Chapter 18: Ten Years Ago

The voices at the door died down and the wandering footsteps came to an abrupt end.

Xiao Lan has no interest in opening the door to make sure, after all, cannon fodder dies of curiosity. He rolls over and buries his face in Luo's fleece, which has no body heat but is warmed by the warmth of the human body when the fur is next to it.

Listening to Xiao Lan's steadying breathing, Luo wraps his tail gently around him, his amber eyes unblinking as he stares at the door, alert to the crisis that may lie beyond.

If one could observe the eyes of the black cat at this moment, one would find a deep and inorganic inscrutability in those eyes, as if it were a ruthless and heartless deity high atop a divine altar, guarding the greatest treasure in heaven and earth.

Unfortunately, the only person next to him was Xiao Lan, who was sleeping with his hair up.

Early the next morning.

Xiao Lan carries her cat to the dining room, where breakfast is served buffet-style, and by now a sumptuous meal is on offer for the residents to take as they wish, with the warm aroma of a traditional breakfast filling the air.

He hadn't arrived too early and by now someone was already sitting at the table.

Liu Yiyi is absently sipping the tea she disliked only yesterday, when she sees Xiao Lan coming she nods in greeting.

Xiao Lan glanced at the cup of tea in her hand and nodded back at her, and there was little exchange between the two.

As Xiao Lan picked up his meal, the other players arrived, after all, it wasn't a real holiday and no one was in the mood to sleep in the game.

Xiao Lan shared a bit of Gu Mo's diary with them. Liu Yiyi just listens quietly today, surprisingly not expressing impatience as he did the day before.

Xiao Lan took another look at Liu Yiyi, she was acting unusually odd today, I'm afraid something has happened ......

Tong Qing hesitantly began, "Did you guys ...... hear anyone talking last night?"

Zhao Fan scratched his head, "I ...... don't know anything when I'm asleep."

Liu Yiyi shakes his head.

Gu Shengan: "Did you hear that too?!"

Tong Qing nodded, "What I heard was a man, as if he was talking to someone while walking, but ...... it sounded like there was only one person with footsteps."

She couldn't resist rubbing her arms after saying that.

"No, I heard the voice of an old lady coughing and singing a nursery rhyme." Gu Shengan said suspiciously, turning to Xiao Lan, "Our room is next door, you should have heard it too, right?"

Xiao Lan put down the cup of tea in her hand, "What I heard was a woman's voice trying to get me to open the door and let her in."

The players sucked in a breath and stared at Xiao Lan waiting for him to say what came next.

Xiao Lan casually took a bun from her plate, "I said I wasn't getting up and told her to go home early on her own, and then she left."

Players: "......"

It doesn't seem to be the way things are going according to common sense? What's with the calm reaction? And is this the time to eat buns! Not only that, the black cat with the emerald green turban was sitting next to Xiao Lan with a calm face, and used his tail to help him push the teacup in to prevent it from falling.

It's really come into its own.

"Ah!" Suddenly a brief cry of alarm from Tong Qing pulled the crowd's attention back and they all turned their heads to look.

She saw her look incredulously at her left hand, her face white with cold sweat, "Just now, a hand grabbed me under the table and it was particularly icy."

The stiff, wet, cold touch still lingered in her hands.

The crowd then looked under the table - empty, nothing there.

Tong Qing frowned, looking terrified, "How can that be, it was just clear ......"

Although there is nothing to see, this is a copy of the game and the players are not going to suspect Tong Qing of lying or suggest that she see a psychiatrist like the characters in the movie.

The players looked cautious, first with the human voice that sounded different to everyone last night, then today with this hand, the danger was already all around them, but now they still had no clue.

At that moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside the restaurant, and it was another wave of reunion residents arriving.

They don't look as relaxed as last night, and are silent all the way to the restaurant, where they go to get their food separately. Xiao Lan doesn't find Du Yuhui staring at him in the crowd, but Cheng Lang, the other person in the diary, does.

Today, Cheng Lang is sitting close to Xiao Lan, so he can take advantage of the opportunity to observe.

Cheng Lang sat down with a breakfast and looked very civilised as he ate. His hair was neatly combed, his suit was well cut and not cheap looking, and his shoes were shiny, so he seemed like a successful man.

However, Xiao Lan noticed some stains on the collar of his shirt and yellowing around the edges of his socks, indicating that he was not as neat and tidy as he appeared to be.

Xiao Lan approached Cheng Lang as if to make small talk, "Mr. Cheng looks like a good-looking guy, he must be popular."

Cheng Lang looked at Xiao Lan in her plain white T-shirt and smiled smugly, but said modestly, "Not at all, it's just a little bit."

Xiao Lan continues, "I've heard that popular people are easily liked by girls from a young age."

Cheng Lang gave him a look that said, "Oh, isn't it? It's kinda annoying sometimes."

Xiao Lan took the opportunity to ask the question she wanted to know, "Did you have a girl crush on you when you were in high school?"

Cheng Lang showed a smile and was about to brag about it, but then stopped as if he suddenly remembered something, and finally just reluctantly pulled the corner of his mouth: "There are so many people who like me, I will not remember them all, that ...... I have almost eaten and will leave now. "

With that, he got up and left, accidentally knocking off his chopsticks as he got up.

His panicked steps and evasive attitude seemed to suggest that he was concerned about the words "girl who had a crush on him in high school".

What exactly has he done?

During the day, the players are together in the inn looking for news, only Liu Yiyi remains alone.

When they checked, they found out that the hotel had been renovated once ten years ago, was it to hide something?

None of the new staff could give any specific details and the players had to approach the boss.

The tall, thin old man sat by the window smoking a cigarette, a little annoyed by the curious guests: "I've had this hotel for over thirty years, it's only natural to renovate the facilities ten years ago. Have you seen too many films? No one has really died here."

Gu Shengan pressed on, undeterred, "So did anything happen nearby ten years ago?"

The boss frowned and thought, "Nothing much happened, it used to be a school that came over here for graduation trips at this time of year, I think they were the same ten years ago, I remember it seemed like a girl made some kind of disgraceful incident and there were police officers who came to ask about it."

Zhao Fan's eyes lit up, "So, is the girl dead?"

The boss put out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray and said unhappily, "What's dead? She said she was pregnant and ran away with a gangster. If there had been a case, I wouldn't be able to open this shop now!"

"Don't you talk nonsense here!"

Seeing that the boss was a bit angry and did not look like he was faking, the players had to leave first.

In the corridor.

"It doesn't look like the boss is lying." Zhao Fan looked torn, "Did we think wrong and no one died ten years ago?"

Gu Shengan: "No way, the hint of the phone as the main game thread is obvious enough, someone must have died ten years ago, could the one who supposedly ran away with someone be Gu Mo."

Zhao Fan: "So how does ......"

Xiao Lan suddenly spoke up, "Maybe she's dead and no one knows it."

Several people looked at him.

Xiao Lan continued, "They were the ones who went on the graduation trip here ten years ago, and Gu Mo's diary was also left at that time, and her crush was Cheng Lang. If Gu Mo had a crush on Cheng Lang, why would she run away with him?"

"And I tested Cheng Lang this morning and found out that he seemed a bit vain about the fact that he had a girl crush on him in high school."

"And the way a few of them reacted when they saw the photos yesterday, something must have happened to make that happen. Now the question is, what happened to Gu Mo? How did she die? And - where did she die?"

Gu Shengan suddenly blushed: "Renovated ten years ago, something happened ten years ago, no one knows yet, could she ......"

said the players uncharacteristically looked at the ground beneath their feet, their scalps tingling a bit, had they slept all night where the bodies were hidden? And will continue to sleep ......

Xiao Lan reassured them, "Be happy, the boss has been sleeping for ten years."

The boss wants to hit someone when he hears it.