1.
[Welcome, players, to the SSS-rank horror instance: The Haunted Hotel.]
[You are trapped in an abandoned hotel in the middle of a storm.]
[However, you have no idea that this is no ordinary hotel.]
[The guests here are especially friendly. Every day at three in the morning, one of them will visit each of your rooms.]
[If you send a guest away disappointed, the fate awaiting you will be even more terrifying than death.]
[I hope we can survive and meet again.]
A gloating electronic voice, relishing everyone else's misfortune, blared from the speakers.
I pushed myself up from the filthy tiled floor and straightened my pajamas.
This was the lobby on the first floor of an abandoned hotel.
The crystal chandelier overhead swayed despite the still air, casting everyone's shadows across the walls and giving the place an indescribably eerie, horrifying feel.
More than a dozen new players in pajamas were sprawled across the floor, all looking frightened as they nervously surveyed their surroundings.
Meanwhile, several well-equipped veteran players stood on the other side.
Before I could even react, I heard a woman’s mocking voice.
“Oh, isn’t that my dear big sister?”
I looked up and met Tô Ngọc Đình’s eyes.
Tô Ngọc Đình and I were half-sisters.
My mother died when I was four.
My tycoon father married a beautiful, charming stepmother.
My stepmother gave birth to Tô Ngọc Đình, my little sister.
A stepmother means a stepfather, too.
From childhood, I was Cinderella, mistreated by my stepmother.
Before I was even tall enough to reach the sink, my stepmother had me washing dishes. Insects were always ending up in my food and water.
They even framed me for stealing money and made me kneel outside in the freezing snow in winter.
I gave as good as I got.
I swapped my stepmother’s diet pills for digestive medicine and made her gain twenty kilos.
I sent the man my sister had a secret crush on an unflattering picture of her without makeup. After that, he avoided her whenever they crossed paths.
When Dad got angry about my sister’s poor test results, I innocently showed him my first-place certificate from a cooking competition.
As a result, my sister had to attend summer school all summer.
And so, my sister and I became the most bitterly antagonistic sisters in the world.
I never expected us to meet again in this horror game.
A man in a suit had his arm around my sister. He gave me an arrogant look and said, “So this is the wicked big sister who’s always bullying you?”
“Let’s see how I help you get even this time.”
Tô Ngọc Đình happily snuggled into the man’s arms.
“Lý Vỹ, you’re the best to me.”
I raised an eyebrow.
So this was my sister’s new boyfriend.
Judging by his clothes and gear, he was probably a veteran player.
Several of Lý Vỹ’s lackeys crowded around them, gushing nonstop.
“Boss and sis-in-law are so lovey-dovey. I’m so jealous.”
“Oh my gosh, we’re getting a front-row seat to their PDA right here in the instance.”
Lý Vỹ raised his chin smugly and looked around with an air of arrogance.
“I’m Lý Vỹ, leader of the Dawn Guild, the number-one guild in the game world. New players are welcome to join my team. If you join us, we’ll protect you and get you through the instance safely. However… we only accept capable players.”
Lý Vỹ shot me an arrogant look.
“Oh, right, Đình Đình, what did you say your sister was good at?”
Tô Ngọc Đình glanced at me smugly.
“My sister? She’s a cook. She’s best at cooking.”
His lackeys looked at me mockingly.
“Cooking? Wrong place for that. What good is it here?”
“What, is she going to cook for the ghosts? Haha…”
Before long, a crowd of new players came rushing over.
“I’m a surgeon. Can I join your team?”
“I’m good at taekwondo. I have a black belt.”
“I’m a senior programmer. If we run into an instance that needs computer skills, I’ll definitely be useful!”
Lý Vỹ and Tô Ngọc Đình stood aloof as they accepted the players’ pledges of allegiance.
The other players noticed their hostility toward me and kept their distance.
I sighed softly.
I looked up at the notice at the hotel’s front desk.
The smallest rooms available here were doubles, and each required at least two players to stay in it.
If there weren’t enough people to fill the room…
Who knew what might happen in this bizarre instance?
Was I really going to die before I even got started…?
I gritted my teeth and took out a precious piece of secret-recipe beef jerky from my pocket.
I went up to a nearby player. “Hey, want to team up with me? You can have this beef jerky.”
He took it and chewed twice, then suddenly froze.
He slowly raised his head, and a voice so captivating it made my ears feel pregnant rang out.
“That’s delicious. Got any more?”
I looked at his face. In that instant, my heart skipped one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight beats.
2.
I swallowed with difficulty.
Standing before me was a tall, slender young man with a languid air.
He yawned, two sparkling tears clinging to his lashes, on the verge of falling.
His unruly, raven-black hair fell across his forehead, and his alluring eyes could make anyone’s heart flutter, even when he wasn’t trying.
Especially now, with those eyes gazing at me tenderly, full of longing for the beef jerky.
I answered without hesitation.
“I do!”
He blinked twice, looking bewildered.
“What?”
I awkwardly scratched my head.
“Wrong answer.”
The moment I saw him, I imagined us meeting, getting to know each other, falling in love, getting married, and having children.
When he greeted me, I even thought he was proposing.
“Sure. I can keep you supplied with beef jerky. Just team up with me.”
I nodded like a bobblehead and, dazed, grabbed the key to a double room from the front desk.
Room 419.
My eyes lit up.
What a suggestive number!
Could it mean we were going to spend a wild, romantic night together?
I shyly took the young man’s hand, ready to leave.
But Tô Ngọc Đình angrily blocked my way.
Tô Ngọc Đình looked at Bạch Vũ with contempt, then smugly glanced over at the new players crowded nearby, clamoring to sign up.
“Don’t you know that teaming up with him means making an enemy of our Dawn Guild?”
“The dungeons in this world are dangerous. Without our guild to back you up, you two rookies are as good as dead.”
“If you leave her, I can let you join our team.”
“I’ll even give you an exorcism talisman.”
Tô Ngọc Đình looked over smugly, only to see me gazing adoringly at the young man as I fed him beef jerky.
In the livestream chat, which we couldn’t see, comments flashed by one after another.
[Haha, Tô Ngọc Đình got humiliated this time. She used to throw her weight around everywhere, relying on Lý Vỹ and the Dawn Guild. Who knew this rookie wouldn’t even know who she was?]
[Has the System finally started choosing people based on looks instead of ability? This rookie is seriously handsome.]
[You can say that again. I’ve taken so many screenshots my hands are tired. Everyone says Tô Ngọc Đình is the number-one beauty in the dungeon world, but I think her older sister is way prettier.]
[That guy is incredibly handsome too. I think he’s even better-looking than Lý Vỹ.]
[Oh my gosh, what good are looks? This is the hardest dungeon, and it’s an unwinnable horror dungeon! Lý Vỹ is the strongest player on the rankings. And these two rookies are ignoring the veterans and doing whatever they want—they’re as good as dead.]
[You can say that again. I checked the guide—tonight they’re going to run into the Hell-level Gut-Ripping Granny.]
[Oh my gosh, I watched the Granny chase players last time, and I was so scared I couldn’t eat meat for two weeks. No…]