The deceased Lin Xiaohong became a hotel cleaner, meticulously tidying up the very crime scene where she had been murdered.

Even Observer No. 009, who was accustomed to witnessing death, fell silent.

For a brief moment, the live stream showed a rare empty screen before an explosion of comments flooded in.

“Disgusting. This hotel is revolting.”

“They might as well just eat them outright. What the hell is this?!”

009 turned his gaze to Xie Qing on the screen.

He wanted to know how Xie Qing felt at this moment—was he sorrowful or enraged?

Xie Qing remained silent for a moment before calmly pointing to the top of a document, as if nothing had happened.

“The manager’s name has changed. Yesterday, it was Zhong Aiguo. Today, it’s Meng Chunsheng. Also, two employees are missing—one named Chen Wen, the other Shen Huadong. The employee who was dragged away by the men in black yesterday didn’t wear a name badge. I’m guessing he must be one of these two. But what happened to the other one?”

Qin Chen, while securing Xie Qing’s injured leg, responded with an unrelated remark, “You reminded Lin Xiaohong to sleep early. This isn’t your fault.”

Xie Qing froze for a second before slowly breaking into a smile. He hooked his index finger under Qin Chen’s chin.

This time, Qin Chen didn’t dodge. Xie Qing’s fingers were clearly ice-cold, yet every time they touched him, he felt as if he were being burned. This sensation puzzled Qin Chen.

“If the hotel has a mechanism for turning players into employees, then there must also be a mechanism for consuming employees. Otherwise, the staff wouldn’t be so little.”

As he spoke, Qin Chen was about to carry Xie Qing downstairs again. But Xie Qing, unwilling to be treated like a delivery package, pressed a hand against his shoulder.

“There’s a cane. Here.”

A cane stood by the door, its upper end wrapped in clean, soft cloth.

“Was this cane by the door when we came in?” Xie Qing asked, puzzled.

Qin Chen hadn’t paid much attention at the time either. He picked up the cane and examined it carefully, confirming that it was just an ordinary stainless steel cane.

“Looks fine. Try using it first.”

Xie Qing leaned on his uninjured side and took a few steps. The height was just right—almost as if it had been custom-made for him.

Qin Chen followed closely behind Xie Qing, maintaining a careful distance—close enough to provide immediate support but far enough not to interfere with his practice using the cane.

As Xie Qing slowly stepped out of the infirmary, he suddenly noticed a metal plaque on the doorframe of the adjacent room. It read “Butler’s Office.” The plaque was small, old, and hidden in the shadows, easy to overlook.

The office door was a deep, blood-red color, and a layer of dust had settled on the handle. Xie Qing reached out to turn it, already expecting the result—it wouldn’t budge.

The door handle had an eerie shape, resembling a woman with long hair. Her hands were pressed together, resting against her cheek, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

But in stark contrast to her peaceful expression was the grotesque distortion of her body. Her shoulder joints were twisted backward, and from her waist, tendrils extended and pierced into the wooden door.

Stillness and madness coalesced in this figure, sending a chilling sensation through the air.

Suddenly—

“AHHH—!”

A chaotic, overlapping scream—both male and female—pierced through the silence, seizing their attention.

Without hesitation, Qin Chen scooped Xie Qing up and bolted down the hallway. It was as if Xie Qing weighed no more than a feather, light enough that carrying him didn’t slow Qin Chen down at all.

In the blink of an eye, they had reached the third floor.

The third floor looked as if it had been soaked in blood. Dark red stains spread across the corridor floor, crept up the walls, and even splattered onto the chandelier, casting an eerie crimson glow throughout the hallway.

Zhao Qingchun was huddled near the door of Room 303. Her clothes were clean, without any visible injuries, except for a few bloodstains near his feet. Xia Shangzhou was nowhere to be seen.

Both Xie Qing and Qin Chen immediately had the same thought—if all this blood came from one person, then that person was undoubtedly dead.

“When I got up to wash up, I realized there was only one set of toiletries in the bathroom. I wanted to find the butler, but I had no idea how to contact him. And then Xia Shangzhou was dragged away by the fog!”

“Fog?”

Zhao Qingchun had clearly been too shaken by what happened, and her words tumbled out in a confused mess.

“A fog with tentacles—no, tentacles inside the fog! Black ones! I ran after him, but by then, Xia Shangzhou was gone. And there was blood everywhere.”

It seemed that Zhao Qingchun had encountered a situation described in Rule 7 of Health Spa Hotel Guest Guidelines.

7. Each room contains only two sets of toiletries. If the quantity exceeds two, please call housekeeping, and a cleaner will remove the extra set.

If the quantity is less than two, please immediately check whether your roommate is still alive and follow the instructions in Rules 4 and 5.

“Tentacles shrouded in fog…”

A flash of realization struck Xie Qing. He suddenly recalled the words Lin Xiaohong had murmured yesterday when the rogue employee caused a drastic drop in the players’ sanity:

“Yi xu xi—The goddess of Darkness and Abundance feasts without misfortune.”

His pupils contracted sharply. “Qin Chen, we need to check the library. This hotel might be an occult organization using travelers as sacrificial offerings!”

Just then, the system’s voice echoed in every player’s ears.

[Attention, all players!]

[There are three minutes left until the countdown for Main Quest One ends. Any players who haven’t completed their tasks should do so immediately.]

[Reiterating the penalty rules: If no one completes Task One before the countdown ends, the Punisher will randomly execute half of the remaining players.]

[Wishing all players an enjoyable game.]

The live stream’s chat exploded with frantic comments.

“Wait, I remember the task was issued around 6 PM yesterday. There should still be about ten hours left, right?”

“This copy is brutal. The system only mentioned that the countdown had begun—it never said when it started.”

“No wonder it’s called a ‘one-day tour’ dungeon… These players are doomed!”

Back in the bloodstained corridor of the third floor, Zhao Qingchun, having just barely recovered from one shock, was hit with another. Strangely enough, the constant terror seemed to be toughening her up instead.

Zhao Qingchun trembled as she tried to comfort herself, “No matter how difficult the task, there’s always an answer. We just have to think carefully…”

Meanwhile, Xie Qing pulled out his phone, looking so relaxed that the viewers in the live stream chat went wild.

“Are you seriously playing with your phone at a time like this?!”

“Xie Qing, hurry up and use your invincible brother Qin Chen to come up with a plan!”

“Why isn’t Qin Chen panicking at all? Did he already get the contact info?”

“Yeah, right. Qin Chen and Xie Qing barely searched for clues yesterday.”

Qin Chen glanced at him. “Stop messing around. I know that you know.”

The phone spun a few times in Xie Qing’s hand. He chuckled lazily, “We’ve only known each other for how long? And yet, you already see right through me, through and through.”

Qin Chen felt that something was off about Xie Qing’s tone, but now wasn’t the time to argue.

“That tone was awful. I totally boki’d.”

[TN: In Chinese slang, “boki” (勃起, bóqǐ) is a euphemistic alternative for “to be erect; to get a boner”. ]

“For god’s sake, why is he still flirting at a time like this?! Can these players be serious for once?!”

009’s gaze swept over Xie Qing’s face. He realized he was feeling irritated by the man’s teasing tone, so he forcibly shifted his focus—how exactly had Xie Qing found the butler’s contact information?

Meanwhile, Zhao Qingchun stood there looking completely lost. What kind of cryptic conversation was this?

Xie Qing caught her confusion and coaxed her along, “Haven’t you ever wondered why everyone here has a phone?”

Zhao Qingchun immediately lost it. She flailed her hands frantically and yelled, “Bro! Is this really the time for a deep-dive explanation?!”

“Tsk. Boring.”

Xie Qing begrudgingly opened his call log. Having spent most of his life in a research institute, the only people who ever contacted him were doctors and nurses, most of whom used landlines. As a result, there was only one incoming mobile number in his call history—it stood out like a sore thumb.

Zhao Qingchun’s eyes widened. “Wait… could this be…?”

“Where could the butler’s contact information be hidden in a way that’s both logical and completely unexpected?” Xie Qing mused aloud before answering his own question.

“Of course—it’s in our call logs.”

The live chat instantly exploded.

“The phone number was in the call history the whole time… I have no words. This makes too much sense.”

“There’s no signal in the copy, so players only use their phones as flashlights and watches. This is a total mental blind spot.”

“Xie Qing is absolutely cracked. His thought process is always so unconventional.”

“I think I get it now. If I were the butler, and I knew someone had booked a room at this hotel but I didn’t want them to fall into its clutches, what would I do? Of course—I’d call them and try to warn them not to come!”

“No matter how difficult the task is, there is an answer…if we just think about it…”

In the live stream, Xie Qing calmly pressed the call button.

Nothing happened.

Unfazed, he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Oops, forgot there’s no signal in the copy.”

The chat erupted.

“Pfft, failed the dramatic moment, but why is he so cute?!”

“This scene is going in my memory vault forever.”

Qin Chen turned to Zhao Qingchun. “Call from your room.” He glanced at the countdown. “Two minutes left. Move fast.”

Zhao Qingchun frantically patted down all her pockets. The more she searched, the stiffer her expression became. “Our room key was with Xia Shangzhou.”

And Xia Shangzhou… was nowhere to be found—dead or alive. All he had left behind was a blood-soaked crime scene.

【Your task time remaining: 2 minutes.】

The hotel’s corridors stretched unnaturally long. At this hour, most of the players were downstairs eating breakfast. Finding someone else to open a door for them was clearly impossible.

Zhao Qingchun had been living in constant fear ever since entering the dungeon. After being crushed by terror again and again, she had reached a state of numbness.

Tears slid silently down her face as she muttered something under her breath.

Listening closely, they realized—she was repeating the same phrase:

“No matter how difficult the task, there’s always an answer… as long as we think carefully…”

“Mom, Dad… I’m sorry.”

Zhao Qingchun’s voice trembled.

Xie Qing reached out and gently ruffled her hair. In a soft voice, he said, “You’re giving up too soon. Actually, all we need to do is—”

BANG!

A deafening crash shattered the tension. Splinters of wood exploded in all directions.

The once-intact door of Room 303 had been reduced to a pile of broken planks.

Qin Chen, who had been in a bad mood all day, slowly lowered his leg, his expression dark. “What are you staring at? You think you’re the only one who can kick things?”

Xie Qing blinked, then casually pulled out another phone from his pocket, waving it at Qin Chen.

“We just needed to use an NPC’s phone to call the butler.”

Qin Chen: “……”

Xie Qing smiled. “When the duty roster ‘accidentally’ fell into my pocket, the front desk’s phone happened to fall in too.”

Qin Chen’s eye twitched violently.

Meanwhile, Xie Qing unlocked the NPC’s phone and began dialing, his fingers moving across the screen with effortless precision.

009 couldn’t tear his gaze away, caught in an absurd thought—even the way Xie Qing dialed a phone looked better than anyone else.

The livestream audience was utterly baffled.

“Wait, that phone doesn’t have a password?”

“Wake up, this is a nightmare instance, not a murder mystery game.”

“Oh, I know this one! The phone’s password is the employee’s work ID.”

“The hotel changes employees every few days, but not the phones. If they had to update the password constantly, it’d be a hassle.”

Xie Qing was halfway through dialing when something suddenly felt… off.

He had found the butler’s number in the call log because he had assumed the butler was hostile toward the hotel. He had also exploited the players’ blind spot—phones being useless in the dungeon—to reverse-engineer a solution.

But following this logic further…

Even if he managed to call the butler, would they even pick up?

And even if they did, why would they willingly reveal their identity to an enemy?

His mind quickly jumped to another crucial detail—

The Traveler’s Guide had stated that if a guest felt endangered, they should call the butler from inside their own room.

The moment Xie Qing realized the truth, his eyes widened slightly.

Forgetting that he was still injured, he grabbed Zhao Qingchun’s arm and tried to rush into the room—only for his weakened leg to give out beneath him.

Qin Chen caught him just in time, an arm wrapping securely around his waist.

In the back of his mind, Qin Chen noted how slim Xie Qing’s waist was. But more importantly, as his hand brushed against Xie Qing’s side, he felt something—a zipper?

Did his sleepwear have an inner pocket?

The thought deepened his suspicion—was Xie Qing actually the special patient from the Fifth Research Institute?

Xie Qing steadied himself with Qin Chen’s support and turned to Zhao Qingchun.

“Miss Zhao, you have to make this call!”

Zhao Qingchun didn’t waste a second. Gritting her teeth, she forced her trembling legs to move, dashing into her room. She lunged for the bedside phone and punched in the number from Xie Qing’s call log.

[Your remaining time: 1 minute.]

The dial tone barely rang once before the call was picked up.

Xie Qing quickly pressed the speakerphone button.

[Your remaining time: 30 seconds.]

A voice answered on the other end—

“Hello.”

[Your remaining time: 20 seconds.]

The soft female voice, slightly distorted by the phone line, was still undeniably pleasant to the ear.

Only now did Zhao Qingchun fully process the gravity of the situation—her body trembled involuntarily.

Xie Qing gave her an encouraging nod. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself and spoke.

“Please tell me your name.”

[10… 9…]

“Youjin. My name is Youjin.”

[Time’s up. Congratulations, players. The main quest has been completed.

“Miss, I’m glad you managed to find my contact information.”

“It wasn’t me,” Zhao Qingchun denied immediately. “It was my friend.”

The woman on the other end chuckled softly.

“You are an honest guest. May I speak with your friend, then?”

Zhao Qingchun looked to Xie Qing for confirmation.

Xie Qing, who had just been fiddling with a fortune pouch in his inventory, stuffed it back into storage with a dark expression. Then, with a nod, he signaled for her to hand over the phone.

The moment he took the receiver, his face transformed into a gentle, almost disarmingly warm smile—so fast it was almost unsettling.

“Miss Butler, hello. I’m Xie Qing.”

The voice on the other end was calm yet filled with desperation.

“I am Youjin. I have waited for you for too long. Please, help me… Help me end this nightmare.”

[Player Xie Qing has triggered the Nightmare Storyline: Youjin’s Request.]

[Would you like to accept the Nightmare Quest?]

Xie Qing didn’t hesitate—he selected Accept without a second thought.

[Nightmare Quest has been loaded. Nightmare Distortion Level increased. The difficulty of the Health Spa Hotel has been raised. Current rating: C+.]

[You are now the butler’s most trusted guest. The hotel manager is furious and has decided to personally kill you. The manager’s pursuit will begin in thirty seconds. Please prepare accordingly.]

At this critical moment, Xie Qing casually rested a finger on his chin, his tone unhurried.

“But… he was literally torn in half. How exactly is he supposed to kill me? Is he going to resurrect and slap me with his own severed leg?”

[Key NPC has died. Task sequence incomplete. Recalculating plot…]

[Plot recalculation complete. The acting manager will now execute the task in the manager’s place. Commencing…zzzt… zzzt…]

Amidst the crackling electric noise, 009 urgently switched perspectives. The refined and elegant acting manager, Meng Chunsheng, suddenly went blank, as if something had invaded his brain. Blood trickled from his facial features.

The livestream screen briefly glitched.

A few seconds later, the static and screen distortion disappeared.

[Warning! Warning! Due to external interference, the nightmare’s distortion level has drastically increased. The difficulty of the Health Spa Hotel has been raised—extent unknown.]

The hallway suddenly darkened. From the far end of the corridor, a lighthearted whistling sound echoed.

A man’s face appeared under the dim corridor light, his eyes hidden beneath the shadows of his brow bone. Xie Qing instinctively felt that this man was one or two centimeters taller than Qin Shen.

The man stood far away at the end of the corridor, so Xie Qing could only make out the sharp, defined contours of his lower face.

With a single hand, he unfastened the button of his suit jacket. His employee badge, marked “Acting Manager,” was pinned to his right chest. Then, he stepped forward, emerging from the darkness.

Xie Qing’s pupils suddenly contracted.

The man brushed back his loose strands of hair, revealing a smile laced with bloodthirsty intent.

As if a wild beast had been restrained within the confines of a suit.

“You should start running.”

He said with a smile.