CH 58

The crowd tacitly ignored the question about one side of the water raising cockroaches and moved their attention back to the kitchen.

The torch in Wu Ting's hand turned in the other direction.

The kitchen is still in the same state of disrepair as this 404, with a sense of disrepair, rickety walls and stains that have built up over the years.

Dirty pots and pans are piled haphazardly in the sink and have been there for who knows how long, with bubbles of fermentation starting to appear on the surface of the water. Food scraps and crumbs were left lying around, mixing with dust and hair to become a haven for unknown insects.

Wu Ting frowned: "Tsk ......"

Duan Xueyin touches his throat and feels a bit like throwing up.

Li Haokuan ...... He seems to have been hurt too much by the cockroaches and is currently in a state of numbness.

Even though they knew the kitchen was like this, players couldn't help but feel their stomachs turn a little when they thought that what they were eating could have come from this place.

Only Xiao Lan, who has had numerous part-time jobs and has seen the back of the kitchen of a shady restaurant, said: "It's nothing.

To speed up the search, Xiao Lan also took out the [nuclear torch] he had traded with Wang Taidi, and the two beams of light together buzzed around the kitchen.

Suddenly, Xiao Lan noticed that the light from the torch seemed to catch a glimpse of something familiar looking.

He turned the light of the torch around again and examined it closely. It was a small piece of fabric, placed sideways in the fridge between the player and the thing, making it impossible to see clearly.

Luo also gazed at the small piece of fabric for a moment and said to Xiao Lan, "That's the same fabric as the dress Meng Ze is wearing."

This comment led the players to look over their shoulder, and because the fridge was in the way, they had to go inside the kitchen.

Bypassing the fridge, the rest of the fabric is finally revealed to the players.

That was indeed Meng Ze's dress, and - on a man!

--

A little earlier.

Hiding in his room, Meng Ze had heard the game's "four day end", which meant he only had to survive the day and he would be fine.

He hid under the covers, not caring how hot it was, he just felt shivering.

The voices of the players outside faded away, as if they had all gone out. Meng Ze doesn't understand why they don't stay in their rooms and wait for the game to end, instead they go out and keep exploring the environment, isn't it more dangerous the more they go out?

I don't know how long I've been waiting, but Meng Ze feels like he's suffocating under the covers.

He quietly stretched his head out from the blanket and breathed in the moisture-laden air, which was not exactly fresh.

It was probably because he hadn't eaten much since this morning and it had been so long that he suddenly felt so hungry. It was only going to be a day at most, so a little hunger wouldn't be a problem, and he had planned to endure it.

But I don't know why, but a restlessness rises up from my heart... I want to eat so badly, just a little bit.

No, no, it's dangerous out there.

It won't be a problem to eat a little.

No, I can put up with it ......

If you're hungry all day, you won't have the energy to go out.

And yes ...... why not just go to the kitchen and get a little something to eat ......

As if under a spell, Meng Ze was swayed.

He carefully lifted the covers, then gently poked his head out of the room and, after making sure there was no movement inside the 404, he tiptoed out the door quietly.

The kitchen was clean, with fresh vegetables on the cooking table and kitchen utensils neatly and cleanly laid out, a very everyday and relaxing sight.

Meng Ze walked into the kitchen, found where the fridge was and opened the door.

The fridge is richly stocked with ingredients, but they are all raw, and there is a kraft paper bag right in the middle with the name of some bakery printed on it.

Meng Ze's heart fluttered with joy as he reached out and pulled out the bread, the aroma of the baking could be smelt through the bag. He couldn't wait to open the packet and squatted down in front of the fridge to nibble on it.

It's delicious! I don't know which bakery makes it, how in the world can it be so good.

Meng Ze gobbled it up, forgetting all about going to his room.

Suddenly he felt something in his mouth, round, sourdough sized and full of elasticity ......

His big mouthful of bread suddenly stiffened, and he was suddenly unable to spit or swallow. The touch was all too familiar, exactly the same as the eye he had eaten at breakfast.

Before he could figure out what to do, the eyes in his mouth began to roll wildly, as if they were taking a closer look at his mouth. Unable to hold it in any longer, Meng Ze spat the contents of his mouth out violently.

Fixing his eyes on it, sure enough, it was another eye, this bloodshot one just staring straight at him.

"Ah..."

Meng Ze let out a terrified shout: "Somebody, somebody! Help! He Rui! He Rui! Duan Xueyin!"

Unfortunately, there was no sound at all outside the kitchen.

"Heh heh heh ......"

Suddenly there was laughter in the kitchen, a laugh that sounded unkind, as if it had been quenched with poison.

Meng Ze looked around in horror, but there was nothing extra in the kitchen.

"Hey ......"

The laughter sounded again, and this time Meng Ze heard it clearly, the source of the sound was his hand, the object he was holding.

He stiffened his neck and lowered his head, coming face to face with a human face. The face was missing an eye and was turning to him with a twisted smile, with only a head and an empty space beneath it.

The face was familiar to Ze Meng too, it was the one they ate with every day - the cultist!

The cultist's head was in Meng Ze's hand, staring at him along with the eyes on the ground, mouth open and closed, "Come on, you come along too ......"

Meng Ze felt a chill rise from his back: "No ......"

--

The players' eyes fell on "Meng Ze" by the fridge, who was lying on his back, in a contorted position, on the cooking table next to the fridge, with a bit of clothing behind him as seen earlier by Xiao Lan.

Next to him lay the head of the man frozen in a horrified expression; he appeared to have chopped off his own head standing up by himself.

Duan Xueyin couldn't help but huff: " Meng Ze ......"

The torch from Wu Ting's side also strikes Meng Ze's body, and with the addition of the two lights, the corner is suddenly clear.

That's when Xiao Lan noticed something was wrong: "Meng Ze doesn't seem that short, does he? The body shape is not right either."

Indeed, the body in Meng Ze's clothes is very thin at this point, appearing somewhat hollow and a little long, which is clearly not Meng Ze's body.

Wu Ting moved the light of his torch slightly towards the hand of the corpse, "This tattoo, I think I've seen it on the hand of that god-awful guy, does it ring a bell?"

Xiao Lan also turned his head to look, he was not familiar with these decorative items but did remember something like a tattoo on the back of the cultist's hand.

Li Haokuan: "I remember one too, but I can't remember exactly what it looked like."

Only Luo spoke with certainty, "It's the hand of the cultist, the tattoo is the same as the one we saw before and the two nails broken last night are also the same."

Wu Ting was puzzled: "What nails?"

Xiao Lan looked unperturbed: "Just ...... taught him to behave."

Then he probably broke two of his nails by accident when he was punching someone, who told him to keep his nails so long without hygiene.

Wu Ting: "......"

Social society, can't be messed with.

Xiao Lan: "So this is Meng Ze's head and the body of the cultist?"

Duan Xueyin: "Did the cultists do this? Why did they change it like that?"

Xiao Lan spreads his hands, "Maybe he was too short and wanted a taller body."

Wu Ting looked disgusted: "He's so frustrating looking, what's the point of just changing his body, why don't we just change him?"

Duan Xueyin & Li Haokuan: "......"

Hey hey, is it really okay for you two to just pull hate in front of people's backs ......

They tried to get another teammate to stop them, but found Fei Luo with a "Mister makes sense, that must be it" look on his face.

Why match to all teammates are just and testy, life is really hard oh.

The players left the kitchen and as for Meng Ze's head, it was impossible to take it away, so Xiao Lan had to find a clean towel to cover his head with.

That's what happens when you die in a game, and it's nice to have a teammate handy to cover up your body.

--

After coming out of the kitchen, Xiao Lan checked Meng Ze's room.

As he had suspected, all traces of Meng Ze's life had disappeared. Although the player didn't have many items, there were some towels and toothbrushes and the like that needed to be hung out to dry, but now Meng Ze's room was the same as it had been when they first chose it.

The rest of the time the players gathered in the living room and each found a seat.

It was now very close to night, and outside the window there was still a suffocating curtain of rain, a torrential downpour combined with the fact that it was getting late, the sky outside the window had been only very faintly bright, and everything had a sense of the last tranquillity before the crisis.

Players counted their heartbeats as they waited in the swish of the rain.

Finally, the last glimmer of light in the sky was gone.

As if to announce the start of a grand event, a knock came suddenly at the door as the whole of 404 was plunged into darkness for a moment.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang -"

It would be more appropriate to say that it was a knock on the door rather than a smash.

Here it comes. The players all said a secret word in their hearts.

Wu Ting stood up first and headed for the door, the banging outside the door not stopping at all as he advanced.

The 404 does not have a door mirror on the front door and to see what is happening outside you have to open the door.

He opened the door straight away and the banging stopped instantly.

But the door was empty, just pitch black and the sound of crashing rain, nothing could be seen. This was to be expected from the players, and it would have seemed rather strange if someone who really looked normal had come with a gift instead.

Wu Ting closed the door and returned to his original position and waited.

Five minutes later, the banging on the door started again, and this time it was Li Haokuan who opened the door, which remained the same.

This was repeated several times, with players alternately going out to open the door and not really seeing anything appear.

The next five minutes were up again, and this time the slamming didn't sound again.

As the crowd looked at the door, Duan Xueyin, who was facing the window, suddenly reached out and pointed at the window: "Look, the window!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw a black handprint appear on the window, as if it was left by someone outside the window, but the players remembered clearly that this was 404, the fourth floor.

Who can touch the windows here?

In the next instant, a second handprint appeared, followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth ...... handprint after another, appearing higher and higher on the window, and the dense handprints occupied almost the entire area of the window and were stacked so that they almost merged with the dark and heavy canopy.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

The exact same smashing sound was heard again, this time in the direction of the window. The old window rattled under this succession of blows, making one suspect that perhaps a few more blows would have made the old man fall apart.

Xiao Lan looked at the rattling window, "Is this a stance to get us out?"

Duan Xueyin was a little unsure, "So, do we go out?"

Xiao Lan stood up, "Let's go since they're all so enthusiastic, we can't live with it anyway, there's no way the Advent world is going to let us sit here and get through it."

Wu Ting ruffled his long curly hair, his red lips tinged with a smile, "If you really can mete out, you might as well change the name to Salty World."

To the sound of thumping windows, the players opened the door and walked out of 404.

Outside was the same corridor as before, only without the light, the dappled walls were stretched out in shadow by the torch, appearing ghostly.

Down the corridor to where the lift is, which surprisingly still flashes a faint red light.

Xiao Lan tried to press the down button and heard no sound of the lift rising. The old, old doors, which had to be pulled open by the rider himself, opened automatically this time.

When opened, the interior is a deep, pitch-black void.

Xiao Lan: "It looks like there's a sense of whoever enters will die."

The Xiao Qing in Wu Ting's bracelet then bursts out, seemingly sensing danger, and stops its master backwards.

Luo flicked a coin from nowhere towards the darkness, the silver coin glittered downwards and then there was no more.

There was no sound of falling to the ground, and no more light was reflected as if - swallowed up - when it entered the darkness.

"Rustle Rustle ......"

Just as the players were focusing on the lift, a sudden sound rang out in the corridor behind them.

Then, one after another, what looked like human activity came out of these otherwise empty rooms with closed doors.

It was as if, the place had been full of people and now they were all ready to come out for a party.