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| Descend from the Stars (STARS) |
Returning to the hotel lobby, it was oddly quiet during the daytime with no guests checking in. The staff stood motionless at their posts like lifeless statues.
Xu Dan, still in his human-snake form, followed them inside, his serpent tail swaying, yet no one showed any sign of surprise.
Xu Rongchuan shattered the silence by slamming the room key onto the front desk. "What kind of dump is this? The whole place reeks of something foul—is this even fit for humans? Go on, call your manager out here!"
The receptionist smiled mechanically. "We sincerely apologize, sir. Could you describe the odor?"
"Blood," Xu Rongchuan said. "A nauseating, rotten stench of blood. Listen, I came here to relax, not to get tangled up in some murder case."
"Our deepest apologies, sir. This is a reputable establishment," the receptionist replied with an exaggerated grin. "Would you like us to arrange a room change for you?"
Xu Rongchuan slammed his palm on the desk. "I said I want to see your manager! Are you deaf?!"
Xu Dan's serpent tail coiled around the receptionist's cold neck, just a slight squeeze away from snapping that fragile human limb. He smiled sweetly. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry. My husband has a bit of a temper—you really shouldn't provoke him."
Wha—?! Xu Rongchuan nearly choked on his own saliva, his carefully crafted tough-guy act almost crumbling on the spot.
Where on earth had this little monster picked up that term? And why was he so naturally good at playing the good cop?
First "Mom," then "brother," and now another bizarre title had been added to the list...
Finally, the receptionist pressed a bell and gave Xu Dan a long look. "Understood. We will contact the hotel manager for you immediately. Please wait a moment."
In less than two minutes, a woman in a sharp suit and high heels clicked her way over. She looked surprisingly young, her bright smile making her seem far more alive than the rest of the soulless staff. Xu Rongchuan glanced at the name tag on her chest: Li Xing.
So she was still in this hotel after all.
"Dear guest, we deeply regret your unpleasant experience. We’ll arrange a room change for you—you may choose any available room," Li Xing apologized profusely. "Would this solution be acceptable?"
Xu Rongchuan narrowed his eyes, studying hers.
"Promoted to manager, huh? Was that its reward for you?" he asked with a mocking smirk.
Li Xing tilted her head slightly. "I beg your pardon?"
"Weren’t you a receptionist at Wenzheng Hotel before?"
Li Xing fell silent, her pupils fixed unblinkingly on Xu Rongchuan before she deepened her smile. "Wenzheng Hotel? I’ve never heard of it."
Xu Rongchuan glanced at Xu Dan, who shook his head slightly—unlike Zhao Zheng, they couldn’t restore her memories through reincarnation.
Xu Rongchuan understood. "Fine, let’s change rooms. Bring me the keys to all the vacant rooms on the top floor. I’ll inspect them one by one—who knows if the new ones will stink too?"
Li Xing beamed warmly again. "Of course, thank you for your understanding. Please follow me."
Click, click, click... The crisp sound of high heels echoed through the lobby. Xu Rongchuan observed the woman’s back, unable to determine whether she was still human or something else—and just how much control "it" had over her.
"Ding." The elevator arrived. They stepped one by one into the confined space.
Xu Rongchuan casually picked up the previous topic: "You’ve never heard of Wenzheng Hotel? It’s quite famous, a five-star establishment. And..."
He noticed the woman’s fingers twitch slightly.
"...And I heard it was named after the owner’s son—that ultra-rich heir named Zhao Zheng. You must have met him before. I remember him mentioning you."
Through the metallic reflection of the elevator, he caught a flash of red in the woman’s eyes.
She turned her head toward Xu Rongchuan. "Zhao Zheng..."
Xu Rongchuan suddenly thought of something else: "Right, Zhao Zheng. Though I wonder who the ‘Wen’ in ‘Wenzheng’ refers to? ‘Wen’ and ‘Zheng’—must be a relative from the same family. His father, perhaps?"
The elevator arrived. 54th floor.
The doors opened, but the woman didn’t move. Xu Dan pressed the door-hold button, and the three of them stood frozen inside the stalled elevator, facing the dim, shadowy corridor. The only source of light was the floor-to-ceiling window beside Room 5408.
In just half an hour, the eerie 54th floor seemed to have changed again.
Xu Rongchuan didn’t rush out. Instead, he waited inside the elevator. He was certain this woman knew something—the name "Zhao Zheng" had clearly shaken her deeply. She was wavering, or rather, struggling against another powerful force within her.
Just as he was about to speak again, Xu Dan’s voice, soft and melodious, cut in: "Li Xing."
The name made her shudder violently. In her pitch-black, lifeless pupils, the sunlight from the window slowly reflected. Xu Dan took a step forward, leaning down slightly to whisper in her ear: "Zhao Zheng is dead. He jumped from the 54th floor of this hotel. We couldn’t even retrieve his body because he entrusted us with something far more important—something worth dying for. That thing is hidden in Room 5409."
"You don’t seem as composed as you pretend, do you? Inside this brain that no longer belongs to you, a part of the real you has been hiding all along—even ‘It’ doesn’t know."
"Back then, Zhao Zheng spiraled into madness because of your careless words. Now, he used his own life to peel back the first layer of the truth for us. His dying wish was to save the innocent victims and end all the suffering and sin. That hidden part of you—hasn’t it been waiting all this time for today? A chance for you to atone, to break free, to escape."
"We’d like to change rooms to 5409 now. As the hotel manager, as a... Devotee. You must have the key, don’t you?"
"Where is 5409?"
Xu Rongchuan shot Xu Dan a surprised glance.
A monster who couldn’t even comprehend love or companionship, who had only been human for less than a month—how could it so precisely pinpoint the weaknesses of human nature?
An indescribable feeling crept over him. As Xu Dan whispered those coaxing words to Li Xing, he couldn’t help but recall a demon he’d once encountered during a mission—one skilled in manipulation and always aloof but speaking the most heartfelt words with the cruelest indifference.
He frowned while watching as Xu Dan, still smiling, reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind Li Xing’s ear and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Li Xing trembled violently, as if locked in an invisible battle.
Suddenly, she clutched Xu Dan’s hand like a lifeline, lips parting: "Zhao Zheng..."
Then, an unbelievable transformation took place.
Her youthful, delicate face began to wrinkle, streaks of white appeared in her once jet-black hair, and her full lips gradually cracked—time was reversing on her, or rather, the disguise of time was peeling away from her body.
She turned around and stepped out of the elevator at an excruciatingly slow pace. With her as the center, the entire 54th floor underwent the same transformation: older, plainer carpets; doors stained with blotches of blood; rusted doorknobs; cracked ceilings; walls imprinted with bloody handprints...
And an overwhelming stench of blood so thick it made one nauseous, along with resentment and desire so dense they nearly materialized.
They had moved from Chaos to the real Wenzheng!
Xu Rongchuan's expression was grave as he followed behind Li Xing, step by step down the corridor.
Just as he had guessed the night before, the top floor of the real Wenzheng Hotel was curved, with the hallway forming a circle that connected end to end. Eight rooms, numbered 01 to 08, encircled the area, and right in the center was the one they were searching for—Room 5409.
The door of 5409 was tightly bound with chains, wrapped layer upon layer, and from beneath the door, blood continuously seeped out...
Li Xing stopped in front of Room 5409.
Her voice had turned as hoarse as sandpaper: "The Wenzheng Hotel—its name comes from the two male heirs of the Zhao Group: the elder brother, Zhao Wen, and the younger brother, Zhao Zheng."
"Inside the elder brother Zhao Wen's body, a demon was gestating. He went mad, and everyone else went mad too..."
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