Half Immortal

Chapter 12 – Promenade Hotel (12)

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The young man dressed in a punk style was called Jiang Xiu and the young man next to him was his younger brother Jiang Ping.

There was an area of open space around where Jiang Xu stood as the other players coming to bet all consciously avoided him.
From time to time, several would cast awed looks in his direction.

Because nothing was set until the instance officially ends and because it would also benefit players more if they placed their bets just before it was over as they could get a better idea of the possible outcome of the instance, in order to ensure the so-called ‘balance’, the tower would only accept bets within a certain time frame and no further betting could be made after that.
Players who have placed a bet could only wait until the end of the instance to check the result and players who can no longer place their bets could only watch the broadcast.

Perhaps it was because the other beginner players didn’t have the betting interface, the live broadcast remained on Sun Shi’s perspective and didn’t change.
When Sun Shi and the three other players finished exploring the exhibition hall, the time limit for bets was about to come to an end.

As the players in the tower world began to place their bets, Jiang Xiu also took out some of his points and threw them into the betting pool.

“That diary isn’t old, and the writing doesn’t show any signs of fading.
Although this is normal, they have overlooked how long ago these paintings were painted —- Even the latest one was from ten years ago so that diary should be at least ten years old.
For it to show no signs of aging, there must be a problem with that diary.
Low-level instances generally only require you to find the clues.
That Sun Shi is limited by his experience and didn’t realise that the clue itself could be problematic.”

Jiang Xiu sneered, “Looks like low-level players are just low-level players.
All idiots.”

“They won’t be able to clear an instance like this that has the difficulty raised.”

Hearing Jiang Xiu’s judgement, Jiang Ping nodded and didn’t hesitate to use his points to place a bet on the players failing to clear the instance.

In the instance’s betting pool, the number of bets placed on them failing rose rapidly.

.

The sky was dim.

As always, the corridor was lit with not-so-bright warm yellow lights and portraits quietly hung on the walls on both sides.
The tranquillity of this hotel made it even more eerie, such that it resembled a dormant beast.

A man leaned against a mirror with a calm expression, his silver hair looking even colder under the corridor lights.
He had one hand tucked in his jacket pocket and his other hand held a cigarette.

Thick smoke rose next to his indifferent face.
The ball of fire at the tip of the cigarette was then extinguished by Yan Mingguang.

He lowered his eyes and picked up the swallow necklace hanging from his neck.
His dark eyes stirred slightly.

Please read this from kk translates

He didn’t do anything and just stood there for a while before putting the necklace back inside his shirt and returning to the room.

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Yan Wei sat at the desk with Gao Ming standing next to him.
All the clues they had gathered over the past two days were scattered across the table and the painter’s portrait was also spread out together with it.
The man’s smile was bright, but it also carried some unconcealable gloom.

As soon as Yan Mingguang entered, Yan Wei’s clear voice sounded.

The young man raised his head, caught the coin that he had tossed who knows how many times and chuckled lightly, “I get it.
I don’t think it’s that simple.”

Gao Ming was taken aback, “It’s not digging out the eyes to complete the paintings?”

“It is digging out the eyes to complete the paintings.” Yan Wei said, “But the clue for the stairs….I don’t think it’s with the paintings.
It may not be related to the paintings.”

“Why?”

“The player next to us said that when his wife died, the painter had come out of the painting to kill her, and that painter —- Who should now be a ghost, also had his eyes dug out.
Now there is a question —- Since he is already dead, who killed him? Who dug out his eyes?”

The clock displayed 5:55.
It was soon time for them to eat.

Gao Ming thought for a moment and surmised hesitantly, “This isn’t impossible.
Didn’t you find that self portrait in the studio? So in the beginning there are actually two completed paintings in the studio, one is the female doctor and the second is the painter himself.
After he dug out the female doctor’s eyes, he completed the doctor’s portrait and perhaps went mad and dug out his own eyes thus completing his own self portrait? If it was like this, that would make sense.”

Yan Wei’s eyes moved, and he looked at him meaningfully.

Gao Ming pushed up his old fashioned, black-rimmed glasses and scratched his head, “Why are you looking at me like that? Even if I was wrong, don’t judge me.”

“…….” Yan Wei chuckled helplessly, “Since he can kill that female doctor, then why would he kill himself next? He still has so many unfinished paintings there.
Wouldn’t it be better to find another target? He is someone who demands perfection in his paintings eventually resulting in his expectations no longer being met, and this resulted in a psychological barrier.
There are still many questions that need to be answered……”

It was time for dinner.
As the three of them went downstairs, Yan Wei explained his thoughts.

If you followed the general thought process of digging out the eyes to complete the paintings and the painter then killing himself afterwards, the matters involving the art studio and the eyes would be answered, but there were still many details that are left hanging.

A condition had to be met for a ghost to kill.
The woman in the long dress who died on the first night had beautiful eyes.
After Yan Wei escaped that death trigger earlier in the day, that woman may have accidentally triggered a condition herself and was unable to escape it.
But what about the dolls they threw into the bin? If the dolls were left in their room, he and Yan Mingguang may have had their eyes dug out and if that was the case, those dolls would logically be considered a death trigger.
But the situation in their room was also different to that of room 4?

It was similarly digging out eyes but there were no bloody handprints in room 4 when the woman in the long dress died and that thing didn’t even open the door when it came into their room.

More importantly, the painter had come out from a painting.

And they didn’t have any paintings in their room.

The situation in Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang’s room last night couldn’t be explained at all!

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The elevator reached the first floor, and they went towards the restaurant.

Gao Ming would still express some of his thoughts at first but now he basically listened to anything Yan Wei said.
He slapped his forehead, “Fortunately I went with you two.
I think that even if all of the players are experienced players who have descended the tower, they would have trouble in this instance.
The earlier instances I have been in weren’t this difficult.
If I tried to get through this alone, I probably would have been completely misled.
Hey…..what should we do now?”

They arrived at the restaurant and just happened to run into Sun Shi and the others who had returned from the art exhibition.

Sun Shi and the remaining three beginner players had clearly spent the entire day at the exhibition hall.
Except for Sun Shi who appeared to be in a pretty good state, the other players had their clothes torn in some places and were also panting heavily.
They had clearly encountered something there and hurried back.

But this group didn’t seem discouraged at all.
Sun Shi’s expression was even filled with joy.
As soon as he sat down, he began to hungrily devour the food.

Seeing Yan Wei and the others, Sun Shi snorted, “You all just wasted a day in the hotel? We found an important clue at the exhibition hall and will be able to find the stairs tomorrow.
Why don’t we have a talk? Tomorrow you help me out and we can all go out together.
As for that one….”

He pointed at Yan Wei, “I don’t like this person so forget about him.”

Sun Shi also had a plan inside.

At the end of the instance, the tower would allocate rewards and select the best player from the surviving players who would receive additional benefits.
He had the clues to clear this instance, so he naturally didn’t want to miss out on this.
If Yan Mingguang and the others were willing to listen to him, then it would be best.

But the three people in front of him didn’t concede to Sun Shi.

Yan Wei didn’t even raise his head and just lowered his eyes and silently laughed.
He continued to cut into his steak and didn’t bother paying him any attention.

Yan Mingguang glanced at Sun Shi coldly and didn’t say anything.

Gao Ming originally wanted to talk to him, but he saw that these two great masters were ignoring Sun Shi.
He knew very well that their three-person team was only a temporary one and he was being carried by them, so he didn’t dare speak and just focused on eating.

Sun Shi stared at them for a while, his expression becoming increasingly ugly.
He looked at Yan Wei darkly and snorted, “That’s fine.
Don’t blame me for finding the stairs and leaving first.”

In the tower instances, it wasn’t considered as everyone clearing the instance if someone found the stairs and escaped.
If someone found it and left first while the others were unable to find it, the bosses in the instances would become stimulated and attack the remaining players.

Based on his previous experiences, Sun Shi was certain that he had the key to clearing this instance.
Later, they would go to the art studio to confirm the amount of work they needed to do and tomorrow, they would go and complete those portraits one by one, and this terrible instance would be over.

As for Yan Wei and the others, there was no point taking them along lest it affects the result of him being selected as the best player.

The tower had stipulated that players cannot kill each other but there are many ways to make someone die.

Sun Shi glanced at the three of them like they were already dead and quickly finished the rest of his food before announcing that he wanted to check the art studio and leaving with the three other beginner players.

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Only Yan Wei and co were left in the restaurant.

Gao Ming asked quietly, “We’re really not asking? From Sun Shi’s behaviour, he seemed to have found an important clue.”

“Firstly, I don’t think there are any important clues at the art exhibition.
Sun Shi may think that it’s important, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the clue is important.
The possibility of them being misled is very high.” Yan Wei leaned back in his seat, “Secondly, why ask? He will do something sooner or later so can’t we just watch what he does later?”

“Then if he is wrong……”

The young man took out a coin from his pocket, casually tossed it and spoke without concern, “Then he tried and got it wrong.”

Gao Ming was stunned.

He looked at Yan Wei with his mouth open but couldn’t say anything.
When he first entered this instance, he had thought that Yan Wei was someone who was good looking and gentle natured.
Even when he was unfamiliar with him, Gao Ming had always felt very comfortable talking to Yan Wei and that was why he was willing to help him out a little.

Later, even after realising that Yan Wei’s earlier personality was just an act, Gao Ming still regarded him as a sunny and gentle young man.

But now, this youthful young man who had always smiled gently was tossing a coin without concern and saying those words.
It was as if human life wasn’t worth anything to him.

His understanding of this young man seems to always be changing.

Please read this from kk translates

Yan Wei…..wasn’t someone he could see through.

While Gao Ming was stunned, Yan Wei had already finished his dinner.

The young man slowly stood up, patted Gao Ming and Yan Mingguang’s shoulders with his pale and well-defined hand and said, “Let’s go.
Let’s go back to our room to rest.
We shouldn’t do anything at night unless something happens.
I feel like I’ve been targeted but since the restrictions on the ghosts have been reduced and nothing has happened during the day, I believe I’m won’t be the only one who will be targeted.
Based on last night’s experience, Gao Ming, if you notice any movements in your room, don’t move or open your eyes!”

Gao Ming hurriedly nodded.

Yan Wei then glanced at Yan Mingguang.

It would be a lie if he said that he didn’t feel any pressure.
As long as he went out of the room now, he would always feel the portraits staring at him.
Those silent gazes seemed to stick to his body no matter where he went.

Unknown danger was always the scariest.
This time there was no attendant so he could only rule out everything he knew that could attract ghosts to reduce the possibility of triggering a death condition.

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But he was also somewhat confident inside —- And that was because of his immortal state that was still in effect and the unfathomable Yan Mingguang.

After waiting for a while, the man next to Yan Wei moved his eyes slightly and said, “If anything happens at night, call for me.”

.

That night, Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang first went to Gao Ming’s room.
After they sorted out the clues once more, they returned to room 5.

After returning to the room, just like what they did the night before, they threw out everything that could trigger a death condition and only after repeatedly confirming that there were no portraits hidden anywhere, they settled themselves in.

Yan Wei thought it would be the same for him as last night and that he wouldn’t be able to sleep — He had always had a problem with sleeping in a new environment and he was also quite picky.
For him to sleep in a place like this was asking too much from him.

But as soon as he closed his eyes, he was overwhelmed with drowsiness.

He seemed to have had a rather strange dream.
There were many people in his dream, and he seemed to have also seen Yan Mingguang.
This dream however couldn’t be considered a beautiful dream.
He would enter his dreamscape for a while and then be pulled out by the bloody and gruesome scenes.
It was a fitful sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, the sky was starting to brighten up.

The dim light penetrated through the gaps in the curtains, lightly illuminating the room.
He opened his eyes in daze and heard Yan Mingguang’s cold voice call out to him.
His voice was low and a little airy.

Yan Wei rubbed his eyes, “Morning.
It’s just the two of us, there’s no need to lower your voice when you speak.
It’s pretty disturbing.”

The man nodded.

This person sat next to the bed looking at him.
In the dim light, Yan Wei couldn’t see Yan Mingguang’s expression.
Much of his face was obscured in the shadows.

Yan Wei for some reason felt a little cold.

“It’s time to get up.
The sun is up.”

Yan Wei wanted to return with “up you mum” but it was overcast last night, and it had also rained so it would be normal for the sky to be dark today.
They only had one day left so they should really get up early.

He turned around and was about to lift up the blanket and get out, but his movements suddenly came to a stop.

Yan Wei’s breathing stopped.
He looked at the person sitting by his bed and could feel the blood inside him turn cold.

Under the blanket, he came into contact with a warm hand.
The fingers were long and slender, the palms were slightly sweaty, and the tips of the fingers were a little thick.
It would commonly become like this after one wields a weapon for a long time.

That was actually……the hand of Yan Mingguang who was sleeping beside him!