But before Shao Lan could get a clear look, Zhang Fang turned away and kept walking, as though he had never seen Shao Lan at all.
As he walked, he sang.
"Mother Ming, oh, Mother Ming. Thank you for the flowers you bring. Mother Ming, oh, Mother Ming. You gave us a home and everything."
Zhang Fang reached the end of the corridor, then walked straight back.
He paced back and forth like this, singing the same song over and over.
Shao Lan rubbed his arm and felt a layer of goosebumps.
The scene reminded him of an opera he had once seen, about a mad female ghost in a castle no one had ever visited. Late every night, the lonely ghost would sing on the terrace.
Onstage, the actress playing the ghost had been beautiful and sorrowful, pacing back and forth as she sang a haunting, melancholy song. She had looked exactly like Zhang Fang did now.
The only difference was that Zhang Fang was a hulking man, so the scene was far less tragically beautiful and far more terrifying.
To be honest, Shao Lan would rather Zhang Fang came at him with a knife. Somehow, that would have felt more reassuring.
Watching Zhang Fang wander the corridor and sing in this eerie way made Shao Lan deeply uncomfortable.
He glanced at the plaque on Zhang Fang's door-"Listening Wind Pavilion."
What about Xu Jiaojiao, who was sharing the room with him?
As luck would have it, Shao Lan had barely thought of Xu Jiaojiao when he heard her voice on his way downstairs.
"Liru, Xu Nan really went too far... Hey, don't cry. You've still got me here with you."
Shao Lan went downstairs and saw Xu Jiaojiao comforting Song Liru on the second-floor terrace.
Song Liru had a bruise on her face, and her eyes were red. Clearly, she and Xu Nan had fallen out again, and the argument had turned physical.
"I wish he'd just die," Song Liru muttered. "When will people start dying in this Instance? If only a scumbag like Xu Nan could be the first."
Xu Jiaojiao did not know what to say either. She could only do her best to comfort Song Liru.
The two women spotted Shao Lan, and Xu Jiaojiao came over.
"Hi, Shao Lan," she greeted him.
"Something seems off about Zhang Fang, the man in your room," Shao Lan said.
Xu Jiaojiao started. "What's wrong with him?"
"You don't know?" Shao Lan asked.
Xu Jiaojiao shook her head. "After we went into the room, Zhang Fang huddled in a corner. I worked up the courage to talk to him, but he ignored me," she said. "I got a little scared, so I came out. That's when I ran into Liru."
"When I came downstairs just now, he was singing in the corridor." Shao Lan wanted to repeat Zhang Fang's song, but for some reason, his stomach churned, and waves of nausea washed over him.
"Are you all right, Shao Lan?" Seeing his poor complexion, Xu Jiaojiao hurriedly asked.
Shao Lan waved a hand to show that he was fine.
"I'll go up and take a look," Xu Jiaojiao said.
She went upstairs and returned a moment later. "Zhang Fang's back in the room. He's lying on the bed now. He didn't react when I opened the door. He seemed to be asleep."
Just then, the door at the far end of the second floor creaked open, and a muscular figure emerged. It was Xu Zijian, the gym owner.
Seeing everyone gathered together, Xu Zijian immediately came over. "What are you talking about?"
Shao Lan and Xu Jiaojiao told him about Zhang Fang's strange behavior. Xu Zijian scratched his head. "Well, my 'partner' doesn't sing, but she ignores people too."
He was talking about Qin Ning.
After entering their room, Xu Zijian had tried talking to Qin Ning. As a gym owner, he had blurted out, "You don't often see girls with muscle definition as nice as yours. You must work out a lot, right?"
Qin Ning had glanced at him. Message read, no reply.
Xu Zijian had kept trying to find a topic. "Have you ever learned Muay Thai? I used to teach it. Lots of girls loved my classes."
Again, message read, no reply.
Xu Zijian had made one final attempt. "We're all players in the same Instance. You..."
"You're very noisy," Qin Ning had said.
Xu Zijian had been utterly embarrassed.
To escape that embarrassment, he had turned and left the room, running into the others.
Everyone had their own troubles. Xu Zijian scratched his head. "If only we could swap roommates."
Xu Zijian would have been fine rooming with either Xu Nan or Zhang Fang-though Xu Nan would have been better, of course. Zhang Fang sounded very creepy now.
Neither Song Liru nor Xu Jiaojiao would have minded sharing a room with Qin Ning.
But after hesitating for a long time, Xu Jiaojiao said, "We'd better not."
"The guests' names are written outside the rooms. We don't know whether that counts as some kind of rule." Xu Jiaojiao sighed. "If we break it, we could all die."
At that, everyone lowered their heads.
They had all been through at least one screening Instance and understood that the rules could not be broken. However unwilling they were, they could only return to their own rooms.
Shao Lan and Xu Jiaojiao went up to the third floor. Zhang Fang was indeed no longer in the corridor.
"Be careful," Shao Lan told Xu Jiaojiao. "If you're in danger, knock on the wall. Xu Jiawei and I will hear you."
Xu Jiaojiao nodded nervously.
They said goodbye, and Shao Lan returned to his room.
He pushed the door open. The bed was untouched, and Xu Jiawei was nowhere in sight.
Was she still taking her bubble bath?
Shao Lan listened closely, but there was no sound of water from the bathroom either.
"Xu Jiawei?" Shao Lan raised his voice.
No one answered.
Shao Lan walked toward the bathroom.
The bathroom door stood half-open, and the steam had yet to fully clear.
Shao Lan knocked on the door. "Xu Jiawei?"
There was no answer. The bathroom was utterly silent.
Xu Jiawei was not inside.
Shao Lan pushed the bathroom door open and stepped in.
The next second, he felt all the blood in his body rush to his head.
To the left of the entrance stood a huge white bathtub.
Inside the bathtub lay Xu Jiawei's corpse.
She lay soaking in bubbles mixed with copious amounts of blood, one leg draped over the rim at a grotesque angle. Red foam trickled down her leg onto the bathroom tiles, where it had already formed a large puddle.
Xu Jiawei's eyes were wide open. Her delicate, lightly made-up face was now twisted and frightening, as though she had seen something utterly horrifying just before she died.
The fragrances of various essential oils mingled with the smell of blood in the air, rich, metallic, and sickly sweet. It was deeply unsettling.
Shao Lan took a step back, bumping his waist against the small mirror on the vanity.
Like those in many hotels, this bathroom had not only a large mirror covering the wall above the vanity, but also a small one for female guests to use when applying makeup.
Now, both mirrors reflected Xu Jiawei's corpse and Shao Lan's deathly pale face.
What should I do now...?
Right. Get the others first.
Whenever someone died, the other players had to be notified immediately. That was a universally accepted principle in Instances.
Shao Lan dragged his heavy legs toward the room's door.
The door, which had opened with the lightest pull before, now seemed to weigh a ton. Shao Lan used all his strength and only managed to pull it halfway open.
At that very moment, a hand with four red-painted nails pushed from outside, and the door swung open.
Shao Lan froze.
A shudder spread from the crown of his head through his entire body, leaving him barely able to stand.
The person who had pushed the door open was none other than Xu Jiawei.
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