Chapter 22

"Thump, thump, thump!"

The door to Room 307 was knocked upon.

"Hello!"

"Housekeeping service."

But the door did not open.

The cleaner quickly took a door card from the pocket on their chest, a card that granted cleaning staff the authority to open all guest rooms.

Lin Ye’s expression shifted slightly; he had searched those pockets just moments ago, but had not found any door card.

The hotel rules had restricted it.

"Room 307 requires housekeeping service,"

"Using the door card to open the room now."

The cleaner approached, holding the door card in their hand.

"Don't..."

Suddenly,

A strong sound of refusal came from inside Room 307.

"Room 307 does not need any housekeeping service, no, absolutely not, go to another room."

That was the voice of Taisuke Sawanaga.

He wasn't dead; he was even alive and well.

The cleaner immediately looked toward Hikari Kuroda, making the chestnut-haired twin-tailed girl tremble involuntarily, her hands and feet turning cold.

"Sawanaga, Sawanaga-kun, open the door, we... need housekeeping service."

"No, get lost."

It was still a resolute voice of refusal.

The cleaner lowered their hand,

"There are guests in Room 307, housekeeping service is not required, proceeding to the next room."

But at this moment,

Time stalled once again.

Lin Ye was somewhat disappointed,

"I thought Taisuke Sawanaga wouldn't respond!"

He really wanted to see the situation when someone was inside the room, and what actions the cleaner would take after entering.

Whether they would treat the person inside the room as trash to be cleaned away as well.

If, at the beginning, Lin Ye’s attitude toward Taisuke Sawanaga had remained at the impression of disgust from the original work, it still wouldn't have reached the point of directly sabotaging him, and he might even have pulled him up if necessary.

But now, with Taisuke Sawanaga mercilessly closing the door to save his own life and refusing any communication with them while playing dead inside the room, Lin Ye no longer minded sabotaging this famous "yellow-hair" of the two-dimensional world.

A dead yellow-hair is a good yellow-hair.

However, for now, this thought of his could not be realized.

Lin Ye came to the side of the cleaner, took the dedicated cleaner's door card from their left hand, and arrived in front of Room 304, a bit further away from the cleaner.

Next,

Just use the door card to open the door.

Time resumed its flow.

'Zzzzz...'

The 304 door card failed.

Ai Hoshino watched, her expression shifting slightly,

They couldn't get back into the room.

After the cleaning was finished, the original door card couldn't be used anymore!

What... what should they do!

Lin Ye applied the cleaner's door card.

Ai Hoshino watched, unable to help but praise him again; Lin Ye-kun had considered this point long ago, which was why he had obtained the cleaner's door card.

But 'Zzzzz...' it was still a prompt sound indicating no effect.

The door remained tightly shut.

Ai Hoshino’s face turned pale,

Lin Ye reacted normally, not falling into any tension because the door card failed.

"Guest..."

The cleaner’s hoarse voice came through.

Lin Ye looked over,

The cleaner, who had been quite normal a second ago, had changed at this moment; their expression became increasingly ferocious, liquid flowed from their hollow eyes, and their hands took one tool after another from the cart.

There was a broom, a duster, and also... an axe.

The cleaner had to carry an axe?

Hikari Kuroda stared in shock. That sharp axe reflecting a luster still had drops of blood falling from it. This was likely Mie Kamimura’s blood!

"Stealing door card,"

"Guest's finances... dangerous,"

"Report..."

The hoarse, stuttering voice was extremely similar to the female receptionist from before.

The next moment,

The cleaner moved, their humanoid body transforming into a strange, shifting entity, the broom and axe whistling through the air.

Ai Hoshino and Hikari Kuroda froze in place, subconsciously closing their eyes.

Soon, Ai Hoshino knew she was safe; she felt herself being carried away.

It must be that Lin Ye had used time stop.

After blinking and recovering her vision, Ai Hoshino found herself in front of the elevator, and in the distance, all the attacks from the cleaner in front of Room 304 had missed,

It had discovered the three missing people.

"Take the stairs, go down."

Hikari Kuroda, who had just wanted to press the elevator button, immediately ran toward the emergency exit of the stairs.

"Aoooo..."

Behind them,

The roar of the strange cleaner came,

But that figure stopped at the stairwell and could not enter.

"It, it... didn't chase us down."

"It should be that it cannot leave the third floor!"

Ai Hoshino breathed a sigh of relief.

"What should we do next? Lin Ye-kun, we can't go back to the room, and there is a female receptionist in the first-floor lobby, which is also very dangerous; we can't just stay here forever!"

In the green-glowing stairwell, Ai Hoshino didn't feel particularly safe either.

"Go to the lobby."

"..."

"Really stay in the lobby until six o'clock?"

It’s just not talking to the female receptionist for a few hours; Ai Hoshino gritted her teeth, feeling she could do it.

"No,"

"That is..."

"Chat with the female receptionist,"

"Ha!"

Ai Hoshino was astonished,

Even Hikari Kuroda was full of surprise.

Ai Hoshino clearly remembered that after Taisuke Sawanaga communicated with the female receptionist, it caused her to mutate, transforming into an ugly, strange entity.

Now, Lin Ye wanted to go to the lobby and communicate with the female receptionist; why was this?

Facing the two women's confusion, Lin Ye didn't explain, but continued walking downstairs and pushed open the door to the first-floor emergency exit.

The emergency exit door, which initially couldn't be opened no matter how much force was used from the outside, opened with just a little effort this time.

The bright light of the first-floor lobby shone in, dispelling the gloom inside the stairwell.

The three of them arrived at the hotel's first-floor lobby once again.

At the front desk,

A woman in a black suit was sitting quietly,

After the three of them appeared in the lobby, she walked over proactively step by step, her graceful, curvaceous figure once again on full display.

"Guest, may I ask what service you need."

The way of asking hadn't changed much.

Ai Hoshino kept her mouth tightly shut; now, no matter what sound she heard, she wouldn't make any response.

"We encountered an unexpected emergency,"

Lin Ye spoke,

"After the cleaning staff finished cleaning the room, they closed the door directly, causing us to be unable to enter; now the door cards for Room 304 and Room 306 have failed,"

He took out the door cards for both rooms and handed them to the female receptionist.

"Please help us reset the door cards."

"I understand, the negligence of our hotel staff has caused you trouble, please bear with us."

After taking the two door cards, the female receptionist returned to her workstation and began a series of operations.

Ai Hoshino and Hikari Kuroda were dumbfounded.

So that was it.

So that was it.