Chapter 48: Stop 22: The Manager

Chapter 48: Station 22: The Manager

In the darkness, both of them could see clearly, and they soon noticed that this room was extraordinary.

Yan Qiling picked up a pen from the desk and examined it.

"Someone has been living here permanently."

Not only had someone lived here long-term, but there seemed to have been a struggle as well. This could be inferred from the overturned chairs and the thin layer of dust on the table, which indicated a corner deliberately left untouched by hotel cleaners.

The owner of the room hadn't returned for quite some time.

They exchanged glances in the darkness and whispered in unison,

"The manager?"

They soon found a leather-bound journal tucked away in the pocket of a suit hanging in the wardrobe.

On the first page, in elegant cursive, it read: Vincent James Smith.

Indeed, it was the manager's work journal, starting from the beginning of the year, with detailed and comprehensive entries.

January's entries were filled with mundane routine matters. In February, a noteworthy enigmatic figure began to appear in the manager's notes.

According to the journal, this mysterious person was a guest carrying a yellow leather suitcase, staying in Room 217.

The manager took interest in him because the individual had not left the hotel for almost two weeks since his arrival and always concealed his face with a mask and hat. The manager suspected that he might be an outsider with gang affiliations, potentially planning some illicit activities within the hotel premises.

To prevent any trouble, the manager instructed his staff to closely monitor the guest's every move.

Subsequently, the observation of this enigmatic guest occupied the majority of my attention.

The Ararat Hotel is constructed above the snow line, where heavy snow persists until it begins to recede in May.

The hotel was colder in February than it is now, yet this guest returned from outside wearing a thin, short-sleeved shirt for summer. Though he later discovered frostbite, he felt no pain at the time and even called in the middle of the night to complain that the hotel's heating was too high.

Yet, toward the end of February, this guest called again to complain that the hotel's heating was insufficient, alleging it amounted to abuse.

That evening, the waiter assigned to monitor the operation was brutally beaten by an enraged guest, both of them ending up bloodied on the scene.

The waiter was left covered in bloody scratches, yet the customer appeared eerily composed, even going so far as to apologize politely to the staff.

Fearing that the customer might commit further horrors, they confined him in a storage room and promptly called the police.

Ten hours later, the tardy police arrived, took the customer into custody, and began investigating the scene. In the customer's yellow suitcase, they discovered a substantial amount of unidentified powders and chemicals.

Suspecting involvement in the development of new drugs, the police confiscated the substances along with any relevant documents.

Subsequently, the manager instructed the cleaners to swiftly tidy up the room.

However, from the journal, it was evident that the manager was highly satisfied with the outcome, believing that a potentially disastrous incident had been promptly addressed due to his sharp observation.

In appreciation and commemoration, he took it upon himself to gift a bottle of champagne to the injured waiter.

Then, in early March, specifically on March 2nd, the manager suddenly noticed something amiss with the injured waiter.

This waiter had his twin brother cover for both their shifts while he, dressed lightly, went out to "cool off." Upon returning, his entire palm had turned blue and purple from the cold, and during service, he even startled the guests!

The manager suspected that the waiter might have been influenced by Guest 317, perhaps indulging in the mysterious powders offered.

By nightfall, this waiter had gotten into a fight with his identical twin brother and almost slit his throat with a razor blade!

For the sake of hotel security, the manager had no choice but to confine this staff member in the storage room as well, planning to call the police again the next day for them to investigate.

After that entry, the log was blank.

"Ming Yiyang began searching other areas, hoping to find more useful information:

"It's unclear if the key is still in this room... If these mentally unstable employees have taken control of the hotel, the ski resort access card should be with one of them."

Yan Qiling closed the journal, deep in thought:

"I'm wondering, if we need the ski resort access card to leave, what deal did Qi Yongxin make with the Master of the Void? Does he need the card to get out, or does the Master of the Void have a way to send him out?"

Ming Yiyang didn't believe that a Human Rank Master of the Void would have the ability to bypass the most basic train rule:

"No matter how they entered, they can only leave by train. Qi Yongxin's keen interest in the manager's office and his urgency to open the door suggests that the access card is one of the essential conditions for his escape."

Ivory-colored eyes lowered in the night, and the man let out an emotionless sigh,

"Greedy, huh..."

"For the Ruler of Oblivion, souls and flesh are always in high demand."

Though the other party didn't mention names, Ming Yiyang understood Yan Qiling's meaning, and his thoughts became clearer during this conversation,

"The deal he made with the Ruler of Oblivion must have involved sacrificing lives for safety. Like the incident with the evening gown."

"There was nothing wrong with the gown itself; the real trap lay in the act of looking into the mirror. But I couldn't figure out why Di Chen would enter the painting alone after gazing into it, making me believe that the condition for death was to look into a mirror alone at night."

"But then, the two of us also entered the painting, which doesn't make sense."

Yan Qiling clarified his confusion,

"What reflected us was the glass on the balcony. That pane of glass enclosed both of us, and that was enough."

So, it wasn't just about looking into a mirror at night, but also the size of the mirror itself.

The faulty balcony did make a difference; the thin curtains were no match for the raging snowstorm, causing the indoor temperature to plummet steadily.

Yan Qiling suddenly asked,

"Would you like to go to the manager's office?"

Ming Yiyang didn't respond with a yes or no but stated,

"If they've taken the access card, there probably won't be anything of interest in the manager's office."

Yan Qiling pulled out a hotel tourist guide from his sleeve.

Unsurprised, Ming Yiyang commented, "..."

Yan Qiling flipped directly to the last page of the guide, which was filled with nearly fifty safety precautions.

Amongst them, an inconspicuous line read: In case of emergency, one may enter the manager's office to retrieve a spare key. (For details on the location of the spare key, please inquire with Mr. Vincent Jay Smith. For security purposes, this key is changed monthly.)

Frankly, if Yan Qiling hadn't pointed it out, Ming Yiyang wouldn't have noticed this small line buried amidst the text.

"We can take our chances."

Yan Qiling plucked at the end of his hair, cutting off a strand with a paper cutter, and smiled down at it, "We've encountered the turning point that Chi Zihe predicted. Tonight, on the third floor, to the east, we'll escape through a window. Since it's fate, let's not waste this opportunity."

The entire hotel was engulfed in the howling of the blizzard, making the indoor space especially quiet.

-

Ming Yiyang moved silently through the night, a task that posed no challenge for him.

During this, he realized that these hotel staff were indeed not idle.

Dressed in their daytime clothes, they patrolled the second and third floors with flashlights, wearing friendly smiles on their faces. However, in the shadows, their other hands held axes, hand saws, garden shears, and other vicious, brutal weapons.

Ming Yiyang no longer doubted the mental state of these people: every single one of them had a problem.

He brushed past a cleaner who was coming from the opposite direction.

The gust of wind from his passing caught the attention of the hyper-alert cleaner, who promptly aimed their flashlight in his direction.

The beam struck the wall, revealing nothing but emptiness.

Skeptical, the cleaner approached to touch the wall, repeatedly checking for any presence before reluctantly retreating.

The old brass lock posed no challenge for Ming Yiyang, but as he inserted the wire, something felt off.

Withdrawing the wire, he simply grasped the doorknob and pushed down, only to find that the wooden door swung open!

Swallowing his astonishment, he sidestepped through the narrow gap and turned the lock to close the door, gently manipulating it to snap back into place without making a sound.

In his hand, the strands of hair transformed into golden-red embers that burned away, leaving behind a chilling sensation unlike any flame.

Both he and Yan Qiling revealed their true forms simultaneously.

At first, he was baffled by Yan Qiling's sudden act of cutting his hair, but then Yan Qiling explained that his hair had the power to render them invisible.

Ming Yiyang felt that every moment spent with this person was a plunge into madness.

And yet, he trusted blindly, lighting the hair and pulling the man out with it.

Fortunately, Yan Qiling hadn't exaggerated; the usefulness of that lock of hair surpassed his imagination.

Before the other could say anything, Ming Yiyang suppressed his curiosity with a hint of self-deprecation and nonchalance:

"I understand, this is another one of Teacher Yan's secrets. You can share when you're ready. For now, let's focus on our task... When we entered just now, the wooden door wasn't locked, it opened with a simple turn."

It seemed someone had intentionally left it unlocked for them.

The office was spacious, with a long sofa, but there were no other spots for relaxation.

The room was untouched, preserved in its state when the owner had left. Papers cluttered the desk, while stacks of bound files occupied the corners and underside.

On either side of the desk stood tall filing cabinets, and within these cabinets, they would likely find the spare key they sought.

The young man's irises glowed with a faint, lilac luminescence.

Suddenly, his gaze halted, and he walked straight to the innermost file cabinet, reaching out to turn the handle.

Unlocking this cabinet was no challenge for Ming Yiyang; he didn't even need a wire. With a tap on the lock from both above and below, followed by a gentle twist, it clicked open.

However, instead of piles of files or clutter, a pool of clear water had seeped out, dripping steadily into the carpet.

The water had leaked from the frozen gaps in the leather shoes, revealing a frostbitten body that was as emaciated as meat left too long in a freezer, its skin taking on a purplish hue from being frozen. It emitted an icy chill that suggested it was still frozen.

The cause of death was evident on the corpse: a rope mark around the neck, layered and concentrated in one spot. The shriveled eyes held a dull sheen akin to dead fish, and a blackened tongue protruded crookedly from the open mouth.

This corpse sent shivers down one's spine, but Ming Yiyang was in the mood for examination:

"It was just taken out of the freezer. If we come back tomorrow, it should be thawed."

Noticing a glint from the corpse's belt, he reached out to retrieve it.

It was a brass keychain with two keys hanging from it.

This could very well be the most significant discovery from their midnight exploration of the manager's office.