Chapter 11: The Nightmare Hotel

The mist lifted, revealing a five-story building in its place. Above the grand entrance hung a sign bearing a line of characters:

“Nightmare Inn.”

“What kind of lousy name is that? Who would dare enter after seeing it?”

—Fifteen seconds later—

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

Suya pushed open the inn’s door and found the lobby utterly silent, devoid of a single soul. She paused to observe her surroundings.

Directly opposite the main door was another door, currently open. Half the space beyond led to a staircase ascending to the upper floors, while the other half faced a door leading out to a garden.

On either side of the lobby stretched long corridors, lined by numerous doors, each marked with a room number.

From room 103 came the sounds of shouting and crying.

Summoning her courage, Suya pulled out her trusty hammer and headed toward room 103.

The door to room 103 was wide open. Inside, a creature with a cat-headed humanoid figure stood by a desk, berating loudly, while a small cat-headed child sat before the desk, wailing.

The cat-headed woman scolded, “Have you finished your homework? How did you do on the test? Are you studying well at school?”

The cat-headed child sobbed, “I don’t want to do homework. I can’t do it. Waaaaaah!”

Suya, standing outside and watching, was speechless.

If her guess was right, both the cat-headed woman and child were nightmares born from the nightmare realm. Unlike those monsters that simply attacked, these were higher-level NPCs with the ability to think.

But that wasn’t the main point. The real issue was that even as nightmares, they still had to attend school, do homework, and have their assignments supervised.

It was a rather harsh fate.

The cat-headed woman said, “No sleep tonight if the homework isn’t finished! I’ll find you a tutor next week!”

The cat-headed child whimpered, “Waaaaaah~”

Hearing the words “tutor,” Suya’s eyes lit up.

She had worked as a tutor for kids back in her freshman year of college!

While her skills might not suffice to teach middle schoolers, tutoring first or second graders was well within her grasp.

“Um, hello, ma’am…” Suya tucked her hammer back into her backpack and spoke up to make her presence known.

The cat-headed woman immediately turned around upon hearing her voice and put on her signature smile.

“Sorry, my guest, I neglected you due to some personal matters. Are you here to stay? What kind of room would you prefer?”

“I’m not here to stay,” Suya replied.

The smile vanished instantly from the woman’s face.

Suya continued, “But I heard you mention finding a tutor for your child. Maybe I could give it a try.”

Upon hearing this, the woman smiled again. Unlike the earlier forced smile, this one seemed genuine.

“Oh, really, my dear! You’re willing to teach my foolish child?”

“I can certainly try…” Suya said, then demonstrated her tutoring skills.

Within three minutes, the little cat-headed child was completely captivated.

The woman was clearly pleased, saying, “Then you may teach here. I won’t disturb you,” and left the room.

Suya let out a sigh of relief.

She had feared she wouldn’t meet the woman’s expectations, but it turned out much easier than she thought.

“Pretty lady, please keep teaching me my homework,” the child pleaded.

“Alright, let’s look at this problem. A square represents 2, a triangle represents 5. What is two squares plus one triangle? Our smart little cat friend surely knows, right?”

…

In less than an hour, Suya helped the child finish the homework.

The little one obediently packed their bag and lay down to sleep.

Suya then left the room and returned to the lobby, where the cat-headed woman was busy at the front desk.

“Miss Cathead, the child’s homework is done today.”

“Really?” The woman was visibly excited. “That’s wonderful. I’ve been so busy with work that I couldn’t tutor him, and he’s not self-disciplined. Ah.”

“The child is actually quite smart; maybe he just wants you to spend more time with him.”

After a brief chat, the woman brought up payment.

“I have a Nightmare Inn teleportation item. After dark, you can click the teleport button on it to come here.” She handed the teleport item to Suya, then added, “For each tutoring session, I’ll pay you 100 Highway Coins on the spot. How does that sound?”

“Only after dark? I’m worried…” Suya hesitated.

Not because she truly doubted, but she wanted to negotiate for better terms.

Coming to the inn after dark, tutoring the cat-headed child, and then returning to sleep on a folding bed by the highway all sounded exhausting.

Perhaps sensing Suya’s thoughts, the woman quickly added, “After tutoring, you can stay a night in a single room here at the inn, free of charge. How about that?”

“That would be perfect,” Suya accepted the offer without hesitation.

The woman was pleased and immediately paid Suya 100 Highway Coins.

Suya accepted the coins, and her personal information page updated with a new entry:

[Highway Coins Balance: 100]

After settling the tutoring payment, the woman began processing Suya’s check-in information.

Suya waited in the lobby.

At that moment, the inn’s door was pushed open.

Hearing the movement, Suya looked up just in time to see Chi Fei enter, wearing a sullen expression.

“Oh, isn’t this young master? Haven’t seen you all day. Why the long face? Tell me what’s wrong and let me cheer you up.”

Her mouth moved faster than her brain, rattling off the words in less than three seconds before silently slapping herself.

Chi Fei said nothing, and Suya suspected he was cursing her as mentally inept.

Fortunately, he didn’t take offense. Instead, he shared his recent experience.

“Just now, at the highway junction, I ran into an idiot.”

“And then?”

“I stopped to ask if he wanted a ride.”

“What did he say?”

There was a five-second silence before Chi Fei replied,

“That idiot said he wouldn’t ride in an Android car!”

Suya burst into laughter.

She’d spent days memorizing catchphrases, but still couldn’t match the effortless wit of natural talent.

Chi Fei remained silent.

“Guest, your registration is complete. Your room is number 205. Here is your key card. Please keep it safe.”

The cat-headed woman handed Suya the key card.

Suya took it without lingering, heading straight to the stairwell and ascending to the second floor.

On the second floor, she quickly found room 205, swiped the card to enter, then dropped her luggage and made a beeline for the bathroom.

She had been in the game for two days without a chance to shower. Even she was disgusted with herself. Now that she had the opportunity, she would make sure to wash thoroughly.