Chapter 45
This was an inn that looked quite old. The aged gray-white walls were peeling in places, and the half-open door had started to lose its paint. A warm yellow light seeped through the door crack, blending with the midday sunlight.
In what should have been a remote and narrow alley, this abruptly appearing inn was “wedged” into the wall in an unnatural way, like an elephant stuffed into a snake’s belly without bursting it open, presenting a visually absurd and eerie sense of spatial disorder.
When the Special Case Investigation Team arrived at their destination after a nearly three-hour flight, this was the scene that defied reality and common sense that presented itself before their eyes.
“Yes! It’s here! It’s this hotel!”
Before they could react, soone had already cried out. He pointed a trembling finger at the half-open door of the hotel in front of them, his expression a mixture of excitent, agitation, unease, fear, and shock.
His gaze towards this door was like that of a mortal seeing the gates of heaven or hell thrown open!
Finally, he swung his fist and cursed loudly: “—I told you I wasn’t mistaken, I’ll never forget this place in my entire f***ing life! It’s here! That night, that demon terrified
right here!”
This overly emotional man was nad Han Shan. For over thirty years of his life, he had always played the role of an insignificant person. He was the wastrel in the eyes of his friends and family, a drunkard, a gambler, and above all, a coward.
Without any unexpected events, he would have continued to play this role.
The only unexpected event in his life occurred on that rainy night three months ago, when he stepped into this alley in the pouring rain and pushed open the door of a hotel.
This allowed him to experience unprecedented fear for the first ti.
It was the first ti he had contact with the police not as a suspect, the first ti he t visitors from another world, and now he was creating another first for the Special Case Investigation Team since its establishnt.
— This was the first ti they had invited an ordinary person who wasn’t a mber of the Special Case Investigation Team to face a supernatural event as a witness from the very beginning.
However, they got the answer they already knew from Han han’s reaction — this wasn’t the first ti K had appeared here.
Li Fufeng, standing nearby, further corroborated his statent. “What he said is correct, this is indeed the inn I saw with my own eyes at that ti, even if it was just for a fleeting mont.”
“Hiss—”
Except for Han Shan, who was still confused, everyone else inevitably drew in a sharp breath, making an unintentional contribution to global warming on Blue Star.
If they weren’t mistaken, this ancient inn was likely a part of another world. At the mont when that space-ti experienced a distortion and an anomalous node appeared, not only K himself, but the entire hotel had co to this space-ti.
As for why the inn disappeared and reappeared later, they didn’t have a completely correct answer, only referring to explanations like “space-ti instability”.
Compared to the last ti when Li Fufeng ca and it only appeared for an instant, today this inn had been visible for over three hours since its discovery, which could be considered quite long.
But as for whether it might disappear again, one only needed to recall the situation from that rainy night when it first appeared and disappeared without a trace the next day to see that this was clearly possible.
After all, it was “space-ti instability”. No one could guarantee that this magical inn would stay here permanently from now on.
Therefore, they needed to make the most of their ti and explore this magical inn thoroughly before it disappeared again.
And this obviously involved taking certain risks.
— If another space-ti fluctuation occurred just as they were exploring, the explorers might disappear along with the hotel.
After this analysis, the mbers of the Special Case Investigation Team finally understood the risks involved, but they were even clearer that this was a rare opportunity to understand supernatural beings and the otherworld.
Li Fufeng was the first to push open that door.
Even though he didn’t know what dangers might be hidden inside, he truly couldn’t resist the curiosity welling up from deep within him.
The mysterious Shadow Council President had directly stated that he possessed “qualifications”, which made Li Fufeng even more eager, unwilling to miss any opportunity to glimpse supernatural phenona.
The others felt the sa way.
They pushed open the half-closed door, and everything on the first floor of the inn was instantly exposed to everyone’s eyes without reservation.
The brilliant midday sunlight shone directly in, illuminating the blood-stained floor and the two corpses lying in the blood.
They were more careful than at a protected cri scene, not causing even the slightest damage as they entered the inn.
Outdated decor, an old TV of an unknown brand, an old-fashioned sofa of a style never seen before, wooden floors leading directly to the second floor, along with guest rooms on the second floor decorated in a style vastly different from Blue Star, and beyond that, the owner’s rooms and various living items… The elite investigators sent out didn’t miss a single detail, not even an old newspaper in the bathroom.
All these details left everyone amazed.
The building materials of the hotel, the style of construction and decoration, sleeping pills different from any on the market, the external design and internal structure of various household appliances, various unknown trademarks and brands, and the news on the old newspapers… Every detail told everyone that they truly ca from a world similar yet different from Blue Star. Even if it was just an outdated inn, it could provide the Special Case Investigation Team with an enormous amount of valuable intelligence.
— Or rather, everything related to the otherworld was of unimaginable value to the current Yao Country.
The accompanying researchers’ eyes were gleaming with excitent.
Materials science, architecture, chemistry, human history… There were so many aspects for them to research.
The Special Case Investigation Team imdiately dispatched experts and scholars from various fields, covering all aspects. They wanted to analyze this otherworld, of which only the tip of the iceberg had been revealed, as if unraveling a cocoon.
And these analyses were obviously not the work of a single day.
At present, almost everyone’s attention was drawn to the two corpses in the lobby on the first floor.
“Based on my experience, the ti of death for these two corpses is definitely not more than three hours ago!” Yin Xubai crouched on the ground, his gaze fixed on the two corpses as if looking at the most beautiful lover, full of infatuation and fervor. “Incredible, incredible!”
He repeated twice.
— Everyone understood what Yin Xubai ant by “incredible”.
According to the current clues to link the tiline, on the night of June 17th, when Han Shan accidentally entered the inn, he saw K and the two corpses in the inn— if nothing unexpected happened, this should be the ti point when K arrived in this world.
So these two corpses were already dead at that ti.
Yet three months later, they were still so fresh, as if untouched. Yin Xubai’s judgnt that the ti of death was not more than three hours ago — no one doubted he would make an incorrect judgnt. Even the most foolish person would know that a body truly dead for three months could not be preserved so perfectly — how could this not be shocking?
Yin Xubai continued. “Not only is the ti of death of the corpses within three hours, but the bloodstains around the corpses, along with those traces that are clearly left by rainwater, including the complete absence of dust around here, and the traces of life in the owner’s rooms upstairs… I can guarantee that even if we brought in the most professional forensic experts to examine, they would all conclude that this is not a house that has been uninhabited for three months. In fact, it’s as if soone has been living here all along, as if the owner was even active here until yesterday.”
“You an… ti has frozen here?”
The others reacted quickly, with Li Fufeng speaking first.
“At least for these three months, yes,” Yin Xubai nodded. “How it was three months ago is how it is now.”
Saying this, he stood up, looked around, and spoke with a confident tone. “The water traces on the floor, the rain-soaked marks on the windows that haven’t dried, combined with the scene Han Shan saw that night, and the style and manner of K, this rainy night serial killer, it’s not hard to deduce…”
“— On a rainy night in the otherworld, this serial killer entered this inn and, for unknown reasons, killed the inn owners. At this mont, a space-ti disturbance occurred, and the entire inn ca to our world.”
“— Coincidentally, it was also a rainy night in our world, and a drunk pushed open the inn door.”
“— Then, this series of events unfolded.”
After laying out his deductions based on all the traces, his tone beca even more excited, just like when he had discovered the unknown substance in the wall powder that Li Fufeng had given him earlier. “All of this is beyond the scope of any scientific explanation. I request to be the first to research it! Especially these two corpses – what special effects did the space-ti anomaly have on them? Are there any structural differences between people from the otherworld and us? Are they ordinary people, or do they possess extraordinary abilities? I can’t wait to know all of this!”
“Yes, yes, yes, don’t worry, you’ll have the chance,” the others said, torn between laughter and tears, but they could fully understand his feelings because they were equally excited.
Not to ntion how much inspiration even this glimpse of an otherworld with similar yet different developnt could provide them;
Moreover, if they gained supernatural insights, the benefits for Yao Country would be incalculable;
Just considering that if they learned enough about this otherworld, it might prove crucial in future encounters with K, and if they could discover his background or weaknesses, that would be an even greater gain. After all, since ancient tis, the importance of intelligence and information has always been paramount.
Thus, the entire Special Case Investigation Team plunged into an unprecedented busy work schedule…
anwhile, on the other side of the city, Bai Yi had already taken in everything that had happened through the inn scene template.
“They really are leaving no stone unturned…” he comnted, “All of this is consuming my nightmare crystals.”
All scene templates were inherently illusory, and each manifestation consud nightmare crystals. To make every brick, tile, blade of grass, and tree in the scene template real, not only did it consu nightmare crystals, but it also required sufficient legend degree.
If the “Ghost in the Rainy Night” card hadn’t achieved over 100% legend degree, there would have been no way to materialize the “Blood-Colored Inn” scene template that ca with it.
Even so, materializing the entire inn as a physical entity had consud more than half of the nightmare crystals Bai Yi had accumulated. The most costly part was those two corpses.
Bai Yi checked his status panel.
**
Na: Bai Yi
Age: 17
Talent: Rhythm of All Things’ lv10 (10% awakened)
Life Skills (lv1 and below not shown):
Bewitch lv3;
Dark Cuisine lv3;
Iron Stomach lv3;
Personality Mask lv2
Transcendental Skills:
Blind Man’s Praise lv1
Web of Thoughts lv10
[Note: Special skill related to the Rhythm of All Things’ talent, which level increases as the talent awakens.]
Points: 135
Card Slots: [Ghost in the Rainy Night★] [Flower Speaker★☆] [Puppet Master★★] [???★★☆]
Inventory: Nightmare Crystal (Green) ×5, Nightmare Crystal (White) ×10, Puppet Master’s Diary
**
He was surprised to see that among his life skills, except for the Bewitch skill which had already reached its limit and couldn’t be improved further, the other skills had all imperceptibly increased by one level.
As for ga points and nightmare crystals…
Let’s put it this way, since the nightmare ga system opened, Bai Yi hadn’t counted how many instances he had cleared.
Apart from those special ones that awarded card rewards, most were ordinary instances that only symbolically rewarded a few points or nightmare crystals after clearing. Plus, creating alternate identities had also consud quite a few nightmare crystals. What was shown on the status panel was the current balance.
And ga points? Hmm… it seed they hadn’t had any use so far, always just being a decoration on the status panel?
— This was practically a criminal waste!
Realizing this, Bai Yi quickly poked the system, and the system’s explanation was —
[Ga points have two uses.]
[One, to purchase certain special items produced in instances.]
[Two, when ga points accumulate to a certain level, players can choose to upgrade versions. Reaching a certain level completes the ga entirely.]
“Version upgrade?” Bai Yi’s interest was piqued, “Does this an upgrading from beta mode to public test mode?”
Before the system could answer, an unexpected change occurred.
In the card slot, a card suddenly emitted a faint glow, rapidly materializing before Bai Yi’s eyes.
— [Flower Speaker★☆] [Legend Degree 100%]
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