Chapter 11: Unexpected Situations

Wang Zikai had a rope tied around his waist, hanging down from the window of Room 601, when a bullet hit him squarely in the chest.

Qing Ling reacted quickly. She immediately controlled the dagger to cut the rope, then grabbed Wang Zikai and pulled him back into the room. Turning to Gao Yang, she shouted, "Don't just stand there! Help!"

...

One minute earlier.

Wang Zikai, in Room 601, had been stuck in a losing streak after three consecutive ranked matches. The more he thought about it, the more something felt off!

Gao Yang was infamous for being terrible at flirting. He had known Li Weiwei, his childhood friend, for years but never succeeded with her. Now, he was suddenly with Qing Ling, the school beauty, and heading straight to a hotel! It didn't make sense!

There had to be something fishy going on between them!

Could they have secretly come to the hotel to study?

No, Qing Ling was an athlete, her academic results didn't matter much since she could get into college on her sports achievements. Gao Yang did fine in his studies, but he was too laid-back to be someone who would secretly study hard.

Wang Zikai crouched on the floor, listening for a long time. It was too quiet below—nothing like they were just "driving." Besides, you couldn't "drive" all night, and after finishing, Gao Yang could have easily called him back.

So, the truth was clear!

—Gao Yang had definitely found a new partner for ranked matches. He probably thought I was bad at the game and was planning to ditch me! Now, they were definitely playing passionately together!

This was unforgivable!

Confronting Gao Yang directly wouldn't work, Wang Zikai thought. So, he came up with a plan. He found a rope from the room's adult toys, tied himself up, and decided to climb out of the sixth-floor window to catch them in the act!

He carefully slid down, getting close to the fifth-floor window when suddenly, the curtains of Room 501 opened, and something that looked like the barrel of a gun extended out.

What was that?

Wang Zikai didn't have time to think. His foot slipped as he stepped on the air conditioning unit, and he fell. Then, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and everything went black.

...

Wang Zikai lay unconscious on the carpet in the room, blood pouring from his chest.

"The blood loss is significant! Find something to apply pressure!" Qing Ling ordered.

Gao Yang rushed to the bathroom, grabbed a thick towel, and pressed it against Wang Zikai's chest. The bottom of the towel quickly became soaked with blood.

Normally, a close-range sniper shot to the chest would leave a hole, but Wang Zikai only seemed to have taken a regular bullet wound.

He was definitely one of the "Beasts."

"What should we do?" Gao Yang asked.

"I don't know," Qing Ling replied, not expecting this fool to show up, throwing off all their plans.

"We have to save him," Gao Yang quickly concluded.

"Don't drag me into this if you want to die," Qing Ling protested.

"Otherwise, we just leave the body here? We have a hotel record, we can't escape this, it'll be exposed sooner or later," Gao Yang said, steadying his breath and calming down. "He... He's probably a Lost Beast."

A Lost Beast, someone who thinks they're human but doesn't know they're actually a Beast, possibly even until their death.

Qing Ling's eyes flickered, seemingly wavering for a moment. But soon, her gaze became sharp again, and she drew a dagger. "No, we can't take that risk. What if he's not a Lost Beast? We'll both die!"

Her cousin had died because he showed mercy to a Lost Beast.

Gao Yang knew he couldn't convince her, not even himself. Showing mercy to an enemy was cruel to oneself.

After three seconds of silence, he gritted his teeth and turned his face away. "Do it."

"Knock knock knock—" There was a knock at the door.

Gao Yang jumped, quickly grabbing the blanket from the waterbed to cover the unconscious Wang Zikai.

Qing Ling stood up, quickly walking to the door and opening it just a crack. "Who's there?"

Standing outside was a chubby man from the front desk.

The man was excited, lowering his voice. "Miss, let me in!"

"What's going on?" Qing Ling eyed him suspiciously.

The man looked around and whispered mysteriously, "I know what's happening in the room. I'm an Awakened... Let me talk to you."

Qing Ling thought for three seconds.

Between immediately killing him and letting him in, she chose the latter.

...

The chubby man pressed his hands on Wang Zikai's chest.

Before this, Qing Ling had already removed the bullet from his lung. The man's hands were covered by a green energy, and green particles were continuously flowing into Wang Zikai's chest. The blood slowly stopped, and the wound from the bullet began healing at a visible rate.

Five minutes later, the rescue was over.

The chubby man let out a cry and sat on the carpet, drenched in sweat as though he'd just taken a bath. He panted heavily, feeling like he had used up half of his life. "Lucky this guy's a Beast, otherwise I couldn't have saved him."

During the rescue, the chubby man had introduced himself.

His name was Han Yingjun, but everyone called him Fat Jun. He had awakened four years ago with the "Healing" ability, serial number: 45.

Fat Jun's parents died when he was young, and he grew up with his aunt. After she died, he graduated high school and didn't do much with his life. He inherited his aunt's hotel and transformed it into a specialty hotel.

Qing Ling crouched down, confirmed Wang Zikai's heartbeat, and then instructed Gao Yang, "You clean up the scene. I need to talk to this fat idiot."

"Hehe, no need to be so formal. Just call me Jun Fat," the man chuckled.

Qing Ling looked at him, "How do you know what's happening in the room?"

Fat Jun froze for a moment, then quickly started laughing nervously. "Hehe, actually... I installed cameras and listening devices in the room..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a Tang knife flashed and was placed against his triple-chinned neck.

Fat Jun screamed, "Miss, please spare me! Let me explain!"

"Ten seconds."

"First, I definitely didn't install cameras in the bathroom! I have principles!" Fat Jun wiped the sweat off his fat face. "And I didn't install cameras to satisfy my own desires, I've moved past those childish things..."

"Get to the point."

"Don't you guys find it curious?" Fat Jun nervously pushed the knife away from his neck. "What are these Beasts like when they're not pretending to be human?"

"Whoosh." The Tang knife disappeared from Qing Ling's hand. "You've been observing the Beasts?"

"Yes, ever since I awakened, my worldview has exploded, totally shocked my mom!" Fat Jun glanced at Wang Zikai lying on the floor. "After accepting the reality, I kept wondering, do these Beasts always pretend to be humans 24/7?"

"I can accept Lost Beasts; they're so stupid they fooled themselves. But what about the other Beasts? Do they also play pretend every day? Why do they do it?" Fat Jun looked at Gao Yang. "Aren't you curious?"

"I just awakened three days ago, and I haven't thought that far," Gao Yang replied while wiping the floor.

"I installed the cameras, partly because I wanted to see what these Beasts are really like behind the scenes..." Fat Jun sighed, looking disappointed. "But, to my surprise, these guys were doing their jobs, acting just like humans. The same stupid things people do, they do too."

Gao Yang and Qing Ling fell into thought.

"On the other hand, I also wanted to find humans," Fat Jun continued. "The brother who awakened me died, and I've been alone for years. Now I finally found you! I'm so excited, so happy…"

Fat Jun opened his arms, wanting to hug Qing Ling.

Facing Qing Ling's cold, deadly glare, he turned and hugged Gao Yang instead. "I'm so happy, I thought I'd be alone forever..."

Fat Jun was so emotional, he actually started crying. "Bro, it's so hard... Every day I have to act, and after three years, there's no end to it..."

Gao Yang wasn't good at comforting others. He awkwardly patted Fat Jun's meaty shoulder. "Alright, alright, it's okay, it's okay."

"Knock knock knock—" Another knock at the door.

Everyone went silent.

Gao Yang and Qing Ling both looked at Fat Jun. Fat Jun shook his head in confusion.

Qing Ling and Gao Yang exchanged a glance and silently drew out the Tang knife.

Gao Yang nodded and quickly walked to the door, shouting out, "Who is it?"

"Housekeeping," a voice answered.

"Housekeeping?"

"Room 501 was supposed to check out, right?"

"No, you've got it wrong," Gao Yang said.

"Let me check," came the reply.

Fat Jun also came to the door. He patted Gao Yang's shoulder and whispered, "It's fine, it's Aunt He, the cleaning lady I hired. She's a bit slow."

"Oh, oh… Sorry, it's 401, my mistake," came Aunt He's voice from outside.

"No problem."

After Gao Yang spoke, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He quickly turned and lunged at Fat Jun. "Move!"