Turning off the lighter because there was a candle beside it, the old chest was covered with cobwebs and dust. He bent down to open it, but it was locked.
"Why didn't you open it already! Do you have to find the key to open it again?". Xie Cheng complained.
Only then did he notice that there was a key on the cabinet next to him, while he hadn't looked up before and couldn't see it.
It was a good thing.
Taking the key to open the chest, he opened it. Suddenly a small black shadow flew out, causing him to fall to the ground in shock.
Under the flickering light of the candle, he saw that it was a black cat, it quickly slipped through the small gap between the cabinets and went to the next room.
Xie Cheng still hadn't recovered, sitting motionless. His pupils contracted violently when he looked at the thing inside the chest.
Qin Er's corpse was rotten, maggots had eaten through the flesh and bones. His body was missing all four limbs, leaving only the torso and a broken head neatly inside.
"What the hell is this?" He was disgusted.
A feeling of nausea came over him, but he tried to swallow it down.
This kind of thing would happen over and over again, so he should get used to it.
Using the strength of his cane to stand up, he walked over to look inside, unable to bear the stench, he frowned.
"Manager Qin is already... Dead?!".
Yesterday, he had clearly come out to greet him enthusiastically, without any abnormality, but now he was a corpse.
Thinking back, this was a cursed world, what could not happen?
He exhaled, trying to calmly search for clues on the corpse.
Wondering how the cat could live with this corpse while the chest was locked, it was locked?
Could it be that it ate the corpse to survive..?
Just thinking about it made his face turn pale and he wanted to vomit on the spot.
After a while of searching, he suddenly saw the edge of a notebook sticking out from under the corpse's head.
Qin Er's head had a dented temple and a terrified expression before he died. He didn't dare look straight into his wide-eyed eyes. He quickly took out the notebook.
Boom, boom, boom.
Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps pounding on the ground and walking very loudly outside the door. The sound got closer and closer, finally stopping right in front of the door.
Xie Cheng broke out in a cold sweat, gripping the stick in his hand tightly, his heart pounding as he wanted to jump out.
BAM!
The door was smashed to pieces, wood dust flew everywhere, the door was broken into pieces of wood and scattered all over the floor.
He loosened his grip on the stick, and he breathed a sigh of relief because the demon had entered the next room. He quickly walked out of the room, the door was unlocked and easily opened.
Sticking his head out, the candlelight on the floor lined up along the wall reflected that this was a short hallway. At the end of the hallway there was a door leading outside, but the way to get to that door had to go through the room where the demon was.
Should he risk going through?
Xie Cheng took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm down, this demon was definitely not like those weak hungry demons. Just now, hearing its footsteps and the way it broke the door, he knew how powerful it was.
Returning to the room, he peeked through the gaps of the cabinets and could see the demon circling around the room.
Taking advantage of this moment, he ran out of the room.
About to run through that room, he suddenly stopped, his long, skinny shadow was reflected by the candlelight on the wall. The three-meter demon was sticking out its long tongue and touching the ground, slime dripping down Xie Cheng's feet.
Horror rose, his face pale. He froze on the spot.
"GRA... GRA!".
The demon stomped its feet and roared, the ear-piercing, creepy sound reverberating throughout the place.
"Run!".
Xie Cheng was awakened by someone's voice in his head, he immediately turned around and ran away.
Now under the table, remembering what happened just now, he was truly terrified.
The demon on the table angrily jumped down and ran out of the room because he couldn't find his prey.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he used his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat on his face and pushed the chair out.
This place was also a desolate bedroom like the room just now, there was absolutely nothing special except for the ruins.
In case the demon would return, he took out the notebook from his pocket and quickly read it. Under the light of the lighter, the old burgundy leather-bound notebook was peeling and discolored. On the corner was a small symbol that looked like a letter.
"H?".
Xie Cheng tried to see clearly because the ugly, scribbled handwriting had faded over the years. Sometimes he saw the letter "H" and sometimes he saw the letter "Ti", only when he looked closely did he see that it was indeed the letter "H".
"The name of the owner of the notebook?"
He opened the first page and was shocked because this page was covered with strange black lines, each line of text.
He flipped to the second, third, and even the tenth page.
Did he not want people to peek at it, that he had crossed it out so badly? Was he supposed to pick up this notebook to display, to show off?
Not giving up, he flipped through three more pages, and on the thirteenth page, a few lines of text suddenly appeared. Under the lighter, he was extremely surprised because the handwriting was very beautiful, unlike the one on the cover.
Were they two different people? Thinking back, the characters on the cover were probably signatures.
Content inside:
"April 2, 1968.
I taught Xing to read, he was quicker than I thought. I thought he was stupid and stupid, hard to teach, but after teaching him one thing, he learned ten things.
April 9, 1968.
In just one week, he had memorized the alphabet and could write.
He wrote me a letter, when I read it I found it very funny and interesting.
This kid dares to tease me haha.
April 28, 1968.
Xing jumped into my arms and cried, he felt sorry for himself because he couldn't go to school like his younger brother.
If he only studied with me, he wouldn't find joy with his peers.
He was struggling and had only me to keep him company."
"What do you mean?". Turning to the next page, the lines of text were completely covered by black lines, so I couldn't tell what the content was. The next pages were probably the same, he took the two pieces of paper he found earlier and compared them with the content page.
Suddenly he discovered that the handwriting on the two pieces of paper and this page of the notebook were from the same person. However, these two were almost twenty years apart.
Xie Cheng thought for a while but still couldn't connect the two contents together. The previous page mentioned a person named Qing Fei Hui, he guessed that this person was definitely the owner of Qing Fei Hotel. Then who was Xing in this notebook?
Thinking: "Xing huh? Hm.. Xing Xing?!".
Suddenly he remembered that the young man in white had mentioned someone named Xing Xing earlier and told him to stop.
Still couldn't understand what he was telling him not to do. So were Qing Fei Hui and Xing Xing related?
Vague clues weren't helpful, perhaps he should focus on finding the plot to find the secret of Qing Fei Hotel.
Clipping two pieces of paper into the notebook, rolling them up and stuffing them into his pocket, he then used force to push the cabinet across the door to prevent the demon from returning. Although he knew it was useless, at least it would buy him time to think and find another way out.
Standing in the middle of the room, he looked around at each point, suddenly noticing that under the table where he had been hiding, looking straight ahead in the left corner, there was a hole covered by objects above.
Quickly walking over to carry the objects out, a hole about the size of a person appeared. It was pitch black below, not a single patch of light could be seen.
Boom, Boom, Boom!
"Growl! Growl!".
The monster suddenly turned around, its sound seemed very urgent as if it sensed that its prey was about to escape and rushed in.
The blocked door was broken open, Xie Cheng could no longer think of anything else. Death was coming, the only way left was to jump into this hole.
"GRA!!!".
Seeing him, the demon immediately rushed forward, opening its mouth wide to quickly bite its prey. Xie Cheng's face darkened as he jumped straight into the hole, leaving the demon behind above the hole. It stomped its feet angrily, causing everything around it to shake.