Che Quan offered no suggestions from beginning to end.
Beneath his fine, soft, glossy black hair, his crimson eyes held nothing but indifference.
After all, he was a vampire, and a pureblood noble at that-the most exalted and revered of all vampires. How could he possibly associate with mere humans?
But a reminder kept appearing in his mind:
[Due to player Che Quan's active participation in solving puzzles, the current skin hunger syndrome buff effect has been reduced by 50%.]
So, wearing a cold expression, Che Quan deigned to join the five of them as they prepared to explore the rooms.
Their first choice was Chang Jianfeng's—Teacher Chang's—room.
At first, all five hesitated before entering.
Miao Rouning bit her lip and voiced everyone's concern. "Can this many of us go in together? Or rather, are we allowed to enter someone else's room? Wouldn't that violate the instance rules...? That could get us killed."
Ning Dantong pondered gravely. "There is a risk."
Seeing their hesitation, Chang Jianfeng tried to persuade them. "If we can only enter our own rooms, searching will become much harder. After all, everyone has different investigative abilities. How could we possibly split up and find every clue in such a short time?"
Chen Yuxiang agreed. "He's right. Besides, if we encounter danger while we're in our own rooms, we won't even have anyone to ask for help. That would greatly increase our chances of dying, too."
At the mention of death, Yuan Zhou's face went pale, and his voice trembled. "I don't want to go back to my room alone. I don't want to die."
Keeping a clear distance between himself and the others, Che Quan watched coldly as the five of them debated back and forth.
Humans really know how to waste time.
But what does that have to do with me?
And so Che Quan remained expressionless and silent, entirely unconcerned.
The live comments, however, were once again focused on Che Quan. Seeing him act like an "invisible man," just as his assigned identity dictated, the viewers couldn't help posting curious questions, teasing remarks, and complaints.
[Is our little beauty treating this instance like a role-playing game? So adorable.]
[And here I was waiting to see what our little beauty could do. Turns out he can't even be bothered to say a word, let alone investigate anything.]
[Exactly. Aside from that perfect face to drool over, everything else is so boring. I want chases, difficult puzzles, and twists. I want to see vicious ghosts tear people apart. Instead, we get this? Please, give us something exciting!]
As coincidence would have it, the very next second after that comment appeared, the wall clock at the end of the villa's second-floor hallway suddenly let out a deep, somber chime that echoed through the air.
It was eleven.
The restless ghosts lurking in the shadows were about to give in to their urge to stir up trouble.
At the same time, Che Quan once again heard an unwelcome reminder in his mind. The mechanical voice was quieter now, but it still irritated him:
[Player 002, Che Quan, please find clues as soon as possible. The current skin hunger syndrome buff effect has increased by 180%. Five minutes remain until the next episode. Current countdown: 4:59-4:58-4:57-]
Every tick of the countdown sounded like a summons to his death, pushing Che Quan's irritation to its limit. His exquisitely beautiful face grew even colder and more vicious.
Sensing this, the instance system decisively muted itself before Che Quan could act.
It valued its life that much.
To weaken that damned skin hunger syndrome buff, Che Quan clenched his fingers hard and strode straight into Chang Jianfeng's room, his beautiful, pale face dark with anger.
The five others, still unaware of how serious the situation was, cried out at the sight. Their eyelids twitched as they all shouted, "Come back! There could be danger in there!"
As though to confirm their warning, the sinister middle-aged woman who looked like a housekeeper appeared again without anyone noticing her arrival.
Her voice seemed to carry bloodthirsty excitement as she gazed eerily at Che Quan inside Chang Jianfeng's room. With a sinister half smile, she said, "Every room has an owner, you know... How could you enter a room that doesn't belong to you without permission...?"
Hearing those words, laden with hidden meaning and murderous intent, all five nearly jumped out of their skins. They couldn't help huddling into themselves, trembling as they stared anxiously and helplessly at the slender, beautiful boy inside the room.
The live comments were likewise filled with impotent rage and exasperated dismay.
[It's over, it's over, he's going to get killed... Aaaah, isn't this way too sudden and too soon for our little beauty to get eliminated?! How could he be so impulsive! Didn't they say the survival rate for this instance was extremely, extremely low? That means there must be tons of conditions that trigger death. Being this reckless is practically gambling with his life!]
[I'm going to cry myself to death. I'd rather our little beauty stood still and did nothing but look pretty! Now he's suddenly throwing his life away, and my heart hurts so much. My love is gone, waaaah!]
Yet what happened next took everyone by surprise.
Hearing the woman's eerie words, Che Quan merely tilted his head, letting his blade-sharp, icy gaze fall on the strangely grinning woman.
For some reason, the moment the woman met Che Quan's piercing gaze, that strange smile froze on her face.
And when Che Quan turned fully around, ready to walk toward her, the middle-aged woman looked as though she had encountered some monstrous demon. For what seemed like one hundredth of a microsecond, an expression of panicked terror appeared on her stiff, ghostly face.
Everyone wondered whether something was wrong with their eyes and they had seen it incorrectly.
Because when they blinked and looked again, the woman had regained her sinister air. She simply made no further mention of Che Quan entering someone else's room.
Perhaps seeking a way to save face, the woman glanced at the room's doorplate and asked Chang Jianfeng in an eerie voice, "Teacher Chang, this is your room. You did give this guest permission to enter... didn't you?"
Chang Jianfeng froze at her words, failing to grasp her meaning for a moment.
Ning Dantong, standing beside him, reacted quickly and answered first. "Of course he did! And Teacher Chang didn't just agree to let this guest in, he agreed to let us follow him, too. The same goes for everyone else, so you don't need to ask!"
The woman: "..."
Only after the woman vanished, unwilling yet afraid, did the five finally let out a long breath of lingering relief. Miao Rouning's legs were even a little weak, and her eyes had turned red with fright, tears welling in them.
Chen Yuxiang and Yuan Zhou gasped for breath. Neither had dared breathe a moment ago.
While gulping down oxygen, Chen Yuxiang didn't forget to ask Ning Dantong, "Tongtong, what did you mean when you answered that female ghost like that?"
Ning Dantong was following Che Quan into Chang Jianfeng's room to investigate. At the question, she replied, "I'm not sure whether the instance just had some kind of bug, but that female ghost didn't kill anyone. Instead, she asked whether Chang Jianfeng allowed other people into his room. My guess is that as long as Chang Jianfeng says we're all allowed in, we aren't breaking the instance rules."
That was why Ning Dantong had spoken for everyone else while she was at it.
Before you continue