As she approached the building, the glass doors opened automatically.
Looking at these glass doors, Gu Wanyin deeply missed her hotel.
"I really want to go back to the hotel," Gu Wanyin muttered to herself.
Entering the building, the interior was elegantly decorated and kept spotlessly clean, completely unlike what you'd expect in a horror scenario.
At the front was a reception desk with a young girl sitting behind it.
This must be the tutorial NPC for the new scenario.
Gu Wanyin walked over.
"Hello..."
Before she could finish her greeting, the receptionist looked up with a bright smile and said, "Are you the new employee reporting to Ping An Company? The company is on the fourth floor, just take the elevator up and you'll see it."
Gu Wanyin: "..."
Damn, how could they have the same name!
Though thinking about it, her hotel wasn't the first to be called Ping An... it was quite a common name.
Although she felt somewhat uneasy about it, now wasn't the time to dwell on such matters. So after thanking the receptionist, Gu Wanyin took the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor.
The elevator seemed normal too, with various advertisements plastered on its walls.
With a "ding," the elevator stopped at the fourth floor.
As soon as Gu Wanyin stepped out, she saw the large characters spelling "Ping An Company."
Even the font was identical to the "Peace Hotel" sign.
Gu Wanyin's mouth twitched as she walked through the company's main entrance.
Looking around, she noticed that the reception area inside the company was identical to the lobby lounge in her hotel!
This couldn't possibly be a coincidence anymore!
Had the Star System gotten lazy? Or were 066 and its doctor deliberately trying to irritate her?
Never mind, solving this scenario was more important right now.
There was no one at the company's reception desk, and as Gu Wanyin walked further in, she entered the office area.
There were already more than a dozen people seated there.
Dong Yue and the others were among them.
Upon seeing her, they quickly waved her over.
Gu Wanyin walked over and sat down next to Gu Han.
"Is everyone here?" asked a chubby man.
"I don't know, how many are there now?" a curly-haired woman asked.
Gu Wanyin counted.
There were already sixteen people!
Just now, the number was double that of the previous scenario.
Gu Wanyin's heart sank.
The others didn't look too pleased either.
Generally speaking, more people meant the scenario would be harder to survive.
Although Gu Wanyin had only been through one scenario, she had read enough novels to understand this principle.
"In our last scenario, there were only eight people. Why are there so many in this second one?" Gu Han whispered in her ear.
"It's probably 066's doing," Gu Wanyin whispered back. "Maybe... it wants to trap us in the scenarios forever, preventing us from getting out alive."
"What kind of rotten system is this! I swear we're all getting out of here alive today!"
However, after a while, four more people arrived.
From their appearance, they all seemed to be experienced players.
This brought the total number of people in this scenario to twenty.
"Ahem!" The chubby man who spoke first cleared his throat. "Everyone here isn't new, right? Newcomers definitely couldn't enter a scenario of this difficulty."
No one claimed to be new, and the chubby man sighed in relief.
The curly-haired woman then said, "This scenario probably won't be easy. Let's hope we can work together and share any clues we find quickly."
"Should we introduce ourselves first?"
"Sure."
Everyone introduced themselves, though with so many people, it was unlikely anyone could remember all the names.
Just as they finished introductions, a woman wearing a blouse and pencil skirt walked over.
From her appearance, she was probably one of the NPCs in this scenario, as her smile was particularly bright, just like the butler from the previous scenario.
"Hello everyone!" The woman approached them with enthusiasm. "Welcome to Ping An Company! I'm the company manager, you can call me Sister Yuan."
"Hello, Sister Yuan!" everyone greeted her cooperatively.
"The company won't be too busy these days, but everyone should still work hard. You can choose any of these workstations. Also, the dormitories are over there, with four rooms total, five people per room. Please divide yourselves up."
It seemed perfectly set up for Gu Wanyin's group of five, with workstations arranged in rows of five and rooms designed for five people.
The five of them chose a row of workstations and sat down, turning on their computers.
Gu Wanyin opened her bag and let out her squirrel system for some air.
The squirrel system jumped onto her shoulder and placed its paws on her head, and Gu Wanyin heard its voice: "Host, this scenario seems very dangerous. I've heard from colleagues in other horror worlds that the more normal a scenario appears during the day, the more dangerous it becomes at night."
"I understand, I'll be careful," Gu Wanyin replied mentally.
While the previous scenario had seemed normal during the day, it had an ancient setting that made it less immersive, and the maids occasionally showed signs of oddity.
But this scenario, set in a modern company that was so normal and clean, felt far too familiar to office workers.
Even Sister Yuan showed no signs of being unusual, and was still patiently explaining work duties to one of the players.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was dusk.
They hadn't done much work all afternoon, mostly just killing time.
One player sighed, "If only real-world work could be this relaxed!"
"I'd rather be working myself to death in the real world than stay here living in fear," another player said with a trembling voice. "It's almost night..."
Everyone's hearts tensed at those words.
At that moment, Sister Yuan arrived carrying two large bags of boxed meals.
"Here's your dinner! After you finish eating, you can return to your dormitories to rest."
The boxed meals were normal too, with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, though the portions were a bit small.
Sister Yuan also gave each person a bottle of mineral water.
The other players ate ravenously.
Unlike Gu Wanyin's group, who had their system providing good food daily, these players weren't so fortunate.
After eating, they divided up the dormitory arrangements and quickly went to their rooms to rest.
Naturally, Gu Wanyin's group of five shared one room.
The dormitory was clean, with five beds covered in white sheets, complete with quilts and pillows.
"This really doesn't feel like a horror scenario," Zhuang Xiaoxia said while turning on the lights.
"Night is coming, we can't let our guard down," Bai Shuwen said.
"The boxed meal portions were too small, I'm still hungry," Gu Han rubbed her stomach. "Wanyin, can you make some hotpot? I'm craving hotpot!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a table appeared nearby.
Just like the hotpot restaurant in the hotel, the pot was self-heating, and there were abundant hotpot ingredients arranged around it.
There were even several bottles of drinks.
"Wow, I love this!"
The five of them sat down and happily enjoyed their hotpot meal.
Outside, night had fallen.
Only now did things begin to feel slightly eerie.
The darkness outside was pitch black, without moonlight, stars, or any artificial light.
Just as Gu Wanyin was about to finish her last sip of cola, there was a sudden knock at the door.
"Who is it?" Dong Yue asked.
"It's me," a woman's voice came from outside. "Sister Yuan."
