Chapter 1 Carter Murphy's Experience

Carter Murphy was buried in snow on December 7, 2010, but he couldn't be sure if he arrived at the hotel in 2010—

The time inside the hotel was relatively chaotic. He had seen Native Americans in indigenous clothing, soldiers in Nazi German uniforms, and even what appeared to be performance artists or future people in astronaut suits.

The hotel staff were tight-lipped about inquiries regarding the current date.

The guests, on the other hand, were quite enthusiastic. A guest staying next to him (a Portuguese man with a large beard) took him to a residential committee composed of hundreds of guests,

and introduced him to the committee's situation and the rules for surviving in the hotel.

In addition to following the accommodation guidelines issued by the hotel staff, hotel guests had to listen less, think less, and look less if they wanted to survive well.

Regardless of the abnormal situation encountered, they should just pretend they didn't see it and leave.

Unless it affected their life safety and living experience, then they should notify the hotel staff.

Since Carter Murphy only stayed at the hotel for three days, he didn't know much information.

As for the experience after the coma,

according to Carter Murphy's own narration (he was silent at the typewriter for a long time), his consciousness gradually became blurred, and he seemed to melt, dissipate, and expand, forgetting time and space.

In the dark, he felt something intruding into his territory.

He subconsciously had the idea of ​​observing and detecting, and a part of his blurred consciousness extended out and lodged in a shining carrier (which, upon later observation, was the pen).

Carter Murphy's entire consciousness was in a chaotic state as if he had taken too much anesthetic. He relied on his instinct to answer the questions raised by the outside world (which, upon later observation, was Mule).

Until the other party asked about the current time, Carter Murphy's consciousness suddenly felt a burst of irritability and anger, and subconsciously wanted to destroy and hurt.

As a result, Mule had wounds all over his body, and blood kept pouring out.

Later, Li Ang and others arrived and began to persecute him. Strangely enough, the act of persecution did not make him fall into a coma again, but gradually awakened him, allowing him to communicate with people normally.

Correspondingly, Carter Murphy's consciousness gradually shrunk from the state of being dissipated throughout the entire 0408 room and finally entrenched itself on the typewriter.

It could no longer fill the entire room as before.

As the only conscious and abnormal individual encountered by Li Ang and others since they checked into the hotel, Carter Murphy's words contained a huge amount of information.

Unfortunately, he didn't know the reason, essence, and mode of action of the hotel's abnormality, nor did he know the identities of the ghost in a bamboo hat and the old woman in red.

Throughout the interrogation, in addition to the typewriter in which Carter Murphy was lodged typing out words, the Black Saint was also recording the content of the conversation with paper and pen.

He circled a few suspicious points, and just as he was about to inquire carefully, he heard the ethereal and deep voice saying, "One is missing."

All the players present knew that the source of the voice was the figure in the bamboo hat. However, what was strange was that Carter Murphy, who claimed that he didn't know anything about the bamboo hat, seemed to fall into great fear. The entire typewriter vibrated wildly.

In the players' spiritual sense, the black energy cluster lodged in the typewriter quickly dissipated and disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Li Ang asked Mule to stay in room 0408 and take good care of the typewriter.

He and the Black Saint opened the door and walked through the corridor. A black suitcase that the Black Saint had left at the elevator entrance had not been refreshed by the characteristics of the corridor, so Li Ang and the Black Saint could directly enter the elevator lobby.

The two pressed the down button, and the elevator arrived on the second floor. The elevator door opened.

At the door were six slender figures wearing bamboo hats, walking through the corridor.

Under close observation, the oppressive feeling brought by the figures in bamboo hats was even stronger. Even staying in the elevator lobby, which was said to be absolutely safe, the Black Saint still felt his breathing freeze, his body stagnant, and he couldn't muster any fighting spirit at all.

The six figures in bamboo hats in the corridor walked straight past the elevator lobby and walked to the right along the second-floor corridor.

After a brief moment of panic, the Black Saint recovered. After hesitating for a moment, he still pressed the elevator button for the third floor.

In this way, the two kept taking the elevator, following in the footsteps of the figures in bamboo hats, and going up.

Third floor, fourth floor,

When they reached the fifth floor, Li Ang took the lead and returned to room 0508 before the figures in bamboo hats came over. The other party did not attack, but walked on their own, occasionally chanting "One is missing," and walked straight to the stairwell.

Li Ang returned to the elevator lobby and continued to observe with the Black Saint. When they reached the eighth floor, the figures in bamboo hats staying in the middle of the corridor suddenly stopped. They stood there blankly for a while, then sank into the floor and disappeared.

Li Ang and the Black Saint continued to watch for a while, exchanged information with 13mark, who lived on the eighth floor and was off duty tonight, through paper, and then took the elevator to the ninth floor.

Only then did they discover that the door of 0908 was open, and the furnishings inside the room were in a mess. Bob, who lived in the room, had disappeared.

Bob was probably dead indeed.

As for the cause of death...

Bai Hao was using psychokinesis to flip through the diary left by Bob.

That diary was dirty and covered with blood, hair, and unidentifiable substances. The words inside were relatively clear at first, but the further back they went, the more scribbled and chaotic they became, making them difficult to identify.

"Bob stayed in the dark space for at least six months, possibly a year or even several years."

Bai Haozheng said calmly with a blank expression: "He tried to find a way out without success, and the food quickly ran out. His spirit gradually collapsed,

but he found that his body would not die no matter how much it was hit.

Just as his consciousness was about to collapse, he accidentally discovered that his body could have an extremely small impact on the metal cabinet, and then began the long process of scraping the cabinet.

However, after he opened the cabinet and took out the note from it, he was already blind and unable to read the contents of the note.

So, he completely fell into despair, left a lot of unintelligible nonsense in his diary, and then there was no more record.

There are currently three suspicious points:

First, the cause of his death. The diary says that he tried to commit suicide hundreds of times, but he could not end his life or strip away his consciousness. Under such circumstances, how did he die?

Second, did only his consciousness enter the dark space, or did his entire person, including his consciousness, enter the dark space?

If it is the former, why is the diary left here?

If it is the latter, then where is his body? Was it moved away, or did he encounter something else?

Third, is his death related to the figures in bamboo hats? Why did the voice in the bamboo hat suddenly stop calling 'One is missing' when it reached the eighth floor, and disappear directly?"

Bai Haozheng raised his questions, and the players present frowned and pondered in silence.

Omega raised his head and asked in a hoarse voice, "What was written on the note that Bob found in the metal cabinet in the dark space?"

Bai Haozheng glanced at him, snapped his fingers, and the invisible tentacles formed by psychokinesis rolled up the wrinkled note on the table and handed it to Omega.

There were two lines written on it.

"If there is a button in front of you, press it, and you will stay in a dark and empty quiet space where you will not age or die for a hundred years. After you come out, the outside time will not change. You will get 1 billion in cash and completely lose the memories of the dark space. Would you press it?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd smash that button!"

【Author's Note: Thank you @cherry China for the keyboard gift. The tea axis feels very good, crisp and sweet, and does not hurt your hands. It is good for both typing and gaming. The rgB lights are very dazzling, thumbs up.】