Xiyue woke up late today; she had suffered from insomnia last night while thinking about the guests.
When she arrived at the lobby, she spotted two men and one woman.
New guests!
“Hello, my name is Liang Ye. Are you the hotel manager?”
The woman had sharp, short hair and a pair of phoenix eyes, looking like someone who was not to be messed with. She had a tall, slender build, wore a tracksuit, carried a large backpack, and held a long sword in her hand. She exuded a thoroughly valiant and heroic aura.
Xiyue nodded with a smile. “Just call me Xiyue. Follow me.” With that, she walked over to the self-service check-in machine and explained how to operate it.
After the three completed their check-in, they picked up their disposable amenities under Xiyue’s guidance.
“Are you hungry? Over there are fast-food blind boxes for 1 crystal core per draw. You can give it a try.”
Xiyue looked at the somewhat bare walls, intending to argue her case with the system, and prepared to head back to her room.
“There are actually blind boxes! Since the apocalypse started, I’ve been running around all day every day. Buying blind boxes and figures used to be my favorite thing! Xiyue, don’t look at how skinny I am now; I used to be a die-hard fat otaku in other people’s eyes. This damned apocalypse… *sob sob sob*…”
Zhou Sheng’s grief came from deep within; before the apocalypse, he was an anime-loving homebody. After the apocalypse struck, no electronic devices worked anymore, and the food was terrible, forcefully driving him to successfully lose weight.
Walking over to the elevator, Xiyue heard the wailing behind her and found this person quite interesting.
Zhou Sheng had come here together with his older cousin, Su Chengkang. Su Chengkang wore a pair of glasses and looked quite refined and scholarly.
The two lived in the base at City C, neighboring Base B. This time, they had originally followed a superpowered squad out to search for supplies around the periphery of Base B.
By chance, Zhou Sheng caught a card that fell from the sky.
Neither of them took it seriously at first, but while Su Chengkang was searching for supplies, he discovered that zombies truly no longer attacked him.
After talking it over, the two brothers bade farewell to the superpowered team and planned to come take a look.
Zhou Sheng, possessing earth superpowers, cleared the road while Su Chengkang drove ahead. During the drive, zombies still chased and bit at the car frame—this was because the business card’s range was limited, and driving to clear the road made a lot of noise.
On the way, they encountered Liang Ye carrying her luggage, strolling casually along the roadside while swinging her broadsword at the zombies beside her.
Clearing them out one strike per zombie, she would place the card on a platform to wait for zombies to gather, then pick up the card and continue swinging her blade.
Both brothers were stunned by the sight. Stopping the car, they helped clear all the zombies behind the vehicle, picked up Liang Ye, and arrived at the hotel.
Once the car drove into the hotel grounds, the zombies behind them all lost their targets, standing there swaying aimlessly, allowing the trio to harvest another wave of crystal cores.
Zhou Sheng took a draw first and pulled out a self-heating beef hotpot. Unable to wait, he used hot water to cook it, planning to taste it first.
Liang Ye directly did ten-pull after ten-pull, drawing a total of a hundred blind boxes, leaving a massive pile of food stacked at her feet. She then carried it back to her room in two trips, behaving extremely cool and aloof.
“Oh my god! It really is the taste of the past! I thought I’d never get to eat this again… *sob sob sob*… It’s been so, so long since I last ate vegetables! Monster meat is so vastly different from this beef! I never want to eat monster meat again, *sob sob sob*! And it only costs 1 crystal core! Is this really something you can have for just 1 crystal core?! This must be a paradise on earth! I want to bring my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandfather, grandma, and granddad all here! I don’t want to go back, *sob sob sob*…” Zhou Sheng sobbed hysterically while clutching his self-heating hotpot, tears and snot running down his face.
After topping up 2,000 crystal cores, Su Chengkang also began doing continuous draws. Adjusting his glasses, he said, “Didn’t you notice that all the zombies we encountered along the way were of very low levels? They were actually all Level 1 zombies, without even a single Level 2.”
“As far as I know, City B fell long ago, and the number of zombies in the city reached staggering numbers. There’s no reason for there to be only low-level ones. Could it be that this manager killed all the high-level ones? That would be way too terrifying!”
“Could it be some kind of trap?! If we go back, are we still coming back here? The food here is so delicious, I don’t want to leave! What will I do if I can’t eat it in the future… *sob sob sob*…” Zhou Sheng said, starting to shed tears again.
“When I came in earlier, I quietly used my superpower and felt a strong sense of suppression. Besides, I realized I can’t see through this manager at all. Either she has no superpowers, or she’s exceptionally powerful. But how could she possibly have no superpowers? All the prices here are too miraculous. If she had an ulterior motive, she wouldn’t need to do all this, right? Plus, I didn’t sense any malice from her at all,” Su Chengkang said while looking at his smartwatch.
“Transfer all your crystal cores into the smartwatch. We’ll head back to the base, trade all the food for crystal cores, and bring Grandpa and the others over. I have a hunch that this place will be the safest location around,” Su Chengkang said, storing all the food on the ground into his spatial dimension. He was currently a Level 3 space superpowered user, with a storage space of roughly 60 square meters.
Zhou Sheng swung into action. The two of them had already cleared a path when coming over, so the return journey would be much faster. To be safe, they found Liang Ye and traded food for her business card.
After packing their belongings, the two got into the car, intending to rush back within two days out of fear that unforeseen variables might occur.
Not long after they left, Xiyue came downstairs happily carrying a 200-inch television she had just coaxed out of the system after much nagging.
Mounting the television onto the wall opposite the sofa, she realized she had never seen any of this world’s entertainment industry! Rubbing her small hands together with excitement, she turned on the TV. Naturally, she didn’t forget to remind her small number of guests; after checking the occupancy status, she made phone calls to invite them down to watch TV if they were interested.
He Ru walked into the lobby leading her younger son by the hand, sitting down on the sofa while holding him in her arms.
Looking at the talking figure on the big screen, Jiang Xun opened his mouth in astonishment, his eyes rounded in wonder.
Grabbing his mother’s sleeve with his little hand, he pointed at the screen: “Mom! Look! Mom!”
“Does Xiao Xun still remember watching TV back then? You used to sit in front of the TV every single day, needing Mom to feed you from the side just to eat your meals.” He Ru gently caressed her son’s head while speaking to him tenderly.
“Is anyone there?! Save my husband, please!!” Outside, a haggard-looking elderly woman with disheveled hair pounded on the glass doors, crying and shouting loudly.
Xiyue and her group hurried out to check. Beside the fountain lay an elderly man on the ground; this was clearly an elderly couple.
The old woman asked anxiously, “Is there water? Water, we need water, I beg you.”
Xiyue immediately ran back, grabbed two disposable paper cups, filled them with water, and ran over to the fainted old man.
She squatted down to feed the old man water, and the old woman quickly stepped forward to support half of his torso.
The old man was still conscious. As soon as the cup touched his lips, he began swallowing in large gulps, cup after cup, drinking greedily and intensely. The old woman patted his back, telling him to drink slower.
When he finished, Xiyue ran back to fetch two more cups, handing one to each of the couple.
Sitting up, the man drank the water in his cup in one breath, cherishedly licking the water droplets from his lips as he slowly regained his strength.
He Ru and the old woman supported him from both sides to help him up. Once standing straight, the old man bowed deeply to Xiyue and the others.
Wiping her tears, the old woman repeatedly expressed her gratitude, and the group entered the hotel lobby to sit down.