Volume 7: Days of Stargazing at the Inn
Drip Drop
Outside… there was clearly nothing…
The light in the toilet was very dim; only a large incandescent lamp shone from outside. The space inside the stall was exceptionally cramped, but there was no strange smell.
The shadow of the door panel was cast onto the squat toilet1, making Tong Xinyi’s vision blur for a moment.
Her heart was pounding, peng peng peng peng, thumping non-stop. Fortunately, she could still hear the rustling sounds of others moving in the next stalls, which reassured her quite a bit.
She quickly squatted down, swiftly took care of her physiological needs, then immediately pulled up her pants and flushed.
The sound of flushing temporarily drowned out other noises. She reached for the door latch, but it was as if someone had glued it to the door; it actually didn’t budge.
She panicked at once, using all her might2, yanking the latch until it clanged, but still couldn’t open the door.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Tong Xinyi started banging on the door frantically, “Is anyone there?! I’m locked in! Can anyone help?! Help!!”
She didn’t know how long she knocked, until she was too tired to lift her hand, yet she received no response.
She hugged her arms tightly, took a step back, her bottom pressing against the toilet tank, shivering uncontrollably.
It was only then that she noticed how deathly quiet it was outside; the entire restroom seemed to contain only her.
An immense fear enveloped her, her nerves stretched taut to the breaking point. Just one more push, and she would completely lose her sanity.
She gritted her teeth, crushed a small ball that had suddenly appeared in her hand, gathered her strength, lifted her leg, and then—Boom!—kicked the door panel. Then a second kick, a third…
The door panel was like a bronze wall, an iron bastion3; no matter how much she jumped and struggled, it remained steadfast, as if mocking her for overestimating her own strength.
Gradually, she couldn’t lift her leg anymore. She could only squat down on the spot, hugging her head, silently crying as her emotions slowly crumbled.
“Drip—drop—”
It sounded like a water droplet falling to the ground, infinitely amplified in such a quiet environment.
Tong Xinyi abruptly looked up, a light flashing in her eyes. She shot to her feet and almost cried out, “Help! I’m locked in!! Can you find someone to help me?!”
“Drip—drop—”
“Drip—drop—”
A series of slow, heavy footsteps approached her location, each step like a drumbeat pounding on her heart.
Hearing this sound, she seemed to suddenly think of something. Her hand, which had been knocking on the door, abruptly paused. Trembling, she lowered herself and peered out through the crack under the door, then her eyes shot wide open.
Outside… there was clearly nothing.
Hong-jie counted everyone and found that one of her ‘soldiers’4 was missing again. She couldn’t help but get a little angry and said loudly, “What’s wrong with you all? We agreed to look out for each other, how can you not even know when someone’s gone missing? What are you standing around for? Quickly check if anyone is missing from your side…”
Outside, Shen Maomao, hearing her voice, directly pulled open the door and rushed in.
Just then, Lou Jingmo inside said, “Doesn’t matter who she is, let’s go straight to the restroom!”
The group of people swarmed into the restroom. Shen Maomao pulled Lou Jingmo, who had arrived a step ahead, behind her and stepped forward to knock on the women’s restroom door. “Anyone in there?! If not, we’re coming in!”
There was no response from inside.
Shen Maomao turned her head and glanced at Lou Jingmo.
Lou Jingmo was decisive. “Open it!”
The main door was opened. At this point, no one cared about the distinction between men and women; everyone craned their necks to look inside. There seemed to be nothing unusual beyond the door; it looked exactly the same as usual.
Golden Retriever twitched his nose, shivered inexplicably, and then said with a trembling voice, “Do you guys… smell a meaty aroma?”
Hong-jie, who had been left behind and couldn’t squeeze in, asked strangely, “Why aren’t you going in? What are you all doing?”
Shen Maomao looked at Lou Jingmo. “Should I go in first and check?”
Lou Jingmo understood that she was fearless because she relied on the function of her contract, so she nodded lightly.
Shen Maomao lifted her foot and walked in. As soon as she entered, she felt a strong sense of discomfort, even giving her the urge to retreat immediately.
Seeing she was fine, the players breathed a sigh of relief and also squeezed into the women’s restroom. In an instant, the group packed the place full.
There were a total of eight stalls inside, four on the left and four on the right. The door of each stall was tightly closed, making it impossible to determine from the outside if anyone was in them.
Shen Maomao reached out and pulled open the door of a stall beside her; it was completely empty inside.
The others nearby followed her example, carefully pulling open the nearest doors. All eight doors were opened, and every single stall was empty.
Lou Jingmo frowned. “We’re too late.”
Hong-jie asked, puzzled, “Too late for what? If she’s not in the restroom, where could she have gone? It’s the middle of the night, why is everyone being so troublesome?”
A man beside them rubbed his hands and said uncertainly, “Why are the door handles so sticky and greasy? Are yours like this too?”
Golden Retriever’s eyes widened. “That…”
Before he could finish, the old TCM doctor next to them interjected, “Greasy shine… Could it be the person who moved the body?!”
The man’s expression changed; he had obviously realized what this grease was and rushed out of the women’s restroom with a disgusted look to wash his hands.
With no findings, everyone could only return to the main hall.
The old man muttered as he walked, “Who on earth moved the body? And how did that girl disappear?”
A silent panic enveloped everyone. The group began to discuss the current situation.
Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo sat together. Shen Maomao created a memo on her phone and typed rapidly for Lou Jingmo to see: 【I looked at that light sign5; the ‘心’ character and the inverted mountain6 part above ‘靈’ are no longer lit. You specifically asked me to check the light sign; what were you trying to convey?】
Lou Jingmo replied using her phone: 【Seven strokes7? I previously suspected that for every player who died, one stroke from the two characters ‘心靈’8 would go out. Turns out, it’s counting everyone?】
Shen Maomao reached out and checked the stroke count on the table. After writing the two characters ‘心靈’, it turned out to be exactly eleven strokes. On the day Ranran disappeared, they had all seen the dot on the left side of the ‘心’ character go unlit, so it wasn’t surprising Lou Jingmo had that idea.
She continued writing. The two characters ‘港灣’ had exactly 35 strokes9. If she added ‘旅館’, it would add another twenty-something strokes10. They clearly didn’t have over fifty people.
If they counted all the dead players and NPCs—Ranran who died first, Ranran’s roommate who disappeared later, the NPC said to have been ‘eaten’ by muddy water, the chef, and the person who just disappeared in the restroom—that seemed to be only five in total…
Who accounted for the other two extinguished strokes? What was the deal with these two strokes?!
9 players + 18 NPCs + 3 staff members + 1 person upstairs + 5 deceased = 36 people in total. Perhaps the original purpose of the instance was for everyone to die until only one remained and all the lights went out?
Following this line of thought, these two extra extinguished strokes most likely represented people who were already dead but had mixed into the crowd disguised as living individuals, preparing for some unknown activity.
Thinking of this, Shen Maomao typed on her phone: 【Do you have any suspects for these two extra people?】
Lou Jingmo: 【I suspect Xi Tian and Qu Jing.】
Shen Maomao couldn’t help but turn her head to glance in Qu Jing’s direction.
Qu Jing was staring blankly at a point in the void, her thoughts unknown. Her face was pale, her lips colorless, making her look exceptionally pitiful.
Shen Maomao retracted her gaze and typed: 【I suspect Xiaobao’s mom and Hong-jie.】
Her suspicion of these two naturally stemmed from Xiaobao’s rubber ball. She had clearly seen the ball turn into their two heads, but with two heads and only one ball, she couldn’t determine whose head it actually was.
After thinking for a moment, she added: 【That receptionist, the one called Xiao Fu, what’s her deal? She has no shadow, and I’ve never seen her leave that seat…】
Lou Jingmo: 【There are still too few clues.】
Nearby, Golden Retriever watched them eagerly as they whispered, his eyes constantly darting towards the phone. When Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo finished their conversation, they showed him their chat history.
Golden Retriever quickly scanned through it and returned the phone to her.
Shen Maomao directly cleared it with one tap, leaving no trace.
Meanwhile, the others’ discussion yielded no results. Xiaobao snuggled drowsily in his mother’s arms, and everyone’s faces showed obvious fatigue.
Hong-jie said, “Let’s just drop it. It’s almost ten o’clock. Let’s all go back to our own rooms, freshen up, and rest. Remember to lock your doors when you sleep. We’ll figure things out tomorrow.”
The old TCM doctor had no other suggestions and could only nod in agreement.
The group consciously split up to take the elevator. It was only then that Shen Maomao learned that the cleaner and the food-runner girl both lived on the right side of the third floor. Only the receptionist, Xiao Fu, had never left her chair at the front desk; it seemed she hadn’t eaten or gone to the restroom either, just napping at her desk when tired…
The nine players were left for last. While waiting for the elevator, a man said, “The water on the third floor isn’t suitable for washing up. Shall we go to the second floor together in a bit?”
Someone immediately replied, “It’s so dangerous, I think I’ll skip washing up…”
The man wasn’t annoyed, just glanced at his watch. “Five minutes. Anyone who wants to go downstairs after returning to their rooms, gather in front of the elevator. We’ll go down together so we can look out for each other.”
The elevator stopped at the second floor as usual. After reaching the third floor, everyone returned to their rooms. Shen Maomao’s group of three had the closest room, and they closed the door immediately upon entering.
Golden Retriever asked, “Lou-jie, are we going too?”
Lou Jingmo thought for a moment and said, “Yes, we’ll go. The first and second floors are equally dangerous.”
People had disappeared on the first floor, and the second floor was inherently strange. It was the same no matter where they went. It was better to go to the second floor with the other players; there’s strength in numbers, and they could also investigate the situation on the second floor.
Having received their orders, the two ‘Lou-jie’s thigh-hangers’11 immediately began to pack their toiletries, finishing within two minutes.
At the same time, the sound of footsteps and voices came from the hallway, sounding like other players.
The three of them went out together. Just as they stepped out, they saw Little Mustache, Square Face, the tall guy who had made the invitation, and a boy with a blank expression on his face.
It seemed the remaining man had chosen not to wash up.
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