Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 41: Dark Cuisine Tasting Expert

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Dark Cuisine Tasting Expert

Mr. Mingyuan was indeed talented at tempting fate; his back was covered in flags, and several swords hung precariously above his head as he swaggered into the sinister den.

But from another perspective, there was an inexplicable sense of security when one stayed close to Mr. Mingyuan.

Jiuyue felt a whirlwind of emotions following behind him.

She knew that Duan Mingyuan was not the type to bluster and boast without basis. His words earlier were probably meant to give the two newcomers confidence, to save them from feeling too much pressure.

What a considerate person!

The decay inside the hotel intensified, and a faint musty smell wafted through the air. There was only one staff member, a receptionist with a gloomy complexion and heavy dark circles under her eyes, dozing off behind the counter, indifferent to the guests.

The safety of the stairs was doubtful; a creaking noise could be heard as soon as they stepped on them.

Even before reaching their rooms, Duan Mingyuan could tell that this place had all the hallmarks of a lousy hotel.

Surprisingly, the corridor was not deserted. A group of excited young people could be heard energetically discussing the haunted tales of the Congyun Hotel, and one of the youths was speaking about a red liquid that flowed from the taps.

Such were the most common horror elements, present in any place rumored to be haunted.

Duan Mingyuan felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

The thought of simply wanting to wash his hands, and suddenly encountering the red liquid which might also be quite difficult to clean off instantly, made his blood pressure soar.

Fortunately, the condition of the guest rooms was passable; at least the bedding and pillows were neatly arranged, even though the facilities appeared a bit dated. Duan Mingyuan figured this was probably part of the hotel’s business strategy. When your expectations for a hotel have already hit rock bottom, a room that’s barely acceptable feels like a blessing.

The sinister operator of this hotel must understand the concept of contrast very well.

Jiuyue, on the other hand, was highly adaptable. After settling in with her luggage, she dived onto the bed, stretching her limbs and holding her stretch for a good ten seconds.

"By the way, Mr. Mingyuan, I heard the food here at the hotel is quite special."

"Didn’t you just eat before we left? Are you hungry again so soon?"

Duan Mingyuan frowned.

The food at Congyun Hotel was indeed special, excessively so.

Guests had found fingers and eyeballs in their food, while others who ate normally ended up passing razor blades in the toilet later on, resulting in severe bleeding.

"Not hungry, just craving," Jiuyue honestly reported. "I feel like it would be regrettable not to try the hotel’s signature dishes now that we’re here, as Mr. Da Jiang will reimburse us."

After all, this could very well be the last meal provided by the cursed hotel’s operator before Mr. Mingyuan drove them out, with no more chance to taste the genuine cursed cuisine.

"Then you order," Duan Mingyuan said as he sat down on the old-fashioned chair, flipping through the information Da Jiang had given him.

After the members went missing, Da Jiang didn’t investigate further, not only due to the staffing shortage in Yunlong City but also because the missing members were on private business.

The disappearance of the young couple was real, and the person who commissioned the investigation was the missing boy’s father.

The hotel actively cooperated with the police investigation at the time, claiming that the couple left after settling the bill. There was a detailed registration in the lobby, and the police later conducted a thorough investigation throughout the hotel but failed to uncover any clues, eventually coming to the rational conclusion that the couple had eloped.

However, the incident drew a lot of attention, and thus a famous urban legend was born. In the tale, the couple discovered stairs leading to a non-existent fifth floor while getting up at night. Driven by curiosity, they climbed up and vanished forever on the fifth floor.

As for what was on the fifth floor, opinions were varied. Some said that it was the source of all the hotel’s haunted stories.

The missing boy’s father didn’t give up after the disappearance of the organization members, and he stayed at the Congyun Hotel many times, but never found anything, until several years later when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness and died in the hospital, gloomy and joyless. After that, no one investigated the matter again.

Duan Mingyuan soon discovered that these urban legends, although seemingly independent, had many details that were interconnected. All the relevant parts were very consistent, as if they were "settings" written by the same person.

He created a new document in his memo pad and entered all the important details:

The stairs to the fifth floor occasionally appear at midnight.

The ghostly image in the mirror with blood streaming from its eyes intentionally herds guests toward the stairs.

Most people who witnessed the ghostly image experienced bizarre incidents on the day they stayed at the hotel.

"Bizarre incidents" refer to finding foreign objects in the food provided by the hotel, or having one’s bath water stained red with blood.

The portraits in the hallway are said to be of the hotel’s founders. Don’t look at them for too long, or the people in the paintings will come to life.

For a moment, Duan Mingyuan felt like he was back in his high school days when he would piece together the location of malevolent spirits through true and false information found online.

Back then, he had also been aware of the rumors about Congyun Hotel but was ultimately deterred by the prohibitively expensive accommodation fees.

High school students don’t have money.

At that time, he could only freeload on some "cost-effective" malevolent spirits.

Evil spirits that required payment to see always managed to keep him out.

"Mr. Mingyuan, open your mouth."

After who knows how long, Jiuyue suddenly leaned in with a mischievous look, and as he looked up, a firm object pressed against his lips.

A finger, still stained with "fresh blood," looking as if it were fresh.

"I found this in the fries, there was only one, so I specifically saved it for you to eat."

As she spoke, Jiuyue had the expression of "I’m giving you the best thing."

But in reality, her behavior was more akin to shoving unwanted vegetables into her deskmate’s lunchbox during middle school.

The finger was made of Maple Sugar, and the "fresh blood" was ketchup. Duan Mingyuan had never experienced such a combination before. He savored it carefully in his mouth, and it actually had a certain appeal.

Now it was Jiuyue’s turn to be unsettled. She stared at him with wide eyes, surprised, "You’re really eating it?"

Although the severed finger was an edible prop, the taste was indeed very odd. She had only tasted a little bit, and her eyebrows were painfully furrowed.

"The taste is actually quite okay."

Duan Mingyuan never wasted food; he held the severed finger in his mouth like a lollipop. After the ketchup on the end was gone, the taste of the finger became purely Maple Sugar.

Jiuyue tugged several times with force but couldn’t pull the severed finger out of Duan Mingyuan’s mouth as he focused on writing in his memo pad.

She suddenly remembered something.

The items Mr. Mingyuan bought most often in the bakery were curry fried noodles bread and chili ring tomato cheese.

She could understand the former, but the latter truly challenged the average person’s understanding.

"Mr. Mingyuan, you..."

Her eyes widened, "You actually really like eating bizarre cuisine, don’t you?"