Chapter 671: Contradicting the Background Introduction
The hotel entrance was a glass door. From here, it was more intuitive than looking from upstairs. Outside was completely plunged into darkness. Apart from the faintly traceable mist, one couldn't even see two or three meters ahead.
"It's like being confined to a limited activity range in an E-rank instance," Wei Xian said.
It was unwise to probe the unknown. Tian Kunwen said, "Let's look for You Jun tomorrow."
"More than one room was knocked on tonight. Xu Zhi and the third-floor guest didn't open their doors and were fine. If someone knocks later, everyone must not open."
The players returned to their rooms. Fu Danhong joked with Xu Huo, "Brother, you've got a pretty hot temper."
She must have heard that "Get lost" earlier.
"But it worked out thanks to that. If you had opened the door, you might have ended up like You Jun." Fu Danhong finished and went back to her room.
Tian Kunwen nodded at him and also closed his door.
Xu Huo turned around and unexpectedly saw a head poking out from a room at the end of the corridor. Their eyes met, and the person immediately retreated back into the room.
That player had checked in a day earlier.
The night passed without incident. The next day, Xu Huo went downstairs early. The administrator was already at the front desk. Seeing him, he said with a smile, "Guest, you're up so early."
"I called the front desk yesterday, but no one answered."
"Oh dear, look at me." The administrator took out white notes from his bag. "I had something to do yesterday and wasn't on duty. Here's your refund."
Xu Huo reached out and took it, but the administrator seemed reluctant. Pointing to the handicrafts on the shelf behind the counter, he said, "Why not buy a couple to play with? Our handicrafts are top-notch."
Xu Huo glanced at them and decisively pocketed the money. "The eyes are carved too ugly."
The administrator pouted and sat back down.
Soon, Yi Pei and the others came down. Tian Kunwen said grimly, "Three people went missing last night."
Besides Liu Shiyan on the first floor and Fang Penghui on the third floor, other players who hadn't shown up yesterday also came downstairs for breakfast one after another. The disappearances were discovered by their neighbors. Some were worried, others gloated. These people glanced at Xu Huo and his group before leaving the hotel.
"They won't tell you anything." The curly-haired Fang Penghui looked at Wei Xian, who was trying to strike up conversations with others. "This is a survival instance. Everyone is a competitor. One less risk for others means one more risk for yourself. Only a fool would do that."
He gave them another meaningful look.
This plunged Tian Kunwen and the others, who were only temporarily cooperating, into silence.
After the other players left, Yi Pei said, "Let's each go out and look for clues. We can't just stay in the dark and wait for others to set traps. Also, let's look for You Jun."
Last night, there were three knocks. The two who didn't open their doors were fine, but You Jun, who did, disappeared. The intuitive judgment was that opening the door made the difference. But since two others also disappeared, it meant the disappearances weren't directly related to opening the door, or the connection was very weak. The real reason needed to be found by themselves.
"We were in a hurry yesterday. Today is a good chance to look around." Fu Danhong looked around at the group. "We're the last to arrive. If we don't stick together, we might become targets for others."
They agreed to continue cooperating temporarily. After leaving the hotel, they split into pairs and a trio: Xu Huo with Yi Pei, and Tian Kunwen, Fu Danhong, and Wei Xian together.
After breakfast outside, Yi Pei took her backpack and voice recorder, posing as a magazine writer, and asked the locals for information under the pretext of writing an article about Square Palace City.
They didn't gain much substantial information. Instead, to win the favor of the homeowners, they bought quite a few handicrafts.
"All animal sculptures," Yi Pei said, touching a wooden bear. "Just not very detailed."
After visiting a few houses, Xu Huo decided not to follow along. He said, "I'll go check outside the city."
"Outside the city is all woods... Are you looking for You Jun?" Yi Pei was quite surprised. "Why?"
"Whether dead or alive, there should be some clues or traces left. I'll take a chance." He asked her, "Want to come with me?"
In fact, the disappearance itself was a very valuable clue.
Yi Pei declined. "I'll continue learning about the background of Square Palace City. We'll meet up and share information later, okay?"
"Fine." Xu Huo headed alone toward the woods outside the city. Before entering, he saw the girl they had met yesterday coming out of the woods with a half-basket of wild vegetables.
"What a coincidence! Have you had breakfast?" The girl with the long braid smiled sweetly. "Want to come to my place for some wild vegetable porridge? It's delicious."
"I've already eaten." Xu Huo smiled, looking a bit weak. "The air here is nice. I want to take a walk. Are there paths in the woods?"
"There are some trails people have made while foraging for mushrooms and wild vegetables." The girl pointed behind her. "But this area has a lot of mountains and forests. People usually don't go too far. There might be snakes, so be careful."
Xu Huo thanked her and noticed a lifelike little cat wood carving hanging on her basket. "This is your family's handicraft. It looks better than others'."
"This is my brother's work." She said with a hint of pride, "In the county town, he's second to none. It sells the best outside!"
"That's really good." Xu Huo said, "Can you sell me two?"
"Sure!" The girl's eyes lit up. "I don't have them with me now. I'll bring them to you later. Where are you staying?"
"I'll go to your place to pick them. I might buy a few more." Xu Huo said.
They parted amicably, and Xu Huo continued into the woods.
He wasn't the only one there. On the way, he ran into Fang Penghui, who was crouching under a tree looking at something. When he noticed Xu Huo approaching, he immediately stood up, and the dirt kicked up by his feet covered the object on the ground.
Xu Huo glanced at it. It looked like a stone.
Seeing this, Fang Penghui simply moved aside and left. Before going, he said, "In this instance, it's better not to be so curious."
Xu Huo was clearly not one to take advice. He kicked the dirt away to uncover the object underneath. To his surprise, it was a broken stone carving. The upper half of the face was missing, and the lower half depicted a somewhat abstract religious figure. Judging by the break, it had been damaged for some years. There were signs of it being repeatedly disturbed nearby.
This was the first religious item he had seen since entering the county town.
According to the instance description, religious sculptures should be everywhere here. But the modernized county town showed no trace of any religious remnants. Even the handicrafts for sale had nothing to do with religion.
The few houses he had visited earlier—living rooms, kitchens, small yards, and other public areas—also showed no signs of religious worship. There was no involvement at all, let alone piety. This also contradicted the background introduction.
The county town itself was strange. It was said that the city's scale had been shrinking repeatedly, but the residential areas were almost completely overgrown with vegetation, as if no one had ever lived there. Even with all the relocations, there shouldn't be no traces left at all.
Changing direction, he was about to continue deeper into the woods when someone called out from behind, "Hey!"
(End of Chapter)