Chapter 171: The Killing Machine

Although the Mountain Peak Village scenic area had earned a tidy sum over the years from field trip fees paid by Central Arts Institute students, the Mountain Peak Hotel hadn’t seen any repairs in ages. All the facilities appeared very old and worn.

What the students found most irritating was that the hot water pipes in the hotel bathrooms were broken. While the toilets and sinks still worked, only cold water came out of the shower heads. Anyone wanting a hot shower had to gather and use the large public bathhouse on the first floor.

Of course, the boys who didn’t mind the cold could still shower under the cold water directly. However, the lake water piped down from Mountain Top Lake was especially icy, something most people simply couldn’t tolerate. The girls definitely couldn’t handle it; due to their special physiological constitution, they absolutely needed to go to the large bathhouse on the first floor for the hot showers.

Communication was cut off. Transport was cut off. And Lü Yang had just switched bodies right at this moment… was all this just a coincidence? An increasingly strong sense of foreboding gripped Lü Yang. He felt like some mysterious force was behind everything, pulling the strings.

He didn’t know what this mysterious force wanted, or even if it was targeting him specifically. But the mere fact that Zhou Ling had told him she and Han Cheng originally came from this place was enough to send a chill down Lü Yang’s spine.

Damn Zhou Ling! Always causing trouble!

Lü Yang forced himself to stay calm, grateful that Zhou Ling’s curse had coincidentally dropped him right beside Yi Ya. Otherwise, if something happened to Yi Ya, he’d be stuck far away in Guishe City, too far to help.

The Eerie Computer functioned normally, all the Eerie Cards seemed ready for use, providing Lü Yang with a slight sense of relief. He had to stay constantly alert for the opening of the Mysterious Domain. It went without saying that this Mountain Peak Village was an extremely dangerous place. That he had stumbled here by accident this time… Lü Yang believed it absolutely couldn’t be a mere coincidence.

Since he couldn’t contact the outside world and couldn’t leave, making a big fuss right now wasn’t wise. Causing a mass panic wouldn’t help him protect Yi Ya.

There was one question Lü Yang had been avoiding… but every now and then it surfaced in his mind, demanding an answer…

After that life-or-death struggle with Zhou Ling in the Mysterious Domain of Jinda Hotel… was this Yi Ya truly the same Yi Ya as before?

…

While the thirty-one students belonged to two small classes, these two classes often had lessons together back at school. Although Lin Yin was only a class cadre in one of these classes, many tasks were handled jointly by both classes.

After arriving at the Mountain Peak Hotel, Lin Yin’s task was to assist the two Counselors in arranging accommodation and meals for all the students. For Lü Yang, it was frustrating that according to Counselor Gong Xue’s arrangements, Lin Yin couldn’t be assigned to the same room as Yi Ya.

Lin Yin was the Class Secretary and a trusted helper for the female Counselor, Gong Xue. Gong Xue had already blocked the spot, assigning Lin Yin to share the room with her so she could easily delegate tasks as needed.

However, Lin Yin did have some discretion in assigning room numbers. Rooms on higher floors, especially those deeper inside the corridor, were the quietest, typically cleaner, and mostly designed for two people. Lower floor rooms, especially those near the outside, often had three or four beds, and their furnishings were much older.

Following Gong Xue’s instructions, Lü Yang assigned himself and Gong Xue the innermost room on the third floor. This room was quite large, featuring one big bed – it was designed as a couple’s room. Knowing students were coming, the staff had added a small bed, which worked perfectly for Lin Yin.

After consulting Yi Ya, Lü Yang put her in a room with Hu Yulan, conveniently located right across the hall from his and Gong Xue’s room.

Yang Lin and Wu Yunfei, however, were assigned by Lü Yang to a large room on the second floor, right next to the Staircase. It was a four-person room, and the door looked almost ready to fall off.

Wu Yunfei stormed up upon learning the assignments, his face flushed with anger. He demanded a room change and accused her of abusing her position to get back at them privately. Yang Lin stood behind Wu Yunfei, frowning deeply, his expression ugly. He clearly sensed Lin Yin was deliberately making things difficult for them.

Ever since Wu Yunfei clashed with Lin Yin earlier, Gong Jian had been keeping an eye on Wu Yunfei from a cautious distance. Seeing Wu Yunfei and Yang Lin confront Lin Yin, he immediately stepped in front of her, shielding her.

He clearly played the tank/meat shield role, perfectly fixing the problem Lü Yang faced inside Lin Yin’s body – her severe lack of offensive and defensive capabilities.

If Gong Jian could handle it, Lü Yang naturally wouldn’t intervene. Eerie Points were valuable, and wasting them on Yang Lin and Wu Yunfei felt completely worthless.

Hearing the commotion, Gong Xue rushed over. After hearing the reason for the argument, she first scolded both Gong Jian and Wu Yunfei. Then, looking over the assignments, she told ‘Lin Yin’ to move Yang Lin and Wu Yunfei into the two-person room deeper down the second-floor corridor. This managed to settle the dispute.

Seeing the vicious looks Yang Lin and Wu Yunfei shot over, Lü Yang suddenly felt all this maneuvering on his part was both unnecessary and petty.

He was only borrowing Lin Yin’s body temporarily. If his own dislike for Yang Lin and Wu Yunfei led to actions that seriously angered them, and they ended up holding a grudge against Lin Yin… wouldn’t he be hurting her?

Lin Yin had helped Lü Yang immensely with Yi Ya. Lü Yang was definitely going to get his own body back eventually. He couldn’t leave a mess behind for her, or worse, cause her unnecessary trouble or harm because of his actions.

He would need to pay more attention from now on and avoid letting Lin Yin make more enemies. As for Yang Lin and Wu Yunfei, Lü Yang felt a faint, budding intention to kill stirring within him.

Originally, Lü Yang had been kind-hearted. During his first Mysterious Domain experience in Qingyuan Residential Area, four Porters had attempted to gang-rape Sister Mei. Even then, Lü Yang hadn’t killed them outright. It was only later, when they tried to gang-rape Xia Yan, that he acted decisively.

In the second Mysterious Domain at Star Joy Gas Station Anomalous Domain, Lü Yang witnessed too much death. He gambled his life against death itself and barely escaped. Then came the third Mysterious Domain on Eerie Domain of Lutou Mountain. Three rounds of games. Three rounds of frenzied slaughter. That experience trained him into a ruthless Terminator. He grew almost numb to killing. So, during the subsequent Mysterious Domain in the Jinda Hotel, he could kill Zhou Ling without hesitation and even cruelly destroy her body.

The relentless nightmare of the Mysterious Domains pushed Lü Yang to the brink of despair and fundamentally changed his character. While his underlying kind nature remained intact, now, if anyone dared to cross his bottom line… killing wouldn’t make him hesitate even the slightest bit.

For a person to become a killing machine wasn’t all that difficult. The Mysterious Domain could achieve it within a week. The current Lü Yang was one such product of the Mysterious Domain. If necessary, Lü Yang wouldn’t hesitate to kill Yang Lin and Wu Yunfei to protect Lin Yin. And protecting Lin Yin also meant protecting Yi Ya.

…

Lunch was lavish. Although the cost per person per meal was only around ten yuan, the table was piled high with various meats: chicken, duck, fish, rabbit – diverse and plentiful. There were also countless mountain vegetables and wild delicacies no one had ever seen or tasted before. The chef’s skill was excellent, seasoning the dishes with special spices unique to the scenic area, making the students both relish the food and marvel at the experience.

According to the tour guide, if it weren’t so difficult to reach the mountains, this place would be swarming with tourists. Even visitors who came solely for the food, stayed in the hotel without sightseeing, just feasting happily for a few days, would feel the trip was worth it.

The students had initially thought the trip was too expensive. Yet after such a rich, amazing first meal, no one complained anymore. Just as the guide said, merely staying here enjoying the food for a few days could likely offset the cost of the trip, maybe even leave some extra value.

After the noisy lunch, the students, led by their two Counselors and three tour guides, began the walk towards Mountain Peak Village.

Among the three tour guides was one older man, Gu Zheng, who looked over fifty. The other two were women: Gao Lina, around thirty, and Guo Xiaohong, in her twenties. Calling them tour guides was generous; they were essentially locals or farm women living in the Mountain Peak Village tourist area who had received some basic training.

The main part of Mountain Peak Village scenic area backed against a sheer rock cliff tens of meters high. Led by the guides, the students climbed stone steps to reach the top of the cliff. Looking out, what stretched before them was an immense mountain plateau. The locals sometimes called it the Millstone Platform (Motaiping).

Although Millstone Mountain’s average elevation was over a thousand meters, the terrain at the top was surprisingly flat. It was just the journey up the mountain that was rugged. Once you made it to the peak, unless you knew you were on top of a mountain, you’d swear you were walking across ordinary flat land.

The path leading to the Mountain Peak Village heritage site was paved with large stone slabs. Over time, without maintenance, some slabs had sunk below ground level. The recent torrential downpours had left many shallow puddles along the road. After a morning of intense sunshine, much of the roadside had dried up, so it didn’t hinder the students’ walking.

Beside the flagstone path on the left was a vast mountain-top lake, called Mountain Top Lake by the villagers. The lake was huge; standing by the road, you couldn’t see the opposite shore. The other side of the path consisted of large expanses of cultivated vegetable gardens and fruit orchards. Although the entire scenic area seemed home to only a few dozen people, they grew an impressive variety and quantity.

On the surface of Mountain Top Lake, huge flocks of ducks swam and played, utterly unafraid of people. Many water birds also occupied the lake. Over in the vegetable patches on the other side, countless free-range chickens were pecking around, alongside pigs and rabbits grazed freely. Occasionally, creatures like pangolins might even wander over unintentionally.

Curious, the students asked the guides how such a small community within the scenic area could manage the huge orchards, vegetable patches, and vast numbers of livestock. The guides answered mysteriously, saying these plots and livestock didn’t need much tending at all from them. Their main job was simply to harvest when things were ready. When the fruit trees and animals were ripe or mature in large numbers, trucks heading into the mountains would bring extra laborers along to help with the harvesting or catching.