Gu Chenhui said, his peripheral vision catching Jing Minghe following behind, and he tilted his body slightly. "I think these puppets would be more cruel than ghosts if they started killing people."
Jing Minghe knew Gu Chenhui was joking, but he still replied, "No difference, it's all the same."
Gu Chenhui turned his head to look at Jing Minghe and asked a deliberately obvious question with a smug tone, "Are you scared?"
"What do you think?" Jing Minghe rolled his eyes helplessly.
"I know you're not scared," Gu Chenhui raised an eyebrow and smiled. "To be chosen to come here, it's something you've always longed for, so why would you be scared? How about it? Any news?"
Jing Minghe sighed, his tone bitter. "Yes and no."
The others, who had inadvertently overheard their conversation, were all full of questions, except for Chi Hao.
"Then just keep living," Gu Chenhui paused, as if remembering something, and said with certainty, "That person is definitely waiting for you somewhere."
Jing Minghe hummed in response. Just as he was about to say something, he heard voices from downstairs, quite loud.
"Oh, have all the guests arrived? Why are there only two of you?"
Two?
Jing Minghe turned and exchanged a glance with Chi Hao, then said, "Everyone's here. Let's go down and see."
With that, Jing Minghe and Chi Hao walked towards the door in unison, Gu Chenhui closely following them. The others, seeing this, quickly followed suit.
As everyone went downstairs, they saw a woman smiling and talking to two men. The two men looked somewhat tired.
The woman, hearing footsteps downstairs, immediately turned around, a smile plastered on her face as she walked towards Jing Minghe and the others.
"So the guests were upstairs," the woman said, bowing her waist. "It was my oversight, I apologize for the poor service. I'll arrange rooms for you guests now."
Youmi looked at the woman and muttered softly, "She's probably the NPC for this instance."
Qiao Qiao chimed in, "I wonder if there are other NPCs?"
"We'll take it one step at a time," Ning Ping shrugged. "It's the first day in any instance, isn't it always a shot in the dark?"
As Jing Minghe and his group continued to descend, the woman downstairs was already leading the two later players towards them, saying as she walked, "Guests didn't need to come down, the guest rooms are on the fourth floor."
Hearing this, the group stopped and waited for them to come up.
The woman approached Jing Minghe and the others and gestured for them to follow.
On the way up, Gu Chenhui asked, "This hotel looks quite big. Are you the only one working here? Aren't there any others?"
The woman chuckled. "How could I be the only one? With a hotel this size, even if I had three heads and six arms, I wouldn't be able to manage.
The woman turned and smiled at Gu Chenhui. "Normally, we have more staff than guests. But a few days ago, Boss Lu booked the entire place. Apart from me and the kitchen staff, he sent everyone else home on vacation."
"Booked it for what?"
"Boss Lu? What's his name?"
Gu Chenhui and Jing Minghe asked simultaneously.
The woman clearly paused for a moment, as if someone had asked a question beyond her understanding. But soon, she spoke again, "Booked it for the art troupe to use."
Before anyone else could ask, the woman continued, "The art troupe has been rehearsing here for over half a month. The official performance is in five days. Oh, and you all, Boss Lu specifically instructed that you be allowed to check in early and rest here for a few days. In five days, you'll watch the puppet art troupe's performance along with the other guests."
Ning Ping quickened his pace, trying to extract more information from the woman. "Miss, what's your last name? Are you the hotel manager? Do the art troupe members also stay here? Why don't we see anyone?"
The woman glanced at Ning Ping and replied with a smile, "I'm not the manager. I'm the owner of this hotel. My name is Hu Feiyan. Everyone calls me Sister Fei."
After a brief laugh, Hu Feiyan continued to answer the other question. "As for the art troupe, of course they stay here. However, one of the girls in the troupe is celebrating her birthday today, so the director took them out for a meal."
Hu Feiyan then sighed softly, "Actually, our hotel's canteen food is quite good. We could have had the celebration here. Did someone offend them?"
Gu Chenhui smiled and comforted Hu Feiyan, "Sister Fei, don't overthink it. They eat here together every day, it's no different from having a meal. Since it's someone's birthday, they naturally want to use it as an excuse to try something new."
Hearing this, Hu Feiyan suddenly turned around, patted Gu Chenhui's arm, and laughed, "That makes sense! I knew it. Our hotel is known for its excellent service. How could we make customers unwilling to eat here? Haha..."
Everyone exchanged glances, seemingly unsure how to continue the conversation.
After a moment of silence, Jing Minghe asked again, "Sister Fei, about the Boss Lu you mentioned, who is he? Do you know his full name?"
Jing Minghe's question made Hu Feiyan pause. Her brow furrowed slightly. As they were almost on the fourth floor, Hu Feiyan finally spoke, "Boss Lu is a very powerful person, extremely powerful. But, it seems, no one knows his full name."
"Then what does he look like?" Jing Minghe pressed.
Hu Feiyan shook her head. "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
Hu Feiyan did not explain why she didn't know.
After that, she stopped speaking and walked with her head down, as if contemplating something very important, her expression exceptionally serious.
Jing Minghe wanted to ask more, but Chi Hao stopped him.
Soon, everyone reached the fourth floor.
Hu Feiyan returned to her previous demeanor and turned to smile at everyone. "This is it. This row has eleven rooms, one for each of you. As for who stays where, how about you guests decide amongst yourselves? Anyway, each room is the same, no difference."
"Okay," Gu Chenhui replied. "Thank you for bringing us up, Sister Fei. We'll sort out the rooms ourselves, you don't need to worry about it."
"By the way," Ning Ping stepped forward and asked, "Does the hotel serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Are there any time restrictions?"
Hu Feiyan replied, "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all available. Please remember, breakfast is from 6 AM to 8 AM, lunch is from 12 PM to 2 PM, and dinner is from 6 PM to 8 PM. The restaurant is on the first floor to the right, just around the corner."
"Okay, thank you."
"Then I won't bother you any further. After you've assigned rooms, please get some rest quickly. It's getting late."
With that, Hu Feiyan turned and left.
An Ru suddenly called out to her, "Sister Fei, I have one more question."
Hu Feiyan stopped and turned, her gaze accurately falling on An Ru, who had spoken. "What else?"
An Ru looked at the others before asking, "Do we have to have one person per room? Can we... share rooms with others?"
Hu Feiyan tilted her head and gave a strange smile, answering An Ru with three words, "What do you think?"