The beam from the flashlight illuminated the interior of the safe.
The cara revealed the "treasure" hidden inside to the viewers.
It had a red-and-white, heart-shaped tal casing. Resembling a box of chocolates or candies, it carried the distinct aesthetic of early 2000s vintage items.
"..."
Ming Po clicked his tongue. "So it isn't a gold watch."
He had originally planned to see what brand of gold watch the man had bought, just to harshly critique it.
Shifting from a squat to a seated position, he clamped the flashlight between his knees and took the object out of the safe.
He examined it closely, only to realize it was a music box.
Ming Po wound the key.
A sorrowful, clear, and lodious chi drifted out.
That was—
"—Dream of Wedding?"
Hearing just the first few notes, Ming Po instantly recognized it.
As a child, his family had made him learn the piano. Although he had only stuck with it for three or four years in total, his musical literacy remained intact.
Ming Po briefly closed his eyes, listening quietly.
He savored this rare mont of peace.
anwhile, on the other side.
After obtaining the key, Ai Shiping quickly reached the security room.
His heart had been in his throat the entire way.
—Because when he approached the security room, the locked door had unbolted and opened on its own.
He had even heard the sound of soone turning a chanical spring from inside—
Ai Shiping froze in his tracks instantly.
Holding his breath, he steeled himself.
He crouched warily at the doorway for a long ti before confirming it was empty.
Only then did he cautiously push the door open, leaping backward the exact mont he did.
—Fortunately, there was no jump scare.
It was also then that Ai Shiping finally understood—why he only had one key but needed to open two locks.
It wasn't that the key could open both locks; one of the locks had opened itself!
He inserted the finger key into the keyhole right in the center of the desk, turned it, and obtained the Master Key Card.
"You guys keep misleading —"
Ai Shiping complained to the stream, "I spent all that ti looking for a second key, but it turns out I didn't even need one."
Working backward from the result, Ai Shiping now had a rough idea of the ga's design logic.
According to a normal person's reasoning, they should indeed have gone to the front desk first.
There, they would have found the newspaper and confird the incidents that had occurred here. Many anomalous events happened inside the guest rooms, aning a thod to bypass the locks was required.
At the sa ti, they would spot a map nearby.
The room keys would most likely be in one of two locations: the front desk, or the security room.
Since they weren't at the front desk, they should check the security room.
If he had gone to the security room first, he would have realized it was locked—likely the only locked room on the first floor.
Then, the only other place left to explore would be the first-floor cafeteria.
There, they would obtain the "finger biscuit" and deduce from the unbendable finger that a key was hidden inside—
If Ai Shiping's observation skills hadn't been sharp enough, it would have been very difficult to discern from that tiny tallic glint that a key was hidden inside.
—In other words, they might not have needed to separate at all until reaching the security room.
The restroom certainly required investigation, but the two of them should have entered together.
"—So that's how it is."
Ai Shiping mused, "If separating is a punishnt chanism—"
But the live chat interrupted his train of thought.
[Not bad]
[My bad]
[?]
[The strear is so useless, the caraman has already taken down a ghost.]
[Might even be two.]
"What do you an 'already taken down a ghost'? What do you an 'might be two'?"
Ai Shiping was filled with doubt and alarm. "Where did he get a weapon? Why are you guys so calm! Are you ghosts too?!"
He complained, but ultimately, guided by the chat, he managed to find the hamr and screwdriver in the security room.
These were likely the only things they could use for self-defense.
Gripping the hamr tightly and tucking the cloth doll under his arm, Ai Shiping walked forward with extre caution.
The ergency stairwell was pitch black.
But strangely—
Light was actually spilling from beneath that tightly closed ergency door. It looked like the stairway to heaven.
It looked as if the lights were on out there.
But—how was that possible?
There was absolutely no electricity here!
"Wait, wait, hold on a second."
Ai Shiping's voice trembled slightly as he lowered his tone. "Brothers—do you see that?"
[Go take a look]
[Go take a look]
[Go take a look]
At so point, the live chat had completely unified into that exact sa phrase.
In that instant, Ai Shiping felt a chill run down his spine.
He suddenly realized sothing—
Was his audience's reaction to supernatural events a bit too nonchalant?
—When did this start?
People had been freaking out at the very beginning, and soone had even warned him to run when he headed to the restroom. But at so unknown point, the live chat had suddenly taken on an eerie atmosphere.
Generally speaking, shouldn't they be questioning if this was real?
There should be people trying to explain how this was all staged, along with others attacking them for it.
Even taking a step back, there should at least be so people setting the mood, saying things like "so scary" or "run away."
Yet, they kept urging him to explore further.
Although netizens loved watching drama and didn't mind things escalating, that didn't an they were incapable of fear!
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll go look. I'm going, I'm going—"
Seeing the barrage of [Go take a look] comnts grow increasingly dense on his screen, Ai Shiping realized that if he just stayed put, sothing terrible might happen.
Ai Shiping finally compromised and agreed.
He moved forward slowly.
His heart in his throat, Ai Shiping listened carefully to every detail.
His hearing, enhanced by his Fox Title, felt like a fear amplifier in this mont.
He could clearly hear soone pacing outside the door, along with the lodious chi of a music box.
Just as he was about to push the door open, it was suddenly yanked open from the outside!
A bright light instantly washed over him. With his eyes already accustod to the darkness, Ai Shiping couldn't help but raise a hand to shield his vision.
Right then, a man's voice ca from the other side.
"Uh, Boss? Why are you here?"
—Wh-What?
Ai Shiping froze for a mont.
Before he could push the door open, the person pulled it open from the outside.
Subsequently, his mind seed to blur for a second.
It felt just like drinking too much alcohol, drifting into a daze, and falling asleep.
Ai Shiping suddenly jolted awake, finding the surrounding world incredibly clear.
Clear to an almost abnormal degree.
Everything from before felt like a dream, rapidly fading as he woke up. At first, he could still rember a few details, but within a few breaths, they blurred entirely.
He only rembered that he had been absolutely terrified, so terrified that his heart had felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.
But Ai Shiping couldn't even rember—why he was here in the first place.
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