The World Below Surface

Chapter 37

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When Lu Yanli opened his eyes again, he was facing four people, a man and a woman.

When the four saw him wake up, they all smiled, but in the eyes of the vigilant Lu Yanli, their smiles were no different from those of bandits.

"What do you want to do?" Lu Yanli struggled for a while, but found himself tied to a chair and unable to move. He simply gave up struggling and asked calmly, "If it's for money, I can give it to you..."

"No, no, no, we don't want money." Nie Yunzhen interrupted him, "You just need to play a game with us."

"We haven't introduced ourselves to each other yet. His name is Lu Yanli, right? We saw him at the hotel front desk."

Lu Yanli lowered his eyes, then raised his head and looked directly at Chu Xiu: "What game do you want to play?"

In the eyes of the four, it was he who had identified Chu Xiu as the leader of the four early on.

This NPC who was brought here temporarily was unexpectedly calm.

Chu Xiu put down the knife in his hand and looked at him: "It's very simple, Shi Yan, explain the rules."

After saying that, he continued to peel the apple with his head down.

Shi Yan briefly introduced the rules of the game, and when she finished, she saw an expression of disbelief on the man's face as expected.

If it was just a game among friends, he might think it was no big deal, but kidnapping someone and forcing him to play, isn't that telling him clearly that there is something wrong with him

"It doesn't matter if you disagree. There are so many people in the hotel anyway, we just want to make things convenient." Shi Yan threatened in a neither soft nor hard way, and then added, "Besides, this game is actually not dangerous. After you finish playing, we want to give it a try. Don't believe me, come and try it?"

Indeed, the four of them were peeling apples with knives, and the trash can was filled with long strips of apple peels and a pile of peeled apple flesh that had oxidized over time.

Shi Yan saw a trace of struggle on Lu Yanli's face. He asked, "After I play this game, you will let me go, right?"

"Of course." The smile on Shi Yan's face was very sincere.

So, there were five people sitting together practicing peeling apples.

What the five people didn't know was that outside the door, pale figures gathered at the door. Without exception, all of them were people who died in the elevator incident today, but no one would know that they were dead.

Because once discovered, it means the discoverer will also die.

There were more and more pale figures, and they came from every floor and every room, their eyes fixed on the door, with the greed and cruelty of a beast meeting its prey obvious in their eyes.

However, these five people didn't know, and no one had any plans to go out. Therefore, they stood in this position for a long time. As time passed, their pale and blue faces became more and more ferocious and resentful, and they were no longer considered human beings.

Midnight was approaching and a cold wind blew in.

"Strange, the window is clearly closed." Ye Shengke walked to the window, puzzled, turned around and sat down.

If he could close the window and lean his head down, he would see a girl in a bloodstained school uniform skirt clinging to the outer wall of the hotel, slowly climbing up to the window, but he did not do so and missed the opportunity.

A sudden cold wind

Any unnatural details might be clues. Chu Xiu made a prompt decision and stood up: "Mr. Lu, we need to move now. Let's go to your room."

Lu Yanli curled his lips and agreed reluctantly.

Led by him, the five people moved to the other room one by one, and when they opened the door, the corridor outside was quiet, with only the floor lamp emitting a dim warm light. Lu Yanli obediently opened his own door.

He had no choice but to obey, so Chu Xiu followed him, with the muzzle of the gun against his lower back, and put the gun away after entering the room. Shi Yan and Ye Shengke went into the bathroom and fiddled with something, and soon came out.

"Okay, now you can finish it by yourself. We will be waiting for you next door. There are surveillance cameras in front of the camera, so don't try to play tricks."

After that, Nie Yunzhen handed Lu Yanli an apple and a fruit knife. He smiled meaningfully and said, "See you later."

This sentence sounded like he was saying that he hoped he would have a chance to see me later and that I was fine. It made people feel uncomfortable. Lu Yanli said nothing, calmly took the items and went into the bathroom.

The four men closed the door and went out.

In fact, if it wasn't for the purpose of preventing someone from being replaced by a ghost, there would be no need for the four of them to go in and out together.

And wait for Lu Yanli on the side

What a joke

Inside the hotel room, a computer screen displayed surveillance footage in the dark.

The man sat in front of the mirror, with the only light coming in from the floor lamp in the corridor through the crack in the door. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but his face looked particularly pale in the mirror.

He followed the rules of the game and lit the white candle placed in front of the mirror.

A little flame jumped up, the candlelight was dim, and the image in the mirror gradually became blurred and unclear.

Lu Yanli glanced at the glasses, then picked up the apple and a knife, lowered his head, and peeled the apple bit by bit. The long peel fell down in circles and piled up into a small mountain.

He looked very frightened. He didn't even dare to look at himself in the mirror. He just kept his head down and twirled the knife.

The apple peel is getting longer and longer, and the image in the mirror is getting clearer and clearer.

There was nothing there, just a man peeling an apple in front of a mirror.

Finally, he finished.

The peel was not broken from beginning to end, and there was nothing unusual in the dim light. Even the image in the mirror was normal. There was no bloody thing jumping out as they had imagined.

The man named Lu Yanli was obviously relieved. He quickly walked out of the bathroom and went to the corridor to knock on the door.

The four people in the room couldn't tell whether they were happy or disappointed. However, it was better not to attract evil spirits. If they really did, they didn't know what to do.

"It seems that today's game may not be too risky." After saying this, Shi Yan laughed to himself.

There was a knock on the door and Ye Shengke got up and went to open it.

Outside the door, Lu Yanli said coldly: "I have completed it according to your request. Can you return the room card to me now?"

"No rush." Chu Xiu flipped the room card in his hand, "We still have four people here."

Lu Yanli didn't say much. After pursing his lips, he simply went into the house and sat down, watching Shi Yan leave.

The order was decided randomly, and the second person was Shi Yan.

The surveillance screen was pitch black, and her figure appeared. She closed the door, sat in front of the mirror, and lit the candle as well.

The moment the candlelight came on, she remembered something and her body suddenly stiffened, as if the blood in her body had solidified.

Just now, after Lu Yanli finished the game, he did not blow out the candles.

So, who blew out this candle

When Shi Yan thought that there might be something in the room, or maybe it was staring at him in some corner, he couldn't help but feel cold.

But... the mission must be accomplished.

She reached out and picked up the bright red apple.

It was not until then that she realized that her hands were shaking and she could hardly hold the knife.

It’s okay... Didn’t Lu Yanli come out safely just now

Shi Yan tried her best to cheer herself up and suppress the inexplicable fear in her heart. After she made sure that the candle would not go out, she placed the blade of the fruit knife against the apple skin, pressed it down diagonally, and began to peel it.

The apple peel grew longer little by little, falling down and forming circles, and the image in the mirror also became clearer and clearer.

As the apple skin was peeled off bit by bit, she suddenly shuddered.

It's not because of fear, but because the body senses the dropping temperature.

Why... why is it so cold

She didn't dare to think too much, she could only sit there stiffly, and couldn't help but speed up.

Hurry up... don't break it...

Faster...

If I continue to stay in this room, some unpredictable and horrible consequences will happen soon!

Shi Yan had never trusted her intuition as much as she did now.

Finally, Shi Yan finally finished peeling the apple. She breathed a sigh of relief, quickly opened the door, and went back to the room after making sure she was fine.

The moment she went out, the white candle in front of the mirror went out instantly!

After arriving at the room, to Shi Yan's surprise, the other four people were somewhat silent.

"What's wrong? Was there anything in the surveillance video just now?"

Ye Shengke's face turned pale, and he pointed at the computer screen: "Senior sister... just now when I was peeling an apple, there was a woman in white, and she kept blowing air on my neck."

As he spoke, he operated the mouse and moved the surveillance screen back a little.

In the dark scene on the screen, behind her was a figure with long white hair, standing in front of the mirror. On the face covered by long hair, a pair of eyes stared at the woman in the mirror from through the messy hair.

Suddenly, Shi Yan's face also turned pale!

She really... summoned something out!!

The female ghost was blowing air on her just now, no wonder she felt so cold.

"Then... what should I do next?" Shi Yan looked behind her in panic, "She didn't follow me, did she?"

Ye Shengke shook his head: "No, she got into the mirror."

But the devil has already found the door, and it goes without saying that the next mission will be extremely dangerous!

Next... who's going

There is a real female ghost in the mirror!

Chu Xiu said, "Let's change rooms and continue."

They booked four rooms in total. At worst, they could just leave the hotel after playing the game. As long as the summoned creatures didn't follow them, what were these NPCs that mattered

The others had no objection, and Lu Yanli acted as an invisible man. Since the scene just now had a great impact on him, he was not in a hurry to get the room card at this moment, and asked directly: "Can I leave now?"

His face was a little pale. The scene just now was too shocking. It was obviously a severe blow to the science he had adhered to for many years.

Chu Xiu: "I said, you can only leave after the four of us are done."

After saying that, he turned and left the room.

There were not many micro-cut cameras with them, and it was impossible for them to go to that room to take them out. It was better for them to make an appointment with each other that if anything unusual happened, they must inform everyone.

Chu Xiu came to the mirror and followed the steps.

To his surprise, nothing happened.

After he came out, he explained the situation truthfully, but the others obviously didn't believe him. When they thought about how everyone except Yun Qian was fine the night before, their suspicion turned into half-belief.

Could it be that the supernatural phenomena in a game will happen to one person

Next, it’s Nie Yunzhen’s turn.

Seeing that the people in front of him were fine, Nie Yunzhen also found a little confidence. He came to the room where Chu Xiu had just left and sat in front of the mirror again.

This time, the candles did not go out, and the air was filled with the aroma of fruit. Nie Yunzhen looked at the tools he needed and worked skillfully.

However, when he peeled the apple halfway, the image in the mirror suddenly developed in a strange direction.

Those extremely horrifying scenes immediately made his hands pause, and a strong sense of trembling surged into his heart, and he almost couldn't hold the knife steadily.

The apple peel cannot be broken!

He calmed himself and forced himself to continue cutting, but his hands became slower and slower, and his eyes involuntarily looked into the mirror.

He saw his head being ripped off by a ghost and thrown into a basketball hoop, where it got stuck. When it got stuck in the net, his eyes were wide open, his face full of horror.

Is this... is this telling him that he will die one day

The next second, the screen flashed and showed the scene of the hotel lobby, but the hotel lobby in the mirror was not as peaceful as it was during the day. From the elevator entrance on the side, pale and stiff body parts kept coming out, instantly covering the entire lobby and swallowing up all the people still present.

Then, the body parts rushed back to the elevator entrance, just like pulling out the piston of a bathtub full of water, and quickly disappeared.

He peeled the apple in his hand to the very last bit.

Nie Yunzhen took a breath and slowly put the knife down.

The strange scene in the mirror disappeared, and his pale face appeared again.

Perhaps what he saw was the future

What day will the scene in the mirror be? When did it happen

No, never mind, I have to leave right away.

This hotel is no longer habitable.

Nie Yunzhen left the enclosed space and reunited with a few people. In front of Lu Yanli, he shook his head, indicating that nothing had happened and he planned to talk about it in private.

The last one is Ye Shengke.

Lu Yanli didn't seem to look at him much, but he was actually secretly alert.

Is the female ghost in white sitting on his neck still there

Could the female ghost in white be the one who was blowing air behind Shi Yan just now

Lu Yanli didn't show any abnormality, and the others didn't notice it either. Ye Shengke, who had been quite quiet recently, said hello to everyone, then turned around and walked out to another room.

The moment he entered the door, Ye Shengke once again thought of his good friend and his last cry.

He could never forgive himself, he was a coward! A complete coward!

If he could survive this time, he would go to his friend's grave and make amends.

Ye Shengke picked up the knife.

The candlelight flickered.

The longer the apple peel, the clearer the image in the mirror. And what he saw was...

The fruit knife fell to the ground with a clang.

After a few minutes, Ye Shengke came into the house and shook his head: "Nothing unusual."

The mission lasted seven days, and it's already the second day, but there hasn't been a single casualty

No one knew whether to believe it or not. Chu Xiu said, "It's a good thing that there's nothing unusual. It's getting late now. Let's all go to bed and continue tomorrow."

The mission on the second day was even more bizarre and incredible, so they had to stay alert.

Hearing this, everyone left one after another. However, since Ye Shengke's room had just been used to summon ghosts, he decided to live in the same room with Chu Xiu, even sleeping on the sofa.

"Room card." Lu Yanli stretched out his hand to Chu Xiu and spoke concisely.

Chu Xiu didn't waste any words and returned the room card to him: "Are you sure you still want to stay here now?"

"It's okay for me to change hotels, right?" Lu Yanli retorted.

Tsk, change hotels...

But they lived on the tenth floor, so whether it was the stairs or the elevator, there would inevitably be some surprises if they passed by after midnight.

Chu Xiu did not stop him and watched Lu Yanli leave.

"Ye Shengke, do you think our mission tomorrow will be as smooth as today?" He looked at Lu Yanli's departing back, his eyes filled with suspicion, but his tone remained calm.

Ye Shengke shook his head, with a rare hint of worry: "It's hard to say, but the most important thing is that tomorrow's mission only requires four of us, and we can't find anyone else."

This also means that they can no longer use NPCs as shields.

The game on the first day was even more bizarre, and its name was: Four Corners Game.

After midnight, four people stand in a dark room, each standing in a corner. One of them walks clockwise to the next corner. When he reaches the next corner, the person standing in the original corner walks down in the same direction. If someone reaches a corner that is empty, he coughs and continues to walk clockwise.

It is said that after playing this game for a while, there will be a long period of time without any coughing sounds, that is to say, there is always one person walking and there are people standing in the four corners.

So, what is the extra...

Chu Xiu said: "This is how the task is arranged, let's take it one step at a time."

The night deepened, the whole hotel was silent, even the girl at the front desk kept yawning.

Unexpectedly, this night was exceptionally peaceful, so peaceful that it was a little abnormal. Not long after, the sky gradually brightened and the sun rose.

It was just dawn when a figure walked down from the tenth floor.

He walked very fast, as if he was very familiar with the hotel, and soon found the monitoring room. He knocked out the security guard in the monitoring room, went in himself, and looked for something.

That person was Nie Yunzhen!

Last night, when he saw the scene in the mirror, he realized that he might be seeing a scene from the future.

In the future, his head will be removed and thrown into a basket by ghosts like a basketball, where it will rot until it turns into bones.

He doesn't want to die! He can't die!

Nie Yunzhen widened her eyes and found the information she needed from the surveillance video bit by bit.

He heard yesterday that a man named Wen lost something important after checking into the hotel. He was very angry and kept asking the hotel staff for their opinions. This was also the reason why Chu Xiu was able to trick Lu Yanli into opening the door in the name of a police search, because someone in the hotel did lose something and it made a big fuss.

But he later learned from the security guard that what the man brought was a very strange thing, said to be a statue brought from abroad, wrapped tightly, but disappeared for some reason.

He had knocked on the door of Mr. Wen in the morning to ask, and the information the other party accidentally revealed confirmed that his daughter was Wen Qing!

They witnessed with their own eyes the special things about Wen Qing. Could it be related to her father

And Wen Qing kept mentioning "grandma". I guess there must be some secret in their family.

If only he could find this image...

Nie Yunzhen took a deep breath and continued to search the surveillance carefully.

Suddenly, his eyes fixed.

A man with a blurry face entered a room on the second floor. His pockets were bulging, and a corner of a red wooden bag was vaguely visible.

Could it be this

Nie Yunzhen carefully took a screenshot of the surveillance area and zoomed in to observe it. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like it. The red edge made it hard for him to let it go, so he decided to go over to the house to check it out.

Before leaving, he put the security guard in a sleeping position on the table, so that when he woke up, he would not think that he had fallen asleep.

Then, he turned to the front desk, and after asking a few random questions, he knocked out the receptionist and got the room card.

Everything went so smoothly, so smoothly that it was unbelievable. He successfully came to the room on the second floor and quietly opened the door with the room card. The other party was still sleeping with his head covered, and on the bedside table - there happened to be that red statue.

At first sight, Nie Yongzhen was attracted by the image.

It is like a maid, standing quietly, but its blood-red color and strange wood color make people think of words such as twisted and weird.

He had no doubt about what the security guard said, that this statue... might really have some special abilities.

At the same time, Lu Yanli went downstairs and prepared to leave the hotel.

"Okay? Okay?!" He knocked on the front desk repeatedly, and the waiter lying on the table finally woke up and rubbed his eyes: "Oh, sorry, sir, what can I do for you?"

"I want to check out."

"Okay, please wait." The waiter had a sweet smile, a kind attitude, and his hands were very fast.

After Lu Yanli completed the check-out procedures, he walked straight out and his figure was reflected on the revolving glass door of the hotel.

He suddenly had an idea.

Because... Standing on the glass door, at the reception desk, was a white skeleton.

He pretended not to see it and quickened his pace to leave the hotel.

The front desk staff still maintained a beautiful smile and stood motionless behind the desk.

Then, she rolled her eyes upwards and looked through the ceiling at a rat hiding upstairs.

A certain traditional district in the city, with old buildings and many houses.

In one of the rooms, there was blood everywhere and a dead body was lying on the ground.

A man, a young girl, and a black cat, all of them were bloody and lifeless. The blood seemed to have life, and gradually formed a strange pattern.

Suddenly, one of the girls' eyelids twitched.

Just looking at her pale and blue skin, her no longer rising chest, and the fact that there was not a single piece of good flesh on her body, it was hard to believe that she was a living person. However, her eyelids moved slightly, as if she was trying to wake up from her deep sleep.

Inside the room, the shattered statue fell to the ground.

And on the niche, a new statue suddenly appeared. It was also bright red like blood, with a distorted face, which made people feel cold in their hearts.

As the girl's eyelids continued to struggle, the red on her face became brighter and brighter, until it looked like blood was dripping out.

"Kill them... and you can be resurrected..."

"Revenge for Yun Qian..."

"They... damn it!!"

The girl murmured softly, and suddenly, her eyes opened sharply.

She sat up and found herself lying on the ground. Everything in the house seemed normal, except... her baby was lying on the ground, covered in blood.

"Mickey? Mickey?!"

"What happened?! Who did it?!"

When Wen Qing woke up, she forgot that she was dead, that she was killed by her grandmother who was possessed by an evil spirit, and that her cat, Mimi, had died with her. She didn't know why she was lying on the ground with Mimi's body beside her. She hugged her cat's body and cried for a long time until she woke up her grandmother.

"Qingqing, what's wrong? Why are you so sad so early in the morning?" Grandma walked out of the room.

"grandmother-"

As soon as she saw her grandmother, Wen Qing couldn't hold back her tears. She didn't know why she felt wronged, but she was just very sad. She threw herself into her grandmother's arms and choked up and said, "My baby, my baby is dead."

"Well..." Grandma looked a little embarrassed, "I accidentally killed it. It was too noisy at night, so I threw it down from the upstairs."

"What, what?" Wen Qing looked at the man's face in disbelief.

Grandma was still as kind as ever, but at this moment, this face... made her shudder.