Green Shade Inn is quite far from Vik University, located in the Rustu district in the southwest of the West District. Public carriages cannot reach it directly because they have to pass through an area with volatile Weather, which is very prone to extreme Weather events such as thunderstorms, Hurricanes, and even acid rain.
If ordinary people want to go there, they usually use a mode of transport called the Mine Rail Metro.
A long time ago, Daklan used to be a large mining area. The Old Faric people excavated crisscrossing underground mine tunnels here. Probably due to the need to seal the Evil God, the mines beneath Daklan were forbidden from further excavation, and the Blystone Kingdom continued this regulation. However, with the advancement of technology, about fifteen years ago, some existing mine tunnels were miraculously transformed into the Mine Rail Metro.
There is an entrance to the Mine Rail Metro in the nearby block, which is quite faithfully reproduced in the game. The entrance has icons of stairs and trains, making it easy to recognize.
The Mine Rail Metro operates until 9 PM. The price for riding the Mine Rail Metro is not expensive, and there are dedicated ticket sellers. It costs 5 vini for a single trip and 9 vini for a round trip, with no distance restrictions. The only downsides are that there are too few stations and no seats, requiring passengers to stand for the entire journey, which is not very friendly to some frail ladies and the elderly.
"Very advanced, but still needs improvement…" This was the fair assessment from the transmigrator Zhou Ning.
The journey was very smooth, and Zhou Ning arrived at the Rustu district metro station after more than twenty minutes.
As an area where different races gathered in Daklan City, the public security in the Rustu district was not good. Koen Avenue within it even had the nickname "Murderer's Avenue." As soon as Zhou Ning got off the carriage, his Observation Haki immediately detected five or six ill-intentioned gazes, but upon seeing Zhou Ning toying with a revolver in his hand, they immediately and voluntarily disappeared.
Green Shade Inn is located at No. 227 on the south end of Koen Avenue, at the entrance of Murderer's Avenue. Zhou Ning didn't encounter any trouble along the way and smoothly arrived at the Green Shade Inn's entrance.
Just like in the game, Green Shade Inn is a three-story building directly adjacent to the street curb beside the road. Zhou Ning adjusted the brim of his hat and leisurely walked into the hotel.
The reception counter was set up at the entrance. The front desk attendant was the same 50-something Northern woman from the game, with typical Northern features: a rugged appearance and a physique even larger than Zhou Ning's.
"Accommodation." Zhou Ning thought for a moment, walked to the counter, and said in a low voice.
The front desk woman didn't even lift her head, casually pushing a guest registration book across the table to Zhou Ning:
"Register first for accommodation. A large room is 4 currency per night, a small room is 2 currency per night. If you don't mind sharing, it's only 5 vini. Of course, if you share, you'll need to be wary of your money bag and your backside."
Zhou Ning: …How did he not know this woman was so fierce in his previous life?
"Give me a large room. And, I want one on the third floor."
Zhou Ning took out 4 currency from his pocket, stacked them on the table, took the registration book, filled in a random name, and then casually flipped through a few pages. He then saw the name "Elvie Belle" in the registration column for room 304, which should be Elvis's alias.
"Room 306. Remember to check out by noon tomorrow." The woman swept the money on the table into her hand and handed Zhou Ning a key.
Through the narrow, cramped, and dim stairwell, Zhou Ning walked up to the third floor. The corridor on the third floor ran east-west, with a total of ten rooms. Room 304 faced south, directly opposite 306.
Zhou Ning lightened his footsteps, walking almost silently to the outside of room 304, and listened intently.
After officially becoming a Transcendent as a Wandering Gunner, Zhou Ning's senses had significantly improved. Combined with his Observation Haki ability, he could clearly perceive that there was no movement or breathing in room 304, indicating no one else was inside.
After a moment of hesitation, he took Elvis's key from his pocket, inserted it into the keyhole, and gently twisted it. The door opened with a click. Zhou Ning couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
The window was open, but the room was still very hot, at least over 30 degrees Celsius. The room was empty and had a very normal hotel room layout: a bed, a row of wardrobes, a desk, a small sofa set, a full-length mirror, and a gas stove on the desk.
The room's owner had clearly left temporarily, as the expensive gas stove was still on, and its meter pointed to 36 currency. Even if one owned a mine, they couldn't afford to burn through money like that.
After circling the room, Zhou Ning lightened his steps and walked to the bedside. Near the full-length mirror, he found a suitcase. The suitcase was open, and on top of it was an ancient-looking small mirror.
The mirror itself wasn't special, but when he cast his gaze upon it, a panel appeared with a prompt:
Unknown Marvel [damian's ordinary mirror]: Allows you to have a mirror world that you can freely enter, exit, and explore on your own, or it might cause you to be replaced by a ghost from the mirror, forever lost within it. It originated from the Archmage Damian during the Era of the Four Heroes. He created this mirror by studying ancient texts and subsequently disappeared into it.
Effect One: Allows you to freely travel between the mirror world and the real world.
Effect Two:????
"This is it," Zhou Ning thought with joy, carefully reaching out his hand towards the mirror.
Upon contact, Zhou Ning was immediately struck by a chilling sense of danger. Shadows floated on the mirror, as if a monster inside was impatiently trying to break out.
Indeed, all unknown marvels in the Apocalypse World have their dangerous and eerie side.
Zhou Ning no longer thought or looked further. He tightened his grip on the mirror surface and unhesitatingly placed it into his inventory.
This item could be studied, but it required a safe, private environment for slow research.
Next, Zhou Ning turned his attention to Elvis's suitcase. After a brief look, the first layer contained some simple clothes, and the second layer held some loose cash, herbal powders, silver ornaments for making talismans, magic powders for casting spells, and other items.
There was also a bottom layer, containing some scattered feathers and bones. Besides those, there was an item wrapped in silk and incense.
Carefully unwrapping the silk, what was inside was a palm-sized red idol.
This was a somewhat grotesque-looking deity, with countless tentacles growing from its shoulders and sides of its body. Each tentacle was carved with an eye, some closed, some open, densely packed. It also had two huge goat horns on its head.
In the worldview of the game "Apocalypse," goat horns are generally considered a symbol of evil gods. This made it very clear: this idol was the Evil God Nyastora, worshipped by the Curse God Cult.
It was at this moment that the lights in the room suddenly went out.
Immediately after, a chilling sensation suddenly emanated from the idol in front of him, making his legs feel weak.
The panel then displayed a string of prompts:
[You have attracted the attention of Evil God Nyastora. Spirit is 41, Willpower is 25. Judgment failed. Willpower -2.]
[You are being watched by Evil God Nyastora. Spirit is 41, Willpower is 25. Judgment failed. Willpower -3.]
[You are being tempted by Evil God Nyastora. Spirit is 41, Willpower is 25. Judgment failed. Willpower -4.]
Almost instantly, Zhou Ning's 25 points of Willpower plummeted to single digits.
Zhou Ning was greatly alarmed. He bit his lip hard, and with the pain, he barely managed to shake off the trembling and stiffness in his body. He hastily covered the idol with the silk again, and only then did that astonishing, irresistible, and unfaceable power finally disappear.
After re-wrapping the idol and casually putting it into his inventory, Zhou Ning finally let out a long sigh of relief.
If he wasn't mistaken, this idol was highly likely also an unknown marvel, carrying a trace of Nyastora's divinity. He was just a hair's breadth away from being in serious trouble here.
It was also at this moment that his Observation Haki suddenly gave him an extremely ominous premonition; it seemed a fatal danger was approaching.
Moments later, footsteps suddenly echoed from the stairs, heading straight for the third floor.
Zhou Ning dared not linger and wisely chose to retreat. He hastily climbed out the window onto the balcony, descended along the water pipe, landed nimbly, and then quickly left the vicinity, standing at the street corner to look back.
There were very few gas streetlights here. Zhou Ning stood in the dim street corner, completely safe from being discovered. He saw the light in room 304 turn on again, and someone was looking out through the window.
The person was about forty years old, with a large beard, unfamiliar, and wearing a blue coat. He should be a noble, because in this world, there were strict regulations that only nobles could wear colored clothes.
Zhou Ning then didn't dare to stay any longer, leaving Koen Avenue directly and taking the Mine Rail Metro back to the East District of the city.