Chapter 21
Xu Ming and Qiu Yufei's room is on the third floor of the hotel.
The hotel has a large space inside, but there are few rooms that can actually be used as guest rooms. Xu Ming and his friends found a floor plan of the building on a sign on the third floor, and were surprised to find that there were only 26 bedrooms here, not even as big as a small hotel -
more rooms were marked as "exhibition halls". They deliberately went around to take a look and found that it was full of ambiguous decorations, just like the exhibition hall downstairs. Although there are no direct horror elements, because the style is too weird, it does have a sense of horror.
Some rooms are hidden away from the corridor. The floor plan did not indicate the direction of the door, nor did it indicate its purpose. It only had three question marks drawn side by side as a mark.
"This should be the 'secret room' mentioned in the hotel introduction." Qiu Yufei guessed, "Guests staying here can freely explore in their spare time, find the secret room and solve the puzzle. If they escape successfully, they will get a reward."
"?" Xu Ming was curious, "What reward?" "
It seems to be a souvenir." Qiu Yufei carefully recalled what she had seen, "The kind made by the hotel itself."
"That's not interesting." Xu Ming quickly retracted his gaze.
Rewards without actual value are just hooliganism.
Walking back from the floor plan, there is a deep corridor leading to each guest room. There are 13 guest rooms on the second and third floors. Xu Ming and his partner stayed in single rooms, numbered 8312 and 831B.
Xu Ming's room should be 8313, but maybe because they don't like the number "13", it was written as 831B.
The room is quite large, a single room with a king-size bed. It is estimated to be more than 20 square meters, with exquisite decoration. It has a TV cabinet, a small refrigerator, and a soft sofa. The bathroom has a bathtub in addition to a shower. However, there are no other drinks in the refrigerator, only mineral water.
As for the "rules and regulations" mentioned by the front desk, it is placed on the TV cabinet, under a small clock with a unique shape. It is an exquisitely folded card. Xu Ming flipped open the card and saw a densely packed small word that immediately caught his eye:
[Hello, welcome to [Magic Cube Building]. In order to improve the quality of your stay as much as possible during your stay, we have specially prepared the following instructions for you. I hope you can read it patiently:
[1. This hotel is an immersive horror movie experience hotel. In order to match the hotel theme, projections, mechanisms, human role-playing and other methods will be used from time to time to create a weird audio-visual experience. Therefore, if you see something puzzling during your stay, please don’t worry about it. It’s just the horror special effects that the hotel is trying out. No matter how they appear, just ignore them as much as possible.
[2. If you feel that the horror special effects you encounter are unacceptable, you can seek help from the hotel staff. If you trigger the scary special effects in the room, you can choose to contact the front desk using the bedside landline, the extension number is 9413. We will send someone to help you solve the problem as soon as possible.
【3. If the special effect you encounter starts trying to interact with you, such as attacking or chasing you, please contact the staff immediately. Our special effects are still under technical debugging, and rash interaction may cause harm to you, so please be sure to contact the staff immediately!
【4. If the special effect you encounter has started to interact with you and you cannot find a staff member to help you for the time being, please use the candy you got from the front desk. Put one of them in front of the special effect and then leave. It will not chase you anymore. But remember, don't look back when you leave.
【5. Please keep the candies you get from the front desk properly. Please do not eat them, they are not for you to eat. Please do not take them out to play with casually. If you take them out, please put them back in the bag quickly before they melt. Candies will only start to melt after leaving the bag. Once melted, it means they are spoiled, and spoiled candies are useless.
【6. Each customer can only have five candies, which cannot be purchased separately, and cannot be replenished after use. So for your accommodation experience, please cherish them and use them well.
【7. The hotel is currently in the trial operation stage, and some rooms have not yet been completed and put into use. If you accidentally enter such a room, please do not panic, observe the room you are in carefully, there will be a reminder to leave on the wall or ceiling. If you really can't crack it, you can also contact the front desk for help through the internal phone in the room. The internal number is 9413. We will send someone to help you solve the problem as soon as possible.
【8. If you encounter horror special effects in an unfinished room, please don't hesitate and use candy immediately.
【9. Every room in the hotel can be contacted through the internal phone. The front desk number is 9413, and the remaining room numbers are house numbers. If you need to contact, just dial the number directly. But please don't call unfamiliar rooms, which will affect others' rest.
【10. The front desk phone is answered 24 hours a day, but due to busy business, it may be difficult to respond in time sometimes. If the line is busy, please don't worry, you can choose to call again later, or leave a message for the front desk. We will arrange service for you as soon as we hear the message.
【11. The restaurant is open from 6:00-9:00, 11:00-14:00, 16:00-18:00, 20:00-23:00. The restaurant will not be open during non-business hours. If you find someone in the restaurant during non-opening hours and invite you to dine, please ignore it and do not eat any food he gives you. Please leave quickly and report to the hotel staff. He is not a hotel staff, he is an individual catering business that has sneaked in, and the food he provides is not safe.
【12. During non-restaurant opening hours, you can choose to call the front desk to order food, and we will deliver the food to your door.
[13. Your check-in time is 18:00 on May X, 202X, and your scheduled check-out time is 12:00 on May X, 202X. Your stay is three days and two nights. Because you are a special customer, we cannot provide you with extension services, nor can we handle early check-out for you. Please understand.
[Finally, thank you for choosing [Magic Cube Building], and hope that your stay will be safe and pleasant.]
——The above is all the rules provided by the hotel.
Xu Ming patiently read it word by word, took out his mobile phone to check the time, and raised his eyebrows slightly.
The time she and Qiu Yufei checked in was very unfortunate, which was the time when the restaurant was closed. If they wanted to go downstairs to eat, they had to wait two hours.
It just so happened that neither of them was too hungry, so they reached a consensus through their mobile phones and decided to wash up and rest for a while, and then go downstairs to eat together at eight o'clock.
... But then again, isn't the opening hours of this restaurant too outrageous?
Xu Ming stared at the schedule that was almost cut into tofu blocks for a while, and based on some subtle concerns that she couldn't explain, she called the whale fat man again in her mind.
Still getting no response, she took out the rule book again and poked it directly. The latter was dazed and seemed to be still asleep. After being poked awake by Xu Ming, he just waved his hand impatiently.
"What are you doing? Don't bother me." It grinned, and like wax, it slid off the rule book, shrunk itself into a ball, and stretched out two thin arms to wrap itself tightly, "Busy."
Xu Ming: "...What are you busy with?"
"I'm thinking about how beautiful a face I should make for myself." The whale man said seriously, "This kind of hotel must have beautiful scenery and silly human NPCs... It's the most fun to interact with them."
"Remember to take pictures for me when the time comes."
Xu Ming: "..."
I have to say, this guy didn't forget his original intention. He slept all the way until now, and he didn't forget to take pictures and check in.
But from what it said, it seems that I was worrying too much. This is the real world.
Xu Ming's heart finally let go. It's not that she trusts the blubber man that much, but based on her understanding of this guy, if he really enters the strange story area, his reaction might be stronger than hers - for details, please refer to the last time in Hongqiang, he made up his mind that even if he died in the corridor outside, he would never stay in the same place with the domain master.
Although it never explained it in detail, Xu Ming guessed that it was probably afraid of being eaten.
The rule book can absorb the root, and the mutant root can absorb the rule book. Then there is a high probability that the roots can absorb each other. It is a mutant root that is deeply bound and cannot escape. Once it is caught, it will basically be a matter of adding a dish.
And this guy also said that the strange story area cannot affect the ability and cognition of the mutant root - from this perspective, this guy's judgment should be quite reliable.
After taking another look at the whale blubber who was still thinking about taking photos and checking in, Xu Ming sighed and swept it back into his bag along with the rule book. While reflecting on whether he had been a little nervous recently because of Hongqiang's matter, he found his bathrobe and planned to go to the bathroom to take a bath and relax.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the bathroom, he heard a gurgling sound from the toilet. Xu Ming, who was taking a bath towel, frowned and turned his head. Then, he heard a click from the toilet -
the toilet lid that was originally closed, somehow, bounced up by itself.
Xu Ming, who looked confused: "......?"
He went over to take a look and saw that the water in the toilet was swirling and it was almost full and about to overflow. It
was clearly blocked.
...Is this the strength of the 1600 Hotel?
Xu Ming didn't understand and was very shocked. Xu Ming quickly closed the toilet lid and pressed the flush button desperately, trying to force a flush. However, after trying for a while, not only did it not flush down, but it actually overflowed -
Xu Ming took a breath and quickly slammed the toilet lid back. He retreated speechlessly.
The toilet was blocked like that, and it was obvious that he had to report it for repair. Xu Ming opened the door and looked around. He didn't see any staff passing by, so he had to go back and call the front desk. While calling, he picked up the remote control and wanted to watch TV to calm down.
After pressing it once, he heard a beep from the air conditioner. Xu Ming then realized that he had picked up the wrong remote control, and quickly raised his wrist again, trying to turn off the air conditioner. Who would have thought that before she could make any move, she heard a strange sound from the air conditioner -
the blades that were half-opened suddenly stopped moving.
Xu Ming felt something was wrong, and while the call was not connected, she walked over and stretched out her hand to try it.
...Sure enough. Although the air conditioner was turned on, she could not feel a lot of cold wind.
The hair-drying function was obviously also problematic.
...Is this the strength of the 1600 Hotel? ?
Xu Ming was even more confused.
The front desk phone was still not connected. She thought about it and simply took out the newly bought selfie stick, stretched it out and poked it at the air conditioner. After poking for a while, she confirmed that this was not something she could handle, so she had to walk back to the landline and call the front desk again.
The phone was still busy.
Xu Ming had no choice but to switch to the message function, informing them that there was a problem with the air conditioner and toilet, and hoped that someone would be sent to fix it as soon as possible. After leaving the message, he hung up the phone, thinking that he was too tired, so he simply turned on the TV and sat on the sofa to watch it.
Not long after watching it, the landline suddenly rang. Xu Ming picked up the call casually, and Qiu Yufei's slightly hoarse voice came from the receiver.
"Teacher Gu." Her volume was normal, but her voice was a little unstable, "Are you okay?"
"..." Xu Ming listened to her words, but he sat up straight involuntarily.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She pursed her lips, trying to keep her tone calm, "Have you finished your shower?"
"Not yet, I plan to take a shower later." Qiu Yufei's voice became more and more strange, "That's it, Teacher Gu... I suddenly want to talk to you."
"Do you still remember that thing when we were in the last company? The time when we worked overtime together with Sister Jiayi."
"..." Xu Ming's eyes flickered slightly, and he quickly responded.
"Okay." Qiu Yufei's speech speed became slightly faster, "Then can you say that again?"
"The one, what you said when I was harassed in the company corridor."
"Please, this is very important. Really important."
Xu Ming: "..."
Xu Ming did not respond for the time being.
He just glanced towards the door with concern and frowned slightly.
*
Time goes back a few minutes ago.
In room 8312.
Qiu Yufei simply packed her things and was strolling around her room with great interest. From time to time, she would pick up her mobile phone, aim at the corner she liked, and take a picture.
She especially liked the monkey statue placed beside the bed, and took a photo with it on purpose. After taking the photos, she sat on the sofa and began to select and retouch the photos as usual, but heard a clucking sound.
... She raised her eyes suspiciously, but saw nothing.
Muttering to herself, she silently lifted her feet from the floor to the sofa. Just as she was about to lower her head to continue retouching the photos, she heard the clucking sound again -
she quickly raised her head and looked around with wide eyes.
She still didn't know where the gurgling sound came from, but this time, she really found something wrong.
——The monkey statue that originally stood at the head of the bed seemed to move forward a little bit for some reason.
The sofa was on the right side of the bed, and the statue was on the left side. The two things were originally level, so this position difference was easy to see.
...So what's going on?
Qiu Yufei was frightened and stunned for a moment. It took her a while to remember that this should be the special effect mentioned in the rules -
it doesn't look like a person, nor does it look like a projection. It should be a machine.
I just don't know how they did it. Such a heavy statue can actually be moved... Is there a food delivery robot built in?
Qiu Yufei was a little curious, but soon, an instinctive shudder suppressed this curiosity. She shrank on the sofa and looked at the monkey statue from a distance. It looked cute before, but now it makes her scalp numb.
No, no, calm down, this is all an effect, a horror effect created by the hotel - just like Teacher Mingming said, don't be afraid and it's all over.
Try your best to ignore it, try your best to ignore it, try your best to ignore it... Qiu Yufei kept repeating it in her mind, but after thinking about it, she still sent a message to Xu Ming.
There was no response from Xu Ming for the time being, but the voice rang again.
Chuckling.
Qiu Yufei looked up in surprise, but in the blink of an eye, the monkey statue had moved to the end of the bed.
It went around a little further and came completely in front of Qiu Yufei.
...Realizing this, Qiu Yufei's hair almost exploded instantly. At this moment, her cell phone rang with a ding. She hurriedly lowered her head and saw a message from Xu Ming pop up.
She only sent two words.
[Chuckling]
"..."
This time, Qiu Yufei's hair really exploded.
Without thinking any more, she stood up in a panic, stuffed her feet into her slippers, and prepared to rush out the door. But she heard another "cluck" sound, and the monkey statue that was standing at the end of the bed just now had come to the door -
the carved monkey face was facing Qiu Yufei.
Baring its teeth. It was obviously smiling, but its expression was full of slyness.
...!!
As if stimulated by the terrifying expression, Qiu Yufei's mind went blank for a moment. When she reacted, she had already jumped back and almost fell on the bed. She couldn't help but throw the mobile phone far away - it
hit the statue, but it seemed to hit a ball of air.
It fell to the ground so easily, making a crisp sound.
"……" This time, Qiu Yufei's expression changed completely.
How could it be? She could clearly touch it just now, and she even leaned on it to take a photo... Isn't it an agency?
... No, should I say, is there such an awesome agency?
Qiu Yufei's expression changed again and again, and her heart was about to jump out of her throat. She obviously wanted to rush out of the door, but that thing was blocking the door...
Wait, yes, there is another way.
What does the rule say? Make a phone call, or give candy...
The phone happened to be on the left, and the small bag of candy was on the right, right on the bed. Qiu Yufei hesitated for a moment, and decisively chose the one that felt more convenient, and quickly pulled over the small bag next to it -
but just as she opened the bag and searched quickly, her movements froze again.
The things in the small bag were very mixed, and Qiu Yufei was not very organized, so it was not until this moment that she discovered that in addition to the bag of candy, there was another thing in the bag.
That work card.
She brought it out from Hongqiang, and it belonged to the work card of the Ghost Story Demolition Office.
It disappeared after leaving the Ghost Story area. Xu Ming also said that most of the things in the Ghost Story will not appear in reality...
So now, this work card reappeared, what does it mean?
Qiu Yufei's face became even uglier, as if she had thought of some extremely bad answer.
She raised her eyes again and looked at the monkey statue guarding the door. Her throat rolled, and she calmed down instead.
Calm down, don't be afraid, fear is a gap. Fear is a gap. The key is to understand the current situation... Have
they entered the ghost story area again? When? No, this is not the point. The key is, what should we do now?
Qiu Yufei lowered her eyes and saw the white chess candy in the bag. After a little thought, she still closed the bag forcefully.
Assuming that this is really the ghost story area, then the hotel itself is the most suspicious existence. Xu Ming said that some rules look friendly, but in fact they may hide fire pits, so whether it is candy or the front desk phone, it is better to put them aside first and don't move them if you can.
But if you exclude these two, what else can you do?
You can't just call them directly. Just now, the mobile phone went straight through...
Qiu Yufei bit her lip and her brain began to work hard. At this moment, she suddenly remembered another very important thing.
- At that time, in the corridor outside Hongqiang, she was caught by the charred figure. At first, she couldn't hit it.
It was only after Xu Ming said something that she could hit it.
... She was too flustered at the time and didn't think about it carefully. Later, after escaping from Hongqiang, she thought of something - the employee of Anxin Gardening who had tried to poach her once vaguely mentioned that being able to touch spirits is an incredible talent...
Qiu Yufei was very sure that she didn't have such a talent. So who is the dominant power? It goes without saying.
Taking a deep breath, Qiu Yufei stared at the statue at the door, carefully moved to the side again and again, and finally made up her mind and picked up the receiver of the landline with shaking hands.
She was actually not sure whether the call could reach Xu Ming, and she didn't know whether her speculation was correct, but at this time, she could only take a gamble.
Fortunately, the internal phone was quickly connected. Qiu Yufei remembered the alarm signal she had agreed with Xu Ming before, and closed her eyes tightly.
"Teacher Gu." She said deliberately. This was one of the secret alarm signals she and Xu Ming had agreed upon before. At least it could make the other party sure that she was not joking. "... Do you remember what happened when we were in the previous company?"
"Can you say that again?"
"..."
After a moment's pause, she heard Xu Ming's powerful voice in the receiver: "Yeah."
"The action of force is mutual. If an existence can hit you, then you can definitely hit it as well."
"So don't panic, just go up and do it."
Qiu Yufei responded softly and hung up the phone lightly.
Then, he looked up at the monkey guarding the door again, and picked up the bronze table lamp on the table.
He stood up slowly.
——The other end.
As soon as Xu Ming heard Qiu Yufei's phone call was hung up, he immediately got up and hurried to her room.
As soon as he reached the door, he heard bangs from inside and Qiu Yufei's roar that was about to break her voice——
"If you keep being so arrogant, keep being so arrogant!"
"Come on, cackle, cackle for me, don't you like cackle very much!"
"I ignore you and you cackle louder and louder, you have legs!"
"You're a piece of shit——"
Xu Ming stopped at the door: "..."
She raised her hand, hesitating whether to knock on the door.
After a while, accompanied by a loud bang, the door finally opened.
Qiu Yufei came out sweating, holding the antique bronze table lamp in her hand. Xu Ming tried to look over her shoulder, but saw nothing.
"Don't look, I pushed you to the window and it fell down." Qiu Yufei wiped the hair stuck to her forehead, her face flushed, "Teacher Mingming, I want to sleep with you tonight."
Xu Ming certainly didn't have any objections to this. In fact, she also had a lot of things she wanted to ask Qiu Yufei, and before figuring it out, she thought it would be better for them not to separate.
So Qiu Yufei closed the door with her backhand, and walked towards 831B with Xu Ming, dragging her feet. She wanted to take a good shower after entering, but when the door opened, she was shocked again -
the layout of Xu Ming's room was very simple and rough, with no shelter. Therefore, Qiu Yufei saw at a glance:
the air conditioner hanging on the wall had its blades open.
Half of a long-haired woman's body was sticking out of the air conditioner, her hands flapping in the air like she was swimming, revealing a fluffy cat face in her movements.
The TV was also on. A long, equally fluffy black arm was sticking out from the TV screen, its claws digging deep marks on the floor.
At the same time, a loud sound of water came from the toilet. A thick fish tail that was half a person's height bounced out of the toilet with difficulty, and for some reason, it looked a little dizzy.
One end of the fish tail was a neat cross section, and bright red blood was constantly oozing out of it, spreading on the ground like it was free.
Qiu Yufei: ...
I should go back.
She stood at the door of Xu Ming's room, thinking expressionlessly.
Anyway, the monkey statue has been thrown away, and there should be nothing else in her room.
At least it's cleaner than here.