Su Su stared intently as a dark-skinned face appeared at the entrance of the inn.
“Hello, excuse me, is this the surface inn?”
The people on the boat had seen the lighthouse sign long ago, but they had hesitated until now to finally muster the courage to land and walk inside.
“Yes, please come in.”
Once Su Su gave her permission, the captain of the wooden boat stepped inside.
The moment he crossed the threshold, his expression shifted instantly.
An omnipresent breeze swirled around him, dispelling the sweltering heat of the summer day. The middle-aged man felt a sudden, refreshing coolness wash over him, and his mind felt much clearer.
He looked up at the fan blades rotating continuously on the ceiling. It turned out that person was telling the truth!
There really was a fan blowing.
Then…
“Boss, is it also true that we can stay here and take a shower?”
The captain’s face, usually dark and composed from years at sea, was now filled with excitement.
“Yes, it’s written on the notice board in front of the cashier counter. If you want to know anything, look for yourself.”
Su Su sat lazily behind the counter, her previous enthusiasm completely gone.
The captain didn’t mind at all. He couldn’t even be bothered with the prior agreement he had made with his crew—that he would go in first to scout the situation and only call them in once he confirmed it was safe.
He walked toward the notice board with such urgency that, while reading the information, his attention was uncontrollably drawn to the automatic vending machine next to it.
It took him ten full minutes to finish reading the information in a daze.
He subconsciously looked at Su Su behind the counter, his voice trembling.
“B—Boss, is everything written here true?”
He could hardly believe they had encountered such a wonderful place.
“Of course. If you don’t believe it, you can get a membership card first and buy something to see for yourself.”
Hearing Su Su’s words, the captain nodded vigorously. Following the instructions, he quickly registered for a membership card and immediately bought a bottle of water and a steamed bun.
Only when he held the two items from the incubator in his hands did the sense of reality break through the dream and become real.
He carefully unscrewed the cap, poured the water into his mouth, then tore open the packaging of the steamed bun and took a small bite.
Soft and sweet. The captain’s sunken eyes instantly grew moist.
Clutching the two items, he suddenly ran out the door and shouted to the crew members who were waiting outside, anxious and unsure if they should go in to rescue him.
“Come in, quick! Come in! It’s all true!”
Hearing the captain’s exclamation, everyone was stunned.
“What! Really?”
“Look at the bun and the water in the captain’s hands!”
“Ah!! It’s actually real!”
After a burst of screams and commotion outside, six or seven people rushed in together in a chaotic scramble.
They were covered in sweat, their hair and clothes soaking wet and clinging to their skin.
Since someone had already obtained a membership card, the others quickly processed the information on the notice board with his help.
After they each finished obtaining their membership cards, they impatiently bought water and steamed buns. Unable to wait until they returned to the boat, they stood in the lobby and began devouring the food and drink.
Seeing them gorging themselves so ravenously, even Su Su started to feel hungry.
She took the remaining half of the steamed bun in her hand and stuffed it into her mouth. Hmm… still tasted the same.
After witnessing the true conditions of the inn, everyone felt the urge to stay the night. After whispering among themselves in a corner, the captain stepped forward as their representative to speak with Su Su.
“Boss, we all want to stay here for the night. Could we see the rooms?”
“Of course.”
Su Su perked up instantly. This group of people was the key to her upgrade. As long as they checked in, the conditions for the inn’s upgrade would be met.
“However, the inn only has eleven beds left, so a maximum of eleven people can stay. One is a single room for ten points per night, and the other ten are in a communal dormitory for three points per night.”
Su Su laid out the terms first, then got up and headed toward room 102, where Bai Bai had stayed before.
The room had been cleaned after Bai Bai left. It still looked the same—quite simple, except for the addition of the fan on the ceiling.
After seeing the single room and showing satisfied expressions, the group trooped out of the inn and arrived at the door leading to the basement.
After going down the stairs and taking a look around the basement, everyone immediately expressed their desire to check in right away.
“Alright, your room cards are bound to your membership cards. I’ve already processed your check-in, so I’ll be going now.”
After Su Su left, several people stayed in the communal dormitory to choose their beds.
“I want this one, don’t fight me for it!”
“No way, I want the spot against the wall.”
“Go ahead and fight. Just wait until the rest of the people from the boat get here and see what you’ll do then.”
While the people from the new wooden boat were busy in a heated scramble for beds, Su Su was humming a little tune, happily walking toward the inn’s entrance.
As soon as she finished the check-in process for that group, the notification for task completion sounded in her ear.
—Congratulations to the host for completing the Inn Upgrade (Level 1) task. The inn has now been upgraded to Level 1.
Su Su felt the air around her fluctuate for a moment. When she blinked again, she realized the platform had grown larger.
What was originally a three-meter radius had now expanded to about four meters, and the lighthouse structure itself had become a circle wider.
She hurried back toward the inn and froze the moment she saw the entrance.
What was originally a simple, single 80-centimeter iron door had been replaced by a wood-framed glass door. The door had also changed from a single leaf to a double door, measuring a full 1.5 meters wide.
The glass was frosted, allowing the light from inside to be faintly visible.
Pushing the door open, the changes to the interior of the inn were even more significant.
The lobby, which was originally only about three meters wide and three meters long, had instantly stretched into a square over four meters on each side. An extra door had also appeared on both side walls.
The staff quarters and bathroom, which were originally on one side of the stairs, had been moved to the walls on either side behind the cashier counter.
After the upgrade, the number of rooms in the inn had increased from two to six.
Su Su walked toward the cashier counter. The originally dusty concrete floor had been replaced by 40×40 white floor tiles. The white walls had also been redecorated, featuring brownish-gray tiles on the lower half and white wall on the upper half, exuding a sense of primitive elegance from the last century.
However, Su Su had no time to worry about these changes because she discovered a white curtain had appeared behind the cashier counter.
She walked over quickly and pulled the curtain aside to reveal a reddish-brown wooden door. Pushing it open, she saw an independent room similar to a small apartment.
The room wasn’t large, only about a dozen square meters. Upon entering, the first thing that caught her eye was a small, straight-line kitchenette with a single small sink. Further in was a combined living-bedroom area of about ten square meters, where a massive floor-to-ceiling window offered a view of the azure sea.
Sunlight streamed through the transparent window onto light blue curtains. Behind the curtains were a single bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. Though the room was small, it was fully equipped and felt quite cozy.
The only separately partitioned area in the entire room was the bathroom.
The bathroom was about three square meters, a long and narrow space with a dry-wet separation design.
“With such a big window in this room, won’t I be seen by people outside?”
Su Su walked to the window, feeling as though she was extremely close to the sea, as if the room were built directly over the water.
But based on the room’s position, shouldn’t it be built inside the lighthouse?
—Host, please rest easy. The scenery outside this window is equivalent to a real-time monitor of the sea surface; it is not physical. People outside cannot see this window.
So that’s how it is! After hearing the system’s explanation, Su Su felt relieved.