Li Huizi couldn't understand Chinese, but she could understand the Arabic numeral six.
She gently pushed open the Six Hotel's door with her scabbard, and after confirming there was no danger, she led Little Fire Dragon inside.
The hotel lobby was covered with a red carpet, and a luxurious, giant crystal chandelier hung overhead.
The entire hotel lobby was unusually quiet, with no reception staff.
Seeing that there were no supplies to collect, Li Huizi walked towards the elevator, preparing to go upstairs.
The hotel had six levels in total, and since the elevator was unusable, Li Huizi could only take the stairs beside it.
Thump!
Just then, the hotel door automatically closed.
"Woo woo woo."
Little Fire Dragon looked nervously at the closed door, letting out uneasy whimpers.
Li Huizi squatted down and patted his head.
"Huo Huo, don't be afraid, Big Sister is here."
Little Fire Dragon felt the comfort and quickly calmed down.
She arrived at Level 2, and with a glance, this long corridor stretched at least over a hundred meters.
The fluorescent lights made the corridor very bright.
Rooms on the side near the stairs were all odd-numbered: 201, 203, 205...
Across from them were the even-numbered rooms: 202, 204, 206.
Li Huizi casually pushed open a room door.
The room doors here seemed to be unlocked; this was a standard room with two single beds inside.
There was no water in the bathroom, and the light switch didn't respond when pressed.
The pillows and blankets looked relatively clean, so Li Huizi picked up two pillows and went downstairs along the stairs she had come from.
As she walked down the last step, she found that she hadn't returned to the Level 1 lobby; instead, she was back on Level 2!
The room numbers in front of her confirmed this.
What a joke.
She continued to walk downwards, but ended up on Level 2 again!
Li Huizi frowned; she left one pillow in place and then continued walking down.
Seeing no pillow at the bottom of the stairs, she breathed a sigh of relief.
But as soon as her foot stepped down, the pillow appeared.
She was back on Level 2 again!
Refusing to believe it, she chose to go upwards this time, and after climbing the last step, she was utterly despairing, because she saw the pillow again.
Whether she went up or down, she would return to the starting point.
Jump out the window!
Li Huizi's eyes were resolute; she immediately looked for a way to leave this place.
She opened the window of room 201, but the window faced another bedroom.
Li Huizi climbed through the window into that bedroom, opened the bedroom door, and walked out of room 202 across the hall.
Little Fire Dragon saw his owner open the door and come out of the room behind him, tilting his head in confusion.
Li Huizi entered 203 with a cold expression; like 201, the window also led to a bedroom behind it, so she climbed through the window, opened the door, and walked out of 204.
She tried three rooms in a row, and each one was the same.
Li Huizi stopped trying; she clutched her knife and ran towards the end of the corridor.
At the end of the corridor, there was also a staircase going up and down; a glimmer of light appeared in her eyes, as if she saw hope.
As she stepped down the last flight of stairs, she did not see the expected hotel lobby; she was still back on Level 2.
She climbed up, refusing to believe it, but still couldn't get out of Level 2.
The small spark of hope that had just ignited was extinguished again.
She took a deep breath in place, allowing herself to calm down.
There must be some hidden pattern.
Is it the number of stair steps? No, that's not right; I checked, and the number of steps on both staircases, whether going up or down, is sixteen, exactly the same.
What is it exactly? What hidden rules are there!
Little Fire Dragon seemed to sense his owner's anxiety; he hugged Li Huizi's calf, whimpering.
Li Huizi squatted down and stroked Little Fire Dragon's head, comforting him.
What if I don't use the stairs and just jump down directly?
Li Huizi picked up Little Fire Dragon and jumped directly down the stairs, landing on the middle platform.
She took a deep breath; success or failure depended on this one attempt!
With a big leap, she was back on Level 2 again.
Can't get out!
Can't get out!
Can't get out!
Since the stairs were impassable, Li Huizi continued to check the remaining rooms.
Perhaps one of them wasn't connected to the room across the hall.
Just as Li Huizi was still searching for a way to leave this place, as if at a specific time, the fluorescent lights in the corridor all extinguished in perfect synchronicity.
The hotel was swallowed by darkness.
On the distant wall, their silhouettes were reflected by the firelight from Little Fire Dragon's tail.
She didn't know if it was an illusion, but Li Huizi saw a pile of grayish-white figures emerge from the darkness.
Those figures hovered around Li Huizi but couldn't enter the area illuminated by Little Fire Dragon.
She put her hand on her knife.
With one slash, she hit nothing; the knife passed right through the white figures.
"Hehehe."
"Hehehehehe."
"Hehehehehehehe!!"
Those white figures wandered around Li Huizi, changing into various shapes, emitting piercing giggles, mocking her helplessness.
Her knife was fast, but it was powerless against the uncanny.
Little Fire Dragon seemed to sense his owner's fear; he puffed out his cheeks, trying to make the flame on his tail burn brighter.
As the illuminated area grew larger, those white figures retreated.
Yes, they were afraid of light! They couldn't approach any place that was illuminated.
In the darkness, only the firelight from Little Fire Dragon's tail illuminated a small area.
And in the places not touched by light, invisible uncanny entities wandered.
However, this situation didn't last long; the firelight from Little Fire Dragon's tail grew dimmer and dimmer.
Li Huizi lit a pillow to relieve Little Fire Dragon's pressure.
But because this was an enclosed space, the smoke generated by the burning all accumulated here, and this was not a sustainable solution.
Li Huizi hugged Little Fire Dragon tightly and huddled in the corner.
After an unknown period, the fluorescent lights in the corridor turned on again, and those uncanny entities disappeared.
Thus, Li Huizi survived the first night relying on the firelight from Little Fire Dragon's tail.
Li Huizi hadn't slept all night; she forced herself to stay awake and continued to search for a way to leave this place.
All the rooms had been checked; they were all connected to the rooms across from them.
The idea of escaping by jumping out the window also failed.
Li Huizi had been in this hotel for a day and a night; another day was almost over, and she was now thirsty, hungry, tired, and sleepy, having had no water for thirty-six hours and remaining constantly on edge.
Time was up, and the fluorescent lights went out again.
Endless darkness descended, and those white figures reappeared, giggling as they surrounded Li Huizi.
Little Fire Dragon's tail-fire also gradually dimmed due to fatigue.
She stroked Little Fire Dragon's head, her mind filled with thoughts.
I'm sorry, Huo Huo, I shouldn't have brought you here.
No, perhaps I shouldn't have bought you in the first place; otherwise, you wouldn't be trapped here with me.
Is there really no way to leave?
Will I die here?
She regretted it now; if she had left one day later, would she have ended up somewhere else?
If she hadn't entered this hotel, would she already be on her way to the next stop?
Thinking of this, Qi Xiao's face appeared in Li Huizi's mind.
If it weren't for encountering this unlucky man, she wouldn't have been so angry as to set off early.
She really wanted to drink water now, and she really wanted a bowl of char siu ramen, with extra green onions.
She really wanted to return to her Train, back to that bright, reassuring carriage.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Just then, an unsettling, rhythmic thumping sound came from outside.
Creak—groan.
The door was slowly pushed open, emitting a teeth-grinding sound of friction with the ground.
Li Huizi unconsciously swallowed; in the darkness, a figure hopped in.
With the aid of the faint firelight, she recognized this shape from Dragon Country's films; it was a monster called a zombie.
What hopped in was a zombie!
She drew her knife, stood up, pointed the tip of her blade at the zombie, and shouted:
"Don't come!"
Behind the zombie, a warm white light appeared.
"Oh, isn't this Xiao Yinghua-chan?"
Qi Xiao, carrying an ever-bright night lamp, leaned against the doorway, dug out some earwax, and flicked it away.
"What's she saying? I don't understand."
"I should have brought My Royal Translator."