Chapter 636: Not a Crime Worth Death
In the vast, empty lobby, the only sounds were the little girl’s laughter and the pecking of the toy chicks. Aside from that—nothing. Not a single extra sound.
High above, the crystal chandeliers still shone brightly, and the central air-conditioning continued running 24 hours a day.
But Jing Xuan and the others felt cold from head to toe. Goosebumps covered their bodies.
“Ah!”
Chef Qi suddenly screamed. The dancers turned, pale-faced, and saw him trembling as he pointed toward where the little girl had walked—toward the tea lounge on the first floor. The tea lounge was fully decorated in traditional Chinese style. Inside one of the red carved partitions stood a girl with long hair and bangs covering her eyebrows.
She looked young, dressed in a black wool dress with long sleeves, a white-collared shirt underneath, and a deathly pale face with no hint of blood. That alone would have been creepy—but what made it worse was her expressionless, lifeless stare. She looked exactly like a ghost!
Her vacant, soulless eyes slowly turned toward them as she stood inside the ancient-style tea room.
The sight made Jing Xuan and the others scream out loud.
The “little ghost girl” frowned, lowered her head, and looked at An Ran, who was sitting on a red wooden meditation chair.
In a soft voice, she said: “These people are too noisy.”
“A little,” An Ran replied. Leaning against the armrest, she raised her head and said to Little Mint, “But it’s not a crime worth death.”
She smiled, stood up, and walked out of the antique tea room. She looked over each of the terrified faces in front of her. Not seeing Chen Chaofa among them, she waved her hand and led Little Mint away to chase after Doll.
Doll pushed her walker, her little feet toddling along. She had already gone from one end of the lobby to the other. The spacious lobby was wonderful—much more fun than the ice. Doll was having a great time.
“Wh… who are they?”
Jing Xuan and the others huddled together, staring at the backs of An Ran and Little Mint. Their scalps tingled, and it felt as if they had just narrowly escaped death. Cold sweat drenched their bodies.
The other dancers beside her felt the same. The veins on their foreheads pulsed as they clung to each other. Looking at the massive hotel lobby and these eerie individuals… they wanted nothing more than to turn around and run.
They and Chef Qi waited for a long time. When nothing even stranger happened, they finally gathered some courage. And when a few more people came down from the elevator, they joined together and headed toward the kitchen.
On the way, Jing Xuan muttered, “Didn’t they say the Hexi people took over the Grand Fortune Hotel? Why haven’t we seen a single thug?”
“I heard they all went to the buildings across the street,” someone said to her. “So from now on, this Grand Fortune Hotel will be ours!”
Another person laughed, holding a chicken leg retrieved from the frozen meat storage. They lit a fire to fry it. Smiles lit up everyone’s faces—just like New Year. They casually passed food around, feeling that a life of freedom was finally within reach.
Jing Xuan and her group didn’t speak. After being frightened by Little Mint and Doll, they couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps the situation in the Grand Fortune Hotel… was not as joyful as everyone assumed.
These people had been comfortable for too long. They didn’t even care about the new green vines growing in the corridors. They just went on being happy, as if nothing in this place could possibly go wrong.