chapter 8

Shen Yubi followed Chu Yue back to Room 315. When he went into the bathroom, what had been a single set of toiletries had turned into two.

While Chu Yue was washing up, he lowered his eyes and stared at Shen Yubi’s outfit.

“Does big brother like my clothes?” Shen Yubi tilted his head at him. “If you like them, Xiao Yu can give them to you.”

Chu Yue turned his head away. “No need.”

He’d just looked at those clothes and suddenly remembered something.

“Does Xiao Yu look like your son?” Shen Yubi asked.

“I’m still single,” Chu Yue replied.

“Oh.” Shen Yubi spat out his mouthful of foam. “Then all this time, when big brother looks through me…” At who?

Before he could finish, a damp towel came flying at his face.

Chu Yue casually scrubbed his face twice and called it done, then nudged him with his foot. “Too cramped. Go wait outside.”

Shen Yubi stared at him wide-eyed, unable to believe his entire face wash had been dealt with so perfunctorily.

But the sink here was much higher than normal, and he really couldn’t reach well right now. He gave a cold little snort and went out anyway.

Then he clung to the doorframe, pitifully watching Chu Yue’s movements.

“Big brother, I want to take a shower too.”

Chu Yue wrung the towel out, shook it open, then turned and shut the bathroom door. “There’s no hot water. You’ll catch a cold.”

It was only the second day. In a hellhole like this, getting sick was no joke.

He took off his pajamas and started wiping down his body with the towel.

The bathroom light was different from the white incandescent in the room. It was yellowish and dim, like it could sputter twice with sparks and go out at any moment, just like in a horror movie.

He moved quickly, but halfway through, a clammy, sinister chill suddenly rose around him.

That sensation of being watched appeared again.

It definitely wasn’t ten o’clock yet.

Chu Yue snapped his head around. A ripple of water streaked across the bathroom mirror, lasting only a fraction of a second. Then the mirror reflected nothing but his own tightly furrowed brows.

No one had lived here for a long time. The mirror wasn’t clean-its surface was hazy white, with yellowing grime along the edges.

This time, Chu Yue was sure he wasn’t seeing things.

Besides that Monster roaming the corridor at night, there really was something else in this room.

That thing had saved him, and yet also wanted to kill him? Otherwise, why would it keep coming back again and again?

It couldn’t be here just to peep at him showering.

He quickly wiped down the rest of his body, pulled on his clothes, and didn’t linger in the bathroom a second longer.

When he came out, Shen Yubi had already taken off his clothes and slipped under the covers.

He was turning a bracelet over in his fingers.

It wasn’t anything particularly special-red beads strung together with silver-colored charms, with a few tiny copper coins and little bells hanging from it.

The beads were just ordinary glass crystals, the silver charms only imitation silver. Even the coins and bells were discolored.

The whole thing was old, clearly something that had been around for years.

“Big brother, you’re rich, right? Why would you still wear something like this?”

“I like it. Your bed’s over there.”

Chu Yue took the bracelet back out of his hands and put it back on his own wrist, then pointed at the other bed.

Shen Yubi rolled onto his side to face him, his voice thick with gossip. “You like it? Looks like you’ve worn it for years. Don’t tell me your girlfriend gave it to you?”

“No,” Chu Yue said quietly. “I bought it myself.”

Shen Yubi froze for several seconds before speaking again. “You bought it yourself?”

“Mm. Go to sleep.”

Shen Yubi shook his head. “Don’t wanna. The quilt here’s too thin. I’m cold. Grandpa said two people squeezed together stay warm.”

He paused, then put on that innocent tone again. “Big brother, you don’t mind, do you?”

Chu Yue did mind. Ever since he was young, he’d never liked sharing a bed with anyone.

But looking at that face, he didn’t turn him down again.

This haunted place really did get freezing once night fell.

If anything, it felt even colder now that the rain outside had stopped. The thin quilts barely kept out the chill.

Taking the chance, Shen Yubi scooted into his quilt, rolled over to face the wall, and said softly, “Goodnight.”
After what happened last night, tonight should’ve been nerve-racking-but instead, Chu Yue actually felt more at ease.

Whatever condition he’d triggered during the day, the result was already set in stone. No amount of tension would change it.

In that case, getting a full night’s sleep until morning sounded a lot better.

He closed his eyes and went over everything that had happened today.

The statue in the Plaza was a former player, the Fat Man’s limbs had been tossed onto the Round Platform, and Li Ergou was selling human meat.

Do players always get dropped into this Instance by the System a few days before the Town Gathering? Or is it that once players are thrown into this Instance, the Town Gathering in the town will always start a few days later?

What did three days and three nights of uninterrupted prayer have to do with the Outsiders?

What was that cursed Round Platform for?

Did they really come into this Instance just to search for Li Ergou’s Butcher Knife? Could they really find Li Ergou’s Butcher Knife?

All kinds of information flashed through his mind again and again.

Chu Yue’s thoughts grew fuzzy. In a half-dreaming, half-waking daze, he vaguely heard footsteps outside.

They sounded like a woman walking in high heels, each sharp tap following the next; just from the sound alone, you could picture a graceful beauty swaying down the corridor.

“Mr. Chu, are you asleep?” A coy, honeyed female voice came in along with the knocking. “I’ve got something I want to talk to you about. Can I come in?”

Chu Yue snapped fully awake. The voice was actually that of the Woman on the 4th Floor he’d met during the day.

He opened his eyes. It was pitch-black beyond the door. The motion-sensor lights in the stairwell hadn’t come on, so he couldn’t see what was happening outside at all.

He stayed where he was, lying still. Shen Yubi rolled over and threw a leg over him.

Mumbling softly, he said, “Bro, you sure are lucky in love.”

Chu Yue didn’t respond to him, and he didn’t respond to the woman knocking outside either.

“Mr. Chu, are you asleep? If you’re not, come open the door,” the person outside kept calling.

“Mr. Chu! I know you’re not asleep yet!”

“Mr. Chu! Chu Yue! Open the door! Open up!”

Her voice grew more anxious, and the knocking, subtle at first, turned impatient and harsh.

“Chu Yue!”

The woman suddenly shrieked, and the motion-sensor light outside flared on.

A distorted face abruptly pressed up against the small window in the door.

Even someone as calm as Chu Yue couldn’t help being startled by that face.

During the day, the woman hadn’t been breathtakingly stunning, but she’d still counted as a beauty.

And now?

Her face was a bluish, corpse-pale gray, her eyeballs bulging, saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth-she looked completely deranged.

She was outside, pounding frantically on the door, while Chu Yue and Shen Yubi lay motionless on the bed, inwardly worried she might actually smash this crappy door to pieces.

But the odds of that were low. This was clearly not on the same level as the thing from last night. If she’d really been able to come in, she would’ve done it long ago. Why bother wailing and pounding outside?

Lying on his side, he couldn’t help thinking these filthy things really did like to come for him first.

He didn’t know if there was something wrong with him, or if there was something off about the position of Room 315.

If this kept up, the others might very well end up isolating him.

He hadn’t yet figured it out when a new sound rang out from outside.

“Bang, bang, bang-”

Heavier pounding, but not on their door-on the one opposite.

Right after that, the two of them heard an unfamiliar male voice.

“Rent collection! Here to collect the rent! Hurry up and pay the rent!”

Chu Yue: “…”

Shen Yubi: “…”

“Bro.” Shen Yubi suddenly sat up. “What do you think that auntie outside has been trying so hard to come in to collect?”

Hearing the implication in his tone, Chu Yue shot him a sidelong look. “You’re still a kid and your head’s already that filthy. Go to sleep.”

Shen Yubi snickered and lay back down, tugging more of the blanket over to his side.

Things didn’t stop there. The knocking rose one after another; in the dead silence of the night, every hit was painfully clear.

Upstairs and downstairs, there were people knocking on doors.

There weren’t many of them, but at least every room got assigned one.

Outside the doors, the pounding and shouts continued. Outside the windows, the rain fell in a steady, whispering drizzle.

Chu Yue and Shen Yubi huddled together. Neither of them knew exactly when they finally drifted off.