Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 301: Instance Mechanism
The air was deathly silent, with a damp, putrid stench floating in the air.
Through the gap beneath the door, they could clearly see a shadow standing motionless at the entrance. Dark and heavy, it exuded a chilling, oppressive aura that made their scalps tingle and nearly suffocated them.
Everyone understood…
Only a thin, fragile door, easily pushed open, stood between them and danger.
Then, the sound of a door opening next door tightened everyone’s nerves to the breaking point.
The color drained from each person’s face, and sheer panic surfaced in their eyes.
Like Wen Jianyan, they also realized the situation they were in.
Now, in this confined area, there wasn’t only the ghost inside room 408 but also a “guest” recently invited to the first floor…
Even worse, the area was narrow and enclosed, with nowhere to escape.
The stairway, the elevator—all were sealed off. Darkness cut off both ends of the corridor, and anyone who ventured close would be dragged into it.
In such extreme circumstances, they were almost out of options.
Wen Jianyan stared intently at the door, his lips pressed tightly together, nearly drained of color.
His eyes flickered, his mind racing.
Hold out for time?
No use.
Although the second guest had appeared after lights out, the guest in room 408 had shown up before the lights went off at Xingwang Hotel.
Of course, the two occurrences might not be entirely unrelated.
But more evidence was needed to confirm a pattern.
Still, this at least indicated that whether the lights were on or off didn’t restrict the guest’s movements in terms of the rules.
In other words, even if they found a way to stay in this room for an hour until the lights came back on at the hotel, it would likely do no good.
Lights on didn’t mean the guest would return to their room.
By then, the danger they faced might be even more severe.
Escape was impossible, and waiting would do no good.
So…
If they wanted to leave the area, they’d probably have to deal with the “guest” first.
“Drip… drip…”
Through the thin door, a faint dripping sound could be heard.
The continuous sound echoed in their ears like a countdown to death.
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan felt his sleeve being tugged.
He turned to look.
It was Blond.
He was staring intently at the gap beneath the door, his voice trembling, “L-look over there.”
Wen Jianyan froze and followed Blond’s gaze.
Under the door, a pool of liquid seemed to be slowly seeping inside.
Unlike water, it appeared especially thick.
A faint metallic scent, barely perceptible, lingered in the air.
It was blood.
Wen Jianyan’s heart sank.
Earlier, when the guest from room 408 left, it had trailed cold rainwater, but now it was blood…
Which meant that the other black team had likely already been killed.
The realization sent chills down everyone’s spines.
For the guest in room 408 to wipe out an entire veteran black team in such a short time suggested its terrifying nature was far beyond what they had initially imagined.
If there had only been one “guest” outside, joining forces with the black team for a head-on confrontation might have given them a chance, but the moment they heard the doorknob turning, that option was crossed off the list.
Now, two “guests” roamed the corridor outside.
If just one could wipe out a team, going out to face them would be suicide.
In the barrage of the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Whoa, this setup is pure death!]
[This new version of the Xingwang Hotel instance is just absurdly difficult… feels like a dead end.]
[Exactly! If a guest in the room locks onto you, there’s no escape, and waiting for the lights to come back on does nothing. If you’re lucky and only have one guest here, a joint attack might work, but the anchor got two guests in this area, so it’s just game over!]
[Waaah, my unlucky anchor thought there might be a chance, but in the end, they’re still doomed… so tragic!]
Drip, drip.
The faint sound of dripping echoed from outside.
Thick, scarlet blood seeped under the door, quickly soaking the carpet and gleaming eerily in the dim light of the room.
The surface of the blood was smooth as a mirror, deceptively calm, but it emitted an eerie, skin-crawling vibe.
“…!”
Seeing this, the group recoiled in shock, hurriedly backing away from the spreading pool of blood.
Although the blood advanced slowly, the room was only so large. Where could they hide…?
“We need to decide now! What are we going to do next?”
The black team captain lowered his voice, speaking urgently.
“Fight, Captain! Even though there are two ghosts outside, we have two teams here, so maybe we still have a chance!”
“No, it’s too risky! I say we enter the oil painting…”
“The painting? Are you out of your mind? It’s even more dangerous in there! Even if we do manage to lure another guest inside, what good will that do?”
“And what if they can follow us inside?”
“!”
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s eyes widened slightly, as if he had suddenly thought of something.
The frail, pale young woman suddenly spun around, her slender frame seemingly holding a strength that didn’t match her appearance. She roughly pushed aside the arguing crowd and headed straight for the oil painting in the guest room.
“?!”
Everyone was startled by his sudden action, instinctively falling silent and looking at Wen Jianyan in surprise.
Just like on the fourth floor, there was also an oversized oil painting hanging in the center of the first-floor guest room.
Within its gray frame was a gloomy portrait of a rain-drenched, eerie town. Unlike the dilapidated hut in the painting in room 408, this one showed a low, two-story building, much newer in appearance, with the door wide open, offering a glimpse of the tables, chairs, and dishes inside.
“What’s going on?”
Yun Bilan seemed to catch on to something, stepping forward. “Did you discover something?”
Wen Jianyan didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned closer again.
However, this time he didn’t closely examine the only clear structure in the painting but studied the blurred landscape in the background.
Not far off, the blood under the door had already spread past the entryway and bathroom, reaching into the room.
“It’s no use, Captain! We have to decide now!”
“What’s it going to be? Fight or flee?”
The Black Team’s captain turned away from Wen Jianyan, clenching his teeth, his voice coming out as if squeezed through them: “…We’ll fight head-on.”
After all, although they’d heard the second guest opening the door, they hadn’t heard any movement, so maybe this second guest wasn’t planning to attack them. Or perhaps it had already left the area?
If that were the case, they would only need to deal with one guest.
It was still risky, but the odds weren’t as low as before.
Though the other team had failed, they wouldn’t necessarily suffer the same fate.
Clinging to this faint hope, the Black Team captain took a slow, deep breath:
“Prepare yourselves; we’ll—”
But before he could finish, a voice interrupted him sharply:
“No.”
Everyone froze and turned their heads.
The young woman stood before the painting, the bright light casting down on her slender shoulders. Her amber eyes looked firmly at them, the previous frail pallor entirely gone, replaced by an intense resolve not matching her outward appearance.
She said, “We’re going into the painting.”
“What?”
Everyone was taken aback.
The Black Team captain frowned. “What’s the point of going inside? And what if they can follow us?”
“It’s not a matter of ‘if,’” Wen Jianyan interrupted, resolute.
“They definitely will.”
His voice was calm, with a hint of cold certainty, as though absolutely sure of his conclusion.
After hearing him, the others furrowed their brows, looking even more puzzled.
“Wait, then what’s the use of going inside?”
If the ghosts outside could follow them, bringing in new guests would only draw more ghosts, trapping them in this pitch-black, sealed-off zone with even more danger.
“Do you all never think about the instance mechanics?”
Wen Jianyan sighed, his voice still soft but somehow irritatingly condescending.
In the barrage of the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Haha! That mocking tone is killing me!]
[The nightmare master of instance mechanics wondering: Do you people ever think?]
[But seriously, I’m curious why the anchor thinks going into the painting is the best option. If Xingwang Hotel’s guests can really follow them, wouldn’t that be the most dangerous route?]
One of the Black Team members frowned in frustration. “Hey, what do you mean by that—”
Before he could finish, the Black Team captain raised his hand, stopping him.
Although the member still looked annoyed, he swallowed his remaining words.
The Black Team captain looked thoughtfully at Wen Jianyan. “Go on.”
“First, nightmares never set up a hopeless dead end. If you start from that assumption, you can reverse-engineer a real solution to survive based on the rules of the Xingwang Hotel.”
Wen Jianyan scanned the group, continuing:
“These ‘guests’ can leave their rooms and move freely, and any anchor caught in a guest’s line of sight is trapped in a small area, forced to survive in an enclosed space. If there were only one guest, maybe fighting could be a way out. But if there are more than two guests in an area, the difficulty rises exponentially, and the odds of surviving become extremely low.
“Isn’t that right?”
Everyone froze and nodded.
“But don’t forget, the requirement of this level is for the anchor to enter the painting to invite more guests to Xingwang Hotel. This means that, over time, the number of ‘guests’ in the level will only increase, and the likelihood of having only a single guest in any given area will decrease…”
Hearing this, a chill ran down everyone’s spine.
Yes.
He was absolutely right.
As more rooms filled up in the hotel, the chances of having additional “guests” in the anchor’s restricted area would drastically increase.
This time, they had encountered two. Next time, it could be three, four…
And as more time passed, there would be fewer and fewer anchors.
It was a bleak and hopeless picture.
If they fought head-on, they would end up dead, every last one.
The thought of possibly being trapped in a closed space with three, four, or even more “guests” in the future filled everyone with a wave of intense fear, making their vision go dark.
In the barrage of the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Damn…that’s true.]
[Wow, this level is so vicious, really vicious!]
[It doesn’t just make the anchors invite more and more ghosts to Xingwang Hotel as guests, but also traps those marked by the guests close to them with no escape. Meanwhile, nearby ghosts can keep joining in… it’s like breeding venomous insects!]
[I can almost see how terrifying this level will be on the last day.]
[A dead end, right?]
Seeing the expressions of the others, Wen Jianyan suddenly smiled.
“That’s why fighting head-on isn’t an option. Even if you survive this time, sooner or later, you’ll die the next.”
Saying this, he stepped aside slightly, revealing the oil painting behind him:
“Each room in this hotel has an oil painting showing a rainy, gloomy scene. Even the architectural style is extremely similar…”
The young woman tilted her head, her gaze almost innocent:
“…It’s almost as if they’re all from the same town.”
“!!!”
Everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
The Black Team captain’s eyes widened suddenly: “Wait, are you saying…?”
“Exactly.”
Wen Jianyan nodded. “I suspect that those places we entered weren’t really fragments within a painting but rather an actual town. To be precise, these paintings are doors, each one connecting to a different area within that world.”
“That’s why, when a anchor is marked by a ‘guest,’ all exits get sealed off,” Wen Jianyan squinted, his voice slow and deliberate. “Because it’s forcing us to leave through another route.”
With that, he raised his hand and skillfully searched behind the painting’s frame.
With a “click,” the frame slowly opened in front of them, and a damp, sinister air immediately washed over them.
If trapped by a guest, they had to enter the town through the painting, then find another door within the town.
Only by re-entering Xingwang Hotel through that door could they escape the area sealed off by the guests.
And all of this had to be completed within one hour.
This was the vicious part of the level.
“Thud, thud, thud.”
Suddenly, a second set of footsteps echoed outside the door.
Everyone jumped in alarm, turning toward the door.
Through the gap under the door, a shadow still lingered, unmoving.
This set of footsteps was far heavier than before, slow yet oppressive, each step pounding like a hammer on their hearts, making them involuntarily hold their breath.
Despite the wall between them, they could sense one thing clearly:
…The visitor meant trouble.
The second guest hadn’t disappeared, nor had it moved elsewhere; it was closing in on them, very deliberately.
At this moment, any hope they had of only dealing with one guest shattered completely.
Wen Jianyan and his team had already stepped into the painting. He looked over at the Black Team and asked, “Are you coming?”
The pool of blood had spread into the guest room, its calm, crimson surface seeming to conceal some unknown, horrific threat.
The doorknob slowly turned downward, letting out a creaking sound.
The ominous noise made everyone shudder.
…Whatever was outside was coming in.
The Black Team captain clenched his teeth, raised his hand, and waved:
“Let’s go!”
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