Mysterious Resurrection: The Peddler

Chapter 23: The Not-So-Simple Boss Liu
At present, everything seemed normal in the room. Although Luo Qin and Chen Zongtao were frightened, their physical and mental exhaustion finally prevailed. They soon fell into a deep sleep, leaving Cao Yang alone pacing in the room.

"Three incense sticks, twelve hours"

Cao Yang carefully recalled what Boss Liu said, trying to analyze something from it.

"You can only stay in a guest room for twelve hours. Does that mean there will be other guests for the other twelve hours? Are they people or ghosts?"

Cao Yang is more inclined to the latter. What boss doesn't want to make money? Only a ghost can make him limit his working hours even if he doesn't make money.

"The second rule is that you are not allowed to visit other rooms. However, in reality, I couldn't do that at all. I walked backwards with my eyes closed. I couldn't calculate the distance and time accurately. What's more, I didn't know the location of other rooms. Each room is located at a different distance from the door. This is Boss Liu's ability."

"Finally, you can't open the window after midnight. I accidentally entered this inn while investigating the ghost window incident. Boss Liu seems to know something about the ghost window, or is the ghost window actually a window in this inn?"

Cao Yang did not rest or even close his eyes. There were some things he needed to confirm. If he lost his vigilance in a place like this, something would definitely happen.

In the lobby of the inn, the old man stood up lazily, as if he knew that Cao Yang and his friends had already entered the guest room. The dark-skinned "man" also stopped pounding his back and stood aside respectfully.

"Crack~!"

The old man suddenly raised his hand and slapped the "person" away. What was even more strange was that this black man seemed to have no weight and slowly fell to the ground.

"Lao Hei, what do you want me to say about you? Why did you capture the ghost rider? How can I, Lao Liu, open my shop safely?"

"I had no choice but to let Lao Hei take Gui Chuang out to catch ordinary people every day, but I didn't expect it to bring back a ghost rider today. The previous generation has its own rules, and these rules can be broken, but not by me. If the news of killing the younger generation gets out, it will definitely be a big deal."

"From the beginning, the Taiping Inn existed to restrict evil spirits. However, this balance is difficult to maintain now. We must keep every room occupied. Otherwise, the inn will get out of control and continue to drag more ordinary people to their deaths."

"Hey, back then at the Ghost Street Paper Shop, the boss said you bought it because it was on sale. You usually work very efficiently, so why did something go wrong today?"

It turned out that the old man's last name was Liu, and the black man who was slapped by him did not show any dissatisfaction on his face, but just looked at Boss Liu honestly. Boss Liu was also a big man, but at this moment he showed a very aggrieved expression.

Boss Liu sighed helplessly, his eyes wandering, and no one knew what he was thinking.

The light from the old oil lamp was dim, stretching Boss Liu's shadow very long. But the strange thing was that there was a head-sized shadow at the position of Boss Liu's wrists in the shadow, as if those hands pierced a human head.
In Room No. 9, Cao Yang's eyes were bloodshot, and under the candlelight, his young face looked somewhat hideous.

"Never mind. The Taiping Inn passed down from our ancestors actually declined during my grandfather's generation. It has only accelerated its decline in my hands. When our ancestors founded the Taiping Inn, they not only earned ghost money from ghosts, but also used special means to confine them in the rooms of the inn."

"Although the signal is jammed, I can still see the time. I haven't slept for eight hours, and I am now sure that one stick of incense represents four hours."

"The spirit tablet should be a supernatural object. Its specific function is unknown. It's best not to touch it."

In Cao Yang's eyes, the photo of himself on the memorial tablet seemed to fade away with the passage of time, as if it had been erased by an eraser. "If all three incense sticks are burned out, the photo will become blank?"

The first two incense sticks had burned out, and a thick layer of ash had piled on the table. It looked as if someone was really worshiping Cao Yang.

In the past seven hours, there were occasional sounds of mechanical footsteps, foreign objects crawling in the corridor, and windows being slapped outside the room. However, Luo Qin and Chen Zongtao were sleeping so soundly that they seemed not to hear these sounds at all.

"It is true that he was affected by the supernatural, but he is not dead yet."

Cao Yang tested the breath of the two men one by one. Their physiological characteristics were normal, but there was an lingering chill on both of them. It was obvious that they were affected by the supernatural.

"There is a kind of ghost in the inn that can make people feel sleepy, but it is hard to say whether this ghost comes from Boss Liu or belongs to the inn itself."

"Most of the supernatural places were arranged by the older generation of ghost controllers. The basic principle is to use ghosts to restrict ghosts, forming a balanced or even perfect supernatural closed loop. Taiping Inn is no exception."

"In recent times, 36 people have been missing every night in Zhongtang City, which means that Taiping Inn has recently shown signs of being out of control. But I don't know whether the disappearances were caused by Boss Liu's remedial measures or the inn itself being out of control."

As Cao Yang was thinking, he felt his eyelids twitching and a feeling of extreme fatigue and exhaustion was slowly sweeping over his body. Finally, he couldn't help but fall asleep.

"Well, young man, why do you have to insist on this? I'm not trying to gain money or kill anyone, so why do you have such suspicion of a decent businessman like me?"

Boss Liu's faint voice came from outside the door, as if he was expressing emotion.

“Tap, tap, tap!”

Boss Liu was walking slowly in the aisle, dragging his legs and muttering something in a low voice.

"Alas, I'd better send the young man out tomorrow. Killing the young is a taboo in the spiritual world. I can't run this Taiping Inn any longer."

In the corridor, Boss Liu's figure was getting farther and farther away. However, the corridor that took Cao Yang more than ten minutes to walk through only took Boss Liu a few steps to reach the door.

"Oh no, I forgot to tell the young man that I have to walk backwards when I check out."

Before opening the door, Boss Liu suddenly thought of something and slapped his forehead.

"Well, I'll have to go again tomorrow."

Boss Liu stretched out a skinny and shriveled hand, opened the small door, and returned to the inn lobby.

Inside the room, the last stick of incense on the table was gradually burning. In the photo on the memorial tablet, Cao Yang's face was gradually fading away. However, behind Cao Yang's image, it seemed that the outline of another person was gradually emerging.
After Boss Liu left, the other guest rooms became restless again, with clapping, screaming, and footsteps. The incense in Room 9 seemed to be affected, burning a little faster.
(End of this chapter)