CH 48

The man in the black vest at the front of the room reached out and pulled the old gate open, which opened reluctantly with an overwhelming "creak".

The players are then presented with an old and dirty corridor.

The corridors, like the lift, are dilapidated and patchy, the walls are peeling, and everywhere a thick layer of stains, accumulated over the years, has congealed, giving off an unpleasant smell.

Also appearing at the same time is the system prompt.

"Ding dong--"

An unpleasant voice rang out, "Four - day - end -"

The voice trailed off, like a decaying Mr. Mu head, and it made the eardrums feel uncomfortable when it entered the ear.

The players look at the corridor ahead and understand that this is the scene of this game.

And four days, that's how long this game will take.

The moment the lift opened, the mother and daughter left without looking back, their steps hurried, their backs quickly disappearing around the corner of the corridor.

The players also step out of the lift one by one, the irregular footsteps of a group of people echoing in the narrow corridor.

Xiao Lan observes his surroundings. There are a number of doors on both sides of the corridor, all of them closed.

The doors all look very old, bearing the scratches of long use and gathering a thick layer of dust. Some of them are covered with faded New Year paintings and door gods, and almost all of them have rusted metal parts, some of them even have wire roughly wrapped around the locks.

It looks like it has not been inhabited for a long time.

There was no more sound in the corridor except the footsteps of a few people and the occasional conversation.

The corridor is narrow but winding, and after a few turns, the players finally find an open door ahead, with dim incandescent light spilling out of it, bringing a faint warmth into the cold corridor.

Seemingly hearing footsteps, a man came out of the door.

It was a middle-aged, withered-looking man, one eye supposedly turned grey from illness or injury, the other eye staring at the players with a seething gaze.

"Hey ......" the middle aged man smiled grimly and scanned the players around, "I'm the landlord of 404, you're the ones who booked the room, right?"

The players could only nod along.

"In four days ......" the smile on the middle-aged man's face deepened, "you're going to have the most memorable party of your lives."

The player was tempted to spit on the role he was playing. Was this group too long for life to come to a place like this to party, the last party of their lives, that was certainly memorable.

Why does life have to automatically speed up the process when no one has died since the beginning of time, but no one can die without doing something?

The landlord turned and entered the door, and the players, though they wanted to refuse, had no choice but to follow.

A moment before entering the door, the red-clad, dark-haired, curly-haired imperial girl approached Xiao Lan and warned in a soft voice, "Don't trust just anyone who asks for a team, the nicer the words the less you believe them, sometimes people may want more than just your life."

After saying this, he left with a cold face without waiting for Xiao Lan to answer.

This seems to be a man with a bad taste in his mouth who seems cold and unpleasant to be around, but actually keeps prompting his fellow players not to trust people so easily.

Looking at her tall back, Xiao Lan frowned slightly at why she had come to warn her a second time and seemed to mean something with that last statement.

Is this a hint that something is wrong with He Rui?

Before the game has even started, Xiao Lan senses a sense of crisis lurking in the shadows.

--

After entering the door.

It looks as cramped and shabby as the exterior.

The walls are mottled and peeling, exposing the inner masonry in places, and there is a fair amount of seepage from the ceiling, running down the walls and blotting large mouldy patches on them.

The game was right in the middle of summer at this time, and the heat combined with the humid, stuffy air fermented an unpleasant smell in the room.

The already small interior was again divided into a number of rooms, each equally cramped and, judging by the occasional open door, filled with miscellaneous items in a disorganised pile. A number of the rooms had wires wrapped around the door handles, as if they were no longer intended to be opened.

Only a few of the rooms still appear to be inhabited.

It seems that many people would have lived here at one time, but for some reason these rooms have since been left vacant or even locked.

The landlord stood in front of a room door and waved at the players to come over.

He pointed to the room and said, "Which one of you has this room? The top bunk is broken and only one person can stay in it."

The room is barely big enough for one person to fit through, with an iron bunk bed. The top bunk is littered with dusty clutter, and the bed is surrounded by a rusty square fence, the gaps between which are too small to fit a hand in.

There is a faint smell of rust in the air and it looks almost like - a cage for poultry in a vegetable market.

One can imagine how uncomfortable one must feel if sleeping in it.

"I'll do it." The royal lady in red selected the room directly.

The landlord pulled out a small book and raised his oozing eyes, "Name."

" Wu Ting ." The red royal replied.

The next few rooms in a row were in a similar state, cramped, cluttered, old bunk beds surrounded by fences. The players also learned the name of the man in the black vest was Li Haokuan.

Xiao Lan and Luo have chosen the only double room available.

It is a double, but only because the bunk beds in this room are still intact and the space is not much bigger than the others, except for an extra window for air.

Xiao Lan reached out and shook the bed, which looked to be of dubious quality, and it made a feeble "creaking ......" sound, as if to warn him that it was going to strike if it continued.

Xiao Lan is suddenly very glad that Luo doesn't need to sleep, otherwise the broken bed would probably not be able to support the weight of two grown men.

On the other side, Luo reached out to try to close the door and it slammed with a loud bang.

Xiao Lan turned around in disbelief, "You can still fart?!"

Luo: "......"

Following Luo's movements, Xiao Lan realised the door was gifted and he too reached out and dragged it a few times, whereupon.

"Blah--"

"Blah blah blah--"

"Blah blah blah - blah blah blah -"

A rhythmic chain of farts rang out, filling the rather poorly soundproofed room with presence.

"Fuck! Who the fuck farted!"

"You've woken me up, are you finished?!"

I don't know which one of the cranky neighbours let out a growl.

Xiao Lan withdrew his hand before he could play any more, as the cranky old man might be about to come out.

He turned to survey the room, which was lined with old posters of stars Xiao Lan barely recognised. The posters were all facing the bed, and if the lights were turned off, it would look like a dense blur of ghostly shadows.

There is a small ceiling fan at the top of the room, and for some reason a rope is hanging from it.

The rope is very old hemp rope, I don't know how long it has been on it, it is a little black in colour and the stains on it are almost incorporated into the rope.

Xiao Lan pointed to the twine: "Could this ...... be where someone has hung themselves?"

"Given the mass of this fan, it probably wouldn't be able to hold the weight of a person." Luo added after a moment's reflection, "Except for children, of course, but children can't reach this height unless ...... has an adult to put them up there."

Outside the window is the same fake city as the supermarket at the end.

The breeze blew into the room, swaying the twine slightly and casting elongated shadows on the walls as if someone was playing on them.

While it is possible that the twine was simply left behind by the previous occupants to hang things, it could also be a death trap; I just don't know if it is more dangerous to leave behind or to throw out.

After a few moments of reflection, Xiao Lan decided it was best to rip the thing off and throw it out.

Half and half odds of keeping it anyway, and spicy eyes.

--

When it was time for dinner, the landlord greeted everyone out to eat.

It was at this point that the players met several of the other occupants of the place.

A pregnant woman who looks silent and almost always keeps her head down; a couple who want to stick to each other; and a man who looks like a god, who says "God will punish you" and "reflect on your sins" like a The cultist.

The mother and daughter I had seen earlier in the lift were not at the table, did they live somewhere else?

All the meat on the table was flushed red, cut into different shapes and soaked in a paste of various colours. Although the NPCs ate with gusto, the players felt a little sick to their stomachs looking at the half-baked dishes, and sat around the table hesitant to move their chopsticks.

At this point the couple, who were like Siamese twins, stirred.

The woman took a chopstick to the man's mouth, "Come on baby, open your mouth, ahhh..."

Man: "Baby, why does it taste so good when you give it to me~"

Woman: "Bugger off, you bastard~"

Man: "It's not because my baby is sweet!"

The woman looked pouting, "Oops you're bad~"

Players: "......"

Damn, why do I have to eat dog food when I'm in the game and it's so greasy!!!

Xiao Lan, on the other hand, indicated a good level of acceptance of the paste.

He looks like he is eating so well that one almost suspects his sense of taste is failing him. As Xiao Lan eats, Luo expertly refills his bowl, keeping it in a constant state of substance.

Shit, you guys came along for the ride!

Seeing that the friendly army had fallen, the players tried to chuck up their dishes, although they still had doubts in their minds. The dishes didn't taste great, but these actually tasted like beef.

They were relieved at last.

--

After eating, Xiao Lan felt like she was sweating.

Although there was no strenuous exercise, this sultry weather, combined with the not-so-good ventilation, left the whole 404 with a hot, humid dampness.

There are no bathrooms in the players' rooms, and here you have to go outside to the common area whether to shower or use the toilet.

As a human, Xiao Lan was not able to clean himself at any time, unlike Luo, who not only did not sweat at all, but was also able to clean himself at all times. He had no choice but to take the change of clothes and toiletries Luo had prepared from his storage space and head for the bathroom.

It was also ...... too strange to refuse Luo's request to show him the door.

The light in the bathroom was dim, flickering unbearably now and then.

Inside, too, several small compartments have been separated, with the door panels covering only most of the middle. Through the lower part of the compartments, the floor outside can be seen.

The tiles on the walls are yellowed and cracked, with moss growing stubbornly in the cracks, which has a tendency to thrive under the daily bath water.

Solely, the water volume is quite large and the water temperature is appropriate.

Xiao Lan feels comfortable in the hot water. Suddenly, there is a faint sound outside, not very audible under the cover of the water.

Sensing that something was wrong, Xiao Lan turned off the shower.

At this point, the sound clears up.

"Snapped--"

"Snapped--"

It was the sound of a leather ball being slapped on the wet ground, the crunch of the ball slapping against the ground interspersed with the sound of water splashes of varying sizes.

The sound is clearer than ever, like someone slapping a ball, step by step, in the direction of Xiao Lan.

However, there were no corresponding footsteps.

"Snapped--"

"Snapped--"

The sound of a ball being slapped suddenly stops, just outside Xiao Lan's door.

Xiao Lan saw a small red ball rolling slowly towards him in a gap almost half a metre high under the jerry-built doorway of the bathroom, eventually coming to rest in the doorway near Xiao Lan's side.

There was no one outside the door.

But the voice came out of nowhere, "Brother, could you pick up the ball for me?"

The child's voice is crisp and soft, belonging to a child who has not yet begun to change his voice, making it difficult to distinguish the gender from the voice.

When Xiao Lan didn't answer, the voice continued, "If brother doesn't want to, I can come in and get it myself."

This time, the voice took on a bit of an innocent childish grin, as if he was expecting something. One could think with one's buttocks what would happen if one did let him in.

Xiao Lan scanned the empty bathroom doorway and looked up at the shower.

It's nice that the shower is removable.

So, Xiao Lan lifted his hand and picked up the shower, adjusted it slightly and turned the water up to the maximum. Then the shower was aimed at the little ball - and it was nipped out.

The wet little ball of leather lies alone on the floor.

The Ghost at the Door: "......"

Xiao Lan retracted the shower and said lightly, "You're welcome."