An A-rank Manager Comes Calling in Person?
Knock, knock, knock.
Three knocks sounded at the door.
They were very light.
But Shen Niannian's body instantly went rigid.
"Miss Shen, I'm Gu Changsheng, the manager of the Blood Moon Hotel. Would it be convenient for me to come in now?"
Shen Niannian looked at the line marked [Peak A-rank] in the identity profile and felt even more pressure.
An A-rank boss had come to her door in person.
And was being so polite.
No matter how she looked at it, that was more suspicious than if he had barged straight in.
"If I say it's not convenient, will you leave?"
There was a moment of silence outside the door.
"Of course. If it's not convenient now, I'll come back later."
The next second.
His footsteps really did begin to recede.
Shen Niannian froze.
He was really leaving?
She hurriedly pulled the door open a crack.
"Wait, you're really leaving?"
Gu Changsheng stopped.
A dark red tailcoat.
Gold-rimmed glasses.
He looked just like a refined, courteous hotel manager.
"Wasn't it inconvenient for you?"
"..."
Shen Niannian had no answer.
Wasn't that service attitude a little too professional?
The livestream chat had gone numb.
"Did she just send Gu Changsheng away?"
"Gu Changsheng actually left?"
"Last time, a player just argued with it about the checkout time, and the next day his head was hanging from the chandelier in the lobby!"
"The doorman is afraid of her, and the manager goes along with her too. I'm believing in these so-called hidden rules less and less."
Of course, Shen Niannian couldn't see the chat.
In her eyes.
The more polite Gu Changsheng was.
The more it suggested a plot.
Still...
This guy was the only "hotel management staff" she knew of right now.
Scared or not.
She still had to ask the questions she needed to ask.
"Forget it. Come in. I wanted to ask you a few things anyway."
"Then, sorry to intrude."
Meanwhile.
On the second floor.
The atmosphere among the remaining players was completely different.
After Chen Hao's death.
None of them dared exploit loopholes in the rules lightly anymore.
Zhou Hai went so far as to warn them directly, "Remember one thing: don't copy anything Shen Niannian has done. Things are clearly abnormal on her side, and Chen Hao has already proved it with his life."
Wang Jianguo cradled his injured hand, his expression grim.
The other newcomers all nodded too.
Just then.
The sound of a cart came from the end of the corridor.
A waitress dressed in black slowly approached.
"It's dinnertime. Guests may collect the complimentary dinner provided by the hotel."
She lifted the food cover.
A plate of blackened chunks of meat appeared before everyone.
The surface of the meat was even wriggling slightly.
A newcomer girl covered her mouth.
Wang Jianguo's expression darkened, and he asked without thinking, "What kind of meat is that?"
The waitress slowly turned her head.
"Guest, please do not ask about the source of the ingredients."
Wang Jianguo shut his mouth at once.
After what had happened with the doorman, he had no desire to test the rules again.
Zhou Hai observed more closely.
A wooden sign hung beside the food cart.
[Complimentary dinner for ordinary guests] [Each guest may collect only one portion. Please do not waste food.]
"Do we have to eat it?"
"No. But after ten at night, the hotel will no longer provide food to ordinary guests."
Zhou Hai frowned.
They needed to stay here for three days.
They had brought very little real-world food into the dungeon.
Sooner or later, they would have to use the hotel's dining services.
More importantly-
There was still no clue whatsoever about the checkout voucher.
The various services the hotel provided were very likely connected to the mission themselves.
"Don't eat it for now. There's still time tonight. Let's keep observing."
The waitress didn't force them.
She pushed the food cart away.
The newcomer girl said in a low voice, "Shen Niannian has normal strawberry cake and milk over there. If she eats them and nothing happens, doesn't that mean the hotel has safe food too?"
Wang Jianguo barely had to think.
"We can't use her situation as a reference at all. Chen Hao copied her and changed rooms, and he died on the spot."
The livestream chat wholeheartedly agreed.
"No copying Shen Niannian's walkthrough."
"Copy it once and you lose a life."
"Other people are trying to figure out whether the black meat is edible, while she's on the seventh floor chatting about cake with an A-rank boss."
"Same dungeon, two different lives."
On the seventh floor.
Shen Niannian had finally begun sounding out the hotel manager in front of her as well.
"Manager Gu, let me ask you a question first. Why are you treating me so well?"
Gu Changsheng's eyelid twitched slightly.
As for Shen Niannian's past.
There were some things he couldn't bring up himself.
At least, not now.
"The Blood Moon Hotel has always placed great importance on our guests' experience during their stay."
A standard customer-service answer.
The identity profile refreshed at the same time.
[Current status: More nervous]
Shen Niannian's eyes slowly narrowed.
(¬_¬)
It didn't count as lying.
But he was definitely hiding something.
"Why do other people stay on the second and third floors while I'm in 701? Why can't the other guests change rooms? And why were the doorman's legs shaking the whole time when it saw me?"
Gu Changsheng was silent for two seconds.
"The environment in 701 is more suited to you. The other guests' rooms are assigned by the hotel. As for the doorman, it may not be feeling well today."
Shen Niannian: "..."
Ghosts could feel unwell too?
The excuse was so absurd that even she didn't know how to mock it.
But she didn't press further.
A peak A-rank ghost was willing to play dumb.
She couldn't exactly pin his head down and force a confession out of him.
That wasn't bravery.
That was the God of Longevity lining up to hang himself.
"All right. So, can I really eat this cake?"
"Yes. It's made entirely with ingredients fit for normal human consumption. It contains no corpse oil, bone meal, rotting flesh, blood plasma, or any other ghostly contaminants."
Shen Niannian's expression gradually froze.
(°ー°〃)
"Manager Gu, actually, I'd feel a little better if you hadn't explained that whole list at the end."
Gu Changsheng was silent for a moment.
"My apologies."
The livestream chat immediately burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha, her face!"
"Manager Gu: I thought I explained it pretty clearly."
"Other people enter an A-rank dungeon and investigate the food. She gets the dungeon boss to give her a food safety report in person."
Although that long list of ingredients had made Shen Niannian feel a little sick.
Her mind hadn't been idle.
She suddenly realized something.
She had just asked:
Why was the hotel treating her so well?
Gu Changsheng had dodged the question.
She had asked why the doorman was afraid of her.
Gu Changsheng had kept dodging.
But when the questions turned to the hotel itself-
Whether the cake was edible.
Whether the ingredients were safe.
Gu Changsheng had answered very clearly.
Shen Niannian looked thoughtful.
(¬_¬)
I see.
Gu Changsheng was clearly unwilling to talk about "why these ghosts are acting so strangely toward me."
Even if she kept pressing him.
She probably wouldn't get an answer.
But information about the hotel itself...
He seemed willing to answer.
Then she would ask about something useful first.
Rather than figuring out why these ghosts had all suddenly gone crazy, she needed to find out-
Exactly how to get the checkout voucher.
Shen Niannian had just been about to speak.
But the merriment didn't last long.
The sound of hoofbeats suddenly came from outside the hotel.
Clop, clop, clop-
The lights throughout the hotel dimmed for an instant.
Gu Changsheng frowned.
The doorman's voice also sounded from outside.
"Manager, the Blood Rose family's carriage has arrived. It's the Bai family's young miss."
Gu Changsheng paused.
"Why did she have to come tonight..."
Shen Niannian: "..."
She silently swallowed the question that was already on the tip of her tongue.
(￣ー￣)
Fine.
It looked like this question was going to be a little difficult to ask today.
Some people in the livestream had already realized what was happening.
"The Blood Rose Bai Family?"
"Don't tell me it's Bai Feiyue?!"
"That A-rank entity who appeared in the 'Black Rain Street' instance half a year ago?"
"The crazy woman who killed four players in five minutes?"
Outside the hotel.
Four pitch-black, headless steeds slowly came to a halt.
The carriage door opened.
A young woman with black hair and red eyes stepped out of the carriage.
Pale skin.
A long black Gothic dress.
In her hand, she held an open black umbrella that there was no need to open.
Bai Feiyue looked up at the hotel.
She made no attempt to conceal the disdain on her pretty face.
"This is the Blood Moon Hotel? It looks even more boring than the rumors said."
The ghoul servant beside her immediately lowered his head.
"Young miss, the hotel is running a human instance tonight. Eight players are still alive."
Bai Feiyue stopped in her tracks.
Her gaze passed through the entrance.
It fell on the human players in the lobby.
The corners of her mouth slowly curved upward.
"There are humans here?"
"Then tonight shouldn't be too boring."
In the livestream.
The viewers who had been laughing just moments ago instantly fell silent.
Because everyone who had seen "Black Rain Street" knew.
When this young miss called something "interesting,"
It usually meant-
Dead people.