Chapter 1 Welcome

"Welcome~ Everyone, come in quickly. The rain outside will be heavy for a while longer~"

Lu Xiaoyao and her group finally saw a small, two-story hotel at the end of the road. They knocked softly, and a familiar and beautiful woman opened the door, welcoming them inside.

Realizing that the person in front of them was just an NPC with the same face as their "classmate," a hint of understanding flashed in their eyes. They followed Mingmei into the hotel where their story was about to officially begin.

Ah, so General Mei Qiu of the game company must be an investor?

I'm so silly, I thought I could really "sell my face"!

The people present had met at a ball a few days ago. They had long overturned Mingmei's previous explanation and made their own guess—she must have a connection with the game company, so they designed an NPC with a face exactly like General Mei Qiu's sister.

If Mingmei knew, she would give them a thumbs up.

[Ooooh! Merchant miss! Oh my god!]

[Ah, with this merchant miss, I can rest assured and wait for my daughter to lie down and be carried! Just as long as she listens and buys bento boxes.]

[Speaking of which, if she's a merchant miss, does that mean there are other NPCs in the store? Like...]

[Is this a CP I can look forward to?]

[Well-behaved.jpg Waiting for the big guys to appear.]

·

Mingmei's sudden appearance made Lu Xiaoyao's live stream explode!

Some people were already guessing if the villain boss this time was a familiar face!

"Hello, are you the owner of the hotel?"

Hu Yue asked first.

"Yes, that's right. My dear and I have been running this hotel here for many years~"

Mingmei's tone was gentle, but her expression wasn't very rich. She turned her head, her gaze already on Mu Chen, who had just come out of the kitchen door behind the bar.

"Welcome, everyone. I was busy in the kitchen just now, sorry for the delay~ Are you here for a stay?"

Mu Chen's appearance didn't cause much of a stir in the hearts of the players, almost half of whom were CP fans.

Ha! As expected! The game planners are just huge fans of the two of them, right?

·

Julian looked at the two children from high-ranking families on Hua Lan Star whom he had met at an Empire banquet a few days ago, and he thought of what Joan had said.

Besides the inherent spirit and character of their race, which made them worthy of attention, there was another point about Hua Lan Star that the Empire and Federation valued: Hua Lan Star was the first to accept the existence of silicon-based life forms such as artificial intelligence.

Therefore, no one knew how much technological assistance the Main Brain One gave to Hua Lan Star.

This game was jointly developed by the Main Brain and the higher-ups from Hua Lan Star. It wasn't hard to imagine them creating an NPC with the face of their favorite junior.

If Mingmei heard this, and knew that Julian had come up with all the reasons for her and Mu Chen's arrival and actions through his own imagination, she would definitely shout, "Brother, you're amazing!"

"Yes, seven of us are here to stay. I don't know how many rooms you have here, and what kind of rooms they are?"

Mandison stepped forward and asked, while discreetly surveying the room. It seemed like the hotel was going for a retro style.

Whether it was the style of the posters on the wall or the retro furniture, even the bar only had a radio and a rotary phone.

Regardless of whether the phone could even make calls, the style here was at least forty or fifty years behind their actual time in the game.

"Our hotel isn't big. The first floor is mainly a restaurant where guests can eat and drink. To your left are the men's and women's bathhouses and the laundry room. Behind the bar is the kitchen. To the right is my partner and my room. Upstairs, there are two king rooms, two standard rooms, and four single rooms."

After Mingmei finished speaking, she saw the players lost in thought. After all, there were seven of them, and it seemed like there were enough rooms.

However, Julian spoke again, "There are seven of us in total, four women and three men. Since we're guessing what will happen next..."

He glanced at Mingmei and paused for a moment, then continued, "It's best if everyone sleeps in pairs, since we were just caught in the rain. If someone gets sick, at least there will be someone to take care of them. Even if there's one person left over, it shouldn't be a problem for three people to sleep in a room for one night."

"Mm."

The players agreed with this. Everyone tacitly didn't mention Julian's pause earlier.

Soon, Mingmei received their request for two standard rooms and one king room.

In addition, they hoped that Mingmei could provide them with two extra quilts.

Mingmei didn't refuse, and said she wouldn't charge for the extra quilts. She handed the players the keys with the corresponding room numbers, saying that her partner would bring the quilts up later.

From beginning to end, Mingmei didn't say anything hinting at selling bento boxes.

This made Wang Wenfei, who had been staring at Mingmei since they came in, suspicious.

The NPC in this round was a little strange.

Wang Wenfei thought, as everyone took their keys, she and Hu Yue were in one room, Lu Xiaoyao and Leng Youyou were in another, and the other three male players were in one room.

The three male players didn't go upstairs first. Instead, they thanked Mingmei and said that they would bring the quilts upstairs themselves, so they wouldn't trouble Mu Chen to deliver them.

Mingmei knew that they were guarding against her, or rather, guarding against Mu Chen.

Otherwise, why would they subconsciously avoid her when distributing the room keys?

·

Lu Xiaoyao and Leng Youyou didn't seem to care at all. They didn't rush to go upstairs either. Instead, they asked Mingmei if the public bathroom on the first floor was available for showers.

"I'm really sorry, because I didn't know there would be so many guests coming, there isn't enough hot water prepared. You might have to wait a little while. My partner has already gone to start the fire to prepare hot water."

"Ah? Does the hot water in the shower facilities here have to be heated manually?"

Leng Youyou acted surprised, covering her mouth and gasping softly. Her eyes wanted to look past Mingmei and see what was happening in the kitchen behind her.

"Don't tell me—is there a big pot stove in the kitchen?"

Noticing that Leng Youyou's probing gaze was trying to peek into the kitchen behind her, Mingmei moved to the side, a playful smile in her eyes as she looked directly at Leng Youyou, interrupting her probing gaze.

"It's more troublesome to get those facilities up here on the mountaintop, and our hotel focuses on the nostalgic style~ It's not strange that the bathhouse is old, is it?"

Then, Mingmei explained some of the decorations in the room as if nothing had happened.

"Is that so? It looks quite nice, right, Youyou?"

Lu Xiaoyao suddenly interjected, breaking the seemingly harmonious but subtly tense atmosphere between the two of them.

Lu Xiaoyao smiled foolishly at the two of them, and then began to change the subject.

·

Among the seven, Hu Yue and Wang Wenfei went upstairs first. However, Hu Yue was walking very slowly. Wang Wenfei followed slowly behind Hu Yue, watching her look around.

But rather than saying she was looking around, Wang Wenfei thought she was observing some details.

"What are you looking at?"

Wang Wenfei's soft question came from behind her. Hu Yue didn't turn her head, but stared at the various posters pasted on the wall in front of her and said, "These posters look very old. Just like the owner said, their shop is probably a nostalgic hotel."

Wang Wenfei listened as if she understood. Hu Yue had noticed what everyone had discovered earlier, and she was clearly staring at the posters carefully just now. How did she have the mind to eavesdrop on the people downstairs?

She's really amazing~

Wang Wenfei sighed inwardly, and then saw Hu Yue reach out and touch the poster on the wall…