Checkout Trap? Clearing Blood Moon Hotel!

[Blood Moon Hotel's final checkout procedure-]

[Officially commencing.]

As the announcement ended.

The entire banquet hall fell silent.

Immediately afterward.

Four room cards, each bearing all three stamps, glowed blood-red at once.

[Guests who meet the checkout requirements, please proceed to the front desk on the first floor within ten minutes.]

[Failure to check out within the allotted time will be regarded as voluntarily forfeiting your eligibility to check out.]

Shen Niannian glanced down at her room card.

All three stamps were still there.

Good.

Only one objective remained.

Check out.

Get out!

(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

She didn't waste any time.

Zhou Hai, Wang Jianguo, and Song Qiming set off immediately as well.

The livestream chat came fully awake.

"The last step!"

"Once they get their checkout vouchers, Blood Moon Hotel will be over!"

"Don't celebrate too soon. There has to be a trap at the checkout in an A-rank instance!"

"So many people have died already. There's no way the last stage is just signing something at the front desk!"

Shen Niannian thought the same.

An A-rank instance.

A historical clear rate of 8.7%.

If, after they collected all three stamps, the front desk really let them go with a simple "Please come again"...

She wouldn't dare leave.

The group soon reached the lobby.

The front desk had completely changed.

A dark red cloth covered the black wooden counter.

Behind it stood an old man they had never seen before.

He had no facial features.

Only a mouth that stretched across his entire face.

The Identity Archive appeared.

[Target: Blood Moon Hotel checkout administrator]

[Danger level: A-rank]

[Identity: Enforcer of the hotel's core rules]

[Current status: Normal]

Shen Niannian stopped in her tracks.

(｡ŏ_ŏ)

Great.

Even the one in charge of the final stamp was A-rank.

The hotel's staffing was a little excessive.

The old man slowly spoke.

"Guests eligible for checkout, please come forward one at a time."

Song Qiming stepped up first.

He was a veteran player.

Having survived this far, he was much steadier than an ordinary newcomer.

The old man held out his hand.

"Room card."

Song Qiming didn't hesitate.

He immediately handed over his wooden room card.

Smack.

The old man took it.

The next second.

Song Qiming's expression suddenly changed.

Because his room number-

Had disappeared.

At the same time.

A hotel rule notification rang out.

[Guest Song Qiming has lost his room.]

[He is no longer protected by the hotel's rules.]

Zhou Hai's pupils contracted sharply.

"Something's wrong!"

But it was already too late.

From the darkness behind the old man.

A giant pale hand shot out.

And seized Song Qiming.

"Wait!"

Song Qiming struggled frantically.

"I've collected all three stamps! I want to check out!"

The old man's enormous mouth slowly split open.

"Of course you can check out."

"But you're no longer a guest of the hotel."

Squelch!

The giant hand clenched.

Flesh and bone were crushed.

Song Qiming didn't even have time to let out a second scream.

[Player Song Qiming has died.]

The lobby fell deathly silent.

The livestream chat exploded.

"Holy shit?!"

"He had all three stamps and still died?!"

"There's something wrong with handing over the room card!"

"Rule five! It's rule five!"

[Guests without rooms are not protected by the hotel's rules!]

Zhou Hai's expression changed completely.

He finally understood why Blood Moon Hotel's clear rate was as low as 8.7%.

Survive everything before this.

Complete all three services.

Even make it to the checkout desk.

And if you handed over your room card first out of habit-

You'd still die!

Wang Jianguo's face turned pale.

"Then how do we check out? Why would the hotel let us leave if we don't hand over our room cards?"

No one answered.

The checkout administrator had already held out his hand again.

"Next."

Zhou Hai didn't move.

Wang Jianguo was even less willing to move.

The two men looked at Shen Niannian almost simultaneously.

The livestream chat began flooding the screen.

"What do they do?"

"They have to return their room cards, right?"

"They can't complete checkout without handing them over, but they'll lose protection the moment they do!"

"A dead end?"

"Didn't Shen Niannian ask Gu Changsheng about this earlier? How was the checkout voucher generated again?"

That one comment.

Seemed to remind countless people at once.

Shen Niannian included.

Her eyes flickered.

Gu Changsheng had been very clear.

[After collecting all three stamps, go to the front desk on the morning of the third day to check out. The hotel rules will naturally generate a checkout voucher.]

Naturally generate.

Not exchanged for a room card.

And certainly not issued by a staff member!

Shen Niannian suddenly looked down at the room 701 card in her hand.

Rule five also stated-

[Guests without rooms are not protected by the hotel's rules.]

In other words.

Before checkout was truly complete.

She couldn't lose her room card!

Song Qiming's problem wasn't that handing over his room card was necessarily wrong.

It was that-

He'd done it in the wrong order!

He'd lost his guest status first.

Without obtaining his checkout voucher!

Shen Niannian's eyes lit up.

(✧ω✧)

She got it!

She walked straight up to the front desk.

The checkout administrator held out his hand.

"Room card."

Shen Niannian didn't hand it over.

The livestream chat tensed up instantly.

"She refused!"

"Don't trigger the administrator's killing rule!"

"He's an A-rank rule enforcer!"

The old man's enormous mouth slowly opened.

"Guest, checkout requires you to return your room card."

Shen Niannian was actually nervous too.

Her small hand gripped the black-and-gold 701 card tightly.

But she steeled herself and spoke anyway.

"I'll return it."

"But not now."

The old man stopped moving.

Shen Niannian immediately continued, "I've completed the three designated services and collected all three stamps. According to the hotel's checkout procedure, the core rules should generate my checkout voucher first."

"Once I have the checkout voucher and confirm that I've officially checked out, I'll return the room card."

The whole room fell silent.

Wang Jianguo was so nervous that his palms were covered in sweat.

For a moment, even the comments in the livestream slowed.

A few seconds later.

The old man slowly spoke.

"Why?"

Shen Niannian immediately offered the reason she had prepared long ago.

"Because rule five says guests without rooms aren't protected by the hotel's rules."

"Until the checkout process is actually complete, I'm still a hotel guest."

"So I can't give up my room card before I get the checkout certificate."

Having said that.

She added one more thing.

"This request..."

"Should be perfectly reasonable, shouldn't it?"

The old man: "..."

Zhou Hai: "..."

The livestream chat:

"Holy shit!"

"She used rule one too!"

"A reasonable request!"

"She's not just refusing. She's asking to change the checkout order!"

The checkout attendant's enormous mouth fell silent for a full five seconds.

Finally.

He slowly withdrew his hand.

[Rule determination in progress...]

[Guest Shen Niannian's request complies with the hotel's basic rules.]

[Checkout sequence adjusted.]

Buzz-!

All three stamps on the room 701 card lit up at once.

Blood-red light gathered in front of Shen Niannian.

It finally formed a black card.

[Checkout certificate]

Shen Niannian's eyes lit up.

It worked!

She immediately caught the certificate.

Then she readily placed the room 701 card on the front desk.

"Now I can return it."

The checkout attendant took the card.

[Guest of room 701 has completed checkout.]

[Player Shen Niannian has obtained a checkout certificate.]

[Clearance conditions have been met.]

The livestream erupted.

"She cleared it!!!"

"She really cleared it!"

"Her first instance, and it was the A-rank Blood Moon Hotel!"

"And she really solved the final stage herself!"

"The special treatment only made the ghosts not want to kill her. The rules could still trip her up!"

"That's what makes it so satisfying!"

With Shen Niannian's correct answer to follow.

The rest was much simpler.

Zhou Hai followed the procedure.

First requesting that his checkout certificate be generated.

Success.

Wang Jianguo did the same.

Success.

All three completed checkout.

The next second.

The entire Blood Moon Hotel began to shake violently.

Scarlet moonlight poured in through the windows.

An icy mechanical voice rang out in Shen Niannian's mind.

[A-rank instance-Blood Moon Hotel completed.]

[Player: Shen Niannian]

[Survival mission: completed]

[Checkout certificate: obtained]

[Three designated services: all completed]

[Instance cleared!]

Shen Niannian's body, tense for more than two days, finally relaxed.

"Phew..."

I'm alive.

I really made it out alive!

(╥﹏╥)

Her first instance had been A-rank.

And she could still get out in one piece.

Now she even felt that if she bought a lottery ticket and didn't win five million, it would be the lottery shop's fault.

But the next second.

New notifications followed.

[Calculating instance completion...]

[Clearance rating: S]

[Identity Archive upgrade conditions have been met.]

[Current identity privileges are being raised...]

[Level 0 → Level 1]

Shen Niannian's breath caught.

Here it comes!

She had gone through so much.

Aside from staying alive.

This was what she had been waiting for!

[Identity privileges upgraded successfully.]

[Inspection ability enhanced.]

[New privilege functions unlocking...]

Before Shen Niannian could make out what came next.

A beam of blood-red light had already enveloped her.

Before her vision vanished completely.

She suddenly heard Bai Feiyue's voice behind her.

"Niannian."

Shen Niannian turned around instinctively.

Bai Feiyue stood deep inside the hotel lobby.

She waved at her.

Smiling happily.

"See you next time."

Shen Niannian: "..."

(°ー°〃)

She didn't know why.

But hearing an A-rank yandere horror say "see you next time" to her.

She couldn't feel happy about it at all.

Whoosh!

The blood-red light swallowed her figure completely.

At the same time.

In the center of the global livestream.

A line of enormous golden text slowly appeared.

[Player Shen Niannian-]

[First entry into a horror instance.]

[Successfully cleared the A-rank instance: Blood Moon Hotel!]

The livestream fell silent for a second.

Then.

It went completely wild.