16. The Empty Hotel

Among the items he carried, there just happened to be three sticks of incense, and they came in handy right at this moment. Naturally, Chen Sheng assumed that everything unfolding here was a “storyline” carefully designed in advance by the “game developers.”

“This time, I should be able to level up…” he thought to himself. After playing this healing game for quite some time, he hadn’t made any progress. How could he possibly mention to his sister that he played this game too, if he remained stuck at the same level?

“The bus is fixed!” someone shouted, and the scattered crowd immediately moved toward the tour bus. Chen Sheng followed the group of “tourist NPCs,” preparing to get on as well, when suddenly a hand reached out and yanked him back. The strength of that grip was astonishing, pulling him right out of the boarding throng in an instant.

He stumbled and nearly landed on the ground. Slightly annoyed, Chen Sheng turned around to see who had pulled him, but found no one at his side. As he stood there in confusion, the tour bus doors closed and it drove off immediately.

“Wait for me, I haven’t gotten on yet!” Chen Sheng shouted, nearly channeling his inner hard-boiled detective, but whether the bus was soundproof or the driver simply didn’t want this ticketless little policeman squeezing in, it didn’t stop. In fact, it sped up, disappearing from view in no time.

Chen Sheng was left speechless.

The planners of this healing game truly had no intention of playing fair!

With a torrent of internal complaints, Chen Sheng strode to the three freshly piled graves. He had just been pulled back by a mysterious hand—clearly, this supernatural event was connected to these graves. And he had just offered three sticks of incense, satisfying all the conditions for some cause-and-effect sequence to unfold.

He wondered what plotline would trigger before these graves, but after waiting some time, nothing happened.

“Not following the routine again?” he mused, then pulled out his map for a look.

After carefully checking the map, he couldn’t help but inwardly praise the game’s developers for their attention to detail. The map was just like a real one, complete with coordinates and various markers. Once Chen Sheng was sure of his location, he set off down the mountain. There was a hotel at the mountain’s base, and hotels usually meant there’d be taxis waiting for passengers nearby. He planned to find a cab and have the driver take him to Skull Monastery.

Even though his pockets were empty, Chen Sheng decided he’d just owe the fare for now.

After all, wasn’t it natural for players to owe “NPCs” money?

What amazed Chen Sheng most about this healing game was its dynamic adjustment of player speed based on physical fitness—here, he could unleash the swiftness he usually kept hidden in real life. He dashed down the mountain like the wind, moving even faster than the tour bus had climbed up.

But when he arrived at the hotel marked on the map, he froze in place.

It wasn’t that the hotel was dilapidated—on the contrary, it gleamed with opulence—but the place was so desolate that not only were there no taxis, there wasn’t a single soul in sight, nor any houses as far as the eye could see.

Gazing at the lavishly built hotel before him, Chen Sheng fell silent.

Was this poor planning by the developers, or had they simply designed it to mimic harsh reality too well?

He knew there was a similar hotel in a town near the hospital—a small town with a star-rated hotel that did abysmal business, remaining empty even during holidays. But it hardly mattered to the hotel, as it wasn’t built for business, nor as an investment waiting for demolition compensation. Its sole purpose was to launder money.

“The developers are really outdoing themselves…” Chen Sheng nodded, settling on the latter explanation, and strode into the hotel.

Since there were no taxis, he might as well borrow a phone and call the police bureau for some money.

Although this healing game was set in a modern city, Chen Sheng had discovered over time that it took place in an era before mobile phones, when only landlines existed. Beepers, those fleetingly popular devices, were everywhere.

Pushing open the hotel doors, Chen Sheng found the lobby deserted, though the floor was spotless. The black tiles gleamed like a mirror, reflecting his own face.

The game’s attention to detail was, as always, top-notch!

Chen Sheng looked around in puzzlement—how could such a clean hotel have no staff?

Where was everyone?

This didn’t match the game’s usually meticulous approach to details.

Feeling increasingly curious, he deliberately made some noise, even shouting a couple of times, but still, no one appeared.

“Could there be something unusual about this hotel? Did I approach it the wrong way?” Chen Sheng wondered, moving to the front desk, where he spotted a stone plaque with several lines of text:

“Guest First Hotel. All travelers are welcome to stay at will. However, please do not stay on the first or second floors—proceed to the third floor. All is free of charge.”

Chen Sheng’s lips twitched. He now felt like a fool for his earlier antics, but fortunately, this was just a game—no risk of social humiliation.

Following the instructions, he headed to the third floor.

Unlike the empty lobby below, the third floor was lively. He saw several men and women choosing rooms. They seemed to be traveling together, and when Chen Sheng arrived, they glanced at him, then went back to picking rooms without a word.

Since they didn’t greet him, he made no attempt at conversation and walked straight to the room nearest the stairs, reaching out to turn the handle.

No one was inside, but the room was a mess—clothes and various items scattered everywhere, men’s shoes, trousers, shirts, and even some women’s belongings: a broken lipstick, and a pair of high heels thick with dust.

Chen Sheng closed the door and tried the next room, only to find the same chaos, making him frown.

He opened the third door.

This time, the room was spotless—immaculately clean, with fresh bedding and everything in perfect order.

A look of delight appeared on Chen Sheng’s face, and he was about to enter when a couple beat him to it. The man even gave him a shove, pushing him back out the door.

Chen Sheng’s expression froze. He hadn’t expected “NPCs” to compete with him for a room.

How could he let that slide?

Without hesitation, he knocked on the door.

“What do you want?” the man answered, face full of menace.

Chen Sheng said nothing. He simply summoned his “beginner’s equipment.”

Life and death hang by a thread; one fate tied to another!