death of hope

Chapter 7 "Flying Windfall" (7) Capsule Hotel

Roy turned into an alley,
Even in a poor neighborhood with an economic downturn, this is a forgotten corner,
Numerous privately built shacks protrude from the tops and sides of the buildings on both sides, and people who run shops and small businesses nearby are crowded in these small houses that look like pigeon cages.

The privately connected wires and network cables are as intricate as spider webs, entangled with the ropes for drying clothes. Here, the level of technology seems to be set back 50 years. There are no cameras and no communication network signal base stations.

Human wireless communication technology has long been developed, and even high-latency remote video communication with alien colonies is possible.

But ordinary people simply cannot afford the high data traffic charges. In the Federation of Terra, the convenience brought by high technology has never belonged to the poor.

Low-level workers like Roy can only find public phone booths on the street if they want to make calls. Needless to say, it takes time to queue up, because they occasionally have to fight when someone jumps in line, and the price is not affordable.

Even if you save money to the extreme, you will have to pay 8.5 yuan for the basic phone bill, which is too expensive for most people’s income.
If the distance is close enough, most people still choose to find a coffee shop or pub to talk face to face, or use the original way-write a letter.

At the end of the alley, there is a dirty, run-down capsule hotel with the words "Aunt Anne's Hotel" flashing on the colorful electronic signboard.

This is the cheapest hotel in the city, and most of the bankrupt entrepreneurs in York City, as well as poor students studying in colleges, rent this cheap place.

As soon as the door was pushed open, the wind chime rang.

With the air filter turned on inside, Roy smelled the smell of cheap air fresheners, heard the melody of electronic music from the last century,
The counter was painted pink, and thick mist emerged from the plastic flowers next to it, and the spotlights dyed the mist purple, giving it a strange and ghostly feeling.

It seems that the operators here have a very retro taste, and they must really like old movies and old records.

The proprietress of the capsule hotel is perming her hair behind the counter, she must be Aunt Anne,
She looked to be in her fifties, with heavy makeup, blue lipstick, and frighteningly thick false eyelashes, a cigarette in her mouth, and she was doing a crossword puzzle from a gossip magazine.

"Welcome to come. You can choose what kind of room you want to live in. There are everything from the standard capsule box of Class A to the cheap dwelling box of Class D."

Roy glanced at the price list on the wall, and threw out an old wrinkled ten-dollar bill:
"I want to open a box, in the B1 area, a quiet box with a private bathroom, right?"

"That's right, all boxes above C category have private bathrooms." The proprietress turned her head and glanced at him. Seeing that it was a stranger, her eyes quickly returned to the crossword puzzle in the magazine:
"Sir, please show your residence permit, driver's license or student ID."

"Sorry, I came out in a hurry and forgot to bring it."

Upon hearing Roy's reply, the landlady's expression was as ugly as if she had just eaten a moldy orange.

She skillfully recited a large passage like reciting lines, and it seemed that she had to repeat it several times a day:

"No, sir, I can't let you live in. The York City Police Department requires residents to bring legal documents and register."

Roy has heard it from colleagues and knows how to deal with it:

"I'm a poor student from out of town. My travel bag was stolen by thieves, and all the documents inside were gone. It's wet and cold outside. I want to find a place that can shelter me from the wind and rain for the night. Please, please be accommodating." ,Miss."

This was an old-fashioned lie, and he didn't even believe it himself, so Roy took out another ten-yuan bill from his pocket, folded it, and flicked it into the counter with his fingers, and the proprietress caught it:
"Okay, lad, but accommodating just this once, poor gods may the gods bless those damn thieves, my new bike was stolen last week too!"

The proprietress pushed the magazine away, typed a character on the keyboard with her fingers, and then handed out a card:
"Here, this is box 1 in area B14, in the corner,

I used fake information to register, pay attention to hygiene when going to the toilet, save water and electricity, um... nothing else, I wish you success in your studies, young man, good night! "

Roy took the card: "Good night, ma'am."

Along the narrow corridor, Roy found his room, unlocked it with a card, and the purple ambient light in the box automatically turned on.

The boxes of this capsule hotel are all transformed from recycled waste containers, and the cost is low.

Although the sparrow is small, it has all internal organs and everything it should have. Behind the curved sliding door is the toilet, which provides hot water 24 hours a day and can be used for one person to shower.

Half of the box body is occupied by a single bed.

Control the button on the bedside table to adjust the inclination. When it is adjusted to the head, the mattress can be bent into a sofa, and the side baffle can be put down to get a simple small table.

Air conditioners, lamps and ventilation equipment are all embedded and integrated in the ceiling, and various types of data interfaces, power interfaces, and network interfaces are densely distributed on the low roof.

There is cockroach medicine in the closet, which seems to be effective, and the dense black spots are cockroach dead bodies.

Below is the refrigerator, in which there are two cans of orange soda, and a piece of artificial cocoa butter substitute sugar-free chocolate, of course you need to pay extra,

On the other side of the wall is a wired video phone, alongside a slew of safety tips and food order ads.

Roy first probed to confirm that there was no one in the corridor, then locked the door, took off all his clothes,
He took out the blood-stained gloves from his pocket, cut them into rags with the scissors in the box, and threw them into the toilet to flush.

It was much easier now. Roy turned on the air conditioner and ventilation equipment, sat down on the toilet, then unzipped the supermarket shopping bag, took out the leather combination box, and adjusted the number to 9999.

With a crisp "click", the lock popped open,
He unfolded the box completely flat, and it was full of banknotes.

"Hello, you are so sexy, baby!"

Roy whistled, picked up one of the thick stacks of money, as gently as touching his lover's skin, he took a big breath, and let the smell of banknote security ink fill his lungs.

Roy began to count the money with clumsy movements, and then confirmed that a thick stack was 100 sheets, which is the common currency of the [-] Thaila Federation.

There are 75 thick stacks in the box, and there is also a small thin stack of change, totaling 75 Thai coins.

(God, that's a lot of money, enough for Ana and I to immigrate to an alien colony.

Although it is still far from the rich, but at least economic freedom, no longer have to worry about rent and bills, no longer have to be exploited by factory owners, no longer have to endure the threat of street gangsters...

Fuck homeplanet Terra!I want to leave this ghost place forever!Ha ha ha ha! )

Roy almost forgot the reason why he was so happy last time. Maybe it was his tenth birthday when he had a crazy idea in his mind.

That is to rush out of the hotel, run naked on the street, run into a specialty store to buy a luxury car, and then throw money while driving, open the car window and shout: "I'm rich!"

But he didn't do that, he wasn't successful, but he wasn't stupid either.

(End of this chapter)