Xie Zhi and Jiang Heng also had game items. Earlier, while they were cleaning a guest room, Xie Zhi had offended one of the guests. The guest’s expression instantly changed, and their hair grew wildly without end, wrapping tightly around Xie Zhi!
Fortunately, Jiang Heng had taken out an item in time and burned away the hair, saving Xie Zhi’s life.
Items were invaluable inside instances!
Jiang Sui thought for a moment. “You could call it an item.”
“Thank you, Brother Sui!” Fang Yuan was nearly moved to tears. He tucked the metal sphere into his clothes as though it were a priceless treasure, then suddenly realized something felt wrong. “Brother Sui, this is your first instance too. Why do you have an item when I don’t?”
Jiang Sui: “…Do you want it or not?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Fang Yuan hurriedly hugged the sphere tighter. Who cared where it came from? Having one was better than having nothing.
He had barely hidden the item under several layers of clothing when he heard Xu Moyang arguing with the veteran players. Xu Moyang still wanted to go to the executive suite to help Lu Jin.
But that idea probably belonged to Xu Moyang alone. A series of horrifying screams had come from the direction of the executive suite earlier. Anyone with a working brain could imagine how gruesome the situation inside must be. Lu Jin was probably more likely dead than alive.
Jiang Heng frowned and advised him, “The executive suite is too dangerous. We still have a mission, and only three hours remain.”
Xie Zhi sneered even more openly. “He’s the bottom-ranked player. He was going to die sooner or later anyway. What difference does saving him make?”
“You people!” Xu Moyang bristled with rage. “You don’t have to go. I’ll go myself!”
“Go do what?” Xie Zhi laughed mockingly. “Collect his body? The System will announce Lu Jin’s death sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time. Do you really think he can come out alive?”
Xu Moyang gritted his teeth, his eyes red.
Only Jiang Sui raised a brow, amusement flickering in his eyes.
Death announcement?
Someone was probably living more comfortably than any of them right now.
“Go or don’t go. I don’t care.” Xu Moyang hardened his heart and lifted his chin stubbornly. “But I’m definitely going to help Brother Lu!”
With that, he clenched his fists and strode toward the executive suite.
Everyone watched him closely.
It was not unheard of for people who knew one another to enter the same instance. But when faced with life and death, friendship, romance, even family bonds supposedly thicker than water could all collapse instantly.
Xu Moyang and Lu Jin had only been classmates for several years. How deep could their friendship really be?
Perhaps he was only putting on a show.
No matter what anyone else thought, Xu Moyang’s steps remained firm. Since they had entered this hellish place together, he could not abandon Lu Jin. Even if he died, they would die together!
He pulled out the access card and swiped open the executive-suite lock. Just as he was about to push the door, the System’s cold mechanical voice rang through the air:
[Ding—]
[Congratulations! A player has found the clue and completed Mission One: Discover what is troubling Boss Huang!]
[Mission Two: Who cuckolded Boss Huang?]
[Time Limit: 6 hours]
[If the mission is not completed before time expires, one player will be randomly punished~]
The System’s voice echoed beside every player’s ear. Perhaps worried someone had not heard clearly, it even repeated the announcement.
The players stared at one another in shock.
Mission One was complete?
They had clearly been cleaning guest rooms the entire time. They had not done anything!
Xie Zhi and Jiang Heng were the most baffled of all.
As veterans, they understood the usual structure of an instance too well. The vast majority of missions could not be completed within the first time limit. Once time expired, the bottom-ranked player was usually the one who suffered.
That was why bottom-ranked players died so quickly.
But today, Mission One had somehow been completed without anyone noticing?
Jiang Heng could not help asking Xie Zhi, “Have you ever seen a mission completed ahead of schedule?”
“How could I?” Xie Zhi’s eyes widened. “You’re lucky if you can finish one before the second time limit ends!”
Jiang Heng looked thoughtful. “All of us were here. Then the one who found the clue could only have been Lu Jin. Was Mission One’s clue hidden in the executive suite?”
Everyone turned toward the executive suite.
No wonder people said this instance was difficult. Hiding the clue in the most dangerous location made an already difficult task even harder!
Fang Yuan patted Xu Moyang’s shoulder, sounding more relaxed. “Your classmate is pretty capable. If he managed to find the clue, he should be fine, right?”
Only then did Xu Moyang react, and delight instantly flooded his face.
Brother Lu was fine! Brother Lu was still alive!
But thinking more carefully, Lu Jin was a Reaper from the Underworld. Of course he should be fine. Xu Moyang had simply spent so many years treating him like an ordinary university student that, after learning the truth only a few hours earlier, his mind had not fully adjusted yet.
Xie Zhi scoffed. “Tch. He just got lucky!”
He strode to the executive-suite entrance, shoved Xu Moyang aside, and snatched the access card from his hand.
If even a Danger Zone player was not afraid of this place, how dangerous could it really be? Yu Nan had died here only because he was weak. If a weakling could enter, why should a veteran player be afraid?
Xie Zhi gripped the door handle and was just about to push—
“BANG!”
The door suddenly flew open from inside. Xie Zhi was still leaning forward in a pushing posture and collided squarely with the door panel. His head spun, and two streams of blood ran from his nostrils.
Lu Jin walked out of the executive suite and stretched like someone who had just woken from a nap.
A pale hand quietly extended from the room behind him, offering a plate of freshly sliced watermelon. Lu Jin accepted it and began eating while glancing at the people in front of him.
“Four? Did another one die?”
Xie Zhi burst out from behind the door, clutching his nose and shouting furiously, “You’re the one who died! Your whole family died!”
Lu Jin looked at his blood-covered face and turned toward Xu Moyang. “Did you hit him? We’re all players. Weren’t you a little too heavy-handed?”
Xu Moyang: “???”
“Brother Lu, don’t dump this blame on me! You’re clearly the one who hit him with the door!”
Lu Jin looked genuinely confused, clearly having no idea what had happened.
Jiang Heng had no interest in listening to the two argue. He stepped forward and asked Lu Jin, “You found the clue for Mission One? What’s inside the executive suite? Is it dangerous?”
Lu Jin thought back—
There was a female ghost inside. She was fairly obedient and spoke sweetly.
There was a doctor ghost who knew a little traditional medicine and had even helped massage his muscles while he slept.
The alcoholic ghost made decent cocktails.
The little ghost was cute when doing somersaults.
The cook ghost had excellent knife skills. The fruit he sliced was perfectly even, comparable to a Michelin chef.
Overall, the friends inside were fairly welcoming. There had only been one unreasonable old ghost, and Lu Jin had already crushed him to death.
So Lu Jin answered truthfully, “It isn’t dangerous. Staying in there was actually pretty comfortable.”
Players: “???”
Comfortable? You could be comfortable inside an instance? Did he really think he was on vacation?
While they were talking, the manager hurried over. He rubbed his hands together excitedly, already eager to collect Lu Jin’s corpse!
Half an hour had passed. No matter how slow the sweet little residents of the executive suite were, they should have dismembered that university student by now, right?
He could hardly wait to see it!
Then he reached the executive-suite entrance and saw Lu Jin happily chatting with the players outside.
The manager’s smile froze.
His expression cracked.
With a wet plop, his eyeball fell out again. Fortunately, the assistant beside him reacted quickly and caught it.
The manager shoved his eye back into the socket and looked Lu Jin up and down in disbelief. “Y-You’re fine?”
Lu Jin answered with a question. “What was supposed to happen to me?”
Impossible! How could the things in the executive suite possibly let him go? Had they all happened to be away?
The manager asked again, “You finished cleaning?”
Lu Jin: “Mm.”
Manager: “I don’t believe you!”
The executive suite was so filthy that there was no way anyone could clean it in such a short time!
“I’m inspecting it right now. If I find even one dirty spot, you’ll regret it!”
With that, the manager stormed into the executive suite.
The moment he entered, he was stunned by what he saw—
The suite had been completely transformed. The chunks of flesh wedged into the sofa and the bloodstains on the carpet were gone. The beige fabric smelled clean, almost sun-warmed.
The crystal chandelier that had once been tangled with hair had been dismantled and wiped piece by piece. Every prism gleamed brightly enough to reflect a person’s face.
The manager desperately tried to find some remaining dirt, but every room was the same—so clean it looked as though someone had restored the suite to factory settings.
The players followed inside curiously.
They had no idea what the executive suite had looked like before. Now they only saw a spacious, spotless room with impressively luxurious facilities.
Fang Yuan sincerely sighed. “Looking at it like this, the place isn’t very dangerous at all! It’s safer than outside!”
In the ordinary guest rooms, unreasonable guests appeared from time to time, and staff members sometimes went mad. Yet there was nothing here.
Xie Zhi snorted coldly and looked sideways at Lu Jin.
“That just proves this kid got lucky! Ridiculously lucky!”
Jiang Sui suddenly said, “But didn’t a player just die in here?”
Xie Zhi stubbornly answered, “That was his own bad luck! It had nothing to do with the executive suite! He was so weak and sickly that even without getting dragged into the game, he probably wouldn’t have lived much longer…”
SPLAT!
Something heavy suddenly caught his foot. Xie Zhi did not notice in time and crashed to the floor. His knee slammed into the tile so hard that pain twisted his face.
He clutched his knee and struggled into a sitting position.
Before he could stand, he opened his eyes and found himself staring directly into the face of someone who had died with their eyes wide open.
“AAAAAAAH—!”
Their faces were less than ten centimeters apart. The sudden eye contact hit him so hard that Xie Zhi nearly lost his mind.
He scrambled backward on all fours, shivering as he hid behind Jiang Heng. Even his voice trembled. “G-G-G-Ghost! There’s a ghost!”
Jiang Sui crouched, using an access card to move aside the “thing” that had terrified Xie Zhi.
“Not a ghost,” he said. “It’s Yu Nan.”
Yu Nan’s body lay on the floor. There had been no white cloth inside the executive suite, so Lu Jin had found a clean white bath towel and covered him with it.
A moment ago, everyone had been admiring the suite’s luxurious facilities. The sudden appearance of the corpse was like a basin of ice water, instantly pulling them back to reality.
This was still a game.
The dangerous Yellow Springs Game, where anyone could die at any moment.
Jiang Heng’s expression stiffened. His gaze toward Lu Jin became complicated. “You were in here with Yu Nan’s body the entire time?”
Lu Jin found the question unnecessary. “What else was I supposed to do?”
He could hardly throw the corpse off the balcony. He was not that immoral.
Jiang Heng swallowed, his throat tightening.
There had been a corpse lying beside him, yet Lu Jin had described staying inside as “pretty comfortable.” Exactly what part of sharing a room with a dead body was comfortable?!
…
The manager practically turned the executive suite upside down, yet still could not find a single trace of dirt.
Was this brat some kind of cleaning-cloth spirit reincarnated? How was his cleaning this flawless?
Unable to find fault, the manager had nowhere to vent the rage in his stomach. He could only glare viciously at the players. “Today’s work is over. Get rid of the body!”
“Later, you’re going to the dining hall for dinner. The boss specially prepared a welcome party for you tonight. Hurry up, and don’t you dare be late!”
