Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Three Teams
"Do you think this quest only requires us to stay for seven days without any other conditions, and there’s no penalty for failing as well? Could it be that the penalty for failure is death?"
In the elevator, Zhou Yingting asked while staring at the quest in front of them.
He was still a bit puzzled, wondering what the outcome of failing the quest would be.
"Based on our experience with similar quests, if there’s no clear failure penalty mentioned, the cost of failing is most likely death."
Song Qingyun spoke in a deep voice after contemplating slightly upon hearing this.
Death?
The four newcomers nearby suddenly felt a jolt in their hearts upon hearing this, their expressions changed at once.
"Don’t worry, this quest just requires us to stay for seven days without doing anything else. The issue shouldn’t be too big."
Seeing the four looking somewhat nervous, Song Qingyun quickly started to reassure them.
If the four remained this tense, it could easily lead to problems.
Any slight disturbance might frighten them and cause their Spiritual Power to drop.
At this moment, Zhou Yingting recalled his previous two quest experiences.
If he remembered correctly, the first quest required him to escape Wali Town before dying, and there was no penalty for failure.
And in that quest, those who didn’t complete the task indeed ended up dead.
The second quest, however, explicitly stated that failure wouldn’t result in death, merely a deduction in Life Quota as the price.
Comparatively, since this quest doesn’t specify the penalty for failure, it means death.
This highly dangerous quest requires extra caution.
"Ding!"
As the sound of the elevator reaching the floor rang out, the elevator doors opened immediately afterward.
A moldy smell wafted directly towards them.
Outside the elevator was a corridor, and alongside it was the apartment where they were to stay.
A carpet was laid on the corridor, tinged with a hint of blue, and stepping on it made no sound. The walls beside the corridor had already started to peel off somewhat.
"Let’s check out the rooms first, then gather together to see what to do next?"
Song Qingyun glanced around.
The corridor was long, with seven rooms spaced out far apart, quite widely spaced.
Room 704 was directly facing the elevator.
Upon hearing this, they all nodded and then each found their room, taking out their keys to open the doors.
Zhou Yingting inserted his key and opened the door, and with a creaking sound, the somewhat old door opened at this moment, a strong musty odor rushed towards him.
Zhou Yingting had just stepped into the room when he immediately felt a damp sensation.
The wallpaper in the room was yellowing, many parts peeling, and there seemed to be lines behind the wallpaper.
Zhou Yingting frowned, glancing around—a bed, sofa, computer desk, mirror, wardrobe, air conditioner, and there were quite a few pieces of bread, bottled water, and instant noodles on the table.
He reached out to touch the bed, and the bedding felt somewhat damp.
Looking around the bathroom, his frown deepened.
The bathroom’s condition was quite bad, with a yellowing toilet and a somewhat dirty sink.
To live here for seven days?
Just this environment alone was enough to drive someone insane.
Zhou Yingting frowned as he surveyed the room, then tore off all the partially peeling wallpaper.
Otherwise, when sleeping at night, he was genuinely worried he’d be scared by the fluttering wallpaper.
After Zhou Yingting was done, someone knocked on the door.
Suddenly, a chill swept over him.
He clearly didn’t close the door earlier, so how did it get closed? When did it happen?
Why was there no sound?
Zhou Yingting took a deep breath, noticing his Spiritual Power had just dropped by two points.
"Who is it?"
"It’s me. Brother Song said if you’re done, we can go over and discuss."
A gentle voice came from outside, sounding like that JK girl.
Zhou Yingting responded and went to the door, reaching out to open it. He saw the JK girl standing at the entrance.
Seeing Zhou Yingting come out, the JK girl slightly breathed a sigh of relief.
For some reason, standing alone in the corridor outside scared her.
"You’re quite brave, willing to close the door even when alone in the room. I didn’t dare to shut mine at all."
Seemingly trying to find a topic to bolster her courage, the JK girl said admiringly.
Zhou Yingting glanced at her and hesitated but chose not to mention what had just happened.
He worried that if he mentioned it, it would cause her Spiritual Power to drop.
According to initial Attributes, their Spiritual Power recovery was one point every hour.
She had already lost more than ten points, requiring more than ten hours to recover.
From now on, every additional point of Spiritual Power lost made her more endangered.
The most troublesome part was that the eerie presence could possess someone.
Though there was some distance between the rooms, it was just a few steps away.
When the two arrived at the entrance, they noticed the door was open and all five people were already gathered inside.
Zhou Yingting paused for a moment at the door, glanced at it, then walked in with strides.
"Okay, everyone’s here now. Let’s discuss our first step from here."
Seeing Zhou Yingting arrive, Song Qingyun spoke up immediately.
The four newcomers exchanged glances but remained silent.
Being newcomers, they didn’t know how to handle the current scenario.
And the two new male members, at this moment, had grown much quieter, seemingly influenced by the apartment’s atmosphere, causing them to become much more tense.
"Why don’t we scout around first to get some information? For instance, what is the usual situation of this apartment, at what stage do strange things occur, and so on?"
Hearing this, Zhou Yingting thought for a moment and spoke up.
He felt that clarifying the situation of the apartment might help in finding a way to respond, "Besides, in some horror movies I’ve watched, there are sometimes characters like mages. We don’t know if this quest has any."
"But I think it’s worth asking around. Just in case, it would be another layer of security."
Ying Shai nodded upon hearing this, "Alright, gathering information is fine, but we have to go in groups of two to ensure safety. But since there are seven of us, one group will have three people."
"Three teams total, each of us leading one team?"
Having an experienced member leading the newcomers would relatively increase safety.
Zhou Yingting didn’t mind this, acknowledging that teaming up provided extra safety.
Even if the newcomers had little Combat Power, having someone around might stabilize one’s own Spiritual Power, which was more important.