[011] Doomsday Hotel
[1,000 Points deducted, upgrade confirmed.]
[Doomsday Apartment upgrading, please wait…]
Along with the voice, the control panel transformed directly into a loading status bar.
Seeing this, Gu Weiwei headed straight back to her room. Since the operation would take a bit of time, hiding away ensured she wouldn’t be interrupted by anyone.
The moment she arrived, the loading bar completed its progress, and Gu Weiwei saw a brand-new panel take shape:
[Building: Doomsday Hotel (Upgradable)]
[Level: Level 1]
[Owner: Gu Weiwei]
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[Description: Within the building’s perimeter, the owner holds absolute control and immunity to all damage.]
[Wealth (Points): 36,322]
[Mall: Open, items available for purchase]
[Facilities: 10 (Sign, Front Desk, Lounge Area, Restroom, Vending Machine, Rooms, Washroom, Restaurant, Tent Area, Recycling Cabinet)]
[Tenants: 2,178]
Beside the panel data was a fresh, newly rendered map of the Doomsday Hotel.
Three apartment buildings were arranged in a staggered layout, with the Tent Area surrounding Apartment Building No. 1, all framed by bare, empty land around the perimeter.
In particular, the newly expanded area made the property look somewhat like an unfinished construction site.
Unfinished building or not, whatever! At any rate, as of right now, the Doomsday Hotel was the only business in town. There was no fear of players not showing up; points and resources still needed to be spent where they mattered most.
Just as Gu Weiwei was thinking this, the Doomsday Landlady System spoke up once more:
[Detected that Doomsday Hotel’s aesthetic rating is slightly low. Please decorate the hotel. Reaching a 50% aesthetic rating will grant a reward.]
Gu Weiwei, who had just been about to close out the panel operations, fell silent.
She then let her eyes linger on the word “reward” for a few moments before finally deciding to give it a shot.
Opening the Mall directly, she began browsing through its contents.
Looking through it like this, Gu Weiwei actually noticed right away that the Mall had upgraded along with the system. The number of available items inside had increased significantly, and a new category option had even appeared:
Special Goods.
Gu Weiwei checked them out immediately:
[Item: Heat-Resistant Suit]
[Points: 20]
[Item: Sunshade Umbrella]
[Points: 10]
[Item: Heat-Resistant Hat]
[Points: 10]
[Item: Heat-Resistant Potion]
[Points: 10]
…
Evidently, these special goods were specifically tailored for extreme heat weather.
These prices… were honestly not something ordinary players could easily afford, so sales volume might not be great.
Even so, Gu Weiwei configured the settings and listed the top four special items on the shelves anyway.
During these past days inside the apartment, she had come to understand one thing clearly:
Setting aside whether people could afford them or not, having a rich variety of products at least increased people’s sense of pleasure and anticipation.
On occasion, she could still sell a few units here and there.
That was why over these past few days, she would put up new items every now and then.
Naturally, many of them were things she personally loved to eat.
Not only could it satisfy herself, but it also satisfied her tenants—how wonderful!
After stocking the items, Gu Weiwei turned her attention back to basic infrastructure:
Green belts, flagstone paths, road signs, and fencing.
[Item: Green Belt]
[Points: 1 / sq meter]
[Item: Lawn]
[Points: 1 / sq meter]
[Item: Flagstone Path]
[Points: 1 / meter]
[Item: Road Sign]
[Points: 10]
[Item: Fencing (Upgradable)]
[Points: 1,000]
…
Gu Weiwei checked the prices and functions of each item piece by piece, selecting the absolute cheapest options across the board.
As for expensive ones—like swimming pools, fountains, or gardens—she decided to pass on those for now.
Within the Doomsday Hotel’s controlled perimeter, lawns were laid down, flagstone paths were paved, green belts were planted, and road signs were installed.
Arranging them bit by bit, Gu Weiwei discovered that the aesthetic rating on the page had reached 43%, only a short distance away from the system’s required 50%.
And in just this short span of time, the accumulated point cost had already surpassed five thousand.
Gu Weiwei could only turn her gaze onto the fencing.
She might as well throw in the extra 1,000 points.
[Spend 1,000 Points to purchase basic infrastructure: Fencing?]
“Yes.”
[Basic Infrastructure: Fencing placed along the boundary of Doomsday Hotel’s controlled perimeter.]
Once placed, Gu Weiwei finally saw the numbers next to the aesthetic rating on the page change from 43% to 51%.
She had finally reached it!
The next moment, Gu Weiwei selected “Apply Changes” without hesitation.
Once applied, the basic infrastructure previously displayed on the map materialized directly into reality across the physical Doomsday Hotel.
The Doomsday Hotel instantly transformed from a sketchy-looking unfinished structure into an exquisite mini-hotel.
It had to be said that although she spent a few extra points, it actually… looked pretty nice?
It was also at this moment that the reward promised by the Doomsday Landlady System arrived:
[Congratulations Host, Doomsday Hotel’s aesthetic rating has reached 50%. Rewarded special building: Ice and Snow World.]
[Building: Ice and Snow World]
[Description: Special buildings possess unique special effects.]
Gu Weiwei went silent for a second. Couldn’t you just state the special effect directly?
However, Gu Weiwei understood that it was likely related to temperature.
Looking at the building model, the inside was filled with a wide variety of ice sculptures, crafted with exquisite, otherworldly workmanship.
Truly beautiful!
Gu Weiwei searched around the map, and only after shifting the apartment’s position slightly was she barely able to fit the building within the hotel’s controlled perimeter.
After applying the layout once more, Gu Weiwei’s attention was finally able to shift away from the control panel.
She wanted to see the Doomsday Hotel’s new transformation with her own eyes.
Meanwhile, inside the main lobby of the Doomsday Hotel, the players had already erupted into a frenzy.
After all, for them, good news was arriving one after another.
First was the sudden addition of Apartment Building No. 3, bringing 100 rooms and 800 beds.
One had to realize that although the number of players arriving at the Doomsday Apartment had been increasing daily, the total count was still only around five thousand plus.
Over two thousand people already possessed rooms, and adding another eight hundred meant the success ratio for the remaining players was drastically improved.
In particular, the players who hadn’t left the Doomsday Apartment were practically driven wild with excitement.
After all, snatching a bed meant no longer being forced to go outside and suffer through the agonizing extreme heat, vastly increasing their chances of survival.
Just when everyone thought that news was surprising enough, nobody expected that an even greater surprise was waiting right behind it.
“Holy crap, the Doomsday Apartment turned into the Doomsday Hotel! The signboard outside even changed!”
“Actually, that makes sense. With 3 apartment buildings now, calling it an apartment building isn’t fitting anymore.”
“And look! The Tent Area outside has started forming its own distinct zone—it looks way more organized now!”
“The Doomsday Apartment—oh wait, the Doomsday Hotel—can actually keep upgrading! That’s awesome!”
“Yeah! Looking at it now, her upgrades seem to be tied not just to tenant numbers, but also to buildings!”
“Oh right! A vacant building suddenly popped up just now right before it upgraded into a hotel!”
“The building appeared out of thin air, so it probably had to be purchased.”
“We use points, and the Doomsday Hotel earns points too, so she must be buying them with points!”
“This makes spending points at the Doomsday Hotel feel even more worth it!”
“Speaking of which, if the Doomsday Hotel needs people and points to upgrade, shouldn’t we bring more players here?”
“Taking a long-term view, that’s clearly beneficial to us!”
“Though there’s still a bit of competition…”
“That bit of competition comes from selfishness. The rules set by the Doomsday Hotel and its path to upgrade are all telling us that players need to unite and help each other to overcome this crisis!”
“Unite and help each other—give me some points to spend then.”
“Helping each other doesn’t mean giving handouts for free! And don’t be sarcastic either—our enemy is the Apocalypse Game, not our fellow player compatriots.”
“If there’s a path where everyone wins, why bother killing each other? He who lives by the sword dies by the sword—if everyone only thinks about killing others to plunder points, why don’t you think about the day your points get plundered by someone else?!”
“Exactly, exactly!”
“…”
The topics on the scene grew increasingly passionate as players genuinely began considering their future.
Logic told them that holding onto a conscience in a game zone meant having no future.
Yet emotionally… for people who grew up in times of peace, how could it be so easy to discard one’s conscience?
Given a choice, most people were unwilling to act as villains or bad people.
Zhang Jingze and Yu Siyu, along with their small team, were among the crowd as well.
The two of them were even actively encouraging others.
Speaking of which, over the nine days since the game started, what they had personally experienced outside was that the hostility in the game zone was growing heavier by the day.
Incidents of social chaos, looting, and arson occurred constantly—not just among players, but among the local NPCs in this game zone as well.
Everyone was struggling to survive.
Sometimes, they had no choice but to fight off people trying to rob them just to stay alive. Because of this, their bodies were covered in bruises and injuries, not to mention the various physical discomforts brought on by the scorching weather.
It could be said that if not for having the Doomsday Hotel as a safe haven, they would have lost half their lives long ago.
Now, watching the Doomsday Hotel develop better and better, it was as if they saw hope—a different kind of reality.
“Not only were more buildings added, but huge changes happened outside as well!” a player who had just walked in from outside shouted at that moment.
In an instant, crowds of players rushed out the door.
Upon stepping outside, everyone was completely stunned.
Greeting their eyes were clean, beautiful green lawns and paved paths, with grass and greenery so vibrant they seemed ready to drip with life.
One had to realize that following over two months of drought paired with recent daily temperature spikes, plant life across the game zone had long withered away, devoid of a single trace of vitality.
In fact, some plants had even spontaneously combusted once certain environmental conditions were met, setting off continuous, spreading wildfires.
Over the past two days, fire incidents had broken out frequently, growing larger and larger, only stopping once everything was burnt to ashes.
Stop the fire? How could you stop it without water? Escaping with your life was already lucky enough.
Therefore, the green plants inside the Doomsday Hotel formed a stark contrast with the outside world, showcasing the hotel’s sheer power and capability in full at this very moment.
“The Doomsday Hotel is truly something else!”
“Now it really looks like a proper hotel!”
“How wonderful! It’s practically like a paradise on earth.”
“Having a paradise on earth isn’t bad at all!”
“Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! Look over there, what is that?!”
“Ice and Snow World! That much ice?!”
“In this kind of weather, ice blocks?!”
“This must be a special capability of the Doomsday Hotel!”
“Let’s go take a look!”
“…”
Many players gathered directly in front of the Ice and Snow World.
[Ticket Price: 0.1 Points / hour]
[Note: Doomsday Hotel tenants receive 1 hour of free play time.]
On the spot, someone spent 0.1 points to enter the Ice and Snow World.
The moment their hands touched the ice sculptures, they were thoroughly shocked.
Magical—it was truly magical! Inside the Doomsday Hotel, these ice sculptures actually didn’t melt at all.
“I think it’s pretty great for players to help each other out.”
“As long as conditions allow, not killing each other is good enough.”
“Let’s help bring more players into the Doomsday Hotel!”
“Right, let’s work together to make the Doomsday Hotel better and better!”
“…”
The existence of the Doomsday Hotel gave them a tremendous amount of confidence in coping with the apocalypse.
“The vending machines released new items too! Specific ones for dealing with extreme heat!” Just then, people inside discovered the special items as well, their voices filled with excitement.
After checking the items, many people erupted into unprecedented cheers.
Ahhh! The Doomsday Hotel is seriously way too awesome!