Bai Youwei stared at the two of them in astonishment, a plain steamed bun still in her hand.

Su Man and Zhu Shu also stared back at her wide-eyed.

After a long moment, Su Man suddenly broke into a delighted embrace. “Oh my goodness! This item is incredible! It actually brought you here for real!”

Bai Youwei was swept up in her arms and jostled around, nearly losing her grip on the bun. “…What on earth is going on?”

Su Man released her, and both she and Zhu Shu reined in their expressions of joy.

“Where’s Yan Qingwen?” Bai Youwei looked around the room. Aside from Su Man and Zhu Shu, there was no one else in sight. “Why is it just the two of you?”

Zhu Shu shot Su Man a meaningful look.

Su Man understood immediately and tiptoed to the door, eased it open, peered left and right down the corridor, then slipped back and shook her head at Zhu Shu.

— No one outside. Safe.

The tension in both women eased slightly.

Zhu Shu lowered her voice and said to Bai Youwei, “Yan Ge and Lu Yuwen are in trouble. Let’s go to another room to talk.”

Bai Youwei furrowed her brow, suppressing a head full of questions, and followed the two of them to another room.

Outside the door was a dim corridor.

To the right were guest rooms; to the left, a wall shut out the outside world. Fat raindrops battered the glass windows, brown water stains seeped out from the baseboards, and the air carried the damp smell of mildew…

The place looked like a European-style hotel from a bygone era.

After passing two rooms, Su Man and Zhu Shu stopped.

Bai Youwei glanced at the door — the room number was engraved in gilt digits: 304.

“There are four floors in total. The first floor has the hotel front desk and kitchen. Floors two through four each have five guest rooms.” Zhu Shu turned the door handle and pushed it gently open. “Lu Yuwen is staying in this room.”

Bai Youwei followed them inside.

The room was considerably brighter than the corridor.

The walls were covered in rose-patterned wallpaper, the floor laid with crimson carpet, and warm amber light illuminated European-style furnishings. One armrest of the leather sofa had a crack running halfway down it. Everything in the room was steeped in the atmosphere of nineteenth-century Europe — aged, yet not without refinement.

Lu Yuwen lay on a large double bed, eyes closed, as though asleep.

“What happened to him?” Bai Youwei asked in surprise. “Where is he hurt?”

“He isn’t hurt.” Zhu Shu pulled Lu Yuwen’s collar slightly open, revealing a needle mark on his neck, and said gravely, “He was injected with a highly potent anesthetic. It won’t be fatal, but it renders the person unconscious. Lu Yuwen woke up once during this time — he was lucid for less than five minutes before falling back under.”

Bai Youwei asked, “How do you know it’s an anesthetic?”

“The doctor downstairs said so.” Su Man spoke quickly. “There are a few NPCs on the ground floor — a doctor, a chef, a detective.”

“Wait, wait…” Bai Youwei’s head was spinning. “Why is there a doctor? What do the chef and detective do? Lu Yuwen is unconscious — what about Yan Qingwen? Is he unconscious too?”

Zhu Shu said, “Let me explain the situation from the beginning.”

This is what had happened —

Yan Qingwen had chosen Battle 5, which required 5 participants.

He had brought Su Man, Lu Yuwen, Zhu Shu, and a young man from the base’s evaluation team, and they had entered the battle game together.

The theme of the battle game was called “The Tomorrow Hotel.”

Event description: Five ruthless killers are hiding within the Tomorrow Hotel. They can take lives without anyone knowing. The detective is at his wit’s end and asks the kind-hearted guests to help him identify the five murderers.

Rules to note:

First — All guests must arrive on the first floor for meals promptly at 9 AM and 6 PM.

Second — From midnight until 6 AM, guests must not leave their own rooms.

Third — Anyone arrested by the detective will be eliminated from the game.

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