Since they had triggered the check-in quest, the three decided to discuss their strategy first.
“Since it requires us to enter ‘individually,’ we must avoid any potential rule violations. Let's drag the corpses out first, then tie up Zhou Shengsheng.”
Ding Feifan looked at Deng Ziwen and Zhao Weilai. “Let's go to the administration building to get some food to keep our strength up, then play it by ear tonight.”
“I think I've figured out a bit of a pattern,” Deng Ziwen chimed in weakly. “The Instance rules require us to go to sleep after lights out, but the check-in quests in the administration building and the old school building require us to complete them in the early hours of the morning. Does this mean the rules of the check-in game override the Instance rules?”
“It's possible that the things in the white fog and the monsters in the check-in game aren't on the same side,” Zhao Weilai said.
After saying this, she went to the abandoned dormitory next door, found a roll of hemp rope, and tied Zhou Shengsheng securely to a water pipe.
She was strong and used a lot of force, causing Zhou Shengsheng to keep crying out in pain.
“If we don't tie you up tightly, what if a ghost tricks your eyes and makes you open the restroom door?”
Zhao Weilai spoke with righteous conviction. Zhou Shengsheng, who only had half his body left, suddenly realized the danger and pitifully begged her to tie him even tighter.
As the rough hemp rope chafed against his flesh, he grimaced in pain, cold sweat pouring down, yet he did not dare to make a sound.
...
While Zhao Weilai was tying him up, Deng Ziwen and Ding Feifan were dealing with the two corpses outside.
The process of dragging the corpses was like a long, drawn-out torture.
When the two returned, their faces were as pale as ghosts.
Zhao Weilai did not dare to ask.
...
Around nine o'clock in the evening, after resting and regrouping, the three returned to the old school building.
Zhou Shengsheng hung from the water pipe like a giant kite. At first glance, he looked like a moth with a human face.
Hearing their movements, he did not dare to make a sound, only begging them to help him lock his stall door.
Zhao Weilai detested him to the core and did not want to help at all.
“Sigh, I'll do it.”
In the end, Ding Feifan locked the door from the inside for him, then stepped on the flush tank to climb over into another stall.
Time ticked by, minute by minute.
The restroom was exceptionally cold. As night fell, wisps of white fog began to seep up from the floor.
The wild grass outside the building swayed in the wind, the rustling sound making one inexplicably think of multi-legged creatures.
The three each chose a stall.
Zhao Weilai chose Stall Three, the middle position. With someone on either side of her, she felt a bit more secure.
Deng Ziwen was in Stall Four, right next to her on the right.
Ding Feifan chose Stall Two.
“Everyone, check your latches, lock your doors, and block any gaps with whatever you can find.”
Ding Feifan's voice came through the partition. “Remember what we agreed on: don't look up, don't open the door, and just find a way to hold out until dawn. Then we win.”
“Got it.”
“Yeah, good luck.”
Zhao Weilai checked the iron latch.
It was an outdated, old-fashioned latch, and the bolt was thoroughly rusted.
Fortunately, once slid into place, it was still relatively sturdy.
Zhao Weilai tried pulling on the door and found it rattled a bit, so she wedged the mop handle against it.
This way, it couldn't be easily pushed open from the outside.
...
Time passed minute by minute, and the three's phone batteries finally died.
11:38, 11:59...
12:00 AM.
12:30 AM.
1:00 AM.
【The Restroom Ghost Story check-in quest has begun.】
The moment the words appeared, the temperature inside the narrow stall plummeted.
Zhao Weilai shuddered.
White fog seeped in through the gaps around the door and the bottom of the partition, slowly spreading around her feet in a pale haze.
The foul stench in the air also grew intensely stronger.
It was here.
Zhao Weilai held her breath, staring intently at the gap at the bottom of the door.
The gap beneath the door was only a finger wide, and all three had found ways to block it.
At this moment, she could only faintly see the white fog seeping in.
For the first ten minutes, there was nothing.
The restroom was terrifyingly quiet.
Zhao Weilai even had the illusion that she might be able to quietly endure until dawn just like this.
A few minutes later, footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor.
The sound was rapid and light.
It sounded like a slender person stepping lightly on the concrete floor.
Clack, clack.
Step by step, the sound approached from the end of the corridor, heading toward the restroom.
Zhao Weilai's heart leaped into her throat.
The footsteps stopped at the restroom door.
“Squeeeak—”
The old wooden door was slowly pushed open, letting out a harsh groan.
The footsteps entered the restroom.
Zhao Weilai could even clearly pinpoint its position.
In front of Stall One... it stopped, and then a voice rang out:
“Student... do you want red toilet paper, or green toilet paper?”
The voice was very deep and raspy, like someone whose throat was filled with water, humming it out from the back of their throat with their head tilted back.
There was no one in Stall One, so naturally, there was no sound.
The voice patiently asked twice more.
“Student... do you want red toilet paper, or green toilet paper?”
“Student... do you want red toilet paper, or green toilet paper?”
After a pause of about ten minutes, the voice began to move.
It stopped at Stall Two, where Ding Feifan was located.
The rules required a response, but they already knew that choosing either would lead to death.
Zhao Weilai held her breath, waiting for Ding Feifan's answer.
She heard Ding Feifan respond in a trembling, low voice:
“I don't want either.”
“I don't need toilet paper.”
“Please go away.”
The three responses were delivered, with silence in between.
The thing paused at Stall Two for about five more minutes, then slowly walked forward and stopped in front of Stall Three.
It was Zhao Weilai's stall.
Her breath caught instantly, her entire body stiffening.
She bit her lower lip hard, not allowing herself to make a single sound.
Immediately after, she saw the items she had used to block the gap being pushed aside, and a hand slowly reached in through the space beneath the partition.
It was a skinned hand.
Devoid of skin, the dark-red muscle and tendons were clearly visible, the outlines of the finger bones protruding, and the fingernails peeled back.
Blood dripped from the fingertips. The hand extended very slowly, reaching inward bit by bit, as if trying to grab onto something.
Zhao Weilai huddled in the corner, wishing she could embed herself into the wall.
“Student... do you want red toilet paper, or green toilet paper?”
Mimicking Ding Feifan's answer, Zhao Weilai said rapidly, “I don't want toilet paper, I don't want anything, please go away.”
The palm patted the floor, then withdrew somewhat reluctantly.
Next was Stall Four.
Armed with the experience of the first two, Deng Ziwen in Stall Four, though terrified, forced himself to answer.
He answered very quickly this time, and the Restroom Ghost only lingered for three minutes before leaving.
Then came Stall Five, where Zhou Shengsheng was.
But this time, the question changed.
“Student... do you want red toilet paper, or green toilet paper?”
“Red... peels so cleanly... doesn't hurt at all...”
“Green... so comfortable to soak in... so warm and cozy...”
“Choose one...”
The voice was slimy and wet, like a viper flicking its tongue, boring into their ears.
Zhao Weilai's expression suddenly changed. She thought Zhou Shengsheng had hidden information—
The next second, the sound of a stall door being pushed open rang out alongside Zhou Shengsheng's screams:
“How did you get in? Stay back, stay back! I know the answer! I know how to choose!”
“Ghost!!”
“Help me, help me!”
“I can't die here, save me, save me!!”
Finally, a blood-curdling shriek pierced the air.
Zhao Weilai curled into a ball, clutching her head, large tears streaming down her face.
Why did the ghost enter the stall?!
Ding Feifan had locked the door for him, there shouldn't have been any mistake?!
If the door wasn't locked, then according to Zhou Shengsheng, not locking the door meant not entering the game, so the Restroom Ghost shouldn't have targeted him.
If the door was locked, how did the Restroom Ghost enter the stall?
Was it that the check-in couldn't be repeated?
Zhou Shengsheng and Ding Feifan—who was lying?
Fear of life and death mixed with confusion, swirling around in her mind. Zhao Weilai numbly covered her ears.
Zhou Shengsheng's screams had already become intermittent.
The force of his struggle vibrated through the water pipes to the other stalls. None of the three dared to breathe loudly.
The Restroom Ghost stayed in the last stall for a full hour.
Zhao Weilai could even clearly hear the wet, ripping sound of human skin and flesh tearing apart.
She didn't know how much longer passed, but dead silence eventually returned to the restroom.
There was no longer any sound from Stall Five.
【Announcement: Player Zhou Shengsheng failed to check in and has died.】
The cold, ink-wash text bizarrely appeared in their vision once more, and all three of them shuddered simultaneously.
Zhou Shengsheng was dead.
There were only three living humans left in the Instance.
Footsteps were slowly heading back.
Clack, clack. Leisurely, they passed each stall once again.
This time, it didn't ask any questions; it just walked slowly.
Zhao Weilai's heart remained in her throat until the footsteps walked out of the restroom and the wooden door closed with a creak, only then slowly settling back into place.
It was gone.
She did not dare let her guard down, maintaining her posture and remaining absolutely still.
Another half an hour passed, and there was no more sound from outside.
Ding Feifan's confident voice rang out from next door. “Zhou Shengsheng lied. It wasn't that he didn't participate in the check-in; he did, but he failed.”
Zhao Weilai also came to understand that killing took time for the Restroom Ghost, and after killing someone, it would temporarily leave the restroom.
Zhou Shengsheng had likely hidden this detail.
He had probably survived the previous night by using Luo Yiming and Fang Wei's lives.
As for his claim about “who he had caused to die”—it was nothing more than tricking Luo Yiming and Fang Wei into choosing the wrong answers.
Despite figuring it out, Zhao Weilai did not feel any relief.
Gritting her teeth, she softly voiced her suspicion: “Instructor Ding... did you really, truly lock Zhou Shengsheng's door?”
Ding Feifan did not answer.
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