Gu Jiu and her companions returned to the first floor.
Seeing Gu Jiu roaming around, even opening the door to the fire escape a few times to peek inside, Wan Xingzhou couldn’t resist asking, “Miss, what are you looking for?”
Gu Jiu replied, “The hotel manager or the person in charge’s office. I want to get some information about the Ai Hui Hotel.”
Wan Xingzhou paused, suddenly realizing the hotel should have such a thing.
Right, this hotel has employee dormitories, storage rooms, and a restaurant, so where is the manager’s office?
“Maybe there isn’t one?” Wan Xingzhou attempted to explain with his own logic. “After all, this hotel was just built. Didn’t that female attendant mention that a lot of things here are still incomplete? Perhaps they didn’t set up a manager’s office. Besides, this is a game world; missing details should be expected, right?”
His reasoning was so convincing that he nearly persuaded both himself and Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu considered it, “Hmm, that’s possible. But let’s keep looking.”
With something to focus on, the day passed quickly.
Before they knew it, it was dinnertime, and Gu Jiu and her group returned to the second-floor restaurant.
In the restaurant’s food area, there were various prepared dishes, including nearly ten different stir-fried items, buns, rice, porridge, and drinks. Though not particularly lavish, the selection wasn’t small.
The food looked normal, steaming hot as if freshly made.
The players had checked the kitchen behind the restaurant and found no staff, no chefs, and not even any ingredients. Yet at every mealtime, food mysteriously appeared for the players to pick from.
When Gu Jiu and her group arrived, they found most of the other players were already there.
The players sat down in various places; those with companions sat together, while those without sat alone.
Taking a quick look around, Gu Jiu noted that five players were sitting alone, three of whom had lost their companions the previous night.
Zhan Shaohong, looking tired, walked into the restaurant. When he saw Gu Jiu, his spirits lifted, and he strode over.
However, as he got closer, his steps slowed, eventually dragging his feet while casting cautious glances toward Lu Ji.
Unlike that morning, he didn’t sit down uninvited but politely asked, “Um, can I sit here?”
The other players were astonished, visibly surprised. What had happened to make this womanizer, who usually acted so freely, suddenly so courteous? Previously, he relied on his powerful brother and did as he pleased, never asking anyone’s opinion. In his eyes, C-ranked players didn’t even register.
Lu Ji glanced up at him, saying nothing.
A chill ran down Zhan Shaohong’s spine as he involuntarily recalled the shattered door of Room 1012, prompting him to shrink back slightly.
Gu Jiu gave Lu Ji an amused look before saying to Zhan Shaohong, “It’s getting dark soon; Shaohong, you should eat quickly and go rest.”
Overjoyed by the beauty’s concern, Zhan Shaohong instantly perked up and scooted into the seat across from Gu Jiu. With her sitting there, even the food tasted better.
His three little followers quickly took food and sat tightly beside Zhan Shaohong, worried that Lu Ji, in a bad mood, might kill him with a single kick. Sitting here, they hoped they could serve as a buffer.
Chai Yingying subtly shifted her gaze and sat down with a cheerful smile.
Dinner was surprisingly harmonious, mainly because Zhan Shaohong was too intimidated to speak freely. Each time he tried to talk to Gu Jiu, he would first glance at Lu Ji’s expression, making his cautious approach rather amusing.
The uninformed players were itching with curiosity, desperate to know what Lu Ji had done to make the usually arrogant Young Master Hong so meek. They figured they might even learn something useful—if Zhan Shaohong ever set his sights on one of their female companions, they could use a similar tactic.
After all, though Zhan Shaohong had power and influence, not every female player wanted to rely on a man, and not every woman was interested in him. The girls who didn’t appreciate Zhan Shaohong’s advances found it difficult to avoid him without directly offending him. So what could they do in the end?
Gu Jiu, unaffected by the tension, continued to chat with Zhan Shaohong, gently sharing the information they’d uncovered today.
Zhan Shaohong, surprisingly bashful, replied, “I just took a nap in my room this afternoon, so I didn’t find anything.”
This was why he looked so tired when he came into the restaurant—too much sleep had left him even groggier.
“But maybe they found something,” Zhan Shaohong nodded toward his small group of followers. “If you guys found anything, you can tell Gu Jiu.”
The followers looked miserable. They’d spent the whole day trailing after him, so they hadn’t discovered anything, either.
Zhan Shaohong felt the urge to curse them out for making him look bad in front of Gu Jiu but instead turned to Chai Yingying.
Though he enjoyed her admiration, he was well aware that Chai Yingying was a capable woman; otherwise, the Reincarnation Hall wouldn’t have assigned her to accompany him in this game.
Chai Yingying flashed a charming smile, her tone sweetly teasing. “Young Master Hong, I didn’t find anything useful, either. Maybe it’s because we’re still new to this world. I mean, there haven’t even been any ghosts yet!”
Zhan Shaohong nodded, seeing her point.
The eavesdropping players exchanged glances, noting that their own day had been similarly unproductive. They wondered what surprises the night might bring.
After dinner, the players retired to their rooms.
Chai Yingying accompanied Zhan Shaohong to his room on the eighth floor.
His room was 808, a particularly lucky number. Right next door in 809 was Liang Lifei’s room; she’d been fortunate enough to draw a room adjacent to Zhan Shaohong’s.
But unfortunately, even with the advantage of proximity, she hadn’t managed to catch his attention.
Liang Lifei, with her delicate, pretty looks, wasn’t quite striking enough to be a “stunner” in Zhan Shaohong’s eyes, who was notoriously picky. He didn’t even glance her way, leaving her feeling dejected. Each time she looked at Chai Yingying, it was as though she were staring at some kind of otherworldly temptress.
After all her efforts to enter this game with him, hoping to win his favor here, why did the Reincarnation Hall have to send Chai Yingying along, too?
Liang Lifei whined, “Young Master Hong, I want to share a room with you too.”
“No way, the bed’s not big enough,” Zhan Shaohong rejected her bluntly. “Two people barely fit. With three, who’s going to sleep on the floor?”
His no-nonsense response left Liang Lifei speechless.
“But what if it’s Gu Jiu?” she pushed.
Zhan Shaohong answered without hesitation, “Then Chai Yingying can sleep on the floor. I’ll share the bed with Gu Jiu, and Chai Yingying can stand guard for us.”
Liang Lifei: “…”
Chai Yingying: “…” Jerk.
As Zhan Shaohong’s imagination started to run wild, he turned, ready to go find Gu Jiu.
Chai Yingying, her tone chilly, reminded him, “Young Master Hong, if you go looking for Gu Jiu now, you might run into Lu Ji.”
Zhan Shaohong paused mid-step, his face filled with discontent, but he didn’t have the guts to go after Gu Jiu. This was, after all, a game world, not Boundless City. If Lu Ji kicked him here, even though Lu Ji would face the same penalty, Zhan’s own life would probably end up just like the door of Room 1012—utterly shattered.
Annoyed, Zhan Shaohong stomped heavily into his room.
Perhaps he moved too quickly because he suddenly tripped, his whole body pitching forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of something gleaming up ahead. Looking closely, he realized it was a fruit knife, held upright as though an invisible hand was gripping it, the tip aimed directly at him. If he fell, it would surely pierce his chest.
Just in time, Chai Yingying grabbed the back of his collar, pulling him back, with the knife tip barely brushing against his chest.
Cold sweat dripping, Zhan Shaohong stared at the knife. As Chai Yingying slowly pulled him upright, the knife seemed to lose all its power, transitioning from its upright position to lying flat on the floor.
“What’s going on?” Liang Lifei peeked in from the doorway, her face paling when she saw the knife on the floor.
Chai Yingying entered the room, picked up the knife, and examined the surroundings, finding nothing unusual.
“It must be a ghost!”
Zhan Shaohong said fearfully. Though he was a player, he still dreaded the unnatural presence of ghosts.
For a player scared of ghosts, a horror game world couldn’t be worse.
At first, he’d been relieved that no ghosts were casually popping out to frighten people in this hotel, but this kind of unseen menace was even harder to guard against.
—
“Watch out!” Lu Ji pulled Gu Jiu aside just in time to dodge a fruit knife that fell from the entryway shelf.
Gu Jiu looked up but saw no trace of the eerie red glow that would indicate a ghostly presence.
Lu Ji picked up the knife, his dark eyes reflecting a glimmer of light. Yet, as one looked closer, it was just endless black, a darkness so deep that even the light of the cosmos seemed unable to pierce it.
Gu Jiu examined the knife, finding nothing amiss, and casually tossed it into her satchel.
As the sky darkened, Gu Jiu went to the bathroom to shower.
The sound of running water masked any strange noises. It wasn’t until she felt a sharp pain on her arm that she reached out and touched a long wound, her fingers coming away with blood trickling from the cut.
Turning off the water, Gu Jiu stood there, her eyes clouded with a grayish haze as she stared blankly ahead.
Outside, Lu Ji, who was folding paper, heard the water stop and immediately caught a faint, metallic scent of blood.
His expression darkened as he quickly went to the bathroom and twisted the doorknob, “Ah Jiu, are you alright…”
A wave of steam rolled out as the bathroom door opened a crack. Lu Ji paused, stiffening as he realized something, reluctant to open it further. Instead, he called in, “Ah Jiu, are you hurt?”
“Mm, cut my arm.”
A hand glistening with water droplets reached out and pulled the door open, and Gu Jiu stepped out from within.
Wrapped in a towel, she revealed smooth, slender shoulders, arms as pale and slender as jade, and long, graceful legs. Her skin was like polished jade, with a faint, rosy hue that made her seem all the more translucent and radiant. Emerging from the steam, her wet, tangled black hair clung messily to her face and neck, adding a sultry allure.
Lu Ji forced himself not to look too long, his gaze landing on her bleeding arm.
The wound was deep and long, slashing across her white jade-like arm, with blood flowing nonstop, filling the air with an increasingly intense metallic tang.
An uncontrollable urge to destroy surged within him, a desire to tear down this twisted game world.
“Ah Ji, could you help me with this?”
Gu Jiu’s voice brought Lu Ji back to reality. He guided her, who wasn’t wearing her glasses, to sit on the bed and began applying some hemostatic medicine to her wound.
The pain from the injury made her frown, her face slightly pale.
Gu Jiu barely managed to wipe the water off her face with her free hand, then put on her glasses to examine the cut on her arm. Her gaze was calm as she said, “Could you check the bathroom for anything sharp?”
Lu Ji stood and went to the bathroom. He noticed faint pinkish stains on the floor, where blood had mixed with water, but after looking around thoroughly, he found no sharp objects.
Gu Jiu sighed. “Ah Ji, it seems the boss in this game world is particularly tricky. It can kill without direct contact—just by manipulating vengeful spirits.”
“Vengeful spirits?”
“Yes.” Gu Jiu grimaced as the wound began to heal, bringing a mix of pain and itchy discomfort. “Even now, I haven’t seen any actual ghosts appear. That doesn’t mean there are no ghosts in this hotel; it just means that when a ghost kills, it doesn’t need to manifest in front of the players.”
“But what is the ghost using to kill? Even as a ghost, it can’t kill from a distance, can it? Ghosts rely on their unique fields or domains, only becoming unstoppable within them. Yet here, the ghost hasn’t shown itself, hasn’t revealed any domain, and still managed to harm players so easily.”
“That’s why I think the ghost might be able to control some kind of power remotely… or, maybe, it’s a set of rules it can manipulate.”
Lu Ji quickly followed her line of thought. “So, you suspect that the force that injured you earlier was this vengeful spirit?”
“More or less, though we’ll need more confirmation.” Gu Jiu glanced at the wound on her arm. “Still, I don’t think I’m the first to be attacked. The other players are likely experiencing the same thing.”
“From here on, players in this hotel will be subject to all kinds of invisible, untraceable attacks.”
And that, indeed, was the most terrifying part.