The farther they walked into the cinema, the colder and gloomier it became. They had not encountered a single other player along the way. After walking for roughly ten minutes, they made a startling discovery-they had returned to where they started.
The three new players who had escaped with Xie De seemed to have vanished into thin air. Along the entire route, they had seen no sign of any living person.
They had not encountered any players from the supposed fourth screening room, either. Perhaps they were all new players, or perhaps they had all died inside that room. That left them with no information about it and no way to know what was playing in the fourth screening room.
They stayed where they were.
Beiwei, Wei Yanchi, and Yue Xiamo fell into thought.
Wei Yanchi frowned and said quietly, "This is strange. This place isn't very big, but so far, we haven't encountered anything lethal in the corridors, and the Instance System hasn't given us a task. This period is probably meant for us to observe our surroundings before it assigns us a more suitable task. The danger this time might be hard to predict."
Beiwei had always thought of Wei Yanchi as a mad genius. Hearing this, she could not help smiling. "If even you think this one's difficult, then most of the players we haven't met are probably dead. I wonder if there were any veterans among them. It's just a shame we haven't learned anything about the fourth screening room. Of course, it's also possible there isn't a fourth screening room at all."
Yue Xiamo gave a cold snort. "I think there definitely is a fourth screening room. The Lion King is an animated film, Pearl is a horror and slasher film, and Inception is science fiction and adventure. What genres haven't been mentioned?"
Wei Yanchi said softly, "Art-house films and romance."
Xie De wanted to join their discussion, too, but unfortunately, his mind was blank. He had genuinely tried all along the way, but he had not managed to connect anything to a clue.
The more he studied his surroundings, the more oppressive and stifling they felt, almost suffocating.
He tried to memorize some of the movie posters hanging on the cinema walls, and he did manage to remember them.
But apart from the horror films 455 had recently forced him to watch, he had barely seen any movies. He had taken a film appreciation course in college, but it had been an elective, and he had not paid much attention. After so long, he had forgotten everything.
He did not want to interrupt the experts while they were thinking.
Frustrated and miserable, he walked aside and looked up at a poster on the wall, trying once again to spot something.
As luck would have it, the poster was for Pearl, specifically the first part. A line of bold red lettering ran across it-A farm girl's desperate attempt to save herself.
What did that mean?
The poster showed a sweet-looking, dark-haired girl in a red dress, cupping her face with bloodstained hands and smiling demurely. There was something strange and unsettling about it. The colors were rich, the red painfully vivid, lending it a certain retro beauty. Yet in this eerie atmosphere, the longer he looked, the more uncomfortable he felt.
A lighter rolled between his fingers and clicked. The flame caught the slender women's cigarette, and smoke drifted like mist, making the eyes and brows half-hidden beneath his silver hair look even more mysterious and inscrutable.
"H-hello."
It was the man with the horseshoe bald patch, wiping sweat from his head as he approached timidly.
Xie De remembered his name: Yu Youzong. He had said he was divorced and had a son who was already in college.
That account inevitably reminded Xie De of the middle-aged woman among the three new players. She also had a son in college and was a single parent.
Could there be some connection between them?
Xie De's probing gaze made the bald man even more nervous. He put on an ingratiating smile.
"I heard them all calling you Mr. 39. Are you their leader?"
"No."
"Ah, I've never experienced anything like this before. Before I came here, I was working overtime at the office. I even wondered whether I'd fallen asleep while working and was hallucinating. Haha, uh..."
The bald man held his hands awkwardly in front of him. After rambling for a while, he finally got to the point. "I know this place is dangerous, so could I hire you to protect me?"
Xie De casually exhaled a smoke ring.
He looked at the bald man without expression.
"I-I can pay two million. No, five million."
Well, well. Another guy as rich as Old Eugene. But this time, Xie De turned and walked away. The reason was simple: had the man not heard the protagonist say this Instance was difficult? Xie De could not even protect himself. How was he supposed to protect anyone else?
The bald man watched him leave in alarm and spoke again. "Six million. Would six million do? What about seven million? That's everything I own..."
"Do you know Zhang Qiuyue?"
Xie De had already resolved not to let money sway him, but before leaving, he still wanted to get an answer to that question.
His tone was rather cold, though, making an ordinary question sound like a statement.
The bald man visibly began shaking like a leaf, terror filling his eyes. "Y-you already know?"
Know what?
Just then, the three veteran players finished their discussion and were walking toward 39. Hearing this, they all paused, their gazes instantly turning inquisitive.
With four pairs of eyes fixed on him, the bald man could no longer bear the pressure. He burst into tears. "I didn't mean to hide it! Please forgive me! I was just too scared."
Crying, the bald man backed away from Xie De in terror and gave his account.
He did indeed know Zhang Qiuyue. They had been married before, then divorced after their son got into college. He and Zhang Qiuyue had also arranged a family outing to watch a movie at this very cinema. Later, he had heard that the cinema had closed down, but he had never come back to watch a movie after their divorce.
Xie De held his cigarette frozen in midair. Well, damn. Did we just unlock a hidden storyline? But those two are players, not NPCs. What is this Instance doing? Could these two players actually be NPCs?
The others had the same doubts.
Wei Yanchi was about to ask something when 39 gave a cold snort, tossed his cigarette to the floor, and ground it out underfoot. His movements seemed impatient and decidedly threatening, as though the bald man's answer had failed to satisfy him.
The bald man shuddered again in fright. "No! Don't hit me, don't hit me! I'll talk, I'll talk."
Huh? There's more?
Well, Xie De had simply been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had not noticed the cigarette burning down to the butt. It had burned him, so he had hurriedly thrown it down and stamped it out. Now, though, it seemed he had been misunderstood.
The bald man said timidly, "Actually, Zhang Qiuyue and I divorced when our child was seven. Afterward, I stopped keeping track of her. Then I heard she'd died in this cinema."
This time, 39 did not need to act. Beiwei immediately pulled off her ring. A spike on it gleamed coldly as she said, "Why did you divorce? Tell me the truth, or I'll kill you."
The bald man looked ready to cry again.
"Because, because... I beat her. She took me to court and won. After the divorce, she got custody of our child."
Wei Yanchi folded his arms and continued questioning him. "Did you pay child support afterward?"
"I did... No."
"So she raised your child all by herself?"
"Yes."
Wei Yanchi lowered his head slightly, then raised it again. Each question grew sharper than the last.
"Did you know their address?"
"Yes."
"Did you know they were struggling financially?"
"Yes."
"Did you know Zhang Qiuyue was dead?"
"Y-yes."
Unable to withstand the psychological pressure, the bald man broke down crying. "I knew. She died right here in this cinema. She worked here as a cleaner. She suffocated in the gap in the elevator shaft, and her body wasn't found until three months later."
What?!
Xie De went completely rigid. Hold on, man. You're saying Zhang Qiuyue is already dead? Then what did I see? A ghost?
Before you continue