When I closed my eyes and opened them again, it was still dark.

In the darkness, the faint light outside the window stood out, and even then, Lu Xiaoyao could still sense that something was wrong with the time.

The sound of raindrops pattering against the glass was still so clear.

It sounds huge, I wonder how long it's been running.

"faint?"

In the darkness, Lu Xiaoyao tried calling out.

"Coming, wait a minute~"

Hearing her companion's response that there was nothing wrong, Lu Xiaoyao relaxed a little. Then, a faint light source appeared beside Lu Xiaoyao's bed.

Turning her head, Lu Xiaoyao saw Leng Youyou holding a candle, which stunned her.

"Why are there candles? And no lights are on?"

As she spoke, Lu Xiaoyao reached out to turn on the bedside lamp, but clearly, the light did not turn on despite her pressing the switch.

"The rain was so heavy that it washed away the power lines in the mountains, and now there's no electricity. These candles were delivered by the owner and his team; they were wrapped in a small cloth bag and hung on the door."

Leng Youyou spoke, her expression somewhat solemn in the candlelight, and looked at Lu Xiaoyao before adding, "We've been sleeping for almost a day."

"ah?"

"It's already past four in the afternoon. I've been asleep since midnight last night until now..."

After Leng Youyou finished speaking, she took out her phone, which was already black and out of power, and said, "It seems that the power went out last night. I didn't have time to charge my phone. I turned it off after waking up and checking the time."

"Ah, I remember I had a power bank in my backpack."

Lu Xiaoyao rolled over and sat up in bed, quickly got out of bed and took the phone charger out of her bag for Leng Youyou, then turned on her own phone, which she had been charging by the bedside the night before.

Similarly, the battery was running low, but there were other surprising discoveries as well.

"Oh my god?"

Lu Xiaoyao stared at the cell phone signal display and said incredulously, "Why is there no signal? The power lines in the mountains were washed away, could it be that the cell towers are broken too?"

She remembered that last night, when they first entered the game and emerged from the old forest, their phones all had signal, so there was no reason why there shouldn't be a signal in this roadside inn.

"Yeah?"

Leng Youyou plugged in her phone to charge and turned it on, but there was still no signal.

"Let's go ask next door."

Realizing that something seemed amiss, and with Lu Xiaoyao now awake, Leng Youyou mustered her courage and led Lu Xiaoyao out of the room to the next room.

Similarly, Hu Yue and Wang Wenfei, who had just woken up, lit the candles that the boss had placed at the door with a note attached.

Hearing Lu Xiaoyao and Leng Youyou's voices outside the door, he opened the door and let them in. After they met, they exchanged information.

Not much useful information was exchanged.

"By the way, did you tear down the posters on the wall yesterday?"

At this moment, Leng Youyou remembered the anomaly she and Lu Xiaoyao had discovered yesterday. Hearing Leng Youyou's question, a hint of embarrassment flashed across their faces, but they did not deny it.

Why did you tear up that magazine? Did you find anything?

Lu Xiaoyao also remembered that they were too tired when they went upstairs last night and didn't immediately find Hu Yue and the others to ask them questions. If Leng Youyou hadn't reminded her, she would have forgotten about it.

"Could it be... that magazine is an old item from a long time ago?"

Hu Yue gave an uncertain, dry laugh. "If the boss has to pay compensation, how much will that magazine have to lose?"

Leng Youyou + Lu Xiaoyao: "..."

·

Mingmei could see the entire conversation through the live stream.

Indeed, if she remembered correctly, that magazine did provide a clue: if they had torn the magazine a little bigger, they could have seen the dark red bloodstains on the back.

However, they seem to be thinking a bit off-track, to the point that they are now agonizing over whether or not to pay compensation if she finds out.

"If I didn't bring it up and make them pay me back, I'd be letting them down for thinking so much about me."

Mingmei murmured to herself as she looked at the electronic map of the hotel on the boss's panel.

The map clearly shows that there are four small dots of light gathered in one room, while the other three small dots of light are motionless in the opposite room, obviously not yet awake.

She could see the layout of all the players' rooms clearly.

In addition, Mingmei also had Lu Xiaoyao's live stream room provided by Guigui, so Mingmei felt that she was practically cheating!

Besides the seven small white dots, there is also a small red heart mark on the electronic map that is different from the other dots and is currently in the hotel's kitchen.

Mingmei caught a glimpse of Mu Chen cooking in the kitchen out of the corner of her eye. A slight smirk played on her lips; she couldn't help but think to herself, "My uncle's move is really something else!"

So, this is how Mu Chen always saw himself when he role-played as the boss?

It's unclear whether Mu Chen requested it or if her uncle had arranged it this way from the beginning.

Fortunately, Mu Chen was more often the one receiving credits from players than the one being the boss. Could it be that he was also ashamed by this forum?

·

Soon, Lu Xiaoyao and the other girls realized that they hadn't made any new discoveries among themselves, so they set their sights on the boys in the opposite room.

They went out together and started knocking on the door across the street. Lu Xiaoyao noticed a small bag hanging on the doorknob, containing candles and a note explaining the situation.

Clearly, the three people inside were still asleep and completely unaware of the power outage.

Sure enough, shortly after Lu Xiaoyao and the others knocked on the door and called for help, in addition to the boys' responses, there was also a series of hurried and flustered "uh-huh" sounds coming from inside the house.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!