Romantic Hotel

On the third day, the atmosphere in the hotel became increasingly oppressive, as if even the air was filled with unsettling particles, and every breath carried an invisible weight.

The White Order squad was running around frantically, trying to maintain a fragile balance amidst the chaos while avoiding the clearly defined traps in the rules. Everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit, and frustration accumulated in the silence.

At lunchtime, everyone dragged their tired bodies to the staff canteen.

The food looked the same as usual until someone lifted the lid of the main course—it was a collection of dark red, strangely textured pieces of meat that seemed to be trembling slightly, emitting a strong, nauseating stench of blood that was completely out of place in the atmosphere of the "romantic hotel".

[Rule Seven: The hotel kitchen will provide staff meals daily. However, please note that if any food contains red meat, do not eat it and immediately report it to the manager in the black uniform.]

The air froze instantly, leaving only an unsettling silence and the lingering stench of blood.

"Red meat..." someone repeated in a low voice, their face grim.

Just then, the restaurant's loudspeaker crackled to life, and a cold, emotionless voice rang out. It wasn't the manager's voice; it sounded more like some kind of automated notification.

Friendly reminder: All employees must finish their lunch within the designated time and must not waste food. Failure to finish lunch will be considered a violation of work discipline.

The notification sound repeated three times, then fell silent.

Rule 7 states that red meat cannot be eaten, but the restaurant's policy seems to mandate that it be finished? A conflict has arisen.

Despair and struggle were evident on the faces of some of the randomly selected participants. Should they risk exploding to eat that bizarre meat, or violate the dining rules and face unknown punishment?

Bai Xu sighed and activated the second "Eye of Rules" in the instance. It was only the third day, and he hadn't wanted to use his second chance so soon.

After a brief silence, he looked up: "Rule number seven is correct; we absolutely cannot eat this meat."

"Then...then this piece of meat..." a random participant asked in a trembling voice, looking at the gruesome "food" in front of him.

"Don't touch it, just leave it there," Bai Xu said calmly.

Most of the seventh-sequence members and some of the more composed random candidates heeded the advice, suppressing their discomfort and a vague sense of threat, ignoring the red meat in front of them, and silently taking out spare food or eating only other side dishes. A tense silence permeated the restaurant.

However, not everyone can withstand this dual pressure.

A random participant, who looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown, sat not far from Bai Xu and the others. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the piece of meat in front of him. The "friendly reminder" broadcast over the loudspeaker seemed to be amplified in his mind like a demonic chant.

"I have to finish eating... I have to finish eating... I'll die if I don't eat... I'll die if I eat... No, I might not die if I eat... The rules might be fake... Yes, they're fake!" He muttered nervously to himself, and under extreme fear and pressure, the string of reason finally snapped.

He suddenly grabbed the fork, speared the largest piece of red meat, closed his eyes, and shoved it into his mouth with an almost frantic gesture. He chewed it haphazardly a few times and then swallowed it whole!

"Hah...hah..." He gasped for breath, a morbid look of relief and anticipation on his face.

A few seconds of deathly silence.

Then, his body jerked violently, his eyeballs instantly becoming covered in bulging blood vessels and bulging horribly from their sockets. He gripped his throat tightly with both hands, making a bellows-like sound. It felt as if countless insects were wriggling and swelling wildly beneath his skin, his entire body rapidly expanding and deforming like an inflating balloon.

"No...no..." His last words were filled with unbelievable despair.

"Bang--!!!"

With a muffled explosion, he was blown into a cloud of blood and flesh, splattering the surrounding ground, tables, chairs, and people who couldn't get out of the way.

A suppressed gasp and retching echoed through the restaurant.

No one spoke; only the pungent, suffocating smell of blood filled the air.

……

In the afternoon, a new crisis followed, attempting to wash away the bloodshed of midday, but instead bringing a deeper chill.

[Rule Six: If you hear a baby crying, please go to the nursery on the west side of the third floor and make sure the dolls inside are smiling.]

The piercing, venomous cry of a newborn baby, filled with endless resentment, came precisely from the west side of the third floor, penetrating through layers of walls and reaching everyone's ears, unsettling everyone's mind.

"Here we go again." Hong Yuan frowned, her eyes filled with suppressed frustration.

The nursery on the west side of the third floor has a sign with a childlike and cute rainbow and clouds on it, which forms an eerie contrast with the tooth-grinding cries coming from inside.

Pushing open the door, a chilling atmosphere hit me. There was no crib, no toys, only rows of stark white metal shelves, densely packed with dolls of various shapes and sizes.

They wore exquisite lace dresses or little suits, their faces painted with exaggerated blush, and all of them had the same hollow and stiff smile. Countless pairs of glass eyes reflected a cold light in the dim light, all "looking" at the doorway.

The crying sound came from a doll on the bottom shelf, dressed in a faded blue onesie, with no expression on its face and a downturned mouth.

"Make sure they... are smiling?" Shadow clicked his tongue, scanning the room full of eerie smiles, feeling as if he were being watched by countless eyes.

They quickly discovered that making the "crying" doll "smile" was not a simple matter of adjusting its expression. After careful trial and observation, they deduced a specific "soothing ritual": first, gently wipe the doll's face with a white velvet cloth with cartoon patterns hanging on the nearby shelf; then, position it in a proper sitting posture with its legs together and hands on its knees; finally, gently press a deeply hidden, cool-to-the-touch metal button on its back.

"There are so many steps," Shadow murmured, cooperating with Red Kite to follow the procedure. When the button was pressed, the crying doll indeed stopped its annoying crying, its face made a slight "click" sound, the mechanism turned, and it put on a standardized smile exactly like the other dolls.

"It's temporarily resolved." Hong Yuan breathed a slight sigh of relief, but her vigilance remained.

Just as they were preparing to carefully retreat from the uncomfortable room, member A, who was still somewhat dazed and had difficulty concentrating, tripped over the edge of the heavy carpet while dodging a doll that was placed too far out. He stumbled and accidentally bumped his elbow into a doll wearing a pink dress on the shelf next to him.

"Clatter!"

The doll fell to the ground, but instead of the crisp sound of plastic or ceramic, it made a dull, teeth-grinding sound, like old bones breaking.

"Oh no!" Bai Xu's heart sank.

A figure appeared at the doorway as if emerging from the shadows of the wall—an unusually tall and obese “care worker” wearing a white nurse’s uniform stained with dark yellow dirt, a huge sterile mask covering his face, revealing only a pair of cloudy, bloodshot eyes.

In her hand she held an enormous metal syringe, its barrel as thick as a child's arm, its needle gleaming with a cold, eerie blue light.

"Bad...child......" The caregiver's voice came out muffledly from behind her mask, as if air was leaking from her trachea. Her cloudy eyes were fixed on member A, who had thrown the doll away. "...Needs...punishment..."

Before she finished speaking, with a speed that seemed incongruous with her obese figure, she raised the huge syringe and lunged at member A!

Although Member A was mentally traumatized, as a veteran of the Seventh Sequence, his fighting instincts were ingrained in his bones. The moment the caretaker appeared, the dazed look in his eyes was replaced by a sharp edge.

"Get out of my way!" he growled, advancing instead of retreating, his body slightly shifting to the side to avoid the terrifying needle that was thrusting straight at him. At the same time, he drew a specially made, gleaming short blade from his waist and slashed it fiercely at the zookeeper's arm holding the syringe!

The short blade sliced ​​through the sleeve of the nurse's uniform with a tearing sound, but what was revealed below was not flesh and blood, but a grayish, rubbery or hardened skin texture, leaving only a shallow white mark.

Without pausing, the zookeeper's other fat arm swept across like a heavy pendulum, bringing with it a foul stench.

Member A ducked to dodge, then thrust his short blade toward the opponent's ribs, while simultaneously trying to find an opportunity to attack the seemingly vulnerable eyes or neck.

His movements were swift, precise, and ruthless, demonstrating his rich practical experience. For a time, he was locked in a fierce struggle with the terrifying caregiver, the sounds of clashing metal and heavy blows echoing in the cramped nursery.

Bai Xu, Hong Yuan, and You Ying immediately wanted to rush forward to help, but the moment they moved, an invisible and powerful force suddenly descended, like the most solid ice layer, firmly imprisoning the three of them in place.

No matter how hard they tried to muster their strength, their bodies couldn't move an inch, and even their voices seemed to be suppressed in their throats. They could only watch helplessly as their companions fought alone.

"Ho...ho..." The caregiver seemed enraged by member A's resistance, letting out a strange hoarse sound. She suddenly slammed the huge syringe in her hand onto the ground!

"Thump!"

The dull thud seemed to be a signal.

In an instant, all the dolls on the shelves that were originally still and smiling suddenly turned their glass eyes and focused on member A who was fighting!

The next second, a scene that made your scalp tingle appeared.

Those dolls, each one seemingly imbued with an evil life, grinned with stiff smiles, jumping and climbing down from the shelves.

Their movements, sometimes stiff, sometimes swift, made "click" and "rustle" sounds, surging towards member A from all directions like a white tide!

Member A was struggling to withstand the heavy blow from the caregiver when he caught a glimpse of this horrifying scene out of the corner of his eye, and his pupils contracted sharply.

He tried to swat the approaching dolls with his knife. As the blade sliced ​​through, several dolls were split open, revealing not cotton or plastic, but some kind of dark red, fibrous substance. The split dolls instantly turned into more fragments, which continued to pounce on him as if they were alive.

More dolls pounced on his legs and body, their tiny, yet incredibly hard hands gripping his clothes and flesh, their mouths opening to tear at him with their small, sharp teeth, trying to drag him down. There were so many of them, an endless stream, that they overwhelmed his vision.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the caregiver let out a strange laugh, raised the huge syringe again, and, seizing an opening, plunged it into the back of the neck of member A, who was temporarily trapped by the dolls!

"A!" Red Kite's eyes widened in horror, but she was unable to move.

Member A unleashed his last bit of strength, knocking several dolls away, and then twisted his body sharply, parrying upwards with his short blade!

"clang!"

The short blade clashed with the syringe, sending sparks flying. But more dolls had crawled all over his body, the heavy drag distorting his movements. The caretaker's other fat hand slammed heavily on his chest!

"Pfft!" Member A spat out a mouthful of blood, his aura instantly weakening.

The dolls, like piranhas that have smelled blood, surged forward even more frantically, enveloping and submerging him layer by layer.

His struggling figure gradually disappeared within the white "cocoon" formed by the dolls, leaving only suppressed roars and grating gnawing and tearing sounds emanating from within...

A few seconds later, the dolls receded like a tide, climbed back onto the shelf, and resumed their original sitting and smiling posture, as if they had never moved.

Member A has disappeared from the spot.

In a previously empty spot on the middle shelf, a new doll had appeared. It wore tattered fabric from a seventh-sequence uniform, its face roughly smeared with blush, and the corners of its mouth forcibly pulled upwards by some force, fixing them into a stiff and eerie "smile" indistinguishable from the surrounding dolls. Its once sharp eyes had now become two empty glass beads, reflecting the dim yellow light of the nursery.

The caretaker looked at the new "member" with satisfaction, put away the huge syringe, and disappeared quietly as if melting into the shadows.

The invisible force that had been binding Bai Xu and the other two was also released.

Hongyuan stumbled and nearly fell, but Youying caught her. She stared intently at the familiar yet unfamiliar "doll" on the shelf, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails dug deep into her palms, drawing blood. Youying's face was ashen, and her chest heaved violently.

Bai Xu stood still, his gaze slowly shifting from the new doll's face to the room full of silently smiling dolls, finally settling on the empty doorway. His face was expressionless, his eyes unfathomable, only his jawline taut like a knife.

The seventh sequence suffered its first loss, in such a bizarre and cruel way.