Chapter 1753: Chapter 1007: Rules
"You all are sensible people, so there’s no harm in speaking more clearly. I believe what happened last night will happen again tonight, but this time, if we hear screams from a room, we must enter and check."
"I know this can be dangerous and may be a trap, but only seeking self-preservation is not enough. Once the seven days are up, we all face the same end. We must take a chance."
Qingshui Cangjie’s words made sense, and naturally, no one opposed. To prevent anyone from trying to act opportunistically, Qingshui Cangjie also set a rule: anyone who hears screams must rush over immediately, or else they will voluntarily take on the next risky task.
The judging standard was simple: no matter which floor an incident occurs on, the people on that floor, as well as those two floors above and below, must rush over to assist.
This was based on the experience summarized from last night—people on the two floors above and below can certainly hear the sound.
Sakurai Miyuki’s incident came to a close, and Tong Han’s group also uncovered some information. They were fortunate enough to find an elderly man.
This elderly man had worked a few days on the construction site of the Eightfold Kashi Mountain Hotel more than a decade ago. According to his recollection, the place was quite eerie and troublesome from the start of construction, with the foundation never stable despite many experts being brought in without any explanation, leaving the bosses and investors in a panic, constantly sighing at the site. He once heard a coworker say that if the hotel didn’t get built in the end, these people would all go bankrupt.
Because the project had no progress, with no work available, he went home. But not long after, he heard that the construction site had resumed work, but by then he had found a new job and didn’t pay attention.
Later, the hotel was built quickly, but just when it was about to be completed, it was abandoned again. It was said that the investor’s funding chain broke, but he wasn’t sure.
It sounded like a flimsy excuse. Yang Xiao judged it had nothing to do with funding, but rather that this group had encountered something strange too, implying the hotel’s oddities didn’t start recently—the root was traced back to over a decade ago.
The hotel couldn’t be built, and no matter how the foundation was laid, it couldn’t be stabilized, yet soon after it was fixed and the project proceeded rapidly. This raised Yang Xiao’s suspicions. Truthfully, his first thought was that these folks had used innocent people for the foundation.
Laying a live foundation means using living people as a base. In constructing certain difficult buildings, like bridges that won’t go up smoothly, Feng Shui is considered, with sayings about burying boys at one bridgehead and girls at the tail to use their resentment to ’suppress’ the Evil Qi in the area.
This ritual has appeared domestically and even in places like Japan and the Myanmar and Thailand Black Triangle, although the terms differ—domestically, it’s called ’laying a live foundation,’ in Japan, ’human pillar,’ and in Myanmar and Thailand, generally ’Miaosai,’ but the meaning is the same.
"Tomorrow, we’ll go to Yasaka Swamp once more to see if we can gather more information." Qingshui Cangjie was interested in the elderly worker.
However, Tong Han shook his head at an inopportune moment. "I’m afraid not. The last section of the road to Yasaka Swamp is dirt and has been washed away by water. We barely made it back."
"No wonder you guys look so bedraggled," remarked Mitsuo Takeda, looking up and down at them.
It was getting late, so everyone began distributing food and then returned to their posts. Sakurai Miyuki’s defection certainly served as a warning to these veteran players, greatly curbing their behavior, and they treated newcomers better, ensuring that food was distributed evenly at least to stave off hunger.
Soon, Yang Xiao and Sato Shouta, carrying food, returned to the 7th floor.
"Mr. Sato, do you want to keep watch in the first half or the second half of the night?" asked Yang Xiao.
"Mr. Yang, you took care of me last night, so you choose first tonight," insisted Sato Shouta.
Yang Xiao pondered briefly and nodded. "Alright then, I’ll take the second half of the night. The usual rule: I’ll relieve you at 1 a.m."
"Alright, Mr. Yang!"
Yang Xiao first escorted Sato Shouta to the service room and checked the room thoroughly before leaving to ensure there were no issues.
Tonight, Yang Xiao changed to another guest room, as the room he stayed in last night had been exposed to his teammates.
It had become his habit to be very cautious.
Since he had rested during the day, Yang Xiao wasn’t overly tired at the moment. He decided not to sleep tonight and to see what might happen.
Among the food he brought back were instant noodles, and the room had a hot water kettle, but he wouldn’t use it, as the noise from the kettle could affect his hearing and interfere with his judgment of the surrounding environment.
In such an environment, any unusual noise would capture his attention.
He repeatedly reviewed in his mind what Sakurai Miyuki said. She fled after hearing an unusual sound, and they indeed found scratches and punctures in the room, but why didn’t Kato Atsushi, an experienced player, escape, which was very strange.
Moreover, no scratches were found in Kato Atsushi’s room; the marks and wounds were all left on Kato Atsushi himself.
He was cruelly killed by the Ghost, almost right in front of them, separated only by a door.
When they rushed into the room, they confirmed it since Kato Atsushi’s body was still warm, and since the nights were cold here, if he’d died earlier, the corpse wouldn’t have been at that temperature.
