Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 469 Black Hair

【1. 】

In the last second before the game's countdown timer completely ended, a sound similar to a power outage appeared in everyone's ears.

The second night of the chase has begun.

——Boom!

Outside the Fuling Hotel, boundless, violent thunder roared, and lightning pierced through the thunder, shining directly on the hotel that stood tall in the raging wind.

"..."

After the countdown ended, He Lingling didn't dare to speak.

She carefully tucked the black cat into the inside pocket of her coat and gently stroked its fluffy head to soothe it.

The black cat was clearly starting to get restless, perhaps because of the thunder outside the hotel, or perhaps because of the lurking murderous intent inside the restaurant.

Even Xu Han realized something was wrong.

With a pale face, he held the Samoyed tightly to his chest and covered its muzzle with his hand.

The Samoyed, mouth agape and drooling, uttered: "...Woof..."

"Don't make a sound!"

Xu Han forcefully squeezed the muzzle shut on the Samoyed, squeezing out a sound through its teeth.

"Sweetie... I'll give you something delicious to eat when we get out..."

This statement was obviously meant to deceive the Samoyed.

But unexpectedly, the Samoyed seemed to really understand, and it became completely quiet, resting still against Xu Han's chest.

The most frightening thing right now is that the players who ran into the restaurant are unaware of the crisis they are facing.

They continued to wander around the restaurant, occasionally touching the sofas and picking up decorations to look for clues.

"That's strange... Are there really no clues at all in the restaurant?"

One player muttered as he picked up the items, "This shouldn't be the case. There should be clues in a safe place like this... Should we keep looking?"

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and start looking. If more people come later, it will be too late for us to find clues."

By the time the stronger players arrive, those who only managed to escape by "luck" will probably not even be able to smell the exhaust fumes.

"..."

The restaurant quieted down, but outside the wind continued to howl. The howling cold wind, along with streaks of lightning, pierced through the window on the side of the restaurant where the curtains were not properly drawn, briefly illuminating the dimly lit restaurant.

The players were startled and looked up at the window.

With lightning of this magnitude... how come it hasn't rained yet?

"This weather is a bit strange..."

One of the more timid companions shrank back behind him and asked, "Why is there thunder and lightning? Is it going to pour rain later?"

Why bother with this?

The other person, clearly unconcerned about the unusual weather, continued to meticulously inspect every spot in the restaurant without looking up, saying:

"We just need to survive until the next day. Whether it's raining or thundering outside doesn't matter to us. Isn't this just background sound effects that the game uses to create atmosphere? We'll get used to it."

"..."

Behind the curtains, Xu Han was stunned for several seconds by the words of the player not far away, and subconsciously looked at He Lingling next to him.

He Lingling didn't look at him.

She has a bit of a headache right now.

Not only was it a side effect of overusing [Ghost Eye] last night, but there was also a kind of bewildered and irritable feeling that stung her brain nerves, making He Lingling feel nauseous.

Last night, it was because she rashly made eye contact with those eyeballs on the elevator keyboard... that she prematurely activated her [Ghost Eye] ability, which was equivalent to revealing her trump card ahead of time.

...so much so that the boss behind the Fuling Hotel became aware of her presence.

This is the real reason why [Ghost Eye] was blocked and targeted.

But now... why does she feel that the situation outside, with thunder but no rain, is a bit strange?

Just then, a hand suddenly grabbed He Lingling's arm.

Startled, He Lingling snapped out of her thoughts and turned to meet Xu Han's gaze, who had somehow gotten close to her.

The latter gave her a dry, ingratiating smile.

He Lingling: "..."

She took a deep breath, a vein throbbing on her forehead, but in the end, she couldn't shake off Xu Han's "pig's paw" that was grabbing her.

Just as He Lingling was focusing her attention on the situation inside the restaurant, a man's terrified scream suddenly erupted from near the restaurant's entrance.

"Aaaaaaah!!!! Help me, please come and help me!!!"

The other four players, who were busy looking for clues, were terrified and turned to run towards the male player who had screamed.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Is there something—"

The voices of the group suddenly stopped.

He Lingling stopped breathing.

From her perspective, she could see the male player who was screaming in agony with his back to her, being strangled and pulled forward by a clump of dark, dry "grass".

The male player, who had fallen to the ground, crawled backward on his hands and feet, but his head was being pulled further and further forward by the constriction—

chapped.

One of the players who rushed over took out a knife and cut down the "grass" that was strangling the male player's neck, then pulled the male player, who had already been strangled to the point of incontinence, back away.

"What the hell is this thing?!"

The remaining players huddled together in fear, but instead of running away, they moved closer to the male player who was coughing violently while covering his mouth.

The male player coughed, his face turned bluish-purple, and his eyes showed signs of bulging.

"Cough cough cough cough cough -"

He coughed and backed away, staring in horror at the black "grass" that had been cut down but was now sprouting again from the mouth of the vase. His voice was hoarse as he frantically cried out:

"Go! Go! Don't stay here! Take me away!!!"

He Lingling suppressed her wildly beating heartbeat, her undamaged eye fixed on the rapidly growing "grass"—

No, that's not grass.

That's human hair.

Very, very long hair.

The hair is thick and black, and from a distance it seems to be in pretty good condition. But if you look closely for a while, you'll find that these growing hairs are actually dry, frizzy, and somewhat withered, like the kind of hair that grows from a person who hasn't received any nutrition for a long time...

He Lingling quickly realized something, and her breath hitched for a moment.

She recalled what Chen Yi had told her during the day about what they had experienced in the illusion the previous night.

Cutting off a human's limbs, skinning them, and stuffing them into an animal's hide... well, stuffing a beautiful girl who has lost her limbs into a vase is also extremely common, so common that it couldn't be more common.

He Lingling finally realized the source of the underlying conflict the restaurant had been causing her.

For a restaurant in a hotel that emphasizes "service attitude" to not have staff at the entrance to greet customers is a serious oversight that violates "service attitude regulations".

But what if another possibility exists...?

He Lingling was saying, what if there were hotel staff members at the restaurant entrance from beginning to end, used to "greet guests," to act as doorbells, and to show "politeness"?