Lin Ye, who had read many bizarre and eerie works, could still deduce the plot structures and developments in scenarios where the strange lurked or everyone was harboring secrets.
"I can't trust anyone except myself—not even Hoshino Ai entirely."
"You might have been replaced or possessed by something supernatural without even realizing it."
Naturally, compared to Hoshino Ai, the girl who had always stayed by his side and never left his sight, the four newcomers, who merely looked human, were far more suspicious.
"What a bizarre game," he muttered.
"I don't believe it. This must be another prank—a game show. The Japanese TV stations are always pulling pranks like this on random people," the middle-aged man scoffed after his initial panic.
Grabbing the wrist of the woman with shoulder-length black hair, he started walking toward the exit. "Meihui, let's go."
But the woman with shoulder-length black hair simply stood there, not moving.
"You—you don't believe this nonsense, do you?" he asked incredulously.
She glanced at him slowly, her expression thoughtful. Unlike his guess about a prank, she clearly believed that this was indeed a "strange game."
"You—you guys, fine. Very good. I won't play along with this," the middle-aged man snarled, turning to leave. As he walked away, he kept glancing at Lin Ye and the others from the corner of his eye, uneasy about their silence and lack of any effort to stop him. But since no one intervened, he pressed on, gritting his teeth and determined to leave.
Lin Ye, meanwhile, was simply observing, curious to see the consequences of leaving the hotel directly. No need to test it himself when someone else was already doing so.
The man took another step forward. "Tatta..." The sound of his footsteps echoed in the silence.
And then, in the blink of an eye, he disappeared at the entrance.
Everyone stood still, watching the doorway in silence, waiting for something to happen.
Seconds ticked by, but the middle-aged man seemed to have vanished without a trace. There was no sound, no sign of him.
"Is he gone? Or is there something else?" someone murmured.
No one had an answer.
Finally, someone couldn't stand the suspense anymore.
Taisuke took a hesitant step forward. "I don't think there's anything wrong. I'll go too..."
As Taisuke moved closer, the door swung open automatically, and a figure suddenly rushed inside.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
The sound of heavy, ragged breathing filled the room. It was the middle-aged man who had left.
He was pale, his face twisted in terror, his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe. His hands were clenched tightly, his entire body trembling as though he had just escaped a nightmare.
Taisuke froze mid-step, his expression stiff with fear. The black-haired woman, Mihui, and the chestnut-haired Kuroda Hikari instinctively moved further away from the entrance.
Hoshino Ai instinctively moved closer to Lin Ye for safety, while Lin Ye himself remained alert. His eyes narrowed as he assessed the man. 'Was the person who returned really the same middle-aged man who had left?'
The man kept darting glances at the entrance, his face a mask of panic and horror. He spoke haltingly, his voice trembling. "No... it didn't follow me. Thank God... there's something out there—something trying to kill me. I—I was lucky to run fast."
He described what he had encountered outside: in the fog, dark shapes wandered, their movements inhuman. Hoarse, grinning voices echoed all around him, and those figures were bloodthirsty, launching relentless attacks.
"It's not safe outside," he concluded. "Anyone who tries to leave this hotel without checking out properly will face something... terrible. The only way to leave safely is to check out at six o'clock tomorrow morning and leave then."
Lin Ye gave Hoshino Ai a meaningful glance, prompting her to pull out the "Hotel Rules." She flipped through the pages and pointed out a detail.
"It's Rule 5," she said.
Everyone leaned closer to read, even the still-shaken middle-aged man, who struggled to his feet to join them.
"Check in before 22:00. The current time is 21:26. We have just over half an hour left."
Hoshino Ai suddenly realized that if they kept wasting time outside, searching for a way through the fog, they might miss the check-in deadline entirely. Her chest tightened at the thought. No matter what, she couldn't afford to break the rules.
Her idol career had just begun. She hadn't experienced love yet. She hadn't even tasted all the delicious foods she dreamed of. She couldn't let her life end here.
"But... is there something wrong with these rules?" Kuroda Hikari asked, her brow furrowing. She pointed to Rules 3 and 4.
"Rule 3 says there are no staff, but Rule 4 tells us to ask the front desk for help. Isn't that contradictory?"
"It's simple," Lin Ye said, his voice cutting through the discussion. Everyone turned to him, listening intently.
"First, the rules could be wrong. That's common in strange, rule-based stories. I've read a lot of similar setups in novels. Sometimes the rules they give you aren't entirely accurate. For example, the claim in Rule 3 that there are no staff could simply be false."
At this point, Mihui Uemura, the black-haired woman, interjected. "But how are we supposed to tell which rules are wrong? If we can't be sure what's true, won't we inevitably break a rule?"
"There's no guaranteed method," Lin Ye replied bluntly. "You analyze, you guess, you feel your way through it. Sometimes, it just comes down to luck."
"Isn't that just gambling with our lives?" Taisuke exclaimed, his voice cracking.
Lin Ye ignored the interruption and continued. "Second, even if both rules are correct, there's a possible explanation. The front desk might not count as 'staff' in the context of the rules. Weird logic like that is par for the course in games like this."
Though the explanation felt unsatisfying, everyone nodded reluctantly. They were playing by the game's rules now, and nothing about this scenario adhered to common sense.
After a few minutes of tense silence, the middle-aged man finally calmed down. His previous arrogance was gone, replaced with a wary, subdued demeanor.
"Let's introduce ourselves," Lin Ye suggested. "At least we'll have a basic understanding of who's here."
The group took turns sharing their names and occupations:
The middle-aged man introduced himself as Ichiro Tanaka, an office worker. The black-haired woman was Mihui Uemura, a shopping guide at a mall. Taisuke, the blonde, was a high schooler. Kuroda Hikari, the chestnut-haired girl, was also a high schooler.
While the relationships between them weren't explicitly mentioned, Lin Ye couldn't help speculating about Tanaka and Mihui. Their interaction hinted at a relationship likely involving money and benefits. Whether it was a long-term arrangement or a short-term fling, he couldn't be sure.
Taisuke suddenly raised his hand. "I—I think the six of us should stay in one room tonight. Rule 1 says every room needs at least two people, so why not just group up? If something dangerous happens, we can help each other!"
Lin Ye shot him a sharp look, his expression one of disbelief, as though Taisuke had just suggested walking straight into a death trap.
Idiot.