Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After breakfast, Chen Nuo returned to his room. The first faint light of morning had appeared, and the rain had eased somewhat. A vast blue sea stretched before him, yet the view did nothing to lift his spirits.

He could not stop thinking about what the tarot reader had said.

We are in a situation of extreme danger.

But where, exactly, was that danger hiding?

From the moment they entered the hotel, every phone in the group had lost both cellular and data service.

That was clearly suspicious.

What if the hotel had installed a signal jammer to deliberately cut the tourists off from the outside world?

Then again, the hotel’s front doors were open. Anyone could leave whenever they wanted. If there really was a jammer, all he had to do was step outside and test his phone.

At the thought, Chen Nuo sat up on the bed.

Tina had asked them to show team spirit and not go out alone, but surely there was no harm in taking a walk around the hotel.

Chen Nuo left his room and rode the elevator down to the lobby. Along the way, he passed several hotel employees, all of whom greeted him politely.

The service at this luxury hotel was impeccable. No matter how he looked at it, the place did not seem to harbor any danger.

As Chen Nuo headed toward the front doors, a woman behind the reception desk called out to him. “Excuse me, sir. Are you going out?”

His heart jolted. Was she going to stop him? If so, that would make the situation even more suspicious.

“Yes. I’d like to take a walk. Is that all right?”

“Of course. It’s still raining outside, though. If you do go out, we have umbrellas at reception. I suggest you take one.”

As she spoke, the receptionist drew a black umbrella from beneath the desk and offered it to Chen Nuo with a smile.

So she had only wanted to give him an umbrella…

Chen Nuo accepted it and thanked her.

Just then, the mother from the family of three approached him. “Young man, could you please take a few pictures for us?”

Only then did Chen Nuo notice that the family had been standing nearby. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. “Sure.”

“Thank you. Could we start by the hotel entrance? We’d like to take quite a few, if you don’t mind. This is the first time our family has ever stayed in such an upscale hotel, and we’d like some pictures together to remember it by.” The mother sounded a little embarrassed.

Chen Nuo understood completely. This was his first time in such a luxurious hotel too.

It would be awkward to take photos while holding the umbrella, so he returned it to the receptionist. Then he took the phone the mother handed him and began photographing the family.

They posed by the hotel entrance, in the middle of the lobby, in the cafe, beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and in several other spots. Chen Nuo patiently took more than a dozen pictures for them.

The couple smiled in every photo, but their son, the high school student, remained expressionless. Whenever his parents put an arm around his shoulders or held his wrist for a picture, he looked deeply reluctant.

At last, he said impatiently, “Mom, isn’t that enough? You’re taking up way too much of his time.”

“You’re right… I’m so sorry we made you take so many. Thank you. What’s your name?” the mother asked.

“Chen Nuo. It’s no problem. We’re all in the same tour group.” He handed her phone back.

The couple thanked him again and walked away with their son. The boy muttered something about how embarrassing they were, while his parents looked resigned. Chen Nuo watched them go with an amused smile. He had been the same way in high school. Teenagers who thought they were already adults seemed to go through a phase of being embarrassed by their parents, convinced they were old-fashioned and out of touch. Only after truly growing up did they learn to cherish their families.

Chen Nuo stood lost in thought for a while, then looked through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The rain had grown heavier again. He sighed, suddenly no longer interested in going out.

After all, hadn’t he come here to die?
All his unease was based on speculation. And even if he did encounter some real danger, why should he care?

If it killed him, that would be exactly what he wanted. It would even save him the trouble of figuring out how to take his own life.

So to hell with it. His life had already come to this. What was the point of trying so hard?

Chen Nuo gave a bitter smile and decided to stop thinking about it. Quite a few people were sitting in the lobby lounge, drinking coffee as they admired the ocean in the rain. Chen Nuo was something of a loner and had no desire to join the crowd. He only wanted to find somewhere quiet and be alone for a while.

The hotel had a cinema. Why not watch a movie?

An employee told him that the screening room was on the right side of the first-floor lobby. Chen Nuo found it and went inside. The room was dark, and a foreign film was already playing.

He chose a seat at random and discovered that he was the only person in the entire theater. After watching for a few minutes, he realized the movie was in English and had no Chinese subtitles.

Chen Nuo’s English was mediocre, nowhere near good enough to follow a movie without subtitles, especially when he had started halfway through.

On the screen, a group of foreigners were excitedly betting on something. Chen Nuo guessed it was a gambling movie, perhaps something like From Vegas to Macau or 21.

It did not matter that he could not understand it. He had only come here for somewhere peaceful to sit.

Wait.

All at once, Chen Nuo realized something deeply strange. His eyes widened.

He began replaying the details of the pictures he had taken for the family of three.

They had posed in different parts of the lobby, and while photographing them, he had walked through nearly the entire space.

Yet in all that time, he had not seen a single guest who was not part of their tour group.

Chen Nuo slowly sat straighter and thought back over everything that had happened since they entered the hotel.

The lobby, the buffet, the elevators, the corridors… That was right. He had not seen any other guests since arriving. Every person he had encountered inside the hotel belonged to their group.

That was obviously abnormal. A hotel of this size had to contain at least a hundred rooms, and it was peak tourist season. Under normal circumstances, tourists should have been coming and going everywhere. How could such an enormous hotel have only twenty-odd guests?

Fear crawled slowly up Chen Nuo’s spine like a line of ants. He realized that wanting to die was one thing. Being trapped in some unknown terror was another.

The first would be a release. The second would be torture.

He had planned to enjoy the final seven days of his life before he died. He could not allow all seven to become an ordeal.

No. He still had to leave the hotel and tell the police about all the things that did not add up.

Whether the police in Country T were reliable remained to be seen, but he did not appear to have another choice.

What, exactly, was he supposed to tell them?

“Officer, the food and accommodations provided by my tour are too good, and I find that suspicious.”

Was that what he should say?

Or perhaps, “This ultra-luxurious five-star hotel has no guests except our tour group. That can’t be normal.”

What if it was simply too early and all the other guests were still asleep in their rooms?

As Chen Nuo wavered, he suddenly heard a series of bloodcurdling screams. They did not come from one person, but many.

He looked at the movie screen. After several seconds, he was certain the sounds were not part of the film. They had to be coming from the real world.

Something had happened outside.

The thought struck him like lightning, making his entire body spasm.

Chen Nuo sprang from his seat and raced toward the exit.