The conditions in the urban village really weren't very good.
The place was lively enough, but the transient population was far too large, standards of conduct were hard to guarantee, and filth and disorder were everywhere.
Song Xiaotian and I finally managed to find the guesthouse.
The guesthouse really was deserted. It was a small four-story building, with forty rooms assuming ten to a floor, but only three rooms had their lights on.
When we went to check in, the owner seemed very nervous.
"A room for the two of you? Are you sure you want to stay?"
I said we were sure.
"Then let me make this clear in advance: if anything goes missing, don't ask me to compensate you."
The owner was a fat man in his forties. With a worried expression, he told us, "If you're carrying cash or valuables, you'd better not stay either."
Song Xiaotian laughed. "Is it really that scary? Are you running some kind of shady establishment?"
"My establishment isn't shady," the owner said. "It's mostly that security around here is bad. People are always stealing things. I'm telling you this for your own good."
"Then we'll take a room on the fourth floor," I said. "Surely the thief can't scale walls and leap across rooftops."
The owner sighed. "Even staying on the roof wouldn't help. They'll steal from you all the same. I put security bars on the windows of every room, and that didn't help either. What good did it do?"
Song Xiaotian asked, "You have surveillance cameras in the hallways, right? You've never caught the thief, not even once?"
The owner shook his head. "This thief is uncanny. The cameras can't catch him at all. My place has been hit at least a dozen times already. That's why I'm warning