Chapter 132

Chapter 132

A new world began.

The twelve newly reorganized Players got off the bus one after another. Once all twelve had stepped onto the ground of the new world, it meant that the new world had officially started.

“What is this? A dorm?” Yellow Hair was the first to speak.

Qin Nan was observing the environment they had found themselves in.

This was probably the most cramped setting they had encountered across all these worlds.

The room was only a little over thirty square meters. It had an enclosed balcony, four loft beds with desks underneath lined up along the two walls, a cabinet near the door, and opposite the cabinet, a bathroom only a few square meters in size.

The scene before them was not unfamiliar.

It was a student dormitory.

However, this dormitory seemed to have been abandoned.

Cobwebs hung everywhere inside. The beds and desks were dilapidated, and of the cabinet by the door, one panel had already broken, hanging there precariously as if it might fall at any moment.

Jian Fan’s gaze landed on the door by the entrance.

While everyone else was still taking in their surroundings, he walked straight over, placed his hand on the handle, and pressed down hard.

Nothing happened.

He tried a few more times.

The door still did not open.

Everyone’s attention had already been drawn over.

“What? It won’t open?” Qin Nan asked, though he was not particularly surprised by the result.

Jian Fan gave a soft “Mm,” then shifted his gaze to the lock.

It was an extremely common lock, the kind seen in everyday life, with a keyhole on it.

In theory, since they were inside the room, they should have been able to unlock it directly. But the current situation was obvious enough: if they wanted to open this door, they would probably have to find the key first.

By then, Qin Nan had already walked over.

He came to Jian Fan’s side, his gaze also falling on the lock. Then he raised an eyebrow. “Escape room?”

“Probably,” Jian Fan replied.

Hearing this, Qin Weiyi nodded. “Then split up and look for clues. Let’s get out of this dorm first.”

With twelve people crammed into such a tiny room, it was not that there was no space to stand, but it was indeed crowded.

Naturally, Yellow Hair, Lu Jing, and the others had no objections.

After Qin Weiyi finished speaking, he began inspecting the surroundings and then walked toward a corner. Jian Fan did not say anything else either. He turned around and started checking the contents of the cabinet.

Qin Nan glanced over, then entered the bathroom.

Liu Ji watched as Qin Nan’s group swiftly and cleanly entered clue-searching mode. For a moment, he was still a little stunned. He looked toward Wen Xi beside him. He did not speak, but the question in his eyes was obvious.

“Search,” Wen Xi said.

Only after Wen Xi said this did Liu Ji and the other two begin to move.

The dorm room was very small. While searching for clues, they would bump into the people beside them every now and then. This situation made them even more eager to find the key and leave this cramped dorm as soon as possible.

Jian Fan was examining the cabinet.

One of the cabinet doors was broken, but the other was still fine.

The inside of the cabinet was empty. At the very bottom, there were only a few discarded, unused plastic bags and several newspapers spread out underneath them. A layer of dust had already settled over the newspapers.

Jian Fan picked up the newspapers.

There was a publication date printed on the paper: September 21, 2011.

It was a local city newspaper. The contents were all reports on various important events that had happened within the city. After Jian Fan skimmed through it, he did not notice anything strange.

He quickly put down the one in his hand and switched to another.

There were six newspapers in total. The dates on the remaining five were different from the first one. Their dates were, respectively, November 23, 2011; January 13, 2013; June 8, 2013; December 3, 2013; and February 27, 2014.
Jian Fan ran through the five dates in his mind.

For the moment, he couldn’t spot any clues.

There were two drawers beneath the cabinet.

Jian Fan half crouched and pulled them open.

There was nothing particularly obvious inside, only a few cockroach bait pellets and a packet of air freshener meant to be hung on clothes.

After checking the entire cabinet, Jian Fan still hadn’t found any especially useful clues. He was about to move on to the next target when Qin Nan, standing at the bathroom door, beckoned to him.

Jian Fan didn’t hesitate and walked over to Qin Nan.

The two of them entered the bathroom.

Inside were a shower stall, a toilet, and a washbasin. On the wall in front of the basin hung a mirror about fifty or sixty centimeters wide and tall.

The mirror had shattered. Half of it had fallen away, leaving the other half hanging precariously in place. On the remaining glass was a line of red writing.

2021.10.21, die.

The final stroke of the word “die” had been dragged out so long that, for some inexplicable reason, it made one’s heart tighten with unease.

Jian Fan stared at the red writing and frowned.

Qin Nan had seen the line of red text the moment he came in, and it had indeed startled him. However, that wasn’t why he had called Jian Fan over.

He patted Jian Fan on the shoulder. When Jian Fan turned to look at him, Qin Nan raised his head and pointed at the light overhead.

Following Qin Nan’s finger, Jian Fan looked up.

In the middle of the bathroom ceiling was an utterly ordinary light. Its lampshade had cracked, exposing the bulb inside.

That wasn’t the important part.

The important part was that on the broken lampshade, there were red marks that looked like bloodstains.

Before Jian Fan could puzzle out what that meant, Qin Nan patted his shoulder again and pointed toward the toilet.

Jian Fan gave Qin Nan a complicated look, then took a few steps forward, his gaze landing on the toilet.

The lid of the water tank behind the toilet had vanished, and at that moment, red liquid was flowing inside the tank. Once he got closer, Jian Fan clearly caught the metallic stench of blood.

Was it blood?

Jian Fan’s expression grew even more complicated.

While the two of them were in the bathroom, the others were also searching for clues.

Lu Jing was standing in front of a desk beneath one of the beds.

There was nothing on the desktop. Everything was visible at a glance, and he found nothing. The desk also had two drawers, but they seemed to be locked. Lu Jing tugged at one and failed to open it.

He thought for a moment, then grabbed the drawer handle again and yanked hard.

With a bang, whether because Lu Jing was too strong or because the drawer had simply grown old and worn, he actually managed to rip it out.

The noise he made caused everyone else to turn and look.

Lu Jing scratched his head a little sheepishly. “Just opening a drawer. It’s fine, it’s fine.” As he spoke, Lu Jing held the drawer in one hand, turned, and placed it on the desk. Then his gaze dropped-

“Huh?”

Lu Jing let out a sound of surprise.

Seeing this, Qin Weiyi immediately put down what he was doing and walked over to Lu Jing.

The drawer was empty, so its contents were clear at a glance. Inside was a very old MP3 Player.

Lu Jing found it rather novel.

How many years had it been since he’d last seen one of these things?

Lu Jing took the MP3 Player out of the drawer. By then, Qin Weiyi had also reached his side. Lu Jing glanced at him and, without the slightest hesitation, handed it over.