Volume One, Chapter 14: The Calamity Inn—Escape

Page 1/3

The note hinted that the door appears only during the daytime—the grand entrance they had previously used to enter the inn. The key is in the master’s room; “seek” likely means to search. Naturally, the inn’s master would be the man they had seen before—the one the skinless fat man called the boss, holding a rod shaped like a mouse. As for the phrase “skin must not be abandoned,” Lin Xi truly couldn’t understand its meaning, but there was no time to ponder it now.

After a brief rest, once darkness fully settled, Lin Xi, along with Zheng Daqian and two others, quietly slipped out of the room.

“Aren’t we going to the lobby?” Qian Baobao shivered, staring down the dim hallway.

“It’s probably too late; we have to gamble on this,” Lin Xi said, watching the elevator flicker continuously on the third floor before descending to the first. He took a swig from a bottle of wine.

He arranged for Qian Baobao and Zheng Daqian to block the elevator on the sixth floor, then quietly called to Li Yu to follow closely. Together, they dashed down the stairs to the third floor.

No ghosts appeared in the stairwell, but the overlapping illusions nearly shattered their wills. They had to rely on the alcohol in their hands to maintain their sanity and resist falling into the hallucinations.

Reaching the door of room 304, Lin Xi gritted his teeth. They had no other options or retreat. He gambled, pulling out two bottles of lighter fluid he hadn’t used before, unscrewing one and pouring it all over the lock on the door.

A sharp scratch—the sound of flint striking. Flames instantly engulfed the lock, quickly melting it away.

Li Yu gaped in disbelief. She couldn’t fathom how ordinary-looking lighter fluid could ignite with enough heat to melt a lock.

Lin Xi swiftly grabbed Li Yu’s wrist; she instinctively recoiled but then seemed to come to her senses and obediently followed him inside.

They hurriedly searched for the key mentioned in the clue. When Li Yu opened the bathroom door, she nearly screamed—the skinless body they had seen on the bus, the one the fat man had shed and collapsed on the floor, was completely intact here.

A faint bloody smell from the skin nearly made Li Yu vomit.

Noticing her reaction, Lin Xi quickly led her into the bathroom. Seeing the skin, he finally understood the meaning of the phrase “skin must not be abandoned.”

Page 2/3

While gathering the skin, Lin Xi noticed a blood-red key hanging from the skin’s fingers. He took both the key and the skin, then downed the last sip from his bottle. Grabbing Li Yu’s hand, he dashed out of room 304.

The corridor was filled with scorched marks and the smell of burning. The dry air stung their lungs and nostrils painfully, and covering their mouths and noses brought no relief.

Lin Xi dragged Li Yu to the elevator and pressed the call button three times. Moments later, the number six on the elevator display flickered repeatedly—he knew Qian Baobao and the others were already inside, descending.

At the third floor, the elevator doors slowly opened. Lin Xi and Li Yu slipped inside and closed the doors. The four pressed for the first floor, and the elevator began descending, but when it reached the bottom, the doors didn’t open. The interior lights flickered on and off.

The temperature inside the elevator rose steadily, accompanied by a harsh, acrid smell. The burning sensation they’d felt in the corridor returned, even stronger.

Desperate, Lin Xi rummaged through the items they’d found in the inn, hoping to find a way to escape.

He grabbed an incense burner and hesitated a moment before smashing it hard against the floor. The incense ash and “underworld sand” scattered instantly, filling the elevator.

Immediately, the oppressive heat vanished, and the elevator doors slowly opened. Outside stood the inn’s boss holding his rod. Behind him floated a cold, elegant woman, a woman with a charred upper body and distorted features, and the skinless fat man.

Lin Xi tossed the skin high into the air to the skinless fat man behind them, then threw their empty wine bottles.

The skinless man’s skin quickly fused back onto his body. He caught one of the bottles and slammed it into the cold, elegant woman, sending her flying.

Seizing the moment while the boss and the charred woman were stunned, Lin Xi grabbed the bottle from Qian Baobao and swung it forcefully at the boss’s neck.

The sudden strike staggered the boss back two steps. Lin Xi followed with a side kick, pushing the boss back two more steps, his foot striking as though against steel.

Zheng Daqian rushed out of the elevator, swinging his bottle at the back of the charred woman as she lunged toward the fat man.

The blow knocked her to her knees. The flying woman went mad and charged at them.

The fat man shouted, “Run!” then smashed the elegant woman away again. Both bottles in his hands were now riddled with cracks.

Lin Xi grabbed Qian Baobao and Li Yu, sprinting toward the door. The boss, regaining composure, hurled his rod straight at Lin Xi’s head.

Page 3/3

“Watch out,” the fat man warned.

Lin Xi barely tilted his head enough to dodge the flying rod, simultaneously tossing the idol he held.

The idol, draped in red cloth, was pierced by the rod, shattering into countless pieces at their feet.

An eerie sigh echoed through the hall.

Suddenly, none of them could move. They stared in horror at the inn’s boss, who was also frozen in place. Only then did they breathe a slow sigh of relief.

The scene shifted rapidly. When their senses returned, only Lin Xi, the fat man, and three others remained in the hall.

“Boss, my sister is sick. Can I advance a year’s salary?” the elegant woman begged humbly.

“Well, that’s easy. Is a year enough? If not, tell me how much you need,” the boss said with a lecherous grin, pulling her into an embrace.

She struggled briefly but, thinking of her gravely ill sister, bit her lip and allowed him to drag her into a room.

After a long while, Lin Xi and the others saw the elegant woman rush out of the inn, disheveled and clutching a wad of cash, her eyes red-rimmed.

The scene shifted again. The elegant woman’s sister, recently recovered from her illness, arrived. From her conversation with the innkeeper, they learned she had come searching for her missing sister.

Everyone immediately recognized her as the woman whose upper body had been burned.

Page 3/3