136 The Hostel and Its Guests

 

“Honey, let me hear our son’s voice again.”

“I know it still doesn’t know how to speak, I just miss it too much.”

“It can’t make any sound anymore? How long ago was this?”

“Honey, don’t cry! I’m not saying this is your fault. It’ll be fine, I’ll get us a new son in a few days.”

“Come, give me a hug. Of course, I wouldn’t leave you all alone in this creepy place. I’ll find you company.”

“Hush, hush! Don’t worry, this son is definitely yours, I know you’ve hidden it inside the hostel.” At the front desk of the lobby, a man in a raincoat half-squatted beside the phone. He kept mumbling things into the phone. His voice was gentle, the person on the other end of the line appeared to be his wife. The hood of the raincoat shielded most of his face. The man’s voice was filled with love. He gushed at his wife, they were very much in love. The clock pointed at 1 in the morning but the man was still talking on the phone. He kept comforting his crying wife. At that moment, footsteps came from the hostel entrance.

A well-built young man, carrying a ceremonial urn walked into the lobby. Wiping away the blood stains from his palms casually, the man in the raincoat ended the call unwillingly. He turned to the young man and asked, “Are you here for a room?”

“You’re the boss?”

“Yes.” The man took out a key from underneath the desk, “Please give me your name. All of our guests need to register.”

“Meng Changan.”

“Changan? That’s a good name.” The man handed the key to the young man. “Room 202, please check out at this very hour tomorrow night.”

“That’s all? But I haven’t even paid.”

“Someone has already paid on your behalf. Go and rest. Sweet dreams.”

“Thank you, good night to you too.” The young man said politely. But he did not leave immediately instead he turned to study the lobby wall. There was a bulletin board there which was covered with various ads and notices. There were lost and found notifications and missing person ads. The young man studied it for a long time and he noticed there was a wanted ad for a family tutor.

“Boss, I’m sorry but do you know who left this ad behind? Will the teacher be tutoring a child from the nearby Yi Ming Private Academy?”

“Yes, the child dropped out from school for some reason. His mother has been figuring a way to help him to go back to the school. To ensure that he does not lag behind from his peers, she left the ad to find a family tutor.” The boss explained kindly.

“Does the pair of mother and son live here as well?”

“They stay in Room 301, if you wish to answer her ad, I can help you make a call to inform the mother.”

“Then I shall thank you in advance.” The young man headed towards the staircase. Walking down the moldy corridor, when he reached the first step, he turned back to look. The man in the raincoat was still standing behind the front desk, staring at him. “Good night.”

Stepping on the creaking wooden steps, the young man came to the 2nd floor. He heard the man’s voice coming from the 1st floor again. He appeared to have continued his call with his wife. ‘Are they actual husband and wife? This hostel is different from what I have imagined.’ The young man who carried the urn was Han Fei. His original plan was to ambush the boss and then murder his way to Drake and his family. But when he saw the actual boss, Han Fei noticed something was off. The boss appeared to be under some kind of spell. He reminded Han Fei greatly of Drake when he was still working under the paper doll. Seeing this, Han Fei knew brute force was not going to work. He did not expose Weep and Lee Zai who resided inside the urn and instead decided to take on the disguise of a guest.

Using the key, he opened the door to Room 202. Han Fei shook his head at the urn and then he looked around. The furniture was old. There was a tea pot next to the small tv. Han Fei opened the lid and several damp paper monies were stuffed inside. “You’ll never know what you’ll get here.” Han Fei inspected the room closely. He noticed the room was relatively ‘clean’. The only strange item he found was shredded paper money at the corners of the room and inside the closet. “It feels like this room is prepared for the dead, then again, considering where I am, that is no surprise.”

Han Fei sat on the bed and analysed the situation in his mind. ‘There are 3 levels to this hostel. Each level has 4 rooms and one of the rooms on the first floor, Room 101 specifically, has the word, manager on it.’ Han Fei perked up his ears to listen. The walls were extremely thin. He could hear the sound of grinding teeth from the adjacent Room 201. ‘The hostel is not that big. Firefly should be in one of these rooms.’ Closing his eyes, Han Fei tried to remember, ‘The person who dropped the pots on me stays on the 3rd floor. If the layout for the rooms are all the same, then she should be staying in Room 302, right above me.’ Standing up, Han Fei could hear the sound of snoring coming from above. ‘She sure is a sound sleeper.’

Ring Ring! The phone by the bed suddenly rang. Han Fei frowned, he thought the phone was just a decoration. ‘Will it keep on ringing if I don’t answer it?’

Han Fei stared at the phone and he noticed something interesting. While the phone rang, the sound of teeth grinding and snoring had all disappeared. Han Fei eventually picked up the phone but did not say anything. After a short silence, a woman’s voice came out from the phone, “Please just stop torturing me, just kill me. Please just kill me…” The woman said between sobs, she sounded very fragile.

“Tell me where you are.” Han Fei whispered urgently.

“Don’t torment me anymore. Kill me, kill me please…” The woman repeated. At that moment, the sound of chains falling came from the other line. Then the door opened. Finally, the boss’ voice came, “Honey, who are you talking to?”

The call was abruptly ended. Han Fei’s eyes darted around as he placed the phone back. Then he slunk over to sneak out from Room 202. He had no idea where the boss hid the woman but he knew that the boss was not at the 1st floor front desk at this moment. Using his fastest speed, Han Fei hurried to the first floor. As he expected, the first floor was empty. Without wasting any time, Han Fei jumped into the front desk and grabbed all the available keys. Then he searched through the desk and swiped the registration book the boss left on the table. After making sure he did not miss anything, Han Fei raced back up the stairs.

His gait was light. When he passed each room, he’d stop to listen to the sounds from inside them. He reached Room 202 successfully. Han Fei checked and he got 6 numbered keys with him. He memorized all the numbers and opened the registration book. Meng Changan’s name was the latest entry. He turned a page forward and found Drake’s name.

“Drake Ying is in Room 304?” Han Fei compared that with the keys he ‘borrowed’. There was no key for Room 304. “That means Drake hasn’t checked out yet…”

While Han Fei flipped through the book, footsteps came from the corridor. At the same time, the robotic voice announced. “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve successfully triggered Grade G Normal Mission—Find the Missing Employee!

“Find the Missing Employee: Your only employee is missing! Finding him will greatly increase his friendliness level with you!

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve successfully triggered Grade G Hidden Mission—Midnight Hostel!

“Midnight Hostel: The boss of this hostel once used fresh blood to write this on the business sign—No entry to the living! But after the boss disappeared, many strange things started to happen at the hostel.”