They walked out of Lu Yuwen’s room and came upon two other guests who were also staying on the third floor.

Both were young men — one looked like a businessman from the financial district, the other like a varsity basketball player.

She would call them “Business Man” and “Basketball Man” for now.

When they saw Bai Youwei emerge from the room, surprise crossed both their faces. Clearly, they hadn’t anticipated a sixteenth guest appearing in the hotel.

Despite their shock, neither said a word. They cast a single wary glance at Bai Youwei, then looked away and headed toward the stairwell.

Bai Youwei followed behind them without any change in expression.

On the way down to the first floor, they passed several more guests staying on the second floor.

Among them, the guest from room 202 was a woman pushing a pram. She wore pink peach-blossom glasses, had short curly golden hair, a milky white blouse paired with a pink knee-length skirt, and white leather shoes.

In all fairness, she was quite young and pretty looking — though she struck Bai Youwei as not quite right in the head.

Because the child she had lifted out of the pram was a baby doll — and a well-worn one at that. The blush and lip paint on its face had nearly all flaked away.

“Oh oh… don’t be scared, darling, Mama will carry you down the stairs.” The woman held the baby one-handed and picked up the pram with her other.

The staircase wasn’t particularly wide, and she made her way down with it in fits and starts.

Behind her was a man in a grey sweater. He took the pram from her hand and said considerately, “Madam, allow me.”

“Oh… thank you so much.” The woman immediately expressed her gratitude. “Mr. Robert, you are a true gentleman.”

Mr. Robert smiled. “Always at your service.”

Watching this scene from behind, Bai Youwei quietly asked Zhu Shu beside her, “Did these two know each other before?”

“Not certain.” Zhu Shu replied softly. “At yesterday’s breakfast, a few guests introduced themselves — Robert was one of them. So just because he knows the name doesn’t necessarily mean they were acquainted beforehand…”

Bai Youwei understood, continuing to walk as she asked, “Besides Robert, who else gave an introduction?”

Zhu Shu carefully recalled. “The one who first suggested everyone introduce themselves was Mr. Robert himself. The second to introduce himself was Mr. Karl, seated next to him. When it came to the guest in room 204, they refused the suggestion, saying there was absolutely no point to it — and so the introductions fell apart from there…”

Bai Youwei gave a quiet nod.

She was about to move on when Zhu Shu tugged at her arm —

Zhu Shu leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Look — that person there… that’s the guest from room 204.”

Bai Youwei followed her indication and looked.

It was a man dressed in white top and black trousers, with neatly trimmed brown hair, fair skin, and deep-set eyes. His slender, upright bearing made Bai Youwei think involuntarily of a concert pianist — if he were ten years younger, he would have been a refined, artistic young man without question.

The young man seemed to sense her gaze and turned his head slightly to look back.

Their eyes met. His gaze was still and unruffled, and he gave only a calm smile — conveying warmth and friendliness.

“This person’s name is Willard. Yan Ge encountered him in the qualifying rounds. He often talks to himself, as though holding a conversation with someone — Yan Ge suspected he might have dissociative identity disorder…” Zhu Shu lowered her voice as she spoke to Bai Youwei. “Since entering the game, he hasn’t been seen interacting with anyone else at all. He’s very strange…”

Bai Youwei gave a quiet nod, watching as the guests made their way one by one toward the ground floor dining room, and she couldn’t help thinking: there really is no shortage of peculiar people in this doll game…

……