"Although he can't die, Cheng Xun's self-healing makes him age. The worse his injuries, the faster he ages. But if he really can make the elixir of immortality he talks about, he won't have to worry about his body anymore."
Zhu Nian's words did answer many of their puzzling questions.
"Peng Zhen became Cheng Xun's most trusted confidant because he has the ability to take damage in other people's place." Zhu Nian paused and wiped the tears from her face. "I don't know much about the experiments, but I know Cheng Xun needs living things to test whether the drugs he makes actually work. But it's hard to find animals in the hotel..."
As she spoke, Zhu Nian couldn't help glancing at the black cat sleeping comfortably on Number Eight's lap, a flicker of doubt in her eyes.
"So the only possible test subjects are the humans Lorimas can bring into the hotel... in other words, you and us." As Zhu Nian spoke, she seemed to recall something especially painful. The tears that had been silently trickling down her face suddenly poured out. "Among the players brought into the hotel with me, there was someone who kept protecting us. But because he kept defying Cheng Xun's orders, he was eventually forced to swallow that meat, then turned into a monster that was neither human nor ghost."
"A monster?"
"Yes, a monster!" Zhu Nian closed her eyes, as though she could still picture her former teammate being turned into a monster. "These experiments with the elixir of immortality didn't start with Cheng Xun. He apparently just found a set of experimental notes somewhere in the hotel. Those notes were already here. Someone must have been experimenting with the elixir of immortality here before Cheng Xun and the others entered the hotel!"