Chapter 301: Revised - 115 "Monsters and Ghosts in the Secret Realm" (8200 words)_5
"So, do the other guests have any questions?" The Golden Melon Hammer Puppet looked at everyone, and no one spoke up.
It then nodded and said, "The rules have been announced. Now each honored guest may go upstairs and choose their own room. The key to each empty room is already in the door lock. After choosing a room, please keep the key to your room safe."
After a pause, it added stiffly in its dry mechanical voice, "A special reminder: please keep your room key safe."
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Upon going up the stairs to the second floor, there was a wide corridor.
The floor and walls were covered with wooden panels. Despite being clean, there was still a strong sense of decay and old age.
Chen Yan and Chu Keqing deliberately walked at the end of the group. At the front was the guy in the Military General Armor—while sitting, he was fine, but when he stood up, the armor was so bulky that he took up the space of two people.
When he walked up the building slowly, he filled the stairway, forcing everyone else to follow behind him at a slow pace.
Fortunately, after the armored general reached the second floor, he directly chose the room closest to the stairs on the left without asking anyone’s opinion, opened the door, and took the key out, then closed the door.
No one else stopped him.
The remaining people stood in the corridor, looking around.
As soon as Chen Yan reached the second floor, he sensed something was off—a bone-chilling cold spread through his body instantly. He was not unfamiliar with this shuddering sensation!
He had felt it before when he experienced the ordeal of seven days!
Chen Yan immediately activated his Qi Observation Skill to scan the corridor, and couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows!
The entire corridor on the second floor was shrouded in a black aura from the perspective of his Qi Observation Skill.
This was Calamity Qi!
Anyone contaminated by it would be plagued by misfortune and illness—like what had previously entangled Lu Sisi.
Fortunately, Chen Yan noticed that the Calamity Qi seemed tightly attached to the building itself and wouldn’t transfer to people.
The two masked big-headed dolls unexpectedly walked towards the end of the left corridor.
Based on what had happened in the hall downstairs, the innermost room on the left side had already been occupied by the girl with long black hair. The room next to hers belonged to the long-haired elder, Kudai.
The two big-headed dolls unexpectedly chose the room directly opposite the girl with long black hair!
Chen Yan and the others watched the big-headed dolls choose their room without stopping them, and watched them enter their room.
"Hmph." The man in black clothes and a tall hat said something—this time, Chen Yan couldn’t understand it.
Standing in the hallway, it was impossible for Chu Keqing to lean into his arms and translate for him as she did in the hall downstairs.
At this point, all four rooms on the left side of the hallway were occupied.
The layout of the four rooms on the left side of the hallway, with rooms facing each other, was as follows:
Long Black Hair Girl (201) — Long-haired Elder Kudai (202)
Big-headed Dolls (203) — Military General Armor (204) — Staircase.
Chen Yan and Chu Keqing exchanged a glance, then Chen Yan subtly looked at the two figures in black and white.
To be honest, their attire really made him think of Black and White Impermanence—most people would probably make the same association, and seeing this attire would inevitably cause unease.
However, Chen Yan had seen the real Black and White Impermanence in person and had witnessed them kneel in salute to an elderly woman.
So, facing these two impostors, he couldn’t feel any respect.
"You two haven’t spoken at all," the man in black clothes and a tall hat swept his gaze over Chen Yan and Chu Keqing, his tone tinged with oddity.
"This is my husband. He practices Silent Meditation," Chu Keqing immediately responded in fluent Japanese, deliberately sounding cold.
As the man in black clothes and a tall hat was about to say something more, the man in white clothes and a tall hat suddenly spoke in a cold voice, "I want to choose the room at the end of the right corridor. Do you have any objections?"
The man in black clothes and a tall hat replied with a sneer, "Quite a coincidence, I want to choose the room at the end of the corridor as well. Let’s be neighbors, then."
With that, the two, one in white and one in black, walked simultaneously to the end of the right corridor, each choosing a room opposite the other.
That left Chen Yan and Chu Keqing standing in the hallway—their choices of room were all taken.
Just one room remained.
Chen Yan felt a stir in his heart.
How strange!
On the second floor, there were exactly seven rooms, no more, no fewer, just like the number of guest tables downstairs!
It was uncanny.
Because there were eight tables in the hall, with one left empty. Only seven tables had guests.
And when the Puppet announced the rules, it mentioned that latecomers would lose their qualification.
Apparently, there were originally supposed to be eight tables of guests.
Yet, on the second floor, there were only seven rooms—exactly matching the seven groups of guests.
What if no one had been late and there had been eight tables of guests?
Chen Yan shook his head; the hallway wasn’t the place for conversation. He took Chu Keqing’s hand and walked to the last remaining room—closest to the stairs on the right.
According to the layout of the second floor, there should have been another room directly opposite this one.
But looking at the area opposite their room’s door... it was just a wall.
Opening the door and taking out the key, Chen Yan entered the room with Chu Keqing and closed the door behind them.
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