Chapter 37: Cui Hao Is Dead

Chu Jiangyue’s gaze turned to Lin Dong and his four companions.

“Are you here to stay, or just to buy food?”

At Jianglin Hotel, aside from lodging, the only fully functioning facility was the restaurant.

“We were told about this place by a boy riding an electric scooter. Is this the Jianglin Hotel he mentioned? We want to rent scooters.”

Lin Dong now realized that the person in front of him was likely not some supernatural creature, though clearly still capable.

“A boy riding a scooter alone? You mean… Jin Churan?”

“No… we don’t know his name.”

However, whether it was Jin Churan who recommended them didn’t really matter to Chu Jiangyue.

“This is indeed Jianglin Hotel. Our main services are lodging and dining.

As for scooters, you’re too late—they’ve all been rented out.”

Many people had been suggesting more scooters recently.

But Chu Jiangyue hadn’t made any promises—she couldn’t control when scooters would become available as part of mission rewards.

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“And lodging here…”

“To stay at our hotel, you first need to recharge and get an identity card. Rooms range from single rooms to five-person suites. You’re five people, so a five-person suite is recommended.

A standard suite is 5 silver coins per day, a deluxe suite is 10 silver coins per day. Which would you like?”

“Let’s recharge first. The boy said we could exchange gold and silver jewelry?”

Following Jin Churan’s instructions, they had collected quite a lot along the way. They hadn’t encountered the zombie crystal cores he mentioned, so they didn’t know what those were.

“Of course. Just place whatever you want to exchange here.”

Chu Jiangyue pointed to the exchange device.

Lin Dong glanced at the unremarkable tray on the counter and tentatively placed a gold bracelet on it.

[Detected: 1 metal bracelet. Can be exchanged for 100 copper coins. Confirm to exchange? Yes to confirm, No to cancel.]

One gold bracelet only converted to 100 copper coins—quite stingy.

But looking at Chu Jiangyue’s teasing smile, Lin Dong inexplicably felt disarmed, with no desire to cause trouble.

Chu Jiangyue was fully immune to the exchange rates. Even similar bracelets might have different values depending on purity. This thin gold bracelet yielding 100 copper coins was actually decent.

“Confirm the exchange by selecting ‘Yes.’ Your first recharge grants an identity card. From now on, all your activities and consumption in the hotel will require it. Please keep it safe.”

Lin Dong nodded and pressed ‘Yes.’

The bracelet vanished, replaced by a silver card about the size of a bank card.

Lin Dong realized this was the identity card Chu Jiangyue had mentioned.

After understanding the process, Lin Dong and his men continued placing their collected items on the device.

Once everything was exchanged, their identity card balances reached a respectable amount.

“Boss Chu, book us another standard five-person suite.”

After exchanging, Lin Dong understood the purchasing power of copper, silver, and gold coins in the hotel.

Five silver coins per day for a room was acceptable, but ten silver coins for a deluxe suite was excessive.

Chu Jiangyue didn’t comment—after all, even Shen Zhigui’s group stayed in single rooms costing 100 copper coins per day. She didn’t have high expectations for anyone else.

She quickly handled the registration for ten days of stay.

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Lin Dong didn’t head straight to the rooms.

“Boss Chu, you mentioned the hotel also has a restaurant? Is it open now? We haven’t eaten all day.”

They had been traveling non-stop, dodging zombies.

Previously, being on edge, they hadn’t felt hunger. Now, knowing Jin Churan was telling the truth, their stomachs reminded them.

“Of course. Walk to the right. The building with ‘Restaurant’ written on it is the one.”

Simple enough—the restaurant was just the restaurant.

“Thanks for the directions, Boss Chu. We’ll go now.”

Lin Dong led his four men out of Building 1, heading straight for the restaurant, even quickening their pace.

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[Notification: Hotel guest Cui Hao has died. The room he occupied is now vacant, and all personal items inside are retained by the hotel. Please note, Host.]

Chu Jiangyue was taken aback by the notification.

Cui Hao had awakened fire-based abilities. In the early apocalypse, as long as he didn’t act recklessly, he shouldn’t have faced real danger.

But considering Jiang Zhenzhen was with him, Chu Jiangyue suspected Cui Hao’s death might not have been accidental.

“Little Fox, can you access a recording of Cui Hao’s death?”

Cui Hao surely had his identity card on him—maybe the Little Fox could detect something through it.

“Yes, but adhering to the principle of guest privacy, it can’t be shown to anyone except the Host without sufficient reason.”

Of course, as the hotel owner, Chu Jiangyue had that right.

“Then show me.”

Her intuition told her that Cui Hao’s death was closely tied to Jiang Zhenzhen.

The Little Fox wagged its tail, and a screen appeared before Chu Jiangyue.

The perspective seemed to be from Cui Hao’s point of view.

At first, everything appeared normal. Cui Hao instructed Jiang Zhenzhen to stay in the house he had cleared of zombies while he went out to kill zombies himself.

Typically, cautious Jiang Zhenzhen wouldn’t wander, but wanting to retrieve her identity card made her bold.

Today, it seemed she planned to act.

Since Cui Hao would be out hunting zombies, he left his supplies under Jiang Zhenzhen’s care. On the recording, she carried a backpack.

After Cui Hao left, Chu Jiangyue lost sight of Jiang Zhenzhen briefly.

But as he killed zombies outside, she saw Jiang Zhenzhen sneak out from the room with his backpack.

From a distance, she suddenly threw something toward Cui Hao.

The object hit the ground and shattered—part of it splattered onto Cui Hao. From his perspective, it looked like a large bottle of bright red liquid.

The strong scent of blood instantly drew nearby zombies, and those already close became frenzied.

Everything happened in an instant. Cui Hao didn’t have time to react and was overwhelmed by the horde.

As for how Jiang Zhenzhen escaped the zombies, Chu Jiangyue couldn’t see.