Chapter 90: The entire hotel, with its 70 floors, is like a maze.

The hotel corridors had no windows, and when the lights went out, the entire floor was plunged into darkness.

The door behind him opened a crack, and light shone through the window. Fang Zhiyi turned around and glanced at the door number.

6606.

He is currently on the 66th floor of the hotel.

Having memorized the location of the room, he strode towards the noisiest spot.

The hotel's guests included not only players, but also NPC guests and NPC staff. At that moment, an NPC guest was shouting loudly, "Why is there a power outage? When will the power be restored?"

The waiter's eyes darted around: "The power cable was cut during municipal construction. It should be back online soon."

The NPC guest pressed, "How fast is 'sooner'? Give me a specific time!"

The waiter seemed a little embarrassed: "Um, um... let me call and ask." He hurriedly pulled out his phone, dialed, and after two rings, he asked in confusion, "Why is the signal gone?"

The NPC guest also took out his phone, but the signal was zero. He said impatiently, "What a lousy hotel! I want to check out! Give me my money back!"

Waiter: "We can't process check-out right now because of the power outage. Besides... there's no elevator, how will you get down?"

Without a second thought, the NPC guest declared, "I'll walk down!"

Waiter: "Our hotel has strict management. You must go to the service desk on the 88th floor to return your room card before you can get your key to leave the hotel."

NPC guest: "..."

Fang Zhiyi: "..."

Hotels should be managed in a militaristic manner.

Waiter: "So, would you like to check out?"

The NPC guest looked troubled and muttered, "Forget it...it's too much trouble. I'll definitely complain about you guys once the power is back on!"

After uttering these harsh words, the NPC slammed the door shut. The sound echoed down the corridor, and the oil painting hanging on the wall tilted precariously.

The waiter breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Fang Zhiyi: "Sir, is there anything I can help you with?"

Fang Zhiyi asked him to confirm, "Can I just take the room card to the 88th floor to check out and get the key to leave the hotel?"

The waiter said, "Theoretically, that's how it is, but there's a power outage right now, and I don't know if we can still process check-outs on the 88th floor..." He paused, "I still suggest you wait until the power is restored before going to the 88th floor."

Fang Zhiyi smiled and nodded, seemingly accepting the suggestion. But only he knew that the hotel would never have electricity again.

[Electricity Crisis]

Please leave Jiahua Hotel within 48 hours.

[47:59:59]

Fang Zhiyi returned to room 6606 and retrieved the room key from the door. He obtained a palm-sized white card and tried to stuff it into his backpack, but just like in the Cave Survival world, there was no game backpack here.

Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the backpack hanging in the walk-in closet and slung it over his shoulder.

Maybe we'll find some useful items later, and we'll be in trouble if we don't have anywhere to store them.

Having made preparations, Fang Zhiyi took a moment to open the channel.

[Channel] [Natural Disaster Survival] [998/999]

Why is one person missing as soon as we come in?

Where does the danger come from in a hotel?

[Stop talking, this person was born in an elevator, and when the power went out, the elevator malfunctioned and he fell to his death.]

Does this mean the elevator is out of service?

There's a power outage now, so none of the hotel's equipment works.

My goodness, do we have to hike up to the 88th floor and then back down?

Climbing down was okay, but climbing up was the hardest part. Anyway, I'm going to climb the stairs now.

Upon opening the private chat, Chu Zhao's message popped up.

[Chu Zhao: I'm in 6619]

Diagonally opposite 6606, Fang Zhiyi quickly spotted Chu Zhao. The two exchanged a glance, smiled, and without saying a word, walked toward the elevator in perfect unison.

The elevator entrance was located at the end of the corridor, where a group of people had gathered—players, NPC guests, and waiters—making a racket, like they were in a market.

The NPC guest angrily asked, "Why isn't the elevator working?"

The waiter struggled to explain, "There's a power outage."

The player took advantage of the chaos, making unreasonable demands: "The power outage is your hotel's problem. I want to check out now, so process my request!"

Waiter: "You have to go to the 88th floor. It's the hotel's policy, and there's nothing I can do about it..."

Fang Zhiyi passed by the elevator and arrived at the stairwell marked as an emergency exit. The door was locked and she couldn't open it no matter what she did.

Chu Zhao said, "The waiter should have the key."

Fang Zhiyi looked towards the elevator entrance, where the waiter was surrounded by a group of people, each saying something, all talking at once. He was so anxious that he was pacing back and forth, sweating profusely.

Fang Zhiyi forcefully squeezed into the crowd: "Make way—" He rushed to the waiter's side, grabbed his shoulder, and dragged him out of the crowd before anyone else could react.

"Where are you running off to?!"

Where are they?

Fang Zhiyi reacted quickly, leading the waiter into an empty room. The two of them pressed themselves against the wall, listening for the footsteps outside to fade away. Only when the people gathered outside were gone did they cautiously peek out.

Chu Zhao, who was keeping watch outside, made an "OK" gesture.

The waiter breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you so much, I really don't know what I would have done without you..."

Fang Zhiyi interrupted his polite words: "Do you have a key to the stairwell?"

The waiter looked embarrassed: "I don't have the key... but I know where to find it. There are two keys for each floor, one with the cleaning staff and the other with the manager."

"The manager isn't on the 66th floor right now, and the cleaning lady... she should have left the key in the cleaning room. I'll take you there."

The waiter led the way; he knew the hotel layout very well and led them through many twists and turns. If they had to find it on their own, they would have been completely lost.

The waiter went into an inconspicuous passageway where many cleaning tools were placed. Fang Zhiyi immediately noticed a bunch of keys hanging on the wall.

66-layer keychain

A key that can open most doors on the 66th floor.

Fang Zhiyi put the keychain into his pocket and then noticed a tool bag on the ground.

[Received 1 flashlight, 1 wrench, 1 screwdriver, 1 pair of scissors, and 1 hammer]

Whether it was useful or not, Fang Zhiyi stuffed it all into his backpack.

The waiter watched the fluid movements and said, "..."

Fang Zhiyi searched around but couldn't find anything else useful, so he turned his attention to the NPC waiter.

The waiter felt uneasy under their gaze and took the initiative to speak: "Are you going to the 88th floor? Our hotel has a history of 100 years and has undergone many renovations and additions. The structure of each floor is different. If there is no elevator, it is easy to get lost."

So that's where the pit was.

Fang Zhiyi asked, "Do you know how to get there?"

Waiter: "I'm only familiar with floors 66 to 70; I'm not familiar with the layout of the floors after that."

Fang Zhiyi pulled out a wad of cash from his backpack: "Take us up there."

The cash was found in the room. While the world's currency was useless to players, it was a different story for NPCs. The waiter's eyes lit up instantly, fearing Fang Zhiyi might change her mind. She snatched the cash, counted it, and eagerly said, "Come with me."

Instead of leading them through the emergency exit, the waiter led them into the corridor, removed the decorative picture frames, and revealed a secret passage.

The waiter was the first to squeeze in: "This is a passage reserved for our staff."

Fang Zhiyi took out a flashlight and shone it. The passage was narrow and tricky, located in a crack in the wall. Most people would never have thought that there was a way out here.

After winding their way through the passageway and climbing more than a dozen steps, they followed the waiter to the 67th floor.

As the waiter walked, he said, "Only the manager knows the route from the 70th to the 88th floor. The manager should be in the equipment room on the 70th floor right now, where there is an emergency generator."

"Logically speaking, even if the municipal power supply is cut off, the hotel's emergency power supply should still provide power for 24 hours. I don't know why, but the emergency power supply also failed, so the manager went to check the situation."

As he spoke, the waiter stopped in his tracks. "We've reached the 70th floor. I won't be going any further."

The road had come to an end. Fang Zhiyi pushed open the door to the passageway, which was again blocked by a painting that was taller than a person. He crawled out from behind the painting and found himself in a corridor.

[70 floors]

Shining a flashlight, the 70th floor was decorated in an ancient style, with a scarlet carpet covering the entire corridor, crystal chandeliers hanging down, and oil paintings and armor adorning the walls.

Stepping out into the corridor, I noticed that there were very few guests on the 70th floor; all the room doors were tightly closed, and there wasn't a single person in sight.

Fang Zhiyi looked around.

7001, 7003, 7005... The gold-plated door numbers are arranged in order, with odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left.

After circling around, they looked up again and saw the house number 7001. They had come full circle, back to where they started.

Just as the waiter said, it's easy to get lost in the hotel without someone to guide you.

【47:09:09】

The countdown had been going on for almost an hour, and the other players were also just wandering around the hotel like headless flies.

What kind of hotel is this? Is it a maze hotel? Has anyone reached the 88th floor yet?

【No】

I'm still going in circles on the 65th floor, I'm so frustrated, I can't find the exit no matter what I do.

I have a plan to reach the 88th floor.

[Quickly tell me]

Why don't we just pry open the elevator doors and climb straight up to the 88th floor?

Do you think what I said makes sense?

[...]

【…………】

If you're tired of living, go try it.

If you fell from that height, your body wouldn't even be able to be pieced back together.

[A prodigy]

[The last player who died in the elevator is watching you.]

Is there really no other way?

I found a waiter who said only the manager knows the layout of each floor, but the manager is on the 70th floor right now, so we have to go first.

[We can get to the 70th floor as long as we find the manager, but we can only find the manager on the 70th floor. So why don't we just go to the 70th floor first? Haha]

[They're nesting dolls here.]

I met an NPC repairman who said that half of the 70th floor is the equipment floor, and you can get to the equipment floor by entering room 7014.

Fang Zhiyi paused, and there in front of her was room 7014.

The door to the room was closed, and the entire floor was pitch black. I didn't know if anyone was inside.

Fang Zhiyi knocked on the door.

Knock knock.

A dull thud echoed down the corridor, but there was no response from inside.

The door lock is opened by swiping a card, but because the power is off, all electronic devices are ineffective, meaning the door cannot be opened by normal means.

Fang Zhiyi stepped aside: "You come here."

Chu Zhao had the skill of picking locks and opening doors. Fang Zhiyi stood by, shining a light, and watched as he leaned against the wall, inserted the room card into the crack in the door, slid it up and down forcefully, and then pushed it in with force. The door opened.