Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 328: A person with their back to us
Soon, the plan was set.
The few anchors who had awakened from their unconsciousness temporarily joined Wen Jianyan’s team.
As for those whose name tags had been stripped away and whose facial features had also been removed, although they no longer had breath or a heartbeat, according to the Nightmare standards, they were not yet dead.
However, since they had lost all vital signs, as long as nothing unusual happened within the instance, they were unlikely to be targeted by the town’s ghosts.
To be safe, Wen Jianyan and the others still moved their “corpses” to a hidden corner of the shop, doing what they could.
Once that was done, he turned to his teammates:
“Everyone, take two pieces of clothing, and then we can leave this place.”
In the instance of “Xingwang Hotel”, all human skin items were quite similar. They were very dangerous—if used too many times, they would be activated and turn into a channel that connected to the real world, allowing ghosts to invade through it. However, these items could also block the endless light rain in the area, allowing the living to move through this deadly, life-draining rain without dying.
The human skin umbrella they had been carrying was no longer usable. To survive the next three hours, wandering freely through the rainy ghost town after the “Gate” closed, they had no choice but to use these human skin clothes.
The more human skin clothes they carried, the more advantageous their next actions would be.
Once one piece of clothing began to show signs of abnormality, they could discard it immediately and switch to the next. But the problem was… they might very well encounter the Black Faction’s squad in the next three hours.
According to what Zhong Shan had previously mentioned…
Anise’s talent was highly suspicious.
If he could truly “summon souls,” causing the dormant spiritual dangers to activate, then the more spiritual items they carried, the more dangerous it would be.
Considering this, Wen Jianyan had to choose carefully and ultimately settled on a compromise: “Two pieces.”
Under his command, everyone quickly acted.
Soon, everything was ready.
Wen Jianyan draped a large gray old-fashioned suit over his body. On the surface, it appeared to be just an old, inconspicuous piece of clothing, but only the one wearing it could smell the faint decaying odor emanating from it and feel the chilling, skin-like collar rubbing against the neck, creating a terrifying sensation.
He took a deep breath, suppressed the discomfort in his heart, and turned to look at his teammates:
“Ready?”
Everyone else also put on their human skin clothes and nodded.
Wen Jianyan lowered his head and glanced at the pocket watch in his hand.
The slowly moving hands had just crossed the boundary between black and white, entering the pitch-black region.
This meant that there was no turning back.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, turned to his teammates, and reminded them:
“Please be very careful from now on. If you notice any clues, no matter how insignificant, if it makes you feel uneasy, tell me immediately. Understood?”
The others exchanged glances and nodded, “Understood.”
The reason Wen Jianyan was so cautious wasn’t just because the Black Faction was also somewhere on this street, but because… the lights in Xingwang Hotel should have been turned on by now.
Once the lights were turned on, the road between the hotel and the town would be sealed off.
Before entering the town, they had only stayed for about an hour.
This time, however, the time had been quadrupled.
What was more critical was that they had no idea whether the “lighting” in Xingwang Hotel would bring any unknown changes to the town…
In other words, the experience and patterns they had summarized during the previous hour, when the lights were off, could be completely overturned in the next three hours.
The best outcome would be that nothing changes, but they had to be prepared for the worst.
Everything was unknown.
And since the “Gate”had already closed, if they encountered any danger, they couldn’t retreat back to the hotel like before. They would have to face it head-on.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Given the situation, they couldn’t afford to waste any more time. They had to act immediately.
This wasn’t just a race against the Black Faction; it was a race against death itself.
With Wen Jianyan’s command, the group carefully avoided the corpse still wandering in the room, dripping blood, and once again stepped into the rain.
The sky was overcast, dark clouds hung heavily above, and no light could break through.
Before them was a crooked street, stretching deep into the rainy abyss.
The fine rain fell from above, bringing a chill with it.
The rainwater hit the human skin clothing, but instead of soaking through like before, it seemed to be blocked by some invisible force, sliding off the surface of the human skin.
Wen Jianyan looked up and gazed into the depths of the commercial street.
Due to the rain, there were no traces left by any human footsteps.
Even though they couldn’t track the Black Faction’s movements by footprints, it didn’t matter to the Red Faction. After all, they knew exactly where the Black Faction was headed.
The Framing Shop.
Although they didn’t yet know the exact location of the shop, based on the images in the oil painting and the content written in Rui Rui’s notes, they only needed to follow this street and go deeper to find it.
The endless rain continued to fall, and soon, the entrance to the street was far behind them.
The group moved deeper into the dead street.
The houses on either side of the street all had their doors tightly shut, looking very desolate. The windows were pitch black, like the bones of the dead, staring with hollow eyes at the only living beings on this dead street.
Perhaps it was just an illusion, but the deeper they walked, the colder the atmosphere became.
Though the human skin clothes blocked the rain, an invisible chill permeated the air, coming from all directions, seeping into their bones, causing everyone to shiver uncontrollably.
So cold.
“Have you spotted the Framing Shop?”
Wen Jianyan asked.
Blond stared down the seemingly endless street and shook his head. “No.”
Wen Jianyan wiped the rainwater off his face and glanced at the time.
They had been moving at full speed for over five minutes.
But up until now, the street seemed endless, as if it couldn’t be finished, and they hadn’t seen any sign of the Framing Shop.
The shops on both sides of the street were mostly closed, with signs that had long since faded and become illegible from the rain. The windows were pitch black, and it was nearly impossible to gain any useful information.
“Let’s walk for another three minutes,” Wen Jianyan said, putting away his phone.
As time passed, the decaying smell from the human skin clothes became more and more noticeable. In the damp, cold air, it was hard to ignore, faintly lingering around everyone’s noses.
The surface of the clothes seemed to slightly puff up, as if being stirred by the surrounding wind, but there were faint, ominous shadows that always seemed to be visible.
Clearly, as they continued to walk in the rain, the human skin clothes were becoming increasingly dangerous.
If they still couldn’t find the Framing Shop in three more minutes…
It would be time to stop and find a shop to take shelter from the rain.
“Okay.”
Everyone nodded.
The group continued to move forward quickly but cautiously.
They kept an eye on the rapidly passing scenery on either side of the street, looking for any shop that could match the one in the oil painting—
Suddenly, Blond stopped, looking in a certain direction.
Wen Jianyan sharply noticed his reaction. “Did you find something?”
“No, no.”
Blond swallowed nervously, shaking his head.
Perhaps due to the rain, Zhong Shan’s face was unusually pale. He stared intently at the distance, raising his hand and pointing to a corner at the end of the street. “Look over there—”
Wen Jianyan followed his finger and looked.
Not far ahead, on the left side of the street, through the misty rain, they could vaguely make out a pitch-black, unmoving shadow.
It looked like…
“A person with their back to us.”
It seemed as though the figure was afraid of disturbing something. Blond’s voice dropped low, barely above a whisper, trembling slightly.
As soon as he spoke, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
Though the rain obscured their view, it was clear that a “person” was standing motionless ahead of them, some distance away, unmoving.
Given the current situation, it was highly unlikely that it was a human.
“What about their clothes?” Wen Jianyan thought for a moment before asking slowly, “What kind of clothes are they wearing?”
Blond paused, then quickly reacted.
Even though everything labeled with specific time and place had been eroded in the rainy town, making it unreadable, one thing was certain.
This town’s time seemed to have stopped decades ago.
Everything, from the decorations inside the buildings to the styles of the clothes, appeared to be ancient, as if time had stopped altogether.
However, the anchors entering here were wearing clothes that matched the present reality.
“They’re not wearing old clothes.”
After carefully examining it for a while, Blond said confidently.
This meant that the person standing with their back to them ahead was not an original resident of the town but rather the corpse of a anchor who had died here.
Although they didn’t yet know why it had appeared, this was definitely good news.
In this instance, the most terrifying entities were the original townspeople trapped underwater. As for the corpses of the anchors, though they would still attack humans, they were more like vengeful spirits. If approached cautiously, they posed little danger—just like when they were in the clothing store, there were always ways to avoid them.
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment and quickly made a decision:
“Continue forward.”
Soon, they approached the “person” with their back to them.
It stood rigidly in place, letting the cold, ominous rain fall on it, unmoving, like a wooden stake nailed to the ground.
The group cautiously chose to walk along the side, away from the corpse.
The distance gradually shortened.
Wen Jianyan kept his gaze fixed on the body, staying alert in case it suddenly moved.
However, until they had completely passed the area, it remained motionless.
Wen Jianyan subtly let out a breath of relief.
He turned his head and looked back at the corpse he had just passed.
His heart stopped for a moment.
After passing this area, the “person” that should have been facing them was still facing away.
It stood motionless in the rain, with its back turned to Wen Jianyan and his group, as if it hadn’t moved an inch from the start.
It was as if…
It didn’t even have the concept of “front.”
However, the good news was that it didn’t seem to sense their presence. It had no intention of moving or attacking.
As long as they avoided it, it wouldn’t chase them.
If during the hour when the lights were off, the corpses of the anchors could only move beneath the water, now they were able to stand freely on the ground… Clearly, this was a change that occurred after the “lights-on” phase began.
As time passed, these changes would only become more frequent.
Wen Jianyan suppressed the instinctive chill running down his spine and looked away.
“Two more minutes, keep moving.”
The group continued down the street.
Soon, a second corpse appeared before them.
Like the first one, it was standing still in the rain, facing away from Wen Jianyan and his group. Though it didn’t move or attack, just seeing it was enough to unsettle them, making them want to move away as quickly as possible.
