Chapter 21: 307 Needs Cleaning

Normally, room service hours are during the day; it’s impossible for them to appear at night.

However,

Lin Ye remembered the word ‘cleaning’ left behind at the moment he passed by the female front desk clerk.

She was reminding him.

But was the female clerk’s reminder out of kindness or malice?

“Lin, Lin Ye-kun,”

Hoshino Ai, sitting beside Lin Ye, shook him gently and said cautiously,

“I think I heard the sound of room cleaning service.”

“I, I heard it too.”

Kuroda Hikari also spoke up immediately.

This indicated that all three of them had heard it; it wasn’t an individual auditory hallucination.

‘Zzzzz……’

The sound of cleaning equipment carts sliding in the hallway.

“Knock, knock, knock……”

The knocking sound rang out once again.

“Room service,”

“may I ask if the guest needs hygiene service.”

The voice of a middle-aged aunt, about thirty or forty years old, rang out again and again.

After not receiving a response from inside the room, she moved on, pushing the cleaning cart to the next room.

It was the same rhythmic knocking and inquiry.

Closer,

even closer.

The female cleaning staff member walked from room to room.

Every sound struck the hearts of Hoshino Ai and Kuroda Hikari.

The two suppressed their inner tension, waiting for Lin Ye’s decision.

‘Click……’

Suddenly,

the sound of a door lock opening rang out.

After the customary inquiry, the female cleaner didn’t leave but instead opened the electronic lock of the room door.

“It’s room 304.”

The room next door.

The female cleaner had entered room 304 to clean.

“No, that shouldn’t be right! Before we returned to the room, wasn’t the hallway distorted and the room order all messed up?”

Facing Hoshino Ai’s doubt, Lin Ye gave an explanation.

“The hallway was distorted because we touched Rule 6, which brought the female front desk clerk from the first-floor lobby; but now the female clerk has left, and we have returned to the room, so the room order and the hallway have unsurprisingly recovered.”

After Lin Ye finished speaking, he stood up and gestured to the two with his eyes.

“Let’s go out and see.”

Immediately,

Kuroda Hikari’s heart tightened; outside was the hotel staff member, the female cleaner. If they went out, wouldn’t they run into her? Who knows if the female cleaner was pretending to be next door but was actually in front of their 306 door.

She voiced her hypothesis.

“I…… I think Kuroda-san’s words also have some truth, how about……”

Hoshino Ai expressed her opinion, but immediately changed her tone.

“But I will always support every decision Lin Ye-kun makes.”

Kuroda Hikari opened her eyes in astonishment.

She thought Hoshino Ai would be on her side and persuade Lin Ye to give up the idea of going out!

Didn’t this make her look like the only villain?

Are idols really this cunning?

“Senior Lin Ye, you…… you make the decision.”

“Put on your shoes and listen to my arrangements.”

Lin Ye had a hypothesis about the infection rules of the love hotel; all that remained was verification and a little bit of luck.

He looked at the clock in the room.

It was currently 1:15.

He withdrew his gaze,

and the sound of cleaning came from next door.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

The sound of a broom.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Suddenly, there was the sound of a heavy blade striking down, as if chopping through meat and bone.

One strike after another, it grated against the two girls' fragile hearts.

Both girls knew what was in Room 304, but they instinctively denied that conjecture. They felt they were just overthinking it.

"Let's go!"

Lin Ye walked to the door and opened it.

The moment the door opened,

the scene in the hallway came into view.

Just as Lin Ye had said, the hallway had returned to normal.

The three of them walked out of the room one after another and looked toward the neighbor, Room 304. The door was open, and the sound of cleaning, clearer than before, drifted out from time to time.

There really was a cleaner inside, tidying up.

Hoshino Ai’s gaze fell on Lin Ye’s cheek; she felt that Lin Ye must surely use his superpower to go in and investigate!

However, until the cleaner pushed the cart loaded with cleaning supplies to the doorway, she did not see any sign that Lin Ye intended to use time-stop to enter the room and gather clues.

Was she... wrong?

Hoshino Ai couldn't help but think.

The cart was slowly pushed out.

"Wuu..."

In an instant,

Hoshino Ai’s eyes widened. Her hand, which had been clutching the corner of Lin Ye’s shirt, immediately retracted to cover her mouth. Her eyes stared wide at the contents of the cart’s trash bin.

*Gulp...*

The sound of swallowing.

It was a corpse. Severed limbs and broken palms were scattered in a pile on top of the black trash bin. The bloody limbs were a mangled mess of flesh; occasionally, a patch of soft skin could be seen, as if telling a story of what this was. And that spherical object, scattered with black hair, sat quietly at the very top of the trash bin.

As the cart moved, the liquid-soaked hair shifted, revealing a dead, gray eye.

The moment the chestnut-haired twin-tailed girl witnessed this, she nearly screamed, but reason restrained her, and she could only squeeze her eyes shut, clutching the corner of Lin Ye’s shirt, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Only in this way could she keep from being afraid.

At this moment,

both girls understood!

The chopping sound from just now was the cleaner dismembering Kamimura Mie’s corpse!

A sense of nausea and revulsion intensified under the strong, bloody stench.

Both girls felt like vomiting.

And at this moment,

the cleaner pushed the cart away from Room 304. Just as the door was closing, Lin Ye stopped time.

He entered Room 304, came out again very quickly, and returned to his original position.

Hoshino Ai felt relieved. She believed that Lin Ye must have found the clue to clear the stage; dealing with such a dangerous cleaner who dismembered human bodies would surely be no problem for him.

Time resumed.

The cleaner, stained with black-red liquid, closed the door to Room 304, then looked up at Lin Ye and the other two.

"Guests, are you checking out? Which room needs cleaning?"

"Room 306 needs cleaning service, sorry to trouble you."

Watching Lin Ye interact with the hotel staff as if nothing were wrong and he didn't care at all, Hoshino Ai and Kuroda Hikari felt their hearts jump into their throats.

Didn't he say to ignore the hotel staff that shouldn't exist?

"I understand."

The cleaner’s behavior and demeanor showed absolutely no hostility.

It made one feel as if it were safe.

"By the way, Room 307 also needs cleaning."

Room 307 was the room of Sawanaga Taisuke and Kuroda Hikari, and Sawanaga Taisuke was still hiding inside alone.

"Guest... you are not a guest of Room 307."

The cleaner’s words suddenly became somewhat stiff.

Lin Ye patted the waist of Kuroda Hikari, who was hiding behind him, signaling her with his eyes.

"R... Room 307 needs cleaning..."

She gathered all her courage to say this sentence.

"I understand."

The cleaner pushed the cart into Room 306 first and began cleaning.

Five minutes later,

the cleaner pushed the cart to the tightly closed door of Room 307.

A knocking sound rang out.