It could also be that Shiller arrived at the scheduled time, but Peter entered an earlier time.
To determine who arrived earlier, all clues must be considered. Shiller saw a figure in the window of the hotel across from his, and now the figure has disappeared; this could be the situation inside the hotel where Peter is at this time.
This means that if Shiller's time was earlier, then he saw the previous guest at Peter's hotel. If Shiller's time was later, then he saw the current guest, and Peter had already left.
The investigation would be simple; one only needs to go downstairs and check the guest registry, which records when someone checks in and out. Just determining who checked in earlier will suffice.
But there's still the problem. It's not yet clear why the hotel became like this, so recklessly going out is very foolish. Currently, Sophop and Peter don't have any superpowers, and wandering around a clearly problematic hotel would definitely lead to big trouble.
Although neither of them fears death, time is crucial. It's clear that Little Bruce has a problem, and if they die and come back, the situation will definitely worsen.
As Shiller was pondering, he suddenly remembered his toilet was broken. Peter also mentioned there was water around the toilet when he went to the bathroom, so his toilet might also be broken.
Shiller asked Peter to check the situation with the toilet. Peter pressed the flush button, and, as expected, he got sprayed completely.
That means both their timelines have a broken toilet. But the manager told him that a repairman would come around 10 a.m. tomorrow, so after 10 a.m. the toilet should be fixed. If Peter's time was after his own, he wouldn't encounter a broken toilet.
So, was Peter's time before his own?
Did Peter enter the wrong time?
No, it's still unclear, Shiller thought. The manager only said the repairman would come, but what if he doesn't come? What if, due to heavy rain or some other reason, the repairman never comes?
If so, the toilet could remain broken, possibly until next year, so it would be impossible to determine who was earlier or later.
It seems that the figure in the hotel opposite him is key. Should he go and take another look?
Shiller picked up his phone again and went to the window, focusing on the phone while glancing outside with the corner of his eye.
The hotel appeared again, but there was still no one in the window; it might be the worst-case scenario, meaning this person had already checked out and the room might not be booked for a long time afterward.
It seemed necessary to take the risk and explore, Shiller thought. There were too few clues in the room to determine what was happening, and since he could check in smoothly, it indicated that the hotel operated according to some rules. As long as he didn't actively break these rules, danger wouldn't come so quickly.
He consoled Peter through the communication device, asking him to stay in the room and not to go out, while he himself got ready to go take a look.
Only he could go explore. Although Peter had a lot of knowledge about mysticism, he really wasn't suited for this kind of work. It would have been fine if he were still Spider-Man, but this Peter had already given his powers to Bruce, making him an ordinary person without spider-sense and thus without any significant advantages over an ordinary person.
On the contrary, because he used to be Spider-Man and had significant strength, he could ignore many minor dangers, which made him more likely to act recklessly than Shiller, who had been an ordinary person for most of his life.
Shiller pushed open the door of his room and carefully observed that the odd-numbered rooms were on his side: 1903 in front of 1905, then 1901. The even-numbered rooms were opposite him, with 1904 facing 1905, then 1902, and finally 1900.
These were the room divisions on the right side of the corridor; Shiller had never seen the left side, so he was not sure if the numbers were larger or smaller, but logically, they should start with 18. However, considering the eerie nature of this hotel, nothing could be certain.
Shiller hadn't fully opened the door when he noticed half a footprint on the carpet in front of room 1904 across from him, or rather, half a footprint that only marked the edge of a shoe, making it impossible to tell the shoe size or judge the body size, but it was evident that the footprint was recent.
Was someone staying in room 1904?
Shiller didn't rashly knock on the door. In such a strange hotel, it's risky to see what's behind any door you open.
But since there was a trace, perhaps Peter could help confirm it. Shiller immediately sent a message to Peter, telling him to keep an eye on the peephole and see if anyone entered or left room 1904.
Peter approached the door and looked through the peephole. Just as he leaned against the door, he heard noises outside—footsteps coming this way.
Peter swallowed hard, feeling a bit frightened. He really wasn't afraid of criminals, but he feared these paranormal and supernatural events. During his readings at Black Sun, he had seen too many files on investigators who had died horribly, many of whom were far more skilled than he. Now an ordinary person, he felt unsure he could surpass his predecessors.
"PhD, I hear something," Peter whispered as softly as he could. His greatest strength was knowing not to bite off more than he could chew. Confused, he quickly sought backup, "It sounds like footsteps, maybe two people."
"Are they heading your way?"
"Yes, they're getting closer. Should I keep watching?"
Shiller hesitated as well. Although the noises sounded like footsteps, what was coming might not be human.
The terror of the past was its inaudibility, its ineffability, its invisibility. Peter's SAN value wasn't very high, but his clairvoyance was quite strong. If he really saw something and fainted, they would lose this lead.
Shiller retraced Peter's experiences in his mind, believing that the rules on Peter's side hadn't been broken yet and the hotel was still operating according to some regularity. This indicated that the danger had not yet arrived, and there might still be some time left.
"Keep an eye on them, Peter," Shiller instructed.
Peter, suppressing his fear, continued to look through the peephole. Fortunately, the figures slowly coming into view were two people: a tall, thin Black man followed by a young man in a black jacket.
The Black man used a key card to open a door, and the young man entered, giving Peter a sigh of relief as it seemed they were just guests checking into the opposite room.
But in the moment the door was about to close, the young man flashed a big smile towards room 1905.