In room 407, currently occupying it is…
“He is the first chairman of the ‘ Unified Hotel Lodging Administration for LghthouseCaravans Society’.” Mus flashed a professional smile as he answered.
“Lighthouse Caravan Club society, entering and lodging a… hotel.admin clique?” Frowning in deep thought for a second, Zhao Anlong lifted his head: “What the flying hell is this bullshit supposed to be?“
Mus explained, “Because some people are illiterate, while others are unfamiliar with the lodging rules and laws of other cities, nations, and even races, during a long journey, someone needs to handle these various man-made regulations for them. Hence, the association was born. “
As he spoke, Mus spread his smooth palm. “So, do you need to join a certain travel association here, or create one on your own? “
Zhao Anlong pondered for another moment.
“Is the president of this association very powerful? Wait, what I need to do now is deal with that arrogant bastard. I need to compete… “
{Yeah, is that president powerful? That’s what I want to know too. }
Said the yellowish-brown pot placed beside the living room.
“What the hell is that? Oh, whose nightmare is casually left here like this? ” Zhao Anlong glanced over.
{My owner died long ago. Now I’m a friend of the Lighthouse Travel Association’s president. }
Zhao Anlong withdrew his gaze and pointed at it.
“I can take that thing without any issues, right? I want to bid on room 407. I’ll use his friend to smash his head in. “
{…… }
Mus let out a light chuckle: “Sorry, guest. The occupancy time for that room hasn’t reached three months yet, so you can’t bid on it right now. “
Zhao Anlong’s piercing eyes froze for a moment.
“Damn it, why?! “
“That’s just the rule. If you rent a new room, you also get a three-month bidding protection period. But on the flip side, your current room is up for bidding. “
The man’s fist was almost squeezed into water, “Ah, fine… a moment of rashness spoils a great plan… So the other rooms are okay, right? “
Mr. Guo’s gaze shifted to the edge, looking at the shadow of the man over there.
Mus glanced at a document under the counter, picked it up, and said:
“Since you were invited into the hotel by Mr. Wagger, the president of the management association of the Pride Travel Agency, your identity is now automatically classified as the person in charge of Mr. Wagger’s affiliated premises. “
“Mm, and then? “
“This means that regarding the rooms on the second and third floors, until one party wins the bid for room 303, neither party’s members can place a bid on rooms controlled by the other. “
“What the hell kind of logic is that? “
“Because the previous president of the Lighthouse Travel Agency accidentally brought in an enemy, causing a certain degree of loss. Consequently, both presidents made supplementary amendments to the agreement. This is an additional clause, tailor-made for your current situation. “
“Damn bastard. “
Zhao Anlong slammed his hand onto the counter with a loud bang.
“Fine, fine. A moment of rashness spoils a great plan. Let’s just say I came in without making a clear inquiry. ” After a moment of thought, he looked up and asked, “Now, which way do I go out? “
“You can leave this hotel by visiting the real-world rooms through Room 203, controlled by the Lighthouse Travel Agency, or Room 303, controlled by the Pride Travel Agency. “
Zhao Anlong’s face instantly showed a look of shock. “What did you say! Huh? Huh! “
He clutched his head.
“How could this be! Is this a damn shady hotel! “
-｛Distributor July·Zhao Dahai expressed, “You’re still as impressive as ever. “｝
-｛Distributor June·Sister Zhao gave me a “Favorable Review ” and looked forward to my performance ahead.｝
-｛Distributor March·Zhao Xiaolong expects me to check into Fei Lü Inn and prepaid 10,000 Tricolor Moon Glory for me.｝
“Sigh… “
A long sigh escaped from the throat of the man standing before the counter.
Then he lifted his head and fixed his gaze on Mus, “What about the other rooms on the fourth floor? “
“These rooms, ” Mus said, taking two steps back, pointing to the row of room plates on the wall—some dimmed, some glowing.
Zhao Anlong looked first at what was written on Room 407.
—I’ve started making frequent trips between the hospital and the prayer hall, bidding my former friends one by one farewell forever. How time flies. Maybe my day won’t be far off either. Yet I always feel there’s still something left undone… but also feel as if I’ve done everything.
He then turned his gaze to the words inscribed on Room 410—his own temporary dwelling.
—When the final end arrives, what will it really be like? Perhaps I’ll live through it, but already I won’t be able to perceive it.
“The rest all belong to guests who’ve already departed this world. Nominally, these rooms fall under Chairman Wager’s ownership. If you wish to lease them, you’ll need to check in at least one companion into each room within three days. “
“But… I can’t get out for now, and I can’t invite anyone. “
Zhao Anlong narrowed his eyes and looked up at these empty rooms.
“I’ll rent all of them. “
“Are you sure you want to do this? “
“This is the first Radiance born here for this old man. Hmph, screw it, from now on, they’re all mine. Heh heh heh. “
……
The Cuckoo tilted his head and waited for about ten minutes, yet no challenger arrived.
“This blabber-mouthed marshal isn’t all that impressive either. “
Suddenly, a light cough echoed in the room. The Cuckoo shot forward into a blur of grey, landing right in the middle of the pillow on the bed.
“Cough… cough, cough. ” Yang Zicang clutched his chest and pushed himself up from the carpet. As he lifted his head, a jolt of shock made him step back.
“You… when did you get in? “
“Meee~ Of course, I can come in whenever I want! “
“What! ” Yang Zicang was utterly astounded.
The Cuckoo spoke with a sinister tone, “I’ve left my mark here, so I can come and go as I please. ” It cocked its head, “Got it? “
Yang Zicang took two seconds to process, glanced at the door, then let out a breath of stale air. “So you can lie after all. “
The Cuckoo’s eyes tracked him as he headed toward the bathroom.
When he came out, clutching his chest, and was about to open the door, the little Cuckoo on the bed suddenly called out:
“Hold it, don’t open the door. “
“Why? ” Yang Zicang, with his face and hair dripping wet, turned back in confusion.
“Because I found you an opponent. He’s on his way up to challenge you. “
After a moment’s thought, Yang Zicang let out a soft laugh:
“Hmph. Ha. Seems a bit worrying beforehand was a bit uncalled for. “
He had already set aside much of the fear-provoking aura that this self-proclaimed “Cuckoo” little creature exuded.
What now required concern were the business card in its possession and the likely imminent arrival of Soldier No. 4, bait-radiusing the coordinates. Truly troublesome—this was indeed a colossal threat, but it didn’t emanate from Little Bird itself.
Under Cuckoo’s gloomy gaze, Yang Zicang acted as if nothing had occurred, walking to the bedroom doorway. As he was about to step out into the room beyond the suite and turn toward the entrance, footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed.
Thump! Thump!
“Listen, bastard in there! Remember this—every room on this floor is mine now. I’m giving you a chance, pour soul—surrender the room, and I’ll spare your sorry life. Otherwise next month I’ll flat smash your skull.“
{Smash skull. }
“What’re you squawking about? This room here is now yours!“
Yang Zicang heard the sound of a door opening and closing in a room across the corridor. A clatter of metal, like a basin or something throw away crashing into Room 408, the one diagonal to them.
Yang Zicang’s heart suddenly tightened, sending sharp pricks of pain through into the few thin fragments embedded in? I am sorry, I was trying to correct him about something so everything, their status not exactly everything was intact, mixed truth; and because those tiny metal splinters pierced sting shallow if directly close by motorbut from that shock reached like new violence but everything else, it eased softly its fibers are inside it storgent dot; those sliced outward shards pierced where his muscle began another joint break and placed layer and their very organ and mesh can and seems pain directly touch exactly how deep could see happening truly integrated between it rests and thinks inside? Actually muscle tissue positions back become subtle an current now but since perhaps another disarray happens moves that little and strong, oh interesting. No translation anyway. I… quickly transition; Everything altered once physical sharpness startles what tends final across again? Plus others still truly inside current about one though entire body knowsbut he pauses reacting takes up flow; and all a need otherwise he says there he also stiff done and more times seem quick an air and few; oh OK out I try yeah.)
Face paling, he turned his line the last conversation he catch mark last bit set against his features and send lost view within the bed.
“You didn’t lie.“
_”You think I’m some Cuckoo-ing liar gnat? Me? Top intelligence officer in this breed. My methods to walk — no bigger your up-run here — I know more disciplines to use. And here, a little test claims possibly translate settle easily examine This Statement truth from where I say like understand?
Yang Zicang thought for a moment. “Indeed, I don’t know how you managed to hide on me and get in. That’s the part where you know more than I do. “
“Yay? ” Cuckoo was so startled that it stepped back with one bird leg.
-｛Distributor Loki Tata Mingqi indicated with a “facepalm. “｝
“As expected of an alchemical being born from the Land of the Moon. ” Yang Zicang walked to the door, peering through the peephole to the left and right. He didn’t see that person’s figure.
Among the keys Wager had sent out, someone had accepted the invitation and entered here.
He rubbed his face.
“Oh? Are you troubled? Why not rent out all the rooms on this floor sooner? “
Yang Zicang turned his head, pondering for a moment. “This world is fake. “
Little Bird lowered its gaze, watching his severely burned face with a menacing stare.
“So… If someone were writing a story, maybe they forgot to have me rent out the entire place in the past few days. Heh, just kidding. “
Yang Zicang let out a distressed sigh.
“Actually, I had prepared some Radiant Light, but my friend suddenly burnt through it all. Sigh. “
The Radiant Light stored wasn’t nearly enough.
Yang Zicang felt as if his control over this motel had never really been stable.
So, which room was that person in?
After waiting a little longer, confirming that person had returned to their room and the outer corridor was empty, Yang Zicang unfurled all his time sequences. Nearly a million beams of amber light shrouded his body.
As the timeline surged skyward, the residual Stellar Yuan power within his body trembled and spread, constantly clashing and dissolving against the temporal force surging through his muscles.
Yang Zicang stepped out the door, and Little Bird whisked past him in a flash of darkness, a shadowy lightning bolt shooting into the air.
As for that thing, Yang Zicang no longer had the energy to fret over it now. If it were a more formidable sub-｛Defender｝, he might just be able to handle it himself—so long as it stayed inside this very inn.
The outside was eerily quiet.
Yang Zicang reached the third floor and had just descended the stairs when he suddenly spotted a large sheet of newspaper plastered on the wall. Scribbled on it in ink, jagged lines daubed on by finger, were: DESTRUCTION DRAGON TRAVEL CLUB RECRUITS MEMBERS — ALL FEES WAIVED.
“……“
Yang Zicang walked over, barely reaching out to touch it when he noticed a mana pattern unit affixed to the newspaper, which interlocked with the wall beside it, as if they formed a perfect combination.
It was as half of the seal had come down on the paper, while the other half found its bones on the wall.
- ｛Distributor: In the ardor of April’s emotions, Odyssey enthusiastically expressed he can commit this episode to memory.｝
There was little need to stress how uncanny some mana patterns were; back at the Lost Illusion Company, he had learned his lesson well from piles of work cards and mission sheets brimming with such terrors.
Yang Zicang pressed the spread of his palm against a portion of the pattern, activated his mnemonic mana structures and—struggling in fits—recorded it piece by precise piece. He did all he could to force his own mind not to integrate the memory fragments into a whole shape, like locking down an actual, unbroken picture of the hell within the folds of self. Many a researcher had wound up mentally broken after this precise misinterpretation of studying mana pattern evocation.
Reaching the second floor, true to expectation, the same kind of flier had been affixed full-long upon the wall again.
The enemy truly has utter disdain for everyone. Then again, the one Wager managed to send the key under those circumstances can’t be a pushover either.
The first floor was even more absurd—both pillars, left and right, were wrapped in newspapers like those upstairs. On the left pillar were giant recruitment letters scrawled across, while the right one read: “Turtle in Room 407, if you’ve got the guts, come to 410 and challenge me! “
“Are you absolutely certain there’s not a single room left to bid on, sir? ” Little Bird Cuckoo asked, perched on the counter, addressing Manager Mus.
“Indeed, that is correct, Honorable Little Bird Cuckoo. “
“Room 410. ” Yang Zicang averted his gaze and strode over. “May I ask who it was that rented out all the vacant rooms on the fourth floor just now? “
“It is the Chairman of the newly formed ‘Extinction Dragon Tour Group.’ That is all I am permitted to say. Ah, and, by the way, that pot you deposited with the front desk is now a member of that very association. “
“Very, well. ” Yang Zicang gave a slight nod before turning sideways to lean against the counter.
Little Bird Cuckoo tilted his head, watching the man as he pressed a hand to the gold chain hanging on his own chest.
“｛I am investing in the Qiqi-brand double-sided golden-skull pendant.｝ “
“｛I have invested 10N. I begin cataloging my past life experiences.｝ “
No more than two seconds later, a brilliant gleam emerged on the pendant’s gemstone.
“｛– Radiance: The Sole Purifier of the Magic-Tainted Town.｝ “
“｛I continue investing… 10N…｝ ｛Let the total swell to 40N.｝ “
The surface flickered with even more dazzling flashes of light.
“｛– Radiance: He Who Slew the Evil Nightmare Unleashed by the Secret Box.｝ “
“｛– Radiance: Among All Called Qui Senteugient The Breath Beneath Stone.｝ “
“There are already five of them. I originally planned to move these rooms here after this trip… Hmm, I was overthinking. I want both the inn and the statue. The inn should come first, but now… “
Yang Zicang felt a twinge of regret.
And this faint sense of remorse was like the rich aftertaste of pure wine—hard to cut off or simply too bothersome to deal with.
｛-Radiance: Farewell to the Nightmares of an Era.｝
Above, light points flickered and emerged like a faint Milky Way, swirling as they were born.
｛-Radiance: The One Who Retrieves the Prey from the Tech Hunter.｝
“Right now, the statue should be the priority. ” Yang Zicang set down the necklace, thinking of the man who had been watching him all along but has yet to acquire even a single radiance from him.
Seeing the five shimmering dots of light appear above, Little Bird the cuckoo tilted its head and asked, “Do you want to bid on his room now? “
Yang Zicang held back the urge to curse at the little creature.
Just as he turned to head back to Room 203 to leave the inn and warn Hua Mi and Xue Qi that it was best not to return for now,
a faint, ethereal radiance suddenly lit up the hall.
A human, a clockwork machine, plus a metal cuckoo bird holding a travel fee receipt at the edge of the counter, all looked toward the trail of light extending here from the staircase.
A boy about waist-high to Yang Zicang, with two curved horns brimming with profound light atop his head and clutching a long wooden staff emitting a glow twice his height, swept down the stairs in a streak of motion. In just two or three strides, he crossed over ten meters and appeared before Yang Zicang.
“Hi there, BuBu, ” he then turned his head toward Cuckoo, “and GuGu-Kede. Mm, and Uncle Manager Mus. “
“You… ” Yang Zicang’s entire body ignited with formless flames as he warily gripped the Key, watching the young boy lift his hand bearing a bundle neatly wrapped in a square cloth.
“Who are you? ” Cuckoo flapped and hovered anxiously, sizing up the boy clad in an embroidered robe from head to tail.
Manager Mus paused for two seconds. “You’re a traveler returning via the passage, correct? ” He glanced at Yang Zicang on the side.
The boy nodded. He raised his hand once more, holding out the item from his grasp toward Yang Zicang’s chest.
“Don’t worry, big guy. The reason I could get here is that your regret anchored the evolving time and space. “
“My regret? ” Could it be the remorse I just felt moments ago?!
“Exactly. So, to stop that future from happening, I’m coming through as arranged. I delivered these business cards that can call your friends here. Oh, and also this thing here. “
The boy lifted the four corners of the scarf, revealing a stack of business cards underneath, along with a folded piece of paper and a strange little iron box beside it.
Seeing the exquisite little iron box, Cuckoo suddenly fluttered its wings in shock, staring at the object, not even noticing the room service bill falling from its beak.
“How do you have that?!“
The boy smiled and said, “We asked Uncle Wu Zheng for a long time before we found it, you know.“
“Wu Zheng!” Yang Zicang looked at him in disbelief. “And you… who exactly are you? Could you be a… friend from my future?“
“I am your teammate.“
Yang Zicang instantly bristled as if his tail had been stepped on, every hair on end, but he restrained himself.
No longer daring to believe such things, he turned to Cuckoo and asked, “What is that thing?“
“That is… the place I once lived in the royal court,” Cuckoo replied, its face filled with disbelief and nostalgia. “I never thought I would see it again. With this, I can even have a good sleep without needing to drink.“
As it spoke, its little tongue licked its beak. “But drink tastes good too.“
A mix of strangeness, emotion, vigilance, and inner conflict stirred within Yang Zicang’s heart.
“I can tell you a lot about the future, but doing so would anchor this timeline to it. So I can only give you these.“
Yang Zicang looked up at the boy. “Who exactly are you? You haven’t answered me yet.“
“I can’t say. Just take these and go. This is something you’ll desperately need later. With who you are now, you could never obtain the formula for this. Rest assured—this was brought forth by ourHeroic Flashaccomplished together. “
“So there isn’t so-called calculation… but another Track of Fate instead? “
Yang Zicang voiced a suspicion long held in his heart:
“This so-called new Track of Fate of ours—has it also been abandoned already? “
The boy smiled.
Could the guess actually be true?!
Yang Zicang’s expression grew frantic, even twisted. “Is there still a me in that world!? ” His voice shook the walls of the floor.
“Why are there so many of me?! Am I real, or fake?! “
“Did I die or not?! “
The boy tilted his head with a blank, weary expression, audibly exhaled, then turned back to look at Yang Zicang with a half-smile as he said:
“This is hard to explain. Don’t worry—the you right now is the true you. And the people here too. Everyone is real. “
Yang Zicang’s chest heaved.
“As for what we call the future, it’s also real. But… once things change here, that place will be annihilated. “
Mus’s gaze remained fixed, containing a touch of unspeakable, placid comfort as he watched everything unfolding before him.
Cuckoo and Little Bird dropped their heads in a dazed, pensive stupor for a while, then shook their noggins, licked their beaks with their tongues—obviously already thinking about something else.
Yang Zicang was still lost in thought.
Annihilation… Will they die?
The boy bounced on his foot and shoved a stack of business cards wrapped in a cloth bundle, along with that strange little square iron box, into Yang Zicang’s hands.
“Goodbye then, my future dad. “
“Huh? “
Yang Zicang looked up in astonishment. The first phantom silhouette on the trail of light behind the little boy began to tremble violently. The boy in front of him dispersed with aswishand reappeared on the silhouette behind him.
“Don’t worry, we’re just teammates, you know, Dad. “
Swish!His figure flashed again and appeared on the staircase. The faint path of light began to spread and dissipate like mist.
Yang Zicang reached out as if to call him back, but the strange sight before him had already disappeared.
“I… a son? ” He muttered, dazed, thinking of the two horns on the boy’s head.
How could it be?
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