HHH Chapter 49

“Haunted?” Little Thin Fish’s face showed a surprised expression, “This place is haunted?”

Seeing that her expression didn’t seem fake, and that if it were, she wouldn’t have almost jumped into his arms like a deer, Ningma said, half-covering up, “I just think the atmosphere here is quite strong, like filming a ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio’ ghost story. So, what were you going to say?”

“Now that you mention it…” Little Thin Fish rubbed her nose, “Maybe it really is haunted.”

“What did you hear?” Ningma never had much patience for riddle-like conversations. “If you don’t tell me, I’m leaving.”

“Actually, it’s nothing,” Little Thin Fish glanced at the weed-filled wasteland, “Someone dumped a dead infant here at the end of last year, just born, and the blood hadn’t even been wiped off.”

“A dead infant?” He had thought of many possibilities, but this was the last thing he expected. Seeing Little Thin Fish’s tense face, which didn’t seem like she was joking, he asked strangely, “Didn’t you just come here two months ago? How do you know about something that happened last year?”

“Never mind that,” Little Thin Fish moved a little closer to Ningma. Just then, a breeze swept through the weeds, making a “rustling” sound. “Just trust me, this area is very strange. No one from the hotel ever dares to come here alone.”

“It seems like you’re more like a hotel employee than those who don’t dare to come. I guess a lot of people don’t know as much as you do,” Ningma said with a smile. “Did they ever find out where the dead infant came from?”

Little Thin Fish shook her head. “It wasn’t discovered until several days after it was dumped. The body was almost completely black. After the body collectors took it away, nothing more was said. I guess it involves the hotel’s reputation. If they couldn’t find out what happened at the time, it’s even less likely that anyone would follow up later.”

“Maybe,” Ningma echoed. “But at least there should be some investigation, right?”

“Investigation?” Little Thin Fish said uncertainly, “It seems like the police concluded that someone abandoned the child and threw it in from outside the fence.”

“From the hotel? Threw it outside?” Ningma looked puzzled. “If they were throwing it out from inside, why not just dig a hole and bury it? Why make it so complicated? What’s the benefit of throwing it outside? To frame the hotel?”

“I don’t know,” Little Thin Fish shrugged. “But the hotel didn’t suffer much. Not many people even know about it. I’m just close to one of the waitresses, and she told me after she heard about it. Actually, maybe it’s all fake, who knows.”

“Like every school is built on top of a graveyard?” Ningma thought of the ghost stories that circulated when he lived at school. He had attended three middle schools, and each dormitory had a similar, cookie-cutter horror story.

“Hehe, that’s very possible,” Little Thin Fish’s eyes curved into crescents. “By the way, Uncle, how did you think of running over here, and with a crutch? Did you fall?”

Ningma really wanted to say that she also had a part in him getting trapped in the stairwell. If he hadn’t run into her in the business district, he wouldn’t have been thinking about finding a restroom instead of going back to the hotel earlier. But he simply said, “Yeah, I wasn’t careful and fell.”

“You really are too careless,” Little Thin Fish looked at the gloomy sky. “Let’s go back, Uncle. It’s noon already. Come on, to repay your kindness, I’ll take you somewhere to eat. It’s on me!”

Ningma straightened his head. This girl had just borrowed several thousand yuan from him, and now she was going to treat him. It seemed like she came from a wealthy family and didn’t have much of a concept of money.

But the next sentence immediately stunned Ningma for two seconds. Little Thin Fish said with a hint of triumph, “I’ll take you to the hotel’s employee cafeteria. It’s free!”

Employee cafeteria?

Little Thin Fish supported Ningma while chattering non-stop: “Uncle, let me tell you, you have to watch my eyes and act accordingly. Don’t get caught, or we’ll be beaten out with sticks!”

Ningma was a little dumbfounded. Finally, he turned his head and looked at the two buildings revealing their facades behind him, plus a small clump of weeds. “Hearing me say this, you thought it was fine, but now we might get beaten out?”

“It’s okay,” Little Thin Fish said reassuringly with a serious face. “I’ve calculated that there are about two hundred employees in this hotel. Even more during the peak tourist season. It seems like they also get support from other places. But right now, there aren’t many tourists, so there are at least a hundred employees!”

“Uh-huh, and then?” The drainage ditch was narrow, and Little Thin Fish was almost leaning half her weight on Ningma.

“They have two employee restaurants,” Little Thin Fish counted them off one by one, “One of them is in the room behind the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel lobby. All the front desk staff, waiters, lobby managers, oh, and the bosses eat there. You know, the ones who wear suits and ties.”

Ningma roughly understood what Little Thin Fish was talking about. “And the other one?”

“The other one is where the logistics staff, repairmen, cleaners, movers, and laundry workers eat,” Little Thin Fish listed a bunch. “It’s in a small room behind the central kitchen. You’d never find it if you hadn’t been there!”

“Let me guess,” Ningma had a bad feeling. “The one you’re taking me to is the second one?”

“Correct!” Little Thin Fish said excitedly. “I’ve been here for several months. I’m an ‘old-timer’ here. I can go wherever I want!”

“So I’m a ‘newbie’?” Ningma was speechless. If she was an “old-timer,” what was she afraid of being “beaten out with sticks”? It didn’t seem reliable at all. Was this girl digging a hole for him?

“Ah ya!” Little Thin Fish turned her head, and the two almost touched. “Uncle also plays LOL? What’s your rank?”

“Never mind what my rank is,” Ningma asked, both annoyed and amused, “Everyone who eats in the employee restaurant is an employee. I’m not an employee, so how can you bring someone who’s even less likely to be an employee to eat?”

“You don’t know,” Even though there wasn’t a ghost in sight for a hundred meters around, Little Thin Fish still lowered her voice and said, “It’s because there are so many people in the hotel. A lot of them don’t know each other.”

“…” Ningma felt a headache coming on. “You say, Little Miss, faces become familiar after seeing them a couple of times. How many people can there be in a hotel? You see them every day. Are you assuming everyone is like you, with the memory of a goldfish, only seven seconds long?”

“That…” Little Thin Fish was stunned. “Are you saying that when I go in to eat, they all know, but no one cares?”

“Yeah,” Ningma sighed, “They’re not bothering with me. Adding one more or subtracting one doesn’t make a difference. Chasing me out wouldn’t do any good for those lower-level employees. They’re just letting me continue to act like a transparent person and come in.”

“Oh my god!” Little Thin Fish looked terrified. “No wonder I noticed a lot of people were looking at me when I went to eat. I thought it was because I was cute.”

“…” Ningma was completely speechless. As they were talking, they had already detoured out of the business district. The hotel’s side door was not far away.

“Then I’d better not go,” Little Thin Fish said dejectedly. “So everyone’s been treating me like an idiot.”

Ningma patted Little Thin Fish’s head. “It’s okay, they probably like me too.”

Hearing this, Little Thin Fish became happy again. “Definitely. When I go to get more food, the auntie lets me take as much as I want.”

Ningma smiled and didn’t respond. He dragged his injured leg and took two more steps, then suddenly remembered, “Wait! Where did I say the second employee restaurant was?”

Little Thin Fish didn’t react for a moment, “Ah, in a room behind the central kitchen.”

“Is that in the basement?” Ningma continued to ask.

“Yes, that’s right,” Little Thin Fish was still a little confused.

“Take me there!” Ningma said without allowing any refusal.

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