First, he had now entered a "survival game" as a "player" and would go through countless instances. Victory promised lavish rewards; defeat meant his soul would be damned forever.
Second, this instance, called {Haunting}, gave the players less than six hours to clear it. In other words, if they failed to clear it before four in the morning, the ghosts within the instance would slaughter them without mercy.
Third, in this instance, he had to play the part of a nobody, and he had actually developed "skin hunger syndrome."
Skin hunger syndrome, as its name suggested, was an intense craving for skin-to-skin contact. Once it flared up, his entire body would tremble uncontrollably. In severe cases, he could barely even stand, and only skin-to-skin contact with another person could ease the symptoms.
What was more, not just anyone could serve as his "medicine." Only the person "he" had a crush on and was stalking in this instance could save him when his skin hunger syndrome flared up.
Who knew what sort of thing "his" crush was? He normally loathed contact with other people more than anything.
Che Quan could not help feeling irritated by this third point.
To keep this condition from having any chance to flare up, he would leave this revolting place as quickly as possible.
Che Quan gave the clamorous dance floor below one last icy glance, then headed straight up to the villa's second floor.
Thick, dark carpeting covered the stairs and hallway, muffling footsteps remarkably well. The carpet had no pattern, and its already muted color looked even darker beneath the dim lights.
Che Quan stepped onto the final stair leading to the second floor. It took him only a few seconds to take in the entire layout.
A long corridor ran from left to right, with the staircase where Che Quan stood at its far left end. Looking right, he saw three doors on either side, each directly opposite another.
It was almost perfectly symmetrical.
Che Quan faintly sensed a rigid order to it.
It stood in stark contrast to the chaotic atmosphere that filled the villa's first floor.
Che Quan frowned slightly, but his brow quickly smoothed out again-his impression of the second floor was not bad. He could tolerate staying here for a little while.
With that thought, Che Quan was about to approach the nearest door on his left when he suddenly heard several frantic, disorderly sets of footsteps behind him, as though their owners were fleeing blindly from something trying to kill them.
Che Quan glanced back, his eyes utterly unruffled.
Sure enough, he saw all five players rush onto the second floor, panting and looking terrified.
Che Quan tilted his head slightly.
He was astonishingly calm and indifferent.
In the gloomy corridor, his flawless, dazzling features somehow took on an eerie, bewitching beauty.
Not only did the viewers sending comments all hold their breath, sensing that this so-called newcomer, this little beauty, was no ordinary person, but the five players-three girls and two boys-also fixed their eyes urgently on Che Quan as though he were their lifeline.
One of the delicate-looking girls spoke to Che Quan, her voice thick with tears. "J-just now, all those 'people' on the dance floor suddenly turned to stare at us! It was s-so creepy."
Che Quan did not react.
Seeing this, one of the boys added shakily, "I-I-I saw one of those 'people' turn their neck a full hundred and eighty degrees... Could that even be human...?"
Che Quan was not surprised in the slightest.
The comments, on the other hand, erupted-
[Of course they're not human! Seriously, these five new players suck. By comparison, the little beauty seems kind of mysterious and hard to read. He looks like he might actually be pretty good.]
[Yeah, I'm starting to regret betting on the little beauty dying first. Looks like I'm going to lose my money. So annoying.]
[Hey, hey, don't change your minds so fast. Maybe the little beauty just doesn't know how dangerous the instance is, and that's why he's acting so cluelessly arrogant. I'd suggest watching what he does first.]
After looking the five of them over, Che Quan withdrew his gaze and prepared to enter the room.
A woman's eerie voice suddenly sounded from behind all six of them.
"Good evening, dear guests..."
The girl who had spoken in a tearful voice was startled and let out a small scream.
Che Quan's expression remained indifferent as he looked toward the voice.
The newcomer was a middle-aged woman who looked like a housekeeper. She wore a waterproof, greaseproof black rubber apron, and the curve of the false smile on her face looked precisely calculated.
"You must be the honored guests our young lady invited. Your rooms are ready. Please allow me to show you inside, one by one, so you can rest..."
Only then did the five notice that the six rooms on the second floor corresponded exactly to the six players. Another wave of terror swept over them as they feared what horrors might be waiting inside.
The middle-aged woman walked up to a tall, solidly built boy, her false smile deepening. "Teacher Chang, as our esteemed teacher, please take this room..."
She pointed to the first room on the right side of the corridor.
At the address "Teacher Chang," the boy's expression shifted slightly. He looked at the door right before him as though it were Pandora's box, desperate to avoid it.
"I-I'll go into my room later. I-I'd like to chat with them a little longer."
"Of course, Teacher Chang, but you must be in your room after midnight. Otherwise, those unruly youngsters downstairs will disturb your rest..."
The woman delivered these words with a false smile. They seemed to carry a hidden meaning that sent a chill down their spines.
Beads of sweat the size of soybeans dotted the boy's forehead. "O-okay."
The woman then approached a girl with her hair tied in a neat ponytail and said eerily, "Miss Ning, you're our young lady's cousin, and the two of you are as close as sisters. You'll be staying in the room next to Teacher Chang's..."
The girl clenched her fists, her brows drawing tight as she moved away from the woman. "Understood. I'll go in later too."
The woman gave an uncanny smile at that, then approached another girl.
"Miss Chen, you're our young lady's best friend. Please..."
Before she could finish, the girl interrupted her in terror. "Okay, okay, okay, I know, I know. Please hurry up and finish so we can talk while we still have a little time left."
A large grandfather clock stood at the end of the corridor.
Its pendulum swung back and forth.
The clock read ten forty.
There was less than an hour and a half until midnight.
At her words, the housekeeper gave another sinister smile and said respectfully, "Of course. Go ahead and talk."
She quickly finished assigning everyone's rooms, then vanished without a sound or trace.
Che Quan's room happened to be the one on his left, the very room he had intended to enter from the start.
Now that the woman had finished her prattling, cold impatience filled Che Quan's eyes. He turned, ready to open the door and go inside.
But someone called out to stop him.
It was the solidly built boy whom the housekeeper had introduced as "Teacher Chang."
"P-please wait. Can we solve the mystery together? I'll share every clue I find!"
Che Quan did not turn back to look at him. He replied coldly, without interest, "No need."
He had no intention of playing some mystery-solving game with those idiots. Once midnight came and those "people" revealed their true forms, crushing them one by one would be more consideration than they deserved.
Before you continue