Ten minutes later, Xu Huo and the others arrived at a hotel on the other side of the city. Judging by the layout of the city, it was almost out of town. The hotel probably didn't get many guests, so when they showed up in the middle of the night, the staff seemed delighted. They warmly showed them to their rooms and even brought them a late-night snack and breakfast for the next day.
The Yu sisters kept an eye on announcements from the local government. However, after a night had passed, the government still hadn't released any further information about Cultural Street. There also hadn't been any clusters of missing-person or death reports on the Jixin Terminal, so they figured this was probably a targeted Dungeon, confined to the area around Cultural Street.
Xu Huo wasn't reassured. He told the painted woman and the others to stay away from Cultural Street. Since transportation was so convenient, they could spend the day visiting a neighboring city instead. He would follow his original plan and visit the writer Jing Shi.
After two long conversations, Jing Shi offered to introduce him to a Clock Master. She wasn't suggesting he become an apprentice; she simply wanted him to watch the master at work making clocks.
"Things can resonate with one another. Sometimes, that resonance bursts forth, and I call it inspiration," Jing Shi said. "Thirty years ago, I was just a minor writer making money from strange little stories. By sheer chance, I saw an Artificer polishing an item clock. In that instant, it was as if some force had struck a spark in my mind, and countless ideas completely different from anything I'd had before came pouring out. That was the turning point of my life."
She looked at Xu Huo. "I