Half an hour later, ten players gathered in the hotel lobby on the first floor, ready to fill their stomachs first.
They sat down at a round table and exchanged information for the first time.
Uncle Chenghua summarized the clues given by everyone and said, "So the windows of our five rooms are all welded shut, and the windows in the corridor are the same. I'm afraid there is not a single window in this hotel that can be ventilated."
The demon man Lu Xiang pinched his throat and said, "Oh, this is really an iron bucket!"
Cheng Hua looked away uncomfortably, but he also said, "This is indeed sealed too tightly."
In addition, the beds in their five rooms were all covered with mosquito nets. The only difference was that among these five rooms, You Ye, Zhou Yaqing's room, and the twin brother and sister's room were all double rooms, so each room had two mosquito nets.
The decoration and service of this hotel look very much like a five-star hotel, but it is really strange that any five-star hotel would be designed like this in reality.
Gu Xing, the younger twin sister, whispered, "Aren't our protective items ineffective in this instance? Could it be that the mosquito nets, like the windows, are also there to protect us from something?"
Protective items were ineffective in this dungeon - this was something they had confirmed with each other just before Xia Jing logged into the dungeon. Although it was special, it was not uncommon in various dungeon games.
Before going downstairs, Xia Jingyi had already heard Song Yang talk about this, so he was not too surprised at this time.
Gu Xing looked outside the hotel nervously.
Night has fallen, the light outside is gradually dimming, and the forest scene is becoming blurred and indistinguishable.
As she said this, everyone's heart was lifted.
Her brother Gu Chen frowned after hearing what she said, "But I've never seen anyone use mosquito nets to keep monsters out in a dungeon..."
Fatty Cao Jun slapped a mosquito that had bitten his thigh to death and complained, "Exactly. I believe you said the windows were welded shut to keep out monsters, but what monsters can mosquito nets keep out? I think this hotel did this purely because it's close to the forest and there are too many mosquitoes!"
The temperature in this copy is very high, it feels at least 39 degrees Celsius, and Cao Jun is fat, at least 200 kilograms.
The air conditioner was on in the hotel, but just sitting there for a while, sweat was already running down his forehead like streams.
The mosquitoes smelled the scent and all flocked to him.
Cao Jun wiped his sweat and said with a gloomy face, "I must put up the mosquito net and light the mosquito coils at night, otherwise I won't be able to sleep and will just become a mosquito blood bag!"
Uncle Chenghua took one look at the mosquito bite on his leg and nodded, "Indeed, you need to be careful."
Having said that, Song Yang also gave a timely reminder: "It's best to pay attention to all the unreasonable things given in the dungeon. At least on this first night, everyone should draw the mosquito net."
Several players agreed and nodded quickly.
Only Zhou Yaqing looked reluctant.
The enchanting man Lu Xiang flirted with Song Yang while saying delicately, "Oh, we don't have any clues right now. It's better to be safe than sorry. Sister Zhou, just pull it. What's the big deal?"
Xia Jing looked at Lu Xiang, then looked at Song Yang meaningfully.
Song Yang glanced at him expressionlessly.
Xia Jing turned his head with a calm expression.
Zhou Yaqing obviously disliked men like Lu Xiang just like Cheng Hua. When she heard him speak, her brows were twisted together.
She said coldly, "My heart and lung function isn't very good. Just staying in a room without ventilation is stuffy enough, and it's even more uncomfortable with the mosquito net!"
Lu Xiang blinked and said, "Isn't the mosquito net hollow? How can it be more uncomfortable?"
You Ye asked, "Sister Zhou, does being in a confined, narrow space make you anxious?"
Zhou Yaqing glanced at Lu Xiang with disgust and nodded. "A little bit. It's not claustrophobia, but it's just a psychological effect that makes it difficult to breathe. But I can't change that. Anyway, we each have our own bed, so it won't affect you if I don't draw the mosquito net."
You Ye naturally had no objection. She picked up the cup and took a sip of water.
Just then, the hotel waiter brought up the food they ordered, interrupting their discussion.
This hotel only serves Chinese food. When ordering, they ordered a variety of stir-fries, stews, and steamed dishes - after all, they didn't have to spend their real-world money. Every player who entered a dungeon with decent conditions did the same.
Of course, what kind of delicious food could there be in the copy? They didn't have any hope, they just wanted to eat their fill.
However, they didn't expect that when the meal was served, each dish was bright in color and delicious in smell. Just one look and one sniff made everyone's mouths water.
This was indeed somewhat beyond their expectations.
Cao Jun is a gourmet. After taking a bite, he was so amazed that he exclaimed, "Wow, the food in this hotel is really well made!"
When everyone heard this, they swallowed their saliva and started to pick up their chopsticks.
Before Song Yang started to eat, he suddenly thought of something and asked Xia Jing in a low voice, "If you don't have any memories of the real world, then you haven't tasted these dishes?"
Xia Jing picked up the chopsticks gracefully: "Those I've encountered in other copies have been eaten, and those I haven't encountered have not been eaten."
Song Yang turned his head and picked up a piece of stir-fried beef with chopsticks.
The beef was very tender and full of spicy flavor. What was strange was that Song Yang also picked up a small piece of green pepper and put it into his mouth. The taste of the green pepper was much better than the beef. It was crispy and tender, and slightly spicy. After chewing it and swallowing it, he felt his appetite open up and his stomach started to rumble.
Song Yang took two bites, but couldn't help himself and asked again, "So you won't eat after leaving the dungeon?"
Xia Jing raised his lips and glanced at him, as if asking, "Have you become a curious baby now?"
Song Yang remained calm.
He felt that it was normal for him to have doubts after suddenly learning such a bizarre thing, so he was justified.
Xia Jing smiled, but still replied: "It doesn't matter if I don't have to eat."
He said it nonchalantly, but Song Yang paused.
If food intake is not essential, then perhaps the same is true for other things, such as sleep.
Song Yang lowered his eyes.
A person who does not need to sleep or eat cannot be called a human being.
Next to Song Yang sat Lu Chenfei.
Lu Chenfei was really curious about the relationship between Song Yang and Xia Jing. After looking at the two of them for a long time, he asked directly, "Are you two friends?"
Song Yang stopped moving.
Xia Jing continued to eat without changing his expression.
He took two bites of the boiled fish fillet and heard the man next to him respond nonchalantly, "If we weren't friends, why would we room together?"
"He is your friend, so why did you pretend to ask him his name just now?" Lu Chenfei looked suspicious.
Song Yang responded calmly, "I entered the same dungeon with him without any prior arrangement. I think it's quite a coincidence. I'm in a good mood so I can just joke around, okay?"
"Hehe, You Ye and I haven't made an appointment with you yet, and you don't look that happy to see us." Lu Chenfei said sarcastically.
He, Song Yang and You Ye met by chance in Smile City and had known each other for quite a long time. This time they just happened to be in the same copy.
Lu Chenfei wanted to vomit blood when he saw Song Yang today. After all, he had threatened two days ago that he would kill Song Yang the next time they met. He didn't want to slap himself in the face.
You Ye laughed at him and said that this was not the first or second time he had contradicted himself in the face. Lu Chenfei would never admit it!
Of course, although they are familiar with each other, they have never admitted their points and rankings to each other. This is a tacit understanding, and they can probably guess it without saying it.
Lu Chenfei dared to guarantee that Song Yang would be number one in the player rankings, and as for You Ye, he would be either fourth or third.
I don't know what kind of person this new friend named Xia Jing is.
He extended his hand towards Xia Jing and said in a stern voice, "Hello, my name is Lu Chenfei. From today on, we are friends. If you ever get upset with this guy, come find me and we'll deal with him together!"
Xia Jing glanced at Lu Chenfei curiously, and Song Yang immediately narrowed his eyes and said, "You can ignore him."
The next second, Xia Jing curled his lips and shook hands with Lu Chenfei.
Lu Chenfei was immediately happy. He felt that Xia Jing was a good friend and gave Song Yang a provocative look.
Song Yang: "..."
After teasing the two, Xia Jing suddenly said, "The food in this hotel is really delicious."
Song Yang and Lu Chenfei frowned.
Xia Jing slowly picked up a piece of fried lettuce with chopsticks and put it into his mouth.
The lettuce is fresh and crisp, with a mellow taste, and it has a refreshing and fragrant taste when chewed.
Not only that, the steamed choy sum sprinkled with steamed fish soy sauce has no bitterness at all, only a soft, glutinous and sweet taste.
The bamboo shoots in the pickled pork with preserved vegetables are crispy and tender, with a hint of the deliciousness of bacon and ham, making you want to eat more with chopsticks.
Not to mention the stir-fried garland chrysanthemum with pine nuts, which has a very refreshing taste.
…
The vegetarian dishes in this hotel are much better than the non-vegetarian ones.
The three of them, along with You Ye beside them, all looked at the entire dining table.
Before they knew it, everyone else was chowing down on the food.
Cao Jun was sweating profusely while eating, burping, but he kept shaking his head and exclaiming, "It's so delicious," and stuffing more food in.
Even a mature person like Cheng Hua had his cheeks bulging with stuffing. Zhou Yaqing no longer felt unhappy and reached for his chopsticks quickly.
This is probably the hotel with the best food in all the copies of Smiley City.
Xia Jing picked up his chopsticks.
This delicacy is normal.
Or is there something weird about it?
*
I don't know whether it was lucky or unfortunate, but the group finally finished all the dishes and nothing happened. The only bad thing was their stomachs that were about to burst.
The hotel manager, wearing a bow tie, came to their table and saw the empty plates. He was surprised and said, "It seems that the dishes are all to your taste!"
When several players saw this NPC, they became wary and sat up straight in embarrassment.
They all still remembered what Song Yang had just said.
Cheng Hua nodded cautiously and said, "It's indeed good."
"That's good, that's good!" The hotel manager, having fulfilled his responsibilities as an excellent service provider, high-fived and said, "Oh, by the way, there's something I forgot to remind you all—"
"Everyone, please don't go out at night. There are many wild animals in the forest and it is very dangerous at night. Please stay in your rooms all night."
Forest, beasts.
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's body tensed up instantly.
Cheng Hua asked tentatively, "Excuse me, what kind of wild animals are there in the forest?"
The hotel manager narrowed his eyes and smiled meaningfully, "There are the hungriest beasts you can imagine."
After leaving these words, the hotel manager nodded and turned to leave.
The group looked at each other in confusion. Cheng Hua lowered his voice and said, "That's very strange. If the focus of this dungeon is really the forest, then why does the hotel exist? It can't be just to give us a place to stay!"
These people have gone through several dungeons and have encountered all kinds of situations. Even if they encounter a desert dungeon, they have to sleep in the open air on the sand, and they can only endure it honestly. There is no way that Smiley City will treat players well.
But now many clues tell them that the main monster of the copy is deep in the forest, and the hotel is even protecting them.
After thinking for a moment, Song Yang said, "We still have too few clues. We still have some time before bed. Let's split up and familiarize ourselves with the hotel's terrain. Tomorrow morning, we'll set out into the forest."
Everyone nodded quickly.
Although the hotel is large, they have ten players and they can complete the map quite quickly by working in pairs.
Unfortunately, after spending an hour walking around, they still didn't find anything special.
Except for the first floor which serves as the hotel lobby, lounge area, customer service area and dining area, all the spaces from the second floor up are copy-pasted hotel rooms.
We had no clue for the moment, and it was almost ten o'clock, a bit late, so we could only go back to our rooms.
Before they parted, Song Yang said, "Please be careful tonight. If anything happens, please contact me by phone."
*
After returning to the room and closing the door, Xia Jing walked to the window and looked out.
The large forest outside had turned pitch black in the night.
As the evening breeze blew by, only black shadows could be seen moving around, resembling ghosts.
The logo light on the top of the hotel building was still on, casting a faint glow on the open space in front of the hotel.
Song Yang turned down the air conditioner temperature a bit. The cool air could soothe anxiety and calm people down.
He walked over to Xia Jing and said thoughtfully, "Do you think the monster will appear tonight?"
Xia Jing chuckled and asked, "Do you think monsters would waste an entire night?"
Impossible.
Something is bound to happen tonight.
Xia Jing suddenly asked him, "Are you going to pull up the mosquito net tonight?"
Song Yang stared down at him and asked, "If I plan to pull it, what are you going to do?"
Xia Jing pointed to the sofa chair next to him and said, "Then I'll sleep here tonight."
Song Yang was almost laughing out of anger: "I wanted to ask you before, why are you so reckless when it comes to things related to monsters?"
Xia Jing turned around and raised an eyebrow, "Didn't we come to the dungeon just to catch monsters?"
Perhaps for other human players, their first priority is to save their lives, their second priority is to get points, and their third priority is to collect monster body parts.
But for players like Song Yang, these three things go hand in hand. In his dictionary, there should be no words like "hiding from monsters and running away".
"That's true," Song Yang didn't deny Xia Jing's statement. He said in a deep voice, "But catching monsters doesn't mean you have to rush in. The dungeon clearly gave you prompts, but you didn't use them. Even the most skilled players could still fail."
Xia Jing was about to speak when Song Yang said, "I know you want to say you won't die, but do you really have to take your body so lightly?"
Xia Jing shut up, raised his eyebrows and stared at Song Yang.
Song Yang did not give in either.
He lowered his eyes, remained silent for a moment, and then asked in a low voice, "In that copy of 'Death Ringing'... did it hurt at the end?"
Xia Jing paused.
The air in the room fell into an eerie silence.
Song Yang didn't say that before.
In fact, when he first met Xia Jing in this copy, the first question he wanted to ask was not "What the hell are you?", but this sentence.
But sometimes when looking at this guy, Song Yang always felt that there were some questions he couldn't ask.
Because this guy is so nonchalant, you can already guess what his answers will be to many questions.
Sure enough, at this moment, after a moment of silence, Xia Jing only said, "Not bad."
Song Yang curled the corners of his lips, knowing this would happen.
This guy doesn't even need to eat or sleep, so how can he feel pain like a normal person? Even if he can feel it, with the monster in front of him, he probably doesn't care about anything else.
So Song Yang wanted to put it another way. If it doesn't hurt, it will definitely feel uncomfortable. Anyway, it won't be very comfortable, right?
If you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable, don't be so reckless in the future.
You are such a smart guy. You put on an extra layer of protective shell and waited a little longer. Are you afraid that you won't be able to snatch the monster's head?
But he didn't expect that after Xia Jing answered his question, he asked thoughtfully: "Are you afraid that I will feel pain?"
Song Yang was stunned, his expression became subtle: "Afraid... not really -"
He met Xia Jing's pair of black and white eyes, and somehow, his words were stuck there.
After a pause, he whispered, "Normal humans either lose their sense of pain or are afraid of pain. Even though you think you're neither a human nor a monster, I still want to treat you as a human."
Xia Jing looked at him for a while and then looked away.
Under the night sky, the young man seemed to think about it seriously.
Just when Song Yang thought he was not going to continue this topic, he opened his lips and said softly: "...Well, it still hurts a little."
Song Yang was slightly stunned.
Xia Jing murmured absentmindedly, "A little bit indeed."
The slight tail sound fell into the night, like a feather brushing against Song Yang's heart.
At the same time, there was a sudden, slight "click" sound.
The two of them moved, quickly turned their heads, stood up straight, and looked towards the door.
The sound came from there.
After looking at each other, they walked to the door one after the other in tacit understanding.
My feet made no sound as they stepped on the hotel carpet.
Song Yang moved closer to the door and could not hear any sound outside.
His eyes fell on the crack in the door on the ground - there was no shadow, so the person outside must have left.
Maybe it left the corridor, or maybe it moved to the door of the next room.
Xia Jing pressed the door handle, pushed it down gently, and pulled it.
There was a faint "clang" sound, and the door did not open.
It was locked from the outside.
Someone had locked them up in a hotel room.
It was ten o'clock in the evening. Song Yang and Xia Jing's phones vibrated at the same time. They opened the WeChat group temporarily formed by ten players and saw that everyone found that their door was locked.
The one who would lock them up didn't do what he wanted.
"It should be someone from the hotel." Song Yang said.
Weld the windows shut, hang mosquito nets, and lock their doors before going to bed.
This hotel is so strict on guarding its customers that what kind of monster might appear at night?
Xia Jing walked to the window again.
This time, the logo lights on the hotel's exterior wall were also turned off, and it became pitch black outside, with nothing visible.
I could only feel the dark shadows moving slightly everywhere.
Maybe it is still the trees and grass swaying in the wind, or maybe it is something else.
Or maybe it's just an illusion caused by people's fear and suspicion.
Song Yang thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to sleep. Listen to me tonight and use the mosquito net first, okay?"
Xia Jing turned around and tilted his head. This time, he said, "Okay."
Theoretically, if you really want to guard against monsters, turning on the lights during the night in the dungeon would be a good choice.
It is true that monsters are not wild beasts and will not dare to approach players just because they are wary of light. However, in the same situation, if some players turn on the lights and some players turn off the lights, even monsters will know who to go to first.
Therefore, tonight, I believe that several of the five rooms will have lights on all night.
But in order not to anger Xia Jing, Song Yang turned off the lights.
After all, he was not afraid of monsters coming to him, he just wanted to make better use of the copy information before taking action.
After pulling up the mosquito net, the space seemed to become much more cramped.
There was a layer of gauze in the field of vision, and everything became a little blurry.
Song Yang and Xia Jing lay flat on the bed, Song Yang slept near the door and Xia Jing near the window.
Both of them kept their eyes open and were speechless for a moment.
Xia Jing suddenly asked, "Why didn't you pick up the monster body parts in the last instance?"
Song Yang was stunned. He didn't expect Xia Jing to ask this suddenly.
He confessed, "I didn't expect you to die. I'm not in the mood anymore."
In the darkness, Xia Jing looked at him with a very subtle look in his eyes.
Song Yang savored the look, his lips twitching as he said, "Are you thinking that if I died, you wouldn't be in the mood to pick up monsters?"
Xia Jing said innocently: "I didn't."
Song Yang: Haha, only a fool would believe that.
Song Yang asked suspiciously, "You're desperately trying to pick up these things just to get into the safe house? Speaking of which, can't you just break into someone else's dungeon? Then why do you have to start over from the beginning like us?"
But he quickly thought of the answer: "For points?"
"If you accumulate 10,000 points, can you leave this place like us?" Song Yang pondered to himself.
No, this guy spends all his points every time he leaves the dungeon, so he gets the points purely for consumption.
Xia Jing turned his back to Song Yang and said with a smile, "You are very smart. You can think about it slowly. I'm going to sleep first."
Song Yang: "…" Oh, I'm so angry.
He rubbed Xia Jing's head and said, "Sleep well. Sleeping is a very comfortable thing."
Just like delicious food.
Human beings are creatures that turn away from all pain and devote themselves to pleasure.
This is the instinct for survival and enjoying life.
In the darkness, Xia Jing looked into the void for a while, then slowly closed his eyes.
The small room fell into the silence of the night.
The entire hotel seemed to have fallen into a sweet dream.
…
I don't know how long it took.
Outside the window, there were no stars or moon in the night sky, and the shadows of the trees in the forest were swaying.
Whenever the wind blows, it seems as if you can hear the hazy sounds of nature through a window.
Rustle.
Rustle.
That was the sound of leaves swaying in the air along with the branches.
That was the sound of leaves rubbing against each other.
That was the sound of something crawling quickly in the darkness.
…
At a certain moment, Xia Jing opened his eyes in the darkness.
His posture remained unchanged, always with his back to Song Yang and facing the window.
Behind him, Song Yang was breathing lightly, obviously awake as well.
And just as Xia Jing opened his eyes, outside the window, a black, bony hand dissipated like mist, fell down, and quickly disappeared at the edge of the window frame.
It was so fast that it seemed like an illusion.
The floor they were on was the fifth floor.
A second later, they both silently got out of bed and walked to the window for the third time tonight.
The windows were sealed tightly, and from their perspective they could not see the hotel's exterior walls which were on the same plane as the windows.
In the darkness, nothing could be seen outside the hotel, and it was already the darkest hour of the night.
The two of them observed for a while, and Song Yang said softly, "Let's talk about it tomorrow."
Xia Jing nodded.
Unlike when the door was locked, the hotel removed the lock silently. At 5:30 the next morning, Song Yang tried to open the door, only to find that the lock on the outside had been removed long ago.
At eight o'clock in the morning, the rest of the people woke up one after another.
That's when they learned—
Cao Jun disappeared.