A dreamless night.

Yu Guang sat up from the bed with a heavy body, his head still spinning, but much better than when he was drugged last night.

He had expected to have insomnia, but surprisingly, he slept soundly.

• Probably thanks to that familiar woody scent.

The light in the hotel room remained dim.

The armchair where the man had sat last night was still there in the distance, but he was long gone.

Through the slightly swaying sheer curtains, Yu Guang saw the grayish mist outside the window.

But when he checked his phone, he realized it was already noon the next day.

Blinking for a moment, he wasn’t sure if he saw it correctly, so he brought the phone closer to look.

There was indeed a gray exclamation mark in the upper left corner of the screen.

• No signal.

He moved around the room with his phone, but the exclamation mark in the upper left corner remained unchanged.

Opening the search bar and communication call, they were both blank.

His heart tightened, and he suddenly felt a panic rising, accompanied by dizziness.

After sitting on the edge of the bed for a while, Yu Guang put on his slippers and looked out the window.

A dense white mist surrounded everything, seemingly a vast forest, with varying shades of dark green visible through the white mist.

He clearly remembered being in modern society before falling into darkness – a bustling bar.

How did he wake up in what seemed to be a hostel deep in the mountains?

Did that man bring him here? And for what?

Can he leave?

A series of questions struck him.

Creak –

Yu Guang pushed open the window forcefully.

The sound of rain poured into his ears.

The slanting wind brought with it the cool rainwater and the scent of earth.

Damp, yet not sticky.

It instantly cleared Yu Guang’s mind.

It’s raining.

It turned out that these water vapors blocked the sunlight, making it unusually gloomy even at noon.

Thud, thud, thud –

Three knocks on the door made Yu Guang, who was unprepared, shiver a few times.

Being in a strange environment always keeps one on edge.

A male voice came from behind the door, “Mr. Yu, a gentleman has ordered lunch for you. May I come in?”

Yu Guang became even more cautious, quietly approached the door and bolted the latch before peering through the peephole.

Indeed, there was a male waiter wearing a black and white butler’s uniform, pushing a meal cart outside.

“Which gentleman ordered lunch for me?” he asked through the door.

In fact, Yu Guang already had an answer in his heart –

It must be the man from last night who ordered the meal.

His question was just an attempt to extract some information from the waiter.

If he knew the man’s last name, it would surely be easier to find him.

But the waiter was obviously very cautious, only vaguely saying a few irrelevant things to stall for time.

Yu Guang didn’t get the answer he wanted and also worried that the food the other party sent might be suspicious, so he coldly refused the meal.

Outside the window, the misty rain continued to patter.

White noise, woody scent, and grayish tones.

These things combined should have created a cozy environment that made people feel tired, but Yu Guang couldn’t calm down.

He suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask the waiter for the coordinates of this hostel.

Regretfully hitting the bed, Yu Guang sighed and lay down.

If he really was in some remote wilderness, how could he get out?

Glancing to the side, he noticed a square bottle of black translucent perfume on the bedside table.

Underneath it was a sticky note.

Written in a casual slender font:

Ignoring the limits of fate and time, I give it to you. – Road to Hades

The note paper, like old-fashioned stationery, seemed to be infused with a hint of woody scent.

The slightly musty pine, the incense burning in the temple…

Yu Guang hesitated to touch the brand-new Road to Hades bottle and carefully pulled out the paper pressed underneath.

Holding the thin sheet close to his nose, Yu Guang sniffed it deeply, as if sniffing a handkerchief every night before going to bed, and deeply inhaled.

Slightly hallucinogenic, and even seemed to produce some kind of chemical reaction invisibly, instantly exciting certain nerves in his cerebral cortex.

He hadn’t expected to smell Ye Si’s perfume in this way.

The person who had been watching him like he watched Ye Si had once again sent him a gift.

Setting aside other behaviors, this gift did indeed make him extremely happy.

It even made him entertain a ridiculous hypothesis of equivalent exchange –

If he could exchange a night of bizarre experiences for the eternal presence of Ye Si’s fragrance…

It seemed like he had made a great deal.

While pondering, the knocking on the door sounded again, still the regular rhythm of three knocks.

Thud, thud, thud –

“Mr. Yu, the gentleman said you must have your meal, and he asked me to tell you: the food is guaranteed to be non-toxic, you can rest assured to eat it.”

If he didn’t accept it now, Yu Guang suspected that the waiter would come knocking on the door repeatedly.

After hesitating for a moment, Yu Guang finally opened the door and let the person in.

The waiter brought in the meal tray one by one and soon the small dining table in the room was filled, resembling a feast.

Finally, a drink that seemed to be wine was placed on Yu Guang’s right hand side.

After scanning it a few times, he developed a repulsion towards alcoholic beverages after two previous incidents.

Declining politely, he pushed the cup away.

The waiter noticed his action and paused in arranging the napkins, as if recalling something, he said:

“Mr. Yu, the gentleman also asked me to convey to you: the cup does not contain alcohol, it is just a simple ginger jujube brown sugar water.”

Yu Guang: “Alright, I understand.”

“Oh, by the way, could you tell me the name of this hotel and its location?” Yu Guang asked.

After a pause, the waiter replied:

“The hotel has no name. The location is: Nan City, No. 1 Quiet Road.”

Although the meal was sumptuous, Yu Guang didn’t quite enjoy it.

The taste was too bland, with spinach, carrots, and other vegetables he didn’t like all laid out in front of him.

He didn’t eat much, but he was indeed hungry, so he ate a whole bowl of rice.

After the waiter cleared the table, Yu Guang slipped out of the room and headed downstairs.

Strangely, the large hotel was unusually quiet.

There was not a soul in the corridor, not even the waiter who had just left with the meal cart could be seen; he disappeared around the corner in the blink of an eye.

Yu Guang nervously swallowed and hurried downstairs, clutching the handrail of the stairs.

Fortunately, there were people in the lobby downstairs—a gentle sister was standing at the front desk, her soft smile largely easing Yu Guang’s inner fear.

He picked up the old-fashioned phone on the front desk and dialed a number.

Ring… ring… ring…

After many rings, the phone was finally picked up, and an impatient voice came from the other end.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Clearing his throat, Yu Guang stammered, “Hello… it’s me.”

The other end suddenly fell silent, and after a long while, a calmer tone replaced the initial impatience.

“Yu Guang? Where are you? I couldn’t reach you in the morning, why are you calling from a landline number?”

Yu Guang didn’t answer the person’s question. There was a long silence on his end, as if he was struggling whether to speak or not.

“Yu Guang? Are you there? What’s wrong?” Seeing he was still silent, the voice on the other end started babbling, “I told you that part-time job at that crappy bar was unreliable, why the hell did you go? Who bullied you?”

Yu Guang didn’t want to listen to Gao Leilin’s nagging, so he quickly interrupted:

“I… uh… could you come and pick me up?…”

“Where are you?”

“Nan City, No. 1 Quiet Road.”

Two hours later, a flaming red sports car stopped in front of the unnamed hotel.

Yu Guang, holding his backpack awkwardly, sat in the passenger seat reservedly.

But since he walked out of the hotel, he always felt a gaze lingering behind him.

“Do the car windows have privacy film?” he asked Gao Leilin, the driver, pursing his lips.

“Yes.” came the reply.

Yu Guang raised the passenger side window, then glanced up to the third floor of the hotel through the rearview mirror.

There was one window that hadn’t been closed, the white gauze curtain fluttering slightly in the wind, indistinct figures could be seen.

It seemed like someone had just passed by, but when Yu Guang looked closer, there was nothing there.

“What’s wrong? I haven’t even asked you why you’re here yet?” Gao Leilin started the car.

Yu Guang looked at the retro hotel in the distance through the rearview mirror as it gradually receded from view, a strange emotion flashed through his heart.

“Nothing much, I just had a strange dream last night.” he replied.