Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“The door is locked. What do we do?” Wulong Tea panted heavily, leaning his slightly chubby body against the wall.

Qiao Yu frowned at him and clicked his tongue. “Look at how out of shape you are. You’re wheezing after just four floors? You should move around more and stop lying down all the time. Watch out for high blood pressure when you get older.”

Wulong Tea snapped, “…I’m talking to you about the Basement door, why are you bringing up all this nonsense?”

Qiao Yu replied, “Relax, the door isn’t an issue.”

As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and leaned in close to Pozhan. Reaching out, he plucked the brooch pinned to the man’s suit. “Not bad. You’re quite the gentleman.”

Pozhan: “…”

How could a person be this annoying? Was he even human??

On the other side, Brother Crocodile felt a bad premonition rising in his heart. He watched as Qiao Yu poked the brooch into the keyhole. With a few clicks, the Basement door swung open.

His skill in picking locks had truly reached the pinnacle of perfection.

Everyone: “…”

Once the door was open, Pozhan snatched his brooch back and pinned it back onto his suit before entering the Basement without a word. Wulong Tea and Brother Crocodile followed closely behind. The taciturn First Blood stopped at the threshold, finally unable to stop himself from speaking: “I advise you to turn yourself in early. Stop being a menace to society.”

Qiao Yu: ??

How the hell am I a menace to society?!

-Pfft, I’m dying!!!

-I suggest the police look into this streamer. They might find something unexpected.

-Fuck, I finally connected to the internet. I’ve been stuck in the TV all night, someone save me!!!

-Uh… upstairs, I think your cover just blew.

The Basement was pitch black. As Pozhan walked in, a cold wind blew at just the right moment, its bone-chilling frost instantly sweeping away his exhaustion.

Wulong Tea tripped over something and let out a short cry of surprise, quickly grabbing the wall to steady himself.

“What’s on the floor!”

For some reason, the Basement was incredibly dark. Perhaps clouds were blocking the sun, as the light coming through the palm-sized window grew increasingly thin.

Qiao Yu was the last to enter. He crouched down and felt around. He vaguely remembered there being a lot of clutter on the floor, so he warned, “This Basement seems to have been converted into a storage room. Everyone, watch your step.”

Just then, the sound of sobbing suddenly drifted over from nearby. Pozhan, who was in front, couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’d say you’re a veteran streamer among us, yet you’re crying just from a little trip? Dry your tears, how embarrassing.”

The next second, Wulong Tea roared in exasperation, “I’m not crying! What the hell are you talking about?”

As soon as those words were spoken, it was as if a pause button had been pressed in the Basement. Everyone stopped making a sound.

Scritch, scritch, scritch-

A strange noise came from somewhere, sounding like something was rubbing against the floor by their feet.

Scritch, scritch, scritch-

Everyone shuddered in fear, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Wasn’t… wasn’t it said that… from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM is… is the safe time?” Brother Crocodile’s legs went weak. He grabbed the arm of the person next to him and asked with a stutter.

Brother Crocodile was small, but his grip was incredibly strong. Qiao Yu grimaced as he struggled to pull out his old-fashioned phone. While turning on the flashlight, he clicked his tongue. “How did it turn 7:00 PM in the blink of an eye? Is this a bug?”

The next second, the peripheral light of the flashlight hit a blurry silhouette. A mangled, bloody mass was slowly crawling on the ground. The raised head was covered in clumps of flesh congealed from rot, and its voice carried a sob: “My skin… have you seen my skin?”
Brother Crocodile’s scalp tingled with fear. He couldn’t help but let his mind wander; after all, there was a human skin sofa standing in his own room. In his panic, his grip tightened, and Qiao Yu found himself unable to shake off the ‘strongman’ no matter how hard he tried.

“We must have violated a rule. Let’s get out of here!” Even the usually composed Pozhan lost his cool. As he turned to run back, the powerful beam of the flashlight finally illuminated the entire Basement, revealing a room crowded with ‘human’ figures.

It was as if they had stumbled right into a nest of ghosts!

Almost instantly, everyone went stumbling out of the Basement.

For some reason, Qiao Yu, who should have been standing by the door, ended up being the last person to run out.

Wulong Tea looked back as he ran and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Qiao Yu locking the door behind them. But before he could turn his head back, he saw Qiao Yu chasing after them, clutching his own neck with one hand and stumbling along in a strange, labored gait.

Wulong Tea couldn’t help but touch his own neck again, only looking away when a piercing pain shot through him.

Tsk, who was the one with the stiff neck here, really?

Behind them, the crimson Iron Door rattled resentfully. The dilapidated door shook under the impact, looking as if it might break apart at any moment.

The group didn’t dare relax. They thundered up the stairs, the wood creaking and groaning under their weight. Qiao Yu was genuinely afraid this run-down little building wouldn’t survive the commotion and would simply collapse on the spot.

*BANG-*

The first thing to give out was actually that Iron Door in the Basement.

Wulong Tea wiped the sweat from his forehead and swore to himself: if he managed to escape this damn Instance alive, he would definitely start working out-three kilometers every morning and night!

-*Ooh, now it’s got that Battle Royale vibe~*

-*Poor Little Crocodile, he looks even more delicious when he’s crying.*

-*It’s only the second day. Are they really going to be wiped out just like that?*

-*Room 4008 only has one survivor left. Li Xiaoqin’s play was absolutely top-tier!*

Man-Eating Crocodile ran for his life. As he reached the fourth floor, he couldn’t resist stealing a glance back. He saw a skinless, rotting limb crawling up the stairs at an eerie speed, leaving a long, dark red bloodstain on the wooden steps.

That one look nearly scared the soul out of him, and he pushed himself to run even faster. Wulong Tea stopped, intending to open his own door, but Qiao Yu, who had been trailing at the back, suddenly overtook him.

Wulong Tea’s back stiffened. Holding his keys, he found himself staring right into the eyes of the Ghost that had just reached the top of the stairs.

*Clatter.* The keys hit the floor. Wulong Tea decisively abandoned his own room, and everyone scrambled toward the end of the hallway. They burst through the ajar door of Room 4009, and Wulong Tea slammed it shut behind them. Almost the moment the door closed, a loud *thud* echoed from the other side.

It sounded like a skull hitting the wood-a sharp, distinct crack.

“Skin… have you seen my skin?”

The Ghost outside let out a mournful, shrill query, yet it made no move to force its way into the room.

Wulong Tea slumped to the floor, exhausted. “Don’t open the door,” he warned. “As long as we don’t open it, it can’t get in.”

He understood now; the things he had seen through the peephole last night must have been these creatures.

Pozhan tugged irritably at his tie. “We didn’t even see the formation map, and the Instance Time has been cut by over ten hours. What a disaster.”

“The formation map? I took a picture of it.”

As Qiao Yu spoke, he waved his old-fashioned flip phone in front of their eyes.