Volume One, Chapter Thirteen: The Calamity Inn — A Prayer for Blessing

Lin Xi hastily pulled Li Yu away from Room 404, leaving the key in the door to create the illusion that the owner had left in such a rush they’d forgotten the key in the lock. Instinctively, he wiped the fingerprints off the key with his sleeve.

Li Yu, tugged along by Lin Xi, noticed this almost automatic gesture and muttered quietly, “Really like a janitor, so professional.”

Lin Xi ignored Li Yu’s murmured question, pocketing the lighter and paper before running toward the stairwell. Passing the elevator, he noticed it was still on the sixth floor and let out a slight breath of relief.

The two entered the staircase and, relying solely on their endurance, hurried up toward the sixth floor. Fortunately, no strange occurrences transpired, nor did anyone block their path. They smoothly reached the sixth floor.

Qian Baobao and Zheng Daqian were anxiously pressing the elevator button repeatedly.

“How many times?” Lin Xi asked suddenly as he and Li Yu approached the previously damaged door.

“W-what times? Ah, ah, three times—twice flickering on the third floor, once on the fourth,” Qian Baobao responded instinctively to Lin Xi’s sudden inquiry, then quickly understood and clarified his answer.

Lin Xi nodded slightly and quickly reached the door. The shattered fragments scattered across the floor had disappeared, leaving only the severely warped door to bear silent witness to the chaos that had unfolded.

Inside the room, Lin Xi retrieved a statue wrapped in red cloth from his arms.

“I can’t tell what material this statue is made of. When the door was broken down earlier, I clearly felt it was hit too, but it didn’t shatter as I imagined. That’s strange,” Lin Xi said, adjusting the statue’s position.

“You mentioned earlier you had questions about the statue and would explain once it was safe. Can you tell us now?” Qian Baobao looked at Lin Xi with curiosity.

“Now... is it safe?” Lin Xi replied without turning around.

Qian Baobao shook her head helplessly. Indeed, with the fragments gone, no one could guarantee the monsters wouldn’t return. At least yesterday the door had been intact; today, it was wide open.

“Little brother, don’t you think we should change rooms? The door wide open makes me uneasy,” Zheng Daqian said, staring toward the door with a chill crawling up his spine.

“Sigh, I want to too, but without the key, opening the door will kill us. That’s what Sun Kai risked his life to find out on the first day,” Lin Xi sighed, continuing to fiddle with the statue.

The three inside the room fell into silence after hearing Lin Xi’s response.

“Yu Jie, incense. Daqian Ge, the incense burner,” Lin Xi said after arranging the statue.

Qian Baobao looked at the statue with suspicion. The figure inside the red cloth seemed eerily strange, unlike any deity she knew. Faint, almost imperceptible tentacles seemed to rise from it.

“Aren’t you going to remove the red cloth?” Qian Baobao asked.

Lin Xi accepted three sticks of incense handed by Li Yu and took the incense burner from Zheng Daqian, placing it before the statue. He quickly assembled and lit the incense with the lighter from his pocket.

“I dare not. Do you think this statue looks like one we can casually look at or worship? Let’s keep it as is,” he said.

Lin Xi lit the three sticks, bowed once with one hand, then placed them in the incense burner.

“Who taught you to light incense like that?” Qian Baobao exclaimed, holding her forehead.

“What’s wrong? I always do it like this,” Lin Xi responded, puzzled.

“That’s completely wrong. That’s nowhere near reverence,” Qian Baobao said, speechless.

“Evil thoughts burn incense in vain; if the heart is upright, whether I bow or not makes no difference,” a benevolent voice emerged from the statue. The sound entered their minds, stirring an urge in the four to lift the red cloth and prostrate themselves.

Lin Xi gritted his teeth, stopping Zheng Daqian, who was about to approach the statue. His eyes reddened as he stared at the statue, took a sip of the wine on the floor, and then forced another sip into Zheng Daqian’s mouth. The sudden coolness surged into their brains, sobering Zheng Daqian, who stepped back with lingering fear.

Lin Xi instructed the now clear-headed Zheng Daqian to open the wine for Qian Baobao and Li Yu and force it down their throats. Zheng Daqian complied and busied himself immediately. Lin Xi stepped quickly to the statue, took out a piece of white paper, and lit it with the lighter before the statue.

The paper soon burned to ashes, emitting a foul odor that made Zheng Daqian and the others cover their noses tightly. Lin Xi held his breath to block out the smell but still frowned in discomfort.

The ashes did not fall but slowly floated upward, gathering above the statue into a twisted cluster of ancient, eerie characters. The characters writhed and transformed into a somewhat cryptic message:

{Door - present. Key - master’s abode - seek. Skin - not discard, worship - pray for - peace. No - triple bow. One bow - suffices.}

The ashes quickly dissipated, and the writing vanished without a trace. Lin Xi pondered briefly, then extended his hand and bowed again to the statue.

A low whispering chant in an ancient tongue emerged from the statue. Four bottles of wine on the floor rose into the air, flying toward the four figures slowly appearing at the doorway.

The figures were instantly shattered by the flying bottles, the spilled wine restoring the warped door to its original form. A breeze blew from the statue, forcefully closing the door.

Shortly after the door shut, two striking figures appeared outside.

A cold, ethereal woman without feet floated alongside a woman with pitch-black high heels. They paused briefly, then turned and headed to the elevator.

The four inside the room watched the sealed door with pounding hearts. Why had those four monsters appeared silently? Had they grown stronger again?

Lin Xi stowed the statue and the burnt incense burner, then sat quietly on the bed, contemplating their next move.

Judging from the four figures outside, they had grown more powerful with each passing day. Tomorrow would likely be their last chance to escape. Time within this inn flowed differently than outside; it passed extraordinarily fast, leaving them little time to test or rest, day or night.

All four were now at their wit's end. They lay silently on the bed, none speaking or truly sleeping, well aware that falling asleep might mean never waking again.

Lin Xi racked his brains, searching desperately for a way to survive and escape. The hint on the paper was already clear...