Chapter 99

Chapter 99

To verify her theory, Jiang Li decided to make a run for it.

If she could make it out of the corridor, it would prove that her hypothesis was correct!

In this Instance, the family member bound to Jiang Li was Jiang Lianlian.

Jiang Li curled her lips into a smirk.

Since she wouldn’t be the one getting hurt, she naturally had no reason to worry.

Jiang Li held her flashlight, illuminating the path toward the Elevator Entrance.

She took a deep breath and charged toward the entrance as fast as she could.

Because the flashlight could only illuminate what was in front of her, countless Wooden Figures began chasing her from behind.

Once the horde of Wooden Figures caught up, they grabbed Jiang Li’s legs, dragging her down and slowing her pace.

Out of necessity, Jiang Li had to redirect the flashlight’s beam to shine at her feet.

The Wooden Figures holding her legs froze instantly, and Jiang Li took the opportunity to pull herself free.

At the same time, however, countless more Wooden Figures lunged at her from the darkness ahead.

Jiang Li struggled toward the end of the corridor-the location of the Elevator Entrance.

But then, the scene shifted. A new passage turning to the right appeared in the corridor.

In the blink of an eye, the Elevator Entrance ahead changed positions.

The “Elevator Entrance” was now at the end of the new corridor to the right.

Jiang Li cursed under her breath.

She hadn’t expected the corridor to start extending itself!

By now, Jiang Li’s hands and feet were once again being restrained by numerous Wooden Figures.

She barely managed to use the flashlight to freeze the Wooden Figures grabbing her limbs, breaking free from their grasp to continue her escape.

During the flight, Jiang Li noticed that these Wooden Figures were incredibly vicious.

The nails attached to them were as sharp as razor blades.

They didn’t want your life; they simply wanted to claw your Eyes out.

Simultaneously, they did everything in their power to drag you back and hinder your movement.

Jiang Li continued this cycle of running and escaping within the dark corridor.

The direction of the corridor shifted a total of ten times.

Only then did Jiang Li finally manage to reach the “final Elevator Entrance” with great difficulty.

The entire escape process had lasted twenty minutes.

Jiang Li hadn’t been able to run at all.

Every single step forward had been agonizingly difficult.

During the ordeal, her eyeballs had indeed been clawed several times.

Jiang Li had closed her eyes and turned her head quickly, but she still felt her corneas being slashed.

However, all of these physical injuries were transferred to Jiang Lianlian’s body. Jiang Li felt no pain whatsoever.

Exerting a final burst of effort, Jiang Li finally reached the Elevator Entrance. Just as she was about to press the button to open the doors-

Unexpectedly, all the lights in the corridor suddenly flickered on.

The strange phenomena before her vanished instantly.

And Jiang Li found herself standing once again in the middle of the brightly lit corridor-right in front of Room 501.

“Time’s up! Game over~”

A woman’s voice drifted from the pitch-black electronic screen on the corridor wall.

Then, the screen flickered from black back to its normal broadcast.

Inside Room 501 in front of Jiang Li, the alarm clock began ringing again.

“Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!…”

The Old Man cut the alarm short.

Jiang Li snapped back to her senses.

She looked up at the electronic screen; the time was now 10:30 PM.

This meant the game had a time limit!

A single game lasted only twenty minutes.

Not only did one have to escape, but they had to do it within twenty minutes!

Even Jiang Li hadn’t been able to clear it in one go, let alone a sixty-year-old man.
However, as for exactly why the Old Man had encountered such a bizarre situation, Jiang Li had no way of knowing.

Setting the underlying reasons aside for now, Jiang Li only wanted to escape with him as quickly as possible.

She took a moment to think. If she were escaping alone, she could probably make it out after a couple of tries. But adding a blind Old Man to the equation made things considerably more difficult.

Jiang Li tried to turn on the Mist-Treading Lantern, but she discovered it wouldn’t work at all outside of a mist zone.

Click-

The door to Room 501 opened.

The Old Man stepped out, leaning on his cane.

“Don’t waste your energy. You can’t get out.”

He seemed to have guessed what she was up to and spoke as if to himself. He offered Jiang Li a word of advice: “You can just find any room and move in. That’s what the last waiter did.”

“And where is that waiter now?” Jiang Li looked at the Old Man.

He replied bluntly, “Long gone. He became one of them-the Wooden Figures.”

“…”

Jiang Li didn’t respond. Judging by the direction the Old Man was facing, he was still planning to go to the Hot Spring Pool today. He seemed particularly obsessed with soaking in the springs.

Jiang Li hurried after him. “What about candles? Candles can light up the whole corridor. Since they have no facial features, they can’t blow them out.”

The Old Man shook his head. “An eerie wind blows through the corridor. *It* won’t let you leave.”

Jiang Li watched the Old Man’s retreating back. As she carefully recalled his words, a strange feeling welled up in her heart.

Something wasn’t right…

There was a loophole! Something was wrong with what he said!

If the previous waiter had hidden in a room just like the Old Man, why did the waiter turn into a Wooden Figure while the Old Man remained unchanged?

Connecting this to the Old Man’s daily ritual of soaking in the springs, a hypothesis began to form in Jiang Li’s mind.

She asked him directly, “Sir, soaking in the Hot Spring Pool prevents one from turning into a Wooden Figure, doesn’t it?”

The Old Man’s back stiffened. He slowly turned around and raised an eyebrow, looking quite surprised.

“You’re very clever,” he remarked, offering a rare word of praise. Having said that, he turned back around and continued toward the Hot Spring Pool.

There were two pools at the end of the corridor. To the left, behind white carved double doors, was the Male Hot Spring Pool. To the right was the Female Hot Spring Pool.

Jiang Li decided to follow the Old Man’s example and soak for fifteen minutes. She sent Red Infant to play in the Male Pool while she pushed open the doors to the Female Pool and stepped inside.

It had to be said that the Hot Spring Pool at the Clear Spring Hotel was much larger than Jiang Li had imagined. The water used was all natural spring water. Inside the massive chamber, the only sound besides Jiang Li’s footsteps was the constant *sh-sh-sh* of flowing water.

As soon as she entered the room, she felt the slip of paper in her pocket begin to grow hot. Jiang Li’s breath hitched.

…A new rule!

She quickly pulled out the paper and unfolded it.

[Clear Spring Hotel – 5th Floor Rules]

[3. The Thing in the Hot Spring Pool is very dangerous. Do not, under any circumstances, let it know that you can see.]

As Jiang Li finished reading the rule, her world seemed to go dark. A woman’s face-eyes gouged into a bloody mess, sockets weeping gore-suddenly lunged right in front of her.