Entering Danger Alone

Given that the hotel rooms are only about twenty to thirty square meters, the internal information survey was assigned to Yu Jing, who is skilled at analyzing slender figures, and Hu Zhi, a thirty-year-old soldier with life-and-death experience and various training from his time in the military. The remaining four would stand guard outside the door.

Upon entering the room, both Yu Jing and Hu Zhi were immediately assaulted by a putrid smell. Yu Jing suppressed his physical reaction and slowly adapted to the odor, while Hu Zhi's expression turned grim.

Through eye contact, they communicated their plan: Hu Zhi would inspect the bathroom and the outer areas, while Yu Jing would examine the interior of the room and the bed where the old woman lay.

What first caught Yu Jing's attention were the clipped newspapers affixed to the wall. Headlines read: 'Female Ability Disciple Working Part-Time at Hotel Suspected to Have Died from XX', 'Mysterious Death of Female Ability Disciple at Hotel', 'Female Ability Disciple Dismembered by Guest'… The content primarily focused on one point: a female Ability disciple had once been murdered in the hotel.

In Yu Jing's opinion, this female Ability disciple was likely the old woman's granddaughter.

However, a point of suspicion was that none of the clipped newspapers mentioned any suspects; all the information was focused on the victim, the female Ability disciple.

Yu Jing had also read some horror and suspense stories where ghosts born of resentment lingered in the human world seeking revenge. Therefore, if the sole intention was revenge, Yu Jing believed the newspapers posted here should contain information about the killer, not the victim.

Next, Yu Jing inspected the bedside table, finding it covered in cobwebs and completely empty.

Finally, it was time to check the bed. Yu Jing lowered himself, intending to see if there was anything beneath the bed. While there wasn't the typical horror movie scene of a corpse stuffed under the bed, he did find something that sent a chill down his spine.

It was an iron rod, about three inches long, with five bells of varying sizes tied to it with thin red thread.

The moment he saw the bells, Yu Jing's heart clenched, and a terrifying image flashed through his mind.

He then forced himself to calm down, reached out, and grabbed the bells from under the bed. He used plant vines to thread between the bells, preventing them from shaking and making noise, and slowly pulled the bells into his hand.

"This thing is crucial. We'll discuss the bells in detail after we leave this room. For now…"

When Yu Jing held the bells and looked up, the old woman who had been lying on the bed like a corpse just moments before was nowhere to be seen.

"How is that possible? Where did she go?" Yu Jing had been under the bed the entire time retrieving the strange bells. If she had gotten off the bed, Yu Jing would have known.

"If we dismiss the notion of vanishing into thin air, and considering she disappeared from the bed without touching the ground, the only possibility is… did she climb the wall to leave?"

When Yu Jing's attention shifted to the wall above the head of the bed, faint footprints were indeed imprinted there.

Following the direction of the footprints, the final destination was the bathroom.

Inside, the thirty-year-old soldier Hu Zhi was lying down. The previously open bedroom door had been closed at some point.

A sense of unease washed over Yu Jing.

"Crack crack!"

A tearing sound came from the bathroom. Yu Jing was very familiar with this sound.

Having been admitted to the Dihua Ability Institute by stepping on the corpses of his comrades, and with twelve years of military training, his physical fitness was bound to be above that of ordinary people. In Yu Jing's worst-case scenario, such a soldier could be killed without making a sound.

"Ugh…"

A blood-soaked figure rolled out of the bathroom.

Hu Zhi, who was usually physically fit, now had a pale face. He couldn't speak because his tongue had been severed by a sharp object.

Hu Zhi, who had fallen in front of the bathroom door, was in a dire state.

His bloodshot eyes looked at Yu Jing, who stood inside the room. The will to survive drove Hu Zhi's body to writhe forward.

This wasn't the first time Yu Jing had faced a non-human entity. Although the sight of such a bloody and inhumane scene made his legs tremble, his mind was constantly working.

"Despite the commotion inside the room, the four people outside haven't come to assist. It seems they've also fallen into a terrible situation. I'm the only one who can handle this… Judging by the tearing of flesh, this old woman's physical strength is likely two to three times that of an ordinary person."

"The protective bars on the window are rusty. I need to find a way to escape this cramped room first. If I can move the battlefield to the advantageous terrain of the forest, with the help of the heavy rain and plants, I might stand a chance against this thing. I'll surely die in this room."

As the old woman slowly approached Yu Jing, several vines extended from Yu Jing's right hand, which he had placed behind him, and were silently working on the welded points of the protective bars.

"It will take at least two minutes…"

Yu Jing watched the old woman crawling towards him from the side wall, estimating that time was running out.

In a moment of desperation, Yu Jing made a rather dangerous decision. He slowly picked up the bells in his hand, ensuring they didn't shake, and aimed them at the approaching old woman.

"I gambled right!"

The old woman immediately stopped crawling when she saw the bells in Yu Jing's hand. Fear appeared in her milky white eyes.

During their standoff, the vines had already severed all the welded points of the protective bars.

Ensuring the bells wouldn't ring, Yu Jing immediately turned, shielded his arms in front of him, and forcefully smashed through the window, falling outside the hotel along with the loosened protective bars. Disregarding the glass shards piercing his arm, Yu Jing ran into the depths of the forest at top speed.

The old woman was completely enraged. Like a spider, she crawled on all fours, pursuing the fleeing Yu Ji