"Captain, we've caught a few minors."

"Just give them a warning and let them go."

After evacuating the customers from the Happiness Internet Cafe, Old Li asked the two cashiers squatting on the ground, "Where's your boss?"

Zhu Xianxian raised her head slowly, "The boss went out on business and hasn't returned yet."

Nonsense.

Chen Feng clearly remembered that in both the first and second loops, the Boss Lady never left the cafe.

Zhu Xianxian seemed like such a good girl, who would have thought she would lie? Could she be in cahoots with the Boss Lady?

Chen Feng turned on the front desk computer. The first and second floors were operating areas, so they had surveillance. Through the footage, Chen Feng quickly found that the Boss Lady had disappeared from the second-floor stairs half an hour ago: "Uncle Li, look, she must have gone to the Third Floor."

"She definitely has something to hide," Old Li instructed Deputy Captain Old Yang, "Cuff these two at the front desk."

Just after giving the order, Old Li, still uneasy, added, "Don't use zip ties, get the handcuffs from the car."

"Handcuffs?"

Deputy Captain Old Yang was quite surprised. Zip ties, being small and easy to carry, were more favored by law enforcement than handcuffs, but they had the drawback of being breakable by someone strong.

These delicate young girls didn't seem strong enough to need handcuffs.

Though he thought it was overkill, Old Yang trusted his partner and agreed, "Alright."

Then, Old Li began to assign tasks: "Now, split into three teams. You two, stay with Old Yang on the first floor. You three, go to the second floor. Ruo Bing, Mr. Chen, we'll head to the Third Floor together."

After speaking, Old Li was about to set off but noticed Chen Feng standing still. He asked, "Mr. Chen, do you have any objections to this plan?"

"Of course not."

Chen Feng replied sarcastically, "I think splitting up like idiots in a horror movie and getting picked off one by one by monsters makes perfect sense."

Zhang Ruobing was displeased, "Can you speak properly?"

But Old Li, upon reflection, realized it made sense: "Except for Old Yang and his team guarding the front desk, everyone else will come along."

A group of people clattered up the stairs.

The anticipated horror scene of human skins everywhere did not appear; there were only wood, sand, and an unfinished empty hall, exactly as Old Li had described.

Chen Feng was puzzled, "Where's the Boss Lady?"

"This is unbelievable," Old Li's heart skipped a beat. Although they hadn't found any human skins, a living person had vanished after going to the Third Floor. Could anything be more bizarre?

Someone walked to the window, "Did she jump out? No, there's dust here, no sign of it being opened."

Another speculated, "A secret room? A hidden compartment?"

Chen Feng disagreed, "I've been to the Third Floor before and saw human skins everywhere. Even if there was a secret room or hidden compartment, she wouldn't have had time to move everything so quickly."

Old Li said, "We came to the Third Floor this afternoon too, and it looked exactly the same as now."

Your Third Floor, my Third Floor, they seem different.

Zhang Ruobing sighed, "There can't be two Third Floors, right?"

Don't say it, don't say it!

Zhang Ruobing's offhand comment sparked an idea in Chen Feng. Like the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. As a demon's lair, there might indeed be two Third Floors here.

But what are the conditions to reach the real Third Floor?

Chen Feng recalled the second loop. At that time, to escape the Water Ghost, everyone was running to the Third Floor, but only he reached it. Thinking back, those people might have ended up here.

"And why was I able to reach the real Third Floor?"

"Could it be because I'm a transmigrator, something special?"

Chen Feng quickly dismissed this idea. If he was special and could reach the Third Floor, there was no reason he couldn't do it now.

What's different between me now and in the second loop?

Suddenly, a flash of insight hit Chen Feng: "I know! It's the key!"

Old Li was taken aback, "Key?"

In the second loop, Chen Feng had obtained a key here. The Boss Lady had specifically instructed him on three rules, including not going to the Third Floor.

Logically, there was no need to emphasize that rule. With a fake Third Floor as a cover, even if someone went up, they wouldn't find anything. Yet, the Boss Lady insisted on it, which meant that at that time, Chen Feng had the qualification to enter the real Third Floor!

The key is the secret door to the Third Floor!

Understanding this, Chen Feng immediately led everyone downstairs and grabbed an Internet Cafe Attendant leaning against the wall on the second floor, asking, "Where's your employee key?"

The attendant mechanically replied, "Reboot."

Damn, idiot.

Chen Feng rummaged through the attendant's pockets and quickly found a metal key, identical to the one in his memory.

"Got it!"

Before Chen Feng could celebrate.

Suddenly, a mutation occurred!

The attendant, who had only been repeating "reboot," suddenly made a strange, inhuman gurgling sound from his throat, then snapped free of the handcuffs, turned abruptly, and lunged at Chen Feng's neck with both hands.

But Chen Feng, having experienced life and death several times, was no longer a naive rookie. As soon as he heard the strange sound, he quickly retreated.

At the same time, the officers, realizing the danger, raised their yellow tasers and began to fire.

The crackling sound of electricity filled the air, but the attendant's movements didn't stop!

Except for Old Li and Zhang Ruobing, who had seen the Water Ghost, the other three officers gasped in shock, "Is this still human?"

"Go!"

With the tasers ineffective, the five of them had no choice but to pounce, trying to subdue the opponent. As officers, they were much stronger than ordinary people, yet they struggled to restrain the attendant.

"What strength!"

Old Li thought Chen Feng was quite foresighted. If it had just been the three of them, they might have been in real trouble.

At that moment, an officer grabbed the attendant's arm, trying to pin it down. But as he pulled, there was a ripping sound, and a piece of skin peeled off like damp wallpaper!

"Ah!"

The officer was startled, and his tug triggered a chain reaction. The attendant's skin began to crack and peel at a visible rate, revealing the red, rotten flesh underneath.

"Monster! Monster!"

"Its skin is peeling off!"

Even the seasoned officers' voices changed in shock.

Find the original at "pawread.com".

Once all the skin fell to the ground, the mass of rotten flesh lost its vitality and died completely.

Chen Feng's ears were immediately filled with the ghost-catching system's prompt.

[Imitation Human]

[Resentment Level: ★]

Imitation Human?

So this internet cafe was full of monsters!

Chen Feng quickly warned, "Quick, the walkie-talkie, warn the people on the first floor!"

Just then, there was a snap!

The entire internet cafe's lights suddenly went out.

Meanwhile, on the first floor.

"Why did the power suddenly go out?"

"Probably because of the rain."

The sudden darkness made everyone panic, including the three officers on the first floor. They reached out to turn on their shoulder lights.

At that moment, they heard a faint, dense rustling sound.

Bugs?

A soft crunching noise.

Old Yang felt something small, hard yet soft, crush underfoot. He thought, it's summer, cockroaches, centipedes, spiders, cicadas, any bug is possible. That's not surprising, but the quantity was.

There were many, many small moving things climbing up his pant legs.

"What is it?"

"Turn on the lights! Turn on the lights!"

In the chaos, the shoulder lights finally came on, and three beams of pale light swept around frantically. They saw spiders.

Lots of spiders, lots and lots of spiders.

Spiders crawled all over them, and even more covered the floor, writhing like a black carpet.

Now they understood why this internet cafe was so clean, not a single fly.

"Ah!"

"How, how can there be so many spiders?"

Old Yang wanted to escape but found he couldn't move. It was the silk, the silk spun by the spiders, binding them tightly in place.

"Don't leave."

A seductive female voice sounded, and the three of them turned towards it, feeling as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

They saw the most terrifying thing of their lives, almost beyond description.

A swarm of spiders, draped in fingernail-sized pieces of skin, connected the fragments together to form the shape of Zhu Xianxian.

The rustling sound grew louder, and a flood of spiders engulfed the three of them.

The pain! The pain was unbearable!

The feeling of being bitten all over was enough to make one faint from the agony.

"Old Li! Danger!"

Old Yang knew he wouldn't survive and reached for the walkie-talkie to warn his companions. But as soon as he opened his mouth, spiders crawled into his throat, causing him to cough violently.

The first floor, wiped out!

---

Proofreader: Peter Pan