Chapter 1011: Dr. Zhang's Room
Chi Minghong revealed two more pieces of information: first, only one note appeared each day, and second, the note only appeared after midnight.
With over a dozen people in the instance and only one note per day, the efficiency seemed a bit slow... Xu Huo looked at Chi Minghong.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" the other asked suspiciously.
"Nothing." Xu Huo turned his head away and continued examining the other rooms.
The players who arrived first had already checked the rooms—there were signs of rummaging and moving things around, and in some eye-catching rooms, even the wallpaper had been peeled off.
"There's quite a bit of blood on the walls." Xu Huo studied them for two seconds. "The marks are unusual too."
Chi Minghong followed his gaze. "Looks like a duck. Could that pervert be painting with blood?"
Xu Huo smiled slightly. "That's unlikely." Besides, the pattern didn't really look like a duck.
"There are more in the other rooms." Chi Minghong had a good memory and pointed out each bloodstained room, roughly describing their locations.
Rooms where people had died hadn't been specially renovated—conspicuous spots were covered with wall cloth, and the floors were simply hidden under rugs. Two rooms were even more outrageous: the bloodstained rugs hadn't been cleaned at all, just flipped over and reused.
"The room directly above the main hall is the worst," Chi Minghong said. "There are uncleaned traces everywhere—on the walls, the floor, under the bed. It doesn't look like a place meant for renting out. No one could survive here for three years. Even I find it a bit eerie."
Xu Huo said, "If the landlord or one of the tenants enjoys killing, or is simply a Red Player, then the situation makes sense."
Half of the rooms with visible residual traces had irregular circles marked out. Under normal circumstances, human blood wouldn't flow so neatly, and a Red Player's feeding wouldn't leave such marks either.
It looked more like some kind of ritual.
Considering the situation in District 002, any type of perverted serial killer could appear—this wasn't entirely unexpected.
By the time he and Chi Minghong went down from the fifth floor, the round-faced female player and the glasses-wearing man had also emerged from different directions. Two people were missing from the first-floor lobby.
One was the eyebrow-pierced player who had been in the lobby since Xu Huo entered, and the other was a hat-wearing male player who had come down from upstairs later.
Xu Huo looked at the players who were talking.
"...been teaching for five years now." The speaker had an honest face and seemed non-threatening. He introduced himself, "My surname is Fan. My profession in the game is also a teacher."
He was speaking to a female player sitting nearby, who was wearing a form-fitting slit dress and had a beautiful face. She had also come down from upstairs later. Her expression was a bit bored, but she still responded to Teacher Fan, "You look pretty young. I didn't expect you to have five years of experience."
"I stayed on at the school after graduation without being tempered by society, so I look young." Teacher Fan smiled. "Miss Ding, with such outstanding looks, you must be a famous actress, right?"
Miss Ding gave a light laugh. "I'm not that pretty."
As she spoke, she leaned forward slightly, resting her chin on her right hand. "Haven't you seen the beauty pageant contestants from District 002? They all look like they've been genetically screened. Just from appearance alone, they're flawless."
"Even the men and women walking down the streets of Snow City are very good-looking. I'm a bit curious—District 002 advocates for natural childbirth, so why are the children born there so exceptionally beautiful, picking only the best traits?"
There was only one player from District 002 present. Miss Ding's words seemed provocative, but the other player just glanced at her and lowered his head, continuing to toy with a decorative vase he had taken from a corner shelf.
"It's probably because of the environment." The long-haired female player looked into a mirror. "Maybe living in darkness for a long time has that effect. Too bad I'm not from District 002—I can't stand being in the dark for long. Otherwise, I'd definitely try to see if I could become prettier."
Miss Ding didn't comment on that, but the glasses-wearing man who had arrived last chimed in, "Haven't you looked into the situation in District 002? Being good-looking here isn't necessarily a good thing."
The room fell silent. The few who had been chatting averted their eyes in unison.
The glasses-wearing man couldn't help but feel awkward. Chi Minghong laughed beside him. "That's what you get for butting in."
Another stretch of silence followed. Xu Huo checked the time—it was almost ten o'clock—and said to Chi Minghong, "I'm going to find a room to rest."
"Waiting is waiting anywhere." Chi Minghong decisively followed. "Let's go together."
Xu Huo picked a room on the first floor—the one Luo Changren had written about as Dr. Zhang's residence.
The rooms on the first floor were all larger than those upstairs. The suite Dr. Zhang had rented was a two-bedroom, one-living-room setup, with one bedroom and a sizable study.
According to the information Luo Changren provided, Dr. Zhang had temporarily left District 002. Magazines with dates in the study indicated that Dr. Zhang hadn't returned since that departure.
A thin layer of dust had settled in the room. Apart from some fresh signs of rummaging, the walls and floor tiles were very clean, with no traces of fighting or uncleaned bloodstains.
This room was too clean.
Xu Huo walked around the several rooms, then returned to the door, rubbed the scratches on the lock, and closed the door again.
Dr. Zhang's personal belongings were arranged very neatly. Compared to other unoccupied rooms, there were signs of regular cleaning—at least, someone must have come to clean this place before the villa was completely abandoned.
The person hadn't returned for years, and the longest any tenant here had stayed was no more than three years, which suggested it probably wasn't Dr. Zhang's friends taking care of the place.
There were pry marks on the old-fashioned lock, indicating that besides players, some special professionals had visited this room. Yet the room was as tidy as new. The landlord here didn't seem like the type to honor contracts... unless someone regularly changed their appearance to return here, or the room itself had a problem.
The room had a secret chamber.
Xu Huo walked to the wall behind the study and casually glanced at the formulas for potion development pasted on it, then reached out.
Just as his hand touched the wall, he blinked heavily. For some unknown reason, he withdrew his hand and intended to leave.
But as he turned around, he stopped, frowned, and looked back at the wall, then checked the time.
Fifteen minutes had passed since he entered the room—far more than the time he had perceived. From entering to inspecting every room, at most five minutes should have passed!
Was it a problem with the item, or had his perception been affected?
Walking back to the wall, Xu Huo reached out again, but stopped midway and switched to using an item instead.
With one sword strike, he broke through the wall and entered the secret chamber as intended. But before he could step inside, he saw a fresh set of footprints on the ground. The sole pattern was identical to the "Gentleman's Poise" he was wearing!
(Chapter End)