CH 27

The footsteps up the stairs were a little heavy and slow, creaking on the wooden stairs, sounding like an elderly man of a certain age.

The sound of footsteps made their way up the stairs and stopped at Xiao Lan’s floor.

“Knock, knock, knock -” there was a knock on the door of the first room.

“Hello, room service.”

I can’t believe it’s the boss’s voice!

But Xiao Lan thinks the odds are that it won’t be the boss.

Not to mention the fact that this newly emerged hotel looks like no one is running it at all.

In the few days he stayed at the hotel alone, the owner’s business style had always been Buddhist to the core, and he had never seen the owner provide any room service, no matter which side of the fence the guests were on.

The main activity of the old man all day is to watch TV shows at the reception desk, and even when the residents specifically approach him to talk, he looks like he doesn’t want to talk to them.

And the owner of Rokudo Onsen is a tall, thin old man who, despite his age, has always been in good health and doesn’t walk at this heavy and slow pace.

Who is this? Gu Mo, or one of the “people” she manipulates?

Xiao Lan’s scalp tingles at the thought of those dense, stiff ghostly figures.

Is it possible to get in here already?

But both Gu Mo herself and the ghosts she manipulates seem to be less able to move around as they did before, and she has to go from room to room when the doors are closed.

As to why he chose Xiao Lan’s floor, Xiao Lan is not sure. Perhaps he could sense his scent vaguely, or perhaps he was just unlucky, for after all, apart from the lobby and the dining room, there were only two floors in the hotel where people could stay.

With a 1 in 2 chance, even a blind guess has a 50/50 chance of being right.

But while it was good luck for Gu Mo’s side, it was bad luck for Xiao Lan’s side.

Although Xiao Lan never had any hopes for his luck.

The “boss” knocked three times, but no one answered the door.

After that he fell silent, Xiao Lan could not hear any other movement and for a while the corridor was silent.

Xiao Lan was almost expecting him to replace the next door when he suddenly heard a “bang…”.

It was the sound of a door panel colliding with a wall after a violent impact.

The suspected boss actually just violently opened the door and then the sound of footsteps as he went straight into the room!

Now Xiao Lan was even more certain. Without even a key, there was no way this guy could be the owner. He would be heartbroken if he let the owner treat his own hotel like this.

Feet wandered around the room for a while, punctuated by rustling noises, as if a lot of things had been turned over, and he seemed to be looking for something.

A few moments later, the “boss” came to the next door.

“Knock, knock, knock -” the knock came again.

“Hello, room service.”

Like a programmed machine, he began to repeat his previous actions.

Even the steps were exactly the same, the frequency of the knocking and the tone of voice were exactly the same as before, without the slightest change.

It’s not good ……

Xiao Lan’s heart was suddenly filled with apprehension.

If he jumped out of the window now, he would be watched directly by the creepy crowd outside, and if he was discovered it would be the end of one person taking on a ghost in the premises.

But if he had stayed in the room, which was not too far from the entrance to the corridor, it would not have taken long for the “boss” to come to him, given the speed at which he knocked.

If the “boss” finds out, he will still be able to take on all the ghosts in the room by himself.

Xiao Lan imagines the nerve-wracking image of a group of stiff, white faces staring at him with their dead eyes, before Gu Mo walks up to him and says “Welcome to the team”.

Xiao Lan, I really don’t want to join you, I can’t share your simple, unadulterated happiness with a poor man.

What to do? Xiao Lan’s thoughts were whirling madly.

Open the door and sneak out while the “boss” goes into another room to check?

It seems like a good idea, but only if there’s only one “person” out there, after all, Gu Mo hasn’t shown her face at all so far, in case she’s standing in the hallway waiting to open the door and kill ……

Or maybe the corridor is already full of “people”, but only the “boss” is making noise, and when Xiao Lan opens the door he is confronted with a warm welcome for the new students.

Xiao Lan’s brow furrowed as he couldn’t think of a solution.

Mr]

Luo’s sinewy and elegant handwriting appears on the walls.

Xiao Lan turned his head and asked the black cat beside him with his eyes, which looked at him with a jewel-like hue, without anxiety, fear, or dread, as calm as he had seen before.

Suddenly Xiao Lan felt a slight reprieve, too, now that he was not alone in his battle.

The feeling of having a teammate in the midst of danger always makes you feel more at ease.

Luo continues to write.

[I can change into a dark shadow form to cover you and keep you from being seen]

[but you need to stay still for a while for it to work]

Luo is really quite a reliable and good companion!

Xiao Lan’s spirits lifted, he reached out his hand and wrote in front of the black cat’s face.

[Please].

Then the black cat reappeared in front of Xiao Lan as a dark shadow, its shape twisting and elongating.

Then the black shadow spread out little by little, gradually covering Xiao Lan’s entire body like a film.

It’s a strange sensation; the dark shadows are completely untouchable, so tactilely they don’t cause the slightest discomfort, but to the naked eye Xiao Lan’s entire being appears to be shrouded in a dark veil.

“Ta-da…”

“Ta-da…”

“Ta-da…”

The sound of heavy footsteps coming closer.

The “boss” still keeps his regular routine of knocking – asking – knocking again.

Every room he passed on the way was not spared, and anyone who did not respond after three knocks on the door was broken right in at the next instant.

Xiao Lan relaxed her breathing and tried to restore everything she had moved, even the curtains that had been slightly moved into place.

He wiped away as much as he could of the traces he had left in the room, after which he remained motionless in his standing position against the wall.

Xiao Lan is standing on what appears to be a white wall, the kind that cannot hide anything by any stretch of the imagination, and falls into the category of someone who won’t look twice when looking for someone or something.

Right now he was hoping to escape this crisis that way, but he had no clue how to leave the game.

The World of Advent’s pass-through teleportation has been interrupted by Gu Mo, and it’s not at all clear why Gu Mo would have such power.

Will he have another chance to leave?

Do we have to wait for the next player to arrive?

Finally, heavy footsteps arrive at Xiao Lan’s door.

“Knock, knock, knock–”

“Hello, room service.”

As on every previous occasion, the “boss” machinery was again at pains to ask questions.

Xiao Lan mentally counts the number of times the other person knocks on the door, the first time, the second time, the third time.

He had just mentally counted to “three”.

In the next instant, “bang-” the door was opened roughly.

The man who walked in looked the same as the innkeeper from the outside, including his tall, thin build and usual clothes, even his hair.

But his eyes were blank and numb, his face was pale, there was not the slightest expression on his face, every step seemed heavy and his limbs moved with a somewhat stiff and odd frequency.

Anyone with not too much trouble with their eyes could tell that he was nothing like the real boss.

Xiao Lan held his breath when he saw that the “boss” had entered, and prayed that he didn’t have any special powers in the area of smell.

The “boss” slowly entered the room and searched around the room, carefully opening each cupboard to make sure there was nothing hidden in it before he moved on.

He even got down and checked under the bed.

Seemingly not noticing anything unusual, the “boss” turned towards the door of the room, as if to leave.

Suddenly, his head twisted directly from his neck, ignoring the limits of the human body all the way to the back, his dead eyes staring straight at the curtain.

Everything in this hotel is neat and tidy, the curtains are in exactly the same position, and each room looks as if it has been copied without the slightest difference.

But this curtain seems to be pulled back to a subtle degree from the others, but it is too faint to tell.

The “boss” looked at the curtains for a moment, but did not act.

After a while, the “boss” turned his body around and made a “creaking” sound with his neck, and only after the whole body had been adjusted did he move towards the curtain.

At the moment, Xiao Lan is just a few steps away from the curtains.

The “boss” moved closer to the curtain and, at first glance, he didn’t see anything wrong.

Then he reached straight out and roughly ripped the curtain down in its entirety, the fragile curtain being thrown to the floor to reveal the empty window.

The “boss” went to the window and pulled it open, sticking his head out to look out, but there was nothing but a crowd of people huddled together like fans chasing a star.

There is also no sign of Xiao Lan.

As if something didn’t feel right, his eyes scanned back and forth near the curtains, even passing Xiao Lan a few times , but unfortunately, both visually and perceptually, the area was too empty to see anything wrong.

The “boss” remained in place for a moment, as if his mind was not capable of dealing with such a complex problem, and then, after a few moments, he left the room with heavy steps.

The stiff figure of the “boss” had left the room and silence returned once more.

Xiao Lan’s heart lifted.

For the footsteps disappeared when they reached the door of the room, showing no sign of going forward, nor did they go on to knock on other doors, which meant-

That thing that looks like the boss, he’s been standing in the doorway!

There was no more noise at the door and Xiao Lan did not move, the two sides seemed to be engaged in a silent confrontation.

Time passes, second by second, as if it were extremely long and as if it were wrapped in a thousand pounds of force, going on and never looking back.

Every minute seemed so torturous, Xiao Lan tried to calm herself down and not show the slightest hint of a breakthrough.

“Tick-tock…”

“Tick-tock…”

The sound of water dripping broke the silence in a room where the two sides had been at a standstill.

A little water stain seeps into the room from where the doorway is.

Xiao Lan’s heart sank at the sight, it was Gu Mo.

The worst has happened.

The water stains spread across the ceiling at a breakneck speed, instantly taking up half the room and sealing off the way to the door with a dead stop.

The young girl’s voice rang out, “You are different, you must be able to understand me ……”

“It’s a filthy world out there ……”

“Stay here and we won’t get hurt again ……”

With the sound of Gu Mo’s figure becoming clearer on the ceiling, this will become Gu Mo’s home turf again if the water stains take over the room, and then all the hiding will be pointless.

Although Xiao Lan can understand that Gu Mo had received little kindness in life and died so miserably, the combination of oppression in life and resentment in death made her feel no better about the world.

The presence of someone who will stand by her and help her will make Gu Mo feel warm and, not surprisingly, she will feel that person needs to be protected.

After all, Gu Mo has been saying from start to finish that Xiao Lan is a good person, that this is the cleanest place to be, and that her initial intentions may not have been malicious.

But …… Sister Xiao , what you may need is a psychiatrist ……

As things stand, Xiao Lan can no longer hide.

If you can’t meet them, then you should meet them head on.

Xiao Lan resolutely used the Reverse Time Mark, choosing the object of the backtracking time as his own skill, resetting the cooldown of the skill.

At the same time the heart slightly meat pain, a manipulation of time powerful props ah, time backwards are not a dream, the result is used to reset the skills, simply …… defeat.

[I’ll see you off, please buy me some time]

Luo’s handwriting floats in mid-air.

Xiao Lan : “Is five minutes enough?”

[That’s enough, sir]

At the sound of the voice, the figure of Gu Mo on the ceiling snapped up and looked in the direction of Xiao Lan.

“Don’t go!” Gu Mo’s already half-formed body emerged from the ceiling and darted towards Xiao Lan like lightning.

A blackness deeper than anything seen before erupted violently around Xiao Lan, forcefully occupying the space around him and blocking out the encroaching water stains.

Gu Mo’s attack is blocked by an invisible wall.

The dense black shadows block Gu Mo’s attacks as they struggle to tear at the barriers of this world.

With two heads consumed, the colour of the black shadows lightened at a rate visible to the eye, indicating that such an act was extremely taxing for Luo.

Xiao Lan has switched on the skill.

[Title: Poverty Can’t Limit My Imagination]

[Ability: Attacking Spirits]

[Time remaining: 00:04:59]

Finally, Gu Mo broke through the barrier in front of him and reached for Xiao Lan.

But the man in front of her dodged her attack with a nimble movement, and at the same time kicked her hard, sending Gu Mo backwards.

Gu Mo was shocked. The ghost’s body was so ethereal that a physical attack could not possibly touch her, so how did this man do it?

Xiao Lan also exclaims, “Gu Mo is worthy of being a boss, don’t look like a Sister Xiao, but it’s harder than concrete.

At this point the “boss” saw the situation and took the opportunity to attack Xiao Lan as well.

Unfortunately, he was too weak for Gu Mo and was knocked straight into the wall by Xiao Lan, whose head became stuck.

Xiao Lan was able to escape from Gu Mo’s grasp and even counterattack on several occasions, delaying the fight for quite some time, which made Gu Mo feel more and more impatient.

Gu Mo gave up her normal attacks, her eyes turned crimson, sharp nails grew on her hands and a steaming white mist began to fill her body.

The mist grew, and as Gu Mo moved it formed a huge palm as tall as the room, coming towards Xiao Lan.

Let’s see where you run to this time.

It was then that Luo finally managed to tear a hole in the world, and the black shadow burst forth, wrapping itself around Xiao Lan and sending him through the gap.

As the saying goes, if God shuts the door in your face, break down the wall.

Gu Mo’s grip is empty and Xiao Lan plunges into the infinite darkness.

“You’ll regret this! This is the true land of joy!” Gu Mo stood at the rapidly closing rift in the world and spoke to Xiao Lan.

“Running away from it will never get you to the land of joy.” Xiao Lan said, looking at her seriously.

Once again to the dark world after the pass.

Xiao Lan’s first call was to Luo, but there was no reply. He waited in the darkness for a while, but there was still no sign of movement, so he had no choice but to leave.

Back in the room, Xiao Lan appears to be where he was before he entered the game, the house is dark, the neon outside the window still twinkling, speaking of the hustle and bustle of the night.

He turned his head and looked around, searching the room again, and saw no sign of the black cat at all.

Suddenly the room felt empty.

” Luo?”

No response.

” Luo , are you there?”

Still no response.

Xiao Lan frowns, forcing open the world barrier, what will happen to Luo?

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound on the ceiling. Xiao Lan was now a bit paranoid after Gu Mo’s surprise attack on the ceiling, and he subconsciously jumped to the side, but the room was so big that he couldn’t jump very far.

Looking up, I found the ceiling to be a deep shadow that swallowed up the neon reflected around it into the room, reflecting no light at all.

Something seems to be struggling inside, showing a little white every now and then.

The shadows tumbled and from within, with difficulty, a human head emerged, a little reluctantly so, for most of the face was shrouded in black, revealing only a well-defined jaw, plus a lip that seemed to be tipped with a smile.

Xiao Lan thought she might be glad she didn’t wake up in the middle of the night to see this image, it would be a pain to clean up.

“Ahem …… first …… born ……”

The lips of the half-head opened and closed, but it was Luo’s voice, which seemed stilted, as if it were an old record.

“How are you?” Xiao Lan was a little worried as she didn’t look well.

“I’m going to …… look for …… a bit of material …… to re …… make body …… will …… leave you for a while.” Each of Luo’s syllables seemed tough.

“Are you okay with this? Do you need help?”

“Oh …… no need …… for the next game …… I will come and meet you… …meet.”

“You can find me?”

“The envelope contains …… part of my nativity …… as long as you …… don’t throw it away… …I will always …… be able to find the …… area you are in.”

When he finished, the dark shadow of the ceiling seemed to flow into obscurity and slowly disappeared.

The author has something to say.

Luo : Sir, I’m about to take on a human form!

Xiao Lan (handing over a hammer): Come on, let’s demolish the place together.

Luo : ……