Chapter Ninety-Six: The Night Return Hotel

Hua Feng opened his chat window with Master Zhang and typed, “Senior, greetings. I have been taking on tasks from the quest board lately, and just now I seem to have accidentally triggered an S-rank mission. However, the mission’s contents and objective strike me as highly unusual. I hope Senior can enlighten me. I will send you the mission details right away.”

After sending the mission information, Hua Feng soon received a reply.

“Little friend Hua Feng, I have read everything about your mission. This S-rank mission, which was set up as a hidden quest, has reached its present state entirely because of the guide from Skyward Travel Agency—the fellow whose true form is a flood-dragon spirit. In the past, he was extremely honest. He was fully obedient to the agreements between the Dao Alliance and the Demon Alliance, and had never done anything beyond the duties of a human travel agency guide. That is why we classified him as safe.”

“Then what happened later? Why did he suddenly turn like this and begin drawing off the vital energy of ordinary people, until he ended up in his current state?” Yun Meng could not help asking the same question that had been troubling Hua Feng.

There was a pause on Master Zhang’s side before a new message came through.

“Here is how it was. First, do not rush to ask questions. The real reason lies in his recent, inexplicable abnormal behavior. At present, the people at the travel agency from whom he has siphoned vital energy are merely listless and depressed. Not long after they leave the tour group, they will recover on their own. Therefore, before it caused a major safety incident, we did not urgently send people to restrain him. Besides, compared with sealing Qiongqi’s primordial spirit, a flood-dragon at only Yuan Emperor Level Fifty-Five had to be set aside for the time being.

“In addition, since some ordinary humans also work within the Dao Alliance, and because we did not want unnecessary public panic from any leak of information, we classified his sudden violation—his unauthorized consumption of human vital energy—as a hidden S-rank mission.

“Under our supervision, this should only be his opening move. If no cultivator triggers this mission in the near future, the Dao Alliance will send people to deal with it. Fortunately, matters have now taken a different turn. Your arrival may very well stop him from continuing his unlawful conduct. If necessary, you may freely draw on the Dao Alliance’s resources, and we will give you our full cooperation.”

Master Zhang spoke at length in one breath, finally laying out the whole story in broad outline. He was confident that Hua Feng now had a more complete understanding of the situation.

“All right. Thank you, Senior, for clearing that up. I understand now. Farewell, Senior! I wish you success in the effort to seal Qiongqi. Please also convey my regards to Zhang Sanfeng and Dan Qiusheng, Seniors.” Hua Feng sent his reply and closed the chat window.

“Xiao Meng, what do you think we should do?” Hua Feng took a sip of the water Yun Meng handed him and said slowly.

Yun Meng seemed to have made up her mind long ago. “Isn’t that obvious? If we start something, we should see it through. No matter what he’s doing—recklessly absorbing the vital energy that ordinary people rely on to stay healthy—whether or not we accepted this mission, since we’ve run into it, we have to deal with it! What do you think, Brother Hua Feng? Forget it—let’s just do it!”

“Xiao Meng is right. We’re taking this job for sure. If the information is accurate, then we have to determine the other side’s background and purpose while staying as discreet as possible. A demon at Yuan Emperor level shouldn’t be able to detect our divine-sense probing. As long as we carefully avoid those demons that may be hiding and whose strength exceeds ours, interrupting his siphoning of the travelers’ vital energy should not be a problem.”

“Mhm, let’s get moving then. Maybe we’ll have results tonight.”

Yun Meng was somewhat impatient, just as she was during every mission. She knew speed was of the essence; if they were late, the best chance might truly slip away in an instant.

Hua Feng switched off the lights and pretended to sleep, while his divine sense had already spread outward. In a single burst, it radiated out and slowly enveloped the entire Night Return Hotel.

By now it was nearly ten o’clock, yet guests still came and went without pause. The hotel truly lived up to its name; there were no shortage of people returning late at night. Hua Feng could not help thinking of two lines from a poem: at the thatched gate, one hears the bark of dogs; through wind and snow comes the one who returns by night. Yet that poem’s uniquely evocative mood felt strangely distorted here.

This hotel, packed with most of the tour group from Skyward Travel Agency, was unnaturally quiet. It was as if the moment each guest closed their door, they vanished into thin air. Even the ordinary things people should normally do were absent.

In Hua Feng’s perception, every living being behind each door lay quietly on the bed, motionless.

Everyone looked as though they were sleeping, and on the surface they seemed perfectly normal, yet something still felt wrong. For a moment Hua Feng could not say exactly what it was, just as though the bustle in the lobby itself were fake. Could it be... He had a very bad feeling.

Yun Meng was familiar with every expression on Hua Feng’s face. She knew he must have thought of something.

“Xiao Meng, have you noticed the eyes of every tour group member? They’re like... as if they’ve lost consciousness and are being controlled by someone. And most of the people who entered their rooms and lay down on the beds, the way they slept and moved at rest looks nothing like a human should. They’re like huge pythons coiled up to rest,” Hua Feng said after a moment’s thought.

“You mean most of the people in the travel agency, including the guide, are on the same side. At the very least, they’re a group of serpent-like creatures related to flood-dragons?” Yun Meng was not the sort of girl who feared snakes, but the thought that a seemingly normal group of people were actually humans disguised by snake-demons, sleeping in a hotel like this, was enough to make anyone feel a little chilled.

“Maybe they’re just humans whose minds are being controlled by the guide. Snakes of that low a rank wouldn’t yet be able to transform into human form,” Hua Feng said, recalling the records about the demon clans in the Flame Emperor’s imprint.