(20/20)
Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 299: Idol Baggage
Wen Jianyan turned around, scrutinizing the corridor in front of him.
In just a few seconds, the Xingwang Hotel had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.
The ceiling lights emitted an unstable “zzzz” sound, flickering on and off. The dark red lighting pulsed, making the already narrow corridor feel even more oppressive.
Not far away, the door to Room 408 was half open, and inside, everything was pitch black—nothing could be seen.
A damp, fishy smell filled the air. The floor and wallpaper seemed to be soaked with moisture condensed from the air, giving everything a wet, dreary look.
It was as if a large, sodden sponge was squeezing out all the air, making it hard to breathe.
Wen Jianyan quickly scanned the hallway around him.
This was a connection point between two corridors, with no guest rooms except for the elevator and stairwell.
Since the stairwell was sealed, the elevator was also likely out of service—no point in wasting time here.
This left him with only one path forward.
“Go! This way!”
Wen Jianyan decided decisively.
He quickly turned, leading his teammates as they sprinted down the corridor behind them.
Although entering the second parallel hallway might mean encountering more teams from the black faction, they had little choice if they wanted to avoid directly confronting the occupant of Room 408.
The group sprinted along the corridor.
This time, they were surprisingly unimpeded, encountering no obstacles.
Soon, the opposite corridor came into view.
Perhaps it was a trick of the mind, but the dampness in the air seemed to grow even heavier.
“Zzzz… zzzz.”
The lights ahead emitted a harsh electric crackling sound, as if subjected to intense interference, before suddenly going dark.
Suddenly, a quivering voice, laden with deep fear, sounded in Wen Jianyan’s ear:
“W-Wait, wait a second!”
Wen Jianyan paused, instinctively slowing down and glancing at his side.
It was Blond.
Under the dim lights, his face looked pale as paper, devoid of any color. His eyes were fixed ahead as he muttered in a low voice, “We… we didn’t get out—”
As if in response to his words, the lights in the distance flickered twice before slowly coming back on.
Everyone looked up toward the end of the hallway.
Ahead, under the flickering dark red light, a guest room stood silently in the distance.
At some point, the half-open door had swung fully open, revealing an unfathomable darkness inside, like a bottomless abyss. The air from it was cold and damp, with a faint hint of decaying flesh.
Even without seeing the number on the doorplate, they all knew…
It was Room 408.
Instinctively, they turned to look behind them; the hallway stretched on as if leading to a safe place. Yet each of them felt an instinctive sinking in their hearts.
Were they truly trapped in this small area with no way upstairs or into any other corridors?
Suddenly, Blond sharply sucked in a breath, his voice trembling, almost unrecognizable:
“It’s… it’s coming out!!”
“Wait, what do you mean? What’s coming out?” Yun Bilan urgently asked beside him.
Among the team members, Blond had the best eyesight.
No one else could see what was happening in the flickering, shadowy area that seemed on the verge of being swallowed by darkness.
Except for him.
Within Blond’s abnormally sharp field of vision, the door to Room 408 was wide open. A pair of damp footprints slowly appeared on the worn carpet by the entrance.
The darkened carpet soaked up the cold water, spreading from the footprints.
“…”
Blond’s face turned a sickly green beneath his deathly pale skin, his eyes glazed, transfixed on the open door of Room 408, unable to look away.
He opened and closed his mouth, finally managing to speak after a long pause:
“…It’s—it’s the guest.”
“Hey.”
A voice, overly calm and with firmly clipped words, sounded beside him, immediately commanding his attention: “Hey!”
Blond jolted and finally tore his gaze away. He turned to see a pale but excessively composed face at the edge of his vision.
It was Wen Jianyan.
“Listen to me. Right now, you’re the only one who can observe the movements over there. I need to make decisions based on the information you give me, understand?”
Wen Jianyan’s voice was deep, almost unhurried, but it carried a powerful force that calmed people instantly.
“…”
Blond swallowed with difficulty and slowly nodded.
Seeing Blond finally calm down, Wen Jianyan let out a sigh of relief.
He turned his head, looking once more at the wide-open, pitch-black door, and continued to ask:
“Alright, tell me, which way is the guest planning to move next?”
This was critical.
Based on what they could see, although they couldn’t glimpse the occupant of Room 408, the footprints indicated it was still a single entity, meaning it couldn’t attack all three teams spread out in different places at the same time; there would inevitably be a sequence to its movements.
…This was a three-way choice.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, turning his gaze toward Room 408, its door wide open in the distance. Even though he didn’t have Blond’s exceptional eyesight, he still couldn’t force himself to look away.
He held his breath, waiting nervously.
No one knew better than Wen Jianyan how terrible his luck was.
It seemed like he only had a one-in-three chance of being chosen, but… when it came to matters of luck, Wen Jianyan had zero confidence.
They had just tried to run in the opposite direction, only to find that no matter which way they went, they would still end up in a corridor with that open door of 408 in front of them.
Worse yet, this corridor had no guest rooms—only the elevator and stairwell. Without a way to leave the first floor, entering either of those was meaningless.
This meant that if the guest in 408 decided to attack their team first, they would have nowhere to escape. They couldn’t enter another corridor, let alone hide in another room.
That would be the worst outcome.
At that point, they’d have no option but to face it head-on.
“It’s… it’s starting to move forward.”
Blond swallowed hard, reporting.
“It’s still moving forward.”
Everyone’s hearts jumped to their throats.
If the guest kept advancing—
It would inevitably enter their area, making a direct confrontation unavoidable.
“…It stopped.”
Despite Wen Jianyan’s earlier reassurance, Blond’s voice still trembled uncontrollably, his shaky tones echoing through the narrow, eerie corridor, intensifying everyone’s tension.
Blond stared intently at the distant door of 408.
In the very center of the three-way intersection, a pair of wet footprints sank deeply into the carpet, spreading damp patches that darkened in color.
The dampness in the air thickened, and the stench of decay was nauseating.
Beads of moisture began to seep down both walls, sliding down the dark red wallpaper and dripping to the floor.
The thudding of their hearts grew louder and more intense; their nerves stretched to the limit.
Yun Bilan and Chen Mo crouched slightly, instinctively preparing for combat.
“It… it’s moving again.”
Blond’s voice shook as he continued to report the guest’s movements.
Then suddenly, he exhaled in relief, sounding like he’d barely escaped death:
“It’s going left!!”
Ahead, the damp footprints began to move again, veering into the left corridor, slowly heading in that direction, step by step.
…Huh?
Wen Jianyan blinked, momentarily stunned.
What? The guest went left?
A three-way choice… one-third probability… and it really hadn’t chosen them?!
Did he actually win a probability gamble for once?!
In the barrage of the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Hahahaha, the anchor’s face is way too shocked—he must know his own luck all too well!]
[Lol, finally blessed by the Goddess Luck, my sweet anchor!]
[My poor unlucky baby finally isn’t unlucky this time! Thank goodness!]
Wen Jianyan snapped back to reality. “Go! Let’s head in the opposite direction!”
Since the guest chose the left path, the right side should be safe for now.
Following Blond’s directions, they hugged the wall as they carefully approached Room 408. Once in the corridor, they broke into a run, heading toward its depths.
They soon understood why the other two teams had reacted with such alarm.
Unlike before, where running two steps landed them back at the starting point, the end of this corridor was engulfed in an impenetrable darkness that radiated an overwhelming sense of dread, making it impossible to step closer.
Wen Jianyan came to a cautious halt.
At the end of the carpet, faint scratch marks were visible, along with broken, blood-stained fingernails embedded in the carpet’s torn fibers. The blood was still fresh, as if just left there.
Which meant…
One of the team members from the previous group had been dragged into the darkness by some unseen force because they got too close.
As if recalling something, Wen Jianyan pulled a pocket watch from his pocket.
Unnoticed, the hands had shifted again toward the black zone. Based on the last time, there were probably less than twenty minutes left until the hotel plunged into darkness once more.
When they’d been on the fourth floor, no abnormalities had occurred when the lights went out, but back then, there had been no occupants in the Xingwang Hotel.
Now, though, both the Red and Black factions likely had a number of anchors who’d completed their first task…
From any angle, Xingwang Hotel was no longer safe.
Under these conditions, Wen Jianyan doubted that staying in the corridor after lights-out would be a good idea.
In other words, they needed to enter a guest room before the lights went out.
Wen Jianyan turned, studying the carpet, searching for footprints.
Soon, he raised his gaze, locking onto one of the closed doors.
Wen Jianyan squinted, a glimmer flickering in his amber eyes.
He reached up, quickly mussing his hair before approaching the door. He knocked hurriedly, with a panicked, frantic air, as if to say:
“…I-Is anyone in there?”
“…Mmh.”
A young girl’s voice, soft and delicate, slightly choked with a pleading tone, asked:
“Could… could we maybe stick together from here on out?”
“…”
His teammates’ faces twisted, their expressions shifting to a mix of disbelief and embarrassment, averting their eyes.
Seriously, Captain…
Isn’t that just a bit much?
How are you so good at acting like a helpless, cute girl?!
__
Author’s Note:
Wen Wen: “Big brother, will you carry this little sister with you?” (small, pitiful, and helpless)
