66 Quiet Town

After vomiting to his heart's content, Luke felt weak because he was basically throwing up the things he been eating until this time. Wobbly leaned against the van. Luke weakly requested, "Senior Arian, give me a tissue and a bottle of water, please."

Handing Luke two-piece of wet tissue and a bottle of water, Arian said, "Take your time. We could be considered in the safe area anyway."

Understanding what Arian means, Luke nodded his head and thanking him, "Thank you."

Afterward, Luke wiped his mouth and began to gargle his mouth before drinking the water normally.

As he drinks the water, his gaze couldn't help but turn onto the forest direction where only thick trees could be seen as far as the eye could see. He wondered what creature pursued them before. He was immediately frightened to the extent he couldn't identify what roar does that belong to. A lion? A wolf? Who knows what kind of beast resides in that forest.

Chasing that thought off, Luke tidied up his appearance before entering the vehicle once again. Closing the door, Luke asked, "Where should we stay tonight? On the van, or the hotel?"

In movies Luke watched, he often saw the detective characters always stayed in their vehicle to observe their target. So, since this an infiltration mission, the best idea would be silently monitoring our target from the darkness, right? Wait...

"Senior Arian, is this really an infiltration mission? Because for me, it's looking more like we're executing an investigation mission."

"Huh? Didn't I tell you before?" Arian turned to face Luke with a slightly bewildered face.

Seeing Luke shaking his head, Arian heaved a sigh before turning his attention to the city ahead of them, "We're no longer performing infiltration mission due to classified circumstances. Didn't you notice I was changing our route when we across Lark City borderline?"

Struck dumb by Arian's word, Luke could only blankly shake his head while silently thinking, 'How would I know? I was asleep on the entire journey..'

"Anyway, about your question earlier. Are you sure about spending the night at the van? Even after getting chased by that crea-"

"No!!" Luke quickly cut Arian's sentence off before he was able to finish. Remembering how dreadful that situation is, he obviously didn't want to stay any longer in this area. Tugging Arian's clothes furiously, Luke demanded, "Come on! Drive the van inside."

Brushing Luke's arm off from his hand, Arian rolled his eyes at him, "That was my intention."

Switching on the engine, Arian began to drove the van toward the insides of the city. As they entered, their sight was immediately greeted by the view of a quiet street. No passerby was visible within their vision. The only sound produced in the serene area was the sound of the van moving.

"How come there are no people here? The light is on, though." Luke muttered in doubt when suddenly, one after another windows on each house spread out.

Followed it, figures belonged to the resident gradually emerged. The light of each house had just enough to illuminate the resident's faces. Their gazes contained nothing but blank as they stared at the van.

"What's this? Is this kind of special way to greet people version Ryte City?" Luke said jokingly to ease the atmosphere.

"Probably." Arian shortly replied after scanned the surrounding.

"Hey! That's a hotel!" Luke pointed at the three-storey building where a wooden board with carved word HOTEL was placed highly in front of the building with a wooden pole as its foundation.

Driving the car over there, Arian parked the car before shutting down the engine. Seeing Arian didn't bother to mention the devices on the van's backside, Luke quickly stepped out of the car while carrying his backpack and gently closed the door.

"Don't lower your vigilances." Arian warning entered his ears.

Agreeing silently, Luke positioned himself beside Arian and climbed the stairs leading to the hotel's entrance door. Entering through a medieval Europe looking door, Luke was awestruck by the hotel's interior. The hotel was designed in the Victorian style, giving gothic vibes. In front of him was another stair that led into a second floor, while on the respectively right and left side of his lead to another hallway. Realizing the dining room was on the right side, Luke and Arian goes on the left way and immediately went to the receptionist's desk.

A young-girl probably around age 16 instantly greeted them as soon as her eyes landed on them. Her hair was bundled in a neat bun, exposing her white slender neck. Although she somewhat sounds cheerful when she greeted them, her eyes didn't seem to act like so, and her lips were slightly trembling and pale. Many people said the mouth might lie, but never the eyes. At this moment, Luke probably able to relate to that saying.

"Hello! How may I help you?" She greeted them with a smile.

"Give us one room with preferable on the second floor and closest to the nearest window." Arian simply ordered.

The girl nodded at his words before responding, "Sure, wait for a moment, sir. Let me check if such a room still available."

As she retreated, Luke eyed her in confusion because she is moving sluggishly like a robot.

"What's she doing?" Luke whispered.

"I don't know. Maybe she's born this way. " Arian shrugged his shoulders.

They waited for a minute before the girl returned with a single key room, "The room with your preference is available. It's a room numbered 707 and priced 20$ for a night."

(Should I make a new currency or just stayed at $ to make your reading experience goes easier? Lemme know your thought on the comments! ^^)

Handing the exact money, Arian grabbed the key while the girl bowed her head slightly, "Enjoy your rest~"

Thanking the girl, Luke soon followed after Arian. Along the walls, various paintings were portrayed. From landscape, animals, famous heroes, etc. Arrived on the second-floor, Luke almost fell on his butt due to the shock he received upon looking what's in front of him.

It was another painting. But instead of a landscape, it was a painting of a little girl wearing a red gown while smiling. The horrifying thing is, the girl's eyes were hollow, with blood seeped from the same eyes. Just then, he saw the girl's smile changed into an evil smirk. Unconsciously, Luke shrieked and clutched at the edge of Arian's shirt, "Ahh!!"

Witnessing how Luke hauling and acting like a little girl, Arian frowned his eyebrows in annoyance and said in cold tone, "Let go!"

Hesitating for a moment, Luke finally released his grip upon looking Arian was about to explode. Tremblingly, Luke pointed at the painting, "She smirked at me before."

Flatten his crumpled shirt, Arian rolling his eyes at Luke, "Stop imagining nonsense. It just a painting, what can she do to you? Let's go to our room."

Without waiting for Luke's response, he starts walking away.

"Hey! Wait!" Luke quickly stood up and started to run, chasing after Arian's figure.

What Luke fails to notice is that the previous smile turned into an evil smirk once again.

Inserting the key inside the doorknob, Arian slowly pushed the door forward, generating a creaking sound. The second Luke surveyed the room, he complained annoyedly when his eyes landed in a particular direction, "Oh, come on!!"