“Ah—”
As a logistics staff member, Hu Tinglan had never been on the front lines, let alone witnessed such a scene. Instantly terrified, she screamed and instinctively hid behind Shen Ge.
Yet, in just the blink of an eye, Hu Tinglan was shocked to find that Shen Ge beside her had suddenly vanished. The elevator was now empty except for herself!
“Investigator Shen!”
“Investigator Shen!”
Watching the skinned Parasitized crawling towards the elevator from outside, Hu Tinglan shrieked, backing into the corner of the elevator, calling Shen Ge’s name.
No matter how she screamed, there was no response.
Those skinned Parasitized crowded at the elevator door, their flesh-petal, man-eating flower-like mouths opening and closing, revealing terrifying rings of teeth within.
The horrific monsters were right at her doorstep. This was not only a suppression of Hu Tinglan’s physical senses but also torture for her mind!
At that moment, Hu Tinglan suddenly felt a chill on her neck. Subconsciously reaching up, she touched some cold liquid.
Instinctively, she brought her fingers to her nose and sniffed—the pungent smell of blood.
Looking up, she saw a bloody corpse hanging beside her. It was her lifeline, “Shen Ge.” A black tentacle was wrapped around his neck, his head twisted at an eerie angle, resting limply on his chest. His entire face had been skinned off, the bloody flesh dripping.
Seeing this horrifying sight, Hu Tinglan broke down. Shen Ge was her hope of escaping this place. If even he was dead here, how could she possibly get away?
Then, Hu Tinglan felt a piercing pain in her neck, as if something was trying to burrow out of her throat!
The moment this thought arose, a pale white hand emerged from her throat, grabbing her face!
“Ah—”
Hu Tinglan was shattered.
Because as that pale, wet-cold hand pierced through her throat, grabbed her face, and “peeled” it off, her consciousness remained unbearably clear.
“Am I about to die?” Only agonizing despair remained in Hu Tinglan’s mind. Yet, at that very moment, a puzzled voice sounded beside her.
“Were you so scared by the scene outside that you decided to swallow your fist to calm down?”
It was Investigator Shen’s voice!
He wasn’t dead?
Not only was Shen Ge not dead, but after the elevator doors opened and he saw the weird figure hanging outside, he was just wondering when weirdos had taken up performance art. Beside him, Hu Tinglan stood frozen, mouth agape, trying to stuff her own fist inside, the corners of her mouth already splitting from the strain.
Hearing the commotion and turning around, Shen Ge realized Hu Tinglan was in trouble. He quickly grabbed her arm, pulled it away, and then casually slapped her across the face.
A bright red palm print remained on Hu Tinglan’s cheek, but she showed no signs of waking up.
“Master, detection indicates she is under the influence of Gui Energy erosion. The source of the problem is likely the corpses outside the elevator; they are emitting the same type of Gui Energy,” Little Seven reminded.
Shen Ge’s gaze swept over the skinned corpses hanging outside. “The Gui Energy emitted by these corpses can confuse people, induce hallucinations? Then why am I unaffected?”
“Master, the Gui Energy intensity within your body far surpasses this level. Since it cannot breach your Gui Energy defense, it cannot affect your mind,” Little Seven replied.
According to Little Seven, the Gui Energy from these corpses was akin to a mental attack. Shen Ge’s strongest attribute was his “mental fortitude,” so naturally, he wouldn’t be affected by such a low-level assault.
“So, if we eliminate the corpses outside, she should wake up?” Shen Ge took out his Anti-Gui Revolver, aiming at the flesh-petal heads of the Parasitized. Bang, bang, bang! Several shots rang out, successfully knocking the corpses down from the ceiling onto the floor.
“Ah—”
“Ah!!!”
The moment the Parasitized corpses’ heads were blown off and they fell, an ear-splitting scream erupted from beside Shen Ge.
“My ears are about to be shattered by you!” Shen Ge took a step back, complaining.
Seeing the person clearly, Hu Tinglan cried out joyfully, “Investigator Shen, it’s great that you’re okay!”
“I’m definitely fine, but your situation is more serious…” Shen Ge pointed at Hu Tinglan’s mouth and briefly explained how she had been affected by the Gui Energy and hallucinated.
“So, all that was a hallucination?” Hu Tinglan looked outside the elevator. She didn’t see the terrifying scene of the doorway crowded with gaping mouths, but instead saw a floor littered with corpses.
She described the hallucinatory images she had seen to Shen Ge, who then understood why she had been desperately trying to shove her fist into her mouth.
“Master, similar Gui Energy reactions are still detected outside. If she goes out like this, she will definitely be affected again,” Little Seven warned.
Shen Ge thought for a moment, then took a gas mask from his Bloodskin Backpack and tossed it to Hu Tinglan. “This is standard Special Investigations Department equipment for Anti-Gui fighters. It offers some resistance to Gui Energy. Put it on and follow me. Even if you’re affected, I can wake you up immediately.”
“Th-thank you,” Hu Tinglan said, putting on the mask while expressing her gratitude.
After exiting the elevator, Shen Ge handed Hu Tinglan a Gui Energy Pistol equipped with a flashlight.
As a member of the Special Investigations Department, although her combat skills were inferior to a regular Anti-Gui fighter, Hu Tinglan had received basic combat training and could handle the Gui Energy Pistol without issue.
The two proceeded down the narrow, dimly lit hallway with their flashlights. As they walked, Hu Tinglan suddenly sensed something was off. “Investigator Shen, Peace Hotel was built to the highest star-rated hotel standards. Even though floor 18 where I stayed was a standard suite, the hallway width was still three times that of this one. This place is way too narrow. Something’s not right.”
Shen Ge explained, “Multiple Gui Space situations are quite complex. They often distort and overlap the spatial areas involved. So, whether we’re still in Peace Hotel is even a question now.”
“Ah, really? But… why isn’t this recorded in the Gui Space reports? Is it classified information for Anti-Gui Investigators?” Hu Tinglan asked, puzzled.
Shen Ge wasn’t sure how to answer. While this wasn’t exactly classified intel for investigators, so far he had only encountered such a situation once, during the Gui Disaster in South Korea.
As Shen Ge was pondering his reply, Hu Tinglan suddenly screamed again.
“Ah!”
While walking, Hu Tinglan suddenly felt an icy-cold hand land on her shoulder. The cold sensation felt nothing like a living person’s hand.
Shen Ge rubbed his forehead in exasperation. “If possible, please don’t startle so easily. If you must, at least try to control the volume. I’m standing right next to you. Even a regular Gui or a weirdo, let alone the leader of a weirdo organization, couldn’t possibly approach you without a sound.”
“The air here is filled with that hallucination-inducing Gui Energy. The Gui Energy mask you’re wearing only offers partial defense; it doesn’t completely negate the effect. So, you can still be affected and hallucinate.”
“H-Hallucination?” Hu Tinglan was stunned. She subconsciously reached to touch the hand on her shoulder and immediately felt the presence of that icy hand.
Hu Tinglan felt like crying. This didn’t feel like a hallucination at all.
The next second, Hu Tinglan felt hands—on her shoulder, the back of her neck, her legs, her ankles… each one cold and wet—tightly gripping her, dragging her backward.
“Ah! Investigator Shen, save me!” Hu Tinglan screamed in terror. Yet, the next moment, smack! Another slap landed on her face. The pain jolted her awake, and she found herself still standing next to Shen Ge.
This slap through the gas mask was much harder than the previous one, bringing tears to Hu Tinglan’s eyes. But compared to the pain, she was more shocked at having fallen into another hallucination.
Clearly, as Shen Ge had said, the air here was saturated with that hallucinogenic Gui Energy. An ordinary person like her could easily slip into illusions if not careful.
“Let’s go!” Shen Ge spotted a figure darting past the corner of the hallway ahead. Immediately, he extended a Rotted Blood Tentacle, wrapped it around Hu Tinglan, lifted her, and chased after the figure.
Hu Tinglan was mentally collapsing again. Was this also a hallucination?
Investigator Shen could produce these things too?
Were you a Gui or a weirdo?
Though she thought this, Hu Tinglan dared not voice the question. Being left behind was one thing; being silenced was another. If possible, she’d rather bury this knowledge forever.
Hu Tinglan closed her eyes tightly, muttering to herself, “I saw nothing, I know nothing. I saw nothing, I know nothing…”
“?”
Hearing her murmurs, Shen Ge felt rather perplexed. Had those two slaps knocked this woman silly?
When Shen Ge, carrying Hu Tinglan, reached the corner at the end of the hallway, the figure had disappeared. Just as he was wondering, the floor beneath his feet suddenly gave way, and he plummeted downward.
Little Seven detected the danger and instantly enveloped Shen Ge in full-body Red Mist Armor. Simultaneously, it controlled the Rotted Blood Tentacles to wrap Hu Tinglan up tightly like a cocoon.
Shen Ge then realized he was falling from a great height, but bizarrely, the bottom seemed “bottomless,” like an endless abyss.
Looking upward, he saw the entire hotel had transformed into building blocks. Each floor was an independent block. The blocks, originally neatly stacked to form the hotel, were now scattered haphazardly, like a child randomly piecing them together, twisting and distorting the entire structure.
Shen Ge was now in the center of these twisted blocks, falling towards the bottom layer. However, how high or deep this bottom was remained unknown.
Shen Ge found the situation familiar, reminiscent of the distorted space in the South Korean Gui Disaster. But that scene, where city blocks were assembled like a Rubik’s Cube, was influenced by an artificial Gui King… Could the weirdo organization be at it again with artificial Gui Kings? After Japan and South Korea, were they now targeting the Great Celestial Dynasty?
Shen Ge quickly dismissed this idea. Not because he believed “Celestial Stem’s” claim of being fellow countrymen and deploying Gui Kings in other nations.
The current eerie situation, while somewhat similar to the distorted space of the South Korean disaster, was vastly different in scale. In South Korea, most of Seoul was affected, becoming chaotic. Here, only a single hotel was affected, the scale reduced to a fraction.
Although the affected area was smaller, the complexity seemed greater, especially since even the System and Little Seven couldn’t perform accurate scans.
However, pondering whether Celestial Stem was behind this was pointless now. The priority was to find a way out of this Gui Space first, then proceed with the investigation.
After adjusting his posture, Shen Ge controlled the Rotted Blood Tentacles to extend around him. Their tips were equipped with the Gui Glove “Unrelenting,” grabbing onto a nearby eave to halt the fall, then pulling himself and Hu Tinglan up.
“27th Floor?” After returning to the hallway and setting Hu Tinglan down, Shen Ge looked at the floor indicator on the wall.
“Falling” from the 18th floor to the 27th floor could only happen under the influence of distorted space, where “falling” could mean moving upward.
“This does look somewhat similar to the situation in South Korea back then…”
Shen Ge had a hunch. Either Celestial Stem had buried something akin to a new Gui King beneath the hotel, or this hotel itself was a fusion of weirdos and Gui Entities.
Shen Ge glanced at Hu Tinglan. The recent fall had caused the woman, whose nerves had been stretched taut, to faint outright.
However, Hu Tinglan was now tightly bound into a dumpling by Little Seven’s Rotted Blood Tentacles. With Little Seven managing her, Shen Ge essentially had an extra accessory that wouldn’t hinder his movements.
Shen Ge walked to a wall and attempted to use the “Collapse” ability of his Intangible Gui Domain to pass through directly. The moment he passed through, he felt the sensation of falling again.
He quickly used the same method to stabilize himself, then climbed back up using the Rotted Blood Tentacles and the Gui Glove “Unrelenting” to find himself on what appeared to be the “32nd Floor.”
“Good grief. A few more ‘falls’ like that, and would we reach the ‘rooftop’?” Shen Ge immediately recalled the mirror-like situation he encountered on the 18th floor when he first found Hu Tinglan.
Looking at it this way, falling down meant going up, and going up meant falling down… Everything was influenced by the “mirror,” becoming reversed?
To test his theory, Shen Ge directly used “Collapse” on the ceiling above him, then leaped upward using his Gui Leather Boots.
“31st Floor.”
Another leap.
“30th Floor.”
Shen Ge tried several times, moving “upward” floor by floor from the 32nd, eventually returning to the hallway outside Hu Tinglan’s room on the 18th floor.
…
…
While Shen Ge was verifying the “mirror” theory within the hotel, Headquarters detected that the Gui Space situation at the hotel was becoming increasingly complex. To prevent triggering a second Gui Disaster, they immediately deployed the secretly developed Gui Energy Mecha into combat, completely sealing off the entire block.
Anti-Gui Mecha teams from military bases in the east, west, south, and north of Greater Jing City mobilized simultaneously. Coordinating with military, police, and Special Investigations Department forces, they began evacuating citizens and establishing a lockdown.
This time, Greater Jing Special Investigations acted with astonishing speed. With the support of the Anti-Gui Mecha units, investigators from the three departments quickly located several similar Gui Energy reaction points near the hotel, uncovering hidden weirdos.
The weirdos clearly hadn’t expected such a rapid response from Greater Jing Special Investigations this time. Even though the Eerie Hotel situation wasn’t stable, they were forced to activate it prematurely.
By the time Greater Jing Special Investigations realized the weirdo organization was behind this, it was too late to stop them from awakening the “weirdo” gestating within the Eerie Hotel. With a deafening roar that shook the heavens and the earth, the Eerie Hotel, like a slumbering giant, tore itself from the ground and rose—
