HHH Chapter 14

The two walked side-by-side towards the third-floor staircase. Ningma momentarily lost himself in flights of fancy, but quickly suppressed them. Although he inwardly hoped something would happen, it might develop in an unexpected direction.

After all, it was a dark and starry night, and an adult man and woman were heading out in search of alcohol…

As a result—rounding the corner on the second floor, Ningma realized he was completely overthinking it.

All that stood before them was an iron gate, with an A4 paper sign printed and pasted on it: Bar under maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience!

It felt strangely familiar. He immediately recalled the one hanging on the wall of the swimming pool that he almost hadn’t surfaced from that morning. Except for the first few words, everything else was exactly the same.

“Uncle, come quickly!” the girl said, stepping up to the gate first. There should have been a hidden lock at the top of the door, but with her push, it slid to one side, revealing a gap just wide enough to squeeze through.

“The bar is under maintenance,” Ningma called out, not wanting a repeat of the morning’s adventure. “Besides, there can’t be anyone inside.”

“Maintenance my foot!” the girl said, squeezing through. “It’s because it’s the off-season and there aren’t many tourists. The hotel leaves this place open all night, but no one comes, so they simply close it to save electricity.”

“How do you know so much?” Ningma hesitated but followed her through, the gap just wide enough to squeeze through.

“You’ve been here for almost a month,” the girl said, standing by the door. “Running away from home, isn’t that a solo elopement?”

“A solo? Elopement?” Ningma was taken aback, then casually asked, “What elopement?”

“This way,” the girl said, turning on the flashlight function on her phone to illuminate the dimly lit corridor. “It’s dark here, but it’ll be fine once we get through.”

Ningma looked at the dark corridor in front of him. The originally white walls were covered in colorful graffiti. Calling it a bar was perhaps more accurate to call it a disco, at least the exaggerated hip-pop patterns around him were closer to the theme—primal impulse.

“Are you saying I eloped?” Ningma also turned on his flashlight. The passage was bizarrely illuminated, but it wasn’t completely dark. At least the fluorescent green escape signs every few meters were lit.

“Ah, don’t mention it,” the girl said from ahead, her voice coming from the front. “It’s already 2022, haven’t you heard of being pressured to marry? I’m only 26 years old, and I don’t want to die yet!”

“Live?” Ningma didn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t getting married death? And it’s to someone you don’t even like, facing a stranger’s face every day, isn’t that death?” the girl said indignantly. “So, I simply took out all the money I saved from working after graduation, found the furthest place from home, traveled and played all the way, and finally ended up here.”

“…”

“I don’t want to wander around anymore after I get here,” the girl continued. “I’ll call home when I run out of money. If they don’t surrender, I’ll wash dishes here! Anyway—absolutely—not going back!”

“…”

Ningma understood the general idea. Her “solo elopement” was actually caused by being forced to marry. But he had never been one to meddle in other people’s business, so he would just listen at most.

“Uncle, why aren’t you talking?” the girl suddenly turned her head. “How old do you think I am this year?”

“Ah? Me?” Ningma smiled and said, “43 years old, not married, no children. If I had any, they’d be like you…”

“Like me how?” the girl aimed the phone’s light at Ningma, threateningly asking, “How? How?”

Ningma shook his head and smiled, “I guess I’d be pretty mad.”

“Serves you right!” the girl turned around. “You’re not a radish or cabbage at the market, no one can manipulate you, including your parents, humph! Oh well—we’re here!” As she spoke, she walked to the corner and flipped a row of switches.

“Where is it?” Ningma poked his head out, not expecting to see a terrace of at least a hundred square meters. It was made of glass, and as the dim lights came on, a ring of milky white light strips lit up around it, creating a romantic atmosphere even in the dark, especially with the red heart-shaped sculpture at least a meter tall in the center of the terrace.

In the distance, a row of illuminated screens read: “Witness your hateful vows in the human paradise! Do I?”

If he wasn’t mistaken, this should be a novelty specially created by the hotel, allowing couples who come to travel to leave behind a beautiful memory, and incidentally post it on their social media to generate traffic.

“Uncle, wait a moment,” the girl ran to the corner again before Ningma could react, returning with a selfie stick that could be fixed to the ceiling.

The girl adjusted the selfie stick and said, “Uncle, let’s take a photo together. Don’t worry, I’ll P your face out and replace it with Z-gege’s.”

“…” Ningma was speechless again. “Z-gege” was a very popular young idol, whose new drama advertisements covered the sky and the earth. He looked terribly effeminate, but the young girls ate it up.

In other words, he was going to act as a background board this time, no wonder the girl preparing on the side looked so excited.

He thought something might happen, but it turned out he was just a tool. But since he was already there, he might as well do a good deed to the end.

“Uncle,” the girl said with a bright smile, “Please take the picture seriously, I’m going to send it to our little group. It would be great if it looked real!”

“…Okay,” Ningma sighed and followed instructions.

The girl put her phone on the selfie stick, adjusting various filters, feeling like she wasn’t satisfied with any of them. “Uncle, can you go over there first? I want to see the overall brightness when I put someone in.”

Ningma sighed again and walked onto the terrace. The terrace floor was made of tempered glass, extending out from the building, and the overhead covering was also pieced together with transparent glass. Every step felt like he was treading on eggshells.

The rain on the glass ceiling continued incessantly, the raindrops hitting the glass making a hoarse and dense “whoosh” sound. Looking up, with the help of the dim light, he could see the almost tangible darkness, except for the fleeting bursts of light from the rain.

“It’s quite pretty here in the dark,” the girl said with regret as she adjusted the photo mode. “It’s a pity I didn’t meet Uncle in the dark. By the way, is Uncle here for tourism? Few people go in the rainy season!”

“Here?” Ningma walked a few steps to the red heart-shaped pattern, and only when he got closer did he realize that the entire shape was bent from steel bars as thick as fingers, with the outermost layer wrapped in rose garlands.

“A little bit to the right?” the girl gestured while staring at the phone under the stand. “A little bit more to the right? Hey? No, Uncle, I’ll go around to the front, the back is blocked by the photo, and I can’t even tell that the heart is anything.”

“Oh,” Ningma felt like a wooden puppet at this moment, acting according to the command lines. He walked behind the red heart and shouted, “Is this okay?”

“A little dark,” the girl raised her head. “Uncle, can you bring your head a little closer? Right, right! Closer, um, very good, a little bit more to the middle, great job, try leaning on it? It looks like it’s completely attached to the heart.”

“…”

He was stuck on a tiger, Ningma had no choice but to change his posture little by little according to instructions. When he heard “try leaning on the heart,” he leaned half his body over as instructed—

But he didn’t expect!

The entire red heart sculpture wasn’t fixed to the ceiling. As the weight of his body was added, the red heart suddenly tilted backward. Ningma reacted and immediately pulled it in his direction. The red heart then shifted forward, and in theory, it should have oscillated back and forth a few times before returning to its original position, since it wasn’t completely stressed…

But the next second, the red heart, made entirely of steel bars, collapsed uncontrollably, and several hundred pounds of weight crashed straight down on Ningma!

A pile of scattered steel bars wouldn’t be a problem, at most it would crush a foot, but the problem was—

The floor under his feet wasn’t tile or solid wood, but glass! And it was three stories high, suspended outside in the air!

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