Chapter 143: Donkey Travel Youth Hostel (3)

“Meow~”

Xiao Keai let out a contented cry, then closed her eyes in Wu Zui’s arms and pretended to sleep.

…

At the same time, the group of fake Taoists who had entered the hostel had already been separated.

Just as Wu Zui had learned from Xiao Anguo’s information, even though these people had entered through the same window, the constantly shifting interior space prevented them from arriving in the same room.

Apart from the twenty-eight rooms beyond the lobby, Donkey Walk Youth Hostel had more than enough space to divide the twelve of them into separate rooms.

They had dealt with quite a few five-star ghosts and monsters before, and all twelve were Awakened of at least five-star rank. The streamer Brother Jie and his two assistants, Old Zhao and Erzi, had even reached the pinnacle of five-star rank. Otherwise, they would never have had the courage to come here and risk their lives.

They had assumed that dealing with the resentful energy inside the building would keep them safe for the time being. What they did not know was that once ghosts and monsters reached five-star rank, resentful energy was no longer particularly important to them. Sealed spaces were their preferred weapon for killing.

In one of the rooms, because the two people had entered only moments apart, they had not been separated and had arrived together.

“Brother Erzi, where is everyone else?”

The fake Taoist who had climbed through the window second first glanced around, then spoke to the man who had entered before him.

“I didn’t see them. Brother Jie and Old Zhao were already gone when I came in.”

Erzi shrugged and replied warily.

“Didn’t we come through the same window? How could they have disappeared?”

The newcomer sounded anxious. Although he was also a five-star Awakened, he was clearly unlike the fully equipped streamer.

“Ah Ming, calm down first! The window is still—”

Erzi was speaking when he suddenly realized that the shattered window through which they had entered had vanished.

In its place was a grimy wall. Even the other objects around them were changing rapidly.

The resentful energy they had already dealt with also reappeared inside the room.

“Where’s the window? Didn’t we smash all the windows on the first floor? How could it have disappeared?”

Ah Ming immediately pressed himself against the wall. He tightened the magnetic-energy protective suit around his body and gripped the magnetic-energy blade in his hand.

The thick wall and the equipment he wore seemed to give him a sense of security.

But as Ah Ming muttered to himself, a strange sensation rose in both their hearts. It was as though some extreme evil force had locked onto them. A faint spiritual contamination began spreading rapidly throughout the room.

“No! I don’t want to die!”

Under the influence of the contamination, Ah Ming’s expression gradually became crazed. He waved the magnetic-energy blade repeatedly in front of himself, as if he meant to kill the ghost before it had even appeared.

Suddenly, Ah Ming released the magnetic-energy blade, allowing the lifesaving weapon to fall to the floor. He clutched his throat with both hands. A streak of blood appeared at his neck and rapidly spread until it covered his entire body.

Erzi immediately retreated, putting as much distance between them as possible.

Ah Ming pressed his hands against his throat as the bloody marks across his body contracted, squeezing him into segments.

Accompanied by the occasional wet clicking sound, his body collapsed and softened, seeming to turn into a heap of minced flesh. The remaining flesh then melted into the floor and seeped into the room, where it was completely absorbed by the monster inside.

Erzi rushed to the door and twisted the handle.

The door did not move.

“Damn it!”

After cursing, Erzi raised his magnetic-energy blade and hacked repeatedly at the door. Blue light slashed across it again and again, yet the door remained completely intact.

In a dark corner of the room, a new body was rapidly taking shape.

After hacking at the door for some time and realizing that he could not open it, Erzi could only retreat to the open space in the center of the room.

He no longer dared approach the walls. In his mind, Ah Ming had died because he had stood beside one, while he himself was still alive. Therefore, the walls had to be more dangerous than the center of the room.

Just as he had this thought—

Smack!

A hand landed on Erzi’s shoulder.

“Erzi, what are you doing? Where are Brother Jie and the others?”

A familiar voice came from behind him.

Erzi instinctively leaped forward, then spun around at once and swung the magnetic-energy blade behind him. Unfortunately, using magnetic energy inside the hostel caused its consumption to increase dramatically, while its power was greatly reduced.

After repeatedly attacking the door just moments earlier, Erzi had too little magnetic energy remaining in his body to create any real force. The instant the magnetic-energy blade shot out, it vanished into the air before traveling even half a meter.

Ah Ming, who had just died, was standing alive before him.

Erzi quickly glanced toward the place where Ah Ming had died. A red stain left by his blood remained in the corner of the wall.

Erzi’s sudden attack startled “Ah Ming” as well. He turned rapidly to look behind himself. Seeing nothing there, he sighed in relief and complained to Erzi, “What the hell are you doing? You scared me!”

“N-no… nothing. I was just… a little… nervous.”

Erzi watched “Ah Ming” approach him step by step and stammered out the words.

“Look at you! And you call yourself a peak five-star Awakened?”

“Ah Ming” spoke with contempt.

Erzi did not argue. He merely tightened his grip on the magnetic-energy blade. Blue light flickered across it several times before gradually fading. Although he still had a fair amount of magnetic energy left, the damage caused by releasing it outside his body was simply too weak in this place.

As they spoke, “Ah Ming” had already passed by Erzi and reached the doorway.

The door that Erzi had hacked at for so long without opening swung open effortlessly when “Ah Ming” gently turned the handle.

“Come on! Let’s go find Brother Jie and the others!”

As “Ah Ming” spoke, he pulled the door fully open, revealing another room that looked almost identical to this one. Then he looked back at Erzi.

Erzi naturally had no intention of walking ahead of Ah Ming. He said, “You go first, Ah Ming. I’ll cover the rear.”

“What’s wrong with you today? You’re such a coward.”

After complaining, “Ah Ming” strode through the doorway.

The moment “Ah Ming” had entered, Erzi swiftly slammed the door shut.

Follow him over? He wasn’t an idiot.

Only Erzi remained in the room.

“Damn it. Did you really think I was stupid? Go stay over there by yourself!”

As he spoke, Erzi quickly retreated to the center of the room. He had watched Ah Ming die right before his eyes. How could he possibly believe the words of this fake Ah Ming, let alone leave with him?

At that moment, a thin bloody mark appeared on Erzi’s neck.

The mark began to widen.

Erzi instantly clutched his throat. Only then did he discover that it was not a bloodstain at all, but a red insect resembling one.

Magnetic energy surged throughout his body as Erzi prepared to kill the red insect. Yet even in the face of the magnetic-energy attack, the insect continued spreading rapidly across his body.

As the bloody mark widened, the red insects began devouring Erzi’s flesh and blood.

“How… could this… happen?”

In the blink of an eye, Erzi had become a heap of minced flesh just like Ah Ming.

Even a peak five-star Awakened had not been given the chance to fight back.

The door suddenly opened, and “Ah Ming” walked inside.

After Erzi’s remains had been completely absorbed by the room, another body identical to Erzi’s formed in the corner.

The bloody marks left behind when Ah Ming died had vanished. In their place was the bloody mark left by Erzi’s death.

Inside the room, Erzi and Ah Ming looked at each other. An eerie smile appeared simultaneously at the corners of their mouths.

Then they opened the door and left together.

…

Elsewhere, Brother Jie, the streamer, had only one cameraman beside him. The others had entered at different times and had not arrived with the two of them.

Li Jie naturally noticed that the others had not come in. The information he had gathered about Donkey Walk Youth Hostel had never mentioned that the space inside changed constantly. He assumed that some sort of accident had prevented the others from entering.

Faced with this situation, Li Jie was already considering leaving. But the viewers watching his ghost-hunting livestream did not think the same way.

It was rare for a streamer to dare visit one of the Ten Forbidden Grounds of Huaguo. Although Donkey Walk Youth Hostel ranked near the bottom, it was still enough to satisfy their taste for the bizarre.

Many of these viewers were Awakened, but they were afraid of fighting. Their status as Awakened might give them only a little more time to struggle than ordinary people when possessed by a ghost or monster.

Because of this compensatory mentality, they had become even more fascinated by incidents and programs involving ghosts and monsters. They wanted to prove, through such things, that they were not afraid.

Thus, gifts flooded the livestream chat. They would rather spend heavily to make Li Jie continue exploring.

“Ten Star-Destroyer Cannons! What are you afraid of, streamer? Tear them apart!”

“One Space Carrier! Keep it up, streamer!”

“Fifty laser weapons!”

“Two hundred laser weapons!”

…

Gifts filled the livestream screen, making it impossible for Li Jie to turn around and sneak away.

Otherwise, the viewers would not only file complaints with the livestream platform; his fan base, which had already reached the millions, would also begin collapsing.

He was well and truly caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

At that moment, the cameraman looked at Li Jie and gave him a meaningful glance. The message was clear: retreat. Something was wrong.

While introducing the surroundings to the livestream audience, Li Jie casually tapped his chest.

The cameraman hesitated, then nodded.

Li Jie, the cameraman, and Erzi—the peak five-star Awakened who was not with them—each carried a five-star Void-Piercing Bomb.

If anything went wrong, that bomb was their final safeguard.

It was also the reason Li Jie and the cameraman had the confidence to remain and continue the livestream.

Before long, Li Jie had searched the entire room. For some unknown reason, a long time passed without the ghost or monster attacking them.

The viewers in the livestream were now urging Li Jie to leave the room and take a look outside.