Induction

After buying some food, Chen Miemie went straight to Loop's village.

Origami established a spatial portal based on the spatial coordinates of room 606.

Loop stepped through the portal.

Two minutes later.

Loop returned.

"There's a problem. When I went over, I found that the room was exactly the same as the 606 we stayed in, but there was no trace of our presence."

"You mean the room we stayed in was secretly raised by one floor, and then an identical room was spawned in its original place?" Chen Miemie asked.

"Yes."

"Wait," Qinghua interrupted. "What do you mean by exactly the same? If the hotel's upper and lower floor structures are the same, it's normal for the rooms to be decorated identically, right?"

"Right, but being completely identical is the problem. The wrinkles on the bed, the specific stains on the carpet, the position of the trash can, the scratches on the door handle—everything I remember is exactly the same. And the final point: our key can open the lock to this room."

"So, the hotel deliberately created an identical room. What is its purpose in doing this?"

Pure Water joined the discussion: "I have a theory."

Everyone looked at it.

"Let's think about it this way.

What would happen if we hadn't realized the room had been secretly raised?

A normal person would go back to the current 6th floor and enter the new room 606, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Upon entering the new room 606, because it's exactly the same, they would think it's their room and continue staying there."

Mitu joined this kind of discussion for the first time: "Right, but what does that matter?"

"Of course it matters. If a hotel guest unauthorizedly stays in a room they didn't book, doesn't that constitute a rule violation? According to the hotel's rules, they can make a move against guests who break the rules."

Daidai was a bit unhappy: "Isn't that just deliberately tricking people into breaking the rules?"

Qinghua and Loop had already caught up with Pure Water's train of thought.

"It's an anomaly, after all. Deliberately baiting people into breaking rules and then killing them is perfectly normal for it."

Chen Miemie felt something was a bit off about this hypothesis:

"But don't you guys think the timing of it raising our room is a bit off? As long as someone going downstairs counts the floors like you did, it'll immediately be exposed. Why didn't it wait until I had completely gone downstairs or even left the hotel before swapping the rooms?"

Pure Water agreed: "That's exactly what I haven't figured out either. It clearly could have left no flaws, so why would it give someone a chance to see through it?"

Since they couldn't figure it out, they set it aside for now.

Chen Miemie didn't change his evening plans because of this unexpected turn of events.

The problem now was that it was obviously no longer suitable to return to the Fat Orange Hotel to catch up on sleep during the day.

"I need a place to rest. How about I go to my lounge at the Silver Moon Court today? Speaking of which, ever since they assigned me a room, I haven't stayed there even once."

He arrived at the Silver Moon Court.

As soon as he walked in, he ran straight into Leng Ruxue.

"Little Leng, why the long face?"

Leng Ruxue didn't fuss over Chen Miemie calling him "Little Leng."

"Sigh, I submitted the battle damage and reimbursement claims to the municipal office, but their liaison hasn't replied at all. I'm really worried."

"What are you worried about? Are you afraid he'd dare not to reimburse us?"

"No, I'm worried about his personal safety. I'm a deeply paranoid person; if he doesn't reply to my messages, I just assume he's dead."

Caught off guard, Chen Miemie was hit squarely by this deadpan joke.

Leng Ruxue was still muttering, "This is so frustrating. Being poor isn't scary; what's scary is that the poor one is me."

Chen Miemie said expressionlessly, "Then you take your time grinding it out with them, I'll just be going..."

Realizing Chen Miemie was trying to escape, Leng Ruxue quickly grabbed him.

"You actually think I should take my time grinding! Chen Miemie, I need to teach you a lesson today."

"Please, start your performance."

"How's your math? Do you know that 1.001 to the power of 365 is approximately 1.44?"

Chen Miemie sneered. "Your routine is too old. Are you going to say next that 0.99 to the power of 365 is approximately 0.02, and then lecture me on the importance of accumulating effort over time?"

Leng Ruxue looked up at the ceiling, standing with his hands behind his back:

"No, what I want to tell you is that 1.2 squared is also 1.44, which proves that slowly grinding away for a year is worse than a two-day blitz. Don't stop me, I'm going to block that guy's door for two days and let him know the methods of our Silver Moon Court."

Having successfully delivered his deadpan punchline, Leng Ruxue walked out the door with a spring in his step, completely satisfied, to handle his business.

Chen Miemie, meanwhile, felt his sleepiness dissipate quite a bit from the sheer coldness of the joke.

Unexpectedly, just as he went upstairs and opened the door to his small room...

The door to Room 9 opposite him opened.

Xi walked out. "I heard a noise. Chen Miemie, it really is you."

"Xi? Why are you here? Wouldn't it be more comfortable to stay at home if you have nothing to do?"

"Staying in one place for too long can cause a painter to lack inspiration. It just so happens that I'm in a good mood when I'm at the society. What about you? This is the first time I've seen you here."

"Don't even mention it. My house is being renovated, so I went to the Fat Orange Hotel. But that hotel is full of weird nonsense, so I came here."

"The Fat Orange Hotel!"

"What, do you know that place?"

"Chen Miemie, listen to me. Don't stay there. It's very bizarre and dangerous."

"Oho, you actually know about it, Xi. Come in and sit down, tell me all about it."

Inside Chen Miemie's small room.

Xi didn't treat herself as an outsider at all. She sprawled horizontally across the two-seater sofa, fully displaying her stunning curves.

As the owner of the room, Chen Miemie had no sofa left to sit on, so he had to sit cross-legged on his single bed.

"Chen Miemie, let me tell you, this is a secret very few people know."

"Uh-huh." Chen Miemie put on an obedient look of attentive listening.

Xi was very satisfied with her sole audience's reaction:

"You know I work at the city fire department, right?

During my first year on the job, I looked through some secret files regarding fires.

The Fat Orange Hotel has a long history. Its most recent renovation was over 80 years ago, and the reason for the renovation was a massive fire.

After that renovation, it started operating as a hotel, but before the renovation, it was actually a condemned building on the verge of being abandoned."

Chen Miemie listened earnestly. "That doesn't make much sense. It was already on the verge of being abandoned, and then it suffered a huge fire. Who would bother renovating such a condemned building? Could it be because of its historical and cultural value?"

Xi swung her feet up and down on the sofa.

"You hit the nail on the head right away. According to the files, no one renovated it at all. The day after the fire was put out, the entire building inexplicably became brand new.

Such a bizarre event naturally caught the attention of all the factions in the city at the time.

But strangely, the file ends there. It only says that after the various factions sent people inside to investigate, they declared that there was no danger inside. As for what they found or why it happened, there is no record of it at all."

"If it were just that, Xi, you wouldn't be warning me that it's dangerous inside."

"Yes, what happened decades ago is too far in the past, so you can just treat it as a story. What I want to talk about is the present.

The fire department doesn't just deal with fires; people trapped in buildings also contact them for rescue.

According to the information we've gathered, a distress call comes from the Fat Orange Hotel every few days.

And the danger I am talking about is that some of the people who sent those distress signals later completely disappeared, vanishing from the face of the earth."

After hearing Xi's words, Chen Miemie did indeed find it bizarre.

It wasn't the disappearances happening inside the Fat Orange Hotel that were bizarre.

Since they already knew the entire building was a supernatural anomaly, anything happening inside was to be expected.

What Chen Miemie found bizarre was this:

Why would the municipal government and various factions tacitly allow such an obviously abnormal hotel to continue operating?

Chen Miemie raised his watch and sent a message to one of their own, Commander Sun, asking about the situation.

He quickly received a reply.

Time: 9:53

Sender: Commander Sun

Content: The area of effect of this anomaly is strictly confined to the interior of the hotel and will not cause mass casualties. This matter concerns the city's safety and development. Please do not interfere or leak this information.