Lame Foot

"They abandoned us! Do you understand? They abandoned us!"

Inside a room at another inn, Xiao Zhou paced back and forth, his tone filled with dissatisfaction, much like a jilted lover.

"Oh."

Li Liang lay lazily on the bed, fully embodying the definition of "I am already a salted fish."

Bi Wanhui, meanwhile, remained silent; the shock of seeing her friend die right before her eyes was still weighing heavily upon her.

"Can you two at least give me some reaction!"

Xiao Zhou said angrily.

"Didn't I just give you one?" Li Liang said. "I think it's great. We don't have to risk our lives and can spend the rest of the mission in peace."

"If we don't participate, there won't be any rewards," Xiao Zhou said. "Have you forgotten?"

"I don't care."

Bi Wanhui said this before falling silent once more.

Li Liang waved his hand dismissively: "Give it a rest. Do you really think this is a game dungeon? People actually die in these missions."

"Didn't that monk say he would protect us?" Xiao Zhou said.

Li Liang chuckled: "You believe everything he says?"

"He's clearly capable of fighting; he could have easily taken us along to complete the mission," Xiao Zhou emphasized again. "But they looked down on us as dead weight and abandoned us!"

Night had already fallen.

Tang Luo and his two companions had not returned at all.

They had only given them a bit of money that morning to settle things, and they didn't even know the whereabouts of the trio.

They had left behind a copy of the document, at least.

Li Liang and Bi Wanhui were happy with this situation, as long as they could save their own skins and avoid participating in dangerous tasks.

But Xiao Zhou was different.

He was stuck in a state of being unable to move forward and unwilling to shrink back.

After being ignored and "abandoned" by Tang Luo and the others, the more he thought about it, the more unwilling he felt, and he began to grow angry.

"Take us along, my ass."

Li Liang said, "Do you really think the whole world is your mother and has to coddle you? Giving us money and arranging a place for us to stay is already decent enough. Even though that monk stabbed me, to be honest, he's a good guy."

An unemployed youth who had hit a few walls understood the cruel laws of society to some extent.

"Are all high school students this self-centered these days?"

Li Liang, completely forgetting that he had also gone through that phase, began to mock him.

The pot calling the kettle black.

In truth, everyone was the same; it was just that some people could quickly adjust their mindset, while others would lose their balance.

"Shut up!"

Provoked by Li Liang's mockery, Xiao Zhou, already in a foul mood, roared.

"Yo, are you looking for a fight?"

"Damn it!"

Xiao Zhou's reaction was far more violent than Li Liang had expected.

Someone actually made such a request? Then he would satisfy him.

The energetic teenager cursed loudly and lunged directly at Li Liang, and the two began to wrestle on the bed.

Then, Li Liang tragically discovered that he actually couldn't win!

As a college student who had spent four years doing nothing but eating and sleeping, Li Liang's physical fitness and the like were truly lackluster.

It was nowhere near his peak during high school.

Not to mention, he was still in a state of being physically drained.

Xiao Zhou never missed the mandatory morning runs at school and enjoyed physical exercise, like playing basketball—after all, for a boarding student, that was the only legitimate form of entertainment!

His strength was truly not small.

His fists rained down on Li Liang's face, causing his nose to bleed profusely.

"You're sick!"

Bi Wanhui cursed, then simply opened the door and walked out.

Tang Luo had been generous enough to book three rooms for them.

It was just that out of habit and fear, they were accustomed to staying together.

And now, the two of them were fighting.

Bi Wanhui was in no mood to play peacemaker, nor did she wish to stay and watch the two of them brawl any longer.

She took out her key and unlocked the door beside her.

As Bi Wanhui reached out to touch the door, preparing to push it open, she heard a series of footsteps behind her.

This inn was far worse than the one they had stayed in yesterday.

The floorboards in the hallway would frequently creak underfoot.

The footsteps were exceptionally distinct.

One light, one heavy.

Upon hearing the footsteps, Bi Wanhui's body instinctively shuddered.

Recalling the same footsteps she had heard the previous night, her movements to push the door became hurried.

However, just as Bi Wanhui pushed the door halfway open, intending to walk—no, to flee—into the room, her movements ceased.

The footsteps she had just heard stopped as well.

A cold, bone-chilling breath blew against the back of Bi Wanhui's neck.

It left her feeling dazed, as if she were no longer in the inn, but had been transported to a dark, frigid, and unfamiliar environment.

The hairs on her body stood on end, and her hands and feet went numb.

Bi Wanhui stood where she was, maintaining her posture against the door, motionless and stiff as a statue.

Only the look of terror on her face shifted wildly.

Tears and snot streamed down her face.

She did not know who was behind her.

But the fear that death was imminent completely enveloped her, crushing her spirit bit by bit.

"Hoo—"

"Hoo—"

The cold breath blowing against her neck grew heavier and heavier.

The temperature of the exhaled air dropped even further; Bi Wanhui could even see white frost gradually forming on the door in front of her.

She tried with all her might to open her mouth and scream.

At this moment, the person behind her moved as well.

A pair of hands reached out from under Bi Wanhui's armpits, like a lover's warm embrace from behind.

That would be true, provided that the hands "meeting" in front of her were not clutching a dagger.

A rusted, mottled dagger!

The not-so-sharp blade was pointed directly at Bi Wanhui's chest.

Not at her heart, but right in the center.

The true "embrace" began.

The arms reaching from behind began to tighten, and just then.

Bi Wanhui's body jolted; her silent, frantic struggle finally took effect.

It was as if a suffocating person had suddenly breathed fresh air or broken free from the ropes binding them.

Bi Wanhui regained control of her body, her mouth wide open.

She raised her hands, she lunged forward, she had to escape!

A sharp, intense pain struck.

In that instant, the rusted dagger plunged into Bi Wanhui's chest.

The hands, which had been so steady before, began to tremble violently.

The wound widened and tore.

Blood, strength, and the vitality in her eyes were all drained from her body at once.

"%...)@#￥%"

A string of gibberish-like sounds emanated from the killer.

Releasing their grip, the killer let Bi Wanhui's corpse hit the floor, then retreated into the darkness, vanishing without a trace.

Inside the room.

Li Liang and Xiao Zhou were panting, staring each other down.

Xiao Zhou's face was covered in several bloody scratches, and blood flowed from his forehead, staining half his face and making him look incredibly savage and terrifying.

But in reality, they were minor wounds, and the bleeding had already stopped.

On the other side, Li Liang was bruised and battered, his left cheek and right eye swollen severely.

He sat on the bed, swaying unsteadily, his mouth agape as he dry-heaved every now and then.

"I've had enough of you, you piece of trash! I'm joining the mission tomorrow! You can just wait here and die by yourself!"

Xiao Zhou wiped the blood from his eyes and turned to leave.

He paused when he reached the door.

Because the door was left ajar, he realized that Bi Wanhui must have left just now.

Stepping out of the room, Xiao Zhou noticed the door next to it was also ajar; he pushed it open curiously, but Bi Wanhui was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did she go?" Xiao Zhou stood in front of the door, looking around. "She didn't go to the bathroom again, did she?"

Thinking of this, Xiao Zhou felt a sudden urge to urinate, and he also needed to clean the blood off his face.

But he wasn't about to go to the bathroom down the hallway.

Instead, he chose to head downstairs to the first floor.

The small hotel lobby on the first floor was bound to have someone there, which would give him a sense of security.

Walking downstairs with his head lowered, Xiao Zhou caught a glimpse of someone standing behind the counter.

Without looking up, he spoke, "Boss, I'm going to use the restroom."

After all, his face was covered in blood, which would be hard to explain.

Fortunately, the Boss behind the counter didn't call out to him, letting Xiao Zhou hurry past.

"Hm?"

Before he had taken two steps, the light in front of Xiao Zhou suddenly dimmed, then brightened again, then dimmed once more.

The intense flickering left large black spots on his retinas.

Looking up, Xiao Zhou saw the light diagonally above him flickering incessantly, as if it were broken.

"Bad luck."

He muttered to himself, squinting his eyes, which were stinging from the flickering light, and walked into the restroom, pulling the door shut behind him.

A moment later, he winced at the sight of himself in the filthy mirror.

The wounds on his face weren't deep, but they hurt.

Before Xiao Zhou could splash any water on his face, the dim light overhead began to flicker as well.

On and off.

"Damn it! What a piece of junk hotel!"

Xiao Zhou cursed under his breath, hurriedly wiped his face, and without bothering to clean it properly, he pushed the door open to leave.

In his panic, he tripped over his own feet and nearly fell to the ground.

As soon as he stepped out, he caught sight of someone standing by the door and was so startled he nearly stumbled again.

The man wore a bizarre smile, his hand pressing the wall switch on and off.

This was the switch connected to the restroom light.

In other words, the light inside wasn't broken; this guy had been messing with it from the outside!

"You!"

Before Xiao Zhou could vent his anger, the light inside the restroom couldn't take the abuse anymore and went completely dark.

The smile on the man's face vanished instantly.

The sudden change startled Xiao Zhou again, forcing his curses back down his throat.

The man glanced at Xiao Zhou, then walked back behind the counter with an uneven, limping gait.

Then, the light overhead began to flicker once more.

"Click... click..."

The monotonous, mechanical sound of the switch echoed.

The person behind the counter wasn't the Boss he had seen this morning, but this guy.

He had broken one light, and now he wanted to break a second one?

"What the hell is going on!"

Xiao Zhou had already realized something was wrong. Where did this weird old guy come from?

Where was the Boss?

Where had he gone off to?

Feeling a chill in his heart, he decided not to return to his hotel room, but to head out and leave this place entirely.

Because Xiao Zhou remembered—

When Tang Luo and the others were asking the hotel owner from last night about the cleaner this morning.

The Boss said that Old John was a cripple!

This man of advanced age, walking with a heavy limp—was he not a cripple?!

Could it be... that Tang Luo and the others hadn't abandoned them?

But rather—they had found the real culprit, only to be killed?!

Xiao Zhou did not know that Tang Luo and his group had cleared Old John of suspicion and had headed straight for another lead.

Right now, he only felt one thing.

A gargantuan, overwhelming fear, like a hand, squeezing his heart tight.

His heart hammered violently in that grip, threatening to leap right out of his throat.

"Run!"

All his thoughts coalesced into this single roar.

His somewhat stiff body jerked into motion; ignoring everything else, Xiao Zhou lifted his legs and bolted toward the exit.

"Click!"

The crisp sound of a switch ceased.

The flickering light overhead plunged into darkness.

Whether it had been turned off by the limping man or had simply broken, just like the light in the restroom, he did not know.

Asking for recommendation votes on Monday!

There will be another update tonight.