The Moment This Guy Reached Suotuo City, He Was Bound to Attract Another Woman!
Lin Feng stepped down from the carriage first with Paimon, and Ning Rongrong jumped off the footboard right behind him.
Qian Renxue, the last to disembark, adjusted the front of her moon-white brocade crown prince's robe. As she stepped down, the fabric brushed against skin where the red marks had yet to fade, and the lingering, unfamiliar sensation made her steps a little unsteady.
"Wow! This whole building is bright red, even the windows are shaped like petals, and it smells like roses everywhere!"
Paimon flew a circle in front of the lobby entrance, curiously surveying the hotel's red-and-white interior.
Ning Rongrong stepped forward and slapped a hefty Purple Gold Soul Coin onto the marble counter.
"Reserve every top-floor suite with the best view and the most peace and quiet for us, and have the kitchen prepare a table of your finest signature desserts and fruit drinks!"
The hotel manager recognized the carriage outside as one belonging to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family at a glance. Bowing and scraping, he hurriedly presented three solid gold room keys with both hands:
"Honored guests, your presence brings splendor to our humble establishment! The third floor has three top-class VIP rose suites in total. From today onward, the entire floor will be reserved exclusively for you, and no unrelated person will dare set foot on it! A table in the second-floor gallery is ready, and the pastries will be right out!"
Lin Feng and his companions headed up to the second-floor gallery, where their table afforded a sweeping view.
As soon as Lin Feng sat down in a cushioned chair beside the carved railing, he glanced toward a shadowy spot in the lobby's northwest corner, half-screened by red floor-length curtains.
There, a girl in a tight black leather outfit sat alone at a table for cold drinks in the corner.
Her black hair was cut short at her ears, and her skin was fairer than snow. Her exquisite, oval face bore no expression, while her dark eyes held a coldness and loneliness that kept people a thousand miles away.
A cup of untouched black tea sat before her, and her gaze remained fixed coldly on the revolving doors of the Rose Hotel.
"Huh? The pretty girl in black leather in the corner has a presence above her head that looks like a little black cat with its ears perked up!"
Paimon leaned over the second-floor railing and muttered quietly as she waited for the food.
No sooner had she spoken than someone pushed open the revolving doors on the hotel's ground floor.
Yu Xiaogang, who had been scared out of his wits at Wangnan Tea Station, was in a hurry to find the contact mark left by his old friend Flender in the west of the city after entering it. Afraid of running into the imperial dragon-scale carriage again, he had instructed Tang San and Xiao Wu at the city gate to find a room at a nearby hotel, while he hurried off by carriage to inform Shrek Academy.
As soon as Xiao Wu entered, her attention was caught by the rich scent of roses in the lobby and the red decorations filling the room:
"Brother, look how pretty this hotel is! There are roses everywhere. Can we stay here?"
Tang San looked around the lobby, and the nerves that had been taut all morning finally relaxed.
"Sure. Since Xiao Wu likes it, we'll stay here. Attendant, one room for us."
The receptionist checked the register and looked troubled.
"I'm sorry, young sir. So many Soul Masters have come to apply to the academy today, and the third floor has already been reserved by honored guests. The ordinary rooms on the first and second floors are all full too. The only room left is the Red Ocean suite at the end of the second floor, but it's already been reserved..."
Before the receptionist could finish, an arrogant, overbearing voice came from outside the revolving doors:
"Attendant, is my room ready yet?"
The moment the blond youth Dai Mubai strode into the lobby with his arms around a pair of twin beauties, deep disgust and disappointment flashed through the black-clad girl's icy eyes in the shadows.
"Young Master Dai! Your reserved Red Ocean suite is right here, but these two guests also want a room..." the receptionist hurriedly explained with an ingratiating smile.
Dai Mubai glanced sidelong at Tang San, who wore faded blue clothes, then let his gaze travel over the pretty, adorable Xiao Wu. A trace of frivolity flashed in his twin pupils.
"Only one room left? Kid, I reserved this room. If you know what's good for you, take the little sister beside you and find another hotel. If you really have nowhere to go, you can leave your sister here to have a cup of tea with me."
Hearing him make advances toward Xiao Wu, Tang San, who was already seething after swallowing a bellyful of humiliation at Wangnan Tea Station, instantly turned cold-eyed.
"Xiao Wu, step back. Let me teach this ill-mannered fellow a lesson."
Tang San stepped in front of Xiao Wu, silently circulating his Mysterious Heaven Skill to its peak. Using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, he curled his right hand from a palm into a claw and unleashed the Tang Sect Secret Art Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, grabbing straight for Dai Mubai's incoming right fist. He intended to turn Dai Mubai's own force against him and throw him face-first to the ground in public!
The instant their fist and palm met in midair, Tang San thought, Got him.
Behind the second-floor railing, Paimon watched Tang San strike another grandmaster's pose below and curled her lip in disdain.
"Tsk, this sneaky blue-grass guy was so scared at the tea stall this morning that he didn't dare say a word. How come he's fighting and kicking up dust right beneath us while we're eating as soon as he gets into the city? Watch Paimon-Turn the Clock!"
"Ow, fuck! Kid, why the hell are you pulling me?!"
Tang San plunged face-first into the very center of a giant purple-clay planter full of rosebushes. Dai Mubai, dragged down with him, struck the tiled floor with half his face scraping the edge of the planter. The twin beauties in his arms screamed and tumbled into a heap, scattering powder and hair ornaments across the floor.
"Pfft, hahahaha! Look! That blue-grass guy fought with his face and shoved it into a flowerpot to eat dirt! He's even got a rose thorn hanging from his mouth!"
"Pah! Pah, pah!"
Tang San scrambled out of the planter in a sorry state, spat the foul-smelling black soil from his mouth, and looked up at the second floor!
Them again!!
Those terrifying people with a Titled Douluo as their guard were staying at the Rose Hotel too?!
Dai Mubai clambered to his feet, intending to release his White Tiger Martial Soul and tear Tang San apart, but when he followed his gaze and saw the gray-robed old man She Long on the second floor, a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
Filthy and disheveled, he clutched the bruised, swollen side of his face, pushed through the hotel's back door, and fled.
"Wow! Those rose mille-feuilles and cream jellies smell so good!"
In the lobby, Xiao Wu, who had been about to help Tang San up, suddenly twitched her nose twice. Her gaze was instantly drawn to the plate Paimon deliberately waved about, laden with rose mille-feuilles and milk pudding drenched in red berry jam!
Paimon flew to the top of the second-floor stairs and waved a little hand at Xiao Wu below.
"Hey! Little girl with the scorpion braid! Paimon can't finish this whole table of snacks by herself. Do you want to come up and eat with me? Only ten Gold Soul Coins a plate!"
"Yes, yes, yes! Brother, that cream jelly looks delicious. I didn't get enough to eat at the tea station this morning. I want that!"
Xiao Wu's eyes sparkled. She had long since tossed the confrontation out of her mind, and she turned to tug insistently at the sleeve of Tang San, whose face was covered in black mud.
The corner of Tang San's mouth twitched violently. Ten Gold Soul Coins for a plate of snacks?! The private savings he had spent six whole years accumulating and sewn into his waistband amounted to just over twenty Gold Soul Coins. He had meant to use them to buy materials for forging Hidden Weapons in Suotuo City!
But when he looked at Xiao Wu beside him, staring eagerly and drooling, Tang San could only endure the agony of his heart dripping blood as he shakily pulled ten Gold Soul Coins from his robes and handed them to the receptionist.
"Buy... buy a plate for my sister!"
Tang San stood in the middle of the lobby with black mud all over his head, watching Xiao Wu dash happily up the stairs and crowd around a little round table with Paimon, chattering as they fought over the rose pastries. His chest felt so clogged that he nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Just then, Lin Feng carried a pot of freshly brewed rose tea slowly down the spiral staircase to the ground floor and stopped beside the deserted round table in the northwest corner.
In the corner, Zhu Zhuqing, whose nerves had remained taut, abruptly raised her head. Her cold, sharp black eyes regarded the youth before her warily.
"Little kitty from the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire, you fled all this way to Suotuo City to escape your family's pursuit. If you're pinning all your hopes of survival on that White Tiger just now, the one who can't even keep his lower half under control, that's a little too pitiful."
Lin Feng placed the cup of warm rose honey tea in his hand before her.
The Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire... her family's pursuit... the White Tiger!
She had concealed her identity and fled all the way from the Star Luo Empire to the Balak Kingdom, and even her personal guards had died along the way. How could this mysterious youth who had stepped down from a Heaven Dou Imperial Family carriage see through her true identity at a glance, and even know all about the entanglement of her engagement to Dai Mubai?!
"Who exactly are you?!" Zhu Zhuqing lowered her voice, but a tremor was hard to conceal in its icy tone.
"Someone who can help you escape your fate."
Lin Feng took out one of the solid gold keys to the top-floor rooms, which the hotel manager had just presented with both hands, and casually placed it on the table before her.
"The suite on the west side of the third floor, the one with the red waterbed, is empty. If you don't want to stay on the same floor as that blond guy, take the key and come up tonight."
With that, Lin Feng turned and walked back up to the second floor.
By the second-floor gallery, Qian Renxue had been watching Lin Feng's back the whole time. When she saw him casually give one of the only three keys to their reserved suites on the third floor to the black-leather-clad girl downstairs with the outrageously hot figure, her fingers tightened around the ribs of the folding fan hidden in her sleeve.
Sure enough! She knew the moment this guy reached Suotuo City, he was bound to attract another woman!
In the shadows of the ground-floor corner, Zhu Zhuqing looked down at the solid gold room key with its warm sheen, then glanced toward the door through which Dai Mubai had fled in disgrace. Her icy gaze struggled intensely for a moment before she finally reached out with slender, fair fingers and closed her hand around the top-floor key.