Ming Po led Ai Shiping out, heading straight for the room opposite theirs.
This was the first ti Ming Po had walked ahead of Ai Shiping since they entered this ga.
Ai Shiping knew exactly why.
Although not all gas featured a combat phase... especially those involving Deceivers of the World from the Domain of Wisdom and the Domain of Balance like them.
Based on the principle of fairness, it was highly likely that the ga they encountered would not require any fighting.
After all, throwing a Detective directly onto a battlefield or pitting him against doomsday zombies would undoubtedly be unfair.
But if this ga did have a mandatory combat segnt, it would certainly be the part that ca next.
They had mostly unraveled the truth behind Water Mirror Resort, and there was only one room left to investigate. If soone was truly pulling the strings from the shadows, or trying to trap them here... this would be their final opportunity.
Knowing full well that danger lay ahead, Ming Po, as the trusted leader, could not intentionally let Ai Shiping step into a trap.
Ming Po took out the real room card.
With a series of beeps, the door to the room, which had been without power for so long, clicked open.
At that mont, a strange thought popped into Ai Shiping's head.
'If you don't count the hallucinations triggered by subconscious fears...'
'It seems the only things the ghosts here have actually done are trivial matters like opening doors, closing doors, and opening windows.'
'It's practically the equivalent of a smart ho assistant.'
"Hah..."
At this thought, Ai Shiping could not help but laugh.
Just entertaining the possibility made it hard to feel afraid.
As Ming Po opened the room, a red glow seeped out from within.
The tightly drawn sheer white curtains had turned a bloody hue, as if crimson moonlight were streaming in from outside, casting the entire room in a dim, blood-red light.
Drip, drip, drip...
Ming Po heard the slow sound of water dripping within the room.
Even through the frosted glass wall, he could see a figure lying in the bathroom tub.
The bathtub was situated right next to the sink, directly facing the glass-partitioned shower and toilet. It was visible straight from the bed; conversely, leaning to the right from the bathtub offered a clear view of the television opposite the bed.
Steam was rising from the bathtub, fogging up the glass.
Ming Po pushed open the closed bathroom door.
The damp, warm steam rushed at his face, instantly coating his glasses in a white mist.
Ming Po silently removed his glasses, found a corner of his shirt that was not stained with blood, and managed to wipe them sowhat clean. When he put them back on, he could clearly see the scene in the bathtub.
A woman, not even wrapped in a towel, lay face up in the tub. Her complexion was pale, her eyes tightly shut. Her limbs were subrged in the water, and the faucet near her feet continued to drip steadily.
The water had already overflowed.
The bathtub was entirely dyed red with blood, the crimson liquid spilling over the edges. The white porcelain surrounding the tub, as well as the floor, was covered in blood. If it had been earlier...
Ai Shiping thought that he might have worried about her standing up, or feared the bloody water would gush out and drown them.
But now that he understood the Wish Granter chanism of Water Mirror Resort, it was hard for him to feel any real fear.
It was like being told 'don't think of a pink elephant.'
Once you read those words, it is difficult not to imagine a pink elephant in your mind.
Right now, the 'pink elephant' here was not his fear.
On the contrary, it was the truth of this Wish Granter.
Once he realized that the ghosts here harbored hardly any hostility toward him, it beca nearly impossible to even force himself to feel fear. No wonder Ming Po had not shared this theory when asking him to test the chanism. Once Ai Shiping knew this part of the truth, he would likely struggle to induce fear-based hallucinations.
'I suppose this is what they call toxic knowledge,'
Ai Shiping thought to himself.
"This is probably the lady who committed suicide by slitting her wrists,"
Ming Po said, looking toward the blood-red curtains. "There must be a necessary reason why we entered this room last."
"It doesn't look like there's a ghost,"
Ai Shiping noted with so regret.
'...Looks like a puzzle-solving scenario.'
He had thought he would get to see Ming Po go on a killing spree—from what Ming Po implied, he had already fought relentlessly. But Ai Shiping hadn't witnessed any of it firsthand, which was a real pity.
"It's your turn this ti,"
Ming Po looked at Ai Shiping, hinting, "I'm going to take a short break."
Ai Shiping smiled and nodded. "Alright."
He moved his phone aside, and a faint green glow lit up the depths of his pupils.
Like a wild beast, his eyes glead in the dim, blood-red room.
As his Fox title activated, his sense of sll was exponentially enhanced.
After circling the room once, he nimbly hopped onto the slightly ssy bed and retrieved a mobile phone from beneath the pillow.
Unlike the man's old-fashioned phone, this one was a smartphone.
"The phone is dead."
Ai Shiping walked over with it. "But fortunately, it's an Android."
"Use mine."
Ming Po unplugged the power bank's data cable from the cara port and handed it to Ai Shiping.
Ai Shiping took the cable and plugged it into the phone.
It took quite a while before the screen finally lit up. Ming Po took the phone and began flipping through its contents.
While waiting for the phone to charge, Ai Shiping casually pulled out a clean towel from nearby, waded through the 'river of blood' on the floor, and draped it over the woman's upper body.
"See no evil, see no evil."
Noticing Ming Po glancing at him, Ai Shiping responded with a cheerful smile.
Ming Po had little reaction; he neither approved nor disapproved.
He rely kept his focus on the phone.
"Damn..."
As soon as the phone turned on, a lock screen password prompt popped up.
Following the typical logic of puzzle gas, there was a high probability of finding clues for the lock screen password sowhere in the room.
But Ming Po couldn't be bothered to search for clues.
He simply held the phone up and waved it in front of the dead woman's face.
Facial recognition unlock: successful.
"Good thing this is a Samsung,"
Ming Po muttered in a low voice.
If it had been an Apple... facial recognition probably wasn't a thing in 2015.
Facial recognition at this stage was generally still 2D. Forget a dead person, you could even unlock it with a photo.
After unlocking it, Ming Po scrolled through her various ssages.
Suddenly, his movents paused.
Because in the chat history, he saw a familiar person.
"If I were you..."
A sigh drifted in from the doorway. "I would turn off that live stream first."
"Why?"
Ming Po lifted his head and looked back toward the door.
"Oh?"
He said with unhurried calm, "And what if I don't turn it off... Master?"
"If you don't turn it off..."
The long-missing Master Wang sighed again and slowly walked in.
Ai Shiping's expression turned serious, his hand gripping the hamr in his pocket.
Ming Po, however, stood relaxed in his spot, holding the cara in one hand and the phone in the other, looking down at the master who was nearly two heads shorter than him.
"...Then I'm really out of ideas," the master said with complete sincerity as he dropped to his knees with a thud. "Can I just beg you on my knees, brother?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers