Chapter 102
"What would happen if we didn't go to the arena with you?"
The waiter at the park asked, holding the still wet No. 1 fish that he had just pulled out of the water, looking at the top of the pool motionlessly, bending over with a smile.
The waiter was still smiling, but he didn't look friendly. At this time, standing there, even if the body was not tense, it made people very nervous. It seemed that we had to pay attention to his actions and words involuntarily. He said to the park: "Guests, please don't embarrass me. If you don't want to go, I will exercise my rights as a member of the hotel."
Paradise asked: "What rights do you have?"
The waiter smiled and said, "Although I am just a waiter, I am a waiter of the hotel. In a hotel, I always have more privileges than other guests. This is a very normal thing. Guest, if you want to ask about my rights, I can't tell you all because you don't have that authority. However, if it is just for this matter, I can tell you a little.
You want to know what rights I can exercise regarding this matter. I can kill the guest here as compensation for another guest who paid money but did not get the corresponding rights and services. However, this kind of thing is really against the harmony of heaven. I know that God is merciful, and our hotel boss also told us so.
So our rules say that you don't have to use this right unless it's necessary.
Guests don't need to worry about this.
We waiters serve guests, not to bury them. We are polite and patient. As long as you give a specific time limit, I am willing to wait here for a short while. Of course, sir, it is only a short while. There is no extra time. If I wait any longer, it will be unfair to the other paying guest. Do you know what I mean?"
The waiter looked at the park.
Rakuen hesitated for a moment, then took out a red envelope from the pocket of his yukata, opened it and saw that there seemed to be money inside, so he took it out, handed it to the waiter and asked, "Excuse me, can I pay for this?"
The waiter took a look, nodded, and said with a smile: "Of course."
He asked: "You mean, can you give me the money? But as a waiter, I cannot collect the payment from the guests alone."
The waiter even looked embarrassed when he said these words, but Leyuan knew that what he meant was not that he was in a difficult situation and asked me not to be like this, but that he asked me to find a way to give the money to him.
I could even feel that when the waiter spoke, there was a look on his face that said, "If you give me money, maybe this matter will be over."
Of course, everyone knows that things can't just end like this, but there is no doubt that waiters need money.
Leyuan thought for a moment, retracted his hand, and glanced at the guest in the distance. The guest was still looking here, with interest and patience, as if he could wait for a while. Leyuan retracted his gaze, looked at the waiter and said, "What if I want to buy some time?"
The waiter smiled and said, "Oh, you mean you want to buy a waiting service from the waiter? Okay, you can choose a time here. Would you like to choose one minute, five minutes, or ten minutes?"
Paradise asked, "Can't it be longer?"
The waiter smiled and said, "According to my judgment, the guest can solve the problem and leave the hot spring area within ten minutes at most, right?"
Paradise did not answer.
The waiter added, "If the guest needs more time, of course it's OK, but the guest doesn't have that much money, right? If the guest needs more money, guests are welcome to change their identities and earn money anywhere in the hotel. As I said before, whether it's being a waiter or playing games, guests are free to choose. Once chosen, it cannot be returned or exchanged. Guest, have you made up your mind?"
The park handed the money to the waiter: "This is all for you."
He waved to Jongin, who handed his red envelope to Leyuan. Leyuan opened it and saw that there was still some money inside. He took out some and handed it to the waiter, saying, "These are also for you as your tip. What do you think?"
The waiter smiled and said, "Sir, although the hotel does not prohibit waiters from accepting tips, are you sure you want to give me this now? I don't mind accepting it, but I think you may need these things in the future. More than I do."
Leyuan said, "It doesn't matter. I need it now. Will you accept it?"
The waiter took the money and smiled even more brightly: "Thank you, how much time do you want?"
Paradise looked at No.1 and said, "Give me a one-minute one first."
The waiter nodded, stepped back, and stood in the shadow beside him. His body gradually blended in, as if he had turned into a ball of black smoke and disappeared.
Leyuan handed the face skin he picked up to No.1, but No.1 did not take it. He seemed to have lost consciousness, and looked dazed and listless. However, it was no wonder. After encountering such things, a normal person would not feel that he was doing well. Leyuan thought about it, and put the face skin from top to bottom on the surface of No.1's head. It was as if No.1 had a hat made of his own face skin on his head.
Quite funny.
Someone was laughing nearby. Leyuan turned around to look, but he didn't see anyone, nor did he see anyone's shadow. He retracted his gaze, stretched out his hand, put it on No.1's shoulder, and shook him. No.1 blinked and came to his senses, as if he had forgotten all about his madness. When he saw Leyuan's face, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a pitiful and innocent smile, and asked, "Guest?
What's wrong?
Leyuan blinked: "Ah? What did you call me?"
Number One paused, then continued with a smile, "Oh, I don't know your names yet. But it doesn't matter. Knowing them or not won't affect my survival, right? How should I address you? Forget it. Actually, addressing you is not important. I didn't know your names at all before, but I am still alive today, right?
I don't need to know that. It's useless information and it will affect my brain."
He reached out his hand and touched his head, feeling the bones. He raised his eyes and looked up, seeing that his skull was still hanging in the air. He smiled slowly at Paradise and said, "Oh, it seems that I am a little rude. Please wait a moment."
Number One closed his eyes and used both hands to tidy up his face. His face gradually returned to its original position. Suddenly, his hands shook and his face became crooked. He opened his eyes, looked at the park and asked, "How am I?"
He seemed to be judging whether I looked good or not.
Leyuan was unable to answer for a moment. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.
Number One smiled and said, "It looks normal, that's good, let's go out like this! Anyway, we don't have much time, it's totally unnecessary to waste time here. I know, the guests are very caring to me, I should be grateful, right? I remember everything, I know it very well, I haven't forgotten anything, what a good person I am! Hahaha."
He seemed to want to tell a joke, but seeing that Leyuan looked confused, he did not continue. Instead, he slowly stood up and walked out. The pool did not seem very deep at this moment. The water in the hot spring splashed, falling from No. 1's waist and abdomen, rolling into the pool, and disappearing little by little along with the milky white water vapor.
It seemed as if any trace of Number One's presence here as a human being had completely disappeared.
I have to admit that this method of handling is very clean and ensures the cleanliness of the pool. However, watching Sen Wan tidying up the pool feels a bit weird for some reason. It's not the weirdness that a monster will come out at the next moment, but an inexplicable premonition, as if something is about to happen, and the person who has the premonition doesn't know whether it is good or bad.
Number One stood on the pool with his chest still open, with green water plants growing out like vines inside. The growth reached the surface of his clothes and formed a pattern on the clothes, which actually looked pretty. However, Number One followed Paradise's gaze and saw the pattern on his clothes. He frowned, reached out his hand, and tore off all the green patterns in one swoop.
The patterns were torn out of the clothes, just like a flower that lost its sunlight, water, fertilizer and roots, and died instantly. They gradually turned into ashes, fell to the ground, and were blown away by the wind. Number One blinked, and felt that the wind was a bit annoying, but grinned and said, "Great, they will die anyway. It's just that I didn't know how to do it before."
Number One clapped his hands, and the ashes in his hands disappeared. Those ashes were not all ashes, but some green water plants in disguise. When Number One clapped his hands, they wanted to resist and struggle, but under the blow of Number One, they gave up, because their resistance was useless, so they had to turn into real ashes, fell off, and then died, and were blown away by the wind.
The wind here seems to be the hotel's cleaning staff.
The park questioned the staff and confirmed it.
The attendant nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. Our cleaning staff are of all kinds, depending on their mood. Sometimes they are translucent gelatinous creatures, sometimes they are colorful mist, sometimes they are a tiny breeze, and sometimes they look like insects crawling repeatedly on the ground. Don't panic when you see them, they are all very gentle and have very good tempers."
Number One asked, "What do you mean by very good?"
The waiter smiled and said, "They are the most patient people in the hotel."
Number One was skeptical and murmured, "Really?"
He seemed to want to laugh, and his emotions moved his facial muscles. However, his mouth was crooked and his eyes were slanted. With just a slight smile, he revealed a simple and foolish temperament. He realized this, restrained his smile, moved his face, and stopped laughing. Instead, he murmured to himself in the smallest voice: "When can I become normal? I don't know, I don't know."
He blinked and said nothing more, as if he was exhausted from arguing with himself.
The park asked the attendant: "Why do the cleaning staff all look different? If someone can't recognize them, won't it cause trouble?"
The waiter said, "It's okay."
He just said this without explaining, as if explaining this would violate the hotel's rules.
Paradise did not ask any further questions.
A group of people walked to the arena.
He did not remember how he got to the amusement park, but he got there anyway. In his recollection, he seemed to just follow the waiter, moving forward step by step. He was surrounded by black shadows, behind the shadows was a red velvet curtain, and the ground was covered with slightly reflective, mottled black and white ceramic tiles, the surface of which was slightly yellow, like fried salt.
The top layer is covered with a translucent, furry, bright red carpet.
There was no one on the road, but there was a trident-shaped candlestick hanging on the wall. On the candlestick was a white candle, and at the top of the candle was burning a small cluster of lively flames. Occasionally, the candle would turn into a black crow, combing its feathers high up, looking down with two or more red eyes hidden under the feathers. The bird's beak was a light yellow covered with a layer of gray, and it would flash from time to time.
It's like hiding an exquisite and delicate diamond.
The entire corridor was filled with a rich fragrance, as if the corners were filled with invisible perfumed carnations and foxtail lilies, as well as large and small ornately wrapped red and white gift boxes. No one knew what would happen when they were opened, but they were very eye-catching. At the same time, there was almost no possibility of catching them, and no chance of opening them.
I say almost because when I was walking, I felt as if I saw a black shadow like a crack in the abyss, smiling and waving.
Maybe that is part of them, like the suction cups of an octopus, the tentacles of a squid, and the fragments of a jellyfish body. They float quietly in the darkness, as if those marine creatures are immersed in the salty sea water waiting for someone who can glimpse a corner of the mysterious scenery to appear, discover them, explore in depth, and then die beside them.
On the ceiling are countless colorful gems, carved into various shapes of gods and demons fighting each other, forming a scroll. Looking up, walking forward step by step, it seems as if you can see the ancient epic unfolding before your eyes. There is an illusion that if there were no waiters or guides in front, you could walk forever until you die here. However, you will never be able to see all these things until you die.
No one can see the end of this road, just as no one can see the end of this painting.
Everything is so beautiful and charming.
The magnificent picture that is difficult to describe in words is so long and tortuous, just like every lost poem in history. Le Yuan was almost intoxicated by it. It was not the painting's problem that he could not fully enjoy the beauty of the picture. Part of him was on Jongin's side, and Jongin's side was blurry, making Le Yuan always feel that he was blind in one eye, deaf in one ear, and half of his tongue was numb.
If his body had not been affected, he would have fallen down while walking on the road. He felt as if he had become a horrible, terrible, and miserable patient who had leprosy, had an epileptic seizure, bit his tongue, and found that he had suffered a stroke and had lost control of half of his body.
Then everything became terrible.
It was like eyes in the darkness slowly opened.
Leyuan saw an eye opened in the endless darkness. No, he did not see the whole eye. It was just a strand of brilliant golden color mixed with a dark halo. Although Leyuan did not see the halo in its entirety, he was very sure that it was the halo, because that was what the eyes of animals looked like and he had seen it in other places.
Although he couldn't remember where he had seen it, he had definitely seen it.
The animals in his memory did not have such big eyes, let alone such big pupils. However, it did not affect Leyuan's ability to magnify the pupils of the animals in his past memories tens of millions of times, or even larger, so that he could clearly confirm that he was not wrong.
That was an eye. Even if there was only a slight slit in that eye, it was still bigger than the sun. Not the sun that you see when you look up at the sky from the ground, but the real sun in the universe. In front of such an eye, the size of the sun is nothing but dust. This is the horror of the eye.
Of course, Leyuan also thought that maybe it was just an illusion. An illusion means that everything inside is fake. If everything is fake, then there is nothing to be afraid of. However, he couldn't convince himself. If he could distinguish between illusion and reality, he wouldn't have to be troubled by this.
Put aside the things you can't do for now.
Leyuan blinked and came to his senses, but he couldn't tell whether it was a corridor or an arena.
Jongin held Lok Won, handed him a notebook, glanced at the floor and said, "I don't know if you saw it when you came over here, but I thought the carpet here was weird, so I lifted it up and saw something underneath. It didn't seem right, so I picked it up. Do you want to turn it over and take a look?"
Leyuan took the book, looked at Jongin suspiciously and said, "You wouldn't treat me like this before."
Jongin smiled and said, "The past is the past, and the present is the present. No one remains unchanged. Just like you couldn't see me or touch me before, but now we are walking together, aren't we? We can walk hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, on the same road, in front of a group of people. You can say to others, this is my friend, instead of saying to the air, look, this is--"
Leyuan nodded, feeling temporarily convinced, and lowered his head to look through the book.
On the surface, it looked like a diary, but when you opened it, it was blank with only four small words written at the top: "Priest's Diary".
Rakuen had a vague bad feeling and wanted to close the book, but Jongin stood beside him and smiled at him, "What's the big deal? It's not like a giant octopus head will pop out of here and eat us. We won't suddenly fall into the sea, right? There's nothing to be afraid of. Since you're interested, just keep reading. Nothing will happen.
It’s already open.”
The last sentence was like a magical spell.
After hearing this, Leyuan felt his mind becoming fuzzy. He nodded and opened the next page.
The handwriting on this page is blurred. One can only tell that the date at the top was written when the person was unconscious. The bottom was written once with a blue pen, filling the page. Then it was written again with a black pen when the page was full. Later, it was written once with a black pen and once with a red pen, filling the page.
This page is full and looks like a loud speaker that is clogged with things. The person holding the loudspeaker has a lot to say, but the people around him can't hear anything.
Leyuan frowned and turned to the next page.
I kept turning to the part where the handwriting was clear.
Leyuan looked at the handwriting on this page and felt that it looked familiar for some reason, but he didn't know when and where he had seen it before. After thinking about it, he just thought it was déjà vu. Maybe he had associated something similar with it when he was dreaming, but he didn't remember it after he woke up. However, there was still some impression in his mind, so he had this feeling. He explained it clearly to himself and read it carefully.
"Priest's Diary":
"When you saw this page, I'm sure your mind must not be clear. Something must have reminded you secretly, but you didn't listen, right? If you had listened, you wouldn't have opened this thing and seen this page. I can even conclude that you were a little fascinated by it, otherwise, it wouldn't have come to this point.
Do you think I am scaremongering? Of course not!
In fact, I can no longer remember what I was going to say, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what I say, because when you see these things, things have already become a foregone conclusion. What I want to tell you is that from now on, no matter what you do, think, or say, you cannot change the established outcome. You will see that day, and I promise that you will not die early.
If an accident really happens, there is nothing I can do. It is beyond the scope of human control, and you cannot force me to do anything for you.
Having said that, I thought maybe you would be interested in your own ending. I don't know your final outcome, but I have seen something that you probably don't want to accept. In order to prevent your mental breakdown from affecting me, I will reveal some information to you in advance.
Everything you come into contact with deceives you."
The writing stops here.
Paradise felt a chilling malice and coldness suddenly invade it.
He shuddered and tried to throw it away, but when he reached out his hand, he began to hesitate. Jongin pulled him forward and said, "No matter what you saw, it doesn't matter. Just treat it as a joke. It won't really affect us anyway."
Leyuan believed what Jongin said, nodded and said, "So that's how it is. That's good."
He wanted to say, then I believe you.
However, he did not say this when he walked to his seat. He felt strange about this, but he still said nothing.
Number One looked much more normal than before, with a paralyzed face that looked as if he had just recovered from plastic surgery. He sat beside them, looking straight ahead at a painting on the door.
This is a small private room with a golden door and an arc-shaped door handle with a button in the middle. When pressed, a crisp sound occurs, as if the lock inside the door is switched on and off. However, it sounds as if there is a group of people smaller than a fingernail pushing a blue-green iron box cart with countless black wheels and emitting milky white steam.
There was a nail on the door panel, and under the nail was a painting. It was a side profile of a man in a clean uniform with his head held high. The man's hair looked like wool curls and was the color of gold, like a work of art woven with gold thread, shining with the light of the early sun in a layer of morning dew, and the ends of his hair were slightly red, like a flame about to ignite.
He was wearing a hat. The hat was cyan in color, but it looked a bit indigo when you changed the angle. It felt heavy. On the hat was a golden badge, and underneath the badge was a smiling face. The smile on his face was sincere and warm, as if he had just won a medal and couldn't wait to go home and share his joy with his family. Below that was a uniform, which also had a golden badge hanging on it. It was very beautiful and heavy.
Further down, there is a black belt. There are at least three circles of white diamond decorations on the pants near the waist. Next to it are two hands wearing white gloves, clasped together, and in the middle is something like a flagpole, but it is impossible to tell what it is.
It seems that the focus of this painting is on the person, not the thing in that person's hand, so the thing has no beginning or end.
Next to the door are four walls that are glittering with gold, some with white sparkles, and there is also a huge painting hanging on the wall. It is rectangular and not framed, so you can just reach out and touch it. What is rare is that the painting is very clean, not a bit dirty. It is a landscape painting. There is a village in the painting, and a stream at the entrance of the village. Some people are washing clothes, some are saying hello, and some are walking on the road with vegetable baskets.
Some children were playing and chasing each other on the road, with smiles on their faces.
At the top of the village is a floating ribbon, but I don’t know what it is used for.
Further away was a big green mountain with milky white clouds hovering above it, slightly green forest trees below it, and a yellow river below that. Beside the river were stones with a little blood on them, and not far away lay a tiger that was either asleep or dead. Far away from the tiger was a path with a man carrying a bag walking on it.
There is a temple halfway along the road. At the door sits a white figure who looks like a young girl with black hair. She is in a good mood and is about to sing.
In the distance from the girl, there was a purple mist lingering around a tree. Under the tree was sleeping a scholar who was mending clothes. In the scholar's dream, there was a general in rich clothes riding a tall horse, marrying a princess. The whole street was decorated in bright red. A group of people were beating gongs and drums, blowing and singing. Some people were clapping and dancing beside them. There were cats and dogs on the ground, also staring at the sedan chair.
Number One took one look and said, "What a lively group of people."
Leyuan smiled and said, "Look at how lively they are. We will also be lively in the eyes of others later."
Number One said, "I know."
He thought for a moment and said, "I'm not going to die anytime soon, so why not let me go first? If he can kill me, that's a good thing."
Jongin shook his head: "If you lose, it will affect other people's attitude towards us. If we are affected by your loss when we go up, then no one will win."
Number One was a little curious and asked, "Is that person really that powerful?"
Jongin said, "It's not that bad, but we can't let our guard down, right? If we don't care about anything, then we won't come."
Number One nodded: "That's true, but I can't always be like a hollow egg roll that breaks when folded, right?"
Paradise said, "If you want to go up, go up."
Number One nodded.
That's how it was settled.
The people in the arena finished a fight, and the host appeared and announced that the next one was about to begin.
The waiter came and knocked on the door to inform them that they could get ready to go on stage.
Number One stood up and said, "I'll go first."
The waiter nodded, turned around, and said, "Then follow me."
Number One appeared in the arena, and a group of people booed loudly.
The second guest strolled into the arena, and a group of people began to applaud. Someone could be heard shouting amid the deafening cheers: "What's so good about this? How can such a person get on stage? It's getting worse and worse. I wonder when the hotel will close down!"
"Hurry up, hurry up! Hurry up, hurry up! I'm in a hurry to reincarnate. Hahahaha!"
"How long do we have to wait for the next show? This one won't take too long, will it? I want to see the others."
At a command, the host left the stage. The second guest rushed to No. 1 and punched him. No. 1 didn't dodge and was hit with a bang. He flew backwards, and with a bang, he hit the ribbon of the arena and slowly slid down.
The boos from the crowd around him grew even louder.
"Are you going to leave soon?"
"Give up now!"
"If I had lost earlier, I might not have had to be beaten so badly. I really don't know why this kind of person is here. Is he going to get beaten? That's not the case!"
The crowd was talking.
Number One had just gotten up when the second guest walked up to him as if he had won the game. He stepped on him and pinned him down on his back. Even through his clothes, one could see that there was a huge black shoe print. It was very obvious. Number One's arms could not support him and he fell down again with a bang. His chin hit the ground with a bang, which looked very painful.
He frowned and tried to reach out to cover his chin, which was bleeding slowly, but his hand was immediately stepped on by the second customer.
Number One frowned and grabbed the second guest's ankle with his free hand. He made claws with his five fingers and pointed his nails inwards, trying to scratch the second guest, but he couldn't even break the skin, so he was beaten down again.
The second customer grabbed the first person's hair, lifted his head up, and said to the people around him with a smile: "Look, what a pitiful face, what a funny person, isn't it funny? If anyone likes it, I'll hit him twice more."
As he spoke, he patted No.1's cheek and punched him on the head. With a bang, No.1's head tilted back and his neck almost broke, forming a dangerous and twisted arc. People who were close could hear the crackling of No.1's bones. They just thought that No.1's bones were about to break, so they shouted with red faces: "Kill him quickly! Kill him quickly!"
Then someone started to shout, "Kill him, and we'll give you a lot of money! Kill him!"
The second guest felt that he had won the game. He patted the first guest's cheek with contempt, blew a breath and said, "It's not impossible to kill someone here, but I think killing you now would be too easy for you. You didn't have such a good attitude as mine before. I think we still need to get used to each other for a while. Are you ready?"
He smiled and punched No. 1 in the eye again.
There was a loud bang, and No. 1's head was knocked off. The others thought No. 1 was dead, and were very sorry. They cried out, "That's all! Switch to the next one! Switch to the next one quickly! We don't want to see the ugly scene! What's this? There's no bleeding!"
Before he finished speaking, No.1's head opened its eyes, and the part of No.1's broken neck squirmed with buds, and countless green water plants grew out. The water plants trembled and screamed like sonic waves. The audience couldn't help but cover their ears, and then they became excited, punching the air with their fists and shouting, "Hit! Hit! Good!"
Countless water plants seemed to have received nutrients and grew rapidly. They rushed towards the head of the second guest who was nearby, and swallowed the second guest's entire face like a facehugger. Only a series of gurgling sounds were heard, and the second guest wailed, scratching his face with both hands and shouting, "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!"
But the second guest's hand couldn't really touch his face, because the water plants in No. 1 separated the second guest's hand and face. The second guest shouted even louder, "You and I are irreconcilable! We are sworn enemies! Just wait and see! I will kill you! You will never leave the hotel! I promise!"
The crowd laughed mockingly.
"You can't even protect yourself, and yet you want to protect others?"
"I don't know when bragging became the preserve of losers!"
"Luckily I don't need it, otherwise, I don't know when I will lose! Hahaha!"
The second guest was furious, and his palms were instantly filled with green eyes. He put his palms close to the water plants on his face. The water plants trembled, and countless eyes grew on them. These eyes turned around and looked at No. 1. No. 1 staggered backwards, but his speed was not fast enough, so he could only bend down and pick up his head and hold it in his hands.
The second guest's counterattack was fierce. The eyes on the water plants grew bigger and bigger, and translucent green mucus overflowed, emitting a fresh and natural scent of grass chocolate cake, which hit No. 1's face. No. 1 could no longer bear it, opened his mouth and let out a painful cry, but then his mouth was filled with eyes like dandelion seeds.
Everywhere.
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