(11/20)
Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 289: Hotel Intern
Bai Xue once again lowered his white eyelashes, giving no response.
Wen Jianyan smiled lightly and casually withdrew his hand.
He turned to the Blond guy beside him. “So, did you find any clues in the room?”
The blonde shook his head and whispered, “N-Nothing unusual.”
…It was even a bit too normal.
There was no blood, no severed limbs, and no bizarre props; it was just like any ordinary hotel room. Such rooms were incredibly rare in the instances.
The only thing that felt odd was a painting facing the bed.
It was a large painting that nearly covered half the wall, making it seem disproportionate to the size of the room. Inside the heavy wooden frame was a very gloomy painting.
A dark, rainy gray sky loomed above, with dilapidated houses in the distance.
A woman in a white dress stood at a window of one of the houses, her indistinct face pale, with no discernible features.
The entire painting appeared somber, eerie, and unsettling, particularly ill-suited for a hotel room.
But aside from that, everything seemed normal.
Wen Jianyan nodded and glanced again at his identity card.
All the information on it was still in an unlocked state.
It seemed that the instance hadn’t officially begun yet, and staying in this room was pointless.
“Let’s go check outside.”
Saying that, Wen Jianyan put his phone back in his pocket and walked toward the door first.
The team members followed closely behind.
Bai Xue said nothing, but he also stepped forward, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far from the team, trailing behind and appearing quite out of place.
The style of the corridor matched that of the hotel room interior.
The walls on both sides were narrow and cramped, with reddish-brown wallpaper and carpets that created a gloomy, heavy atmosphere, making it hard to breathe.
On either side of the corridor were tightly shut guest room doors.
They were also the same blood-red brown color, and the gold plating on the doorknobs had faded, showing a cheap hue.
The room numbers were printed on the doors.
Wen Jianyan turned to glance back at the room he had just exited.
[408]
It seemed he was currently on the fourth floor of the hotel.
At that moment, a shout came from not far away: “Hey! What’s taking you over there so long?”
Wen Jianyan turned to look in the direction of the voice.
A stocky middle-aged man with a well-groomed beard stood nearby, flanked by two young people, one male and one female, whose expressions were far from friendly.
“Don’t you know you can’t officially start without a full team?”
“Sorry about that.”
Wen Jianyan blinked.
Under the dim red light, the youth’s expression seemed particularly sincere, even carrying a hint of embarrassment. As he walked toward the middle-aged man with his team, he said, “This is our first time participating in this type of instance, so we’re not very familiar with the rules.”
The strangers looked them over with odd expressions. One of them pointed behind him. “Alright, go ahead and join the others in the lobby.”
“What about you guys?” Wen Jianyan asked.
“Of course, we’re going to find other teams.” The middle-aged man with the beard scoffed, though it wasn’t clear who he was targeting. “…A bunch of inexperienced rookies.”
Wen Jianyan smiled good-naturedly, seemingly oblivious to the mockery in the other’s words. “Okay, then we’ll be on our way.”
The two teams brushed past each other.
Following the direction the bearded man pointed, Wen Jianyan and his group soon reached the end of the corridor.
The cramped view suddenly opened up, revealing a spacious lobby, where heavy, dark red sofas were placed beneath a chandelier.
Here, many anchors were already waiting.
Wen Jianyan took a quick glance around.
—There were at least a hundred of them.
And this was just the red team.
It seemed that “Xingwang Hotel” was a large-scale multiplayer instance, with participation numbers rivaling those of the fantasy amusement park he had attended before.
He and his team quietly stood in a corner, waiting silently.
—Everyone was safe before the instance officially began.
Unfortunately, this state of safety wouldn’t last long.
Soon, the anchors they had just encountered returned, accompanied by several other teams.
All the red team anchors had officially arrived.
The moment the last person stepped into the lobby, a mechanical voice from the system echoed in everyone’s ears:
“Welcome, anchors, to the S-rank instance. This is a competitive timed instance lasting three days. Please check your identity cards promptly and complete the main storyline tasks.”
Contrary to the instance’s difficulty rating, this system announcement was unusually brief.
Moreover, three days.
Instances within the Nightmare rarely lasted more than a day, so it was unexpected that this one would start off with a three-day duration.
This change was hard to categorize as good or bad.
Since it was three days, it implied that the instance would not be as relentless as others, giving anchors some safe time to rest.
But at the same time…
An increase in the duration of the instance also meant a rise in the difficulty of survival.
In the later stages of every instance, the difficulty gradually increased with time. If the total duration of an instance was three days…
What kind of scene would “Xingwang Hotel” present at the end?
Wen Jianyan couldn’t imagine it for now.
After the system announcement ended, he lowered his head and opened his phone.
Sure enough, his identity card had refreshed.
[Identity Card]
Name: Wen Jianyan (Red Team)
Age: 23
Occupation: Intern Employee at Xingwang Hotel
Related Plot: None
【Initial Survival Time Allocated: 12:00:00】
【Main Task Refreshed: Complete Intern Employee Assessment to Become a Formal Employee of Xingwang Hotel】
The instance had a three-day time limit, yet the initial allocated survival time was already twelve hours.
Logically speaking, the survival times of others should be significantly longer than his.
In any case, the survival mechanism of this instance was too lenient, not at all deserving of its rating…
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes.
Or perhaps…
The real danger of this instance was hidden very deeply.
So much so that it could not be exposed merely through the surface mechanisms.
While he was lost in thought, a dull “gulu gulu” sound suddenly came from the end of the corridor, like a heavy cart being pushed toward the lobby. The chatter in the lobby fell silent.
All the anchors turned their heads simultaneously, warily looking in the direction of the sound.
Soon, a man dressed in formal attire, resembling a hotel staff member, walked in.
He pushed a small metal cart in front of him, wearing a formulaic smile, his eyes almost unblinking, giving off an indescribable sense of eeriness and rigidity.
The “gulu gulu” sound of the cart stopped.
The man slowly turned around, still smiling, and looked intently at the anchors: “Good evening, everyone. The intern employee assessment is about to begin. To remain in the Xingwang Hotel and become part of our family, please take this assessment seriously.”
He opened the cart behind him. “Please come up one by one to collect your employee supplies.”
The anchors exchanged glances and stepped forward, lining up in front of the cart.
The queue continued to move forward, and soon it was the turn of Wen Jianyan’s team, who stood in the middle.
The man in formal attire stood before Wen Jianyan, his face still wearing that formulaic smile, his eyes remaining eerily still.
Under the dim, faintly red light, Wen Jianyan observed the man’s face closely for the first time.
A subtle stench of decay emanated from the man’s body, his neck showing a ghastly bluish hue, while the skin on his face was exceptionally smooth and white, exuding an inexplicable hard quality under the light, as if a smiling porcelain mask had been forcibly affixed to him.
Through this “mask,” the man with dull, grayish, lifeless eyes stared at Wen Jianyan, smiling as he took something from the cart and extended it toward him.
It was a name badge marked with a number.
[Intern Employee 036]
A small black leather notebook and an old-fashioned pocket watch.
Wen Jianyan hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take the so-called “employee supplies” from the man’s hand, then turned to leave the line, followed closely by his teammates.
Once they reached a corner, Wen Jianyan lowered his head to examine the “props” he had received.
The black leather notebook could be opened, with the words [Intern Employee Log] written on the first page. However, aside from that, it contained nothing but yellowed, blank pages. Most importantly… there was no pen.
Although it was called an “intern employee log,” it seemed like they were not intended to write anything in it.
The metal surface of the pocket watch was rusty, suggesting it had been around for quite some time.
Strangely, the watch only had a thin, elongated hand on the dial, with no specific time displayed, but instead divided distinctly into two halves.
The upper half was white, and the lower half was black.
Currently, the hand was pointing toward the latter part of the upper half and was slowly moving downward with the passage of time…
According to this trend, in no more than twenty minutes, the hand would enter the black area.
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, revealing a pensive expression.
Before long, all the anchors had received their respective “employee supplies” from the cart.
The pale-faced man, whose smile and the angle of his lips hadn’t changed throughout, returned to the back of the cart, raised his ashen hand, and gripped the handle again.
“Alright, there are a few points that need your attention.”
“First, no matter what happens, please do not remove your name badge.”
“Second, the working hours are from 9 AM to 9 PM. After 9 PM, it is rest time; please do not linger in the corridors after the lights go out.”
“Third, during work hours, the Xingwang Hotel will turn off the lights for one hour every three hours. Please make good use of your pocket watch.”
“Fourth, the assessment content for intern employees will appear in your notebook; please complete it promptly.”
After finishing, the man in formal attire bowed deeply to the anchors.
“I hope everyone can complete their internship and become formal employees.”
He raised his head and looked at everyone through the pale, smiling mask.
“Good night, everyone.”
I did not think they were going to force Wen Jianyan to receive outside help wtf how.
Oh is it cuz Nightmare wants Jianyan to die???? Or it’s the Gentleman ew. Kill him. Honestly I think if Wen manages to keep his entire team alive, Bai Xue will be interested in teaming with him again. He does have super bad luck, but he got the brain to survive.
he gonna recruit Bai Xue and make his own faction hopefully