The Room Rates at the Yellow Springs Inn

The players lowered their eyes, not daring to meet its gaze.

She Liu lifted the lantern and turned around. "Then let's keep going. Remember, Snake God Mountain is no safe place. Don't fall behind."

Everyone followed it in silence.

Xin Jiu held Bubu's hand, studying their surroundings as they walked. From the moment she stepped inside, she had known this service area was completely different from the Bear Service Area.

And She Liu killing a player just now had made her realize all the more how dangerous this place was.

She had originally planned to go straight to the manager for the key to the S-rank treasure chest, but now she decided to wait until just before leaving the service area.

The most pressing matter now was to survive their time here safely.

Over twenty minutes later, a small town appeared before them.

The town looked much like those in historical dramas, with wooden houses and red lanterns hanging beneath every roof's eaves. The ground felt slippery beneath Xin Jiu's feet. Only when she looked down did she realize it was a bluestone-paved road.

Plenty of moss grew on the bluestone paving, too. No wonder it was so slippery.

She Liu continued introducing the service area. "The Snake God Mountain Service Area is different from the last service area. We only have night here, so there's no need to wait for dawn. Dawn will never come. I hope you can get used to that as soon as possible."

Xin Jiu noticed eerie lights appearing inside the wooden houses on either side.

Some were green, others red.

...They were eyes.

The other players saw them too. A stir ran through the crowd, but no one dared make a sound.

She Liu glanced over and said casually, "Another thing: the natives here have rather... lively personalities and are especially interested in humans. So if you haven't received a waist token from the inn... they'll eat you."

Xin Jiu understood what it meant.

In this service area, only by checking into the inn it mentioned and obtaining a waist token could they avoid being attacked by the natives.

But if they couldn't check in... Xin Jiu looked at their glowing eyes and dripping drool. They would probably be torn apart and eaten immediately.

An NPC poked its snake head out of a house to look at the player nearest to it, thick saliva still hanging from the corners of its mouth.

The player stumbled in fright and nearly fell.

She Liu led them through turn after turn, passing along several streets. The town was far larger than Xin Jiu had imagined. After another few minutes of walking, it stopped before a five-story wooden building.

"We're here."

Xin Jiu glanced at the sign above.

[Yellow Springs Inn]

To think a place meant for players to rest would have a name like that. It couldn't have been more inauspicious.

Everyone followed She Liu inside.

The inn's lobby was spacious, and red candles burned throughout the room.

To the left of the entrance stood a long wooden counter. Behind it was a shelf filled with bottles and jars, though there was no telling what they contained.

A woman sat behind the counter.

Unlike She Liu, she looked like a normal woman apart from the snake scales on her neck, and a very beautiful woman at that.

She appeared to be the service area's manager.

She smiled graciously at everyone. "Welcome to the Yellow Springs Inn. I'm the manager here, She Ling."

A player rushed straight up and clutched the counter, saying urgently, "I want a room, right now!"

His anxious expression made it clear that the roadside NPCs had given him quite a fright along the way. Who could remain calm facing hundreds of monsters drooling over them?

He really was terrified, his voice shaking uncontrollably.

She Ling languidly pointed to the wooden sign standing beside her. The room rates were written on it in cinnabar.

[Single room: 800 points/night]

[Deluxe room: 1,500 points/night (special service included)]

The male player relaxed when he saw the prices and turned to the others. "Thank goodness it's only eight hundred points a night. We can all afford a room. Once the instance opens tomorrow, we can leave!"

Each of them had only a thousand points. After one night, they would have two hundred left.

Though they wouldn't be able to buy anything from the shop, at least their lives would be safe during their time in the service area.

She Ling laughed.

The soft laughter drifted into their ears like a snake flicking its tongue beside them, making them uncomfortable all over.

"Who said you only had to stay here for one day?"

"What do you mean?"

She Ling's eyes were full of mockery. "At the Snake God Mountain Service Area, every player has to stay for three full days before they can unlock the next floor's instance."

The lobby fell silent for a moment, then erupted.

"Three days? Wouldn't that cost two thousand four hundred points?!"

"Are you kidding us? We only have a thousand points! How are we supposed to stay for three days?"

She Ling surveyed the angry players before her, her smile growing more pronounced. "If you don't have enough points, you can earn some. Our service area offers plenty of interesting games. Since all our guests made it out of the maze instance, earning a few points shouldn't be difficult."

She spoke with utter nonchalance, saying things that made them want to die.

Some players grew furious.

But that was as far as their fury went.

What sort of interesting games could a service area where players could be eaten at will possibly offer? These so-called games would most likely require them to stake their lives.

One player suppressed his anger and asked, "Where do we go to earn points?"

She Ling glanced at him and said with a faint smile, "I'm not your nanny. If you want to know, go outside and find someone to ask."

The player lost his temper, glaring at She Ling as he shouted, "You just want to drain all our points and then eat us one by one, don't you! You cold-blooded beasts! Bea-"

He never finished.

Because She Ling's tail suddenly shot out from behind the counter and coiled around his neck.

He was hoisted into the air. Everyone watched as the snake tail tightened and his face grew redder and redder, turning a dark purple in mere seconds.

His legs kicked futilely, and his hands clawed desperately at the snake tail, but none of it helped.

Crack.

The sound of breaking bone.

The player's body went limp, and She Ling flung him to the floor. At the sight, She Liu immediately grabbed his foot and dragged him outside. Right afterward, the players heard the horrifying sounds of gnawing.

The NPCs outside were eating him!

After two players had died in succession, everyone finally understood that players had no human rights here.

In these monsters' eyes, their lives might be worth less than ants.

She Ling withdrew her tail, her gaze turning cold. "Are you taking rooms or not? If not, leave right now. The natives outside have been hungry for a long time."

As soon as she finished speaking, expectant hisses came from the natives outside.

If they stayed, their points would only cover one night.

If they didn't, stepping outside meant death.

Xin Jiu stepped out of the crowd. "I'll take a room."

She Ling smiled. "Then please give me your ID, honored guest."

"Xin Jiu."

She Ling's pupils instantly narrowed into vertical slits, and she studied Xin Jiu's face. She hadn't expected this to be the top-ranked player from the previous round, much less a pretty young woman.

She looked barely over twenty.

The other players froze as well, especially those who had mocked Xin Jiu.

Now that they knew Xin Jiu was the top-ranked player, they bitterly regretted it.