CH 114

Translated by Dust Bunny

Edited by Crooked 

When Gu Xizhou heard Si Yu and followed his finger to where he was pointing. Sure enough there was a strange beam of light in the snow outside. Gu Xizhou was no stranger to this kind of light beam. If he wasn’t wrong, a flashlight had fallen there.

“It should be a flashlight. Last night when I woke up in a daze there was a light just like that coming through the window. It should be from this flashlight,” Gu Xizhou said to Si Yu who was at his side.

Peng! Peng! Peng!

In the darkened snow, a snowman stood making snowballs, throwing them at the window of the room in unbroken succession. 

Si Yu pointed to the clumsy actions of the snowman outside and said, “If we don’t go out it will keep hitting the window. It wants us to go outside.”

“What the hell is this thing trying to do?” Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows, glancing at the snowman. He pushed open the window and looked the snowman in the face.

“Peng!”

A snowball came flying right for Gu Xizhou’s face who automatically used a hand to block it before jumping right out the window.

Seeing Gu Xizhou go out, Si Yu had no choice but to follow him, dropping onto the cotton like snow. This time Gu Xizhou didn’t bring a coat and the wind was a little chilly. After he landed, the snowman watched him for a moment before silently turning his head and taking two steps forward, its back to Gu Xizhou… Pretending to be an ordinary snowman who couldn’t move.

Gu Xizhou’s breath condensed into white mist in the cold air.

By now the snow had already stopped, but there was no other color on the snow-capped mountains besides white. There was no sound of insects, birds, or beasts.

He picked up a black flashlight from the snow. The flashlight was very ordinary—it was encased in metal and iron which was commonly used in mountaineering equipment. It appeared that it was very common place. 

Gu Xizhou heard a crisp jingling sound. He looked at himself and found that there was something hanging from the flashlight. It was a black recording pen. He was looking at the black recording pen when Si Yu caught up with him, asking him softly, “What did you find?”

Gu Xizhou handed him the pen directly, “It’s a black recording pen.”

Si Yu took it and looked the recording pen over carefully. He had yet to open it up when—

“Who- who’s there?” Gu Xizhou caught sight of a dark shadow behind a car. He turned his head to see that the snowman had unexpectedly moved ten meters away from him. 

Gu Xizhou furrowed his brows and said to Si Yu, “It was just right next to me.”

Si Yu nodded, he had also seen it. The two took two steps around the snowman. It was using its two wooden hands to block its face, just like a man covering his eyes so that he couldn’t see anything.

Gu Xizhou kicked the snowman.

The snowman didn’t move. 

Gu Xizhou pulled down the snowman’s hand and watched as the snowman abruptly turned its head to stare at Gu Xizhou and Si Yu as if it had been wronged. It was a little pitiful.

Seething, that little snowman used its free hand to grab its hand from Gu Xizhou’s grasp and ran off. Gu Xizhou instinctually tried to catch the snowman but only came up with cold snow.

“I can’t catch it,” Gu Xizhou frowned, feeling somewhat defeated. The ghosts in this mission world were rather strange. Even if there was no perverted ghost, there was still that stupid snowman.

The two returned to the hotel and turned on the recording pen they had found with the flashlight. 

The recording pen belonged to a man named Cheng Liang, a tourist who used his voice to record his day-to-day life.

“Today is our first day here; the tour guide is amicable and the other people in the tour group are pretty decent. There aren’t many people in this tour group, only seven people, including two school girls and two couples. I am the only one by myself. Actually, I wanted to find someone to travel with me, but none of my friends were free. I hope the trip will be smooth and successful.”

“Before we went up the mountain, I accidentally found out that our original tour guide was not only a tour guide but also the owner of the hotel. The landlady was very beautiful and the tour guide was truly blessed. Tomorrow we will go up the mountain and it will be four or five days before we return to the hotel. The hot spring in this hotel is really great, especially after exercising. It feels very nice to take a dip in.

Gu Xizhou and Si Yu heard the second audio recording and exchanged a look. It seemed that the tour guide really was the husband of the previous owner. The old man died, and the woman went missing, leaving him to inherit the hotel. He hated the legend of the snowman because didn’t want to believe that his wife was missing. 

These two recordings were obviously recorded in his room because there were no other voices aside from the owner of the recording.

Gu Xizhou pressed play and the recording pen began to play the third recording.

“After climbing the mountain I was so worn out, ah. When we finally made it to the top, we saw the sunrise. On top of the snow-capped mountain was shining and bright.

“The snow is getting heavy again, let’s go back down, ba.” 

“En, this wind is like a knife. It hurts my face.

“Wait a second… Look, there seems to be someone out there!?”

As this was happening, it seemed that the owner of the recording pen shoved it into his pocket quickly as the surrounding sounds became much quieter. Then Gu Xizhou heard the sound of several people breathing heavily coming from the pen.

“Yi, Tour Guide Xiansheng, it’s you?” 

“P- P pera tjv j oluta klat ws klof bc beg kjs eq atf wbecajlc, jcv rtf revvfcis vlrjqqfjgfv. P kjr ibbxlcu obg ws klof, gluta, tjnf sbe rffc tfg?”

“Rb, kf tjnfc’a rffc jcsbcf bc atf abq bo atf wbecajlc rlcmf fjgis wbgclcu. Yatfg atjc sbe, kf tjnfc’a rffc jcsbcf firf.”

“Hu—”

“The snow is getting too heavy. Let’s return to the hotel first.” 

Because the owner of the recording pen was suddenly interrupted, he totally forgot to turn the recording pen off. They descended the mountain and Gu Xizhou fast forwarded it, quickly finding the next section of dialogue.

“I wonder who made a snowman at the door.”

“Maybe because kids can’t go out they’re bored, ba. This snow is too heavy…”

“The tour guide still hasn’t found the landlady yet. It seems she really is gone.” 

“Why did she suddenly disappear? Forget about it. Cheng Ge, come look at the picture of the sunrise I took. I’ll send it to you all later.”

“Wow, it’s so beautiful. This is worthy of being scenery from the north. Thousands of miles of ice, and thousands of miles of snow. Yi, there seem to be two people over there… Are they fighting?”

“Really? Where… It seems like that woman didn’t have any strength and was knocked down. She fell and didn’t get up, ah!”

“Don’t you think this man’s clothes look like…” 

“Like what?”

A voice suddenly sounded in the room, cutting them off. Gu Xizhou recognized that voice as the tour guide’s. The people in the recording immediately sucked in a breath and shook their heads, “Nothing… It’s nothing.”

After listening to the recording, Gu Xizhou and Si Yu put together the information they had discreetly gathered before and figured out the general situation.

The tour guide killed the owner of the hotel and used his identity as her husband to take ownership of the hotel. But what was room 8002? 

Gu Xizhou reasoned that the female ghost who felt him up should be the dead landlady, but that she wasn’t the key to this world because there was no sound of chains on her. Oddly, he didn’t hear chains sliding on the ground on the snowman either.

No… There was another possibility. That the snowmen did have chains, but that the snow muffled the sound.

When they returned they saw several of their teammates turning pale. “What’s wrong with you? Why are your faces as white as paper?”

“What’s that smell?” Gu Xizhou asked with a frown, his keen sense of smell picking up a scent in the air. 

Off to one side, Shen Bo covered his crotch in embarrassment and explained with a pale face, “I was just sleeping in this chair, when I felt someone stroking my hair. I thought it was Li Yan, so I asked him, but when I turned my head I saw that he was sitting on the bed far away from me…”

Gu Xizhou was well aware that Shen Bo had met the female ghost and asked in a low voice, “And then?”

“And then I heard the sound of someone else breathing in the room!” Shen Bo said, his voice trembling slightly, clearly still shaken as he pointed to the room he shared with Li Yan.

Gu Xizhou took two steps forward and opened the door of the room. As expected, in addition to him there was the even sound of breathing in the room. When the owner of the breath saw Gu Xizhou, it drew in a sharp breath. 

Hearing the sudden change in the sound of breathing, Gu Xizhou was certain that the ghost in the room was the female ghost who had groped him yesterday, and he couldn’t help raising his eyebrows.

Just then, the bedside table made a knocking sound. It seemed there was a hand knocking on the door from inside. When they heard this sound, the people who had gathered around the door immediately looked to the nightstand’s door.

Tang Jiajia and Tang Xiaoshi were startled and jumped, asking, “What’s in the cabinet…?”

Several people all swallowed simultaneously, but whatever was in the cabinet only knocked on the door and didn’t come out. 

Gu Xizhou furrowed his brows, remembering that the female ghost had disappeared last night after the light came on. Perhaps this female ghost could not see light, and would not appear if there was light. He turned off the light.

As soon as he turned off the light, the sound of knocking abruptly stopped, and the top drawer, which could not possibly fit a person, suddenly opened.

“I-it’s a hand!” Shen Bo cried out in alarm. From the inside of the drawer came a hand painted with red nail polish. This hand looked very well maintained.

“Run!” Someone unknown called and everyone took off. 

Gu Xizhou was about to clean up this female lust ghost when someone suddenly grabbed his wrist firmly.

Si Yu’s brows furrowed silently. He wasn’t afraid, but he wasn’t relaxed either. In the reflected light of the snow, his facial features were clear. His brows were slightly raised, his light-colored eyes narrowed slightly, and his lips were flattened into a line. He grabbed Gu Xizhou and ran like mad the entire way.

Gu Xizhou looked back at that hand that had already extended beyond the door. If he wanted to go back he would have to break away, but the hand gripping his wrist was very strong.

Don’t you know how insanely strong Si Yu is? 

Caught by Si Yu, he ran wildly. A few moments later, after confirming that the female ghost wasn’t following them, Si Yu stopped. He pulled at his collar revealing his sexy jawline as he panted heavily. “I shouldn’t have run.”

Gu Xizhou glanced at him and nodded, “En.”

Seeing that Si Yu was watching him, Gu Xizhou was stunned, adding, “After running for so long, I’m really tired.”

Si Yu, “…” You’re too fake! 

As they wandered through the halls, Gu Xizhou caught sight of the elevator and turned to Si Yu, “Let’s go, ba. We can go to the 8th floor tonight.”

“Okay,” Si Yu pressed a fist to his mouth and gave a slight cough.

There wasn’t anyone in the elevator. Gu Xizhou casually pressed the number eight. The elevator sank before rising rapidly. The elevator doors opened with a “ding”. Gu Xizhou and Si Yu exchanged a glance before stepping off.

“Ci La —— 

“Ci La ——

“Ci La Ci!”

The harsh sound came again. Gu Xizhou and Si Yu went straight to the room it was coming from. Just before Gu Xizhou went in he caught sight of a scarlet red eye staring at them coldly through the crack in the door.

No one else was around, it seemed that everyone else had run away. Gu Xizhou was about to go in when suddenly there was a cry in the distance. It was a cry of extreme panic. 

The two exchanged a look before heading straight for the source of the scream. Gu Xizhou ran over to find Tang Xiaoshi huddled in trembling all over, saying over and over, “Don’t kill me me… Don’t…”

“Tang Xiaoshi, are you okay, ba? The ghost isn’t here, calm down.” Gu Xizhou said softly. He took another step forward, patting Tang Xiaoshi on the shoulder, but she only continued to tremble and sob.

“Don’t find me, Don’t…” Tang Xiaoshi wasn’t aware of what was happening in front of her eyes. She had completely lost her mind.

Gu Xizhou grabbed the crazed Tang Xiaoshi’s arms. After all, Tang Xiaoshi was a woman, and she wasn’t as strong as Gu Xizhou, so she was easily subdued. After taking a few deep breaths, Tang Xiaoshi calmed down and was able to see Gu Xizhou and Si Yu clearly. 

Tang Xiaoshi’s nerves at the moment were weak, so when she saw Gu Xizhou and Si Yu she instantly burst into tears and clung to Gu Xizhou’s arm. Tears streamed down her face and her voice trembled, “It- It is you. That’s good…”

Gu Xizhou patted her on the arm and asked, “What happened?”

“I- I’ve been hearing the sound of breathing. That sound kept ringing in my ears,” Tang Xiaoshi sobbed, “I- I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Just speak slowly then,” Si Yu said, looking at her with a frown. 

“At the time everyone was running away, and I was running too. I ran all the way to the third floor with that thing following me the whole way. It followed me the whole way… Although I could only hear the sound of breathing, I could tell that it was following me. It seemed like it wanted me to use the elevator. It chased me all the way to the elevator, and I had the gut feeling that it wanted me to get in. There was nothing to be done, so I got on. When I got on the elevator the sound of breathing disappeared!”

“I thought that it would be alright, that so long as I waited a while before going out I would be fine.”

“But, I found- I found that… someone had pressed the button for the eighth floor… Maybe it wasn’t a person, but that thing. After I left, I heard the sound of ‘Ci La, Ci La’… like the sound of fingernails scraping something. You heard it during the daytime. I was all by myself and scared… Slowly, I walked towards the room where the sound was coming from, hoping to see if anyone else had arrived.”

Tang Xiaoshi bit her lip and said with teary eyes, “Then I saw a scarlet red eye looking at me through the crack in the door. It was looking at me! I was terrified, so I ran and ran!” 

Gu Xizhou helped her up and consoled her, “It’s okay, don’t be afraid.”

“Let’s go check out the room. There really is a pair of eyes in it, but we have to go in. The ghost that was chasing you clearly wanted you to go to the eighth floor. There must be a problem in this room, so we have to go in,” Gu Xizhou told Si Yu thoughtfully.

Si Yu nodded and agreed, “Okay.”

“I- I can’t.” 

Hearing Tang Xiaoshi, Gu Xizhou lowered his head and saw that her legs were trembling. She was shaking quite a lot. Apparently she was very scared. Gu Xizhou furrowed his brow and said to Si Yu, “Well, ba, you wait here with her. I’ll take a look around and come back.”

“Isn’t that too big of a risk?” Si Yu furrowed his brows and asked, “Why don’t I go, ba.”

“You go?” Gu Xizhou shook his head, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. If there really is something I can always run. You know how strong I am.”

Leaving Si Yu to temporarily accompany Tang Xiaoshi, Gu Xizhou turned the corner and walked back to the room again. That scarlet red eye watched him coldly from inside. It curved slightly, looking somewhat frightening. 

Gu Xizhou looked into its eyes and opened the door, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. The eye instantly disappeared without a trace. The room was exactly the same as it was during the day. There was still a wet patch in the shape of a human body on the bed. Gu Xizhou felt that there was nothing there. Were the conditions wrong?

Just as Gu Xizhou was thinking it over, the door that was originally opened suddenly closed. Gu Xizhou furrowed his brow and subconsciously and went over to open the door, only to find that the door wouldn’t open.

At the same time Gu Xizhou felt the air turn bone-chillingly cold.

Hu—— 

Hu——

Huuuuu…

Li Yan walked down the corridor, panting heavily. His brow was beaded with sweat as he nervously looked behind him. No one was following him. It seemed that he was lucky. That ghost didn’t choose him.

Li Yan let out a breath of relief. He took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. As he smoked, his whole body slowly relaxed. 

He had once firmly rejected feudal superstitions and didn’t believe in gods or ghosts until he fell ill and was hospitalized. On the operating table, his consciousness had blurred and he’d entered the task world.

At first, he thought he was just passing through after dying, until he met his other teammates. These teammates explained the mission world and supernatural world to him and explained that he could treat this world as a way to extend his lifespan. So long as he survived world after world, he could keep on living.

He once met a veteran of the mission world who believed that measuring a person’s ability by how many worlds they had completely was illogical. Because this person didn’t bother to hide this information and according to their accent and name, as well as a few rumors, he discovered that this person… was actually a hundred years old. The other person didn’t look old at all, but actually seemed very young.

From that moment on, he realized that maybe the mission world wasn’t so simple. If the mission world could help people continue their lives, and even let them live forever, then it wasn’t such a terrible world, but a world of luck. 

But no one could guarantee that they would be safe forever. He paid silent attention to that veteran, until recently he heard news of the veteran’s death. It was said on the forum that he entered that legendary world that meant certain death. For this reason he was depressed for a long time.

What is eternal youth? What is immortality? Who could guarantee that he would never die? Who was lucky enough to escape the mission world every time?

If even that veteran wasn’t able to outrun his death, how could he escape it?

Even if he had a special prop… fate was still out of his control. 

From that day forward, he told himself he would follow his heart. So long as he didn’t break any laws and didn’t need restraint, he would strive for whatever he wanted, whether it was sex or money, so long as he liked it and was happy.

Everyone dies.

Li Yan smoked as he walked. He returned to the third floor first, where their rooms were, to find that his other teammates hadn’t come back and frowned slightly.

They’d talked about going up to the 8th floor today. Maybe his teammates were up there? 

Li Yan thought for a moment before walking to the elevator, intending to get inside. He pressed the button and waited for a while, but the elevator didn’t come.

“Why are you coming down from the 8th floor and then stopping on the 7th?” Li Yan raised his eyebrows pressing the button again impatiently, glancing around to make sure there was nobody there.

Li Yan glanced at the time, five minutes later the elevator was still on the 7th floor.

He snuffed out his cigarette with his bare hands, and was preparing for the slow climb up the stairs when— 

Ding—

Ding—

It was the sound of a phone ringing. Li Yan startled, and hurriedly took the phone out of his pocket.

Looking at it closely this wasn’t the iPhone that was just in Li Yan’s bag, but a PHS, a cell phone that was popular in the early 2000’s. 

“Hey! What’s wrong?”

A terrified voice came from the other end of the phone, filled with hysteria and despair. “8th floor, go to the 8th floor, 8002! Save Gu Ran, save him! Save him! He’s dying!”

Hearing his voice on the other end of the phone, Li Yan was stunned. His brain wanted to ask questions when he realized that the person on the other end of the phone was crying, “Yesterday’s me, hurry and save Gu Ran! He’s dead, he’s dead! Everyone’s dying, everyone’s dying!”

“Save him, quick—” 

“Ah—”

Followed by desperate screams, there was no other sound on the other end of the phone save for the sound of ‘drip’, ‘drip’, ‘drip’.

It was blood.

Frightened by his own thoughts, Li Yan trembled all over. Although he didn’t know what had happened, he had never heard his future self make such a hysterical, desperate sound. He felt like his feet were not his own anymore. 

This PHS was a prop he got from a world. Its function was very simple—to allow him to talk to his future self.

Actually he didn’t tell everyone the truth. This wasn’t his eighth world. Actually he wasn’t sure how many worlds he had completed, but it was definitely more than eight.

Relying on this prop, he’d saved a lot of people, and figured out many rules. With this prop he had been invincible, but today… he knew subconsciously—that this was the sound of his voice before he died.

This was his breathing before he died. 

Why does everyone die if Gu Ran dies??

Li Yan’s brain was filled with all sorts of questions. But currently his future self was already dead… no one was there to answer him. If he couldn’t save Gu Ran, then he really would die tomorrow.

He ran up the stairs frantically, exhausting all his strength.

Just a little bit faster, just a little bit faster. 

His heart went faster and faster and so did he!

Climbed up to the seventh floor as fast as he could, he rushed over to the elevator. Someone had placed a chair in front of the elevator, and it just so happened to block the door.

Who put a chair in front of the elevator? No… no, now wasn’t the time to think about that.

Li Yan pushed the chair to the ground with a clatter, rushing into the elevator and pressing the button for the 8th floor like mad! 

“Come on! Go faster!” Li Yan’s hands were shaking as he pressed the number. Hurry up, hurry up, you can’t die, you can’t let Gu Ran have an accident!