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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 45: Human Skin Puppet (Sixteen)
In my confusion, I suddenly remembered that I hadn't checked the toilet in the bathroom. When I went in earlier, I only looked at the surface and didn't lift the lid to see what was underneath. As I was about to enter the bathroom, Ling Juan hurriedly asked, "Brother Qi, did you discover something?"
I waved my hand to signal her to be quiet and cautiously made my way toward the bathroom. The toilet lid awaited me silently, and I couldn't help but wonder if I would see that terrifying giant slug once I lifted it. It was puzzling how this enormous slug had moved so quickly; I had clearly seen it drop down the Branching Stream, yet now it had mysteriously reappeared in Ling Juan's guest room.
Ling Juan tiptoed at the door, too afraid to move, her eyes wide open as she held her breath and stared intently at my actions.
I glanced at her briefly to stop her from taking another step forward, then placed both hands on the toilet lid and quickly lifted it. At that moment, my heart raced with anxiety; I didn't even dare to breathe deeply. As I lifted the lid, I indeed saw a large white tail-like object move slightly before disappearing—damn, it really startled me.
Reacting swiftly, I grabbed a comb from the sink and plunged it into the toilet. Damn it, aside from splashing dirty water everywhere, that huge tail-like thing had already vanished.
Feeling disgusted, I shook my head at Monet and told Ling Juan that this place was no longer safe for her; she had to come to my room. After settling her in, I headed straight for the bar. Just as I reached the bar, Ling Juan followed closely behind, her face filled with fear as she cried out, unwilling to stay alone in the room.
I didn't have much time; I recounted the strange occurrences in Room 10 to a drowsy-looking attendant.
At first, the attendant pretended not to understand what was going on. But when I mentioned Qin Jian and how this could lead to a police report, she finally revealed something to me.
A long time ago—over two months back—a person came to the hotel. He was tall and thin with a pale complexion and had a pair of dead fish eyes that sent chills down people's spines; he looked just like a zombie from a TV show. The key point was that he wasn't a zombie but rather a wealthy individual who wanted to book two premium rooms.
One of them was Room 10 and the other was Room 100; both were even-numbered rooms that he specifically requested. The attendant remembered this clearly. Initially, she only saw one person come in to rent a room, but later on, she noticed some commotion coming from Room 10.
At that time, she hesitated to disturb him because this wealthy guest had booked his rooms for half a month and there were rules stating that staff could not enter these two rooms without his permission. Because of this policy, she never checked on either room until one day when she heard screams coming from Room 10.
That’s when she became anxious and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she reluctantly took out the key for Room 10 and opened the door to take a look inside.
Hearing this, both I and Ling Juan tensed up and hurriedly asked, "What did you see?"
The waitress recalled with lingering fear, "When I entered the room, I saw a creature lying on the floor, looking like a corpse. It had no mouth but was screaming in agony, its body covered in countless blisters, like a fish out of water struggling desperately. Just as I was about to reach out, someone at the door shouted for me not to move. I was startled and turned around to see that the wealthy man had returned."
"What happened next?"
The waitress shook her head. "The guest was unhappy that I entered without permission and wanted to complain about me. I was scared and didn't dare to stay any longer, so I begged him not to come out and quickly left the room."
Ling Juan was astonished. "You just left it like that without asking what that thing was?"
The waitress lowered her head, her face suddenly flushed. I sensed she must have received some benefit from someone. Sure enough, her next words confirmed my suspicion. She continued, "I didn’t care; the guest... he paid me... told me not to come out, or else my whole family wouldn’t survive."
"Forget it; I won't pursue your negligence. Just tell me what that person did in the end and where he went."
The waitress's face turned red as she glanced at me guiltily. At my prompting, she raised her voice slightly and said, "He left shortly after. When he left, I carefully checked the room; everything was clean and normal, and I didn’t see that white, fleshy creature anywhere."
I wondered if the white creature described by the waitress was similar to what I had seen resembling a Slug. If so, what was its origin? As she described the man’s appearance, a complete image began to form in my mind. I felt a sense of déjà vu but couldn’t recall where I had seen him before.
As I led the waitress and Ling Juan to her room, a sudden thought struck me—this person could be Gao Sheng.
Gao Sheng was quite vague in my memory; I hardly had any interactions with him. I remembered that one time when I went to that place late at night and saw an illusion created by the Evil Sorcerer’s hallucinatory barrier. It was meant to buy time to cover up some crime committed by the Evil Person or something related. During that time, I heard Li Luwen's Mother mention someone named Gao Sheng.
Gao Sheng seemed quite mysterious; according to Li Luwen's Mother, he was sickly. After the Li Luwen incident, he seemed to have vanished without a trace. Could it be such a coincidence? How could I suspect someone I've never met?
But one thing was certain: the person described by the waitress was not Gao Sheng.
That night, I had not accomplished what I needed to do and encountered some inexplicable troubles, which felt quite unlucky. The server's words were ambiguous and half-hearted, leaving me feeling disheartened. As I glanced at the distance to the light, I realized I couldn't avoid sleep.
I wasn't a robot; if things continued like this, I'd eventually meet Marx.
As I reached the door of my room and opened it, it suddenly struck me that Ling Juan was still inside. The awkward incident we had that night was still fresh in my memory. This time, I decided to be smart and suggested we switch rooms, thinking it would be better that way.
When I voiced my idea, Ling Juan cast a fearful glance into the room. After a moment of hesitation, she reluctantly nodded in agreement. Seeing her look of disappointment made me think mischievously—did she want to have a more intimate encounter with me?
"Alright then! You sleep, and I'll move over." My position was about ten steps from the door. If—just if—Ling Juan called out for me to stay, was I being too presumptuous? She was several years younger than me; although she wasn't underage, she was still an unmarried young woman. Ma Qi, you really are terrible, you know? I cursed myself inwardly. Juanzi, please don’t call out to me; just let me leave without incident and walk out confidently. Nothing will happen. But if she did call out—even just a little—I wouldn't be able to control myself and would end up staying. Last time it was at someone else's place, but this was a hotel—
I didn't care about having another woman in my life; what scared me was the responsibility that might come from making a mistake. My chaotic thoughts didn’t hinder my steps: one step, two steps, three steps, four steps, five steps, six steps, seven steps, eight steps, nine steps—almost at the door. It should have taken just one step to reach it, but I walked slowly; each step turned into half-steps until it became ten and a half.
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