Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 325: The total number of horrors
Chen Mo almost didn’t need any verbal explanation to immediately understand Wen Jianyan’s meaning.
In the Xingwang Hotel instance, there were no ghosts present on the ground’s surface.
All the afflicted only existed below the water’s surface, existing as shadows, as if they belonged to another dimension within the same world. Because of this, they were unable to move freely or kill. Only through a medium could they “perceive” human existence and begin their slaughter.
The oil painting was a medium, the human-skin umbrella was one, and so was the human-skin coat.
Clearly, the oil painting was the primary medium. Taking away the oil painting could even take away the ghosts inside it, “inviting” them from the Rainy Town into the Xingwang Hotel. In contrast, the human-skin umbrella and human-skin coat were more like tools possessed by supernatural forces.
Although ghosts could kill through them, these tools could not, in turn, influence the ghosts. If the tool was damaged, the medium would become ineffective, and the passage serving as the medium would be closed.
Under this premise, ghosts could restrict each other through mediums.
Just like last time in Rainy Town when they encountered the “guests,” Wen Jianyan had used the umbrella to create a fragile balance between it and the “lodgers,” restraining both at the same time and rendering them temporarily immobile. Since it worked last time, in theory, it should work this time as well.
However…
How to execute it specifically remained a big problem.
After all, there was no rain inside the shop.
They had previously tried opening an umbrella indoors, but it failed to activate the medium, preventing the shadow of the ghost from appearing. In other words, to make the human-skin umbrella and the human-skin coat counteract each other, they had to enter the rain.
Yet, the only path leading outside was blocked by a corpse…
This created a paradox.
To deal with the curse, they needed to enter the rain. But the curse was blocking their way to the rain.
No matter how they thought about it, it was a dead end.
Chen Mo’s frown deepened.
He took a deep breath, turned to Wen Jianyan, and asked, “Captain, what’s your plan?”
“……”
Wen Jianyan didn’t answer immediately.
His gaze fell on the two human-skin coats, seemingly deep in thought.
Not far away, the two human-skin coats were propped open by an invisible cold wind, as if they were wrapped around an unseen human form. The empty clothes faintly revealed the shapes of human faces, swaying eerily in the dimly lit room, making one’s heart involuntarily race with fear.
At the entrance, the corpse wrapped in a human-skin coat was stiffly moving its legs, slowly walking toward them.
Drip, drip.
The sound of viscous blood dripping echoed through the room.
“…It’s the shadows,” Wen Jianyan suddenly said.
“Huh?”
Chen Mo was startled, not immediately grasping his meaning.
Wen Jianyan seemed to have realized something. His breathing quickened slightly, and he turned to look at Chen Mo. His pale-colored eyes shimmered in the dim light: “The source of the curse is the shadows, not the rain.”
Fundamentally, the human-skin umbrella and the human-skin coat were the same thing.
If the human-skin coat could take effect indoors, then theoretically, the umbrella should be able to as well.
What was their only common trait?
Shadows.
Ghosts only appeared as shadows in water.
So, the torrential rain falling from above wasn’t actually the necessary condition—it was the puddles on the ground.
After Wen Jianyan quickly explained his reasoning, Chen Mo’s expression shifted to one of sudden realization: “So you’re saying, as long as we hold the umbrella and step into the pool of blood beneath the human-skin coat, we can achieve the balance?”
Wen Jianyan nodded: “Yes.”
Moving indoors had a much higher margin for error compared to moving in the rain. After all, although they hadn’t carried any oil paintings to activate the curse, the rainwater was still dangerous no matter what.
Compared to last time when Wen Jianyan had to directly face the lodgers outside, the difficulty had significantly decreased.
Soon, they finalized their plan.
This time, Wen Jianyan and Chen Mo would take action, while Bai Xue and Blond, as non-combatants, would stay in a safe area.
Wen Jianyan and Chen Mo exchanged glances and nodded.
“Move.”
Drip, drip.
The sound of viscous blood hitting the ground became even clearer.
A putrid, decaying stench lingered in the air, mingling with the damp, moldy scent from outside, making them nearly gag.
Soon, Wen Jianyan could clearly see the boundary of the blood pool beneath the human-skin coat.
As the blood dripped down, the pool’s edge seemed to expand like a living creature with its own will, spreading outward. The crimson surface reflected the room’s interior with unnatural clarity, as if it were a mirror showing another parallel world bathed in red light beneath them.
He took a deep breath, gripped the cold umbrella handle, and slowly opened the human-skin umbrella.
Aside from the blue-black handprints burned onto the handle, opening it indoors felt no different from opening an ordinary umbrella.
That pale, blackened hand did not appear.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, took a large step forward, and walked toward the blood pool.
As he got close enough, the fluttering human-skin coat seemed to sense the approaching human. Just like before, it suddenly lunged toward Wen Jianyan!
In the next instant, a bone-chilling cold struck, as if his entire body had been submerged in ice. A deep, penetrating cold made him tremble uncontrollably. Wen Jianyan felt his body rapidly growing stiff, slow, and unresponsive. Even his thoughts seemed sluggish.
A mere moment of distraction could mean the difference between life and death in this situation.
By the time Wen Jianyan snapped back to his senses, the human-skin coat was already right in front of him!
A thick, putrid scent of blood overwhelmed his senses.
Cold, slimy, and rough textures tightly wrapped around his wrists, arms, and shoulders. Instead of forcing him to wear it, it felt more like the coat was trying to “wear” him.
A terrifying chill spread from where the human-skin coat clung to him, as if greedily devouring his life force. A powerful weakness seeped into his bones.
Wen Jianyan’s vision darkened, and his breathing became labored.
In his increasingly blurred vision, he could clearly see—
A pale, bluish-gray ghost was slowly crawling onto his body. Its indistinct face was nearly pressed against his, and its mouth stretched open in an unnerving, nightmarish grin, so wide it sent shivers down his spine.
The sight was mutual.
Being able to “see” ghosts that did not exist in this world meant that he had now entered the dimension where ghosts resided.
If this continued, he would definitely die.
This meant that the timing was right.
But the problem was…
The edge of the blood pool was still several steps away, yet Wen Jianyan no longer had the strength to move forward.
He could only risk it all—
Wen Jianyan clenched his teeth. His bloodless face appeared even paler under the dim light, but his eyes remained bright and sharp, like a sword emitting a piercing glow.
Using the last ounce of strength in his body, he barely lifted his limp arm, then shifted his weight, forcing himself to fall toward the blood pool.
The swaying image of the human-skin umbrella was reflected in the blood pool.
In the next second, a familiar, chilling sensation swept over him. A pale hand, mottled with dark corpse spots, appeared on the umbrella handle, as if some invisible presence had gripped it, emerging beneath the umbrella.
Almost at the same time, the human-skin coat wrapped around him ceased its wriggling, seemingly frozen in place for a brief moment.
Wen Jianyan seized the opportunity and rolled to the side, breaking free.
It all happened in an instant—too fast to even catch a breath—before it was over.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[…Did it work?]
[IT WORKED! IT WORKED!!!]
[Anchor is insane!!!]
“……”
Wen Jianyan supported himself against a nearby clothing rack. His face was pale, his chest heaving rapidly as he stared intently at the spot where he had just escaped.
On the ground, the blood pool had stopped expanding.
A human-skin umbrella lay tilted in its depths, and beneath it, a motionless human-skin coat. Both had fallen into silence. There was nothing in the depths of the blood pool.
Good.
His hypothesis was correct.
The execution was flawless—everything had gone according to plan.
Yet, despite his inner certainty, Wen Jianyan’s expression was far from calm.
His face was ghastly white as he took deep, forceful breaths, but his limbs still felt weak.
—No matter what, coming into such close contact with two ghosts at once was way too much.
He never wanted to go through that again!!!
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, suppressing the nausea rolling in his stomach. He turned his head toward Chen Mo.
As an experienced anchor, Chen Mo had excellent reaction speed and execution skills. With Wen Jianyan’s tactical guidance, he had also completed his task smoothly. Now that everything was over, he even appeared calmer than Wen Jianyan himself.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[HAHAHAHA I’m dying, the ‘commanding’ captain looks terrified, while the teammate is cool as a boss.]
[I’m crying. My precious anchor is actually a normal human being.]
[How many instances has he cleared already? Why does it seem like his courage still hasn’t improved? HAHAHA!]
Now, the two biggest threats had been neutralized, leaving only the last moving corpse.
Wen Jianyan turned toward it.
Though horrifying, the corpse moved slowly. After dealing with the more dangerous threats, it no longer posed much of a risk.
Besides, Wen Jianyan had no intention of staying in this shop for long. Even if they left it alone for now, it wouldn’t matter.
He exhaled deeply. As his hand slid down the shelf for support, his fingertips brushed against something.
Cold. Soft. Smooth.
The sensation was far too familiar—a chill ran down Wen Jianyan’s spine. He jerked his head down, staring at what he had just touched.
It was a piece of clothing.
Aside from its old-fashioned style, it looked perfectly normal. In the dim light, it was indistinguishable from the other garments in the shop.
However…
A chilling suspicion surfaced in his mind.
Wen Jianyan reached out again, flipped open the collar, and shone his flashlight onto it.
Grayish-blue human skin appeared under the beam, revealing a texture so disturbingly detailed that it made his scalp tingle. Every pore and hair follicle was visible. The grotesque realism sent a shudder through Wen Jianyan, and he immediately flung the garment away.
Wait.
He froze.
Following an impulse, Wen Jianyan began checking the rack, flipping through the clothes one by one.
The more he searched, the grimmer his expression became.
—Every single one.
Every single one.
All the clothes were made of human skin.
Wen Jianyan slowly lifted his head, scanning the shop.
At a glance, there were at least a hundred garments.
That meant—over a hundred pieces of human skin.
A terrifying chill ran down his spine. He shivered involuntarily.
If… if all the human-skin garments in this shop had attacked instead of just three, no matter how skilled he was, the moment he stepped inside, he would have been as good as dead.
“……”
Wen Jianyan frowned, lost in thought.
But if that were the case, it didn’t make sense.
If the three activated human-skin coats had been tampered with by the Black Faction, then they must have had a method to awaken the shop’s hidden dangers. In that case, why only activate three? Why not use all of them?
The same applied to the Red Faction members.
Some of their nameplates had been stolen, turning them into eerie, inhuman entities. But some members had merely lost consciousness instead.
No matter how he looked at it, this trap felt incomplete—loose even.
It was hard to believe that this poorly-executed setup was planned by 010 (The Gentleman) and the former 008 (Anise).
It was…
Too unprofessional.
And on top of that, Yun Bilan was still missing.
Her signal showed that she was right here in this room, yet Wen Jianyan hadn’t found a single trace of her.
His brows furrowed deeply, a rare look of frustration flickering in his eyes.
Mysteries kept piling up, forming a fog that blocked his view of the bigger picture.
As Wen Jianyan lowered his gaze in contemplation—
Suddenly, a muffled groan sounded from behind him.
“…Ugh.”
The voice was faint, but in the dead silence of the shop, it sounded exceptionally clear.
Wen Jianyan was momentarily stunned and turned his head.
In the corner of the room, Zhong Shan and the others were slowly waking up.
Unlike Locket’s group, their faces hadn’t turned into eerie smiling masks, nor had their nameplates been taken. This meant they had merely been unconscious and could naturally regain consciousness.
Wen Jianyan seemed to realize something, and his eyes lit up slightly.
It looked like…
Someone who could answer his questions had finally appeared.
Wen Jianyan strode forward.
Grabbing Zhong Shan by the collar, he yanked him up and, without hesitation, delivered two loud slaps to his bewildered face.
“Hey, wake up!”
“Ugh… ahhh…” Zhong Shan groaned in pain.
Under the sharp sting, his vision quickly cleared.
Right before his eyes was a familiar, strikingly handsome face.
They were very close—so close that he could clearly see the sharp glint in those dark eyes, glowing in the dim light like unsheathed blades, cold and piercing straight through him.
“Where is Yun Bilan?” Wen Jianyan demanded, his voice calm but pressing.
“!!”
The moment Zhong Shan saw Wen Jianyan, his pupils shrank in terror as if he had seen a ghost.
He let out a panicked, uncontrollable scream: “AAAHHH—”
“……”
No one understood better than Wen Jianyan what kind of expression a guilty person with something to hide would have.
A faint smile curled on his lips, but there was no warmth in his eyes. Though his face was gentle and refined, at this moment, it looked particularly frightening.
He sighed softly, leaned in slightly, and tightened his grip, pulling Zhong Shan away from the wall.
“Ah…”
Wen Jianyan raised a hand and gently touched Zhong Shan’s burning cheek, where a fresh red handprint was swelling up.
As if he wasn’t the one responsible for it, he spoke in a soft, almost affectionate voice:
“Oh? You’re still not fully awake?”
“Let me help you a little more.”
“!!!”
His smile remained harmless, but Zhong Shan instantly sobered up, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head.
His eyes widened in sheer panic, and he frantically shook his head, stammering in terror:
“No, no, no!”
“I’m awake! I’m awake!!!”
