489 Focus on Stamina
The people in the room didn’t notice anything out of place when Han Fei suddenly tensed. They looked at each other, they had no idea what Han Fei meant. “Go downstairs? But there are Slayers down there.” Ironman reminded Han Fei. From his perspective, the cleaner was already a very scary boss. The other players were casual players, they didn’t have this kind of experience before.
“We don’t have time! I’ll help you delay the enemy, you need to go down the stairs!” Han Fei kicked down the door, his eyes stared straight down the other end of the corridor. The other players helped each other as they shuffled out of the room. They looked around. “But… there’s nothing?” Ironman focused on his stamina. He was a fighter so his senses were sharper than a normal player.
“I can’t tell where the enemy will come from. But remember, once it appears, run down the direction opposite from it.” Han Fei spoke quickly. The chill came from the landlord’s ring, from the intensity of the chill, he could determine the enemy’s strength. This was between a Medium and Large Lingering Spirit. If Han Fei didn’t have his neighbors, he would have a hard time. At least, he didn’t have confidence he could protect himself and the other 5 players.
All the players were in the corridor. The darkness and silence were anxiety-inducing. Auntie Lee’s legs were weak. She just wanted to grow some flowers and vegetables in the game, but once she opened her eyes, she was here.
“Sister Lee, we’ll definitely get out of here. Brother Youfu told me that this is a hidden map, most players can’t even get here when they want to.” Shen Luo was very kind. He guarded the auntie as they stood beside the elevator.
When Shen Luo approached the elevator, the signal light suddenly came on. Han Fei felt the yin energy coming.
“It’s the elevator!” Han Fei whipped his head around. As the doors opened, black hair crawled out of the gap. Instantly the hair consumed Shen Luo and Auntie Lee. “Why did you stand beside him?” Han Fei rushed forward but Xu Qin was faster. She grabbed Auntie Lee and used her knife to slash through the hair. The elevator door closed. The hair and Shen Luo disappeared. Auntie Lee collapsed on the ground, she couldn’t stand on her own anymore. The 5 just reunited and now one of them was missing again. But based on the others’ expressions, they were used to this already.
“Whenever there is danger, Shen Luo would be the first to be targeted. He has separated from us a few times already but he appears to have the highest luck among us because he’ll always return to reunite with us.” Seaglass Cat explained. “Should we go downstairs first?”
“The scariest thing hasn’t arrived yet.” Perhaps because the 5 had gathered together, their misfortune had amplified. The scarier ghosts inside the hotel were awakening. A twisted shadow appeared at the end of the left corridor. It stood inside the dark corridor and left blood under its feet. It had a human silhouette but its limbs were twisted into impossible angles. Instead of a human, it was more like a human worm. After the figure appeared, the temperature in the corridor dropped.
“I’ve seen her in the oil paintings on the 4th floor.” Yan Tang spoke. “Every floor of this hotel features different artful painting but each floor has a different number of paintings. The 4th floor has 5 paintings. They describe a travel group of five coming into the hotel. One of them was a killer and the crazed killer murdered the other 4 travelers.” Yan Yang who had high intelligence had been observing the surrounding. “The figure is wearing the clothes of the people from the travel group. In the 3rd oil painting, a female traveler was killed and then had her limbs broken as she was stuffed under the bed. The killer slept on top of her through the night.” Yan Tang added quickly, “There is an interesting detail in the 4th and 5th paintings. In the 4th painting, the killer murdered the other 3 travelers and fitted them under the same bed. The 4 bodies were twisted and bent to fit under the bed. This is only one of the ghosts, I believe the other 3 are also out there.”
As he finished, the safety door on the other end of the corridor opened. 3 figures crawled out with their limbs shuffling on the ground.
“In the last painting, the killer was shown lying on top of all the dead bodies. He encountered a devil with an apple. This painting is very interesting because it told us that as scary as the killer was, he was not the real culprit. The scary one is the devil with the apple. The killer was an outsider, the real scary element is this hotel filled with dead people.”
After Yan Tang said that, a door slowly opened. A hand covered in blood and holding a knife reached out.
“Brother, you have a point but I need you to stop analyzing.” Han Fei had to agree that Yan Tang was right but the things that Yan Tang analyzed could easily become the truth. If Yan Tang continued to ramble, he might attract the Pure Hatreds from the hospital. Han Fei originally didn’t believe that luck could affect destiny until he met these five.
“You guys better head down, I’ll open the road for you.” There was 1 figure on the left corridor and 3 on the right. Han Fei was about to turn left when Yan Tang spoke again. “I notice that the ghosts at this hotel are very cunning and they share some kind of connection. The key point is, have you noticed that they also share the same voice?!” Even though Yan Tang was afraid, he calmly shared his thoughts. “I suspect there is the scariest ghost controlling everything here. It might be looking at us through the cameras. It creates an opening for us on the left but that is a trap.”
Hearing that, Han Fei immediately changed his direction and turned to the right. Since Yan Tang had said that, even if the culprit didn’t have that intention, the left side would be dangerous now.
Ironman was frightened when he saw Han Fei charge towards three ghosts with no weapon. “Brother, calm down! He’s just analyzing things!”
Ironman was a good person. He knew this was a dangerous moment. He took out boxing gloves from his inventory and put them on. “I’ll help you.” Ironman took the fighter role in the surface world so his skills and attributes were to protect his team. As a CB player, he knew that Han Fei who was level 15 was stronger than him but there was only a 3 level difference between them. Plus he focused on fighting so he believed he shouldn’t be weaker than Han Fei. As an old player in this hidden map, Han Fei only knew more about the map than he did.
Without thinking about it, Ironman followed behind Han Fei. At this point, they had to give it everything. They got to escape from this place.
“It’s rare for us to get into a hidden map, it’s a waste to die like that!” The punishment for death in Perfect Life was extremely harsh. Once the character died, all the collected resources would be gone. It was like real life, there was no chance to restart. Ironman was a professional player, if he died, then he would be kicked out of his gaming guild. “For my life in the game and in reality, I have to do this!” Gritting his teeth, Ironman roared as his skin turned red. He punched at the ghost closest to him. “Die!”
Ironman activated his skill. His punches left behind shadows. He hit the enemy’s head heavily but the enemy didn’t evade at all. The punches eventually pierced through the head and then landed on the wall. The oil painting was shattered but the figure before him was uninjured. The person even tilted its head to look at Ironman, as if asking, ‘what are you doing?’
“But my boxing gloves are a Grade G rare item…” While Ironman was shocked, pain bloomed on his abdomen. A pale hand landed there. Yin energy blossomed on his skin like a flower. Chill froze his stomach, he couldn’t feel his lower body. The figure was leaning towards him when a force knocked him away. When he came to his senses, he saw Han Fei occupying his original space.
“Brother, thank you for saving me, but what about you?” He looked at Han Fei who was cornered. He thought it was over for them this time. He couldn’t do any damage to the monsters so what could the man who was only 3 levels higher than him do?
Ironman had no hope. He knew hidden maps were dangerous but he had no idea it’d be so dangerous. The female ghost was approaching from the left. The 3 figures hadn’t been dealt with and the armed killer walked out of the room.
“It’s over.” Ironman was in despair. He tried to get up but he heard Han Fei say coldly. “If you don’t want to die, stay there quietly.” Han Fei was gentle with them so Ironman didn’t think Han Fei was different from other players but when Han Fei gave this order, Han Fei carried an inexplicable pressure on him. It was like Ironman would die if he didn’t listen to Han Fei. “Let me help you, I only focus on my stamina. Even though your level is higher than mine, your stamina should be lower than mine.” Ironman tried to get up using the wall. But before he did, Han Fei already made his move. The bright blade glowed in the dark corridor. The warm light pierced through the ghosts.
When one of the men screamed, the 2 other ghosts bound to his body pounced at Han Fei. They blocked all exits but Han Fei wasn’t afraid. He cut at the other ghost’s neck. Wiggling inside the narrow space, the bloody fingers could only graze Han Fei’s clothes and not the man.
Not only Ironman but the other players were also stunned. The gnarly ghost tattoo moved on Han Fei’s skin. His cold presence and the light from Rest in Peace bound together. Han Fei in the mask was like a God.
“He’s level 15 and you’re level 12?” Yan Tang’s eyes wandered between Han Fei and Ironman. Finally, he turned to Ironman uncertainly. “You sure you haven’t been holding out on us?”
“Of course not!” Ironman held his stomach. He started to suspect his eyes.
The blade pierced through the shadowy figures’ hearts. A trail of blood floated before Han Fei’s eyes. He used his other hand to grab the figure by his neck. He closed his fingers and with the buff from Nine-Lives, Han Fei yanked the figure out of his friend. “Compared to pain, your heart consists of more fear. Someone is indeed controlling you.” Han Fei decapitated the figure. He charged ahead. “Follow me!”
Yan Tang and Seaglass Cat picked up Ironman. The four players raced towards the stairwell.
“What ability was that? He tore through the ghosts with his bare hands! I haven’t seen such a cruel attack ability before!” Ironman was a CB Player but Han Fei had turned his world upside down.
Han Fei suddenly stopped on the stairs.
“What’s wrong?”
“Look at the room number in the corridor. We’ve been running for a long time but we are still on the 7th floor.” Han Fei was calm because this was not his first time encountering something like this.
“What? How can this be?” Ironman wanted to cry. When he led the other players out of the mist, he thought the hidden map was boring because there was not even a ghost around to scare them. But just as they entered this hotel, so many supernatural events occurred.
“Then what should we do now?” Yan Tang turned to Han Fei. He was very clever, he knew their only hope was Han Fei.
“A scary ghost is hiding inside this hotel. He killed everyone. He is controlling everything. This endless loop should be his doing too.” Han Fe thought about it and said, “We shouldn’t waste our strength. We need to observe the strange happenings inside the hotel to figure out the ghost’s location to kill him.”
Only Han Fei would come up with such a plan. The other players were shocked.
“Erm… I have something to say.” The pale Auntie Lee suddenly raised her hand. “I don’t know much about this game, but I think I’ve been to this hotel before.”
