Room

Chapter 30: Room

Something terrible happened. The moment she saw the little makeup mirror, the terrifying ghost immediately released its grip around Lu Guo's waist. Then... the red mist began to melt away!

"Thump..."

Qi Nian nearly broke down. She collapsed onto the floor, trembling as she stared at the terrifying scene before her.

At the same time, a streak of blood-red mist suddenly emerged from the top of her head. A similar streak rose from Lu Guo's head as well.

The instant the blood-red mist left her body, Qi Nian noticed the change.

It wasn't that she was particularly perceptive. The change was simply too obvious!

The world had suddenly lost all its color!

Qi Nian's eyes were wide open. They had been wide open the whole time, and now she rubbed them instinctively before looking around again.

It was gone. It really was gone!

The world's colors had suddenly vanished, and everything had turned into pure black and white.

Everything except her and Lu Guo, standing before her.

"You... actually..."

Lu Guo's voice was full of disbelief, along with a trace of relief at having survived.

Not long after hearing Qi Nian's voice, he had felt the hand around his waist loosen. But he hadn't dared look back. He didn't know what had happened, but as long as he hadn't left this world, he couldn't turn around!

Then, Mist Gathering's blood-red mist emerged and instantly pulled him out of the Past World!

Lu Guo, who had been through several missions, knew exactly what that meant.

It was done. This mission was complete!

He was overjoyed and excited, but disbelief still occupied most of his mind.

What had the woman trembling on the floor before him done?

Yu Hanzhou, hiding in the wardrobe's chimney, was wondering the same thing.

The moment he realized he had been pulled out of the Past World, he understood that the mission was over!

Someone had eliminated the ghost ahead of time!

But... how was that possible? Weren't the ghosts in survival missions impossible to defeat?

Who had done it, and how?

Each of the three had their own thoughts—or, more accurately, only two of them did. Qi Nian's mind had already gone completely blank. Everything before her had become a flood of information battering her brain, and she could no longer think at all.

Lu Guo looked at Qi Nian, sitting dazedly on the floor, his expression complicated. Then he looked up at the three streams of blood-red mist drawing together.

Had only three of them survived this time...?

As the three streams of blood-red mist converged, the black-and-white world around them shattered into pieces, like an old photograph being torn apart.

One figure after another appeared before the three of them.

They were back in Mist Gathering.

Feng Xinghan was in serious trouble.

After sharing information and parting from the others, Feng Xinghan heard something: Ding Peng and Zhang Qiao, who had come here for their honeymoon, were staying on the fourth floor, in Room 406.

The room number sounded familiar. When he went to check it out, he finally realized why.

Ding Peng and Zhang Qiao's double room was right next to Bai Yanliang's single room!

Bai Yanliang's room was 405, and across from it was Li Yuejun's room, 404.

What a bizarre arrangement...

Feng Xinghan had concluded from experience, after many encounters, that nothing Mist Gathering did was pointless.

He stared at the long corridor, gritted his teeth, and stepped inside.

If he had a choice, he would never have gone up to the fourth floor. After all, Bai Yanliang had told him there was at least one ghost under his bed.

Feng Xinghan didn't have Bai Yanliang's inexplicable confidence—the feeling that the ghost wouldn't kill him.

But... if he backed down now, he might run into something even more terrifying.

Li Mu had once told every newcomer to Mist Gathering that in its deadly games, if you thought of a clue, you absolutely couldn't choose to do nothing.

It was practically a punishment for clever people and those with keen senses. If you were slow on the uptake and failed to make the connection, you might accidentally avoid some dangers.

So... though Feng Xinghan was nervous, he still decided to go to Room 406 and see what was inside.

As he passed Bai Yanliang's room, a chill ran through him. He had a vague feeling that someone was watching him.

Standing in front of Room 406, Feng Xinghan's expression shifted wildly.

In the end, he took out the key he'd stolen from the front desk and opened the door to Room 406.

With a creak, the door swung open.

Suddenly, darkness surged toward him. Silence tightened around him like an invisible net, like a hand closing around his heart and gradually squeezing.

His heartbeat abruptly quickened.

A hazy figure slowly emerged from the darkness and approached.

"W-who are you?!"

Cold sweat poured from Feng Xinghan's forehead. He felt as though his heart were about to leap out of his throat.

But... the shadow didn't answer.

Feng Xinghan's eyes widened as he watched the shadow draw closer. At last, he couldn't bear the fear of the eerie unknown any longer and tried to run!

But to his despair, he discovered that he had lost control of his body!

How was this possible? This was a timed mission! How could a ghost with the terrifying ability to control someone's movements appear here?

Feng Xinghan's breathing grew more and more ragged. He couldn't even control his eyes well enough to close them.

The shadow in the room kept coming closer... Feng Xinghan was horrified to see that its body was grotesquely twisted, like... a snake with a human silhouette!

It was over. He was dead...

As the thought surfaced in Feng Xinghan's mind, the eerie shadow reached him.

Feng Xinghan wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't.

A terrible malice surged toward him like a storm. It seemed to be watching him.

But... Feng Xinghan couldn't make out its face at all.

Then... the shadow suddenly reached out, extending a deathly pale, twisted hand to grab Feng Xinghan by the throat!

Move!

Move!

Run! Get out of here!

Feng Xinghan desperately ordered his body to move, but it was all in vain.

The deathly pale hand had already closed around his throat. He could even feel its coldness.

Like... ice that had never melted in ten thousand years.

It was over...

His breathing grew labored, and suffocation set in. His vision blurred, and his body was running out of oxygen...

Huh?!

In an instant, Feng Xinghan's fingers twitched. He abruptly opened his eyes!

He was standing in front of Room 406, dazed! The key was still in his hand. He hadn't even unlocked the door!

So everything that had just happened... had it been an illusion?!