Chapter 30: The Mysterious Inn
Hearing the driver's very normal tone, Chu Jiang breathed a sigh of relief, "Hello, I'm the passenger from earlier. Is everything okay on your end? Why did you rush back?"
"Nothing's wrong, and I wasn't in a hurry," the driver's tone sounded confused.
"Did the police arrive?" Chu Jiang continued to ask.
"Oh, I completely forgot until you mentioned it. Hold on, there's a new call coming in, it should be from the police."
The driver hung up the phone while speaking.
Chu Jiang hesitated for a moment and didn't make another call. He waited until the chubby driver dropped him off at his destination. Standing by the roadside, he dialed the contact number left by the local person in the supernatural forum.
The phone was quickly answered by a woman with a pleasant voice, "Hello, may I help you?"
"Hello, I have some information about the 'Stretching Ghost' incident here, and I want to sell it to your side."
The other person wasn't surprised by this and responded in a business-like manner, "Please go ahead, I am listening."
This made Chu Jiang realize that the person on the other end of the line was probably not the person in charge, but just their subordinate.
It was understandable when he thought about it. The person in charge of a city couldn't possibly handle everything themselves. It was just that he hadn't seen Li Buhuo and Xu Bing's team before.
So, Chu Jiang briefly explained his experience.
Of course, he didn't reveal his abilities, he only mentioned meeting a ghost during his hitchhiking and having physical contact with the other person.
In the end, he told the whole story about how he suddenly wanted to go back and find something, and his doubts about the driver.
The person on the other end listened carefully and asked, "Is there anything else?"
"No, that's all."
"Okay, sir. I will report the information you provided. However, the corresponding reward will not be given to you immediately. There is a verification process that takes an uncertain amount of time. Please be patient."
Chu Jiang agreed and hung up the phone.
He chose to sell this information for a simple reason. The ghost in this Stretching Ghost incident was even scarier than he had imagined.
Its pattern for killing was not only targeting people who drive or take rides; or maybe the ghost had some unknown special abilities, making it extremely dangerous.
In this case, instead of risking his own life, it was better to leave it to the local authorities to solve.
He didn't want to risk his life, only to end up with nothing if the supernatural incident was resolved, while the other party could openly take credit for what he had done.
And by selling information to the person in charge, Chu Jiang also hoped that the other party could resolve the ghost problem as soon as possible.
If they couldn't solve it in the end, Chu Jiang would have to deal with it himself, because he was worried that this ghost might continue to affect him.
After double-checking his mental state, and writing down some key reminders on his phone and in the palm of his hand, Chu Jiang finally entered Linjiang Hotel.
Another thing worth mentioning was that Chu Jiang's right hand, since it separated from the ghost head, had gradually recovered from the signs of decay after being constantly washed by blood.
This counted as the only good news.
Upon entering the hotel, at the front desk, there was only one woman wearing a light yellow shirt sitting behind it.
She tied her hair into a ponytail and had fairly delicate features, except for heavy dark circles under her eyes, suggesting she had recently been crying.
The woman hadn't noticed when Chu Jiang entered; it was only when he approached that she snapped back to reality.
"Hello, would you like a room?" The woman seemed to be the receptionist here, and her voice sounded a bit hoarse as she spoke.
"Yes."
Chu Jiang temporarily booked a room for three days, it was very cheap, less than three hundred, and he got room number 303 in the end.
It must be said that this hotel was quite quiet. There was no sound throughout the hotel when the two people were talking, as if it were a ghost house with no people.
Although Chu Jiang knew beforehand that this was an inexpensive hotel and not in a good location, he didn't expect there would be so few people. He shook the key and asked, "Are you guys only having me as a guest?"
The female receptionist forced a smile and said, "Of course not, there are people staying on the first, second, and third floors."
Chu Jiang nodded, he didn't ask further questions and went straight to the third floor in the elevator.
It was obvious that the female receptionist was someone with a story. Recently, her mood probably wasn't good, but this had nothing to do with Chu Jiang.
Chu Jiang's only wish was - not to stay in a haunted hotel. If that happened, he would suspect that he had the ability like Conan, wherever he went, someone would die.
......
The old elevator with a fence had some rust, and the advertising papers inside the elevator had turned yellow. As it slowly ascended, accompanied by creaking mechanical sounds, it gave people a feeling of being in the 80s or 90s.
The hotel was not big, with less than six or seven rooms on one floor. When Chu Jiang passed by room 302, he heard the voice of a young woman inside. She seemed to be talking on the phone and arguing loudly with someone.
"I won't go back! Not even if you kill me."
"You won't be able to find me. I've already arrived in another city..."
As Chu Jiang walked towards room 303, from room 304, he heard a man talking to himself.
The volume was not high, so Chu Jiang couldn't hear very clearly. He could only hear someone murmuring repeatedly, "I'm not sick, I'm not sick, I'm not sick..."
Shaking his head helplessly, Chu Jiang opened the door and entered the room. He was increasingly feeling that there was something unusual about this hotel.
The hotel room was relatively clean, and there was no strange smell in the air. Besides the small room size, everything was fine, even the air conditioning.
So, Chu Jiang put down his luggage and lay down on the big bed, carefully recalling all the details of his encounters with the ghost.
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The nearby police officers seemed a little distracted. They kept asking unrelated questions, as if they were trying to delay time.
The driver wasn't a fool, and he could tell that something seemed off about these people. He regretted calling the police.
So, he tossed the water bottle and said, "Sorry, gentlemen, please don't delay me from making money anymore. I promise I won't call the police again next time, okay?"
The leading police officer wiped the sweat off his forehead and smiled, saying, "Don't say that. If we really had an issue with you, we would have brought you to the police station a long time ago."
"We're just not letting you go because someone in charge takes this matter seriously. Mr. Li, you're the primary witness, so the leader wants to personally come and ask you some details."
"Please wait a bit longer. Ten minutes, no, five minutes, and the person will arrive soon."
"Please wait a little longer, ten minutes, no, five minutes, and the person will be here soon."
