In the stairwell, the dim emergency lights flickered unsteadily.
The alarm kept blaring, the whole hotel building trembling dully from time to time under Yu Huaiting’s violent demolition.
Chen Yu walked in front, glancing back at Lin Feng, who trailed half a step behind.
“Brother Lin,” Chen Yu stopped, looking at him somewhat helplessly, “you don’t seem very enthusiastic about saving Fu Songcheng.”
Lin Feng had his hands in his pockets. He stepped up a stair, not even bothering to hide it, admitting frankly: “That’s right.”
“I don’t like that guy surnamed Yu.”
Chen Yu’s mind instantly flashed the image of Lin Feng being chased and hacked by the rampaging Yu Huaiting with a greatsword.
He couldn’t hold back a “pfft” of laughter.
Hearing the laugh, Lin Feng’s face went half-black.
He shot Chen Yu a chilly sidelong glance, deliberately feigned anger, quickened his pace past Chen Yu, and walked up without a word.
“Hey, Brother Lin, I was wrong, I won’t laugh.”
Chen Yu hurried after him, tugging his arm and shaking it, then turning serious. “But no matter what, the instance rule requires all twelve to clear together. Only by finding him can we clear. And Mr. Fu helped us before too—let’s help look together?”
Lin Feng stopped and sighed, his gaze sweeping the bottomless upward stairs. “It’s not that I don’t want to look. How am I supposed to know what trap he fell into?”
Just then, Chen Yu faintly heard hurried footsteps approaching them.
A huge boom suddenly came from above, followed by an even shriller alarm and piercing electrical noise—Yu Huaiting had collapsed half a wall again.
The chaotic sounds instantly drowned out the faint footsteps completely.
“Fighting’s broken out up there again.”
Lin Feng frowned. “See, this is why I hate Yu Huaiting.”
…
Above, Yu Huaiting was still bulldozing through the instance.
Bang!
At the end of the corridor, another batch of security NPCs surged in. Similar to the uniformed security before, they charged at him.
Their speed was extremely fast—almost instantly they pounced before Yu Huaiting.
“So damn annoying.”
The greatsword swung, whipping up a storm of blood. The monsters pouncing midair were cut clean in half at the waist, blood splattering across the walls and carpet.
Yu Huaiting’s body was stained quite a bit too, but he didn’t care—everywhere he passed, he left a field of wreckage.
Having killed this batch, without even catching his breath, he hefted the blood-dripping greatsword and pressed on without pause.
…
On the other side, Bai Mu and Xu Qingyao chose to take the elevator, checking floor by floor.
The elevator rose floor by floor.
Every floor had people pressing the call button, waiting to escape the hotel—even an upward elevator kept having guests press the button to get in.
Beep—beep—beep—
The elevator doors opened on the tenth floor, and a few more guests squeezed in, triggering the elevator’s overload warning.
Xu Qingyao sensed something was off. Her skill was [Robbery Discount], which gave her a sensitivity to numbers far beyond ordinary people.
The elevator’s nameplate clearly marked: [Rated capacity: 14 people].
Including Bai Mu and herself, there were now thirteen people in the elevator.
Clearly rated for fourteen—why did thirteen overload it?!
The more Xu Qingyao thought, the more afraid she felt. Almost by instinct, she grabbed Bai Mu’s wrist.
“Get out!”
Seeing Xu Qingyao’s suddenly changed expression, Bai Mu understood she must have discovered something. The two, while the elevator doors hadn’t yet closed, squeezed out through the gaps between the NPCs and stumbled into the corridor.
Behind them, the elevator doors slowly closed.
“What’s wrong?”
Xu Qingyao spoke rapid-fire. “Rated for fourteen, but it alarmed at thirteen. I felt something was off—in horror movies, at a time like this, there’d be an invisible person.”
Bai Mu nodded, glancing back at the closed elevator doors with lingering fear.
The two decided to switch to the stairs.
Xu Qingyao couldn’t help asking, “Where do you think Mr. Fu is?”
“We’re all awake. Mr. Fu isn’t trapped in our dreams, so he should be in his own dream now.”
“His own dream?” Xu Qingyao’s brows knitted tightly. “But how did he suddenly get trapped in a dream? Wasn’t he the one waking us up? And with his strength, how could he fall for it without any guard?”
“I don’t know.” Bai Mu shook her head, then turned to ask Xu Qingyao, “Do you think we’re really fully awake right now? Or rather—could we fall into a dream again?”
Xu Qingyao was stunned by the question.
…
Meanwhile, in the stairwell.
The atmosphere between Chen Yu and Lin Feng had relaxed considerably.
Chen Yu looked at Lin Feng walking ahead, hesitated, and finally asked the doubt that had lingered in his heart all along.
“Brother Lin, why did you bring me to actively approach the people of ‘Dawn’?”
Lin Feng was three years older than Chen Yu. Back on Blue Star, they’d been next-door neighbors.
Ever since Chen Yu, in his first year of university, mustered the courage to confess to this gentle older-brother-next-door, and the two got together, Chen Yu had been very dependent on Lin Feng, with most decisions made by Lin Feng.
Lin Feng stopped and turned, standing on the wooden floor, reaching out to ruffle Chen Yu’s hair—the motion gentle.
“Because I think ‘Dawn’ will gradually grow stronger.” Lin Feng’s voice was steady.
“Why?” Chen Yu didn’t understand. “Just because they’re official?”
From what he remembered, Lin Feng didn’t seem like someone who’d blindly follow the officials so early.
“Because they’re preparing for a long war.” Lin Feng didn’t say it all; whether or not Dawn was a pirate ship, at least this ship was different from the other small organizations living hand-to-mouth.
Chen Yu’s eyes dimmed. He leaned against the off-white wall.
A long war—meaning they’d have to stay in Death Party for a long time yet.
“Brother Lin,” Chen Yu’s voice dropped, “can we… still go back?”
Back to Blue Star.
Lin Feng fell silent.
The alarm in the corridor was still blaring, but to the two of them right now, it seemed to come from very far away.
Lin Feng looked at Chen Yu, his Adam’s apple rolling, yet he couldn’t say a word of certain promise.
He didn’t know.
Who dared say they’d definitely make it back alive?
Seeing Lin Feng’s silence, Chen Yu lowered his head, the corners of his mouth tugging into a somewhat forced smile.
“It’s okay.”
Chen Yu said softly, “Actually… staying here is fine too. As long as I’m with you, anywhere is…”
Lin Feng jerked his head up. He realized the stairwell the two were in had long since changed—off-white wallpaper, wooden floor…
It was the look of their two-bedroom, one-living-room home on Blue Star!
Unknowingly, the stairwell they were in had slowly become the environment where they used to live, and Lin Feng had only just noticed.
He immediately turned to look at Chen Yu.
Chen Yu’s body was swaying slightly, his gaze somewhat unfocused.
“Chen Yu!”
Lin Feng reached out to grab Chen Yu’s shoulder, but it was useless—Chen Yu remained groggy.
His eyes sharpened. He used the Lifelong Partner skill, summoning Chen Yu to teleport to his side on the spot.
Physically speaking, Chen Yu had merely been shifted from his right side to his left—less than half a meter.
But the brief weightlessness jolted Chen Yu awake. The off-white wallpaper peeled away, the wooden floor faded, reverting to cement steps.
Chen Yu snapped back to his senses, his legs giving way, staggering.
Cold sweat instantly soaked through his back.
“I just…” Chen Yu’s voice trembled—he’d nearly been trapped back in a dream, just like Fu Songcheng.
A strong, large hand gripped him tight.
Lin Feng pulled Chen Yu into his arms and bent low to soothe him. “It’s fine now. With me here, it’s fine.”
Chen Yu gripped Lin Feng’s hand back, his fingertips icy.
The two leaned against the cold wall, listening to each other’s racing heartbeats.
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