It's late at night.

As the water flowed closer, Lan Yuanshan grabbed the iron frame that was shaping the flower wall as if it were a lifeline.

The iron frame was very sturdy and could support the weight of an adult man.

Driven by fear, Lan Yuanshan let the thorns prick his hands as he endured the pain and climbed upwards, reaching the top in no time.

To his surprise, beyond the dead-end flower wall lay an empty scenic road.

There's always a way out! He can survive as long as he gets out of the maze!

He excitedly climbed out, but while descending, he missed a step because he was too eager and fell on his bottom.

But he paid no attention to his injuries and only wanted to run away.

But as he got up, he bumped into someone.

An old man wearing work clothes, rubber boots, and covered in mud.

The old man raised his head, revealing a bloodied and mangled face.

He forced a stiff smile, revealing a chilling grin.

Lan Yuanshan felt as if his blood had frozen. He wanted to run away, but the branches and leaves behind him surged up and tightly bound his hands and feet.

What were just slender branches were now as difficult to break free from as wire.

"Please, please, let me go. I have elderly parents and young children to support..."

Driven by fear, Lan Yuanshan went mad and even tried to beg for mercy from the inhuman ghost.

Thorny branches and leaves darted around, silencing his sobs and screams.

The old man remained unmoved. In the face of Lan Yuanshan's despair, he lifted a huge rock and brought it down heavily on Lan's head.

"puff--"

The splattering blood made the roses on the branches even redder.

Xia Yao returned to the hotel unharmed, but hesitated in the corridor on the seventh floor.

The potted plant with the buried oranges is still in his room. If that's a sign of a ghost, I really can't imagine what might happen at night.

As for throwing away the potted plants, he felt it was unrealistic.

Judging from the freshness of that orange, it looked like it had just been put in.

If a ghost can enter his room and bury an orange for him, it can also return the discarded potted plant to him.

As she hesitated, Xia Yao saw the slightly ajar door of room 703.

Seemingly because he still had a use for it, Zhou Zean did not lock 703, but instead took out the latch and used it to cover it.

Looking at the darkness through the crack, Xia Yao thought of the orange grove that concealed the exit.

With no potted plants left, is the room where the incident occurred safe?

After all, the muscular man died as soon as he left the hotel on the first night, but on the second night they were asked to carry out a mission in the scenic area. Doesn't this also indicate that the dangerous locations can change?

Xia Yao tentatively pushed open the door to 703 and went to turn on the light.

However, when the switch was pressed, there was no response.

Xia Yao then realized that there was no room card in the power supply card slot by the door.

The light was good during the day, so he didn't notice when the room key went missing.

Could it have been taken by a teammate? If so, why would a teammate with a room key use a lock card to cover the door? Isn't that a contradiction?

Despite his confusion, he still inserted his room card (number 704) into the power supply slot, and the lights instantly turned on.

Just as Zhou Zean said, the body had disappeared, as if someone had deliberately disposed of it.

But the bloodstains on the carpet and curtains remain, silently telling the story of the accident.

Therefore, the game cleaned up the corpses on its own, and no one cared about the filth in the hotel rooms.

However, since they've all fallen into the supernatural realm, they naturally can't be understood using ordinary thinking.

Smelling the still strong stench of blood, Xia Yao decisively closed the door.

I don't know if it's because someone has died, but tonight is unusually peaceful.

The next morning, Xia Yao woke up to the sound of her alarm clock.

He had spent the night lying on the carpet and felt aches and pains in his back, but at least he survived.

Xia Yao couldn't wait to leave 703, and before leaving, she didn't forget to lock the door again.

But when he swiped the room card to open the door to room 704, his heart skipped a beat.

The jasmine flowers on the glass coffee table were gone, some dust was scattered on the carpet, and the closed room was still filled with the scent of oranges.

The ghost really did come!

Afraid that the ghost hadn't touched him, Xia Yao secretly hid oranges for him. She hurriedly went into the house and searched carefully, even lifting up the toilet tank to check it.

Fortunately, no extra oranges were left.

Xia Yao breathed a sigh of relief, quickly changed her clothes to remove the bloody smell that had seeped into her skin, and felt more refreshed.

While I was changing my clothes, a message popped up in the group chat—it was a photo.

On the glass coffee table is a brightly colored tangerine.

Good grief, they're not even going to act anymore, they're just letting him out.

But thinking about it carefully, it's actually quite scary. You're sleeping, and a ghost enters your room, glances at you, and leaves an orange behind.

The lucky person who posted the photo was Chen Qi, and then more messages popped up.

[Meet at the restaurant.]

The four simple characters are Zhou Ze'an.

Xia Yao was a few minutes late because she needed to change clothes.

When we arrived at the restaurant, everyone was already there.

Chen Qi's eyes were red, as if she had already been "comforted" by her teammates. She remained silent and did not dare to ask any more questions.

"Brother Su, why are you so late? I thought something had happened to you! But seeing your rosy complexion, you clearly have a lucky face that can ward off evil!"

Lu Qifa's voice was filled with surprise, and his expression was exaggerated.

"Thank you for your kind words, Brother Lu. Thanks to everyone's good fortune, we escaped unharmed."

Xia Yao agreed while subtly glancing at her teammates. Sure enough, Lan Yuanshan was missing.

What he saw last night was probably the already dead Lan Yuanshan, who was acting as an accomplice to evil under the control of a ghost.

Zhou Ze'an poured Xia Yao a cup of hot tea. "Brother Su, last night was really thrilling. Tell us how you got back."

Xia Yao did not hide anything and recounted her experiences with the compass, the cabin in the woods, and the haunted house she spent the night in.

Chen Qi's eyes lit up. "Then I'll be fine if I don't sleep in my own room?"

"It might be possible, but there's also a risk of things changing."

Xia Yao didn't rule out the possibility of anything happening, just in case he was lucky.

Zhou Ze'an, however, was more concerned about the clues Xia Yao brought back. "You said you saw an unequal agreement in the ghost's illusion?"

Xia Yao nodded. "There must be a reason why the ghost took this out."

"It seems we need to focus our investigation on this expropriation," Liu Lili said, eating her porridge as she listened.

"By the way, ask around among the gentlemen in the neighborhood. Those who come here to perform rituals must know the inside story," Xia Yao added.

They quickly identified their objective and assigned tasks according to yesterday's group assignments.

Zhou Zean, Xia Yao, and Chen Qi went to find the original inhabitants to inquire about the demolition and the old man's situation, and also asked the reporter.

Liu Lili and Lu Qifa went to find the gentleman to see if there was anyone in the know.

As they set off, they passed through the Rose Maze.

The branches and leaves of the flower wall near the exit were stained with bright red, clearly blood.

It was relatively safe during the day; they entered through the exit, and the corpses were not far away.

Lan Yuanshan was fixed to the flower wall. Although he was "standing," his head was rotten.

The drooping flesh hung down, flies and bees buzzed around it, and the strong stench of blood couldn't be masked even by the fragrance of flowers.

He was just a few meters away from escaping the maze; that's probably the most desperate situation.