Yu Jing and Yu Xiaoxiao didn't linger long in the main hall. They stepped onto the somewhat worn wooden stairs and climbed up to the third floor of the inn.
Creak, creak!
Each step pressed down with their weight, causing the floorboards to emit an unsettling sound.
The candlelight couldn't fully dispel the darkness here. Coupled with the mixed scent of sandalwood and decay lingering in the air, Yu Jing's nerves remained tightly wound.
Along the empty corridor on the third floor, faint candlelight spilled from beneath the tightly shut doors of each guest room. The deeper they went into the silent hallway, the more Yu Jing felt as if something was watching him from behind.
Without once looking back, Yu Jing and Yu Xiaoxiao reached the end of the corridor, where to the left stood a door marked "310."
Creak!
Pushing open the old wooden door, a thirty-square-meter double room appeared before them.
Far better than expected, the room featured a private bathroom and two relatively neat beds. On the nightstands, two burning candles flickered, and the walls were covered with patterned wallpaper. The overall atmosphere was tidy, and the stench of decay was significantly reduced.
"There was something dangerous in the corridor just now. Although I couldn't sense its physical form, it was definitely threatening," Yu Xiaoxiao said, sitting on the edge of a bed, her brow furrowed.
"Mm." Yu Jing tried his best to calm his own racing heart.
He pressed his right palm against the room's wall. A surge of green plants sprouted, creeping through the cracks in the wooden surface, spreading until the entire room was wrapped in a living shield.
If any outside presence tried to invade, Yu Jing would immediately sense it through the plants growing in his arm.
His proficiency in using the plants within his arm had improved greatly thanks to two months of secretive training during summer break — sometimes practicing ten hours a day for several consecutive days.
The head of District 19 Research Institute, the infamous Commissioner Liang, was the person Yu Jing most needed to watch out for. Therefore, he had to take the initiative in certain matters.
For example, Yu Jing's current skillful control over his plant ability was vastly different from the earlier days on the plane when he explained things to Commissioner Liang. Yu Jing disliked feeling manipulated by others, even if Liang had a tremendously powerful background and strength.
Over these two months, Yu Jing spent at least six hours daily adapting to the plant organism in his right arm. The practice area was a secret spot only he knew about.
"Your right hand's ability is really interesting — it doesn't feel like ordinary plants at all! Hehe, don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Yu Xiaoxiao said with an adorable smile as she observed what Yu Jing had done.
"Mm."
With the setup complete, at least the room now had an extra layer of protection. This helped ease some of the fear lingering in Yu Jing's heart.
Because of the heavy rain, the two had spent nearly half an hour in the forest, leaving their clothes completely soaked.
Though it was September, summer still lingered. Yu Xiaoxiao wore a short-sleeved sports outfit, and under the candlelight, her translucent clothes revealed tightly wrapped bandages covering her chest.
After finishing the plant barrier, Yu Jing turned around and his gaze naturally fell on Yu Xiaoxiao's figure. His face instantly flushed red. He lowered the brim of his hat and averted his eyes.
"If you hadn't carried any cash, we might have been in serious trouble down there… That old man at the counter looked human enough, but his aura was something no living person should have. Yu Jing, did you bring cash because you anticipated this?" Yu Xiaoxiao asked.
"Kind of."
Yu Jing had indeed planned to carry cash, though he hadn't imagined the situation would be so extreme. Of course, he also considered the weather and brought extra clothes, but the strict inspection at the teleportation point had prevented him from taking them.
"There's a call!" At that moment, a sound came from downstairs.
Yu Jing pressed the switch on the wall, and bright light flooded the room, completely banishing the darkness.
But the comforting brightness made Yu Jing frown. He quickly opened the door and peeked out. The corridor on the third floor of the mountain inn was fully lit by yellow hallway lamps. The darkness dissipated, and the feeling of fear diminished considerably.
"That shouldn't be… could it be—" Yu Jing thought of a worse possibility and hastily closed the door behind him.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?"
Yu Jing habitually turned his head to answer Yu Xiaoxiao's question.
"… cough, judging by the current situation, whatever is lurking inside this inn doesn't intend to kill us outright. It seems to want to toy with us slowly. This is definitely not the behavior of a low-level, mindless creature. The other party possesses a thought process similar to ours — it's not some dumb, dangerous beast."
"I suspect it wants to torment our minds bit by bit, then eventually kill us."
Yu Jing was fully aware that whatever was in this inn was nothing like the dull-witted butchers from the research institute.
"A ghost or demon with the same personality as my mother? I really look forward to personally killing whatever's hiding here."
A cold murderous glint flashed briefly in Yu Xiaoxiao's eyes — fleeting, but Yu Jing saw it clearly. He also understood why nearly none of the hundreds of newcomers dared to approach her.
"Since there's a call, why don't you take a hot shower? I'll find a way to dry the water from your clothes."
"Okay."
Yu Xiaoxiao stepped into the bathroom and quickly handed over her wet clothes. As Yu Jing used the plants growing from his right arm to absorb the moisture—and the faint scent—from her clothes, he kept analyzing the whole incident, starting from when they first took the taxi.
"Taxi, heavy rain, deep mountains, inn, old man, strange smell… it's all connected."
Pop, pop, pop!
Suddenly, a strange sound pierced Yu Jing's ears, abruptly cutting off his train of thought.
Following the eerie noise, Yu Jing shifted his gaze toward the window.
A terrifying sight came into view.
Outside the pitch-black window, a pale woman's face suddenly appeared, pressed tightly against the glass alongside four unnaturally long, non-human hands.
Her pupils were completely dilated, pure black, and her mouth was stretched open into an exaggerated 'O' shape. From the endless, hollow abyss of her mouth came that strange, hollow sound.
A primal sense of fear surged up inside him. Yu Jing took a step back, sweat pouring from his temples, as terror began to spread throughout his body.