Surviving a Horror Game by Romancing the Boss - Chapter 4

Chen Shi was gone when I woke the next day.

Though I wasn’t sure it counted as the next day. The moon still hung high outside, even though my watch said it was eight in the morning.

I vaguely remembered Chen Shi telling me to wait for him in the room.

Before I could decide whether to stay, Wang Yue pushed open the door.

He frowned at me. “Why did you come back here to sleep? We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Li Baiyu is awake. Hurry downstairs.”

I had no choice but to follow him.

The hotel was a prison. It cut us off from the outside world and held us firmly inside.

We gathered to discuss what to do.

Wang Yue spat, then said through clenched teeth, “We can’t just sit here. We have to find another way out.”

Li Baiyu nodded. “Let’s search the hotel first and see if we can find any clues.”

We acted at once, splitting up to search.

I was assigned the first floor.

One of the kitchen tiles caught my attention. It didn’t sit flush with the others, as though someone had lifted it before.

I pried it up and found an iron door underneath.

There was a door beneath the kitchen floor!

[Holy crap, why did he unlock the new area so fast? Isn’t the basement only supposed to open after a player or NPC dies and gets dragged down there?]

[Other players are too busy running for their lives to look for clues. Wifey is treating this like an adventure game. That’s the difference.]

[Wow, I feel like wifey might actually reach the ending. I’ve never seen what it looks like.]

The heavy iron door opened onto a staircase descending into the basement.

Wang Yue shone his phone’s flashlight down it. “There’s a basement. Let’s take a look.”

The darkness below seemed to promise that anyone who entered would never return.

My scalp prickled. I didn’t even dare look.

Wang Yue turned to us. “Come on. Who’s going down with me?”

The others looked at me in perfect unison.

I pointed at myself in disbelief. “M-me?”

[Wifey looks like he’s about to shatter.]

[Hahaha! Why is this so funny?]

[He really is terrified.]

Zhou Shuyue was too frightened to come, and Li Baiyu couldn’t manage the stairs with his injured arm.

That left only Wang Yue and me.

The basement was gloomy and cold. Somewhere in the dark, water dripped steadily.

The air was damp and carried a faint smell of moss.

Discarded tables, chairs, beds, and cabinets crowded the space. They looked like furnishings from the hotel rooms, though I had no idea why they had been thrown down here.

A flash of red on the ground caught my eye. When I lowered my light, I saw a red bracelet.

But what truly drew my attention was a damaged photograph, clearly cut from a group picture.

The person in it was Li Baiyu.

Why was his photograph down here?

The hotel had somehow reverted to the way it was three years ago. The basement had changed with it.

Had Li Baiyu already been here three years ago?

Alarm shot through me, making every hair on my body stand on end.

Just then, something brushed past my foot.

I flinched and swung my light toward it, but saw nothing.

Wang Yue turned. “What is it?”

I pressed my lips together, my voice trembling. “Something crawled past me. It was thick. I-it felt like a snake.”

Wang Yue’s eyes went round. “There are snakes down here? That’s impossible. How could they survive?”

No sooner had he spoken than rustling broke out all around us.

Something was slithering rapidly through the dark.

We turned and sprinted for the stairs.

The unknown darkness behind us seethed with danger.

We were almost at the exit when, in my haste, I tripped.

[It’s over!]

[Ahhh! Run, run! Don’t let them catch you! Those things eat people!]

[Technically, those vines are part of Chen Shi too, aren’t they? This is where his bones are buried, after all.]

Just before I hit the floor, the things caught me, almost as though they were afraid I would hurt myself.

My scalp went numb. I thrashed, desperately trying to get up.

“W-wait for me!”

But by the time I called out, Wang Yue was already scrambling up the stairs.

I heard his panicked shout.

“Close it! Hurry, close the door! There are snakes down there!”

Bang!

The iron door slammed shut.

My heart plummeted. My hands and feet turned icy.

Only the creatures and I remained in the basement.

They came rushing through the dark, vying to reach me first.

They wound around my legs and waist. Their touch was soft and slick, and they carried the faint scent of moss.

They weren’t snakes.

They were vines.