Chapter 300: Locust Tree Hotel 18
Teacher Lu!
Chu Yian looked at him with a pale face, after all, she didn’t know if the Teacher Lu in front of her was human or a ghost.
It wasn’t until his palm gently covered her face, and the warm body temperature transferred to her forehead, that he spoke, “What’s wrong? Why are you sweating so much? Where is your room? I’ll take you there.”
Chu Yian was stunned for a moment, like a drowning person grasping at the only piece of driftwood, she pounced on Lu Qingyuan and hugged him tightly.
“Teacher Lu!”
“It’s alright, shall I find you a doctor?”
Lu Qingyuan’s voice was cool but with a hint of concern, and what reassured her most was his warm body temperature and beating heart.
“I’m fine, I was just scared.”
Chu Yian’s body was still trembling unconsciously, but after encountering a familiar person, her earlier fear lessened a bit.
“What happened? Do you need help?”
Lu Qingyuan asked.
Chu Yian wanted to tell him, but Lu Qingyuan’s current game round obviously didn’t require him to follow the players’ rules. If she did that, it would be tantamount to dragging him into danger.
She still had a bit of a conscience towards the kind Teacher Lu.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. Shall I take you back to your room?”
“I’m a trial sleeper, and I need to complete tasks given by the Hotel at night. Just now, in the stairwell, I used a box to kill a fellow trial sleeper who tried to attack me.”
She had a bit of a conscience, but not much.
“I’m really scared, I don’t want to die.”
“Teacher Lu, I’m sorry!”
Guilt and fear intertwined, making her unable to stop crying.
At this moment, Lu Qingyuan’s originally suspended hand gently embraced her body, his palm soothingly patting her back, “Don’t be afraid, tell me what happened first.”
Chu Yian was led into the room by him, and she also had a cup of hot water in her hand.
She drank the water and recounted what had just happened, then took out the trial sleeper’s manual.
Lu Qingyuan read it at a glance and then commented, “Nonsensical rules.”
“I think it’s nonsensical too.”
Chu Yian nodded, holding the hot water cup. She felt much better now, though her nose was still a bit red. At times like this, she couldn’t help but curse this place, “Trash Hotel, it’ll go out of business sooner or later.”
Lu Qingyuan coughed lightly, not responding.
He glanced at his watch; after such a long delay, it was now 2:27.
“Half an hour left, let’s go.”
“Teacher Lu, are you coming too?”
“Otherwise?”
Lu Qingyuan glanced at her, then searched around the room.
There was also a yellow ribbon in his room. Lu Qingyuan tied it to his left wrist according to the description in the rules.
Although Chu Yian really wanted him to accompany her, she couldn’t bring herself to ask. Asking someone to risk their life to help her clear a game, that would be an immense favor.
Chu Yian felt their friendship was beginning to deepen, “Teacher Lu, I’ll repay you by working like an ox or a horse in the future!”
Lu Qingyuan looked down at her, wanting to say something, but his mind was inexplicably blank.
His expression was calm and aloof, “Let’s go.”
After so much dawdling, Chu Yian finally embarked on the path to complete the task again. In the stairwell, the lighting was as stark white as ever, and the silence was terrifying.
Chu Yian tightly clutched Lu Qingyuan’s sleeve, and the two descended floor by floor.
When they reached the stairs between the sixth and seventh floors, Chu Yian’s body stiffened, and her throat tightened. This was precisely where Li Mingzhu had died with her eyes wide open, that scene of her lying in a pool of blood, staring at herself, was chillingly terrifying.
“There’s nothing.”
Lu Qingyuan, who was half a step ahead of her, suddenly said.
What?
Chu Yian, scared and hesitant, opened her eyes, only to find no corpse, no bloodstains on the stairs; it was as clean as any other place.
How could this be?
“Perhaps you just scared yourself.”
Lu Qingyuan calmly pulled her down, a true man, not looking back at Chu Yian’s bewildered expression. Their descent was surprisingly smooth; they even encountered another group of players doing the task, and both groups reached the first-floor lobby without incident.
“That was terrifying.”
“Damn it, what kind of ghost game is this, with such a twisted way to play.”
“Old Zhang, help me up, my legs are a bit wobbly now…”
The other six players cried out in fear, and Chu Yian’s face was equally pale. It wasn’t just going down; rule 9 was completed, but the long march was only halfway done; they still had to go up in the same way to finish.
Lu Qingyuan squeezed Chu Yian’s cold hand and handed her the thermos he carried with him.
In such a terrifying environment, the sudden appearance of a thermos was quite unexpected.
“Teacher Lu, you brought this down too.”
“Mm.”
Lu Qingyuan checked the time again, “It’s almost time to go up.”
He said it as if completing the task was as simple as climbing ordinary stairs. But Chu Yian only dared to drink a tiny bit of water, fearing that what she might see in the stairwell later would be too terrifying, putting extra pressure on her bladder.
They didn’t have much time left, and the remaining players quickly started their return journey.
At this point, Chu Yian completely envied the players living on lower floors like the 5th and 6th. However, as they climbed higher and higher, her stress slowly decreased.
However, just as they returned to the stairs between the sixth and seventh floors, Chu Yian suddenly caught sight of a pool of blood out of the corner of her eye.
A cold gust of wind blew from somewhere, and the stairs before them seemed to change imperceptibly.
“11, 12… 13!”
The 13th step mentioned in the manual had finally appeared!
Chu Yian hastily untied the ribbon from her wrist and covered her eyes, not forgetting to grope for Lu Qingyuan in her panic, “Cover your eyes, Teacher Lu, have you covered your eyes?!”
She reached out, but grabbed a cold, withered hand.
That hand, like a skeletal white claw, gripped her tightly, and a huge force threatened to throw her down the stairs. Chu Yian’s other hand clenched the nearby railing, the Buddhist beads on her wrist grew hot, but her strength couldn’t break free from this eerie power.
A cold wind howled around them, as if an unseen force wanted to untie her blindfold.
A mournful, chilling voice faintly echoed—
You killed me… you must pay with your life!
As expected, there was no escaping it.
Chu Yian had a feeling that what was meant to come, would come.
Just then, someone suddenly picked her up. The force made her break free from the invisible withered white claw, and the cold wind howled indignantly in her ears.
Chu Yian tightly gripped the collar of the person holding her, until that person stopped and put her down.
“It’s alright now.”
Lu Qingyuan untied her yellow ribbon, and the light illuminated her vision.
Chu Yian stared at him blankly, for a moment feeling as if Lu Qingyuan was the god who saved her, radiating divine light from behind him.
The god led her to room 8808, watched her swipe her card and enter, “Close the doors and windows. It’s alright now.”
