Chapter 304 "Stay Overnight" (9)
"I...want to ask you something, Todd. Sometimes when we talk, you act a little strange. You're silent for a long time, looking away, like you're thinking about some potential answer. Are you...ok?"
Todd thought about it and soon understood what Robin meant. What she meant by "look away and look elsewhere" should be that he occasionally stared at his system data panel during the conversation. This was very strange, because in the dungeons Todd had experienced before, no NPC could notice this, even if the "silence" between players' conversations lasted for a long time. However, Todd thought that this might just be a design within the dungeon.
"I have agnosia. I can't distinguish faces and tones. I can only judge who they are by their movements, so sometimes it seems strange. But now I can gradually remember your voice."
"No wonder you looked at me like that in the elevator earlier."
However, it is easy to find a reasonable explanation. Anosognosia is the most suitable excuse for the current situation.
"But it must mean you're getting better! See, even when things are tough, there's always good news. Okay, enough of the small talk, what should I draw in the end?"
"Didn't you say before that you wanted to make the depressing environment around you less depressing? Then just draw a smiley face. It's simple, effective, and easy to understand."
"Ok."
Robin used the spray paint can in his hand to draw a simple smiley face on the wall next to him. It had two dots and an arc. It looked quite crude, and because there was not much paint left in the spray paint can, the smiley face was not even and looked a little crooked.
"Okay... at least you can see it's a smiling face." Todd looked at Robin's last painting and gave a fair evaluation.
"I think we've done a good job. Even if... we didn't survive in the end, at least we had a cool time. Okay, let's go. We shouldn't stay outside for too long."
Back in the room, Robin seemed to have something else to say.
"What's wrong Robin?"
"Thank you for coming with me. I thought it would help you relax, but it seems it's just as important to me. Well, it's getting late, go get some rest. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be even harder."
Todd nodded and left the living room. Before leaving, he looked out the window. It was normal. It didn't look like the bottom of the sea. It seemed that this was not a dream. However, it might be too realistic for Todd to distinguish. But anyway, Todd went back to bed and fell asleep again.
"Say it, kid."
After Todd fell asleep, he didn't know how long it had been before a voice woke him up again. Looking around, Todd found that he was neither in the bathtub, nor in bed, nor at the bottom of the sea. He found himself in a confined space. Looking at the surrounding building structure, it seemed to be a confessional in a church.
"What's going on here?"
"It's time to talk about what you did. It's been a long day - a lot of things happened. Let's talk about the meeting in the restaurant, about that woman. You pretended to be her husband... Very good. You made her happy, you saved her dream, so you can leave in peace. What do you think of this?"
"You know she's turned into a monster, right?"
"In the world she lives in, no one disrespects her. No one can hurt her. With all that, do you think her appearance is that important?"
No matter who or what this strange voice was, Todd didn't quite agree with it, but at the moment it seemed to be an important step in promoting the main mission, so Todd didn't refute it out loud, but continued to listen to the voice.
"The man next door, whose trial you participated in. You convinced the priest to spare his life. It was a heroic act, but it was meaningless. This man will continue to use you, but he won't do you any favors."
"How...are you sure? Did you order him to do that? I mean, that priest."
"It's none of my business. I just care. I didn't give any orders or requests. But that's not all. You were manipulated by this woman again. What a shame. She woke you up in the middle of the night and made you take risks for her own desires. But don't worry, I'll protect you this time. But you need to learn some lessons. What do you think of today?"
"Why are you so interested in me?"
"Any preacher knows that once you understand how to reach the most stubborn souls, you'll know how to get into the hearts of others. It's time to end this conversation."
The lock of the confessional door clicked twice, and whatever the noise outside was, he seemed to have left.
"Neuropathy."
Todd planned to completely forget everything the voice said just now. In Todd's opinion, no matter what this guy was, he was not a good person.
Pushing open the door of the confessional, I saw the familiar seabed outside. It seemed that I was still in a dream, not the "real" world.
After walking a few steps, the confessional behind him disappeared. After walking a little further, Todd saw the human figure made of sea water again.
"Thank you for opening up to me. I feel like we've become closer, with very few things standing between us."
"Was that voice you just now?"
"Confession is over, let's go. Hard times are still ahead."
"Todd, Todd? You had a nightmare again? I'm starting to worry about you."
Todd suddenly woke up from his dream and saw Robin walk into the bedroom, looking worried.
"fine."
"Well, at least we still have plenty of food, enough to last a few days. But can you check the water in the bathroom? It barely ran out of water yesterday. Maybe it's time for us to collect some water in empty cans or something and save it, just in case."
Although Todd, as a player, is not afraid of running out of water and food, Robin, as an NPC, is probably not. He has not figured out Robin's secret yet, so he can't let her die for the time being. So Todd went to the bathroom and tried to check the water pipes there.
The water pipes were all normal, but there was no water. It was not the pressure that caused the water to not come up. It should be that the water supply system failed or was damaged. It was impossible to repair it, at least not in the room. Todd estimated that in order to restore the water supply, he would have to go to the water room or something like that to find a water pump or something.
"How about it?"
"We have no water. There must be something wrong with the water supply system."
"Damn it! We should have thought of this earlier! We can survive for a few days if we are hungry, but we can't survive without water. We don't know how long we will be trapped here."
"We can go see if there is any bottled water or drinks in the hotel."
"We have searched the entire hotel these days. It's even more dangerous outside the hotel. You can try to call the security guard who calls himself the Watcher. Maybe he can help us do something."
"I don't think a security guard can help us much."
"Please! Just make a phone call."
"Alright, alright."
The security guard who called himself the Watchman was abnormal in every way. Todd suspected that he might not be a human at all, so he didn't really want to contact him. But there was no other way now, so he could only call him.
"beep.."
Picking up the landline on the wall, the security guard did not answer the call immediately. Instead, he waited for a while and just when Todd was about to hang up, he answered the call.
"This is security, how can I help?"
And this guy didn't call himself the Watcher this time.
"The water supply has been cut off and the water in our room is almost gone."
"Ha.. You know, you're the most difficult guest in the hotel. You're always complaining about this and that. There's a monster in the hallway, the water's out. Look at what a guest you are. But then again, the other guests are either dead or crazy, so there's no comparison. What happened?"
“There’s no water.”
"Oh, by the way, it looks like the hotel's emergency pump is broken and needs to be restarted. Meet me on the first floor and find the security room. Your girlfriend should know where it is. I'll direct you there."
"Got it, I'll be there soon. But I have one question."
"what is the problem?"
"Why don't you fix it yourself? This time, and the antenna last time. You know this is a job you have to do as a hotel security guard, right?"
"Because... uh... I'm busy! I'm trying to keep communications going, you know, it's important for all of us. See you later."
"beep.."
The security guard hung up the phone in a hurry, and Todd did not show any displeasure or anger this time, on the contrary, he smiled, because he could finally meet the security guard in person - and thus had the opportunity to put the bomb in him.
"..coward."
"what happened?"
"It's okay. By the way, where is the security room located?"
"It's behind the front desk on the first floor. Do we... need to go downstairs?"
"Well, the emergency pump is broken and needs to be restarted so we can restore the hotel's water supply."
"But we haven't been out for a long time. I don't even know what the situation is on the first floor now, and whether it has changed since I went there. How about this, I'll go out first and help you open the door to the stairwell. You can follow up later. We will act separately, so as not to make too much noise and attract the attention of those monsters."
"We are...wait, I remember the door to the stairwell on the other side seemed to be locked. Where did you learn how to unlock it?"
"It doesn't matter! I'm a rebellious goth youth, okay? You should be able to guess that!"
"I see. I know a little bit about everything."
After the division of labor was determined, Robin left 402 first. Todd followed her and took a look. It was normal. Robin tiptoed towards the stairwell. Todd followed her, keeping a little distance. After a while, Robin waved to Todd who was standing at the door, and then walked into the stairwell. Todd followed her.
Because there was still some distance between the two of them, when Todd entered the stairwell, Robin had disappeared. He looked out the window of the stairwell twice, and this time Todd did not see the thing that looked like a C-type creature that he had seen before.
Continuing down, in the stairwell leading to the 3nd floor from the 2rd floor, there was a blind monster blocking the stairs. Todd observed the surrounding environment and found that the door of the 2nd floor stairwell was missing. It should have been destroyed by the monster or the explosion. Todd took out a small jamming bomb and threw it outside the stairwell door on the 2nd floor.
"boom."
Although the sound was not very loud, it was enough to lure the monster away. The sound of the jammer blast continued for a while. Taking advantage of this time, Todd went down to the first floor, opened the door of the stairwell, and came to the side hall on the first floor.
To the right of the stairwell was a grocery room with its door open. The things inside were very messy, and it seemed that someone had been here before. However, judging from the dust on the ground, it should have been a few days ago. Todd walked in and took a look, and found a note that fell behind a box. Judging from the handwriting, it seemed that this note was from the same person as the two notes he found before.
"He likes to call himself "Watcher". He said it's not just a job, but also a code name for his military service. He called me a lazy bum, and he thought I couldn't hear him. "Why doesn't he talk all the time?"
"Go here! Do that!" I know why you don't do anything yourself, spinner leg."
This diary was probably written by a security guard who was close to him. Although it was not long, Todd was able to get some useful information based on what was written in it.
The security guard was a soldier and may have retired due to injury and was in a wheelchair, which is why he did nothing. And judging from the tone of the security guard before, he seemed to have a low self-esteem about his disability. If this was true, Todd could understand the security guard's behavior and would not have such a strong desire to put a bomb on him. Although the tone of the security guard sometimes sounded unpleasant, Todd could understand it.
You see, this is how normal people think, which is completely different from how some people think.
"Knock knock knock. Here I am, from 402. Can I come in?"
"No! Sorry, I...I blocked the door and can't open it for now. But I'm glad to hear your voice in person."
"You... forget it, just tell me where to go."
"That's a good attitude, young man. You need to go to the swimming pool first, enter the main hall, turn right, and go to the elevator..."
"I know the location."
"Okay, so once you get to the pool, you need to find the... uh, boiler room, and restart the pump."
“But I don’t know how to operate that thing.”
"There should be instructions left by the staff in the cabinet next to the water pump. Just follow those instructions. It shouldn't be too complicated. But be careful. There is no surveillance in the swimming pool area. I can't help you. In addition, there have been strange noises coming from somewhere in recent days. I don't know what it is, but based on what happened in the hotel recently, it's probably not a good thing. Be careful. Good luck, young man."
The security guard threw a key out from under the door and told Todd that it was the key to the swimming pool. Taking the key, Todd quickly arrived at the entrance of the swimming pool area.
“#￥……#￥……”
There was indeed a strange noise coming from inside, but the task prompt had been updated here, so Todd had no choice but to bite the bullet and open the door leading to the swimming pool area.