The Innkeeper

Somewhere upstate New York in a mansion an old man sat in a meditation stance, holding a golden key in his hand trying to absorb spirit energy. The key would allow spirit energy to enter his body, and even pass through the meridians, but none of it was absorbed. It was like a teasing sensation, one that dangled his greatest desires in front of him, but kept them out of reach.

Will let out a defeated sigh as he finally gave up. It was obvious to him, the key was whispering to him that it held the possibility that he yearned for, but to grasp it the old man would have to use the key instead of trying to derive benefits from it directly. But did he have the courage to use it?

He could barely walk on his own, much less face any difficulties so it was impossible for him to use the key and search for opportunities. But who could he trust to use the key for him and search for opportunities on his behalf? His “niece” who he got the key from was not a cultivator, otherwise he would trust her enough to do this for him. The old man had children of his own, but honestly he did not trust their competence. They’d grown up privileged and sheltered, akin to a plant in a greenhouse. Even if it was their intention to help him, he could not rely on their competence. He could hire someone, but how trustworthy was a hired hand when it came to treasure?

Truly a conundrum, and one he had to solve if he ever wanted to recover his former cultivation. The old man sighed again, and called for a nurse to help him. There was one trick he could use to resolve the situation, but he did not want to use it unless he had no choice, for it would truly put him on death’s door.

*****

Somewhere on Vegus Minima, two soldiers were running desperately through a forest. For someone at their cultivation level of peak Qi Training it was unusual for them to be so out of sorts, but it was apparent from their appearance that they had just been through a fight. Something peculiar about them though was the fact that they were covered in flashlights and bells. As they ran they made endless noise and attracted all the zombies in the area. They were on a suicide mission. As far as weapons were concerned, they both only carried a single sword and an explosive each. The sword was for fighting and the explosive was for when they could no longer fight.

Their mission was to attract as many zombies as possible so that the caravan they were with could safely pass through. They used to all belong to a small, safe town protected by a resonance shield, but of all things an earthquake occurred and caused the building with the resonance shield to collapse. The town was no longer safe and they had to migrate immediately, and today was already their third day since they started their migration. These two soldiers were not the first suicide party that had set out, and it was the bravery of these suicide parties that allowed the caravan to travel relatively undetected by zombie hordes.

“Brother Chen, we have to set off the first explosive soon,” said one of the soldiers between ragged breaths. “If we get too far from the zombies we run the risk of losing their attention. We can use the noise from the explosion to attract their attention again.”

“You’re right, we should,” replied Brother Chen, finally coming to a stop. A close inspection of the man would show that he was bleeding from his shoulder and chest, where he was covered in scratches. They both knew what that meant, but neither mentioned it. It was not like they carried the illusion of escape in the first place.

“I’ll do it,” said Chen in a matter-of-fact way. “Help me tie these torches onto this tree, and then get as far as you can. I’ll set it off when the horde approaches.”

The other soldier only nodded, accepting what Brother Chen told and got to work. What the two of them didn’t know was that a short distance from them stood a tall, pole like zombie. It had undergone some mutations and grown to nine feet tall and was incredibly sleek, with claws that extended a foot long and teeth that barely fit in its mouth. It also had two horns protruding from its head. It observed the two soldiers work in silence. It analyzed their strength and condition, and then smiled when it realized that they were incredibly weak compared to it. Making no attempt to hide, it strode forward.

The sound of the zombie crossing through the thicket attracted the soldiers attention, horrifying them when they noticed the zombie.

“A peak tier 3 zombie!” Brother Chen shrieked.

The zombie made a grunting sound, as if enjoying their apparent panic, and slowed down its approach instead to savor their reaction. The zombie as well as the soldiers knew that the soldiers would not be able to escape.

“Brother Chen, if this zombie finds the caravan no one will survive,” said the soldier as he took out the explosive he was carrying. There was no need to deliberate, they knew what they had to do.

Brother Chen took out his explosive as well, his hands trembling a little from the adrenaline. Even though he knew they were going to die, at the moment of his death he still felt fear in his heart. The fear did not slow his actions, but he felt it none-the-less.

“Throw it when it reaches 10 feet,” Brother Chen whispered, “if we wait any longer, we might not get an opportunity to use it at all.”

The soldier nodded, getting ready, but before either of them could do anything a floating golden door appeared beside them, shining brilliantly. The soldiers froze in confusion, and so did the zombie.

The zombie felt a fatal attraction from the door, and lost all interest in the two soldiers. Moving as fast as it could, it attacked the two soldiers, instantly knocking them to the ground. Whether they were dead or alive was unknown. Then, with eyes filled with anticipation, the zombie moved towards the door. It dragged the two soldiers behind it, not forgetting to bring along its snack.

*****

It was 4 am and Lex was asleep on his sofa, in front of him his television played some random tv shows. Truth be told, although Lex had not noticed it, the sudden stress and anxiety from such a sudden near death experience, as well as the battered state of his body really did affect him strongly. Fortunately after a day of venting his emotions by playing games, watching tv and reading novels, as well as the recovery effects of Botlam Dew, he had stabilized his drained mental state.

“WAKE UP!” roared Mary suddenly, appearing before him in the air. “The Inn has new guests coming in, as well as a potential enemy!”

Mary’s roar scared Lex into jumping out of bed and grabbing a pillow, holding it close to himself as a self defense item as his brain worked overtime to understand what was happening. He was drowsy and confused, still unsure of what was going on.

“A zombie from Vegus Minima has entered the Inn through a golden door! You need to handle it quickly!” informed Mary, making Lex aware of the situation.

Immediately, Lex gathered himself and began the process to return to the Inn, using the few minutes wait to fully wake up. Not being able to return to the Inn instantly was a real hindrance. It seemed Lex had to focus on completing his quests quickly so that he could raise his authority level.

The moment he reappeared at the Inn he adorned the Host Attire and equipped the butterknife, appearing before the zombie that had appeared at the gate. It stood there in silence, observing its new surroundings, with two limp bodies in its hands.

Lex was tempted to directly attack the zombie and kill it, but as it had not yet shown any aggression the system categorized it as a guest and did not allow Lex to attack. Above the zombie it’s information was clearly visible to Lex.

Name: None

Power Level: Peak Tier-3 (equivalent to peak Foundation realm)

Species: Zombie (Bottom level demon)

Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet available

Internally Lex breathed a sigh of relief as even a Peak Foundation realm was still in the foundation realm, the Self Defence Butter Knife would still be able to handle it.

“This guest, it’s a bit rude to show up somewhere with two bloody bodies at someone’s door, don’t you think?” said Lex as he approached the zombie. He had no idea if the zombie could understand him, but it didn’t matter as his only goal was to agitate the zombie into action. Fortunately Bastet and Falak were still in their rooms, which were isolated from the rest of the Inn once the doors closed, so they did not have to witness the zombie. He didn’t want to discriminate against his guests, but he thought having zombies as guests would lower the prestige of the Inn, and he absolutely had to maintain the prestige of the Inn! He was depending on it to build a relationship with Bastet, and that was a very important part of his future plan.

Fortunately, his plan worked. Though even if he had not said anything the zombie would have acted soon. The moment Lex appeared in front of the zombie its instincts were screaming at it that if it managed to eat Lex it would benefit greatly! Completely dropping the two bodies on the ground it let out a roar and launched itself towards Lex. A pity for the zombie, while with his normal cultivation Lex would never be able to keep up with it, he was currently wearing the Host Attire which filled him with immense power. With a wave of his hand he launched the Butter Knife at the zombie, and literally as if it were a hot knife cutting through butter the knife pierced the zombies forehead and came out the other side.

The zombie dropped dead immediately, bringing the minor ordeal to a very anticlimactic end.

“Clean this up, Gerard,” Lex spoke out into the air, and the old looking butler appeared instantly to take care of the matter.

Just as Lex was about to leave, Gerard said, “Host, what about these two guests? They are still alive, though they might not be for much longer.”

With that, Lex brought his attention to the two “bodies” the zombie had brought with it and came to the realization that the system categorized them as guests as well. Two, almost dead, probably soon to become zombie guests.

Authers Note: This is the extra chapter you guys unlocked last week! Keep voting to unlock even more extra chapters!