After saying this, Lu Ren quickly moved into action.
One after another, hurried footsteps reached Xu Wenxing’s ears.
The sound was intermittent, as if something else was chasing Lu Ren.
Despite many doubts in his mind, Xu Wenxing didn’t dare to interrupt Lu Ren’s thoughts and decided to wait for him to settle down before asking questions.
‘I believe in Godfather’s strength! I believe in Godfather’s skill! I believe in Godfather’s instincts!’
Xu Wenxing silently waited, took a sip of tea, and wasn’t impatient at all.
After roughly over ten minutes, the footsteps from the headset gradually faded away completely.
Although a few hurried footsteps could still be heard occasionally, they quickly disappeared once Lu Ren stopped moving.
‘It seems Godfather has found a safe place.’
Xu Wenxing thought to himself.
Sure enough, after a long sigh on the other end of the headset, Lu Ren cleared his throat, lowered his voice, and formally spoke.
“I’m safe now. Wenxing, do you still have class over there? Can you pause for a bit?”
“No need, Meteor has already set out for Jiulong Hotel. How are things on your end, Brother Ren? What’s the problem?”
Xu Wenxing asked directly.
After a brief silence, Lu Ren spoke out about the predicament he had encountered.
“Xu Wenxing, listen. I know what I encountered might be a bit absurd, but please trust me.”
“Mm, no problem, go ahead.”
“I encountered zombies.”
“…Ah?”
Xu Wenxing’s mind was severely shocked.
He really couldn’t have imagined that a creature existing in fantasy worlds would actually be alive in reality.
It wasn’t that he didn’t believe his godfather, but that he had really never seen one and truly wanted to witness it.
“I’m not joking. Hurry and help.” Lu Ren sighed. “All the underground entrances of Jiulong Hotel have disappeared. There are only zombie-like monsters here.”
“I know. You’re not the type to lie. I believe you, Brother Ren. By the way, Brother Ren, you haven’t transformed yet, have you?” Xu Wenxing asked promptly.
“No, I think the risk isn’t high right now, and Pandora doesn’t recommend I transform here either. She said that after I transform, I might be targeted by hidden shadow beasts, so it’s best to stay as I am.” Lu Ren explained.
“I see… Then could you trouble Brother Ren to tell me what happened after the entrances disappeared?”
Xu Wenxing thought for a moment. He still felt it was better to start with the most bizarre problem at hand.
Although he knew nothing about magic girls and shadow beasts, the fact that entrances could mysteriously disappear was suspicious no matter how he thought about it.
There must be something fishy behind it.
“Ah… Hold on, let me think…”
“Got it. After the entrances disappeared, the small cars originally parked underground were all gone. The only thing visible was that old-style bread delivery van.”
Hearing Lu Ren’s description, Xu Wenxing frowned slightly, vaguely thinking of something.
However, with insufficient clues at hand, he didn’t directly voice his conjecture and continued asking.
“Anything else? Any other strange things?”
“As for the rest… the surrounding environment looks very dilapidated, and there are many red-eyed monsters that actively chase me, but they are very slow.”
“Monsters?” Xu Wenxing said uncertainly.
“Mm, dogs with red eyes, seagulls that specifically aim for my head, and humanoid monsters with half their bodies rotted. Although they’re slow, they look very strange, so I didn’t confront them head-on.”
“…Brother Ren, can you check the nearby sign?”
“Ah, sure.”
After casually replying, Lu Ren immediately set off to check the basement’s sign.
After waiting for several dozen seconds, Xu Wenxing successfully obtained another important clue from Lu Ren.
“Wenxing, you’re right. The sign no longer shows directions to various locations in the Jiulong Hotel basement; instead, it says ‘Staff Room.'”
“And then in the staff room, I saw the monsters from before sitting inside, staring at each other with empty eyes.”
“No wonder there’s something like the Jiulong Hotel Employee Handbook on the forum… It seems they really know something.”
Listening to Lu Ren’s muttering, Xu Wenxing kept thinking, forming a rough guess about Lu Ren’s situation in his mind.
When Lu Ren returned to a safe place and thanked him again, Xu Wenxing slowly spoke.
“Brother Ren, I have an idea. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but just take it as a fun thought.”
“Speak boldly. I’ll tell truth from false.”
“It’s just… is it possible that you’ve come to an area behind a hidden door? That’s why you’ve encountered so many bizarre things?”
“Hidden door?”
Lu Ren was instantly puzzled, not understanding what nonsense Xu Wenxing was talking about.
Xu Wenxing didn’t get impatient and explained using game terminology.
“Brother Ren, haven’t you played ‘King of Embers’? It had similar hidden doors.”
“That place looked no different from the surrounding environment, but it contained hidden secrets, holding exploration rewards or directions to new map entrances.”
“I’m thinking, could the shadow beast behind Jiulong Hotel have used magic power to create a similar hidden door in the basement, to separate the inner and outer worlds?”
Hearing Xu Wenxing’s series of explanations, Lu Ren on the other end of the headset was silent for a long time.
Then, he slowly spoke.
“Indeed, just now when I was wandering in the basement, I was following the guiding lights inside.”
“Thinking back now, those lights were very likely a trap, causing me to unknowingly walk into an enclosed area.”
“If that’s the case… it would explain why this damned place looks so dilapidated and yet has so many light sources.”
Lu Ren muttered to himself while moving, walking toward the only direction without light among the four directions.
Listening to the footsteps from the headset, Xu Wenxing waited patiently, not disturbing Lu Ren’s actions.
Soon, the howls of monsters came continuously from the headset, and just hearing them made Xu Wenxing, sitting at home, feel fear.
But Lu Ren showed no panic. He breathed calmly and walked straight through the darkness, thus leaving the place without alerting the monsters.
After an unknown amount of time, clear footsteps came from the other end of the headset.
It sounded like Lu Ren had arrived at a silent and empty place?
“…Alright, I’m out.”
Lu Ren sighed and briefly reported his situation to Xu Wenxing.
Hearing that his godfather was fine, Xu Wenxing temporarily relaxed and asked curiously.
“How was it? Was it really a hidden door setup?”
“Mm, you guessed right.” Lu Ren looked at the green brick floor behind him. “That green brick floor is fake. If you walk down it, you go into a deeper basement, but you can’t detect any abnormality during the process. Very impressive environmental design.”
“Tsk tsk, that’s so scary.” Xu Wenxing couldn’t help but admire.