Chapter 134: Continuing The Clue Search
In the morning, players were all active near the Hot Spring Motel, both to watch the vending machine and to observe the NPC’s movements, to see where she would go after getting off work.
At exactly 1 o’clock, the NPC left the Hot Spring Motel on time. Her back view looked quite agile; she didn’t want to work even a minute extra. She walked to the Instance Entrance and disappeared.
The vending machine also had no restock.
A crowd of players stood in the cold wind, silently looking toward the empty town.
Yu Jiang and Shi Xu walked out from the alley diagonally across from the Hot Spring Motel, went down a slope, and saw a yard without a gate at the foothills.
This place must have been carefully maintained before, with some traces of life still visible, but now it was overgrown with weeds and in ruins.
There were many dark marks on the wooden board walls outside the house, like water stains, but looking at them always made one’s back feel a bit chilly.
It might not be stains seeping into the wooden boards, but blood.
The plants in the backyard had been burned, probably accidentally setting their own backyard on fire while burning something. Judging from the remaining charred marks, the burning area was not small.
The scars on the tree trunk looked more like sparks from fleeing and struggling that stuck to it.
After circling around, the two returned to the main gate again.
This seemed to be a guesthouse too. In front of the foyer sliding door, there was a broken wooden sign on the ground. The other characters were already blurred, and only a few numbers could be faintly made out.
20:00
It’s time, meaning clues can only be found by coming at night?
Upon reaching here, their investigation progress increased by 2%, confirming that the wooden sign was a clue.
Shi Xu opened the wooden sliding door, and the two entered the house one after another. The furniture inside was messy, covered in dust and cobwebs everywhere. The paint on the wooden cabinet was peeling and flaking, and the cabinet door was a bit broken.
Very classic Japanese-style decoration and furniture, with sliding door after sliding door connecting the various rooms and dim corridors. The white shoji paper had holes, rustling in the wind.
The straw-woven tatami on the floor was also broken beyond recognition, exuding an eerie and sinister feeling everywhere.
Looking at this complex terrain that disorients people, unable to tell directions, plus the strange time, it’s all gearing up for trouble.
The back door was also locked, with a system prompt saying it couldn’t be opened, so running away, there weren’t many routes to survive. If you couldn’t remember where you could go and where you couldn’t, you’re done for.
“You said before that some streetlights here are good and can’t be destroyed.” Shi Xu looked at Yu Jiang. “The game probably isn’t just providing lighting for players.”
“It’s clues.” Yu Jiang had also thought of this. “If there are other supply vending machines here, they can probably only be found at night.”
She turned and walked back out of the house. “Then let’s go, back to rest and conserve strength.”
Even turning this place upside down now would be a waste of effort; just getting familiar with the terrain is enough.
Back at the Hot Spring Motel, players 3 and 4, as well as 9 and 10, were there.
There were several public tea rooms behind the courtyard on the first floor, and they were searching for clues.
Judging from the tea room setup, this Hot Spring Motel should be family-operated.
The largest and best-positioned tea room seemed reserved for their own family use, with a shrine inside and a photo album on the cabinet.
The photos inside were damp and yellowed, somewhat blurred, and the people on them all had the same expression.
Player 4, the dreadlocked guy, flipped through a few pages and casually tossed it aside.
“We’ve been wandering around for half a day, no investigation progress at all, just this one big place in total.”
He glanced at the photo again and sighed, “The women here are still good, obedient, this is how women should be. Not sure if there are any in the game; it’d be great to find a teammate.”
Player 5, the off-road vehicle woman who had just come in, rolled her eyes. Cursing so filthily—what good word is “obedient”?
With only this on his mind, it’s normal not to find clues.
“Has anyone found anything?” Player 3 asked.
“No, most of the houses outside can’t be entered.”
All the teams gave the same answer.
Yu Jiang hadn’t either, but she didn’t believe the other four groups truly found no clues.
Leaving the tea room and returning to their room, Yu Jiang and Shi Xu ate dinner early and waited for 8 p.m. to head out again.
Daytime is safe time; ten players wandered around the town without encountering danger.
But really resting in the room, no one could sleep. The white quilt on the tatami, plus the dim lighting, with a person lying straight on it—that was scary.
“The monsters in this instance are a bit weird; they only come out at night. Sad Pig Intestine said the restaurant instance he went to before also operated at night, with guests all monsters.”
Yu Jiang sat cross-legged at the low table, eating self-heating rice. Outside, the sky was already very dark; the edges and corners of the old buildings, places the lights couldn’t reach, were quietly breeding darkness.
No longer the dreamy feeling of daytime, only desolation and chill remained.
“It’ll be dark soon; are you afraid?” Yu Jiang asked.
“Yeah, afraid.” Saying he was afraid, Shi Xu’s expression was quite calm. “You?”
Yu Jiang thought for a moment and nodded seriously. “Afraid too; it can instant-kill!”
If it was fear of the appearance, not really.
Shi Xu even had a kill mission, meaning this monster had a health bar, so it had a physical form. Physical monsters were no different from zombies.
Just more advanced, with a finishing skill that ignores defense—pretty troublesome.
Yu Jiang checked the talisman item prop card in her space grid again.
Soon, the entire town was completely plunged into darkness, except for a few old streetlights swaying in the cold wind, their lights flickering from time to time.
All around were only the sounds of wind blowing leaves and the creaking of wooden structures in the buildings.
In the instance channel, player 8 sent a message.
“Our team decides to search the Hot Spring Motel again first. What do you think? @Players 1 and 2.”
Player 4 dreadlocks: “Players 5 and 6, the two girls aren’t afraid? How about we go together? We can watch out for each other.”
Players 5 and 6 ignored him and only said their team also wanted to explore near the motel first.
Player 9 spoke: “Just now when I opened the door, there were no lights in the outside corridor, wind howling—too scary! Better to stick with more people.”
Player 8 said again, “The Hot Spring Motel is specially prepared for players; other houses have no water or electricity. It’s relatively safe here; if not, just run back.
If you encounter anything, say it in the channel. We’re all grasshoppers on the same rope; help if we can.”
Everyone had no objections.
Being able to directly get investigation progress from others is easier than blindly searching yourself. For this, everyone would maintain surface mutual help.
Just agree first; no loss.
The discussion in the instance channel hadn’t ended yet, but Yu Jiang and Shi Xu had already taken flashlights and gone out.
The moment they stood in the corridor, cold wind blew from all directions; front, back, sides were all darkness. Reaching out, they could only see a vague outline.
Couldn’t find the light switch, or maybe the corridor had no lights at all. The faint light from outside was completely insufficient.
Didn’t notice during the day, but at night, every step on the wooden floor made a sound, as if something was shadowing behind.
