Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 371: A sure win
As before, the hotel manager held a faintly glowing lamp in his hand, walking forward at an unhurried, steady pace. The corridor was completely dark, with no end or beginning in sight; the only thing visible was the wallpaper beside them, illuminated by the weak light.
The atmosphere was oppressive, so quiet it made one’s heart tremble.
Several people followed silently behind the hotel manager, moving forward with him into the endless darkness.
Everything was no different from last time. However, because of the hotel manager’s earlier remarks, a strange tension hung in the air.
“The banquet is about to begin.”
This was undoubtedly a disguised way of telling them that the final moment of the entire instance was about to arrive.
Wen Jianyan tightened his fingers, clutching the hard-covered notebook in his hand, which still seemed to carry a trace of damp, sticky sensation. In his mind, he slowly organized his thoughts.
By this point, the structure of the entire instance had been more or less pieced together.
That white-clothed woman with the blurry face had been chosen as a host—or rather, a puppet—by some “higher-dimensional existence.” She had been manipulated to kill all the children in the elementary school, making their souls into “food” to feed the ghosts. And at this moment, the most critical task item—something Hugo had gone to great lengths to obtain in the original instance—was now quietly sitting in his pocket.
However…
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, his gaze falling to his toes, his brows furrowing slightly without him realizing it. He felt that there was still something he had not fully understood.
While he was lost in thought, the hotel manager had already led them to the elevator.
The elevator seemed to have been waiting for a long time; with a “ding,” it opened.
Blood-red light poured out like a thick, viscous liquid, spilling out from the elevator.
The hotel manager was the first to step inside.
The others quickly followed.
The elevator began to move slowly again.
The atmosphere was so oppressive and tense that it was almost suffocating.
After a long, heavy silence, the elevator once again gave a soft “ding” and slowly opened to both sides.
Different from last time, this time the hotel’s corridor was no longer pitch-black but dimly lit by ceiling lights, clearly illuminating everything.
The faintly reddish lighting, the clean wallpaper, the dim and dusty carpet. And the guest rooms on both sides, tightly shut, with the small “Do Not Disturb” lights glowing above them.
“……”
The few people following behind the hotel manager were stunned for a moment, quickly exchanging glances.
They knew clearly that the hotel they had been in earlier was already beyond recognition.
Cracks like butterfly nets had spread across the walls and carpets, endless rainwater had been pouring through the cracks, equipment had aged, lights had flickered and even gone out due to the influence of props—everything had seemed on the verge of collapse. Yet now, under the hotel manager’s lead, they had… returned to the hotel as it was at the very beginning.
What was going on?
Everyone’s faces showed confusion.
Wen Jianyan was stunned at first, but quickly calmed down.
As the only one among them who had entered the original instance, he understood the current situation best.
Originally, he thought the collapse of the mirror version of the Xingwang Hotel was due to the invasion of entities from the original copy, gradually revealing its true ruin. But after entering the Garden and seeing the real [Xingwang Hotel], he realized how wrong he had been.
There was no rain in the real Xingwang Hotel, so there was no such thing as “invasion.”
Thus, there was only one possibility:
The collapse of the mirror world was simply because the instance was reaching its end, and the nightmare no longer had any reason to maintain it, hence the disintegration. Where they were now was the real [Xingwang Hotel].
Back when they first entered here, everything had still been hidden in uncertainty—potential dangers buried, silent monsters lurking—it had been a point suspended between one fate and another.
But once Wen Jianyan entered and began to observe, that node was activated, the diorama disappeared, and it could no longer be considered a closed “diorama”.
Thus, this time, they entered the complete, brightly lit real instance: [Xingwang Hotel].
Soon, the hotel manager stopped in front of a corridor.
Although the corridor lights were now lit, he still held the lamp in his hand, its dim yellow light falling on his pale, rigid face, illuminating the high, stiff curve of his lips: “This is it.”
Wen Jianyan looked past him.
Although the lights were now on, he could still recognize that this was the same corridor they had come to last night—the formal staff dormitory.
Also, the temporary “safe zone” of the instance.
—At least, it had been yesterday.
“Please return to your rooms to rest and tidy your attire,” the hotel manager said, smiling unchanged, “Once the banquet is ready, I will come to inform you.” After speaking, he turned and left, just as leisurely as he had arrived.
Watching the hotel manager’s figure disappear from view, Yun Bilan turned her head and stared straight at Wen Jianyan: “Are you serious?” She took a deep breath and lowered her voice:
“You have the souls of those children?”
Wen Jianyan nodded.
Clearly, that was what was contained inside the black box.
“Let’s go, we’ll talk while walking,” Yun Bilan gestured and started walking.
Beside them, Chen Mo also seemed to have finally recovered from the shock. He turned to look at Wen Jianyan, his expression uncommonly serious:
“Captain, do you know what this thing means?”
Wen Jianyan nodded again.
In this instance, perhaps no one understood better than him what this item meant.
—Victory.
The black box lay heavily in his pocket, pressing uncomfortably through the damp cloth.
The advantage the Black side held was almost meaningless in front of the sacrificial item that had existed even in the original instance.
After all, it was created from the beginning to feed the existing malicious spirits. So even if the Black side had more intern staff to offer as sacrifices, they could never compare to the ready-made bait prepared in advance. Wen Jianyan had even personally witnessed, inside the original instance’s diorama, “how the instance should be brought to an end following the current.”
Following the guidance of the white-clothed woman in the painting, Hugo had relied on his own strength to enter the framing shop, obtain the item, and then open the prison. Since it had succeeded once before, there was no reason they couldn’t succeed this time.
In a sense, the item inside this box could be considered a direct ticket for them to win this instance confrontation and earn the platinum achievement.
Even though everyone in the team tried hard to suppress it, they still couldn’t hide the traces of excitement on their faces. It was truly a case of finding something after exhausting all efforts, only for it to fall right into their laps without any effort.
Just moments ago, they had still been struggling and negotiating with the Black side under the shadow of their missing captain. But with Wen Jianyan’s return and the key item in hand, the situation had taken a sharp turn. It was practically victory handed over to them.
“…”
Wen Jianyan swept a glance over everyone, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately said nothing.
Although the whole instance was now like a brightly lit room with everything visible, far from the “truth of the instance” and “victory or defeat of the confrontation”, there were still a few points left—some lingering issues that remained unsolved, seemingly minor and irrelevant. However…
For some reason, Wen Jianyan simply couldn’t completely ignore them.
“Don’t celebrate too early,” Chen Mo quickly calmed down and warned, “Since we know how important it is, the Black side must know too.” A serious expression appeared on his face:
“This is the decisive item. The Black side will absolutely not give up easily and hand over victory.”
“From now until the banquet begins, we must be twice as cautious,” Chen Mo said.
Hearing his words, everyone’s expressions gradually grew more serious.
“What about the other Red side teams?” Blond asked softly.
Earlier, when they clashed with the Black Faction in the corridor, they had split up, blocking different directions. After encountering Wen Jianyan, the hotel’s lights went out, and the hotel manager appeared. In other words, ever since that confrontation, they hadn’t had a chance to reunite with the other Red Faction teams.
Everyone exchanged glances.
Although no matter which Red Faction team activated the item and completed the banquet, it would still count as a victory for the Red Faction camp, the difference was significant for each individual team. After all, the [Platinum Achievement] reward would be given to a single team unit. No one could guarantee that the other Red side teams wouldn’t have second thoughts because of this.
“For now, there’s no need to share information about the item. We’ll wait until the banquet starts,” Chen Mo thought for a moment and answered.
Wen Jianyan remained silent the entire time. His eyes were lowered, and he seemed a little absent-minded.
Blond walked at the front. He raised his hand and pressed down on the doorknob in front of him, preparing to push it down.
Just then, a hoarse voice came from behind:
“You’ll die.”
“?!!”
Blond’s heart skipped a beat. He instinctively turned his head toward the direction of the voice.
The boy with pale skin and hair stood there, lifting his head. With those deep, pitch-black, lightless eyes, he stared at Blond and said expressionlessly.
Wen Jianyan was startled and snapped out of his thoughts.
What?
Yun Bilan’s expression tightened. “What do you mean? Is the staff rest area no longer safe?”
“……”
Bai Xue maintained his expressionless face and gave no answer.
Wen Jianyan knew why.
Due to his special talent, although Bai Xue could accurately perceive the probability of certain events happening, he had no way of knowing the reasons behind them—or how those results came about.
“Fall back first,” Wen Jianyan immediately ordered.
Everyone quickly moved away from the door, standing back to back, extremely alert to their surroundings.
Everything appeared unchanged.
The calm corridor, the dim lighting, the tightly shut doors.
Everything looked exactly the same as in their memories—no sign of deadly danger. But no one dared to ignore Bai Xue’s warning.
Throughout the entire instance so far, they had experienced firsthand his terrifyingly accurate “predictions.”
Everyone stood tense and wary, scanning around.
The corridor remained still and silent.
“Captain, try this,” Chen Mo said. As he spoke, he opened his backpack and pulled out a small, very old-looking Chinese-style porcelain bottle, faint cracks still vaguely visible on its surface. He handed it to Wen Jianyan.
“This is a tool I obtained from a Chinese-style instance: Cow’s Eye Tears. Apply two drops to your eyelids, and you’ll be able to see the dangers hidden around you.”
It was a consumable item rather than an active-use one. The amount of liquid left in the bottle was already very little—after being used several times in previous instances, only four or five drops remained. There was no way for everyone to use it.
In this situation, naturally, it should be left to the team member with the strongest ability, best judgment, and highest execution power.
Wen Jianyan did not decline.
He took the porcelain bottle and, following Chen Mo’s instructions, dropped two drops of the cold liquid onto his fingertip and lightly smeared it over his eyelids.
Wen Jianyan opened his eyes.
The corridor in front of him was still the same as before, but it seemed as if it had undergone a world-shaking change. The air was red.
Just like in the earlier elevator, the cold, blood-red light flowed like fresh blood, tightly enveloping his surroundings, almost suffocating.
Within this thick red, the Do Not Disturb light in front of the tightly closed door was faintly lit, appearing particularly glaring under the dim lighting. Thick, blood-like light seeped out from under the door crack. Just looking at it sent chills down one’s spine and made the hairs on the back of the neck stand up.
“……”
Wen Jianyan was stunned for a moment, his gaze resting on the Do Not Disturb light.
—This was not the “employee rest area,” but the guests’ rooms!
But the problem was, just now, they were indeed heading toward the employee rest area.
In an instant, a chill climbed up along his spine.
It seemed that they were, under some invisible guidance, led onto the wrong path.
According to Wen Jianyan’s understanding of the instance, whether in the original instance or the mirror instance, there was no such mechanism. Then, there was only one possibility—
The Black Team.
Moreover, most likely, the moment the hotel manager left, they had already fallen for it.
Wen Jianyan sharply turned his head and looked toward his teammates, lowering his voice and speaking urgently:
“When we came over, the Black Team was already waiting here, quickly—”
However, as soon as he turned around, the remaining words got stuck in his throat.
“……”
Wen Jianyan’s face turned pale, showing a dumbfounded expression.
The others looked at him nervously.
“What’s wrong?”
They didn’t know that under the blood-colored lighting, a layer of faint black mist covered their eyes, looking… like a hand.
As time passed, the shape of that hand gradually became solid, firmly covering their vision.
Was this… “Ghost Covering Eyes”?
Tap, tap, tap—
Footsteps came from behind.
Wen Jianyan’s eyes sharpened.
He lowered his voice and instructed his teammates:
“Hold hands, and later, follow my command.”
Immediately after, Wen Jianyan stuffed the “Ox Tear” bottle into Blond’s hand and whispered:
“Move to the back of the team, and find the way back to the employee rest area.”
Without waiting for a response, Wen Jianyan turned around and looked in the direction the sound came from. The figures of the Gentleman and Anise appeared not far away.
Anise’s expression was exceptionally cold. A blurry phantom lingered on his shoulder. His slightly bulging eyes stared at Wen Jianyan, as if looking at a dead person. Obviously, he still held a grudge for what Wen Jianyan had just done.
Next to him, although the Gentleman maintained his outward politeness, Wen Jianyan could still see the hidden coldness beneath his refined appearance. Clearly, he too harbored resentment toward Wen Jianyan’s earlier actions.
“Good evening,”
He touched the brim of his hat and said.
The Gentleman’s emotionless gaze moved to the silent Bai Xue beside them, and he raised the corner of his mouth:
“Looks like it was our old acquaintance who prevented you from dying in the corridor directly.”
There was a hint of regret in his voice.
“I didn’t expect you all to still be acting together.”
The Gentleman raised his eyes and looked at Wen Jianyan, his voice carrying a hint of playfulness:
“Seems like no one in your team has started dying yet.”
“What’s the matter, our dear little Bai Xue actually turned soft this time?”
The Gentleman said smilingly:
“Couldn’t bear to make a move?”
—Make a move?
Everyone couldn’t help but be stunned and subconsciously turned to look at Bai Xue.
“……”
Bai Xue stood expressionlessly where he was, seemingly unaffected by the Gentleman’s words.
“Soft-hearted once or twice is enough.”
The Gentleman sighed faintly, as if showing great concern.
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the price you paid for soft-heartedness before?”
“……”
Like a wooden puppet devoid of feelings, Bai Xue remained silent, unmoving.
However, whether it was an illusion or not, his snow-white, immaculate eyelashes seemed to tremble slightly.
“Price?”
Wen Jianyan took a step forward.
He glanced sideways at Bai Xue and suddenly realized:
“Ah, could it be you’re talking about that rumored ‘curse’?”
The tall young man narrowed his light-colored eyes, which glinted between his lashes. A casual, careless smile hung at the corner of his lips. He raised his hand lazily and draped his arm over Bai Xue’s shoulders.
Bai Xue’s body flinched instinctively, trying to step back, but was forcibly pulled back by Wen Jianyan.
“If you can’t even bear such a rumored curse,” He said lazily,
“Then anyway, you’d die somewhere else in the nightmare sooner or later, wouldn’t you?”
The young man half-leaned on the youth who was half a head shorter than himself, flashing a grin that, under the lazy mischief, hid an unquestionable, strong, and detached arrogance.
The Gentleman’s gaze once again fell on Wen Jianyan.
“I, for one, have tough luck and am hard to kill.”
Wen Jianyan tilted his head and smiled:
“Curse or no curse… feel free to try.”
“……”
Bai Xue seemed slightly stunned.
He silently raised his eyes, his gaze lingering on Wen Jianyan’s face for a moment.
“This—”
Wen Jianyan looked toward the Black Team not far away, his voice carrying a hint of deep, mocking ridicule:
“I thought you would have discovered it within this instance.”
The gentleman’s expression darkened slightly.
The mask of perfect courtesy and calm he wore seemed to crack, a fine fissure splitting open, and a corner of his polite smile crumbled away.
“Enough,” Anise said. “If it’s useless talk, there’s no need to say more.”
Unlike the gentleman, Anise had no patience for games. He stepped forward, his icy gaze filled with killing intent falling directly on Wen Jianyan. “I believe you took something that belongs to me.”
“Did I?”
Wen Jianyan shrugged casually, his voice light.
“Then maybe you should have kept a closer watch.” He tilted his head, flashing an innocent, infuriating smile. “Besides, what exactly did I take? The key’s still sitting nice and snug in your pockets, isn’t it?”
“I suggest you stop bluffing in a situation like this,” Anise said.
His face twitched slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting into a furious, twisted smile.
He spoke grimly:
“This time, we’ve caught you.”
As his words fell, two figures stepped stiffly out from behind him.
Wen Jianyan’s expression remained unchanged, but inside, he couldn’t help a jolt of surprise.
He recognized them.
Among the red team’s official members, there were three squads. The two figures standing behind Anise were none other than the captains of the other two squads. Their eyes were wide open, their faces blank, standing rigidly behind Anise as if under someone else’s control.
“……”
Wen Jianyan’s heart trembled slightly.
He had always known the black team was powerful, but this was the first time he truly witnessed just how overwhelming their strength was.
In just the short time after he tampered with the clue, the black team had not only discovered his manipulation, but instantly pieced together the full situation, launched a counterattack, seized control over the other two red team captains, and laid a trap before the red team even arrived—any one of these, when thought over carefully, was terrifying.
It seemed the black team was truly serious now.
In a direct confrontation, the red team’s strength was far inferior to the black team’s. Both sides were well aware of it. That was why, up until now, Wen Jianyan had always gone out of his way to avoid clashing head-on.
Their many “victories” before had only been possible because Wen Jianyan used deception, misdirection, and information gaps to his advantage.
Strictly speaking, throughout the entire instance, the black team had been cautious and restrained.
In the first half of the instance, even after encountering Wen Jianyan’s team, even when nearly falling into dangerous traps, they had never made “killing Wen Jianyan’s team” their main objective.
Their priority was to “find the portraits they left in the nightmare”—a backup plan for future instances—not to wipe out the red team.
In the second half, when Wen Jianyan was trapped in the Garden and Yun Bilan and Chen Mo led the team, the red team had recruited more members. But even then, despite the black team’s numbers and advantage, there had been no significant casualties on either side—already a clear sign of restraint.
Even facing constant provocations from the red team, the black team, though momentarily forced into disadvantage, never went all out.
Because after fully understanding the instance’s rules, they knew they already had the victory in hand.
Without controlling the number of sacrifices, the red team would be powerless at the final banquet.
But now, everything was different.
Because they realized—the other side had used the key to open the box, and had obtained the most crucial, perhaps even victory-deciding, item in the entire instance.
For the first time, the black team lost complete control over the outcome.
Thus, they finally started fighting for real.
All their hidden tools, talents, and resources were thrown onto the table without reservation.
Wen Jianyan had only entered the nightmare world for a short time; compared to them, his resources were pitifully few.
If this confrontation happened anywhere else, he might still have a chance.
But the problem was—the final “banquet” completely cut off Wen Jianyan’s greatest advantages: mobility and flexibility.
Each team had to be led by a hotel manager to travel from the mirrored instance back to the original one.
For the first time, Wen Jianyan’s “location” and “identity” were fixed. He lost the environment that allowed him to deceive and scheme.
He was forced into a pure contest of strength.
And he was definitely not the type to win a head-on fight.
Still, the only bit of good news was—
Before this confrontation even happened, Wen Jianyan had already anticipated the possibility—and had prepared for it.
Anise extended a hand:
“Hand it over.”
He laughed darkly, “Otherwise, all of you will die.”
Wen Jianyan blinked, then gave Anise a shy, mischievous smile from across the distance.
“You don’t seriously think I’d be scared by a threat like that, do you?”
Anise’s brow twitched.
Wen Jianyan lifted his gaze, calm and smiling slightly, and said:
“With your strength, there was no need to use ghost tricks to blind us, lure us to the guests’ rooms, and tempt us to enter… right?”
The black team held overwhelming strength, and for the first time had the advantage of time and place.
They had locked down the red team’s arrival point and had time to prepare traps. Yet all they did was use ghostly interference to lure them into opening a door. Even after being exposed, they were still “polite” enough to ask Wen Jianyan to voluntarily hand over the item. It didn’t add up.
“Before the banquet begins, formal employees aren’t allowed to kill each other in this area, right?” Wen Jianyan blinked slyly.
Being led to the hotel by the manager and before the banquet officially started, players couldn’t engage in uncontrolled battles. Otherwise, depending on the order of arrival, someone could gain an unfair advantage purely by luck—something that would never happen in a high-level instance.
Thus, the only logical explanation was:
In this area, only ghosts could kill people. Humans couldn’t kill each other.
The gentleman and Anise’s expressions darkened.
“Of course, it’s not that I’m completely unwilling to hand it over, unless…” Wen Jianyan grinned slyly, dragging out his voice.
The next second, his expression sharpened. He lowered his voice and said:
“Run.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed Bai Xue beside him, and without warning, turned and bolted like a startled rabbit.
Thanks to Wen Jianyan’s earlier hints, the others had long been prepared to flee.
Blond, who was stationed at the rear, used his keen vision and Chen Mo’s tool to scout the path back to the staff area, buying time while Wen Jianyan held the black team’s attention.
At Wen Jianyan’s command, the others grabbed each other’s hands and, led by Blond, sprinted down the corridor at full speed!
In the “Integrity First” Live broadcast:
[Shit.]
[Shit.]
[Running the moment he can’t win—truly him!]
[LOL, classic coward streamer move.]
Behind them, the gentleman and Anise both froze for a moment, seemingly caught off guard by how quickly Wen Jianyan turned and fled.
But even as Wen Jianyan’s group disappeared into the distance, they didn’t immediately give chase.
The gentleman shook his head and smiled, “Running away again, huh?”
“Let them run,” Anise sneered, his eyes glinting coldly.
“They won’t get far.”
The two exchanged a glance—and smiled.
In the empty hallway, Anise and the gentleman’s group began to walk, slowly and unhurriedly, in the direction Wen Jianyan had fled, as if they already had victory firmly in their grasp.
