The two began to talk, from whether the other had eaten breakfast at the buffet to whether the other had lost anything. The customer, however, kept answering in a very slow and unclear tone. When it was finally discovered that the lost item was just a set of keys, the customer scoffed and slammed the door shut.
The line service staff waited quietly outside that door for a while, then quickly knocked on the door of B7111 next door.
Logically, if you just wait patiently, the customer will eventually realize they've lost something and go to the front desk to inquire. I don't think anyone would ask each customer individually like this!
The young girl had limited experience with going out and wasn't sure about such things, so she quietly peeked out from the stairwell to continue observing.
She didn't understand why the two previous protectors couldn't tell if the indigenous people were line people.
Just then, a fashionable woman opened the door to room B7111. Upon seeing the lizard-like figure, she let out a sharp, piercing scream. Before the door could be closed, she collapsed to the ground, her face pale with fright, shouting, "A ghost!"
The uniformed man immediately stopped his attempt to help her up, bowed respectfully, and asked, "Respected guest, are you feeling unwell?"
The woman was calling out as she crawled to close the door. A little boy inside called out, "Mommy, what's wrong?"
The woman had no mood to comfort the child, nor was she willing to answer the thread-man's questions. She tried to close the door several times, trembling, but couldn't—the thread-man was stuck in the crack of the door, still asking in a calm tone, "Guest, what's wrong with you? If you don't speak, I'll call the ship's nurse."
"Don't let it call for a nurse, answer it." A door across the hall opened, and a man popped his head out. He was wearing a Hawaiian-style floral shirt, and his unshaven face showed impatience. "Tsk! You're a newbie, aren't you? You have the courage to die, but not the courage to face demons and monsters?"
Cheng Shuang tilted her head.
What does it mean to have the courage to even die?
She remembered that the adults she knew had mentioned that they had come here because of an accident!
The little girl couldn't understand it, but she subconsciously remembered this difference.
The woman, who had been screaming, suddenly stopped talking. It was unclear what had provoked her, but she glared fiercely at the man and roared, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
The little boy's anxious voice came again, "Mom, what's wrong?"
"Oh! Such a young child..." The man was extremely surprised, his tone tinged with regret and suspicion, "I mean, you wouldn't be so selfish as to bring a child along..."
"Shut up!"
She glared at him fiercely, and perhaps fueled by anger, the fashionable woman shoved the mannequin out the door and slammed it shut. Even though the soundproofing was good, the woman's shouting at the child could still be faintly heard from the doorway.
"What a bad-tempered guy!" The bearded man scratched his head and closed the door, leaving the skinny man standing outside, completely bewildered and seemingly at a loss.
Cheng Shuang was equally baffled.
Her mind was spinning; something was about to connect, but some key details were still missing.
Lost in thought for a moment, the little girl did not notice the line service staff's next move.
Cheng Shuang snapped back to reality when a face with lines resembling a simple sketch suddenly loomed large in front of her, very close.
Her little hands instinctively covered her mouth, which was about to scream, and her eyes widened as she stared directly at the two small, bean-sized eyes in the rather casually shaped eye sockets opposite her.
They were spinning around incredibly fast, which was unusually agile compared to the stiff and rigid lines and features. They didn't have the silly cuteness of the line figures in anime, but were eerie and terrifying. Looking at them for too long would make you dizzy and nauseous.
"Little friend, are you lost from your parents?"
Cheng Shuang swallowed hard and obediently pointed upstairs, "My brother is waiting for me to have dinner on the top floor."
The line-man asked in a friendly tone, "Would you like Uncle to take you upstairs?"
"No, thank you, Uncle. You work very hard. I know the way. Goodbye, Uncle!" The little girl's eyelids drooped slightly, and her sweet smile turned shy. After she finished speaking, she went around it and huffed and puffed as she climbed up.
The line-man's head moved horizontally, its gaze fixed on her. When the little girl crawled around the corner and peeked back, its lifeless eyes narrowed into slits, and its mouth split open in a smile.
The little girl politely waved to it and disappeared from sight. The dummy's face instantly returned to a blank state, and it took out a tablet from its uniform and marked an important symbol on the two room numbers, B7112 and B7111.
The knocking on the door came again, and Cheng Shuang, who was hiding at the top-floor stairwell, breathed a sigh of relief.
She could feel the piercing gaze of the linear figure, which seemed to penetrate the coldness of the stairs, so she dared not linger.
And the more she looked, the more frightened she became. The little girl patted her chest with lingering fear, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on her back without her realizing it.
Although it is neither ugly nor fierce, looking at it for a long time makes you feel strange, and the fear is magnified many times over.
Cheng Shuang let out a heavy sigh of relief, hurriedly took off the 'Little Shanshan's tattered red hair tie' from her wrist, and quickly tied two small pigtails.
It seems that the skill effect is lost if the hair tie is not worn in the hair.
She mustered her courage, stepped into the top-floor corridor, and immediately stared blankly, unsure whether to put her feet down or not.
The dense lines on both sides suddenly tilted their heads, all at the same angle, their gazes intense, fixed on the direction she had appeared in.
Because she was the only guest in the entire corridor, her presence was still impossible to ignore, even with her hair tie.
Or perhaps...
These line figures have surpassed the level of the red ribbon?
Mom, I want to go home!
The little girl sniffed, resisting the urge to take out her teddy bear, and almost moved her hands and feet together in front of so many line figures.
She held her breath and walked straight to the location of the self-service restaurant on the map.
At the entrance of each restaurant or entertainment venue, two smiling, spiky figures stand. As you pass by, their smiles widen, almost reaching the edges of their rounded faces...
The entrance to the terrace was the only place without anyone in it. Next to it was a duty-free shop, and my tense mood was somewhat relieved when I saw the dazzling array of clothes inside.
The little girl remembered that she was wearing this outfit while racing cars and getting soaked in the rain, and that seawater had even wet her trouser legs. The fact that it didn't spoil was probably because the rest stop gave her a boost.
She wants new clothes.
Clutching the flattened pocket, the aggrieved child returned to reality. Sigh, the child, whose New Year's money had been confiscated since childhood, felt bitter and could only look at plums to quench his thirst.
The unattainable dream made Cheng Shuang's mood go from tense to helpless. At least she could respond with a polite but elegant fake smile and calmly walk through the corridor full of line figures.
Before entering the buffet restaurant, the elevator at the other end emitted a notification sound.
From a distance, a young figure could be seen walking towards them, followed by two young boys with their arms around each other's shoulders, who looked to be around nineteen or twenty years old.
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