Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Screams rose one after another outside. In the theater, Chen Nuo realized at once that something had happened.

He leaped from his seat and ran for the exit.

Just as he was about to leave the screening room, however, a man shouted behind him. Chen Nuo instinctively glanced back. On the movie screen, a man had thrown both arms into the air. He bounced wildly around a room, yelling, “Yessss! I bet right! Ten million dollars! I won ten million dollars! Oh my fucking God!”

Chen Nuo understood the simple English: the man had bet correctly and won ten million dollars.

It was only part of the movie, yet the sight of the ecstatic man made Chen Nuo’s scalp prickle. Instinct told him something. He spun around and sprinted out of the theater.

Nearly everyone who had been drinking coffee in the hotel lobby had gathered by the front doors. People covered their mouths and cried out. The high school student tried to move closer, but his father grabbed his arm while his mother covered his eyes. Tang Ying’s friend had gone weak in the legs and now sat on the floor.

Chen Nuo ran over and immediately saw the body lying in a pool of blood, its head blown away. He sucked in a breath, every pore on his face tightening.

Even though he had expected something terrible, the gruesome scene stunned him. His head rang.

A sobbing woman was being restrained by the three college students. Chen Nuo recognized her as the dead man’s wife. Her name seemed to be Song Xue. She was trying to rush outside, while the curly-haired student holding her back pleaded, “Ma’am, don’t go out there! We don’t know what kind of danger is outside!”

“He’s right,” the middle-aged man with glasses warned gravely. “That man died the instant he left the hotel. There could be a sniper out there. We’d better stay away from the doors. Whatever you do, don’t go outside!”

The three students dragged Song Xue farther back. Everyone else retreated too.

After the first shock passed, Chen Nuo regained his composure. “Someone call the police!”

“But none of our phones have a signal!” a woman said anxiously.

Chen Nuo noticed the two doormen stationed at the hotel entrance. They stood on either side of the corpse, perfectly calm, as if the dead man were nothing more than an insect.

Chen Nuo edged closer to the doors and pointed at the body. “A man is dead! His head just exploded! Aren’t you going to call the police?”

One of the doormen turned around. Still wearing his professional smile, he answered with impeccable courtesy. “I’m sorry, sir. Our job is to welcome guests. Other matters are not our responsibility.”

Chen Nuo stared at him, waves of fear and cold dread washing through him. The man’s expression and tone made a person’s exploding head seem like an ordinary event, something he had seen too many times to find remarkable.

Or perhaps he had known it was going to happen.

Blood pounded in Chen Nuo’s head. In that instant, every frightening suspicion he had entertained was confirmed. Now he knew for certain that something was wrong with this hotel.

He looked toward the employees behind the reception desk. They too appeared utterly unconcerned. He could only assume their response would be the same as the doormen’s.

There was only one person they could demand an explanation from now: their tour guide, Tina.
The instant he thought of Tina, Chen Nuo remembered something she had said earlier: “Everyone needs to show some team spirit. Please don’t leave the hotel on your own.”

Had she known all along that this was what would happen to anyone who left?

Chen Nuo scanned the lobby for Tina. He had seen her drinking coffee in front of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows earlier, but now…

His eyes lit up. Tina was still sitting in the same spot. He strode over and found her sipping iced coffee and playing on a Nintendo Switch, as though what had just happened had nothing to do with her.

Rage flared through Chen Nuo. “How can you sit there playing a game? Don’t you know someone just died?”

The other members of the tour gathered around and glared at Tina.

She removed her Bluetooth earbuds and looked up at Chen Nuo. Pouting with an injured expression, she said, “Why are you being so mean…? I warned everyone not to leave the hotel on your own.”

The heavily built man glowered at her. “But you didn’t say this would happen if anyone left! How did that man die? What the fuck is going on? If you don’t explain right now, I’ll break your arms!”

“Don’t be so mean, sir. If you threaten me, your head might explode too.” Tina blinked her large eyes at him.

The big man visibly flinched and no longer dared to make a move. He instinctively looked around, searching for a sniper with a rifle.

Tina rose from her chair and faced the crowd. “All right, I won’t keep you guessing any longer. The first betting round is over anyway, so I’ll tell you what’s really happening.”

Everyone stared at her in terror.

Tina smiled again and spoke in the same bright, carefree tone as before. “I’m very sorry, but all twenty-two guests on this tour have been abducted by the K Organization! We brought you here because we want you to play a game in this hotel over the next several days!”

“The K Organization…? What’s the K Organization?” asked the tall, thin college student, his voice shaking.

“That isn’t important. All you need to know is that it’s an extremely powerful organization. ‘The K Organization’ is a code name, of course. Many heads of major conglomerates and technology companies around the world are secret members. Its money and influence rival the combined strength of some smaller countries. That’s all you need to understand!” Tina said.

“What did you mean when you said you want us to play a game here?” Chen Nuo asked.

“Now that’s the question you should be asking. Everyone, please come over here.”

Tina led the group to another part of the lobby, where a massive wall-mounted LCD screen hung. Chen Nuo estimated it was about one hundred twenty inches. Tina took a remote control from an employee and switched the screen on.

The numbers 1 through 22 appeared.

Tina tapped the refresh button on the left side of the display. “There are only twenty-one people now, so let’s remove one.”

The screen refreshed. It now showed the numbers 1 through 21.

“Just tap the lower-right corner of the screen. The numbers will start cycling quickly. Tap it again to make them stop. Whichever number comes up will be yours,” Tina explained. “Before I introduce the rules, everyone needs to draw a number!”