Players, Please Board the Train

This person had only half a face left, smeared with blood so badly you could barely tell anything, but the clothes on the body were still recognizable. He was one of the players who had gone to the Corpse Hotel with Liu Chengyi on the first night. Liu Chengyi had not lied; the person really was missing.

Xu Huo casually picked up something and lifted the cloth from the corpse, examining the bite marks closely. He discovered they did not match human teeth; they looked more like the rips of a large beast.

Could the Corpse Hotel be raising mutated animals?

Before he could step away from the corpse, a faint scraping sound came from outside, like something moving down the corridor, punctuated by heavy breathing at intervals.

Xu Huo’s brow tightened. He immediately draped the Invisibility Cloak over himself, took out the potion Intoxicatingly Good Stuff, unsealed it a little, and slowly released the scent to mask the smell.

A black shape appeared by the door.

Because the corridor light was dim, the light from the corner stretched that shadow, so even before it reached the doorway they could glimpse part of it — it walked on its forelimbs, its head large, somewhat lion-like in appearance. Especially when it reached the door, its breathing became abruptly heavier, noticeably different from an ordinary beast.

The stink kept seeping from the room. The beast outside inhaled hard twice, then turned to leave. But before it went, whether out of irritation from the scent or something else, it swiped a paw against the wall!

Several sharp, hooked claws pierced the wall, tearing four gouges from top to bottom like ripping paper, and only after a moment did it pull them free. In the darkness, patterned fur flashed from the fresh rift.

Half the wall and the doorframe were torn apart. If Xu Huo hadn’t moved fast, he would have been knocked down with it!

In that blur of movement he managed to see the beast clearly. It wore a pelt, but its body was at least twice the size of a normal male lion. Even on all fours it reached shoulder height for a person; it was no surprise that a single pounce could smash through a wall.

But its head was unlike its body — it resembled a newborn rodent: hairless, skin patterned with crack-like lines, and with eyes that were enormous and bulging like spheres. When it opened its mouth, soft membranes on either side connected, allowing an astonishingly wide gape.

The strangest thing, though, was the human-face-like things concealed in its fur: eyes and noses were present, and as the creature moved, those faces even showed half-real, half-fake expressions!

Just one glance made Xu Huo realize those faces were truly human. Of course the faces could not possibly be alive, but grafting human faces onto an animal’s body was beyond ordinary perversion.

It was unclear what state the creature itself was in, but it emitted a rank stench of rot.

After evading an attack, Xu Huo retreated into the corridor. Using the Invisibility Cloak and the potion as cover, he stood motionless beside the creature. Even a slight sound could attract its attention, so there was no need to take that risk.

The beast that had smashed the wall left empty-handed. It trotted into the room, lazily bit the corpse twice, then flicked its tail and walked out. It stopped in the corridor, then suddenly turned and snorted toward where Xu Huo stood.

The bloody smell and the rot slapped his face. Only the width of a hand separated man and beast; the amber eyes stared directly into Xu Huo’s. It seemed to hold a gaze as long and intent as a person’s.

Xu Huo’s heartbeat spiked for an instant, then calmed. He lightened his breathing, made no evasive moves, and didn’t perform any unnecessary actions.

After about ten seconds the creature turned its head and walked deeper into the darkness of the corridor.

The elevator on the corridor opened and closed, confirming it had gone to another floor. Xu Huo exhaled, packed away the item, and knocked on the adjacent room’s door.

Xiao Ling and Yu Guangnan, hiding right behind the door, yanked it open and pulled him inside. They hissed in low voices, “Are you trying to get yourself killed? What if it heard you?”

“Unless you don’t move at all, that creature can still hear you,” Xu Huo said. “You’re safe. It didn’t attack you?”

Yu Guangnan looked at him admiringly. “It seems the creature only attacks people who come out and move. If the door’s closed, you’re fine.”

“That was something another player told me when I came in.”

“How many people are still here?” Xu Huo asked, pointing outside. “I just saw a corpse. That thing doesn’t look like it wastes food. If it didn’t finish eating, it’s probably still not full. There can’t be many people left alive.”

“If it’s only ticket players, there definitely aren’t many,” Yu Guangnan said. “Of the three who came to the Corpse Hotel with us, I saw all their corpses. But there were players who entered before us, up on the upper floors.”

He tiptoed to the window, tugged a thin cord hanging there, and after a moment someone poked their head out.

They looked panicked, face worn, with darkened eyes — they’d clearly been trapped here for days. Seeing Yu Guangnan, they reacted badly. “I told you, there can’t be too many people in the room…”

They didn’t finish before they suddenly stared at another person appearing at the window, stunned. “You!”

“What a coincidence.” Xu Huo recognized the other immediately. It was Peng Fengnian, the player he had cooperated with in the Skinner dungeon. Before Peng Fengnian left the dungeon, he had given Xu Huo a paper phone, and they had used that phone to contact each other once.

In the game, players from different districts rarely meet again inside a dungeon — there are simply too many dungeons, and mortality is high. Seeing a familiar face made people feel the game world wasn’t an endless wasteland of despair.

Peng Fengnian was overjoyed. Without hesitation he climbed down and shook Xu Huo’s hand energetically. “Fate, fate! Who would have thought we could meet again? After running so many dungeons and seeing so many players, you’re the one I admire most!”

Peng Fengnian was from Zone 009. Xu Huo had planned to contact him with the paper phone, but the man had been unlucky and was already trapped in the dungeon.

“You look like you’ve been stuck here a while?”

Peng Fengnian sighed with a worried frown. “Five days. I’ve hardly slept in these five days… Have you seen the things roaming the hotel?”

Xu Huo nodded. “They don’t attack players hiding in rooms. You didn’t find a way out?”

“No way out,” Peng Fengnian said despondently. “We can’t get out. This is a Mirror Hotel.”

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