Chapter 745: Disappearance
Feeling his hand growing increasingly painful, the leading player couldn't help but look down. However, the moment he shifted his gaze, Xu Huo charged over from the opposite side, his long sword slashing toward the man's other hand!
The leading player blocked the strike with a prop, but Xu Huo maintained his chopping stance, and with a single motion of his foot, the entire corridor floor suddenly gave way beneath them!
The two plummeted rapidly, the lights on the walls growing farther and farther away. The leading player, realizing he had also fallen into a trap, stopped paying attention to the black spots on his hand and grabbed a dagger to stab at Xu Huo!
But at that moment, a picture frame appeared between them. Indeed, it was a picture frame. However, when the leading player thrust his dagger into it, a figure identical to him appeared inside the frame, also stabbing forward with a dagger.
The picture frame was like a mirror, and the figures on either side pierced each other without any obstruction. The leading player's left and right shoulders both bore wounds. As for Xu Huo, he had vanished into thin air!
The "self" that emerged from the opposite side of the frame was surrounded by complete darkness. The leading player felt himself still falling, and his expression quickly lost its composure. He shouted loudly, "If you've got guts, come out! What kind of skill is stalling for time!"
Unfortunately, no one answered him. Gradually, the sound of wind arose in the darkness, and his clothes and pants began to flap violently, as if he were truly falling through an open space.
This was a sign of deepening mental interference—everything around him would only grow more real.
Xu Huo watched coldly, ready to move in and finish things at any moment.
The leading player was also growing anxious, trying out his props one by one. But the more he wanted to escape, the deeper he seemed to sink. However, as time passed, he noticed he wasn't being attacked and gradually calmed down.
Both sides were waiting for an opportunity to strike. Just then, footsteps suddenly sounded behind them. Xu Huo frowned and quickly retreated from the corridor into a nearby room. When he looked back at the leading player—the man was gone!
Under normal circumstances, if someone approached his spiritual world, Xu Huo would sense it immediately. But these footsteps were too close, appearing abruptly within his spiritual world, yet he couldn't pinpoint them in an instant. And in the brief moment he changed positions, the trapped player had also vanished along with him!
For a moment, he even wondered if he himself had fallen into someone else's spiritual world.
But the thought was dismissed as soon as it arose. He had known all along that the Corpse-Hiding Hotel was abnormal. If it were another player, there would be at least some trace.
Since the man had disappeared, Xu Huo withdrew his spiritual world. In the room, Xiao Ling and Long Aotian had teamed up to kill one player, while another had jumped out the window and fled. The two of them were just coming out.
"Did you take care of yours?" Long Aotian raised a lighting prop. "The corridor is too dark... Why isn't there a body?"
"The person disappeared," Xu Huo said. "Right before my eyes. I didn't see how he vanished."
Xiao Ling and Long Aotian exchanged glances. "Isn't this the same as Yu Guangnan?"
"Then we'd better get out of here quickly," Long Aotian said. "I don't want to be trapped again like in the Wax Museum."
"Take a look outside. Can we get out?" Xu Huo stepped aside to let them see the window behind him.
In just over ten minutes, the Museum City had become as if soaked in thick blackness, with no light visible. Nothing could be seen beyond a few meters—not even shadows.
Given the skeletons that had emerged from the Decapitation Cemetery, going outside might be worse than staying inside the venue. Inside, they might only face one type of danger; outside, who knew what awaited them. This situation was even worse than last night.
"I wonder if the players guarding the front and back doors of the hotel are still there," Long Aotian said, looking around. But now, even with props, he couldn't see clearly.
Of the three players who had chased them into the Corpse-Hiding Hotel, one had jumped out the window and fled, one was dead, and one had disappeared. At least now they could move freely within the hotel.
But staying in the hotel was equally unsafe, and finding clues was harder than during the day. The three decided to head straight for the top floor.
They took the stairs, but before long, a fourth set of footsteps echoed on the staircase, seemingly following behind them.
This had happened before in the Wax Museum. But when they turned around, there was nothing behind them.
After this repeated three times, Xu Huo and the others had to stop. Yet when they stopped, the footsteps behind them also ceased.
The hotel stairs were carpeted, and a thick layer of dust covered it. After walking, it left faint shoe prints. They went back to check the steps they had climbed, but aside from their own prints, there were no others.
"The sound was clearly right behind us," Long Aotian said, his expression turning grim.
"It might just be the sound," Xiao Ling said. "But who knows if this sound has any tricks to it."
Xu Huo thought of the player who had vanished into thin air. He was about to speak, but when he looked up, Xiao Ling, who had been standing behind him, had also disappeared!
Noticing his expression, Long Aotian immediately turned around, unable to believe that Xiao Ling had vanished just two or three steps away from them!
The two quickly checked the nearest exits and the stairs below. There was no one—not even a shadow.
Xu Huo drew his sword and tore down the wall beside him. The adjacent room was empty. The only thing closing in was the darkness.
A living person had vanished right before their eyes. This was straight out of a horror thriller, and with no clues at all, there was no way to guard against it.
Long Aotian racked his brain and then suggested, "How about we tie ourselves together? One faces forward, one faces backward. That way, every time we turn around, the sound disappears."
You sound like an idiot.
Xu Huo glanced at him. "Have you forgotten the clue Xu Ruosi found? The person behind you—it matches the situation in the Corpse-Hiding Hotel."
Long Aotian found it hard to believe and instinctively looked around at the nearby rooms. "Shouldn't we wait until daytime to deal with this... Xu Huo?!"
But in the moment his gaze shifted, Xu Huo, who had been standing on the stairs, had also vanished!
Xu Huo himself didn't know how he had left the staircase. He only felt as if some force had suddenly seized him. The next second, Long Aotian's voice disappeared, and he seemed to have instantly crossed space, appearing in an empty room.
Judging by the decor, he was still inside the hotel, but he couldn't tell which floor or location from the view outside the window.
He opened the door and stepped out. The room number was reversed, as if seen in a mirror. The corridor layout had also changed—the originally protruding door positions were now recessed, and anything involving text was completely flipped.
The door across from him was wide open. In the living room directly opposite lay a mutilated corpse, looking as if it had been partially eaten.
(Chapter End)