Youmi glanced at Wei Hao, who had already walked away, and then at Gu Chenhui and Jing Minghe, asking in confusion, "Did you guys already know something?"
Gu Chenhui smiled and said, "Let's go find the storyteller."
"Right," Jing Minghe followed them out, his expression serious. "We're not people who can be led around by the nose forever."
Seeing Jing Minghe and the others leave, Youmi and Xia Rong, though confused, quickly followed.
They went straight to the fifth floor. Gu Chenhui, who was in the lead, stopped in front of Luo Yu's room after climbing the stairs and turning the corner.
"Why him?" Xia Rong asked, confused. "Can't we see this person?"
Before Xia Rong could finish speaking, Gu Chenhui kicked open Luo Yu's room door and walked in without a second thought.
Upon entering, Gu Chenhui casually turned on the light, walked to the bedside like he owned the place, and sat down. He scanned the room.
"Mr. Luo Yu, your story is too slow. I have limited patience and even less time. I don't have time to play along with you," Gu Chenhui said with a cold laugh. "The entire art troupe is dead. It's rather boring for you to be here alone. Either die with them, or scram and go do whatever you're supposed to do."
The lights in the room flickered a few times in warning as Gu Chenhui finished speaking.
Gu Chenhui raised an eyebrow at Jing Minghe. Jing Minghe, receiving the signal, continued Gu Chenhui's words: "We don't know how Yawei died or who killed him, and we know even less. But we can guess that Wei Hao, for Yawei, or rather, for you, indiscriminately killed everyone in the art troupe. And you, because your employer did nothing, slaughtered everyone else in the hotel and turned them into dolls."
Youmi finally understood. "So, the players we're playing are those unlucky customers in the hotel?"
"Exactly," Gu Chenhui continued. "It's just that the storyteller has omitted too much and prettified too much, giving us a feeling of having no clue."
Xia Rong's eyes widened suddenly. "Then, those screams we heard..."
"Doesn't everyone scream in fear before they die?" Youmi tried to explain, then asked with confusion, "But why were they all female voices?"
Jing Minghe explained, "Because in the storyteller's heart, there is only Yawei. He imagines everyone's state before death as Yawei's state before death. He doesn't know how desperate and afraid Yawei was when he was killed."
"The reason we can't see Yawei's face," Gu Chenhui continued his deduction, "is because in his mind, only Yawei's appearance after death remains. I don't know how miserable Yawei looked at the time, but judging from what I and Gong Liang saw in the photographs in the exhibition room on the second floor, it must have been absolutely not pleasant."
The lights in the room began to flicker violently, accompanied by crackling sounds, expressing dissatisfaction and anger very clearly.
Just as Gu Chenhui and Jing Minghe were about to continue speaking to find a breakthrough to leave the instance, they saw Qiao Qiao stumble in and shout at them, "Run! He's angry. He's already... already out of control!"
"Qiao Qiao?" Youmi looked at Qiao Qiao with concern and quickly ran to support her. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry," Qiao Qiao said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I don't know anything. I can't say anything. Don't say anything. Run, get out of this room!"
"Minghe?"
Chi Hao's anxious voice reached the others. Following the sound, they saw Jing Minghe's body shrinking and his skin starting to petrify.
"Minghe? You?" Youmi wanted to go in but was stopped by Qiao Qiao.
Seeing this, Gu Chenhui immediately shouted, "Quick! Leave this room!"
Everyone immediately ran out. Chi Hao directly picked up the transforming Jing Minghe, his movements quick and careful.
Just as Gu Chenhui and the others ran out, Xia Rong's voice came from behind.
"Save me!"
Except for Youmi and Qiao Qiao, Xia Rong was clearly closer to the door, but at this moment, he appeared at the innermost part of the room, his arms spread wide as if two people were dragging him.
"Aren't you going to save him?" Gong Liang asked indifferently.
Gu Chenhui was hesitating when Xia Rong's head flew over. Gu Chenhui and Gong Liang calmly dodged to the left and right respectively.
Youmi, supporting Qiao Qiao, looked at the strange dolls appearing one after another in the corridor and asked anxiously, "Where should we run? Up or down?"
"To the sixth floor." Gu Chenhui glanced at Chi Hao, who was holding Jing Minghe. "You guys go first. I'll hold them off."
Chi Hao nodded, holding Jing Minghe, and led Youmi and the others towards the sixth floor.
Gu Chenhui glanced at Gong Liang beside him. "Unexpected, isn't it?"
"There's still a lot you can't expect," Gong Liang said, his eyes cold as he watched the strange dolls slowly approaching them. "In this instance, either follow the plot obediently, and the survivors at the end will be sent out without doing anything. If you want to leave early, targeting the instance itself is useless. The flower garden on the sixth floor, which is at the edge of the instance, is the key."
Gong Liang seized the opportunity and kicked away a doll that pounced on him. While dealing with another approaching doll, he continued, "Xia Rong's death is a task of the instance itself, and the petrified Jing Minghe is what the instance did to prevent us from leaving early."
Compared to Gong Liang, Gu Chenhui's combat power was no less. Each of these seemingly ferocious dolls was easily dealt with by him.
"Not bad," Gu Chenhui said, stepping on a doll. He aimed at another and kicked the one under his foot towards it. "It seems you already know that the flower garden is the key for us to leave early, and Jing Minghe is the key to the flower garden."
"So that kid can't die yet," Gong Liang said after finishing off the last doll. "At least, not this instance."
"Is it them?"
Gong Liang followed Gu Chenhui's gaze and saw a man-shaped doll of immense size, followed by a woman-shaped doll of immense size. Judging by their clothing and features, they should be Wei Hao and Yawei.
"What should we do?" Gong Liang joked. "If we tear these two apart, will that guy get even angrier?"
"Scared?" Gu Chenhui said, and then he walked forward.
Gong Liang sneered and followed. "I'm worried you'll be scared. Don't drag me down."
These two giant dolls were more than twice the size of normal humans, but Gu Chenhui and Gong Liang walked towards them without changing their expressions or showing any fear.
Meanwhile, Chi Hao and the others had reached the sixth floor. The door to the flower garden was closed. Chi Hao walked up directly and kicked it. It hadn't opened when he tried to enter last time, but this time, it flew open directly.
After Chi Hao entered with Jing Minghe in his arms, Youmi quickly supported Qiao Qiao and walked over. However, as they entered, an invisible barrier blocked their path.
Youmi, nearly falling, said with surprise, "How can this be?"