Chapter 17

Qi Xu discovered for the first time that the workload in her line of work was even more intense here. Qi Xu shuddered, but Xia Zhiming had already walked ahead. Qi Xu could only hurry to catch up, as she was afraid of being left alone in a place like this.

Horror movies always played out this way—the first person left alone was bound to bite the dust! Especially in a plot where she, an ordinary person, walked alongside someone with special abilities!

But it was truly tough when they reached the stairwell. Xia Zhiming had drawn room 8301, which meant the third floor. But with the hotel in this state, they definitely couldn’t take the elevator. Xia Zhiming traveled light, leaving Qi Xu to lug all the big and small bags by herself.

Fortunately, Xia Zhiming still had a shred of conscience. At the stairwell entrance, she took the smaller suitcase.

Qi Xu was dumbfounded—wasn’t that small suitcase hers? The big one was Xia Zhiming’s!

But the situation was stronger than the people involved. Qi Xu was scared now and had to stick with Xia Zhiming. She hadn’t felt much outside, but once they entered this dark place, relying on the light from Xia Zhiming’s phone, Qi Xu could only bear the labor without complaint.

She wore a backpack, dragged the suitcase sideways, gripped the handle with both hands, and followed Xia Zhiming up the stairs. The emergency exit signs still glowed faintly green, providing a bit of light to the corridor, but that oily green light was worse than none at all.

Qi Xu knew that emergency exit signs ran on separate backup power, which could function even if the building lost electricity. But this backup power was running low too—the green light was exceptionally dim, and who knew when it would go out.

Xia Zhiming paused by the emergency exit sign for a moment, then continued upward.

After climbing two flights of stairs, with one more to go, Qi Xu finally couldn’t hold back and complained, “Xia Zhiming, can’t we switch to a room on the first floor? The third floor is so tiring.”

“The room I drew is Heaven’s mandate. Heaven’s mandate cannot be defied, got it?”

Qi Xu naturally didn’t get it. She only knew that Xia Zhiming’s suitcase was really heavy, leaving her panting a bit. The staircase was narrow to begin with, and the suitcase was both large and heavy. If Qi Xu weren’t a youthful, energetic female college student, she probably couldn’t have hauled it to the third floor.

As she walked, the entire stairwell echoed with Qi Xu’s panting sounds.

Because it was empty and deserted, the stairwell amplified the echoes of Qi Xu’s voice.

They finally reached the third floor, and Qi Xu set down the luggage. Xia Zhiming led the way and pushed open the emergency exit door. The old, poorly maintained door let out a loud “creak.” That sound was particularly shrill, like fingernails scraping across a blackboard, making goosebumps rise all over Qi Xu.

She watched as Xia Zhiming passed through the door into the interior and hurriedly grabbed the suitcase, reopening the door before it closed and closely following behind.

Once out of the stairwell, they reached the elevator area. After just a few steps across that small space, Qi Xu felt the floor change underfoot. She stiffened all over at first, but seeing Xia Zhiming calmly walking ahead, she relaxed.

She looked down and realized the different sensation came from the thick carpet laid on the floor. She then hurried to catch up with Xia Zhiming.

Room 301 was at the farthest east end of the entire hotel. The suitcase was hard to pull on the carpet, and Qi Xu half-dragged, half-yanked it all the way there. Even more ridiculous was that, despite having a keycard, the door used an old-fashioned key. Xia Zhiming unlocked it, and Qi Xu followed right in.

She now wished she could stick right to Xia Zhiming’s side, terrified that a ghost might pop out from somewhere and kill her.

As soon as she entered the room, Qi Xu felt uncomfortable. There was a lot of dust inside, perfectly matching the state of the Vivid Red Hotel, which had been closed for nearly half a year. The dust choked her, making her uncomfortable. She quickly waved her hand in front of her face and coughed a couple of times.

Xia Zhiming moved faster. She set down Qi Xu’s carry-on and went straight to the window. With a forceful pull, she drew the curtains apart, letting moonlight pour in like flowing water. She then opened the window, and the situation improved noticeably.

Xia Zhiming wasn’t the type to wrong herself. She stood by the window and started making a phone call. As soon as it connected, she couldn’t wait to curse out the person on the other end. “You called us here to catch ghosts, but you didn’t even turn on the electricity at the Vivid Red Hotel? Treating us like workhorses? Without power, how are we supposed to live? I haven’t even settled the score with you for making me use my own data, and now no electricity? What, you want our phones to die tomorrow and leave us cut off? You have water? What’s water good for? Drink it raw?”

Her little mouth rattled on for a good while, and Qi Xu could already imagine the person on the other end nodding and bowing, promising electricity by tomorrow.

After hanging up, Xia Zhiming came over to Qi Xu. She first opened her own suitcase and took out a small night light. Once turned on, it brightened the entire room considerably. With the moonlight from outside, it was barely usable.

Now that she could see the room clearly, Xia Zhiming grew even more disdainful.

“If it weren’t for catching ghosts, would This Lady stay in a dump like this?”

Qi Xu nodded quietly: Exactly, she didn’t want to stay in this rundown hotel either!

It was a standard room with two single beds, but right now the beds had nothing but mattresses. Even if there were linens, they wouldn’t dare sleep on them—who knew how long it had been since they’d been cleaned. Even the mattresses were covered in dust, looking unfit for sleeping.

Besides that, it had the usual setup for a standard hotel room, including a table and two chairs.

Xia Zhiming picked up the small night light and went into the bathroom. A moment later, she called Qi Xu over.

Qi Xu arrived to see a scene covered in dust. It wasn’t messy or particularly filthy, just full of dust and spiderwebs, looking exceptionally dilapidated. Qi Xu didn’t really want to use this bathroom. But Xia Zhiming gave her no other choice. “Clean this place up.”

Qi Xu’s eyes widened—she didn’t really want to clean either!

But before she could voice an objection, she heard Xia Zhiming say in a sinister tone, “If you hadn’t gone to the Vice Bureau Chief saying it was awkward not having work for a month, would she have urgently assigned me this task?”

A lot had happened that evening, and Qi Xu had nearly forgotten about it. Xia Zhiming wasn’t wrong—it was because she’d told the Vice Bureau Chief during the day that she wanted some work, and that evening Xia Zhiming had dragged her along.

In that light, it seemed Qi Xu really had asked for trouble.

Feeling in the wrong, Qi Xu could only grit her teeth and agree. Xia Zhiming pulled out a cleaning kit from her suitcase and tossed it to Qi Xu, telling her to clean the bathroom inside and out until it was at least usable.

“You can deal with the showerhead tomorrow daytime. Skipping one night without a bath won’t kill anyone, but get the toilet and sink spotless.”

Qi Xu grimaced and took the small night light from Xia Zhiming before starting her reluctant work. The cleaning kit even included disposable folding brushes—disposable items came in so many varieties these days, including foldable cleaning tools that were perfect for travel…

No wonder Xia Zhiming’s suitcase was so heavy, packed with all this stuff.

At first, when Qi Xu entered the bathroom, she was quite reluctant because it was small and had a stale smell from long disuse. After a while inside, she grew even more reluctant. She was just clearing spiderwebs and dusting, but the dust puffed up, making her feel like she’d gotten a nose full of it.

Never mind that—the small night light was positioned low, so when she stood straight, the light came from below. Passing the mirror by accident, the lighting scared her several times. That was how you lit things when playing ghost to scare others!

Not to mention, this hotel really had ghosts!

Qi Xu swallowed hard. After bustling around for half an hour and making the bathroom look somewhat presentable, she had to start wiping with a damp cloth.

She turned on the sink faucet, and nothing came out at first. It gurgled for a bit, then sputtered a little water before a decent flow followed. But the color of the water was off.

Qi Xu swallowed hard. The strong rusty smell and dark red water made her voice tremble as she shouted, “Xia Zhiming, Xia Zhiming, come quick and look! Is this, is this some ghost playing tricks?”

Xia Zhiming actually came over, had Qi Xu step aside, and looked for a moment. In short order, she turned and knocked Qi Xu on the head. “What are you looking at? You don’t even know this? It’s been so long since the tap water was used—rust is normal. What’s coming out first is rust water, not blood!”

“Mm…” Qi Xu answered aggrievedly, then asked dazedly, “Then, then can we use this water tonight?”

“Pig brain! Of course not! This water’s fine for flushing the toilet or mopping the floor, but for washing your face or brushing your teeth? You really don’t mind ruining your face and teeth!”

Qi Xu admitted her question had been thoughtless. She nodded and began wondering how much drinking water she had in her backpack and suitcase. She finally cleared out the tap water and got the bathroom to a usable state for the toilet.

After finishing, she came out of the bathroom to see a full case of mineral water placed on the floor.

In a way, Xia Zhiming was truly well-prepared—it was just that Qi Xu had carried it all. Qi Xu choked up a bit but set that aside for now and prepared to complain for herself. “I never even scrubbed a toilet like this at home.”

As an only child, Qi Xu’s parents truly spoiled her.

Xia Zhiming ignored her and directly exposed her. “You don’t clean toilets in your dorm either?”

“That… that’s different. Everyone takes turns, and none were as dirty as this one.”

Xia Zhiming scoffed. “Say that next time ahead of time.”

“Ahead of time, and you wouldn’t have made me clean?”

“Ahead of time, you’d sound tougher.”