Chapter 34: Carrot and Stick

As soon as he entered the room, the change in temperature made his body shiver. His head was much clearer now.

“You’re here, Director Xu.”

“Alright, Director Dong. Let’s skip the formalities in such a situation, how is it going?” Xu Dongliang calmed his emotions then asked after taking a look at the strange scene in the room.

Dong Qifeng said while forcing a smile, “What happened is that the guests are unconscious, the floor to ceiling window is broken, there are footprints and an unknown chemical mucus with a disgusting stench all over the ceiling and walls.”

“It doesn’t look like a robbery or a theft, the most logical explanation is that the person who had beaten our hotel staff until he was unconscious this afternoon disguised as a staff and poisoned the guests after entering Room B4506.”

“The guests had become unconscious after being poisoned, the culprit stayed in the room for ten hours. During that period of time, he used a bamboo pole to raise his shoes to imprint his footprints all over the walls and ceiling then splat chemical mucus all over the place.”

“As the night came, this lunatic broke the floor to ceiling window before escaping with the attempt to freeze our guests to death.”

Xu Dongliang wore a solemn expression on his face and walked to Zhang Lisheng and Lili who were covered with duvets for a better look. He then said slowly, “Director Dong, maybe the criminal broke the window to escape instead of trying to freeze the guests to death.”

Dong Qifeng thought Xu Dongliang was trying to lighten the situation as he did, he then nodded and sighed. “Yea, it could be.”

“I’ve reported the incident to Director Li, he’s on his way.”

“The victims are American guests, we’re too passive.”

“Although anyone who could afford to stay at the Golden Dragon Hotel is rich, foreign guests are much more difficult to handle compared to local guests when accidents like this happen. Especially Americans who like to stir things up and easily hire lawyers for legal action.”

Although the incident was the reality, The ex-soldier Xu Dongliang was still reluctant in accepting it. He said in all seriousness, “We’re in the passive situation no matter which country the guests are from.”

“Also, I wasn’t joking with you just now Director Dong. An over one million yuan Porsche Cayenne in the parking lot downstairs was completely smashed just now.”

“I heard from Lao Li who’s in charge of the parking lot said that someone fell from the building and ran away after smashing the car.”

“The location of the parked car was coincidentally right below the Room B4506’s floor to ceiling window.”

“What?”

“Somebody broke the tempered glass here then jumped and smashed a car.”

“To save cost, our hotel’s car park only have one security guard looking after the cars after the night shift ended. In the end, he let the criminal escaped just like that because he was scared.”

“Di-Director Xu, this is the 45th floor.”

“I know. That’s why we shouldn’t be able to stop him even if we hired a couple more people to look after the cars.” Xu Dongliang squatted down and carefully looked around Zhang Lisheng and Lili’s face and neck. He went closer to sniff them and was relieved. “Fortunately nothing major happened to the guests.”

“The lady seemed to have her nose covered with ether while the boy might be…Hmm? Why is he hugging a toad…”

Hearing Xu Dongliang talking about the guests, Dong Qifeng realized that now was not the time to think about other matters so he said immediately, “Let’s ignore the fact that he’s hugging a toad, Director Xu. How’s the boy?”

While wearing a curious expression Xu Dongliang looked closely at Zhang Lisheng for a while and said, “Maybe he passed out because of fear, there’s also the possibility that he passed out from being hit at the back of his head. The issue isn’t serious, we should be able to wake them up by splashing cold water on their faces.”

“Are you sure, Director Xu?”

“I have 80% to 90% confidence that it would work. Why don’t we try it? If we managed to wake them up, we don’t even have to send them to the hospital for first-aid.”

When a guest suffered personal injury in the hotel room, making the incident big was no doubt the last resort for the hotel. After all, how could they expect customers to come if they couldn’t even guarantee the tourists’ safety?

Regarding the stinky smell scattered on the ground and walls, the mucus that left pieces of marks from the corrosion on the wallpapers, the mysterious footprints on the walls and ceiling and the car that was smashed at the parking lot, it was best for them to clear those matters immediately. It would be best for them to not mention any more details of what happened.

One should know that a hotel quieter than a hotel that was lacking in safety was no doubt a hotel that was haunted.

Especially a five-star luxury hotel located in the Miaowei land of Western Sichuan, the Golden Dragon Hotel would not allow anything supernatural-related to happen. Otherwise, they might have to close down their business.

That was the reason why Dong Qifeng didn’t report to the police even after finding out about the strange event as he knew the risks of the matter. As he heard what Xu Dongliang had just suggested, his heart was jolted and said in hesitation, “But…but this is related to the guests’ personal safety after all…”

“Nevermind, let us try that.”

Since it was decided, Dong Qifeng didn’t hesitate any longer. He then quickly instructed the staff to carefully move Zhang Lisheng and Lili into the vacant Room B4507 that was diagonal to Room B4506 by carrying their arms and legs.

After preparing cold water with ice floating in it, he raised the cup and asked while looking at Xu Dongliang with hesitation, “Director Xu, should I pour it right away or…”

Xu Dongliang snatched the cup over without saying a word and filled a mouthful of water from half of the cup in his mouth. He then spat directly onto Lili’s face and proceeded to turn his head towards Zhang Lisheng who was by the bed then spat the remaining iced water all over his face.

After ice-cold water was spat on their heads, Lili let out a soft moan all of a sudden. Meanwhile, Zhang Lisheng who was pretending to be unconscious opened his eyes immediately.

“Director, the ambulance is here. Also, the guard says that Director Li has arrived at the lobby.” Coincidentally, a staff ran into Room B4507 in a panic and whispered into Dong Qifeng’s ear.

“Director Xu, Director Li and the car 120 is here. Which one of us should report to him…” Dong Qifeng snapped out of his daze from Xu Dongliang’s rough but effective action and said softly.

“You go, I’ll be here watching.”

“Alright, Director Xu. Please watch here, for now, I’ll be right back.”

Dong Qifeng who had always looked down on Xu Dongliang because he was big and rugged, whose director position came from nepotism said genuinely this time, “I’ll explain to Director Li when I meet him at the lobby. You’ll have the biggest credit if the incident can be resolved successfully.”

He then smiled at the two guests who looked extremely lost lying on the bed in a friendly manner then turned around to leave the room quickly.

Lili was stunned for quite some time as there was a lot of hotel staff going in and out of the room when she woke up. She then asked with her hoarse voice, “What happened? Please, anybody, please tell me what happened here?”

“Oh right, my child. My child! Where’s my child!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as she spoke.

“Please calm down, Ma’am. Your child is on the bed next to you, you’ll see him as soon as you turn your head.”

Xu Dongliang whose looks and body size were very rugged imitated how Dong Qifeng was towards guests, he then said while smiling, “I’m sorry, a little accident happened here but everything is fine now.”

At the same time, Zhang Lisheng who was on the other bed said loudly, “I’m fine, mother.”

Hearing her son’s voice, Lili turned around and looked at Zhang Lisheng. It was clear that she was relieved after seeing that he was doing alright. She then closed her eyes slowly and took a rest.

Later on, Lili tried her best to sit up straight on the bed so that she would not look as tired and clumsy. She said with all seriousness on her face, “Sir, you should feel fortunate that my child is fine.”

“Alright, we can talk now. What kind of accident exactly happened here?”

Handling such typical career lady from the American metropolis was not Xu Dongliang’s expertise. As soon as Lili’s experienced threatening manner came off, he began to stammer in order to delay time, “It’s like that…today…well today…”

“What happened today came from our hotel management’s oversight which allowed a thief to invade your room and brought mental damage to you and your family.”

“For that, our hotel would like to apologize to you sincerely.” The double bedroom suite Room B4507’s door was opened out of nowhere while Dong Qifeng walked into the room accompanying a decent and elegant middle-aged man in Chinese traditional costume. He then got Xu Dongliang out of the situation by saying, “This is Mr. Li Longhua, our Chengdu Golden Dragon Hotel’s general manager.”

“Director Li is hoping to communicate with you genuinely to solve this incident completely as much as we can.”

Lili then said in a straightforward manner, “I understand that as a hotel, you guys don’t want to report the incident to the police and hope to solve it privately…”

“Yes, Ma’am Lili. Please understand that as a five-star foreign hotel, we ‘Golden Dragon’ don’t wish to leave a spot as a hotel that’s lacking safety.”

“I supposed you’re in a rush to return home since you’re checking out tomorrow?” It was the Golden Dragon Hotel’s general manager Li Longhua who was speaking. He spoke concisely into business directly while smiling confidently.

“That’s right. If my son’s document can be done successfully tomorrow, we’re indeed planning to return to New York tomorrow.”

“We can purchase the plane tickets from Chengdu to New York anytime we want,” Lili said honestly and in all seriousness without the attempt of blackmailing or negotiating, “However, I would still have to look into your hotel’s responsibility for the other hotel guests’ safety. I’m sorry.”

“What a thought that’s very social morality-centered. If that’s the case, let’s change our way of communication.”

“Ma’am Lili, the incident that you experienced this time might not come from our hotel’s negligence of security system solely.”

“There’s something, hmm, how do I say this? Something…some very unique marks in the scene,” Li Longhua said tactfully.

What Li Longhua said made Lili’s face pale all of a sudden. She covered her mouth with her hand to suppress the fear within her. After calming herself down by force, she said with her shaky voice, “Alright, I understand Mr. Li. If that’s the case, let’s forget about the whole thing.”

“Please leave, I would like to rest.”

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Li Longhua said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Ma’am Lili. I’m really sorry.”

“Your room and all room services charges for the last two days that you will be staying here will be taken care off by the hotel. Apart from that, our hotel will get someone to send both of you to the airport in a private car tomorrow. Goodbye.” He then backed out of the room together with all of the other hotel staff.

Let’s skip the formalities in such a situation, how is it going?” Xu Dongliang calmed down his emotion a while and asked after looking around the strange scene in the room.

Dong Qifeng said while forcing a smile, “What happened is that the guests are unconscious, the floor to ceiling window is broken, there’re footprints and an unknown chemical mucus with a disgusting stench all over the ceiling and walls.”

“It doesn’t look like a robbery or a theft, the most logical speculation would be the person who beaten our hotel staff until he was unconscious this afternoon disguised as a staff and poisoned the guests after entering Room B4506.”

“After poisoning the guests to their unconsciousness, the criminal stayed in the room for over ten hours. During the period of time, he used a bamboo pole to raise his shoes to imprint his footprints all over the walls and ceiling then splat chemical mucus all over the place.”

“As the night came, this lunatic broke the floor to ceiling window before escaping with the attempt to freeze our guests to death.”

Xu Dongliang wore a solemn expression on his face and walked to Zhang Lisheng and Lili who were covered with duvets for a better look. He then said slowly, “Director Dong, maybe the criminal broke the window to escape instead of trying to freeze the guests to death.”

Dong Qifeng thought Xu Dongliang was trying to lighten the difficult situation like he did while he nodded and said after sighing, “Yea, it could be.”

“I’ve reported the incident to Director Li, he’s on his way.”

“The victims are American guests, we’re too passive.”

“Although anyone who could afford to stay at the Golden Dragon Hotel is rich, foreign guests are much more difficult to handle compared to local guests when accidents happened. Especially Americans who like to stir things up and hire a lawyer for legal action easily.”

Although the incident was the reality, it was something that the ex-soldier Xu Dongliang most unwilling to hear. He said in all seriousness, “We’re in the passive situation no matter which country the guests are from.”

“Also, I wasn’t joking with you just now Director Dong. An over one million yuan Porsche Cayenne in the parking lot downstairs was completely smashed just now.”

“I heard from Lao Li who’s in-charge of the parking lot said that someone fell from the building and ran away after smashing the car.”

“The location of the parked car was coincidentally right below the Room B4506’s floor to ceiling window.”

“What?”

“Somebody broke the tempered glass here then jumped and smashed a car.”

“To save cost, our hotel’s car park only have one security guard looking after the cars after the night shift ended. In the end, he let the criminal escaped just like that because he was scared.”

“Director － Director Xu, this is 45th floor.”

“I know. That’s why we shouldn’t be able to stop him even if we hired a couple more people to look after the cars.” Xu Dongliang squat down and touched around Zhang Lisheng and Lili’s face and neck carefully. He went closer and sniffed and eventually said in relief, “Fortunately nothing major happened to the guests.”

“The lady seemed to have her nose covered with ether while the boy might be… Hmm? Why is he hugging a toad…”

Hearing Xu Dongliang talking about the guests, Dong Qifeng realized that now was not the time to think about other matters so he said immediately, “Let’s ignore why is he hugging a toad, Director Xu. How’s the boy?”

Xu Dongliang looked closely at Zhang Lisheng for a while and said while wearing a curious expression, “Maybe he passed out from the scare, there’s also a possibility that he passed out from being hit at the back of his head. The issue isn’t serious, we should be able to wake them up by splashing cold water on their faces.”

“Are you sure, Director Xu?”

“I have 80% －90% confidence that it’ll work. Why don’t we try it? If we managed to wake them up, we don’t even have to send them to the hospital for first-aid.”

When a guest suffered personal injury in the hotel room, making the incident big was no doubt the last resort for the hotel. After all, how could they expect customers to come if they could not even guarantee the tourists’ safety?

Regarding the stinky smell scattered on the ground and walls, the mucus that left pieces of marks from the corrosion on the wallpapers, the mysterious footprints on the walls and ceiling and the car that was smashed at the parking lot, it was best for them to clear those matters low-key immediately. It would be best for them to not mention those at all.

One should know that a hotel that could be quieter than a hotel that was lack of safety was no doubt a hotel that was haunted.

Especially a five-star luxury hotel located in the Miaowei land of Western Sichuan, the Golden Dragon Hotel would definitely not allowed anything supernatural-related to happen. Otherwise, they might have to close down their business.

That was the reason why Dong Qifeng did not report to the police after finding out about the strange event as he knew the stakes of the matter. As he heard what Xu Dongliang had just suggested, his heart was jolted and said in hesitation, “B-But this is related to the guests’ personal safety after all…”

“Nevermind, let us try that.”

Since it was decided, Dong Qifeng did not hesitate any longer. He then quickly instructed the staff to move Zhang Lisheng and Lili into the vacant Room B4507 that was diagonal to Room B4506 carefully by carrying their arms and legs.

After preparing cold water with ice floating in it, he raised the cup and asked while looking at Xu Dongliang with hesitation, “Director Xu, should I pour it right away or…”

Xu Dongliang snatched the cup over without saying a word and filled a mouthful of water from half of the cup in his mouth. He then spat directly onto Lili’s face and proceeded to turn his head towards Zhang Lisheng who was by the bed then spat the remaining iced water all over his face.

Under the iced cold water that was spat on their heads, Lili let out a soft moan for a while all of the sudden. Meanwhile, Zhang Lisheng who was pretended to be unconscious opened his eyes directly.

“Director, the ambulance is here. Also, the guard says that Director Li has arrived at the lobby.” Coincidentally, a staff ran into Room B4507 in panic and said into Dong Qifeng’s ear.

“Director Xu, Director Li and the car 120 is here. Which one of us should report to him…” Dong Qifeng snapped out of his stun from Xu Dongliang’s rough but effective action and said softly.

“You go, I’ll be here watching.”

“Alright, Director Xu. Please watch here for now, I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll explain to Director Li when I meet him at the lobby. You’ll have the biggest credit if the incident can be resolved successfully.” Dong Qifeng who had always slightly looked down on Xu Dongliang who was big and rugged whose director position came from nepotism said genuinely this time.

He then smiled at the two guests who looked extremely lost lying on the bed in a friendly manner then turned around and left the room hastily.

Lili was stunned for quite some time as there were many hotel staff going in and out of the room when she woke up. She then asked with her hoarse voice, “What happened? Please, anybody, please tell me what happened here?”

“Oh right, my child. My child! Where’s my child!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as she spoke.

“Please calm down, Ma’am. Your child is on the bed next to you, you’ll see him as soon as you turn your head.”

“I’m sorry, a little accident happened here but everything is fine now.” Xu Dongling whose look and body size were very rugged imitated how Dong Qifeng usually was and said while smiling.

“I’m fine, mother.” At the same time, Zhang Lisheng who was on the other bed said loudly.

Hearing her son’s voice, Lili turned around and looked at Zhang Lisheng. It was clear that she was relieved after seeing that he was doing alright. She then closed her eyes drowsily and took a rest.

Later on, Lili tried her best to sit up straight on the bed so that she would not look as tired and clumsy. She said with all seriousness on her face, “Sir, you should feel fortunate that my child is fine.”

“Alright, we can talk now. What kind of accident exactly happened here?”

Handing such typical career lady from the America metropolis was not Xu Dongliang’s expertise. As soon as Lili’s experienced threatening manner came off, he began to stammer in order to delay time, “It’s like that… Today… well today…”

“What happened today came from our hotel management’s oversight which allowed a thief to invade your room and caused mental stress to you and your family.”

“For that, our hotel would like to apologize to you sincerely.” The double bedroom suite Room B4507’s door was opened out of nowhere while Dong Qifeng walked into the room accompanying a decent and elegant middle-aged man in Chinese traditional costume. He then got Xu Dongliang out of the situation by saying, “This is Mr. Li Longhua, our Chengdu Golden Dragon Hotel’s general manager.”

“Director Li is hoping to communicate with you genuinely to solve this incident completely as much as we can.”

Lili then said in a straightforward manner, “I understand that as a hotel, you guys don’t want to report the incident to the police and hope to solve it privately…”

“Yes, Ma’am Lili. Please understand that as a five-star foreign hotel, we ‘Golden Dragon’ don’t wish to leave a spot as a hotel that’s lack of safety.”

“I supposed you’re in a rush to return home since you’re checking out tomorrow?” It was the Golden Dragon Hotel’s general manager Li Longhua who was speaking. He spoke concisely into business directly while smiling confidently.

“That’s right. If my son’s document can be done successfully tomorrow, we’re indeed planning to return to New York tomorrow.”

“We can purchase the plane tickets from Chengdu to New York anytime we want.” Lili said honestly and in all seriousness without the attempt of blackmailing or negotiating, “However, I would still have to look into your hotel’s responsibility for the other hotel guests’ safety. I’m sorry.”

“What a thought that’s very social morality-centered. If that’s the case, let’s change our way of communication.”

“Ma’am Lili, the incident that you experienced this time might not come from our hotel’s negligence of security system solely.”

“There’s something, hmm, how do I say this? Something… Some very unique marks in the scene…” Li Longhua said tactfully.

The simple sentence made Lili’s face pale all of a sudden. She covered her mouth with her hand to suppress the fear within her. After calming herself down by force, she said with her shaky voice, “Alright, I understand Mr. Li. If that’s the case, let’s forget about the whole thing.”

“Please leave, I would like to rest.”

Li Longhua said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Ma’am Lili. I’m really sorry.”

“Your room and all room services charges for the two days that you stayed here will be complimentary for you. Apart from that, our hotel will get someone to send both of you to the airport in a private car tomorrow.” Goodbye.” He then backed out of the room together with all of the other hotel staff.