The Refined Man and the Burly Man were both stunned by this.
Right. Since whatever it was could release that white humanoid thing without them noticing, why wouldn't it just relock the door as well? That way, they would have had absolutely no chance of discovering it.
After all, none of them had been paying attention to whether the number of keys matched at the time; their minds were completely captivated by the three rooms on the register that hadn't been checked out.
The Refined Man said thoughtfully, "So, actually, the unknown thing hiding in the shadows deliberately led us to Room 101. Its goal was for us to discover this passage under the wardrobe. In reality, this passage is a trap."
"That's what I think too," the High-Ponytailed Woman nodded with a calm expression.
Her most reasonable conjecture was also based on the young man's earlier statement.
*Wow.*
Xu Xi listened from the side, feeling a bit dumbfounded.
He had just finished comforting himself that he wasn't psychologically warped, just died a lot, and then he looked up to hear these two people, taking turns, come up with an explanation.
And it sounded extremely plausible.
Xu Xi fell silent.
A brilliant idea suddenly struck him.
In the future, if he encountered information learned through reloading that he couldn't find an excuse to explain, he could simply adopt an air of being too lazy to explain and let his teammates connect the dots themselves.
That way, he wouldn't have to rack his brains trying to explain how he knew everything.
Genius!
Why hadn't he thought of this method in the last instance? He'd only been vague and evasive.
"This is just your speculation. This passage could also be the way out the instance left for us," the Burly Man retorted, seemingly intent on contradicting Xu Xi and always needing to find something to argue against.
"You can go down and try it."
Xu Xi's original intention was to let the Burly Man go down and crawl around. Once he reached the end and found there was no way out, he'd naturally realize the passage wasn't any escape route.
But to the other three, who didn't know the specific situation inside the passage, his words sounded like—
*Suit yourself. If you're willing to die, go right ahead.*
"......"
Watching the Burly Man's deflated expression, the Refined Man shook his head slightly in secret.
This guy had some brains, but he was too impulsive. If he didn't change this temperamental, hot-headed personality that made him act recklessly once provoked, he'd suffer a major setback sooner or later.
He also didn't want to deal with this person for now. At the moment, clarifying their current situation and deciding their next steps were most important.
"If this passage really is a trap, deliberately set up to mislead us, then this room is also meaningless. Our progress has essentially stalled here."
"Right now, we only know that some kind of thing capable of impersonating humans has appeared in the hotel, leading to the deaths of the residents in Rooms 103 and 204. But when did that thing appear in the hotel? Why did it appear? What happened to the resident of Room 202? What's the deal with his sister's disappearance? Could it be related to the hotel? And where did the hotel owner go in the end? These mysteries remain unsolved, not to mention figuring out how to clear the instance."
"And there's still something lurking in the shadows, watching and scheming against us. We're in the open, it's in the dark. Who knows if it's preparing another trap for us?"
"We can't stay passive like this forever."
Xu Xi's brow twitched slightly as he listened.
In the previous reload, when they returned to the tunnel entrance, they found it blocked from above. Clearly, the thing in the shadows had deliberately trapped them inside after they went down.
What if this time they chose to play along with its scheme?
Since they had no real progress right now anyway, if they could catch that thing, they might get some unexpected gains.
Thinking it, he acted.
Xu Xi suddenly spoke up, "We can lure the thing hiding in the shadows out."
The three of them looked at him in surprise upon hearing this.
The Refined Man spoke before the Burly Man could, "How? Do you have a method in mind?"
It would be best if they could lure it out. Otherwise, while searching for a way to clear the instance, they'd also have to divide their attention to guard against it. Over time, their mental stamina would wear thin.
As for whether his method would work... they'd listen first.
Besides, this guy was the first to notice that the candles attracted the supernatural beings, and this time, he was the one who alerted them that the passage was a trap.
Someone who could single-handedly lock a supernatural being in a room and successfully escape didn't seem like the type to make baseless claims.
Xu Xi swept his gaze over the three of them and laid out his plan. "Since it wants us to enter this hole, we'll just give it what it wants."
The Refined Man's eyes lit up. He instantly grasped the young man's unspoken implication. "After going to such lengths to lure us into a trap, it's impossible for it to just stand by and do nothing."
The High-Ponytailed Woman immediately followed up, "As long as we hide in advance, we might be able to catch it in the act."
"Hide? In this tiny-ass place, where are the four of us supposed to hide?" the Burly Man scoffed, curling his lip.
"Well, there's a hole right there," Xu Xi lifted his chin, gesturing for them to look toward the wardrobe, and said casually.
The three of them: Huh?
"...Didn't you say going down there would get you killed?" The Burly Man narrowed his eyes, his tone unfriendly.
"I never said *how* you'd die," Xu Xi glanced at him lightly. "Hiding someone for a short while won't kill you."
Everyone caught his underlying meaning.
The danger wasn't from the passage itself.
"Who knows what's down there. Anyway, I'm not going down. Whoever wants to hide there can go ahead."
The Burly Man stated his position with firm resolve.
Xu Xi almost felt like rolling his eyes at him.
*You're the one who said this passage might be the way out a second ago, and now you're saying you absolutely won't go down?*
*So you're just being contrary for the sake of it.*
Xu Xi couldn't be bothered to deal with him and walked straight towards the wardrobe.
"Then you just find a corner in the room to hide in."
The room wasn't big. There were only two places to hide a person: one was the inner side of the bed where someone could lie flat on the floor, and the other was under the table, concealed by the tablecloth, which could also hide one person.
The High-Ponytailed Woman hesitated for a moment before choosing to follow Xu Xi. "I'll hide in the hole too."
After the two of them carefully jumped down into the hole one after the other, the Refined Man turned to the tall, sturdy man beside him. "Where will you hide?"
The Burly Man pointed to the floor on the inner side of the bed. "I'll lie flat here. The space under that table is a bit small. It might fit you, but my build would give me away."
Once their hiding spots were assigned, they turned off the flashlight and quietly hid in their respective places, waiting for the unknown creature to appear.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Just as the Burly Man was growing impatient, thinking Xu Xi's plan was useless, suddenly, the room door made an extremely faint sound.
The noise was very slight, but unfortunately, in the utterly silent room, it was still somewhat noticeable.
The Burly Man was lying facing the foot of the bed. From his angle, he could see the Refined Man hiding under the table.
The other man carefully lifted a corner of the tablecloth to peek.
Seeing this, the Burly Man couldn't hold back either and cautiously raised his head to look.