chapter 12
Ah Zhang was silent for a moment, then quickly resumed his professional smile: “That’s impossible. It would violate the professional ethics of a qualified Front Desk.”
Cheng Miao understood. Killing her was out of the question; they probably just wanted to scare her, make her lose face.
She wondered if there were any death-triggering conditions outside. Once a person panics, anything could happen.
Cheng Miao looked at Ah Zhang with a half-smile: “Surely our Survival Inn system has a channel for supervision and complaints, right?”
Ah Zhang hadn’t expected Cheng Miao to bring this up and stood there, stunned, not speaking for a long while.
“Really none?” Cheng Miao raised her eyebrows slightly. “Isn’t that a bit unprofessional?”
“…There is,” Ah Zhang squeezed out the words through his teeth. “If a Player has doubts, they can report to the Python Supervisor. Once verified, strict action will be taken immediately. But if the evidence is insufficient or it’s a false accusation causing trouble, the Player’s room type will be downgraded, depending on the severity.”
As expected, the Cockroach Brothers don’t lie-they just conceal things.
Players, anxious and exhausted, always treat the Front Desk with courtesy, never imagining that such a supposedly fair Game would allow such an obvious disadvantage for Players.
Few dare to challenge the Front Desk, let alone think there’s a supervisory body in the Inn. This loophole-like rule can only be discovered by Players themselves through exploration.
Given this, it indirectly proves that after checking into a room, the Front Desk and Player should have a service provider and customer relationship. The Front Desk provides accommodation, the Player pays Travel Coins-there’s no reason for service staff to bully consumers.
So what’s there to be afraid of!
“We didn’t violate any rules just now… Well, maybe we were a bit slow to rescue you, but we definitely didn’t mean to kill you, not even if the Python Supervisor comes.” Seeing Cheng Miao’s sidelong glance, Ah Zhang hurried to explain, lacking confidence.
Cheng Miao accepted this explanation with a radiant smile. “Of course. You’ve helped me with so many questions, why would you harm me? I was just asking, nothing more.”
A slap and then a sweet date-no need to spell things out between adults (or bugs). “But still, we did neglect our duties earlier. How about this: your meal fees in the Cockroach Dormitory are waived, and you’ll get high-class meals.”
Only then did Cheng Miao remember the issue of food and drink. She’d been focused on the task and hadn’t realized that living in the Inn was a considerable expense. “Are there different grades of meals?”
Ah Zhang gestured for Cheng Miao to look at the main door. On the white iron door was a posted meal fee standard. She hadn’t noticed it when entering, but now she saw it.
“The Dormitory provides meals for a fee: low-class meals are 2 Travel Coins per day, mid-class meals are 10 Travel Coins per day, and high-class meals are 20 Travel Coins per day.”
“What’s the difference?” The sign only listed prices-surely that’s a service loophole.
“Low-class meals are just bread; mid-class meals include two meals, with noodles or steamed buns to choose from; high-class meals offer three meals, with bread, steamed buns, noodles, and rice all available.” Ah Zhang wiggled his Tentacle. “Different grades of meals restore hunger to different degrees. After all, it’s inefficient to earn money in the Game on an empty stomach.”
Actually, the reason for not listing the details is obvious-most people can’t afford high-class meals, so why bother knowing the specifics and making themselves feel worse?
Cheng Miao nodded. In the Survival Inn, earning money is key. Barely passing Instances doesn’t just mean you can’t upgrade your room-it might mean you can’t even guarantee basic survival.
She found a bed, drew the curtain, and lay down. Cheng Miao tossed and turned, unable to sleep, so she sat up, leaning against the headboard, recalling her first Instance.
“Abandoned Courtyard,” as a solo Instance, truly didn’t make things difficult for Players. There was no plot requiring teamwork to clear; as long as you found the right approach, there was more than enough time.
In fact, if Cheng Miao hadn’t explored the Dark Room, that final, hair-raising scene where she nearly lost her life wouldn’t have happened.
But if she didn’t explore the Dark Room, the plot exploration wouldn’t reach 100%, nor would she be able to unlock the side quests. Besides, without finding the Elixir in the Dark Room, her collection rate of Liu Xue’s corpse would be much lower, and the number of times she could use the Jump Rope would be even fewer.
Thinking of the Jump Rope, Cheng Miao rubbed her fingertips and took out the dirty Rope from her backpack. Suddenly, an item usage guide popped up before her eyes, startling her.
After studying this high-tech feature, Cheng Miao put the Rope away, shoved her hands into her pockets, and pondered whether she should bring some food and water next time she entered the Game-just in case it was a long Instance.
Her hand in her pocket suddenly touched something-hard, thin, with a rather sharp edge.
Cheng Miao was puzzled. Ever since she put the Jump Rope into her backpack and handed in her Check-in Voucher, her pockets should have been empty.
She took it out and her face turned pale. Doctor Xu’s Photo had somehow followed her out of the Instance.
The person in the photo wore a gloomy expression, the reflection on his glasses hiding his eyes. One hand gripped a kitchen knife, and there was an orange spot at his waist-the handle of the fruit knife Cheng Miao had stabbed in.
The villagers and the child Doctor Xu once held in the original photo had vanished. The background was no longer the antique Clinic, but the Concrete Shower Room that had left Cheng Miao with deep psychological scars.
Cheng Miao and Doctor Xu stared at each other through the photo, but their real attention was on the item usage guide that had appeared.
“Item: Doctor Xu’s Photo
Item Use: Unknown
Usage Method: Unknown”
Back then, Cheng Miao had used the photo to scare off Liu Xue, who was blocking the Corridor, and had casually stuffed it into her bag. The task settlement hadn’t mentioned the photo, so Cheng Miao had assumed it was just a prop from the script.
She hadn’t expected it to be an Item-one whose use was still a mystery.
She decided to put it away for now. She’d figure it out eventually, Cheng Miao thought optimistically.
The Bathroom in the Intermediate Dormitory wasn’t much better than the one in Doctor Xu’s Clinic. The crooked shower pipe only ever produced cold water, no matter how long you let it run.
Although the Dormitory wasn’t cold, Cheng Miao had no intention of taking a cold shower.
Dust was dust, dirt was dirt, but if she caught a cold and got dizzy in an Instance, it could be fatal.
There was only one day left before she entered the Instance. Cheng Miao refused to believe there wouldn’t be a room with a hot shower later on.
She could wait a little longer.
After a nap, Cheng Miao groggily glanced at the Clock. It was 3 PM-she’d slept for eight hours.
Not bad. It had cured her insomnia whenever she changed beds.
After registering her meal request, Cheng Miao noticed someone had taken the bed opposite hers.
The bed curtain was drawn open, revealing a Little Girl of about thirteen or fourteen, dressed in a white Western Dress. Judging by her clothes, she was from a wealthy family, delicate and pretty, but her face was expressionless as she played with her hair.
Cheng Miao hadn’t expected such a young child to be chosen, let alone to have cleared the Newcomer Game.
Before she could dwell on it, two cockroaches and a meal cart arrived. It was quite comical-she couldn’t tell if the bugs were pushing the cart or the cart was dragging the bugs along.
Cheng Miao took her rice, which was topped with a generous portion of roast meat, even a chicken leg and a boiled egg.
Most people quietly accepted their bread and started chewing. A few held bowls of noodles. Just one Game had taught these Newcomers to swallow their resentment.
Of course, there were exceptions.