Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Wulong Tea: “So you ran out at the last second just to go back and take a photo?”

“Bingo! Congratulations, you got it right, but there’s no prize.”

-When did he take a photo? How did I miss that??

-I only saw him clutching his own neck the whole time. I thought he couldn’t handle the scare and was planning to slit his own throat on the spot.

-He definitely took it. He even stepped on the flesh on that big brother’s head outside the door. If you don’t believe it, switch to the hallway perspective. That poor guy is sporting a bare skull now, looking like he’s got male pattern baldness.

-So tragic, so tragic~

-Is this streamer toxic??

Qiao Yu’s outrageous maneuvers didn’t just leave the Live Stream Room in awe; even the other streamers’ gazes toward him had changed.

Under such extremely dangerous circumstances, not only did he calmly obtain an important clue for the Instance, but he also managed to escape unscathed. Just who was this guy?

As if he hadn’t noticed their searching looks, Qiao Yu handed the phone to the streamer named Pozhan and urged, “Quick, take a look. What kind of formation is this?”

Pozhan was forced to shift his gaze. The moment he saw the photo, he froze.

The harsh beam of the flashlight clearly illuminated the blood-red formation on the floor. “This is the Eternal Life Curse.”

What curse??

Qiao Yu blinked in shock. There were actually such ridiculous things in this world?!

His first reaction was: This has to be fake, right? If it were real, why would Qin Shi Huang have bothered searching for an elixir of immortality? He could have just cast an Eternal Life Curse to live as long as the heavens.

“Of course, this spell isn’t as powerful as it sounds. It’s an extremely sinister forbidden curse. It doesn’t actually grant immortality. On the contrary… the one who casts it dies even faster.”

Wulong Tea’s expression turned grave. He stood up and followed up with a question, “What are the requirements for casting this curse?”

Pozhan frowned. “It’s very complicated.”

“How complicated?”

“I think it requires seven human lives, and a medium… I don’t remember the rest.”

“…”

“What’s with that look? I told you already, I only have a superficial understanding.”

Qiao Yu withdrew his inquisitive gaze and leaned forward to peer through the peephole. Behind the mass of Ghost Shadows, he spotted a figure.

The Landlord Uncle walked to the door of Room 4008 with his hands behind his back. He raised his hands high, doing something unknown.

It was as if he and the rest of the Instance were divided into two different spaces, neither bothering the other, existing in a state of mutual peace.

Qiao Yu let out a soft “Huh?” Brother Crocodile, who was as curious as he was unskilled, shivered as he squeezed Qiao Yu aside to look through the peephole.

In the next second, a mangled, bloody face pressed against the other side. A pitch-black pupil completely covered the nail-sized hole. Through the door panel, he could almost smell the stench of rot.

“Aaaah-”

Man-Eating Crocodile’s legs went weak, and he collapsed directly onto the floor. Prone to tears, his face was instantly covered in them.

Everyone’s breath hitched as they slowly looked over. Almost immediately, the banging on the door-which had stopped at some point-resumed. The flimsy door rattled violently under the impact.

First Blood was a man of few words. He stepped forward to take a look outside, then immediately straightened up, his cold face filled with a complex expression.

He stared at Qiao Yu, looking as if he wanted to say something but was hesitating.

Qiao Yu: “If you have something to say, say it.”

“What were you ‘huh’-ing about just now?” A normal person seeing those things outside the door would be terrified, not confused. So, what exactly had he seen?
Qiao Yu shrugged. “Oh, so that’s what you were asking. There’s no need to be so hesitant; it’s not like I wouldn’t tell you.”

He offered a dry remark before continuing under the other man’s increasingly complex gaze. “I saw the Landlord Uncle. He’s at the door next door.”

First Blood hadn’t expected Qiao Yu to have such an annoying yet somehow unhateable personality, and he couldn’t help but stare blankly for a moment.

After a long while, he still couldn’t summon the courage to steal another glance outside. He could only press further, “What is he doing at the door next door?”

Qiao Yu spread his hands. “He was holding his hands up and touching the doorframe? Well, ‘touching the doorframe’ is just my guess. That spot was in my blind zone. How about we open the door and take a look?”

Everyone: “…”

Wulong Tea snapped, “If you want to find death, don’t drag us down with you.”

Man-Eating Crocodile rushed forward and grabbed Qiao Yu’s arm, wailing, “Daddy, please don’t! Don’t open the door!!”

Qiao Yu: “…Stop calling me that, it’s disgusting. My hands are getting itchy.”

He tried to shake him off, but the other man held on with a death grip, refusing to let go no matter what.

Qiao Yu gave him a kick, but Brother Crocodile doubled down on his strength. “Kick all you want, I’m not letting you open that door.”

Qiao Yu pursed his lips, helpless. “I’m not opening the door. I’m telling you all to look behind you.”

The group instinctively turned around. They saw the bathroom door handle rotating slowly. Just as everyone held their breath and noticed the movement, the handle paused for a split second.

-!!!

-Hahaha, the long-awaited 10:00 PM has finally arrived.

-Let the hunt begin! I want to see a mukbang.

-Do you think Li Xiaoqin can wipe them all out?

-Waaaah, you have to save the little beauty for last. What a shame, we haven’t even met yet. I haven’t even told him how much I like him.

-Shut up, upstairs! Is that ‘liking’ him? You’re just lusting after his body!!!

As the bullet comments flew by, the bathroom door clicked open. Behind the ajar door was a surge of silky, pitch-black hair that looked like billowing seaweed.

“Do we want to open the door now?” Qiao Yu asked, casually seeking everyone’s opinion.

“No!” Wulong Tea gripped the Jade Guanyin hanging around his neck. “What’s the difference between going out now and delivering ourselves to our deaths?”

Qiao Yu replied, “In this situation, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference anyway.”

“Of course there’s a difference,” First Blood said, his back pressed against the wall. “We can die a little later, or…”

“Or what?”

“Or we use what limited time we have to crack the death rules of this place as quickly as possible,” Pozhan said.

It seemed that supernatural events occurred in every room after ten o’clock at night. His own experience last night had been far from peaceful.

Back then, just as he was lying in bed about to fall asleep, a rasping, scratching sound had come from beneath him. It sounded as if something was clawing at the bedboards from underneath. Pozhan knew all too well that curiosity killed the cat, so he hadn’t dared to lift the bedsheets to check.

Fortunately, the thing under the bed hadn’t come out. He had spent the entire night in a state of terror, coexisting with the scratching thing beneath him.

The scratching didn’t vanish until after seven in the morning, which was when he finally managed to fall asleep.

Of course, he hadn’t slept for long before being woken up by First Blood, who lived in 4007. After learning that one person on the streamer list had already died, Pozhan no longer had the heart to sleep.

Before heading out to look for clues, he had finally steeled himself to lift the bedsheets. What he saw was a pitch-black, rectangular coffin, pressed tightly and seamlessly against the bottom of his bedboards…