ITOTIABSAM | Infinite Flow | 181
Recently, Xie Ye felt that Zhao Dong and Cheng Xiaorong had been giving him strange looks. However, after several days of observation, he couldn't find the reason.
Even though they were all struggling players in the instance, Xie Ye and Gu Cong went out every day, touring the town as if on vacation, while the others were on edge, becoming more anxious day by day.
—It wasn't because there were too many deaths, but precisely because there were none.
Sun Pengyu, who was divided up, became the last body in the inn. After that, the night and dreams continued as usual, yet every morning's roll call was attended by everyone.
It was like the calm before the storm.
Forget about the background story; they hadn't even seen the face of the boss. The only one they could communicate with normally, the one-eyed shopkeeper, was also unapproachable, spending her days with her cat like a sphinx.
This feeling of tension, hanging in the air without any resolution, was far more irritating than the shock of witnessing a dead body with one's own eyes. Even though the setting of forced sleep in the instance provided ample rest time, players still had dark circles appearing on their faces one after another.
“I'm telling you, could this ghost be planning something big? Wiping us out at the last moment?” Zhao Dong yawned, looking at the horizon where the dawn was about to break.
Tonight was the seventh night, and the irresistible drowsiness that had plagued them before had gradually eased as the mission approached its end.
With a cup of cold water in hand, Cheng Xiaorong gulped down a large mouthful and hurriedly said, “Bah, Bah! Don't jinx us.”
The bedrooms made them too vulnerable, especially Zhao Dong's habit of falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, practically serving himself to the boss on a platter. Now, all the players were gathered on the ground floor. Since it was the last night anyway, breaking the rules was better than being alone and unsafe.
Even Xiao Baimao, who usually fell asleep with his coat over his face whenever the group discussed things, was surprisingly awake this time, occasionally glancing around to see if anyone was nodding off.
Xie Ye sat next to Gu Cong, feeling slightly nervous. He wasn't sure if the magician would show up tonight. After all, since the third night, Zhao Dong, who avoided breaking the rules, had moved out and became Xiao Baimao's new roommate.
He was confident he could defeat Dis.
But he feared that with just one word from Dis, his identity could be exposed.
His hand, resting under the table, gently patted Xie Ye's knee. Gu Cong whispered, "Don't worry."
"Right, right, right," thinking that Xie Ye was frightened by the talk of being wiped out, Cheng Xiaorong turned back after rebuking Zhao Dong and handed over a piece of candy. "He just loves to talk nonsense, don't mind him."
Hearing this, Li Jie at the next table couldn't help but sneer imperceptibly: The group was too relaxed in the instance, even treating a newbie as if they were precious. In his view, they were all just sucking up to Jiang Chuan. When real danger came, they would turn on each other faster than flipping a book.
But at this critical juncture approaching dawn, even Li Jie wouldn't stir up trouble. In times of confusion, the boss was most likely to take advantage of the chaos. It wasn't worth it.
In fact, Xie Ye had already heard Li Jie's voice.
However, he didn't currently have the energy to argue with him. He still had unanswered questions.
As the sun was about to rise, the black-haired Xie Ye stood up and walked towards the silent old lady behind the counter, amidst the varied expressions of the players. "I'm curious," he began, "about what's in rooms one and two."
He went straight to the point, it was an unnecessary question, one that might even anger the shopkeeper. Several players furrowed their brows, about to intervene, but Gu Cong happened to coincidentally knock over his water glass.
Thunk.
The room fell silent as the shopkeeper's lone eye slowly turned. In a hoarse voice, she responded without using honorifics, "You can see for yourself."
She knew Xie Ye had the ability to do so.
However, Xie Ye took it seriously. "But you've locked the doors." In a situation where safety could be ensured, he believed it was important to respect the other party's privacy.
Initially, the others didn't understand the significance of this statement. But when their minds caught up, they found it odd:
It was just NPC rooms, like entering villagers' houses in a game. As long as safety was ensured, there was no need for courtesy.
Survival is the top priority.
The shopkeeper, who was waiting quietly for Xie Ye to go upstairs, clearly didn't anticipate this response. After giving Xie Ye a deep look, she remained silent for a long time before finally asking, "What if I'm unwilling?"
"In that case, it's fine," Xie Ye replied readily, then gestured with his hand as if to explain, "I didn't mean to force you."
Force?
Well, you might have to if you want to.
Growing more convinced that this pretty face was just an idiot, Li Jie sneered inwardly, then glanced down at his wristwatch.
If he wasn't mistaken, the moment the sun fully rose, the door to the transfer station would open.
This was the last chance for the boss to make a move.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, the watches of the surviving players in the hotel all vibrated simultaneously, and the long-absent system announcement sounded:
【Ding dong.】
【The escape door has been deployed. Players, please leave promptly.】
"Let's go, find the door," Tang Yan said visibly, her expression easing. She stood up first and instructed the two new players aside from Xie Ye, "It's very conspicuous, run quickly."
Cheng Xiaorong couldn't help but complain: "Did you guys notice that this time the system announcement sounds soulless?"
Although the system was originally mechanical, when they cleared dungeons before, the announcements were either gloating or lackluster, but there was always some emotion in them.
Unlike now, it was all very robotic.
"Do you still have the heart to care about the system?" Tang Yan playfully tapped Cheng Xiaorong's forehead heavily, and Zhao Dong grabbed her arm, hurriedly running outside the hotel. "Hurry up! Survival comes first!"
Exaggeratingly, Cheng Xiaorong exclaimed, then hurriedly turned back to look at the calm Gu Cong and Xie Ye. "Ca[tain, hurry up!"
"Jiang Chuan."
Suddenly, when the other players had all left, the one-eyed shopkeeper stopped the man who was walking at the back. "I want to talk to you."
Xie Ye, who had one foot out of the hotel, immediately retracted his step.
Turning around, he raised his hand and blocked the "Jiang Chuan" next to him with his arm.
"It's okay," Gu Cong was very satisfied with the subconscious protective gesture Xie Ye made to shield himself. He comforted Xie Ye by rubbing his head with the palm of his hand. "You go to the door first, I'll come later."
The amber and pitch-black pupils silently met. Xie Ye pursed his lips, hesitated for two seconds, then nodded in compromise. "If you encounter danger, shout loudly."
"Okay."
With a gentle smile on his lips, Gu Cong kindly replied, "I'll definitely shout."
But as the silhouette of Xie Ye disappeared, the man approaching the front desk, despite still wearing a smile, no longer exuded a sense of warmth and closeness.
Looking down at her from above, his eyes carried a scrutinizing gaze. "What's the matter?"
"He's the BOSS, Xie Ye is the BOSS," the moment the first word came out, the one-eyed shopkeeper seemed to be resisting some unseen force. The aged and sagging skin trembled like a flickering candle in the wind as she struggled to speak, "In the final dungeon, 'Eternal Slumber,' kill him, reality."
"Player."
After catching her breath, she seemed to temporarily suppress her discomfort, grasping onto Gu Cong's clothes like a drowning person clutching at a straw. She lunged forward across the counter, gripping onto Gu Cong's clothing tightly, "I am also a player."
With the help of coincidental opportunities, she barely survived in the dungeon, becoming half an NPC, neither as a friend nor fowl.
The speed of time varies between dungeons, and when players leave, everything doesn't come to a halt. Days continue to pass, and she has already transformed from a young girl into an old woman, witnessing the fall of one star after another.
This time was the only exception.
The BOSS of the final dungeon unexpectedly left home and became a half-player, just like her, arriving at the Nightmare Town. Meanwhile, the players targeted by the system for elimination were nearing completion, yet they remained alive and well.
That's why she had to take this risk and spread the message. Otherwise, the presence of a BOSS capable of resisting the system, casually wandering in the Transfer Station—the unsuspecting safe zone of the players—would bring about great disaster.
However, the man standing before the counter, who was expected to react differently by the shopkeeper, simply lowered his eyes and said calmly, "He treats you very well."
What he always received instead was betrayal.
In her mind flashed the image of the cup of hot water handed to her in the dead of night, the two rooms that remained intact, and the image of Xie Ye enduring the mockery of the players while respecting her wishes. The shopkeeper slowly loosened the fabric that her thin fingers had creased, falling back into place with a stunned expression.
Her empty eye sockets stared ahead into the void, as if speaking to Gu Cong, yet also as if speaking to herself, "I know, I know."
"But in rooms 201 and 202... there are memorial tablets."
Memorial tablets for many players.
In the Western-style Nightmare Town, with limited resources, they could only use candles engraved with names as substitutes. At the beginning, there were only fourteen candles that entered the dungeon at the same time as her, with a difficulty level of 9.
They were all wiped out, except for her. Over time, as the Nightmare Town reopened periodically, the difficulty level fluctuated between one and nine. Gradually, more and more candles with registered names filled up one room after another.
Her bond with the dungeon deepened by the day, and like an NPC, she became a resident of the town who could only move within a fixed range. Because of this, her brain was filled with many pieces of information that only NPCs would know.
For example, the boss of "Eternal Slumber" had left home; the system intended to use "Nightmare Town" to eliminate all players about to break into the top ten rankings; and the disappearance of player corpses was not due to erasure, but rather the system clandestinely transporting them away like trash, feeding the most ferocious monsters.
"Eternal Slumber." Even after death, there was no peace. What kind of eternal slumber was that?
"I am human, he is a ghost, he is a ghost!" Her voice hoarse, the shopkeeper muttered, "I have waited for so long, at least, at least one person should have returned..."
To return to that distant reality almost forgotten by her.
Gu Cong didn't hear the rest of her words. He could understand her, but he couldn't fulfill her expectations.
Without hesitation, Gu Cong walked out of the inn and looked up at the towering shadow of the massive door rising from the ground in the sky. Suddenly, he caught sight of a familiar black figure at the edge of the inn's wall.
His pupils dilated, and he opened his mouth, "Xie Ye?"
"Hmm?" Xie Ye, who was playing with the large black cat that had also been chased out by the shopkeeper, squatted down, his soft profile turning to face Gu Cong. He tilted his head and smiled at him. "Don't worry, I wasn't eavesdropping."
"I'm very well-behaved."
He was just afraid that something might happen to him.
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