Honored Guests

A Mutated Species that could communicate?

After the man spoke, even Qi Xing stopped picking the lock and looked over in surprise.

Only then did Jiang Zhaosu dare believe it was not her imagination. "He... spoke...?"

"He spoke."

Qi Xing's expression turned serious.

Generally, any Mutated Species capable of speaking had combat strength of at least A-rank.

When it saw both Jiang Zhaosu and Qi Xing looking at it, the Mutated Species spoke again.

It spoke somewhat like Jiang Zhaosu did, slowly and hoarsely, as if there were a hole in its throat. Occasionally, its words were mixed with the rasping howls of a zombie.

"I... Hotel Manager... Sun Penghui..."

The Mutated Species even placed a hand over its chest and gave them a gentlemanly bow.

"Honored... guests... please... follow me... downstairs... to register..."

Uh.

Jiang Zhaosu was dumbfounded.

As expected of a Five-Star Hotel manager. Even after becoming a zombie, he had not forgotten his job.

Though this Mutated Species' Aura felt dangerous, it did not seem to have any intention of attacking them.

Should they kill it? Or should they first see what was going on?

Jiang Zhaosu could not make up her mind and looked at Qi Xing.

Qi Xing was still holding the thin wire he had used to pick the lock. He looked at Jiang Zhaosu, then at the Mutated Species patiently waiting for their answer.

Without a word, Qi Xing hid his hand behind his back and casually slipped the wire back into his pocket as if nothing had happened.

"Sure. Let's go, Fortune."

Qi Xing put an arm around Jiang Zhaosu's shoulders and gestured for the Mutated Species to lead the way.

The Mutated Species walked ahead while the two of them communicated behind it through glances and gestures.

Jiang Zhaosu jutted her chin toward the Mutated Species ahead, drew a line across her throat with her hand, then frantically waggled her brows at Qi Xing.

(Are we just going down like this? Aren't we killing it?)

Qi Xing shook his head, raised a hand and wobbled it like a rattle drum, then waved his hand and held up two fingers to make a running motion.

(No. My ability is hard to use here. If we can't beat it, we're finished. We'll wait for an opportunity. If that doesn't work, we run.)

Jiang Zhaosu: "..."

With no other choice, they could only follow the Mutated Species downstairs.

The Mutated Species was dedicated to its duties. As they went down, it thoughtfully explained, "Hotel power outage... stairs... please excuse us..."

Jiang Zhaosu was not fluent, so Qi Xing answered for her. "It's fine."

The Mutated Species said, "Free... room upgrade..."

"Haha, then thank you, Manager Sun."

Qi Xing was like a chatbot, answering every sentence the Mutated Species said.

The Mutated Species rarely encountered guests bold enough to chat with it like this. It grew increasingly enthusiastic and eagerly introduced the hotel facilities all the way down.

"Second floor... restaurant... free breakfast... every morning at seven..."

"First floor... Banquet Hall..."

"Fourteenth floor... gym... free access..."

"Top floor... bar... infinity pool... photos allowed..."

Its introduction was good, but it spoke far too slowly. Jiang Zhaosu felt anxious just listening and could not help saying, "Talk... faster..."

Hearing her, the Mutated Species sadly touched its badly deformed neck. "I... will try..."

"Don't... drag... your words..."

"You... drag... yours too..."

Listening to their snail-paced conversation, Qi Xing felt that if this continued, his language system would malfunction sooner or later.

When they reached the first floor, the Mutated Species brought them to the front desk and asked for identification. "ID... room..."

Who still carried an ID these days?

Qi Xing and Jiang Zhaosu stared at each other for a moment.

Qi Xing let out an "Ah," having thought of a solution, and pulled a small notebook from his pocket.

He had specially found it before so Jiang Zhaosu could draw more conveniently.

Qi Xing scribbled a few lines on it, tore out the page, and handed it to Sun Penghui. "One twin room."

While he wrote, Jiang Zhaosu rose onto her toes to take a look.

Qi Xing had written "Li Ronghua" and "Li Fortune."

Qi Xing's handwriting was unexpectedly nothing like his handsome, refined appearance. The strokes flowed together in a wildly uninhibited scrawl.

Jiang Zhaosu guessed that when Qi Xing had been in school, his essay presentation scores must have been terrible.

Yet the Mutated Species Manager actually accepted those perfunctory, illegible "IDs."

With great solemnity, the Mutated Species placed the two slips of paper on the ID verification machine, then tapped away on the keyboard of an unpowered computer before looking up at them. "Registration... complete..."

"Thirteenth floor... room 1304..."

The Mutated Species handed them the two paper slips along with another small card, using both hands. "This is... room key..."

At first, Jiang Zhaosu thought it was a real key card. When she took it, she found it was some promotional card from a massage parlor.

The whole registration process had been like children playing house.

Qi Xing held Jiang Zhaosu close and thanked the Mutated Species.

After they started up the stairs, the Mutated Species did not forget to call loudly after them, "Tomorrow... breakfast... come..."

Jiang Zhaosu and Qi Xing climbed three floors in a row.

Jiang Zhaosu sniffed the Mutated Species' Aura in the air and said to Qi Xing, "Didn't... follow..."

Qi Xing was also watching their surroundings. "Strange. Such a huge hotel, and there aren't any other zombies?"

They had gone up and down for so long without encountering a single zombie besides that Mutated Species.

"There are..."

Jiang Zhaosu had caught the scent. "Zombies... people... both..."

"Both?"

Qi Xing looked at the pitch-black corridor before them, which resembled an abyss without electricity. "Then why isn't there any sound at all?"

"Above..."

"Let's go take a look."

Jiang Zhaosu and Qi Xing continued climbing the stairs.

On the fifth floor, they finally encountered a zombie.

The zombie was plump and dressed in a suit and tie. Before his death, he had clearly been a businessman. Even after death, he was not as crude and savage as ordinary zombies, merely swaying back and forth through the corridor.

Only after clearly catching Qi Xing's scent did his eyes flash viciously as he roared and charged toward them.

Qi Xing raised his blade and brought it down, neatly severing the business zombie's head.

"More... up..."

This zombie was like an omen.

Jiang Zhaosu could smell the scent of zombies in the air growing stronger and stronger.

"In the... rooms..."

"The zombies are all in the rooms?"

Jiang Zhaosu nodded and pointed at an open door in the corridor. "It... came out..."

This hotel was far too strange.

The zombies had actually been locked inside the guest rooms. Ordinary zombies had no awareness and could not open doors, so they could not get out.

Other than that Mutated Species, Jiang Zhaosu could not think of anyone else who could have done such a thing.

But why would it do that? Could it be protecting humans?

Was that not even stranger?

Why would a Mutated Species protect humans?

Could it be like her and possess consciousness too?

But recalling the Mutated Species' children-playing-house style of registration, Jiang Zhaosu did not think so.

After thinking about it for a long time, Jiang Zhaosu's mind was a tangled mess. She could not understand the situation at all.

However, the higher they climbed, the fainter the human scent she could smell became. That meant there were no humans left on the upper floors.

Driven by curiosity, Jiang Zhaosu and Qi Xing climbed all the way to the thirteenth floor and arrived at room 1304, the room the Mutated Species had mentioned.

That Mutated Species Manager had actually kept its promise and given them a luxury suite.

The suite was enormous, probably over a hundred square meters. It had a living room, study, kitchen, and two bedrooms.

Both the living room and bedrooms had entire walls of floor-to-ceiling windows. Looking out from inside, they could see the city's landmark buildings.

The extravagant, luxurious decor left Jiang Zhaosu stunned for a hundred years.

Where had she ever seen such a nice home before? It was countless times brighter and more spacious than her basement.

Jiang Zhaosu flopped onto the soft bed and did not want to get up.

Though zombies did not need sleep, she sometimes habitually closed her eyes and took a short nap, pretending to rest like a human.

Seeing her boneless, lazy appearance, Qi Xing smiled, sat down on the bed as well, and casually said, "Fortune, have you gotten taller lately?"