Chapter 024: Room Service
Lin Ye withdrew his thoughts and walked straight to the sofa in the hotel room.
"You should rest too, but don't fall asleep."
Tonight, they'd have to stay awake again.
Lin Ye sat down, leaning back and reclining against the sofa.
His muscles relaxed slightly, bringing immense relief.
During the Time Stop, his "brute force outputs" and carrying and pulling people had consumed both his stamina and energy. It had taken a toll on him.
"After this is over, I need to properly train this body."
Since he had already been chosen for the "Mysterious Game," there was no way to opt out unless he cleared it.
Physical fitness was essential. Even with Time Stop, he couldn't afford to be careless.
"Lin Ye-kun…"
Suddenly, Hoshino Ai, sitting cross-legged on the bed, brushed back her long black-purple hair and faced Lin Ye, her eyes quietly observing him.
"What's up?"
"How about… I give you a massage? You must be really tired. A massage might help you relax."
This was one of the few things she could think of to help Lin Ye.
"An idol like you knows how to give massages?"
"I don't."
Hoshino Ai shook her head.
"But an idol like me can learn. Besides, massages don't seem that hard."
She blinked her sparkling eyes, waiting for Lin Ye's response.
Accept? Or refuse?
What was there to think about?
"Getting a massage from the famous idol Hoshino Ai? I think I'd be the first and only one."
Lin Ye didn't hesitate. He walked over to the large bed, lay face down, and exposed his back without any defense.
Hoshino Ai's smile brightened even more. She straddled his back, placing her fingers on his shoulders, and began to press firmly but gently.
"How's this pressure?"
"It's good."
"Then I'll press a bit harder."
"Sure."
"How about… I use my feet instead?"
Lin Ye: ???
"Isn't there a type of fan who really loves… being stepped on… by their idol?"
Hoshino Ai's tone carried a hint of embarrassment, her cheeks slightly flushed, but the corner of her eye still peeked at Lin Ye's profile.
"Too bad I'm not wearing black stockings."
This woman is definitely teasing me!
"Mai in black stockings would look amazing."
Hoshino Ai: ???
Her smile froze, and she pouted in frustration.
Feeling a pang of grievance, she instinctively slapped Lin Ye's back a bit harder.
"Mai would never be this rough. She'd definitely be gentle with me. Three seconds of silence for Mai."
Hoshino Ai felt a lump of frustration building up in her chest.
"Sakurajima Mai wouldn't give you a massage like this at all!"
"Mai is so gentle and beautiful; she wouldn't do something like a massage!"
"I'm also very gentle and beautiful," Hoshino Ai said.
Lin Ye immediately turned his head toward Kuroda Hikaru.
"Kuroda-san, do you think she's gentle and beautiful?"
A deathly question!
Kuroda Hikaru wouldn't dare to answer.
"Ugh… my stomach… it hurts… I think… I'm going to faint."
She promptly lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, and pretended to pass out.
Hoshino Ai couldn't hold back her laughter and almost burst out laughing.
"See? Kuroda-san must think I'm very gentle and kind; that's why she acted like that."
"Seems like Kuroda-san's judgment is a bit off."
"Wah, can I bite you?"
"Where do you want to bite?"
"Wah, Lin Ye-kun, you're such a perv."
Ten minutes later, Hoshino Ai couldn't keep going, so Lin Ye let her rest. Meanwhile, Kuroda Hikaru, seemingly wanting to repay Lin Ye for saving her life, took over and gave a ten-minute massage herself.
Lin Ye enjoyed twenty full minutes of relaxation.
It was something the girls willingly offered, so there was no reason for him to refuse.
In such a dangerous world, couldn't he at least enjoy this bit of comfort?
Everything seemed to have calmed down, as though no dangers would arise for the rest of the night.
Finally, the clock struck 1:00 a.m.
Five hours remained until dawn at 6:00 a.m.
The long, dark night was exceptionally hard to endure. What should have been a simple matter of sleeping through the night had turned into a torturous wait for time to pass.
Lin Ye found it boring, struggling to pass the time.
His gaze once again fell on Hoshino Ai, who yawned sleepily as she stretched her arms.
That simple action jolted Lin Ye's mind awake.
"Hoshino,"
The sudden sound caused Hoshino Ai to open her eyes, shaking off her drowsiness.
"What is it, Lin Ye-kun? Did you hear something strange again?"
"The infection has worsened."
"Huh?"
A minute later, the three confirmed their current situation.
Without exception, their infection levels had increased. Judging by the darker shades of the gray-black patches on their skin, their infection was clearly far worse than it had been an hour ago.
"Why is this happening…"
"What's going on?"
Hoshino Ai couldn't make sense of it.
Kuroda Hikaru was even more clueless. She had essentially been carried along this entire time. Without Lin Ye and Hoshino Ai, she would likely already be among the corpses.
Lin Ye pondered deeply, going over all the clues and information they had gathered so far.
"Our infection… is worsening over time," he began.
"The shower water allows us to see each other's infection levels more clearly."
"Among the six of us, Tanaka Ichiro and Uemura Miho from Room 304 have become full anomalies. They were likely influenced by the noises from 10 p.m. to midnight and did something they shouldn't have, turning them into anomalies."
Since both Room 306 and Room 307 had been affected by sounds, Lin Ye doubted Room 304 was an exception.
"But we haven't come into contact with anything particularly strange, have we?"
Hoshino Ai wracked her brain but could only think of the eerie shower water as something odd.
"There's one other thing we've all been in constant contact with," Lin Ye said.
"What is it?"
Both girls turned their attention to Lin Ye.
He raised his finger and pointed.
"This hotel. No, specifically the rooms we're staying in… We've been in contact with them the entire time."
"The rooms are toxic?"
If this was the cause, the worsening infection made sense. But… how could they solve it?
It seemed unsolvable.
Hoshino Ai and Kuroda Hikaru felt suffocated by despair.
It felt like a dead end.
That was it! There was no solution. At their current rate of infection, in just one or two hours, their bodies would be covered in black patches, and they would turn into anomalies.
Neither of them wanted to become grotesque creatures. Not at all.
Knock, knock, knock!
A knocking sound echoed.
It wasn't the door to Room 306 but came from a door at some distance.
"Room service,"
"Dear guest, do you require housekeeping services?"
...
...
Late at night, a housekeeping staff member comes knocking?
Are they cleaning up trash or people?!
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