The initiation ceremony was scheduled for 7 p.m., by which time all the hotel guests, or rather, members of the Black House, would come to attend.
Prior to that, there were still a few hours to go, and Yaha took Wei Tianyang to familiarize himself with his new home. They trod on the black thick wooden staircase, spiraling upward, arriving at the third floor, finding themselves in a long corridor flickering with candlelight.
Rooms lined both sides of the corridor, the floor covered by a dark green walking carpet, and beside each room door, a silver candlestick holder was fixed.
Kacha had already prepared his room and was waiting ahead. The room door was open; he stood by the door, hands placed in front of his lower abdomen, his face adorned with a benevolent smile.
As he reached the room entrance, Kacha embraced him warmly once again.
Wei Tianyang was not used to Kacha's overly enthusiastic manner, but he didn't blame him; after all, every Medicine Person standing here had been tested by life and death, and their mere survival was a miracle, let alone finding comrades who shared the same afflictions.
However, this sentiment discomforted him, appearing too melodramatic, as if he were very pitiable.
Wei Tianyang didn't need consolation. He needed a solid plan. He wanted to kill Hans and Ruan Yu, and he wanted to burn Tiantai Pharmaceutical to ashes.
Yaha suggested that Wei Tianyang have a little time alone, and only then Kacha reluctantly followed him and left, quietly closing the room door. The surroundings quieted down, allowing Wei Tianyang to finally breathe a sigh of relief, truly feeling relaxed.
The room was quite large, obviously a very luxurious suite before, but now stripped of all lavish decorations, the fireplace serving just as ornamentation, leaving empty wall mounts that had held a large TV.
The toilet in the separate bathroom had been removed, leaving only a black hole in the floor. A red plastic bucket filled with hot water stood in the corner with a gray towel draped over its rim. On the floor rested a milky white bar of soap for bathing.
He paced to the bed and drew open the green curtains to look outside. From here, he could see two other buildings of the hotel and the courtyard below, all room windows curtained.
Looking down into the courtyard, there were no flowers in the flowerbed, only dry black soil on the lawn, though there were still some long benches arranged along the path.
Wei Tianyang saw a middle-aged man wearing a beret and dressed in green camouflage sitting on one of the benches reading a book.
Sensing someone watching him, the man looked up, meeting Wei Tianyang's gaze.
After exchanging glances with the man for a while, he drew the curtain shut.
This hotel was no ordinary place… The guests were not just Yaha and the others. So far, he had only seen Kacha and Starbucks, with no trace of anyone else.
Wei Tianyang turned his attention back to the room, which, he had to admit, Kacha had kept quite neat and clean. The bed was covered with somewhat old bedding, which didn't seem disgusting, and the pillow was encased in a colorful, cozy, and cute pillowcase.
On the wall opposite the bed hung a small round mirror. He walked up to it and looked at his reflection, a crack in the mirror splitting his reflection in two.
On a chair beside the fireplace were piled clothes for him to change into: military green cargo pants, a deep blue long-sleeve T-shirt, a brown short jacket, and black sneakers.
On the nightstand by the bed, a silver tray held a porcelain bowl full of rice, two simple side dishes, and in a dark green mug, steaming hot coffee.
Scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried chives with shredded meat, white rice paired with coffee… truly a strange combination.
Wei Tianyang took a sip of the coffee, his first time drinking coffee. The dark liquid initially tasted quite bitter, but soon after, an indescribable roasted flavor burst in his mouth, lingering pleasantly.
He felt he would like this beverage.
Wei Tianyang was already famished as he quickly devoured the food, but when he was alone, those emotions surged back. As he swallowed, he suddenly choked up, his eyes reddening.
He thought he had completed his transformation, becoming cruel, numb, and solely focused on revenge. But when silence suddenly enveloped him, the illusion of his mother reappeared in his mind, continuously reminding him that he had completely lost his mother, he had no family left, and in the world, he was alone.
That sadness was more overwhelming than bullets and daggers, attacking his heart, making him shiver, his entire body chilling, and tears welled up in his eyes.
After finishing the food, he went to the bathroom, cleaned himself up, and changed into clean, new clothes.
This busyness took up an hour and a half.
Wei Tianyang, holding a coffee, sat on the bed. There was still some time before the initiation ceremony, and finally, he had time to properly examine the items he had snatched from the hands of the Tiantai Pharmaceutical people.
He picked up his backpack, but was dismayed to discover six bullet holes in it! Wei Tianyang's heart sank, he hastily opened the backpack, and took out two cell phones and the document bag.
Sure enough, both cell phones were completely ruined. Bullets had pierced their screens, the batteries had burst the glass backplates exposing them, and there were signs of burning. They didn't start a fire in the bag, maybe because it was raining at the time...
The document bag also had two holes and one of its corners burned off. Wei Tianyang took out a dozen reports from the bag, the pages neatly punctured with two holes, the burnt edge curling up, making some of the information indecipherable.
He cursed under his breath and sighed, but then he thought that since he was now in Kongse, he should be able to find someone to try and extract the information from the phones.
As for the document, he instinctively felt that even though he didn't understand Latin, he shouldn't show it to just anyone, meaning he had to find other ways to translate those reports.
Maybe, the market in Kongse would have a translator... but he had no money, and he didn't know how much those things cost. Asking Yaha for help wasn't an option either, as it would arouse his curiosity.
He had to figure it out himself.
Perhaps...
As Wei Tianyang looked at the two broken phones in his hand, maybe he could sell them as scrap. Previously in Qiayang City, Wei Tianyang had seen some second-hand recycling stores; they didn't just take intact electronics but also damaged ones, possibly some parts could be removed and reused...
As he thought, drowsiness struck, Wei Tianyang stuffed his backpack under the bed, lay on his side, closed his eyes, and scenes from before played like a slideshow.
"Next time you come to buy rice, I'll give you a discount."
"Become a man as warm as the sun..."
"You're only twelve steps away from Yin Country."
"This is your freedom, one two zero two."
"For us, it's an unreachable distance, that place is Heaven..."
"Brother, thank you..."
"Go find your life, don't seek revenge... Yang..."
...
He fell asleep, tears streaming down his tightly shut eyes.