Translator: Cinder Translations
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She was a girl who looked very well-behaved, dressed simply, and gave off a comfortable vibe at first glance.
She stood there, not joining the crowd, her expression calm. It wasn't so much that she wasn't afraid, but rather that she seemed a bit... blank.
"Come over here," Banana Wolf waved at her. "It's dangerous to be alone here."
"Oh."
The girl walked over, taking small steps. As she got closer, everyone realized that while she looked petite, her figure was actually quite well-proportioned. Beneath her loose home clothes, her curves were noticeable.
Jiang Cheng's eyes lit up again.
Strangely, after joining the group, she seemed even more uncomfortable than before.
"My name is Wan Yuanning," she introduced herself under everyone's gaze.
Everyone waited, but no further words came.
She didn't seem to be good at communicating with others. When she noticed people looking at her, her gaze grew even more uneasy, as if she was used to a quiet life and didn't like being the center of attention.
Compared to the sudden appearance of this woman named Wan Yuanning, what worried everyone more was the difficulty of this "instance."
So far, there were already 12 players.
Fatty's face was expressionless, but inside, he was panicking.
Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, was the opposite. His face showed panic, but his eyes kept darting around, examining the women with great interest.
Until his gaze met another's.
While he was sneakily observing others, a woman was also looking at him—not with admiration, but with a hint of confusion, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
Chen Yi stared at this man, who wasn't bad-looking but had a sneaky air about him. Her sharp brows furrowed slightly as she searched her memory.
She was a police officer, and it had become a professional habit.
She felt like she had seen this face before, but it wasn't clear, and she couldn't be sure.
She belonged to the public security management department, which had a wide range of responsibilities, from managing gatherings, protests, and major public security incidents, to cracking down on illegal activities in hotels, bars, and KTVs.
After two seconds of eye contact with Chen Yi, Jiang Cheng seemed to realize something too. In the next second, he immediately lowered his head, stopped talking, and stopped looking around. His sudden change to a well-behaved demeanor even left Fatty, who had been about to tell him to keep a low profile, speechless.
"Tap."
"Hiss—"
"Tap."
"Hiss—"
A strange, alternating sound came from the darkness, as if something heavy was being dragged slowly toward them.
Everyone instinctively grew alert.
Gradually, a figure emerged from the darkness.
It was an elderly man.
The moment Chu Jiu saw the old man, her eyes froze, and her breathing quickened. Her fingers, resting on Chen Yi's arm, tightened involuntarily.
The old man leaned on a cane, his left leg twisted and useless from the thigh down. The tip of his shoe dragged on the ground, making a scraping sound as he moved.
What made everyone even more uncomfortable was... the old man's face.
Only one eye remained on his face. The other eye socket was sunken, forming a terrifying hole.
Part of his nose and lips were missing.
The right side of his face had severe burns, though it must have happened a long time ago, as the scabs had fallen off, leaving only strange-colored flesh.
The old man had no eyebrows, and the sparse hair on his head hung down in patches, with one strand dangling from what was left of his ear.
Scars were clearly visible on his nostrils and above his eye socket, as if he had been slashed with a knife.
His entire face looked like it had been hacked with a knife and then rolled through fire.
His single eye scanned the group from left to right. Slowly, the old man opened his mouth. "Are you... the ones who called to book a room?"
Perhaps because he was missing front teeth, his speech was slurred, and his voice sounded distorted, rough as if it had been ground on a whetstone.
Fatty instinctively rubbed his arm, feeling goosebumps.
For a moment, he even thought the old man was a ghost.
"That's right," Banana Wolf was the first to speak. "It's us."
The old man glanced at him, then turned around and limped forward. "Follow me to get the keys," he said unhappily.
Everyone exchanged glances, knowing that the mission had officially begun.
"Since none of you are newcomers, I'll keep it short," Liu Guo said quickly. "I just want to remind everyone that, judging by the number of people, this mission won't be easy. If we fight among ourselves, we're likely to be wiped out."
"You don't need to worry about that," someone spoke up. "As long as I'm alive, there's no way we'll be wiped out."
Fatty immediately looked at the Doctor, but when he saw the Doctor's innocent, wide-eyed expression, he realized it wasn't him who had spoken.
It was Wei Jinting, who had been complaining the entire way, making snide remarks until Banana Wolf shut him up. Now, he was back to being cocky.
Liu Guo was left speechless. Though he didn't react immediately, the look he gave Wei Jinting was far from friendly.
At the same time, the man with the black stocking over his head, who called himself Lu Huaxu, let out a sudden "hehe" laugh, startling Hua Luo, who was walking beside him. She quickly lifted her skirt and ran away.
It was a long, deep corridor. The floor wasn't particularly dirty, as if someone had cleaned it, but it was old.
The lights overhead were spaced far apart, and only a few were lit, emitting a dim, yellowish glow, like old bulbs that hadn't been changed in decades.
"Creak—"
The old man finally stopped and pushed open a door painted green.
As soon as the door opened, a cold wind hit everyone's faces.
Inside was a medium-sized room. The window opposite had a large hole, and cold air was pouring in through it.
On the windowsill were a few red flower pots.
An old-fashioned desk stood in the room, covered with a large sheet of glass. Under the glass were some papers and what looked like a few photos.
The glass had a crack, but it had been taped up with thick tape.
There was no computer on the desk. Aside from an old-fashioned telephone, there were no electronic devices—just a messy pile of papers and some flyers.
A large teacup, stained brown from tea, sat prominently on the desk. Next to it was a tin can of tea leaves, its lid tossed aside.
A white plastic bag lay open, containing some transparent chunks that looked like rock sugar.
In the corner was an old, red-shelled CRT TV, covered in a thick layer of dust.
It wasn't practical for everyone to crowd at the door, so Liu Guo, Jiang Cheng, Fatty, and Banana Wolf went inside, while the others stayed outside.
After all, no one fully trusted the old man. Even though he seemed like an NPC, they had seen NPCs turn into ghosts before.
In their eyes, this old man had the potential to become a ghost.
With the right lighting effects, he wouldn't even need makeup.
Jiang Cheng held a flyer he had peeled off the back of the door. In the most prominent spot was a picture of a building.
In festive red letters, it read: Peace Apartments.
(End of the Chapter)
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