Xu Xi raised his hand to rub his nose, feeling a persistent itch.
Having his personally discovered clue snatched away like that—saying he wasn't angry would be a lie.
So, he followed up with a light comment, "She discovered the same thing I did."
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the Short-haired Glasses Girl's expression suddenly stiffen, which finally eased his mind a little.
Although he was a bit socially anxious and not used to talking much with strangers, it didn't mean he was soft-tempered or easy to bully.
He absolutely refused to swallow this silent loss.
[LOL, turns out Master Xu Xi does care after all]
[LMAO, Xu Xi: I care A LOT.jpg]
[That's normal, what that Short-haired Glasses Girl did would make anyone uncomfortable, I'd have thrown a jab too]
[Look at her expression, she probably didn't expect Xu Xi to confront her head-on]
[Maybe she thought Master Xu Xi was easy to pick on because he looks quiet and reserved... though that appearance is indeed deceptive]
[I wonder if this player named Xu Xi holds grudges. What the glasses girl did was offensive; someone with a smaller heart would definitely retaliate.]
[I don't think Master Xu Xi would bother holding it against her.]
[That's not necessarily true.]
To be honest, despite the live stream comments showering him with praises like "Master Xu Xi," they didn't actually know much about him.
Their understanding of Xu Xi came solely from his only two instances so far.
Right now, the comments were arguing over whether Xu Xi was the type to hold a grudge.
The "aloof, reserved, disdainful of teammates" "master" Xu Xi's heart was neither that small, nor that big.
He wouldn't go so far as to cause someone's death over something like this, but he also wouldn't pretend it never happened.
The tense atmosphere between the young man and the Short-haired Glasses Girl was noticed by the other three players, but they all pretended not to see it.
The group moved to the wall where the rules were posted, carefully deciphering the information on the paper.
After everyone had finished looking, a heavy silence fell upon them.
"These barely legible characters aren't very coherent, we can only make rough guesses," the Refined Man pondered for a moment. "First rule: night, door, hear, respond... Someone knocks at night, upon hearing it, don't respond? Or must respond?"
"Second rule: believe, person. This is too vague. Is it 'believe someone' or 'don't believe someone'?"
"Third rule: absolutely, discover you, them..."
The Refined Man stared at the last line of text, clearly stumped.
"'Absolutely' what? Absolutely must not? Absolutely must not let something discover you... observe them? Or what?"
The Burly Man murmured in a low voice, "'Them'... does that imply there are some... special things in this inn?"
Hearing this, a chill ran down everyone's spines.
At that moment, the High-Ponytailed Woman suddenly spoke up. "Although these tables and chairs look toppled over, I checked them just now. They aren't damaged, and there are no special traces like dried blood or anything similar. So, we can rule out violent disturbance by humans."
If it wasn't human disturbance, then it could only be the "them" noted on the paper.
"Do you think," the Short-haired Glasses Girl asked cautiously, "these rules might be the ones we need to follow?"
"Unlikely," the Refined Man refuted decisively. "This is clearly posted by the inn to inform the guests. Something probably happened at the inn, like the appearance of 'them,' which is why they posted these rules for guests to follow. But obviously, these warnings didn't play a key role, otherwise this inn wouldn't be abandoned."
"Another question," the Burly Man said coldly. "Where did those five people who didn't check out, and the inn's owner, go?"
Another wave of silence engulfed the group.
A crisp, jingling sound suddenly rang out.
The Burly Man tossed the keychain in his palm and separated three keys from it.
"There's too little information. Standing here racking our brains is useless. We need to explore these three rooms that weren't checked out. Now, let's discuss team assignments."
"One room on the first floor, two on the second. The five of us split into two teams. Two people explore room 103 on the first floor, the other three explore rooms 202 and 204 on the second. Any problems?"
Splitting into two teams was partly for efficiency, and partly, naturally, to spread out the risk of danger.
Sometimes, having all players gathered together makes the target too big and more dangerous.
Seeing no objections, the Burly Man continued with satisfaction, "He and I will be one team. The rest of you three can split up amongst yourselves."
He pointed at the Refined Man beside him, who offered no objection, silently acquiescing.
For the Burly Man, although there was some friction with the Refined Man over team leadership, it didn't stop him from acknowledging the other's ability.
The Refined Man felt the same way.
In their eyes, the performance of the other three wasn't particularly impressive.
The young man who looked like a college student and the woman with the high ponytail were overly silent, their presence diminishing by comparison. The Short-haired Glasses Girl was somewhat active, but her thinking was shallow.
"I want to go with you two, is that okay?" The Short-haired Glasses Girl glanced at the other two who hadn't moved, raising her hand nervously.
"Fine," the Burly Man nodded casually. "That settles it then. Let's go, don't waste time."
The Short-haired Glasses Girl immediately let out a sigh of relief.
[This glasses girl looks pretty pleased with herself.]
[Thinks she's latched onto the big shot, huh?]
[Too naive. If they encounter any danger, these two guys will definitely push her out first.]
[LOL, looking at it this way, Master Xu Xi seems to have matched with his destined teammates, just sitting there in silence with him, hahaha.]
Xu Xi let them decide the team assignments on their own, offering no opinion.
For him, as long as his teammate wasn't that Short-haired Glasses Girl, anyone else was fine.
He turned his head to look at the High-Ponytailed Woman, who, like him, hadn't voiced any opinion from start to finish. She seemed to sense his gaze, turning her head and giving him a calm nod.
The group moved to the reception desk, lit another candle, and each team took a candlestick for illumination. They finally parted ways at the staircase.
Before separating, the Refined Man gently reminded everyone, "Everyone, be careful."
The heavy rain outside was still pouring down, and the sky had completely darkened.
About to step into a new area, everyone unconsciously held their breath a little lighter.
Knowing that "they" might still be present in this inn raised everyone's vigilance and alertness to the maximum.
They still didn't know this instance's taboo rules, but most of the time, so-called taboo rules needed to be tested with human lives.
No one wished to be the one to die.
"Unlikely," the Refined Man refuted decisively. "This is clearly posted by the inn to inform the guests. Something probably happened at the inn, like the appearance of 'them,' which is why they posted these rules for guests to follow. But obviously, these warnings didn't play a key role, otherwise this inn wouldn't be abandoned."
[What exactly are "they"? Feels scary when unknown, and damn it, still scary even when known!]