How to Easily Capture a Long Aotian [Quick Transmigration] 4

Chapter 4: The Cannon Fodder Roommate of the Unlimited Flow Male Lead (Part Four)

Outside the glass door was a pitch-black corridor. At the corner of the corridor were two forks in the road: one led up a gloomy staircase, and the other was blocked by a thick glass door. Outside the door, the shade of the trees was a deep green, hinting at a world of birdsong and fragrant flowers.

But this was an underground internet cafe, so the scene outside the glass door was the trap.

“That player who ran out probably chose the woods outside the door, fell into the trap, and got lost,” Yu Lin guessed as he passed by, looking in the direction of the door.

“Mhm.” A voice sounded from beside him. He tilted his head slightly, only then realizing he had spoken his thoughts aloud.

There was only a single small lamp in the dim corridor. Su Huai’s eyes were dark and deep. He stood under the dim yellow light, looking at him, and nodded. “A very accurate guess. Very smart.”

“…” Yu Lin’s face flushed red. He froze, not understanding why he was being praised for something so obvious.

But Su Huai’s expression was calm, not like he was joking. Yu Lin looked away slightly, and then felt his fingers tighten. Su Huai, his expression unchanged, pulled him towards the stairs, saying, “Let’s go.”

They had walked all the way up to the second floor before they heard the clamor from downstairs. It was likely that the argument in the lobby had finally reached a conclusion.

Yu Lin heard Dongqing’s impatient voice, “What are you all doing blocking the way? Move it!”

Then came a series of clattering footsteps up the stairs. Dongqing dragged the trembling, baby-faced boy up and met the gaze of Su Huai, who was looking down from the landing.

Dongqing ignored Su Huai’s warning glare and glanced at Yu Lin, who was being held by the hand by Su Huai. His face was pale, but he wasn’t making a fuss, just quietly and obediently listening. Dongqing was so envious she nearly drooled.

Then she looked at the boy beside her, trembling, impossible to drag, and playing dead like a pig. The veins on her forehead bulged.

She said, “I’m counting to three.”

The boy immediately straightened his legs and said with a quavering voice, “Sis, I’m your real brother.”

Dongqing said coolly, “Otherwise, you’d be a full course of barbecue by now.”

“…”

The boy made a gagging expression.

Dragging the violently retching boy, Dongqing ascended with light steps. As soon as she reached the second floor, a gloomy, cold air washed over them. Dongqing frowned and scanned the corridor that the second-floor staircase led directly to.

Unlike the internet cafe area, this part of the staircase connected to an ordinary dormitory. However, it was an old dormitory from many years ago, in a state of disrepair. The exterior was still concrete walls, and the ground was covered in mottled moss.

A metal plate hung on each door. The metal plates on the second floor had numbers like 2XXX written on them.

Su Huai and Dongqing stood at the entrance of the second-floor staircase, glanced at the pitch-black corridor without so much as raising an eyelid, and then respectively pulled their companions along.

The corridor was long, narrow, and built with many twists and turns, like walking on a glass skywalk.

Just as they were about to reach the third floor, Dongqing sensed something and suddenly stopped, looking up. “01.”

Su Huai didn’t stop.

Dongqing said, “Let’s make a deal.”

She looked at Su Huai’s back, her expression growing more solemn. “This instance is off. There are too many traps. It’s not a problem for you or me, but we both have someone with us.”

After she spoke, Su Huai’s expression faltered. He stopped, turned to look at her, and said in a flat tone, “What deal?”

Dongqing frowned. “The deal is… in places you can’t see, I’ll protect your wife unconditionally. And I… if I can’t look after him, and you see him in the future, save this winter melon of mine’s life.”

Dongqing pressed her lips together, her face devoid of any smile.

The higher their level, the more they understood the unpredictability and danger of the instance worlds.

It’s just that this request seemed fair, but in reality, the power gap between her and 01 was not small. She was being thick-skinned by proposing it, and 01 might not necessarily agree, so she had to think of other bargaining chips…

Upstairs, Su Huai nodded directly. “Alright.”

Dongqing: “…”

Dongqing: “Thanks.”

So agreeable today, huh? Is this still that old dog 01? Dongqing stroked her chin, looking quizzically at Su Huai’s back up ahead.

After watching for a while without figuring it out, she glanced disdainfully at the boy beside her and muttered to herself, “Just consider it paying back all the lucky money you’ve given me over the years.”

The boy’s eyes were teary. “Thank you, sis.”

Dongqing snapped, “Stand up straight!”

***

At the corner of the third-floor corridor, a dim yellow lamp hung overhead.

Under the light, Yu Lin kept his head down, his cheeks red and hot, and his mind was wandering a bit.

As soon as they got upstairs, Su Huai had told him to keep his head down so he couldn’t see the surroundings. As a result, his hearing became more sensitive, and all he could hear was Dongqing’s boisterous voice saying she’d help watch his wife…

It wasn’t the joking tone from before. Dongqing had said it very seriously and had even exchanged conditions with Su Huai, and Su Huai had agreed.

“…” Yu Lin couldn’t help but feel a sense of dislocation, as if the instance had bugged out…

His hand was held by the person beside him. Yu Lin walked with his head down, lost in thought, mechanically following forward and to the right.

Before long, they stopped in front of a door. The door was locked. Su Huai picked it up and looked at it. The faint sounds of a crowd pushing and shoving their way up the stairs, shouting and cursing, came from behind.

Yu Lin’s palms were slightly sweaty. He was a bit embarrassed. He blinked, wanting to pull his hand away, but it was gripped even tighter.

He froze and subconsciously tried to look up. “01…”

His vision suddenly went black. Before Yu Lin could see anything, Su Huai turned sideways, and just before he could raise his eyes, pushed him into his embrace, quickly unlocked the door, and locked it again. The movements were fast and fluid, all in one go.

From looking down to looking up, the scene before Yu Lin had already changed.

Outside, Dongqing came upstairs, dragging the boy who had vomited to the point of shock, kicked open a door, and locked it. The players who had scrambled up after them were a step too late. Seeing the scene upstairs, they let out a chorus of terrified screams.

There were six dorm rooms on the third floor, with the same concrete floors, metal door plates, and mottled moss.

The difference was that on the third-floor’s concrete walls, less than two meters from the ground, hung dense circles of bell talismans.

The bells swayed gently with the wind but made no sound. The blood-red, flamboyant calligraphy on the talismans was menacing and made one’s scalp tingle.

Inside the room, with a crisp click of the lock, the frantic shouting and cursing from outside immediately became muffled.

Yu Lin was unexpectedly brought into the room. Regaining his vision and falling onto the bed happened almost simultaneously.

He blinked blankly, only then reacting slightly. He looked up at Su Huai. “01?”

Su Huai looked down at him and responded, “Mhm.”

Yu Lin sat on the bed and tilted his head slightly to observe the room. The facilities inside were also very old, not much better than the outside. There was still only one dim yellow lamp and two wooden beds facing each other.

He was sitting on one of the beds. To his left was a wall. The wall was very dirty, with half of an unrecognizable award certificate stuck to it. Below the certificate were a few curved, illegible numerical symbols.

Compared to a staff dormitory, this place actually looked more like a student dormitory, one that had been abandoned for a long time.

Yu Lin observed his surroundings. Seeing that he was gradually adapting, Su Huai walked over, handed him a corn and cheese rice ball, and said, “Eat first. Look around later.”

“Mhm.” Yu Lin nodded and reached out to take it. “Thank you.”

Su Huai nodded, turned, and walked to the other bed across from him to sit down. His legs were slightly parted, his posture casual. He unwrapped another corn and cheese rice ball.

He held the rice ball, his eyelids slightly lowered, but he didn’t eat. He suddenly asked, “What were you thinking about just now?”

Yu Lin had his head down and had just taken a bite of the rice ball. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but choke a little, his face flushing red.

He looked up, staring blankly at Su Huai, paused for a moment, and then reminded him in a small voice, “01, we’re… not in that kind of relationship.”

…That kind of relationship?

Su Huai also froze for a moment. Looking at him, his heart felt like it had been squeezed. He grunted, “Mhm,” and the corner of his lip curled up unconsciously. The fingertips holding the rice ball suddenly felt a little numb.

He remembered Dongqing’s unfiltered shouts of “your wife.” His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, but he didn’t deny it, only saying, “It’s fine. Let’s just say that for now. Dongqing will be more cautious and will protect you seriously.”

He paused, and seeing the young man’s slightly lowered eyes and the disappointed flutter of his eyelashes, he added, “We… can take it slow.”

Take… it slow? Yu Lin was bewildered again. Holding the rice ball, he looked up at the straight male lead opposite him, who had a placid expression and seemed a bit absent-minded.

So this instance really is bugged…

The room fell silent, with only the sound of rice ball wrappers being unwrapped.

People came up one after another outside. Because they were a step too late, they scrambled and fought to surge into the dorm rooms. After an unknown amount of time, the corridor went from being endlessly noisy to completely quiet.

In the end, there was only the faint, indistinct sound of the wind.

Yu Lin sat on the bed and quietly finished his rice ball. Just as he was about to throw away the trash, several tragic screams suddenly came from outside the door.

Immediately after, someone rushed up in a panic and slammed against the door, followed by a frantic, heavy knocking.

The person knocking was using a lot of force, with both hands and feet, almost breaking down the door panel, while shouting, “Is anyone there? Is there anyone inside? Is someone there? I’m begging you, please let me in—”

The voice was extremely piercing and sharp. Yu Lin got up to throw away his trash and curiously craned his neck to look towards the door, but he didn’t move.

Su Huai glanced at him, a hint of a smile creeping into his eyes. He got up, threw away his rice ball wrapper, and his gaze shifted to the door, gradually turning icy.

The voice outside sounded a few more times. At a certain moment, it seemed to sense something, stopped its actions, and hurried off in another direction.

The voice moved to the room next door, still in a pleading tone, which grew softer and softer. As time passed, it gradually turned resentful. “Why? You selfish people, why won’t you let us in—”

Yu Lin heard a sharp voice, “Who’s not letting you in?! It’s clearly you who can’t get past the talismans—Hey, who knows what you’ve become? Hurry up and leave, hurry up and leave—”

The speaker’s voice was timid, seemingly terrified of what was standing outside.

And the talismans he mentioned, the obstruction.

Yu Lin froze for a moment, frowning slightly. He suddenly remembered the source of that voice from outside the door just now.

—It was the voice from the first floor of the internet cafe, the one that said the burnt man smelled so good.

Time passed. A gust of wind blew through, and in the corridor, the bell talismans hanging on the walls suddenly began to tremble violently with the wind.

The three people who had eaten the flesh on the first floor of the internet cafe stood in the corridor. Their skin suddenly turned black and charred, and yellow liquid dripped from their bodies. The pungent smell of something burning also began to emanate from them.

They looked at each other, their eyes struggling, and they intensified their pounding on the doors in terror. “Please, we beg you, please let us in. The NPC said there have to be two people to a room…”

There was no response. They stared at the tightly shut doors, their expressions changing from intense struggle to empty numbness, and finally, they shot a venomous glare at the talisman bells on the doors.

They lost consciousness and wandered aimlessly in the corridor until that hypnotic bell tone rang out again. Only then did they unwillingly head downstairs…

In one day, four players had been eliminated without a sound. Sitting on the bed, Yu Lin gained a new understanding of the game’s level of danger.

But due to his setting, his mind and body seemed to be at odds.

So, upon realizing this, he began to tense up uncontrollably. He only let out a slight sigh of relief when the corridor was completely silent. He looked up and found Su Huai looking at him.

Following his gaze, Yu Lin looked down slightly and realized that both of his hands were clenched into fists on his lap, as if he were ready to stand up and sprint a hundred meters at any moment.

“…” Yu Lin looked away, paused, then turned back. His eyelashes lifted slightly, his eyes appearing soft and translucent in the light. He said softly, “I’m going to sleep.”

The tips of his ears were slightly red. He took one last look at the balcony. Since it was a staff dormitory, the facilities were simple, but they seemed to still be usable.

Yu Lin hesitated about whether to go wash his face. He had a habit of liking to be clean, but in a horror world, it was better not to create unnecessary complications.

After a moment of hesitation, Yu Lin retracted his gaze and calmly straightened the quilt on the bed.

Su Huai’s eyes were on him, his gaze following his movements, understanding what he wanted to do.

He paused, then got up, pushed open the door, and walked onto the small balcony. He turned on the faucet and let the water run for a while, staring at the pipe for a bit, then checked the surroundings.

After checking, he came out, leaned against the small balcony door, and looked down at Yu Lin, saying, “Come here.”

Yu Lin looked up, bewildered, and asked him softly, “Did you find a clue?”

Su Huai: “No. Come wash your face.”