Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 692 - 690: Reinforcement

"We've actually discussed this issue before."

Bai Haozheng glanced at Li Ang, then raised his palm, spread it open, and revealed two wrinkled sticky notes. They read:

"Do not leave me"

and

"Don't say I didn't give you the chance to say goodbye"

"The note on the left floated down from Room 1108, where Danfei was staying, just as the curfew began.

The one on the right was found on the window at the far end of Room 1008, after Danfei had gone downstairs.

These two notes differ from the others in two respects:

First, the subject is different,

and second, they are related."

As Bai Haozheng continued up the stairs, he explained, "The notes others received were simple and clear, with explicit instructions, and the subject was always the hotel room.

In these two notes, however, the 'I' in the first note is likely Kafei, who lived on the tenth floor.

The 'I' in the second note is the red-clothed old woman who abducted Kafei, and the 'you' refers to Danfei, who rushed downstairs.

It's unclear what this change of subject means."

After pondering for a moment, Li Ang asked, "Is it possible that the subject of the first note isn't Kafei, but Room 1108 instead?"

"Hmm?"

Bai Haozheng furrowed his brows, his mind raced as he immediately grasped Li Ang's meaning. "Are you suggesting that the note contains a play on words, and that it was precisely because Danfei left Room 1108 that the abnormal event occurred?"

"Exactly." Li Ang nodded. "The hotel's lodging guide repeatedly stresses not to open the door. However, it doesn't clarify the priority between keeping the door closed and following a note's instructions when they conflict. Nor does it specify the direct consequences of opening the door.

Perhaps it was Danfei opening the door of Room 1108 that led to Kafei being attacked downstairs. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The hotel floors are exceptionally well soundproofed. So why would there coincidentally be a hole that let sound through? What if the sounds he heard were always produced by an anomaly, deliberately luring him to break a taboo and allowing the anomaly to strike?"

"Enough!"

Danfei, walking ahead, abruptly turned around. His eyes were bloodshot as he glared fixedly at the still-talking Li Ang, his expression a mixture of menace, suppressed anger, and fury. "That is my brother! I would never intentionally harm him!"

"May the deceased rest in peace. No offense intended, R.I.P."

Li Ang shrugged, seemingly indifferent to Danfei's threatening gaze. "I'm just saying, what we hear and see may not always be true. Don't forget the lodging guide says to ignore strange sounds."

"..."

Danfei clenched his jaw, his fists cracking.

Seeing this, Bai Haozheng tried to console Danfei. "Brother Li is just proposing a possibility concerning everyone's safety. There's no personal attack or blame intended.

Perhaps doing nothing is the real mistake."

As they conversed, the group of players reached the tenth floor.

The traces of Danfei's search from the previous night were still evident in the corridor; the doors to all rooms were wide open, and in some rooms, tables and chairs lay scattered.

The group entered Room 1008. The place was in shambles, with dried bloodstains and signs of a struggle everywhere.

"The residual energy has negative properties, consistent with the characteristics of the Voodoo Black Witch Clan, but it has almost completely dissipated."

Mule closed his eyes and said slowly, "There was indeed a short, high-intensity battle here last night, but I can only sense one type of energy signature."

So you can't detect any energy traces of an anomalous entity...

Bai Haozheng nodded somewhat disappointedly. As an Intelligence Analyst, he could also sense energy fluctuations, though he supposed he wasn't as skilled as Mule.

"This is the sunken spot."

Danfei walked to the middle of the living room, pointed to the ceiling, and said in a low voice, "Among the weapons Kafei used was a spear, and the marks here match the shape of a spear tip."

Bai Haozheng put on white gloves, activated his Nen ability, floated up, gently touched the indentation in the ceiling, and with a little force, actually scraped off a small piece of plaster.

"Hmm?"

Bai Haozheng was slightly surprised. They had tested it before; the materials inside the hotel were extremely sturdy, and a full-force blow from a player might not even leave a mark.

He dug for a while longer, until his fingers barely touched the rebar, then he stopped.

Strange...

Bai Haozheng floated down, furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, then started digging in other spots in the room.

Inside Omega's fish-tank helmet, the blue liquid sloshed back and forth. "Did you discover anything?"

Bai Haozheng shook his head, his expression grave. "For now, I've only found that one small spot on the ceiling of Room 1008 is particularly soft and can be peeled away."

He turned to Danfei. "You heard the knocking on the floor before 00:11 last night, right?"

"Yes."

Danfei nodded. "Around 00:09, I heard knocking from the sunken part of my room's floor—it was Morse code."

"...Rooms 1108 and 1008 might have been compromised and are no longer safe. You'd better not stay in Room 1108 tonight. Moving to Room 1109 or 1107 would be fine."

After speaking, Bai Haozheng paused for a moment, then walked out of Room 1008. He went to the end of the tenth-floor corridor, crouched down, and touched the carpet beneath the oil painting.

This must have been where the old woman in red was last seen.

"Unlike inside the room, the bloodstains on the carpet have disappeared, leaving no trace."

Bai Haozheng rubbed the carpet fibers with his gloved fingers and murmured, "The physicochemical properties of the carpet haven't changed, and its dust content is consistent with the carpets on other floors.

Hmm... could this indicate there's a genuine difference between the corridors and the rooms..."

After pondering for a moment, he stood up and went to search Room 1108, but unfortunately, he found nothing of value.

Throughout the next day, the players stuck together, searching floors three through seven of the Dolphin Hotel, layer by layer.

Nobody wanted to eat the food that appeared in the dining area, but for safety reasons, the players still packed up all the food from the dining area and incinerated it—at least this food could be destroyed.

By seven o'clock in the evening, the light outside the windows dimmed once more.

The players ended their search, returned to the tenth floor, and reclosed all the doors Danfei had previously opened.

Then, on every floor, they reinforced each corridor door. Omega believed Li Ang's theory that "opening doors is an inducement mechanism" had merit, suspecting that anomalies on the floors might open other room doors on the same level, thereby triggering taboos.

By eleven o'clock at night, once all the doors were reinforced, the players returned to their respective floors to await midnight.

No one knows who the victims will be tonight...