark red corridor.
A long neck dragged Ma Yue’s corpse, disappearing at last around the stairwell corner.
—
The next day.
In the hotel’s first-floor lounge area, the players gathered.
“Where’s Ma Yue?”
Seeing Huang Lina arrive alone, Wen Yi frowned.
A trace of confusion flashed across Huang Lina’s face as she replied, “I haven’t seen Ma Yue since I woke up. I thought he came down early.”
As her voice fell, her face turned deathly pale.
Could something have happened to Ma Yue?
At that moment, Qing Li said calmly, “He’s already dead.”
“How do you know Ma Yue is dead? Did you see something?” Wang Tingting asked nervously.
Qing Li shrugged, taking a bite of the spicy chicken burger she had purchased from the system store, followed by a big sip of iced cola. Noticing the growing impatience on the faces of the other players, she slowly said three words: “I calculated it.”
The other players: “…”
The urge to stab her was written all over their faces.
“Qing Li, don’t joke around. A teammate disappearing is a serious matter. Your words could mislead everyone, and we might miss the best chance to save Ma Yue,” Zhou Ya scolded, positioning herself as the voice of moral authority, hoping to turn Qing Li into the target of everyone’s ire.
Qing Li suddenly smiled. She pointed to the closed elevator and said with certainty, “If I’m not mistaken, Ma Yue should be in there.”
Her words shocked everyone.
The front desk had already said the elevator was out of service—how could Ma Yue possibly be inside?
“How do you know that?” Zhou Ya asked with a frown.
Qing Li smiled slyly. “Don’t worry about how I know. Didn’t you just say you wanted to rescue him? Now that I’m telling you where he is, why aren’t you going? If you miss the best time to save Ma Yue, can you bear that responsibility?”
Those familiar words left Zhou Ya feeling extremely embarrassed.