Chapter 237: Vines from Hell

"So that’s what it means..."

Kato Megumi murmured to herself first, then looked up at Asagiri and asked in confusion,

"But if Players who didn’t know each other beforehand stay in the same room during the dangerous period when the carpet turns red, wouldn’t that make it easy for people to kill each other and steal phones?"

"Not likely."

Before Asagiri could answer, Iwanaga Kotoko explained first.

"The public hint for this Dungeon says to remain silent. Unless the gap in strength is overwhelmingly large, or someone has an ability that can block sound, then trying to kill another Player in the same room would very likely attract the attention of whatever is in the corridor outside."

After Iwanaga Kotoko finished, Asagiri immediately added,

"Although the hint says not to stay alone, it doesn’t say how many Players can stay in one room at most. Once two solo Players team up, they will definitely keep searching for more solo Players to join them. If several Players stay in the same room together, then even if one of them wants to attack someone else, they probably won’t dare act recklessly."

"Of course, there may also be cases where Players who entered the Dungeon together pretend not to know each other, trick a solo Player into sharing a room with them, and then attack when the chance appears. And the most important point is..."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"After the carpet turns red for the first time, most of the Players who were hiding in their rooms will come out. By then, any solo Player who clearly survived that first dangerous period but has no teammates beside them will immediately become a target."

A little later, outside Room 7012, the room where Asagiri’s four person team had first appeared when they entered the Dungeon.

"Did you find any clues?"

Hearing Asagiri’s question, the experienced male Player wearing glasses, the one his teammates called Mr. Ichikawa, answered sincerely and without hesitation.

"We checked this floor and the stairwell. Along the way, we encountered three Player teams hiding in their rooms, but we chose not to make contact with them. The atmosphere is too tense right now. Approaching other teams recklessly could easily cause misunderstandings. Besides, we already found a team worth cooperating with."

"There was nothing special about the rooms. Every room we investigated had the exact same layout. The main doors could not be locked, and there was no information or usable food or water inside."

"As for the stairwell, which is also the fire escape, it was completely dark. There were no lights at all, so we didn’t dare go in."

After hearing Mr. Ichikawa’s report, Asagiri nodded indifferently.

"So you found nothing useful. Bring out the water. Three bottles."

"Alright."

When Asagiri directly asked for water, Mr. Ichikawa’s two teammates immediately looked a little displeased. Clearly, they felt that this mysterious Player was far too overbearing, demanding the supplies their team possessed even though he had not done anything for them yet.

Mr. Ichikawa, however, as the team leader, showed no dissatisfaction at all. He directly took out three bottles of mineral water from his inventory and handed them to Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna beside him.

His reasoning was simple.

Their team only had three people. Even if they had to survive in the Dungeon for the full seventy two hours, twelve bottles of mineral water would still be enough if they rationed them carefully. Not to mention that as time passed, the other Player teams would surely discover food and water that had no safety risk. Once that happened, the compressed biscuits and mineral water their team possessed would no longer hold much value.

Since he had already decided to cling to this side, then there was no point overthinking things. Sincerity was the best option.

After receiving the three bottles of purified water, Asagiri glanced at the carpet under his feet, which was gradually turning red, and said calmly to Mr. Ichikawa,

"A word of advice. Don’t keep staring at the carpet. And while the carpet is red, don’t look outside through the peephole."

"Thank you for the reminder. Then..."

Mr. Ichikawa looked down at the carpet, which had already begun to shift toward red, then pointed at Room 7011 directly opposite 7012 and asked tentatively,

"Can we stay in the room across from yours?"

"Yes."

"Understood. Thank you."

After returning to Room 7012, closing the door, and fastening the security chain, the four members of the team stopped discussing things further.

After all, the public hint had clearly stated that silence had to be maintained while the carpet was red. At a time like this, it was best not to make any unnecessary noise.

Kato Megumi took the bottle of water Yuuki Asuna handed her. After carefully unscrewing the cap, she did not drink it herself. Instead, she first offered it to Asagiri. Only after he had taken a drink did she take it back. Without showing even the slightest shyness or awkwardness, she drank from the same bottle.

And in that dead silence, time passed second by second.

A few minutes later, Iwanaga Kotoko’s brows suddenly drew together slightly. She lowered her head to glance at her phone, then raised both hands and made a ten with her fair index fingers toward Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Asagiri.

The meaning of the gesture was obvious.

From the moment the carpet turned red to the moment Iwanaga Kotoko sensed the appearance of the strange aura, a total of ten minutes had passed.

However, that information did not hold much real value.

This time it was ten minutes, but next time it might be five, or even three. It was far too dangerous to rely on luck. The correct choice was still the same. The moment the carpet showed signs of turning red, they needed to enter the nearest Hotel room immediately.

"Szzzt... szzzt..."

The very next second after Iwanaga Kotoko sensed the aura, the four of them suddenly heard a crackling burst of static, like the sound of a radio changing frequencies.

What was strange was that the sound did not seem to come from the corridor at all. It felt as though it was ringing directly inside their minds. Even covering their ears did nothing to reduce the volume.

Along with the static, they also heard a rustling sound from the corridor, as though something were dragging itself across the carpet outside.

Seeing Asagiri rise to his feet, Iwanaga Kotoko gently placed her right hand on his shoulder. First she shook her head, then pointed at herself, clearly meaning that she knew he wanted to look outside through the peephole, but that she should be the one to do it.

Afterward, Iwanaga Kotoko slowly walked to the door.

There was not the slightest sign of fear or hesitation on her cute face. On the contrary, she looked completely resolute.

Then, in the very next moment, she stopped.

It was as if she had suddenly discovered some critical, potentially fatal issue.

Seeing her suddenly freeze, Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi both felt their hearts tighten.

Could it be that they had only been inside this Dungeon for barely an hour, yet something truly terrifying was already descending? Some danger so dreadful that even the bold Iwanaga Kotoko had become hesitant?

Just as both of them were becoming extremely tense and preparing for battle, they saw Iwanaga Kotoko turn around with an aggrieved expression, as if she wanted to cry but couldn’t. Then she pointed at the peephole on the door.

Her meaning could be summed up in four words.

She couldn’t reach it.

Seeing that, the tension in Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi instantly vanished, replaced by utterly speechless expressions.

What kind of mime act was this? The dramatic tension had been perfect.

The peephole on a Hotel room door was about one point five five meters above the floor.

Iwanaga Kotoko’s height, meanwhile...

...was only one point five meters.

And since eye level was always slightly lower than actual height, even if she stood on tiptoe with all her strength, she still would not be able to reach it. Worse, if she tried too hard and bumped the door, she might make a sound, and that would be even more dangerous.

Asagiri, however, looked as though he had anticipated this outcome from the very start. He walked over, reached out, and ruffled Iwanaga Kotoko’s head. Then he bent down slightly and brought his eye to the peephole to look outside.

What entered his sight was something covering both the wall opposite and the carpet in the corridor.

At first glance it resembled ivy.

The difference was that this thing was clearly not a plant. It was made of writhing strips of flesh, as if human skin had been twisted into long tendrils.

The sight alone was enough to make one feel sick.

A few minutes later, those flesh tendrils suddenly began crawling much faster. Their thin skin scraped against the wall, smearing it with long streaks of blood as they slithered downward. The sound of flesh rubbing against the surface made one instinctively uneasy, and the image of those tendrils wriggling madly only grew more grotesque and distorted.

Then, in the next instant, the bloodstained face of an old woman suddenly appeared in Asagiri’s field of view, staring straight back at him through the peephole with a pair of terrifying eyes where the whites were overwhelmingly dominant.

Asagiri’s expression did not change in the slightest. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His gaze did not waver either.

He did not instinctively recoil from the old woman’s eyes outside the door. He simply continued observing calmly.

The old woman wore a deep purple kimono that was strangely spotless, completely at odds with her filthy, bloodstreaked face. The moment she appeared, the flesh tendrils outside abruptly stopped moving.

A few seconds later, the old woman disappeared just as suddenly.

Immediately after that, the tendrils on the door of Room 7011 opposite them began writhing, gradually reshaping themselves into a human figure wearing a long black trench coat and a dark gray mask.

Seeing that scene, Asagiri could not help frowning slightly.

Oh.

A cheap imitation.

Even though he could only see the thing’s back, it looked almost identical to his own outfit.

Then the fake Shadow suddenly raised its hand and knocked on the door of Room 7011.

At the same time, one of the flesh tendrils beside it split open to form a mouth lined with teeth, and from it came a voice identical to Asagiri’s, even the tone matching perfectly.

"The carpet has returned to normal. You can come out now."

Mr. Ichikawa and his two teammates inside Room 7011 gave no response.

Seeing that, the fake Shadow raised its hand and knocked again, twice in a row. Its voice grew louder, and a faint trace of twisted madness entered it.

"Didn’t you hear me!? It’s me! Open the door!!!"

"Open the door. Open the door. Open the door. Open the door. Open the door. Open the door!"

.....

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