A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 420 Vanilla Hotel

A thin shadow crept into her trouser leg, and Feng Yushu slowly opened her eyes, seeing the boy's well-defined profile.

Ning Zhe sat next to Feng Yushu, holding a calligraphy brush that looked like a person falling upside down. The yellowish brush handle resembled the skin of a dead person. Ning Zhe carefully examined every line on it. The small figure's face was full of resentment, as if it were secretly cursing him.

"Awake?" Ning Zhe raised his eyebrows to look at Feng Yushu beside him, and casually stuffed the pen into the inside pocket of his coat.

"Mmm." Feng Yushu nodded, leaning softly against Ning Zhe's chest as if she had no bones.

On the seat diagonally opposite in the carriage, Miao Miaomiao sat alone, her eyes red from crying, holding the video camera that once belonged to Ding Wei, lost in thought.

"Poor little girl," Feng Yushu murmured with some emotion, "The person she loved is gone forever."

Changing the subject, Feng Yushu leaned on Ning Zhe's shoulder and said gently, "But the person I love is right beside me. I'm so lucky."

"She is quite lucky." Ning Zhe didn't care about the aunt's heartfelt declaration of love. Her will had long been enslaved by [Jueyuan], so whether she loved or not, it didn't matter.

Ning Zhe was very perceptive. He had known for a long time that Feng Yushu's feelings for him were a little strange, but perhaps due to her responsibilities as a wife and mother, or perhaps due to the constraints of traditional morality, she had been suppressing what she thought were her secret feelings and dared not reveal them too much.

But ever since Ning Zhe restored her past memories using the Tai Sui simulated by Tai Yi and learned about Bai Zhi's true background, the restraint that had been binding Feng Yushu seemed to have disappeared. She became more open, bolder, and more willing to express her true feelings to him.

After losing her daughter, who was her pillar of support, Feng Yushu was fortunate to find another pillar of support to keep her going.

From this perspective, she is indeed a very lucky woman, both lucky and unlucky.

"...Do you want to use this pen?" Feng Yushu leaned against Ning Zhe's chest and asked softly, her gentle tone like that of a lazy cat.

"I dare not use it." Ning Zhe shook his head and said, "This pen is too dangerous. It can mimic human behavior patterns to a certain extent. I dare not carry this thing with me. I don't know when it will stab me in the back."

Feng Yushu nodded; she thought so too: "So, what do you plan to do with it?"

“…Let’s lock him inside the mirror,” Ning Zhe sighed.

Because Miao Miaomiao was in the same carriage, Ning Zhe didn't explain himself too clearly, but Feng Yushu understood.

He planned to lose the pen to Plumeria, so that she would imprison it in the infinitely layered mirror world of [Xi Zhao].

"As for [Rong Kong]... let's keep it for now, it should be useful later."

Ning Zhe thought to himself, "However, high-intensity use will inevitably accelerate the manifestation of the defects and side effects of [Rong Kong], and then I will have no choice but to lose it to Plumeria again."

I wonder if switching hosts like this will reset Rongkong's side effects... or will it exacerbate its flaws?
Shaking his head to clear his mind of the jumbled thoughts, Ning Zhe gently put his arm around Feng Yushu's warm and soft shoulders, feeling the silky smooth texture of velvet in his palm.

Miao Miaomiao stroked the camera in her hand, looking at the two people huddled together opposite her, and two lines of tears involuntarily fell down her cheeks again. The train moved silently, and the Time Worm continued to wriggle and crawl through the cracks of the world.

According to Ning Zhe's biological clock, about 20 minutes had passed. The train window, covered in blood-red writing, slowly lost its blackness, and sunlight streamed in. The train stopped again.

The carriage door slowly opened, and the passengers inside remained unmoved. Ning Zhe got up and walked out of the door. What came into view was a towering building of about 30 stories high, located next to a busy intersection.

Feng Yushu followed Ning Zhe out of the carriage and looked around. The surrounding shopping malls, houses and other buildings all seemed unreal and unnatural, separated from them by a layer of estrangement, like looking at flowers through fog, or trying to catch the moon's reflection in water, and could not be seen clearly no matter how hard they tried.

In the hazy, dreamlike city, only this building is clear—visible, tangible, and you can walk right inside.

"It seems the strange events at this stop happened in this building." Ning Zhe glanced back and didn't see Miao Miaomiao come out of the carriage, but he didn't care.

Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu walked together to the main entrance on the first floor of the building. As soon as they entered, they could feel the cool air from the air conditioner blowing on them. There were two young female receptionists in pink uniforms at the front desk.

Upon reaching the front desk, the waitress, noticing Feng Yushu's simple yet elegant attire, gave a professional smile: "Welcome! Are you looking to book a room? We have VIP rooms available..."

Ning Zhe glanced sideways at the sign on the wall next to him: [Vanilla Hotel].

“That name sounds familiar…” Ning Zhe raised an eyebrow and looked at the smiling waitress: “How long is the longest a typical stay here?”

“One week, sir,” the waitress said with a smile. “If you require a longer stay, you can try booking our long-stay room service; there will be a discount.”

"Then one week." Ning Zhe took out Yu Ziqian's ID card from his pocket and handed it over. The receptionist didn't look at it closely and quickly checked him in.

Ning Zhe, holding the room key, walked into the elevator with Feng Yushu. They had booked a VIP suite on the 27th floor, one suite per floor. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, they could see the lush green park and artificial lake below, as well as the shimmering river in the distance.

Feng Yushu glanced at the floor buttons on the elevator. Only the buttons for floors 20 and above were lit up. This was a dedicated elevator for VIP suites, separate from those for ordinary residents. Of course, in case of emergencies such as a fire, this VIP elevator could also be used on ordinary floors.

The elevator quickly stopped on the 27th floor. The two got out of the elevator, and Ning Zhe used his room card to open the door and enter the VIP room on the 27th floor.

It's a very ordinary apartment-style flat with a spacious layout and soft furnishings, giving people a warm and cozy feeling like home.

"So far, there's nothing strange about this Vanilla Hotel." Ning Zhe walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, drew back the curtains, and looked at the misty scenery outside, his expression calm as still water: "What do you think?"

“I didn’t see anything either…” Feng Yushu shook her head, took off her coat and put it on the cream-white sofa, and said, “Is something strange really happening here?”

“Wherever the train stops, there’s bound to be a ghost.” Ning Zhe shook his head and said, “That’s the rule.”

The rules are absolute, with absolutely no room for ambiguity.

(End of this chapter)