Thank you @KC for the Kofi. (1/2)
Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 323: Dead and Alive
Shrouded in the relentless rain, the small town loomed around them as the group pressed forward at their fastest speed.
Before long, through the hazy curtain of rain, a desolate gray street emerged in the distance.
The street was empty, its crooked and twisted road stretching endlessly into the misty void, as if leading to nowhere. The buildings on both sides were vacant, their pitch-black windows yawning open, exuding an eerie sense of unease.
Although they had yet to see the so-called “framing shop,” the scene before them was eerily identical to the oil painting inside Room 329.
Wen Jianyan lowered his head and glanced at the rain-soaked screen in his hand.
The faintly flickering red dot was now within reach.
He followed the direction indicated.
It was a shop on the very edge of the shopping district. Its doorway was a gaping black hole, silent and lifeless, devoid of any sign of human presence.
According to the system’s positioning, Yun Bilan should be inside.
The others had clearly realized this as well, instinctively slowing their steps with heightened caution.
“This is the place?” Blond asked uneasily.
“Yes.”
Wen Jianyan returned his phone to his pocket and answered.
Not far away, their target stood motionless in the rain.
The fine drizzle blurred the storefront’s facade. Inside, there was not the slightest sound, making it all the more unnerving.
Even without being reminded, everyone’s vigilance had already reached its peak.
They all understood—this was a trap.
Even though their location had been exposed, their enemies had not immediately acted to eliminate Yun Bilan. The reason was clear: their next objective and movement had already been deduced. Even if the Black Faction killed Yun Bilan now, it would only slightly delay the Red Faction’s progress, but it would not change the outcome.
Instead, they had chosen to use this opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.
“So… the Black Faction is inside?” Chen Mo fixed his gaze on the distant shop and asked in a low voice.
“No…”
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head. “I actually think they’re probably not here.”
Setting up an ambush nearby would, of course, be the most ideal strategy.
However, every time the lights went out, the time available for moving around Rainy Town was limited.
They only had an hour, and more than twenty minutes had already passed. If they intended to return to Xingwang Hotel, they still needed to retrieve the painting and deal with the curse that followed.
The Black Faction didn’t have much time to waste.
More importantly…
Since the Black Faction had realized their location was exposed, they must have also noticed that the Red Faction was catching up. Their advantage was slipping away. If they didn’t act quickly, the gap in knowledge and information between both sides would shrink until it vanished entirely.
Wen Jianyan didn’t believe they would waste such a crucial opportunity just to wait inside a store, hoping the Red Faction would blindly walk into the trap—or, worse, back out entirely after sensing the danger.
As for Yun Bilan’s message…
There were two possibilities.
Either she had managed to send it while her captors weren’t paying attention—though, given the presence of multiple veteran anchors, that would have been extremely difficult. But Yun Bilan was no ordinary player; she was capable of extreme maneuvers, making this scenario not entirely impossible.
Or—
The message had been deliberately allowed to go through.
If the Red Faction cared about their teammate, then even after receiving the warning, they would still walk into the trap. If, on the other hand, they prioritized the safety of their remaining members and retreated, then the Black Faction would still win.
Once the lights came back on, any anchor left behind in Rainy Town was almost guaranteed to die. If they didn’t use this location now, there wouldn’t be a second chance. In that case, the Black Faction would retain their lead and eliminate their greatest threat.
“Blond.”
Wen Jianyan called out. “Can you see what’s inside?”
Blond stepped forward and took a deep breath.
He shut his eyes tightly.
When he opened them again, his pupils shimmered with a faint golden glow—his ability had been activated.
He inhaled deeply and focused on peering inside.
“I see shelves.”
His voice, muffled by the surrounding rain, sounded somewhat distorted.
“It’s a clothing store,” Blond said, moving slowly as he peered through the open doorway. His glowing eyes flickered in the dim light. “There are clothes on the shelves.”
The others listened intently.
Suddenly, Blond froze.
“I see someone.”
“!”
The entire group tensed.
“On the wall,” Blond murmured. “I can’t tell if they’re dead or alive.”
“Is Yun Bilan there?”
After all, from this angle, only a portion of the store’s interior was visible. Many corners remained hidden from view.
“Is there anything strange?” Wen Jianyan asked, pressing for details. “Any little detail at all?”
“No,” Blond carefully scanned the entire store once more, shaking his head again.
“…” Wen Jianyan furrowed his brows. Could it be that the trap was so well-constructed that even Blond, with his activated ability, couldn’t find any clues? Or… had his initial expectations been off?
Either way, staying outside and waiting was pointless. They had to enter the store to understand what was going on. Moreover, their umbrella couldn’t hold up much longer. As time passed, the dark blue handprints on the umbrella’s handle deepened, and the shadows in the water slowly began to clear.
Wen Jianyan made a swift decision: “Go.”
The group moved cautiously toward the shop.
They were all on high alert, prepared to use their trump cards and tools at any moment. If anything unexpected happened, they would act without hesitation—when facing people like the Gentalman and Anise, such preparation was absolutely necessary. Any thoughts of “not wanting to waste tools” were strictly forbidden, or else they could very well die the next second.
The store’s entrance grew closer.
Inside the doorway, it was pitch dark, filled with a damp, eerie smell. Faint, indistinct shadows could be seen moving, making it all the more chilling from the outside.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and stepped inside.
Indeed, as Blond had said, it was just an ordinary clothing store. Countless dusty, outdated clothes hung on shelves, motionless, submerged in shadow. The space wasn’t large.
In the distance, near the wall, several bodies lay scattered on the floor, motionless. From this far away, it was impossible to tell whether they were alive or dead. The darkness concealed their identities; only their numbers were visible.
Wen Jianyan furrowed his brow.
The number didn’t add up.
Zhong Shan’s team, along with Yun Bilan, made five people. Locket’s team also had five people. But there were only nine bodies here on the ground.
The only one who could see through the darkness, Blond, whispered:
“Yun Bilan isn’t here.”
…Yun Bilan isn’t here?
That couldn’t be.
The location on the phone was right here!
Moreover, what was even stranger was that Wen Jianyan had expected an ambush as soon as he entered the store. But up until now, the store was eerily calm, without a trace of any trap.
Something felt off.
No, not just off—it felt incredibly strange.
A subtle sense of unease began to brew in his mind, slowly sprouting and growing.
Wen Jianyan turned his head and glanced behind him.
Bai Xue was still silently following at the back of the group, but he had also entered the store. His head was lowered, and his snow-white face stood out starkly against the dim environment. There was no expression on his face, and he seemed unprepared for any danger.
Since the medium hadn’t said anything, even if there was danger, it shouldn’t be enough to threaten the lives of the entire team.
“You all wait here for me,” Wen Jianyan said.
The others halted, positioning themselves in a safe spot from which they could quickly leave the store if necessary, ready to respond to any dangers Wen Jianyan might encounter.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and cautiously moved closer to the nearest body.
He crouched down and shined his flashlight on the person’s face.
“…!”
Wen Jianyan was horrified. His pupils contracted, and his fingers trembled slightly, nearly dropping the flashlight from his hand.
In the dim light of the flickering flashlight, the person’s face was deathly pale, as if it were wearing a porcelain, cold mask. The facial features were blurred, but the only clear detail was the curved smile at the corner of the mouth—identical to the guests who had died in the town and the anchors swallowed by the water.
Wen Jianyan forced himself to suppress the urge to step back, took a deep breath, and forced himself to stay where he was.
No, this wasn’t right.
If this person were dead, they should have been swallowed up by the endless rain, just like the others who died in this town. They shouldn’t be lying here, motionless in place.
Wen Jianyan steadied himself, then bravely reached out, swiftly searching over the stiff, cold “corpse” lying there. His movements were smooth and practiced, as if he had done this hundreds or thousands of times before, as though he knew exactly where a person would hide their secrets.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room barrage:
[The anchor sure has guts, actually daring to touch him!]
[Hahahahaha, I can tell this new fan hasn’t watched many of the anchor’s broadcasts. He’s actually very cautious. The reason he’s touching him is probably because he judged that doing so wouldn’t be dangerous, so he went ahead.]
[Damn, this body search technique is so professional.]
[Hahahahaha, indeed! He’s clearly an expert at hiding things… otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to do it so precisely!]
[Ugh, I want to be searched by my wife.]
[?]
[?]
Soon, Wen Jianyan found something on the “corpse.”
A black leather notebook, a phone, and some miscellaneous useless items.
A voice came from behind: “Captain, did you find anything?”
“Mm.”
Wen Jianyan raised the phone.
The phone screen lit up.
It couldn’t be unlocked.
This wasn’t a “device” that could be unlocked with a password in the real world. It was a part of the nightmare live broadcast that had been spawned, and only the bound anchor could open it.
“This person isn’t dead,” he concluded.
“What?” Everyone behind him was taken aback.
Yes, although the person had lost their facial features, their face looked like that of a corpse, and their body was cold with no breath or heartbeat… this person was indeed not dead.
Otherwise, their “phone” would have disappeared with the anchor’s death and been reclaimed by the nightmare live broadcast.
However, this person couldn’t be considered fully alive either—they were in a half-living, half-dead state.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze fell on the wet collar of the “corpse.”
It looked as though rainwater was seeping through the cracks in the mask, gradually soaking his body.
Clearly, once the rain completely engulfed this person’s body, they would be beyond saving.
Wen Jianyan thoughtfully scanned the ground.
He made a quick decision and turned to the others: “Come help, search everyone else to see if anything is missing.”
The others exchanged glances and moved forward.
With the help of others, Wen Jianyan’s efficiency improved significantly.
Soon, more items were found.
After scanning the various items on the ground, Wen Jianyan quickly confirmed his suspicions.
— All of their name tags were missing.
When they had first entered the “Xingwang Hotel” instance, the smiling hotel manager had told them, “Don’t lose your name tags,” and it was clear now that this was the reason.
In the rainy town, the “employee name tags” from the Xingwang Hotel most likely had a protective effect.
If the name tags were lost in the town, the protective effect would vanish. Even if they were in a dry area, they would gradually be soaked by the rain, eventually pulling them into the submerged world below the surface.
Suddenly, an exclamation interrupted Wen Jianyan’s thoughts:
“Captain! There’s still a living person here!”
Wen Jianyan was stunned, instinctively turning to look.
Chen Mo stepped aside, revealing the person behind him.
He was leaning awkwardly against the wall, still unconscious, but both his face and his breath and pulse were normal. His name tag was also still securely on him.
A member of Zhong Shan’s team recognized him, and shouted in surprise:
“—Captain?!”
It was Zhong Shan.
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes.
“Are there any other living people?”
“Three more,” Chen Mo said from a distance.
He added, “One from Zhong Shan’s team and two from Locket’s team.”
While everyone’s attention was drawn to the unconscious, near-death anchors, Bai Xue, who had been standing a bit farther away and always keeping to the edges of the group, suddenly raised his eerie, pitch-black eyes and looked toward a shelf in the middle of the store.
A cold, ominous wind swept through the store, silent and unseen.
Several pieces of clothing were lifted by the wind, their corners fluttering, and in the dim, weak light, they displayed a strange, almost delicate leather-like texture.
“They’re coming.”
The youth’s hoarse voice echoed, reverberating in the pitch-black, deathly quiet store.
As his voice fell, several faces seemed to bulge from the surface of the clothes, their eye sockets deep and their mouths wide open, as if silently screaming.
