Half past five in the afternoon,
At the hotel front desk.
"You've got the math wrong. How can you charge me for two days? I only stayed one day, and I'm not sleeping here tonight!" a middle-aged man argued with the receptionist.
"Sir, according to the rules, after twelve noon you're automatically charged for a second day. And it's already half past five—you've come to check out well past the allotted time," the receptionist hurriedly explained.
"What kind of lousy rule is that? I have to pay for something I haven't even used? And a little hotel like this can actually be fully booked?" The middle-aged man slapped the desk hard, making it crack and pop as he grew more agitated.
Facing a guest who looked like he might charge over and start throwing punches at any moment, the receptionist was getting scared too. He hurriedly tried to explain:
"Sir, there really is nothing I can do. Even if I wanted to refund you, the room system already automatically charged you for the second day. I can't pay you back out of my own pocket, can I?"
"Don't try to pull one over on me. You think I don't know how this works? It's just a matter of changing a setting. If you can't make the decision, then get your boss or manager out here!"
Just then, someone pushed open the hotel's glass door, and a boy walked in at an unhurried pace.
Hearing the noise, the middle-aged man instinctively turned to look. The boy was rather handsome, with the freshness of youth about him, but his clothes and trousers were wrinkled and filthy, splotched with black and white, as if he'd rolled around in a muddy ditch.
The funniest thing was that despite his young age, he was pretending to be a grown-up, carrying a briefcase under his arm.
For some reason, though, as the boy walked toward him step by step, face expressionless, the man felt a faint tension creep over him. He hardly dared breathe too loudly.
"Hey, handsome, you're back!" the receptionist called out when he saw the boy.
The boy's previously expressionless face broke into a smile. "Busy? I might have a package delivered in the next couple of days. Could I trouble you to sign for it?"
"Sure, no problem."
"Then I'll head back to my room."
The boy glanced at the middle-aged man, then continued up the stairs.
Once the boy was gone, the middle-aged man felt the tension leave him. The interruption had also drained away most of his anger and indignation.
That boy was, of course, Chen Shouyi.
After returning, he had taken off his clothes and trousers and gone to shower.
Holding a towel, he rubbed his hair dry while looking in the mirror.
The boy in the mirror had lean, taut muscles, their lines smooth and fluid, without an ounce of excess fat.
Even the muscles along his ribs, back, and neck—places that were difficult to exercise—stood out in clear ridges.
At the slightest movement, his muscles rippled like flowing mercury.
"My skin seems even better." Chen Shouyi looked at his increasingly smooth, delicate skin and frowned slightly.
It wasn't that he disliked it. Who would complain about having good skin?
It was just that most of the time he'd claimed he'd be away from home had already passed, and he still had no idea how he would explain himself when the deadline came.
Forget it. There were still a few days left. He'd think of an explanation later.
After changing into clean clothes, he opened his briefcase and let Shell Girl out. The moment he peeled the tape from her mouth, she demanded to watch cartoons.
Habit was a terrifying force. When Shell Girl had first been tied up, she'd sulked for half a day. Now she'd gotten so used to it that it had become routine.
Chen Shouyi turned on the TV and switched to cartoons, then left her to it.
Next, he took out his phone. As he logged into Weapon Treasure, he quietly analyzed the situation among the Barbarian Tribes near Small Island.
At the end of today's battle, the barbarians' morale had plummeted, and they'd fled outright. Clearly, he had frightened them.
And then there was the death of the Barbarian Tribe's chief.
By any ordinary reckoning, the tribe should fall into disarray for a while.
Even if they chose a new chief right away, he wouldn't have enough prestige to organize another attack for some time.
That meant the Space Channel between him and Small Island seemed to have been completely exposed to the barbarians, but in reality, it was safe.
At least for a while.
This battle had greatly boosted his confidence. As long as another powerhouse like the Barbarian Tribe's chief didn't show up, one War Bow was enough to wipe out as many enemies as came at them in a raid of today's scale.
The thought settled his mind.
He quickly typed "arrows" into the search bar and narrowed down the results.
Soon, a row of stores appeared on the webpage.
His new phone responded much more smoothly. It no longer froze every other moment.
There were all kinds of arrows.
Swift Arrows, Armor-piercing Arrows, Spinning Arrows, heavy arrows, Whistle Arrows, and more than a dozen other varieties.
Each type differed completely in length, weight, and arrowhead.
Take Spinning Arrows, for example. Their tails had small, propeller-like vanes. They sacrificed some speed for a steadier flight path and greater accuracy, while their rapid spin also made them more lethal.
Of course, even arrows of the same type varied in shape from one store to another, and their prices differed widely too.
Fortunately, compared with the exorbitant cost of a War Bow, arrows were much cheaper.
Even the most expensive ones cost only a little over three hundred yuan apiece, well within his budget.
Chen Shouyi quickly placed an order at a shop run by a large, long-established cold-weapons company. He bought a hundred Swift Arrows, twenty Spinning Arrows, and ten Whistle Arrows.
As they flew, Whistle Arrows made an extremely sharp, shrill sound. They had little stopping power, but Chen Shouyi thought the piercing whistle might frighten the barbarians.
The total came to 28,000 yuan.
He paid without hesitation. These were things that could save his life, so of course he had to buy the best.
Just then, the room lights suddenly went out, and the TV screen went black too.
A power outage?
He couldn't even remember the last time Dongning City had lost power. In any case, it felt like it hadn't happened in ages.
Before Chen Shouyi could wonder what was going on,
Shell Girl angrily slapped the pillow with both hands and shouted, "Beiqi! Beiqi! Beiqi!"
Beiqi, my ass. The power was out—couldn't she see that?
But it seemed Shell Girl had no concept of a power outage.
"Stay here and don't talk loudly. I'll show you 'Beiqi' again in a bit," Chen Shouyi told Shell Girl.
Without waiting to see how displeased Shell Girl was, he turned on his phone's flashlight and headed out to ask the front desk.
When he opened the door, he saw that quite a few people had already come out into the hallway.
"I just checked. The power's out everywhere. Was there a power-outage notice for Dongning City today?"
"I haven't heard anything. Maybe the lines are old."
"Forget it. We might as well go to bed early!"
"It's only seven. How am I supposed to sleep this early?"
Hearing them talk, Chen Shouyi stopped in his tracks.
So the power really was out.
Before you continue