Cheng Hua, who shared a room with Cao Jun, woke up in the morning and found that the seat next to him was empty.
He thought Cao Jun had gotten up early and was washing up in the toilet, but the toilet was empty.
It was not until Cheng Hua called Cao Jun's cell phone and was told that it was turned off that he realized something was wrong.
At this moment, he was in a state of panic and confusion: "I just went downstairs to look for him, and I looked on every floor, but I couldn't find him!"
Cao Jun just disappeared from the face of the earth.
Nine people stood in their room, Cheng Hua's forehead was covered with sweat. "I slept so soundly last night that I didn't even notice when he disappeared. What should I do now? Is he in trouble?"
The twin sister, Gu Xing, stood at the door and didn't dare to come in. She covered her mouth and her face was pale. Her brother Gu Chen looked solemn.
Zhou Yaqing and Lu Xiang's expressions also looked a little grim. Zhou Yaqing said in a trembling voice, "How could a healthy person disappear? Something must have happened to him. This must have been done by a monster! But you were in the same room, so why did the monster only take him away and not you?"
Cheng Hua froze: "I don't know either..."
Song Yang, Xia Jing, Lu Chenfei and You Ye walked into their room. The four of them checked it out separately, but found nothing unusual worth noting.
The side of the bed where Cao Jun slept was very clean, with wrinkles still showing where someone had slept last night.
But such a big person just disappeared out of thin air.
Xia Jing leaned over and asked, "Did you turn on the lights yesterday?"
Cheng Hua was stunned for a moment, then quickly nodded and said, "It's on! We figured that even if a monster comes knocking on our door in the middle of the night, turning on the light will give us a clearer view and make it easier to deal with it!"
At this point, Cheng Hua became annoyed again: "At the beginning of last night, I was chatting with Xiao Cao. At that time, I was paying attention to the movements in and outside the room. I felt that I would never be able to fall asleep the whole night, but I fell asleep while chatting and slept until dawn. It's all my fault. If only I could stay awake the whole time!"
"So why did the monster only take one person away?" Lu Xiang said delicately, "Uncle, did you really not notice that Xiao Cao Cao was taken away? Logically speaking, Xiao Cao Cao would definitely struggle if he encountered a monster. It's impossible that he wouldn't even wake up after such a big commotion!"
There was some truth in what he said, and immediately several suspicious eyes were cast on Cheng Hua.
Cheng Hua was stunned for a moment before he flew into a rage. "Are you saying I left Cao Jun to die and deliberately fed him to the monster?! How could I possibly do such a thing to a companion? Don't make such a accusation if you have no evidence!"
Lu Xiang covered his mouth and blinked his eyes: "Why are you being so mean to me? I was just saying it casually. How scary!"
Cheng Hua: "You—"
Song Yang glanced at Xia Jing sensitively at this moment. As expected, he saw the regret on the young man's face, "I should have turned on the lights last night." The corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Why on earth did he know so much about this little monster?
Noticing his gaze, Xia Jing gave him a rather innocent look.
Song Yang: "..."Okay, I get it, you didn't think about it.
Song Yang stood up helplessly and stopped searching for clues. He suddenly asked a question: "Didn't you see anything outside the window last night?"
These people seemed to have no intention of mentioning the monster outside the window in the middle of the night last night.
Sure enough, after hearing Song Yang's words, the others were stunned: "What's outside the window?"
Even Lu Chenfei and You Ye cast inquiring glances.
You Ye said, "I stayed awake and waited for a long time last night, but nothing happened, so I just went to sleep. Did anything happen to you and Xia Jing?"
Song Yang nodded and said calmly, "Yesterday, a hand that looked like a monster appeared outside the window of the room Xia Jing and I were staying in. It was around 2:30 in the morning. The other party might have been lying on the outer wall and quickly escaped after we discovered it."
As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the others changed.
Song Yang's eyes turned to the window of Cheng Hua's room: "Uncle Cheng's room's window is intact. Theoretically, it's impossible for a monster to get in."
But it's impossible for Cao Jun to disappear for no reason.
Zhou Yaqing opened his mouth and asked nervously, "Could the monster have come from somewhere else... like the main door of the room? Could it be a liquid that could have gotten in through the crack in the door?"
Gu Xing weakly reminded: "If it's liquid, then it won't matter how much the hotel locks the door and pulls up the mosquito net for us."
Zhou Yaqing reacted: "That's right."
The hotel has provided these defensive measures. No matter how you think about it, the monster cannot be a fluid.
In this way, since the windows and doors were closed yesterday, it was indeed impossible for the monster to break into Chenghua and the others' room.
But the next second, Xia Jing suddenly said: "The door can be locked from the outside, so it can naturally be opened from the outside."
The young man's voice was so clear that everyone was startled.
Gu Xing opened his eyes wide, feeling both scared and puzzled. "But even if the monster can open the lock on the outside, there's still a lock on the inside of the door!"
The lock on the hotel door cannot be easily opened by outsiders, right?
Unless they relied on brute force or bumping into someone, if they really broke in by force, the door of Chenghua and the others' room would have been broken. With such a loud noise in the middle of the night yesterday, all of them would have woken up!
Xia Jing turned around and looked at everyone.
The human skin mask on the young man's face looked very funny, and his tone was gentle and calm, but the words he said instantly made the others shudder:
"The hotel should have spare room cards for each room."
They all changed color.
...Spare room card!
At this moment, they finally realized what Xia Jing meant, and a chill suddenly rose from the soles of their feet.
By the way, they had always taken it for granted that the hotel staff had locked the door for them from the outside to ensure that they would not go out. As long as they did not go out at night, they would not encounter monsters.
But if there was such a possibility... If the monster could get into the hotel, it could not only easily open the lock on their door, but also swipe open the door to their room...
—Aren't the hotel and the monsters colluding? Those NPCs are essentially trapping the monsters' prey in the hotel!
Thinking of this possibility, the group of people's faces turned pale and cold sweat broke out on their backs.
Song Yang thought for a moment and said, "Let's go find the hotel manager first. As long as Cao Jun didn't disappear directly in the room, then he was taken out, and there should be surveillance footage in the hotel corridor."
Zhou Yaqing said in horror, "If the hotel and the monsters were in cahoots, would they be so cooperative with us?"
Xia Jing then said innocently: "What I just said was just a guess."
Song Yang nodded and said, "So we have to give it a try to find out the truth."
After that, the group went to find the hotel manager.
After searching for a while, we found that the person was on the fourth floor and was supervising a logistics worker to replace a broken glass window at the end of the corridor.
Seeing this NPC again at this moment, Zhou Yaqing and the others were so cautious that they didn't dare to get close.
The hotel manager had his back to them, his hands on his hips, glaring angrily. "How could this batch of glass you guys just explode? Is there something wrong with the quality?!"
The logistics officer squatted on the ground installing a new window and muttered, "This kind of glass sometimes explodes on its own. What does it have to do with quality..."
The hotel manager was furious: "I don't know when this window blew out yesterday. Do you know how dangerous the forest outside is at night? Wild animals could come in from outside. How can we guarantee the safety of our guests?!"
Not far away, the players stopped in their tracks when they heard this.
It doesn't sound like the hotel is an accomplice of the monster, but...
Zhou Yaqing lowered his voice and said sternly, "The monster most likely came in from here last night and took Cao Jun away!"
Several players tensed up and nodded secretly in agreement.
Zhou Yaqing's voice still caught the attention of the hotel manager.
The mustachioed man turned around and immediately put on a smile when he saw them. He said attentively, "Hey, good morning, everyone. Did you sleep well last night?"
Song Yang walked over and said bluntly: "One of our partners seems to be missing. Could you please help check the surveillance records of your hotel?"
The hotel manager was surprised and asked, "Your partner is missing? Wait, are you talking about Mr. Cao?"
Everyone was shocked.
They haven't even told the mustache guy which buddy is missing!
But then, the mustache man looked very surprised and continued, "How could he be missing?"
"After we unlocked the doors of your rooms at five in the morning, didn't Mr. Cao quickly leave the hotel and head for the forest? Didn't everyone have any misunderstandings?"
The hotel manager asked seriously.
This answer surprised everyone.
Xia Jing and Song Yang narrowed their eyes.
Cheng Hua murmured in surprise, "So he went into the forest alone...?"
Song Yang said calmly, "How could he choose to enter the forest alone?"
One sentence was like a bucket of cold water, instantly making Cheng Hua sober.
...yes.
Would any of them dare to go into the forest alone?
There is no need to raise the question of whether or not one dares.
Is Cao Jun so anxious? Even if he is really in a hurry to kill the monsters and leave the dungeon, he can just wake them up and go together.
There are unknown dangers in the forest, and players going in alone are simply seeking death.
Therefore, Cao Jun's behavior of leaving the hotel alone was not normal at all. It was even weirder than being "taken away by a monster".
Is what the hotel manager said true or false?
At this moment, all the players had different expressions, and they instinctively looked at Song Yang.
Xia Jing then glanced at the man next to him and raised his lips.
This man always seems to become the backbone wherever he goes.
In addition to being calm and quick-thinking, being tall and good-looking may also be a factor.
After all, humans are visual creatures.
Xia Jing looked Song Yang up and down with some interest.
Song Yang looked at the hotel manager and said calmly, "No matter what, please take us to see the surveillance records."
The mustache manager didn't refuse. He smiled and said, "Of course, our goal is to make every customer satisfied!"
The monitoring room is in the corner of the lobby on the first floor.
The man with the mustache asked the staff to find relevant surveillance records for Song Yang and the others. Lu Chenfei rudely argued with the man with the mustache why he locked their door without telling them.
There is actually no point in arguing with an NPC about such things, but Lu Chenfei just felt unhappy and wanted to ask.
The mustache man apologized, "Because something happened before. A guest didn't listen to our advice and went into the forest late at night, and then disappeared."
Xia Jing was listening at the side, then turned his head and asked, "Is there no danger in the forest during the day?"
The mustache man smiled and replied, "Yes, that's right, the beast only comes out at night."
Xia Jing turned around.
In theory, nothing should happen to Cao Jun if he enters the forest during the day.
But only in theory.
At this moment, the hotel staff found the relevant surveillance records and showed them to them, and the ten people gathered over.
The first surveillance video was recorded in the corridor on the fifth floor, where they could clearly see the door of Cheng Hua and Cao Jun's room.
At five-fifteen, just as Mustache had said, there were no extra locks on the door anymore.
The door was opened from the inside, and Cao Jun walked out with his head lowered.
The second surveillance video was recorded at the hotel gate at 5:18, when Cao Jun's fat back appeared in everyone's sight.
He walked slowly into the forest and soon disappeared.
——What the man with the mustache said turned out to be true. Cao Jun actually went to the forest on his own initiative early in the morning!
Several players were stunned.
Song Yang and Xia Jing watched the two surveillance videos several times over and over again.
The two surveillance records themselves were a little unclear, and because of the angle and the fact that Cao Jun was lowering his head, they couldn't see the expression on his face and had no idea what he was thinking.
The only thing they could be sure of was that Cao Jun left the hotel empty-handed without having breakfast early in the morning.
He was very calm, his steps were steady, and there was no hesitation as he entered the forest.
Gu Xing touched his arm and felt goosebumps all over his body.
She whispered, "Brother..."
Gu Chen hugged her and comforted her: "Don't be afraid, although it's a little strange, at least it wasn't a monster that took him away."
...But after saying this, Gu Chen also swallowed his saliva.
Is this really good news?
Several people felt that the situation was indescribably weird and were speechless for a moment.
After leaving the monitoring room, everyone was silent for a while.
Lu Chenfei raised a possibility: "Could it be that the monsters in this instance can't eat people directly, and have to lure people into the forest?"
Zhou Yaqing quickly said: "Yes, there is such a possibility!"
"If the monster needs to lure people into the forest, then this at least means that the monster cannot leave the forest," Xia Jing said slowly, "Then the thing that Song Yang and I saw last night, lying on the outer wall of the hotel, is the secondary monster."
But this is just an unfounded guess. Lu Chenfei scratched his head.
You Ye asked, "Are you sure what you saw last night was a human hand?"
Song Yang: "I can only say it looks like a human hand."
Xia Jing thought for a moment and said, "Actually, it does look a bit like a dry branch."
The two looked at each other.
You Yemei's eyes turned: "So you are actually not sure what that thing is."
Song Yang took a deep breath and said, "Let's go to the forest and take a look. The answer should be there."
*
At eight o'clock in the morning, the sun had risen to the sky and the temperature was rising rapidly.
The group had a quick breakfast, took some water and headed into the forest.
They walked into the forest according to the direction Cao Jun entered according to the surveillance records.
It was no different from other places in the forest. It was lush and green everywhere, and there were no paths for people to walk normally.
They rubbed shoulders with trees and grass, and mosquitoes flew towards their faces from time to time. If they were not careful, a big bump would appear on their body.
In such an environment, even people who do not have allergies will feel itchy all over their body. Coupled with the hot and humid weather, some of them cannot bear it after walking only two or three hundred meters.
Lü Xiangzhui was at the end of the group, complaining constantly, "It's so hot, so hot!"
Cheng Huaben was also not feeling well, and he became even more irritated when he heard his voice: "Can you please stop complaining? Do you really think you're here for a trip?!"
Xia Jing and Song Yang walked in the front.
They looked ahead, and as far as their eyes could see, even as far as three or four hundred meters away, there was nothing but trees.
Not to mention Cao Jun's figure, they didn't even find Cao Jun's footprints.
Xia Jing stopped and crushed the soil underneath with his feet.
Song Yang walked up to him and asked in a low voice, "What do you mean?"
Xia Jing said, "The soil here is not dry. If someone walked through it, even if they couldn't leave complete footprints, there should be some traces."
Like them now.
Looking back at the way they came, there were a lot of footprints on the soil.
But in front of them, there was really no trace of anyone walking.
Only a few hours had passed since Cao Jun left the hotel, and it hadn't rained in the dungeon, so it was impossible for the footprints to be covered up.
"Maybe we found the wrong entrance? Cao Jun didn't come in here at all." Lu Chenfei caught up with them, wiped the sweat off his forehead and said.
"Impossible," You Ye crossed his arms, raised his chin, and motioned him to look the way he came. "There was a bunch of red flowers where we came in. I remember it very clearly. Cao Jun came in from here in the surveillance video."
You Ye looks like a lazy cat, but he is very observant.
She parted her red lips and continued, "And the surveillance footage shows Cao Jun walking straight into the forest, at least 10 to 20 meters. He might have turned around after that, but I've been observing all around us and haven't found any footprints anywhere."
"A Cao Jun person should be quite heavy, how could he not even leave a footprint?" Lu Chenfei said subconsciously, "Could he have floated in?"
Lü Xiang, who was at the back of the group, screamed, "Xiao Feifei, stop telling horror stories!"
Lu Chenfei: "..."
When you call me Xiao Feifei, it's more like a horror story, okay!
Song Yang glanced at him sideways: "In the surveillance video, he walked into the forest with his two feet on the ground. Why, do you think he started flying as soon as he entered the forest?"
Xia Jing raised his head and joked, "What is this, an elf?"
You Ye chuckled.
Lu Chenfei: "..."
Damn, can't he just use his imagination?!
Lu Chenfei wiped his face with a look of resentment.
After that, they walked forward about eight or nine hundred meters, but still found nothing.
At that time, the whole forest seemed to have entered a steamer, and they could even see the steam evaporating from the leaves of the trees.
It is difficult for the human body to withstand such high temperatures and physical strength is quickly consumed.
Lu Xiang had already started wailing: "I didn't have enough to eat this morning, and now I'm so hungry. Aren't you hungry too?"
Gu Xing didn't want to cause trouble for everyone, so he didn't say anything. Now he couldn't help but said awkwardly: "Actually, I'm a little hungry too."
Cheng Hua asked anxiously, "Where on earth did Cao Jun run off to?"
Zhou Yaqing whispered, "I think the person is probably gone."
After these words were spoken, several people fell silent.
In fact, they also know that players who behave strangely in the dungeon, whether actively or passively, will not end up well in the end.
After a moment, Song Yang said, "Let's go back to the hotel first."
When it was time for lunch, Lu Xiang and Gu Xing were already wolfing down their food, and Gu Chen kept asking his sister to eat slower.
Song Yang said as he ate, "This forest is too big. It's not feasible to go in without a goal."
He pondered, "I wonder if I can see the entire forest clearly from the top floor of this hotel."
Xia Jing took a piece of kelp shreds and put them into his mouth to savor them carefully, reminding him, "Our room is already on the fifth floor, but we still can't see the whole forest."
Song Yang frowned.
That's right.
The trees in this forest were very tall. Looking out from the fifth floor, they could indeed see the forest stretching into the endless distance, but they could not really see the entire forest.
To see it clearly, you need to be at least high enough to overlook the forest.
Lu Chenfei wiped his mouth and said, "I do have a prop I can use. It's called the "Blow Up a Fat Man" prop. I have two on hand. This prop can be blown up to a hundred meters high, like a balloon, and it works with my five senses. I'll try it after dinner."
Song Yang: "Okay."
The others seemed to have no energy to participate in this discussion anymore, and they just did whatever Song Yang and the other three said.
At this moment they were only focused on eating. When the food was finished, Gu Chen ran to the kitchen to get more.
When he came back, he was holding a big bowl full of rice in his hands, but he looked a little absent-minded.
Zhou Yaqing stood up to add more rice. As soon as she sat down, she slapped her calf and killed a mosquito.
She said irritably, "I think I'd better draw the mosquito net tonight. There are too many mosquitoes in this hotel. Last night, when I was half asleep, I even felt a mosquito crawl into my mouth."
Lu Xiang: "Ugh, Sister Zhou, could you please not say such disgusting things while eating?"
Zhou Yaqing was scratching the mosquito bite on his leg and didn't bother to pay attention to him.
At this moment, You Ye, who was sitting next to her, noticed something and raised his hand and said, "Sister Zhou, don't move. There's a leaf stuck in your hair. Let me help you remove it."
Zhou Yaqing said, "Oh, okay, I probably found it in the forest just now."
She lowered her head to make it easier for You Ye to help her.
You Ye took the leaf off.
Zhou Yaqing suddenly let out a small "ah".
You Ye paused and asked, "What's wrong?"
Zhou Yaqing stood up, touched his head, and frowned: "It's okay, maybe I pulled my hair."
The hotel manager, Moustache, happened to pass by their table.
He looked at Zhou Yaqing with a thoughtful look on his face, then smiled at her.
Zhou Yaqing paused and cursed softly, "What are you laughing at? It's disgusting."