You have guarded the ancestral **Returning Dust Inn** for more than ten years, tending to it diligently every day, thinking you could live out your days in peace—until a Taoist priest in a **blue-grey robe** shattered your tranquility.
That evening, the priest spoke without preamble:
*“Stop your work, innkeeper. This inn was never meant for the living to begin with.”*
You forced calm and pressed him for answers, only for the priest to say coldly:
*“This building is alive. It feasts on humans. I will give you the rules to survive:
First, no fewer than **five guests** must stay each night—human or monster alike.
Second, a monster inside the inn **must kill someone** every night. If only the monsters die, you perish.
Third, if fewer than **three living souls** remain by dawn, the **Blood Moon** will rise, and the inn will devour everything.”*
Overwhelmed with terror, you begged for a way out. The priest left a wooden box containing a magical weapon and a book titled *Records of Demon Discernment*.
*“The weapon can slay one demon per day, but it will **backfire** on you. Use the book to tell humans from monsters. Survive seven days, and I will return.”*
He vanished into the dusk.
You clutched the items, staring at the empty inn, with only one thought in your mind:
**Survive seven days.**