Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 331: Damn conman is back at it again
This was not a baseless guess from Wen Jianyan.
Since the small road before them, along with the framing shop on it, was entirely man-made—just like Changsheng Building in the previous instance—then, no matter how distorted things had become later, the original intent should have remained the same.
It was protection and a barrier.
This was a path leading to the depths of the world. The first two shops along this road sold human skin and masks, which allowed humans to disguise themselves as “ghosts.” Only by disguising as ghosts could they enter this space.
Thus, everything on this road was recognized by the rules as ghosts.
And the framing shop was built by humans.
Then, how could they prevent non-human entities from entering the framing shop?
Wen Jianyan’s gaze fell on the half-closed door, and he took a deep breath.
This might be the answer.
As soon as Wen Jianyan finished speaking, everyone froze in place, falling into silence.
A road that only ghosts could walk and a shop door that only humans could push open…
Although Wen Jianyan’s conclusion was logically flawless, it also brought forth a new and almost unavoidable problem.
If they pushed the door open and entered, they would inevitably be stripped of their ghost identity by the framing shop’s door. As humans, they would then be “noticed” by the surrounding corpses.
The only reason they had not been attacked by ghosts before was that the ghosts had perceived them as the same kind of existence.
But if these corpses discovered that they were human…
Then they certainly wouldn’t remain as harmless as before.
The events that had transpired when Chen Mo pushed the door earlier were still fresh in their minds.
Although the corpses had now averted their gazes and resumed their slow, stiff wandering, just the memory of being stared at by the mass of corpses made everyone shudder involuntarily.
However, if they maintained their ghost disguise, they wouldn’t be able to enter the shop.
This was an unsolvable paradox.
Blond suggested, “What if we use an item to divert the ghosts’ attention, then take the chance to push the door open?”
“It’s possible, but…” Chen Mo furrowed his brows deeply. “This instance is too high-level. Ordinary items from the system shop won’t work. At the very least, we’d need a hidden item from an instance of the same difficulty.”
The air grew heavy with silence.
Chen Mo calmly analyzed,
“Even if we do manage to lure them away, what should we do next?”
If they directly pushed the door open, the masks would shatter, and they would have to return as humans.
If they removed their disguise in advance, it would bring about a new problem.
No one knew whether, after voluntarily shedding their ghost disguise, they would still be allowed on this road.
Theoretically speaking, this was supposed to be a road that only ghosts could walk.
If that were the case, then…
They might be forced off the road and sent back to the previous town, rendering all their efforts meaningless.
“……”
For a moment, the air turned deathly still. The already tense atmosphere became even heavier.
Everyone fell into deep thought, their expressions grim.
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, then suddenly froze:
“Only humans can push the door open, right?”
The others nodded.
Wen Jianyan lifted his gaze and said slowly, “But once the door is open, the rest of the group doesn’t need to push it again, do they?”
Everyone was stunned.
Theoretically… that was true.
But if that were the case, then there would inevitably have to be one person who sacrificed themselves by pushing the door open.
“They brought Yun Bilan for this?!” Blond exclaimed in shock.
This was a paradox that couldn’t be avoided. If someone pushed the door open, they would inevitably be stripped of their ghost disguise. As long as there was a suitable decoy, being surrounded by ghosts wasn’t necessarily a problem. The only real issue was…
Masks and human skin coats were different.
Humans could carry multiple human skin coats, but they could only wear one mask.
Back in the shop, Wen Jianyan had secretly attempted to take a second mask. However, the moment he reached for it, he felt an overwhelming sense of danger—an icy, deathly aura surged toward him. His instincts screamed frantically, warning him that if he continued, he would die.
In the end, he had no choice but to abandon the idea.
In other words, once they lost their masks, they would never be able to set foot on the return path again.
The Black faction clearly did not intend to lose a member over this. Perhaps that was why they changed their minds and didn’t kill Yun Bilan when she tried to escape. Instead, they brought her along.
Because they needed a human to sacrifice.
Wen Jianyan instinctively reached into his pocket.
Yun Bilan’s phone was still there—it hadn’t disappeared.
This meant that no matter what had happened before, she was still alive.
“Then… could she be inside right now?” Blond held his breath slightly and asked cautiously.
“Perhaps,” Wen Jianyan replied slowly.
Hearing this affirmative answer, everyone’s spirits lifted.
But Wen Jianyan did not seem as optimistic.
The Black Faction wasn’t the type to leave survivors after using them.
If Yun Bilan was still alive… there had to be another reason.
Either she still had some other use, or—the Black Faction was inside the framing shop right now.
If Wen Jianyan’s guess was correct, then what awaited them next was a real head-on confrontation—the kind of direct conflict he was worst at handling.
After listening to Wen Jianyan’s analysis, the group fell silent.
The tightly closed framing shop ahead looked more and more like a trap, filled with the scent of death and malice.
“T-then…”
Blond’s voice grew weak and unsteady. “Could they be waiting for us inside—?”
If the Black Faction had realized they were here… were they just waiting inside, lying in ambush?
This thought sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
“Unlikely.”
Wen Jianyan shook his head.
He analyzed rationally, “If they could see us from inside, there would be no need to wait for us to go in before launching an attack.”
After all, those inside the shop had the absolute advantage.
Not only was their overall strength superior, but more importantly—since no human could enter the framing shop, this meant that the inside of the shop was most likely safe. There were no threats within.
Meanwhile, the Red Faction was standing in the middle of a street full of malevolent ghosts, surrounded by danger.
If the Black Faction had truly noticed their presence, then with just a little effort, they could easily get them killed out here.
Yet, from the moment they had pushed the door to now, nothing had happened.
This meant that the door wasn’t just governed by the rule that only humans could push it open—it also completely isolated whatever was inside from whatever was outside.
That was a good thing.
Wen Jianyan lowered his gaze slightly. His dense eyelashes cast a shadow over his light-colored eyes, concealing the faint glimmer of cunning flashing within.
If his guess was correct, and the Black Faction was indeed inside the shop and had not left yet…
Then for the first time since entering this instance—he had gained an informational advantage.
Blond, watching Wen Jianyan’s face, suddenly felt a chill run down his back. Instinctively, he shrank his shoulders.
“…?”
He rubbed his head in confusion.
Strange.
Even though there was a mask covering Wen Jianyan’s face, making it impossible to see his expression, Blond still had a weird feeling—like Wen Jianyan was calculating something.
…Wait.
Was that really just an illusion?
Just as Blond began to doubt his own sanity, Wen Jianyan suddenly raised his head and looked at the group.
“I have an idea,” he said. “But it will require everyone’s cooperation.”
“W-what is it?”
Zhong Shan asked cautiously.
The corners of Wen Jianyan’s lips curved into a faint smile. He narrowed his eyes and waved at the group, “Come here.”
【Integrity First】 Livestream:
[……]
[……]
[Aaaahh!]
[This is so devious, so devious!!]
[But can this really work? Why do I feel like… it’s a bit risky?]
After explaining his plan, Wen Jianyan looked at the people around him and asked,
“What do you all think?”
“……”
Everyone’s faces were blank, their eyes vacant, as if they had fallen into deep thought.
“Say something,” Wen Jianyan urged.
“In theory, it should work… but the problem is…”
Even Chen Mo, who had always been calm and rational, seemed to struggle with his words.
He took a deep breath, finally steadying his voice. “The problem is… isn’t this way too difficult?”
“Theoretically possible is good enough.”
Wen Jianyan’s lips curled slightly, revealing a subtle, almost imperceptible smile. His light-colored eyes narrowed slightly, the corners curving up—as cunning as a fox, carrying a hint of hidden mischief.
“F-Fine, but…”
Chen Mo took another deep breath, pressing his hand to his temple as he tried to organize his slightly chaotic thoughts.
“At the very least, we need to figure out how to get past the first step. You saw it earlier—as soon as we approach that door, our consciousness and reasoning are affected. We instinctively want to push the door open. I don’t think—”
Under his mask, Wen Jianyan let out a silent chuckle.
“Don’t worry. Just leave that part to me.”
Of course, if it were anyone else, they would definitely be influenced by the curse on the door.
But Wen Jianyan was different.
With the assistance of Wu Zhu’s Mark, he was probably the only one who could remain completely unaffected in this situation.
“Any other questions?” Wen Jianyan asked.
“……”
A dead silence filled the air.
Everyone felt that this plan was utterly ridiculous.
But for some reason, when they looked at Wen Jianyan, they couldn’t shake the feeling that—maybe, just maybe, it really could work.
“Since no one has any objections, then… we’ll do it this way.”
Wen Jianyan’s eyes curved slightly as he spoke.
Inside the Room.
Just as Wen Jianyan had guessed, the Black Faction was indeed inside the framing shop.
Although they had entered slightly ahead of Wen Jianyan’s group, the instance’s rules prevented them from advancing too far ahead. At the very least, they hadn’t progressed so much that they could leave before Wen Jianyan arrived.
But regardless, they had nearly accomplished their goal—they were already at the final step.
However, just before they could finish—
Knock, knock, knock.
Three slow, rhythmic knocks echoed through the room.
The sound broke the heavy silence, startling everyone inside.
“What’s going on?”
Anise jerked his head toward the door.
His face was deathly pale, as if he had been drained in some way. His pupils flickered with vigilance.
“I… I don’t know…” His teammates shook their heads, their expressions heavy.
“Could it be the Red Faction—?”
“Impossible.”
The Gentleman slowly shook his head, his normally composed face turning serious.
“Leaving aside the fact that they don’t have a seer to find this place so quickly, the most crucial point is that no one can go against the rules of the door. Even if they are humans wearing cursed disguises and the instance has classified them as ghosts, they still wouldn’t be able to resist the door’s power.
Which means… if it really were the Red Faction, they would’ve pushed the door open by now.”
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound was stiff and mechanical, with perfectly timed intervals—something no human could possibly produce.
“Which means…”
One of the Black Faction members involuntarily sucked in a cold breath.
Anise’s expression darkened. His voice was squeezed out from between his teeth—
“It’s a ghost.”
Black Faction’s live broadcast exploded.
But for some strange reason, the number of visible comments wasn’t particularly high.
Of course, in this situation, the Black Faction members had no time to check the chat or analyze the flow of messages.
[AAAAAAAAHHHHH IT’S THE RED FACTION, YOU IDIOTS!!]
[God, I’m so pissed! Watching the anchor come to the wrong conclusion right before my eyes!! DON’T GO, DON’T GO, DON’T GO!!]
[Honestly… I’ve been watching broadcasts for so long, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen an anchor actually try to—FU-CKING PRETEND TO BE A GHOST.]
[That damn conman is back at it again…]
[DIE, YOU BASTARD!!!]
