This place is like the underworld.
"Perhaps, this is what the third floor is really like?" Lu Shi remained relatively calm; he had seen far too many ghosts and such.
He tried to touch the pedestrians with his hands, but his hands passed right through their bodies.
These wandering ghosts didn't even glance at Lu Shi.
“There’s a trash can over there,” Ye Bugui quickly scanned the entire street. Besides pedestrians, there was only one trash can. “Perhaps we should see what’s inside.”
However, the thing in the trash can seemed to have heard Ye Bugui's words and suddenly began to shake violently.
"withdraw!"
Zi Ling shouted, showing her sense of responsibility as captain, and immediately used her trump card.
In an instant, Zi Ling's hair grew infinitely long, intertwined, and finally formed a huge barrier that blocked them all from behind.
At this moment, Lu Shi also took his hand out of his pocket. If a monster really crawled out of the trash can, he would definitely use the White Bone Ghost Fire immediately.
"You all need to leave quickly." Zi Ling's attitude was firm. "Go downstairs first, and I'll cover your retreat with the Demon Lord."
Ye Bugui seemed about to speak, but seeing Lu Shi's resolute gaze, he held back.
That's true, there's no point in fighting head-on now. Since the monster in the trash can hasn't shown itself, it means it's not a boss that needs to be killed immediately.
"Come with me, all of you!" Ye Bugui lowered his voice, using his usual meeting tone.
Sure enough, upon hearing this leader-like voice, everyone felt as if they had found their pillar of support and began to gravitate towards Ye Bugui.
Lu Shi and Zi Ling stared intently at the still-shaking trash can.
By the time Ye Bugui and the other four people had evacuated from the third floor, no monster had emerged from the trash can.
It was as if their reaction was excessive.
"Are you alright?" Zi Ling asked uncertainly.
"I don't know, let's go downstairs first." Lu Shi was still quite cautious: "Actually, we gained an important piece of information on this trip."
After leaving the third floor, the two quickly ran to the second floor.
"Are you alright?" Chen Xin asked anxiously.
Her heart clenched when the trash can started moving.
"No, it was just a false alarm." Zi Ling tried to appear calm. "Shall we go up again?"
This time, she was answered by the receptionist downstairs, who lazily called out, "Lunchtime!"
They exchanged a knowing glance and returned to their respective rooms.
This time, Lu Shi followed Ye Bugui's example and went to 206.
"Why did you follow me here?" Ye Bugui didn't seem surprised at all.
“There’s no trace of anything left in Gao Yang’s room,” Lu Shi said. He walked around the room before his gaze finally settled on the overflowing bookshelves. “Did your roommate buy all of this?”
"Yes, he must be a top student." Ye Bugui almost sat on the bed, but thankfully he restrained his desire. "I wonder what he did while I was away yesterday."
“We can go into his dream tonight,” Lu Shi suggested.
"Tonight might not be an option. Gao Yang's father will definitely be here, and we can't miss it." Ye Bugui stretched out his arms and lay on the floor, missing the huge bed in his villa where he could run around freely. "Tell me, what used to be this apartment?"
Lu Shi paused for a moment, looked at Ye Bugui seriously, and then said, "You also think that the third floor just now was the original appearance of this apartment?"
“Hmm, otherwise it would be impossible for us to suddenly see a street.” Ye Bugui gently stroked his chin. “That door, behind it should be the former site of Hao Ren Jia Apartment.”
"So what do you think we would have seen if we had just pushed the door open?" Lu Shi countered.
"Who knows? It could be the truth, or it could be danger." Ye Bugui slowly stood up. "Aren't you regretting not going to see it?"
“If this were a solo instance, I would have gone,” Lu Shi replied frankly. “But there are other people in the instance now. If my actions cause them to die, I would feel guilty.”
“You truly represent the new era of Demon Lords.” Ye Bugui suddenly leaned close to Lu Shi, and the two almost bumped into each other. “I now believe you come from the cultivation world, but I don’t believe you are really a Demon Lord.”
"Really? What counts as really true?" Lu Shi turned his head away, his face suddenly turning cold. "If the whole world believes I am the Demon Lord, does that count as really true?"
"No, that doesn't count!" Ye Bugui answered quite decisively, almost a natural reaction without thinking.
Lu Shi shifted slightly at his reaction. "Why?"
"It depends on whether you've done anything immoral or heinous! Oh, if I have an IQ of 250, but everyone in the world thinks I'm an idiot, does that mean I'm really an idiot? You people in the cultivation world really haven't learned to be realistic."
Ye Bugui lay back down: "I knew it, you couldn't be the Demon Lord. No, you're not a bad Demon Lord, you're a good Demon Lord."
"Okay, Demon Lord?" Lu Shi was amused by Ye Bugui again: "Don't you think this description is strange?"
"It's no surprise that this applies to you," Ye Bugui said bluntly. "Someone who thinks about saving dungeon NPCs and is willing to cover the retreat for his teammates—how can he not be a good Demon Lord!"
"Then why not change the way you address me?" Lu Shi countered.
"How cool does 'Demon Lord' sound!" Ye Bugui suddenly perked up, his inner chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur) burning brightly: "If someone called me Demon Lord every day, I'd be laughing in my dreams!"
Lu Shi was completely convinced, but he found that a thorn buried in his heart had quietly melted away.
Outside the door, the waiter tried the same trick again, but still no one fell for it.
But this time he didn't get angry; instead, he left humming a song.
They stepped out of the room again, and Chen Xin couldn't wait to ask, "Do you remember what the third floor looked like? I tried really hard to remember after I got back to the room, and that street is the same one where we got off the bus!"
"The apartment was at an intersection, so before I went in, I made a point of looking at the other side it led to, which was a narrow alley with hardly anyone around. At the end of that alley was a residential building with a fence right in front of it."
Sherry exclaimed, "Wow! You even remember that!"
"My memory is pretty good," Chen Xin said modestly. "So, the scene we saw on the third floor really was the predecessor of the apartment building, right?"
"So we should have gone over and opened that door to see what was inside." Zi Ling regretted it again. Why was she afraid of a trash can!
"Then why don't we go again now?" Cao Ran suggested.
They exchanged glances and quickly decided to go again.
But when they reached the third floor again, the street had disappeared, and it had returned to the way it looked the first time they saw it.
A red carpet, four tightly closed doors.
Han Baobao said softly, "Then, let's stick to the original plan. I'll keep watch here."
The others agreed and walked straight to the third door.
Sherry volunteered to open the door, and a gust of cold wind blew out from inside.
Everyone shuddered, and the lights in the previously dark room immediately came on.
They finally got a clear look at what the room looked like.
The vast space was filled with faceless figures, far more numerous than Ye Bugui had seen in the corridor.
They huddled close together, their back tumors breathing evenly.
It looks like it's sleeping.
All six of them held their breath, preparing to quietly leave the room and close the door.
But then, Han Baobao screamed from behind: "That door opened again!"
Then, all the Faceless Men in the room woke up.
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 38
☪ Good Family Apartment 13
For these four female players, their imagination of the Faceless Man all came from Ye Bugui's description.
Having never seen a faceless man in person, they couldn't even begin to imagine how terrifying he was.
Especially after the faceless man's fleshy growth with a human face on his back emitted a sharp cry, almost everyone instinctively covered their ears.
This was a sudden drop in their sanity. Sherry, for example, was already struggling to withstand the impact; her expression became dazed, and her will to survive diminished.
"Wake up!" Zi Ling flicked her hair, like a resounding slap across Xue Li's face: "Now is not the time to give up on yourself!"
When Han Baobao, who was still outside the door, saw that no one responded, she guessed that something must have happened to Cao Ran and the others.
She had two choices: before the black handprint crawled over, she should run downstairs.
Or they could run behind the third door to see what was going on inside.
Given Han Baobao's concern for Cao Ran, she will definitely choose the second path.
Cao Ran also thought of this, so she immediately exchanged consciousness with Han Baobao and then controlled Han Baobao's body to run downstairs.
The black palm prints stopped angrily at the top of the stairs, then stretched out their fingers as if they were sniffing out a scent.
Once they realized that the exciting aura was coming from the third door, the black palm prints retreated without hesitation.
The door that belonged to them immediately closed.
Han Baobao suddenly entered Cao Ran's body. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the room filled with faceless people, leaving no space at all. She screamed without hesitation, completely forgetting that she should maintain Cao Ran's persona.
Fortunately, the situation was urgent, and even Lu Shi didn't think Cao Ran was doing anything wrong.
They're all ordinary players; it's normal for them to scream when suddenly faced with such a dangerous situation.
Ye Bugui, as was his habit over the years, took out his game console and scanned the group of faceless men.
lv4.
He breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, the Faceless Man hadn't leveled up.
But can they really handle such a large number?
The Faceless Men themselves cannot see or smell them, but the tumors growing on their backs can.
When the first tumor gave the order to the group of players, the faceless men who were originally standing in circles all ran towards Chen Xin, who was closest to them.
"Watch out!" Zi Ling's long hair immediately flew over, like a powerful arm, wrapping around Chen Xin's waist and bringing her to her side.
The faceless man, not angered by his missed target, panted heavily and headed for his next objective.