Chapter 758: Ticket Invalid
The clearance rewards had been obtained, including the return tickets. Xu Huo estimated that Xiao Ling and Yu Guangnan were also just about done. Although they hadn't mentioned the Doll Clothing Store when exchanging progress earlier, completing the remaining progress after listening to Teacher Pan's story wouldn't be difficult at all.
However, none of the three left.
"Footsteps have appeared." Gao Xiaoyue, monitoring outside, sent a message. "Sixth floor staircase."
The players left their rooms and moved toward the sixth floor. Xu Huo walked in front. Just as he reached the stairwell, he heard the familiar footsteps climbing upward. He glanced at the "Escape Probability" data, and the number had actually dropped to 5%!
Earlier, he had secretly used a prop to test other parts of the hotel. Although the escape probabilities were all single digits, they were still higher than this.
This phenomenon could only mean that there was no exit he had anticipated near the footsteps. This sound wasn't the walking noise of players coming in from outside—it was the same sound that had pulled him into the Mirror Hotel!
This sound seemed to come from another space. The silencing props they were wearing were completely useless. The monsters lingering on other floors were attracted by it, and the players immediately fell into another chaotic battle.
During the fight, Xu Huo noticed Lin Zhenhuai and Gao Xiaoyue protecting Teacher Pan as they fled upstairs. He followed. Sure enough, he soon heard the footsteps reappear in the seventh-floor corridor. Trailing behind the three, he saw Teacher Pan throw that small photo frame prop toward where the footsteps had sounded.
The prop landed on the ground, but the footsteps started again in another place. Gao Xiaoyue immediately picked up the prop and threw it out again, but as the prop flew over, the footsteps shifted to yet another location.
From their actions, it seemed they were trying to "trap" the footsteps.
"Boom!" Xiao Ling smashed through the stairs and flew up. Looking up and spotting Xu Huo, she hurriedly said, "Come help!"
Xu Huo leaped toward the pursuing monster instead. With a swing of the "Eye of the Dead," he sliced off half its face!
The monster howled and retreated, then turned to bump into Peng Fengnian and Yu Guangnan, who had come to help. It knocked both of them aside, let out a warning roar, and ran down the stairs.
"Don't chase." Xu Huo called back the few who wanted to follow, quickly turning to head upstairs. But the moment he stepped into the corridor, the floor seemed to vanish like it had turned illusory. Losing his balance, he fell straight down!
The same thing happened to the other players, whether upstairs or downstairs. However, this fall didn't last long. In just a few seconds, their feet touched the ground again—still the same floor, still the same position.
Xiao Ling and Yu Guangnan, unsure of what was happening, nervously moved closer to Xu Huo. "What's going on?"
"You'd have to ask them." Xu Huo pointed his chin at Teacher Pan and the other two, who were walking back.
"I don't know what happened either. The prop suddenly opened a door in the ground... Just now, I felt the floor disappear beneath me. Could the hotel's space have been swapped?" Teacher Pan said, startled and uncertain.
Xu Huo narrowed his eyes and studied the three for a moment before saying, "Maybe the space really did swap. That monster also ran off. For all we know, we might already be in the Corpse Hotel."
"It doesn't seem like the Corpse Hotel." Gao Xiaoyue looked around. "Look outside—there's no one."
When they were in the Corpse Hotel the previous night, it was pitch black outside, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. But now, looking out, there was faint daylight visible. This weak light even seemed to brighten the hotel a bit, making the room's layout vaguely discernible—as if moonlight were shining in.
The expressions of Peng Fengnian and the others were unclear in this dim light. Peng Fengnian, Sun Bo, Old Zheng, and Old Eagle were on the sixth floor, while Teacher Pan, Lin Zhenhuai, and Gao Xiaoyue were on the seventh. Xu Huo's group was stuck on the windowless staircase.
The space fell silent instantly, and the atmosphere unconsciously grew tense.
Xiao Ling and Yu Guangnan weren't stupid. The former gently poked Xu Huo from behind.
"If it's not the Corpse Hotel, then it might be another space." Xu Huo broke the strange atmosphere, putting away his prop. "This place originally had multiple spaces. Triggering a mechanism and falling into any one of them isn't strange. But since your prop works, try a few more times. Maybe you'll land in the Corpse Hotel."
Teacher Pan and the others didn't respond, but they no longer blocked their path. Stepping aside, they said, "How about we split up to find the footsteps?"
The two groups quickly separated, but Peng Fengnian and Sun Bo followed Xu Huo.
Xiao Ling walked ahead, silently exchanging a glance with Xu Huo. Then, while the two behind weren't paying attention, she released a small toy. Half a minute later, footsteps sounded from downstairs.
Peng Fengnian and Sun Bo didn't hesitate to jump out the window. But Xu Huo and his group, who had also gone to the window, didn't follow. Instead, they turned back into the corridor. Xiao Ling used a silencing prop before saying, "These people are seriously suspicious!"
Xu Huo knew that. Watching how skillfully Teacher Pan and the others "trapped" the footsteps, it was clear this wasn't their first time doing it, nor their first time in this space. Peng Fengnian and Sun Bo also seemed very familiar with the situation on this floor, acting much more freely than before.
"What exactly are they looking for?" Xiao Ling was genuinely curious. "Aren't they worried about being trapped here? The time here... is also problematic."
They all knew this instance might be a one-day loop. Whether these people had tickets or not, they couldn't have been completely unaware.
"It's not that they're not worried—it's that they really are trapped." Xu Huo glanced at the window. "Why do you think they told us everything about the Museum City's past without holding back?"
After doing such a detailed background investigation and deploying so many people, would they really let in only non-ticket players?
These people were so unstable mentally from hunger yet still insisted on staying here. It probably wasn't because they absolutely had to get some prop. More likely, they had cleared the instance but couldn't leave. By explaining the background story in detail, whether Xu Huo and his group could clear it or not, it showed goodwill. Not to mention they had only been here for two days—they might not even gather all the progress. Even if they did, leaving was useless.
"Both the ticket and the return ticket are useless?" Xiao Ling refused to believe it. She immediately checked her personal panel. Two seconds later, her face darkened. "I knew it. None of these people are honest. And I thought you considered Peng Fengnian a friend!"
Leaving Peng Fengnian aside, at least for now, both sides were getting along. Everyone's ultimate goal was to get out.
Yu Guangnan had also cleared the instance. His expression was no longer as calm as before, tinged with nervousness. "If the ticket can't be used, and we can't leave this space, what if we exceed seven days? Could we be trapped in this instance forever?"
Xu Huo checked the time. It was almost midnight. "There's no seven days. We might only have twelve hours left."