Chapter 26: Deadly Room Numbers (Part 6 / 2^nd Update)

Warning: A little gore at the start.

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At the turn of the passage, a creature similar to the one that had been chasing them huddled there, wrapped in red ropes. However, the red ropes had lost their binding effect. Underneath its hand, which was now only a mess of flesh, lay a bloodied and mutilated corpse, reduced to just half its original form.

The next moment, the creature reached out and pulled out a heart from the corpse, immediately stuffing it into its mouth. The sound of its chewing was chilling.

Xiao Muyu’s lips turned white as she fought to suppress her nausea and fear. The figure was a man, but she didn’t know who had met their end here.

Further investigation was pointless here. They had to leave quietly.

However, the creature that had been chasing them refused to give up. Another powerful charge slammed into the opening, making a tremendous noise that immediately alerted the monster feeding nearby. It stopped chewing on the corpse’s head, lifted its bloody face, and locked its murky eyes onto them.

Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu hightailed it. The monster that had left behind the half-corpse, and another one that had broken through the opening, were in hot pursuit.

Shen Qingqiu’s shoulder wound was bleeding profusely, and the blood was dripping down her back. If they didn’t get the door open, none of them would escape.

At the end of the passage, they saw three people: Su Jin, Zuo Tiantian, and Chen Kaijie. They were still alive. And indeed, as fate would have it, the password door was right at the end of this central passage.

Fortunately, they managed to survive thanks to Zuo Tiantian, who had likely delayed the monster from earlier.

Chen Kaijie, who was watching Su Jin input the password, turned around upon hearing the commotion. His surprised expression changed immediately when he saw the monsters behind Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu. He started urging, “Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

Just as the two monsters appeared before everyone, ready to pounce, Su Jin finally succeeded in entering the password. The door opened with a rumble!

Bright light poured in from outside, and the two monsters that had been lunging at Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu immediately halted. Xiao Muyu gasped as she saw the sharp claws less than a fist’s distance away from her.

The two monsters let out a low whine and obediently bowed their heads. Their flesh drooped and melted into the floor, disappearing without a trace.

Shen Qingqiu glanced back, stumbled, and fell on her butt. Xiao Muyu quickly reached out to help her up.

The fourth round took ten minutes and forty seconds. Only two people made it out alive from the third passage. In this round, two of the nine had perished: Ni De and Wang Yushan.

Even the stalwart Zhang Qiang had lost an arm.

On the other side, Chen Kaijie and the others were tending to Zhang Qiang’s severed arm. Such injuries could be fatal, but fortunately, with the help of a tourniquet, they managed to save his life for now.

Although they had escaped, everyone’s mood was extremely heavy. No one spoke, and they all looked lifeless.

Shen Qingqiu glanced at Lin Hai and Zhang Qiang, who had gone down the far-right passage with Ni De and Wang Yushan. But among the four, Ni De and Wang Yushan, both in possession of items, died.

Xiao Muyu was not in the mood to mourn her groupmates. She crouched in front of Shen Qingqiu, whose shoulder wound was still bleeding, and gestured for her to turn around.

Shen Qingqiu’s face was somewhat pale. She retracted her examining gaze, looked at Xiao Muyu, and obediently turned around, revealing three deep gashes on her left shoulder.

The claws had torn through her jacket and shirt. The flesh around the wound protruded, looking quite gnarly.

Su Jin and the others glanced at the injury and turned away, unable to bear the sight.

Xiao Muyu helped Shen Qingqiu remove her jacket and glanced back. Lin Hai quickly turned his head to look at Zhang Qiang.

As she took a piece of bandage from Zhang Qiang, Zuo Tiantian and Su Jin instinctively stepped forward to shield Shen Qingqiu’s body from view. Shen Qingqiu showed no reluctance and removed her t-shirt in front of Xiao Muyu.

She wore a black bra, which made her skin appear even whiter, like fresh snow. When she raised her arms to pull off her shirt, her shoulder blades and the right side of her rib cage were clearly visible. She didn’t have an excessively skinny physique, nor did she have any excess flesh. There were firm lines along her arms, making them look capable despite the lack of bulky muscles.

Although she and Shen Qingqiu were both women, Xiao Muyu had to admit that Shen Qingqiu’s body was a work of art, making her momentarily lose focus. An image inexplicably appeared in her mind—taut shoulders and back, both flexible and strong, smooth skin glistening with sweat. It was breathtaking… She abruptly closed her eyes and shook her head with a frown. Was she losing her mind?

“What’s up? Does it look that bad?” Shen Qingqiu turned her head to look searchingly at her.

Xiao Muyu snapped out of it, her gaze accidentally sliding down to Shen Qingqiu’s even more distracting curves and cleavage. She hurriedly averted her eyes and murmured, “Don’t move.”

Shen Qingqiu chuckled softly. If the situation weren’t so dire, she would’ve definitely taken the opportunity to tease the serious-looking Xiao Muyu a bit more.

Xiao Muyu couldn’t suppress a frown when she looked at Shen Qingqiu’s left shoulder and back, soaked in blood. She lowered her head and tore a strip of fabric from her own clothes to wipe the blood away, her expression growing more serious.

Although Shen Qingqiu remained silent, her body betrayed her discomfort as it trembled slightly while Xiao Muyu worked.

However, the bandages had to be tight to staunch the bleeding, so Xiao Muyu wasn’t lenient, and in her effort, she unknowingly gritted her teeth. Her brows furrowed in concentration as she leaned in, her face just inches from Shen Qingqiu’s.

Up close, Shen Qingqiu had a clear view of her profile—earnest, serious, and entirely meticulous. But there was bitterness in the way Xiao Muyu held her breath, almost a little… It made Shen Qingqiu secretly amused.

The bandaging process was hardly any less painful than the injury itself, but Shen Qingqiu remained stoic. Even as the paleness of her lips and the sheen of cold sweat on her face revealed her weakened state, she sat as upright as a bamboo stalk. As Xiao Muyu worked, Shen Qingqiu’s eyes never once left her.

Su Jin, immersed in her grief, caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of her eye, then raised her head to look at the ceiling. The old saying that wounds act as a catalyst for emotions, felt truer than ever in that moment.

After Xiao Muyu finished wrapping the bandages, Shen Qingqiu finally looked away and voiced her gratitude. “Thank you.”

Xiao Muyu, however, didn’t respond or even spare any lingering glance at Shen Qingqiu. Her thoughts were in complete disarray. Previously, there was an obvious teasing note each time Shen Qingqiu had rescued her, but Xiao Muyu couldn’t use that excuse this time. Why was Shen Qingqiu making an exception for her, when she clearly wasn’t someone who cared much about others’ lives?

Xiao Muyu forced herself to focus on the situation at hand. She said, “The fourth round of the game confirms most of our inferences, but there’s an even bigger problem—the difficulty of unlocking the door is too high. If every game is as intense as the fourth, even if we manage to guess the password, we won’t live long enough to input it.”

“Lin Hai, Zhang Qiang, did you two manage to retrieve Wang Yushan’s and Ni De’s items?” It was a harsh thing to ask at a time like this, but Xiao Muyu had no choice.

Lin Hai and Zhang Qiang’s faces shifted visibly, and Lin Hai immediately became discomfited, snapping back, “What… How could we have? We barely made it out alive! If the door hadn’t opened, we would’ve been torn apart and eaten! You think we had the guts to take the items? Heh. It didn’t even cross our minds until you mentioned it.”

Zhang Qiang was barely conscious from the loss of his arm, but stirred slightly at the question. He managed to shake his head weakly.

Although Zhang Qiang had made it out alive, he knew there was no way he would survive the fifth round. The premonition of impending death weighed far more heavily on his will than any physical injury, leaving his already pale face with an even grayer pallor.

Xiao Muyu stopped questioning him—it was pointless now.

After the fourth round, the group was given half an hour of rest. Once half an hour had passed, the system’s voice rang out again.

“Congratulations, players, on surviving the fourth round. You must be exhausted and terrified by now, aren’t you? Looking forward to the next game?” The voice, devoid of emotion but dripping with mock sentiment, made the words sound both comical and malicious.

“Since you’ve just overcome the most difficult challenge in Instance No. 002, the system shall be magnanimous, and offer you a chance in the fifth round. Before the next round begins, you may send one representative to draw a gacha. If you draw a 7, hehe… you know what that means. Are you willing to try?”

Shen Qingqiu wore an unreadable expression, but she secretly rolled her eyes. However, Xiao Muyu immediately understood the system’s offer and decisively responded, “Yes.”

A cyclic number multiplied by 7 equaled 999,999. In other words, they would get to rest and skip the fifth round. Since the game would end after the sixth round, everyone welcomed another break.

Xiao Muyu’s quick decision prompted an immediate response from the system, and ten cards appeared in front of them.

“Please select a representative to draw a card.”

“Who… Who should go? Who has good luck? Any lucky players here?” Lin Hai stammered nervously.

“Ten, nine, eight…”

The system was already counting down. Shen Qingqiu watched the others, panicked and flustered, drew her dagger in her right hand to point forward, and said succinctly, “She’ll draw.”

She was referring to Xiao Muyu. The others immediately quieted down and sat back, keeping their lips firmly shut.

Xiao Muyu didn’t have the time to refuse. She reached out and tapped on a card, which immediately appeared in her hand.

Su Jin and the others stared wide-eyed at the card in Xiao Muyu’s hand, barely daring to breathe. After all, Xiao Muyu had drawn a ‘Thank you for playing’ card before, and then there was Shen Qingqiu, the poor devil. The two of them together almost felt like a guaranteed disaster.

The tension was unbearable, but everyone sat still, afraid that even the slightest noise might affect the result.

Even Shen Qingqiu felt a bit nervous as she watched Xiao Muyu.

Xiao Muyu exhaled slowly before flipping the card and holding it out in front of Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Qingqiu was never one for emotional displays, much less romantic gestures—it just wasn’t her thing. But for some reason, at that moment, she felt like this gesture from Xiao Muyu was a special kind of attention.

It was as if Xiao Muyu wanted her to see it first, and Shen Qingqiu did: it was the number 7.

Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but smile, her eyebrows arching in delight. Her originally weakened expression due to her injury morphed into a particularly sweet smile, which, on her captivating face, was undeniably beautiful.

When Xiao Muyu saw Shen Qingqiu’s face, the result became obvious. She kept her lips pressed in a reserved smile, a hint of softness appeared in her otherwise aloof and distant eyes, and her expression warmed.

Despite having little in common in terms of personality and appearance, they were very similar in their aloofness and unsociability. One was like a spring breeze, while the other was like melting snow, yet they were quite alike.

The other team members, snapping back to reality from the stunning scene before them, were overwhelmed by euphoria. Chen Kaijie couldn’t contain himself, letting out a triumphant roar and punching the air.

Zhang Qiang felt his hope reignite amidst the ashes of despair. Meanwhile, Zuo Tiantian was already covering her face as she cried.

They had lost two groupmates, and their lives were like a small boat, adrift across the stormy sea. Trauma and fear had challenged Zuo Tiantian’s spirit, so when she heard they could avoid the fifth round, she just broke down in tears.

No one comforted or blamed her. After the initial excitement, the team was still overwhelmed by sadness.

“Why do we have to go through such things?” Chen Kaijie murmured, but no one had an answer. Was this game a blessing or a punishment?

“Let’s all take a break and recuperate,” Xiao Muyu said, offering a seemingly irrelevant suggestion before closing her eyes.

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Author had something to say:

Some little cuties lamented they couldn’t share a bed in this instance. Isn’t this more exciting than sharing a bed, though?

System: Are you surprised? Did you expect this?