Chapter 71 Rumors of the Card-Clad Inn Town (Part 2) A knock at the door in the middle of the night...
After taking a hot shower, Ray felt refreshed all over.
Due to limited living conditions at home, he hadn't had a long time to enjoy a leisurely hour-long hot shower without worrying about hot water.
After taking a shower, Lai sat by the window for a while, looking at the scenery of the town outside.
The small building directly opposite the Kakou Hotel was completely dark on the third and fourth floors, as if it were covered by heavy curtains, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
He continued gazing at the distant street, occasionally spotting shops and residences still lit. There were few pedestrians downstairs, only stray dogs rummaging through the trash and drunkards staggering along.
"You son of a bitch!"
The drunkard's cursing was particularly loud on the empty street.
With a crash, he smashed the wine bottle in his hand.
"Woof woof woof, woof woof woof."
The stray dog whimpered and let out a sharp, pitiful cry before quickly running away. Leaving that trash can meant losing its food source for the entire next day.
The moon was still obscured by dark clouds, and the sky was pitch black; not a single star could be seen.
Lei drank the last sip of warm water from his glass, left only a candle, and went back to bed.
The bed and pillows were soft, and the blankets provided by the hotel were thick and had a faint, pleasant plant fragrance.
Ah, it smells like laundry beans.
Ray closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep, with his ever-present weapon under his pillow.
"Ah...ah..."
What was that sound?
Lei frowned; a faint sound came from outside, and he couldn't quite make it out.
The voice grew louder and louder until he finally passively heard what she was saying.
"..."
Lei felt an urge to swear.
Even though we're in the Magic Continent, why can we still hear that sound in the middle of the night while staying at an inn?
Are the townspeople really that thrill-seeking, coming to a rumored haunted hotel to do *that* kind of thing?
Lai pulled the blanket tighter, turned over, and closed his eyes again.
The sound gradually changed from a muffled groan to a passionate one.
"Knock knock knock!"
A loud knocking sounded on the wooden door, and the corridor instantly fell silent.
Okay, now I can finally get a good night's sleep.
The corridor finally fell silent, and Lei fell into a light sleep.
In room 301, Lamb quickly took a combat shower and began to explore the room, trying to find something unusual.
A wooden single bed, a wardrobe painted with clear varnish, heavy velvet curtains, a kettle filled with hot water, and a desk that has been scratched and carved with words.
"I visited this place on a certain day of a certain year."
"Damn it! Who's so bored?!"
After searching around without finding anything unusual, Lamb held up the candlestick and examined the two paintings hanging on the wall over and over again, studying the various details.
"Why does this tree have so few leaves? Why is the sky distorted? Why doesn't this person have facial features?"
Lamb's actions were purely nitpicking.
The person in the painting is only in the background; the face is so small that there's no room to draw the facial features.
"I wonder if my brother is asleep or not. I really want to chat with him for a while. I'm so bored!"
Lamb lay on the bed, bored, staring at the ceiling.
At this time of year, he would usually be either teasing the two younger members of his family or begging Hagrid to tell him all sorts of stories. Lately, he usually pesters Linda and the others to play cards with him.
"Ah...ah..."
What was that sound?
Lamb strained his ears to find the source of the sound.
That's so strange, it sounds like a feral cat calling during its breeding season.
Lamb's eyes widened, clearly realizing what that sound was, and his cheeks flushed red.
Ah...it's so embarrassing.
Lamb buried his head in the pillow, and the sounds outside grew louder and louder, eventually turning into a double bang that reached his ears through the thick pillow.
"Ah... the rich and fertile land has nurtured us, and the sunshine and rain have brought life to all things. We sow in spring and harvest in autumn. The goddess will bring us a bountiful harvest through our hard work and courage..."
Lamb began to sing, intending to use magic to defeat magic.
"Knock knock knock!"
A loud knocking broke the intermittent noise, and Lamb, who had been struggling to breathe, breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank you, brother who knocked on the door!
Lamb lay sprawled on the bed, surrounded by a refreshing fragrance.
Ah... I'm a little sleepy. Where am I? The bed is so soft and comfortable...
Lamb soon started snoring.
In the corridor, the butler once again carried the candlestick down from the third floor.
These young people nowadays are so reckless! They don't know their place and might offend a distinguished guest one day. It's better to learn a lesson early on than to mess with the wrong person later.
One by one, the candles that had burned out in the corridor went out, and the night had only just begun.
Ray didn't sleep well; he dreamed again about the days after the modern apocalypse.
Scenes from the past appeared in my dream like a slideshow.
A dilapidated, chaotic city devoid of order, a company colleague with bluish-green eyes, a living person with visceral fat flying everywhere, and a so-called friend who ultimately pushes him into a horde of zombies...
"ah!"
Lai was awakened by a nightmare and stared at the ceiling with his eyes open.
The candle by the bedside still burned with a faint flame, bringing a sliver of light to the dim room.
It was reduced to the length of a small fingernail, desperately burning itself to resist the darkness.
After falling asleep, he had nightmares. Lai got up, washed his face, lit another candle by the flame, put on his clothes, and sat by the window.
The dark clouds had begun to disperse, and the moon shyly peeked out with a small edge.
In this situation, Lai couldn't help but think of a modern poem—
Do not go gently toward that good night.
Old age should burn and roar at dusk.
Rebuke, rebuke the passing of this light.
Although wise people understand the rationale behind darkness at the moment of their death.
Because their words did not unleash lightning, they
And it did not enter that good night gently.
...
"Ah, why did my mind suddenly go that way?"
Lei muttered to himself as he looked out the window, trying not to think about anything and completely emptying his mind.
Clunk, clunk.
Strange noises came from outside again, and Lei frowned.
The sound outside was strange, somewhat like bones colliding.
Ray had some doubts, but wasn't sure. He quietly approached the door, pressed his ear against the crack, and adjusted his breathing to continue listening.
Clunk, clunk.
Lai's room is the second one on the right-hand side of the stairwell, directly facing the stairwell.
The sound grew closer and closer, passing through Ray's room and arriving at 301, Lamb's room next door.
The sound stopped, followed by a series of knocks on the door.
The knocking went off three times in a row, and Ray felt a chill run down his spine for Lamb. Fortunately, there was no sound of the door being opened.
The clattering sound rang out again, this time indicating they had arrived at room 303, Lai's room.
Knock knock knock.
Knock knock knock.
Knock knock knock.
Ray held his breath and stared at the door without moving until the knocking stopped, and then the door next to him was knocked on again.
A cold sweat broke out on his back.
He didn't hear any breathing outside the door!
Moreover, through the crack in the door, I could see faint green light.
Lei tiptoed and silently changed his clothes. He gripped his weapon—a bone knife inlaid with earth elemental stones—firmly in his hand.
Something's not right, something's very wrong.
Before figuring out what's outside, we absolutely must not act rashly; Lamb, who lives next door, still needs our protection.
The knocking continued, going on for five or six rooms without any response, until finally reaching the couple's room.
"Who the hell is it?! Can't I even relax in peace?! I paid for the room! I've already turned the volume down, what more do you want?! I was almost scared to death!"
A series of rough sounds came from the room, followed by the sound of the door being violently opened, and finally a man's astonished shout.
"Ah! Help!"
With a glass lamp in his left hand and a bone knife in his right, Ray rushed out of the guest room and headed straight for the room where the man had shouted.
The candlelight in Lai's hand flickered wildly as he ran at top speed. Hearing the noise, the thing standing at the man's door turned around quickly, dragging its long robe, and ran away.
The clattering sound grew even louder.
This time, Ray was absolutely certain that it was the sound of bones colliding.
He chased it all the way to the fourth floor but couldn't catch it. The thing ran to the window at the end of the corridor, flipped over, and jumped out.
Lai leaned against the window and looked outside, but saw nothing, so he went back down the stairs to the third floor.
At this moment, all the candles in the third-floor corridor had been lit again, and the butler appeared at the top of the stairs in his pajamas, where he unexpectedly met Ray.
The two looked at each other and nodded, then went into the man's room.
The man was still in a daze, slumped on the floor, his eyes glazed over, his trousers damp. The woman on the bed was wrapped tightly in the blankets, shivering.
What did you see?
"I asked the man seriously," Ray asked. But the man just turned pale, trembling all over, his teeth chattering.
"Let me ask."
The butler took over and slapped the man across the face, bringing him back to his senses instantly.
He knew this man.
This man was a thug at the West City Tavern. He had a gentle and virtuous wife who had given birth to two smart and healthy children for him a few years ago.
In just a few years, he has started having affairs with other women. Recently, for some reason, he seems to have turned the Kakou Hotel into his pleasure quarters, bringing a different woman there every now and then to enjoy himself.
What did you see?
The manager asked the man in a cold tone.
He stood with his back to Ray in front of the man, holding a candle aloft in his right hand, bending over and staring at the man, asking each word with a sinister and terrifying expression. Even the bald head that the man had mocked countless times in his mind when he checked in now looked extremely frightening.
"Ah! Please let me go, please let me go! I'll never do it again, I'll never do it again!"
The smell of urine wafted over, and the floor became even wetter.
The housekeeper sniffed lightly and walked to the bedside with the candle in hand.
"You saw that too, didn't you? Answer me!"
The woman shivered as she wrapped herself up even tighter.
"He forced me to do this! If I didn't go with him, he threatened to break my brother's legs! It's all his fault! Go find him! Go find him! He's killed someone! He's killed someone!"
The woman roared hysterically, her hair, tears, and snot all mixed together.
"I'm asking you to answer what you saw, not to say anything irrelevant."
The manager dismissed it with disdain.
“I saw it…I saw it…a moving skeleton with green eye sockets.”
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Author's note: Today is the Ghost Festival, be careful of late-night knocks on the door...
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