“Let Wu Chang know my name and tell him I’ll pay for your room. He’ll get you settled.”

“Wait, who’s Wu Cha-“

William cut himself off when Wang Xiaoling rode away quickly. Suspiciously quickly. He narrowed his eyes before eventually facing the building he was dropped off at.

The Golden Lotus.

That was what the sign said in gold lettering. The building was a strange mix of traditional Chinese design and something familiar, it was at the edge of William’s mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. Still, with the attractive, bright yellow facade and the hotel’s location in the heart of Xuanjing City, William wondered if he had misread Wang Xiaoling. This did not look cheap.

Maybe she was stingy in all aspects except where she slept? William had known people like that before.

A small bell rang when William entered the hotel, announcing that the door had opened. The lobby was small but welcoming, with walls decorated in colorful tapestries and a few comfortable chairs near the reception.

“Welcome to the Golden Lotus,” A middle-aged man with a kind face greeted William with a warm smile.

“… Hi,” William replied awkwardly, not ready for someone to speak to him normally for the first time since he got here. Well, unless Li Jie counted, which he didn’t. The guard was more focused on Wang Xiaoling than anything else.

“Hello,” The man chuckled, “Are you looking for a room?”

“Yes, Wang Xiaoling said she’ll pay for my room.”

“… Wang Xiaoling?”

William shifted in his spot, sensing that something wasn’t right.

“Are you talking about the self-proclaimed number-one trader? That Wang Xiaoling?”

“That’s the one,” William tried to be optimistic, but the way the man looked at him didn’t help, “She told me someone called Wu Chang would help me.”

“I am Wu Chang.”

William stared at the man for a second before sighing. “Let me guess, you think I’m lying about her paying for me.”

“Wang Xiaoling is… careful with money. I’m afraid you’ll have to make a deposit for the room. I’ll return it to you if she settles your bill.”

“Right,” William rubbed his brow in frustration and asked, “How much is it for one night?”

“It’ll be five Copper.”

William winced at the price and reluctantly pulled out a Silver before handing it to Wu Chang. The rate for one night was twenty-five percent of his current net worth. That told more about how poor he was rather than the cost of the room, but still.

“Thank you,” Wu Chang smiled as he handed the change to William, “Let me lead you to the room. And may I know your name?”

“Wei Liang.” That was said in a low grumble as William pocketed the change. He was mentally berating himself for being foolish enough to believe Wang Xiaoling about spending money after what he knew about her.

“Again, welcome to The Golden Lotus, Wei Liang. There aren’t many guests for the night, so if you need a quiet larger area, there is a communal area where guests can relax. As for food, there are plenty of restaurants within a short distance. You can find me in the lobby if you want any recommendations.”

William came to a stop as Wu Chang fiddled with the door to a room. It was opened to reveal a sparsely furnished room, but one that was good enough for a night’s rest.

“I hope the room is to your liking.”

“Thank you,” William returned Wu Chang’s smile and walked past the open door. The bed looked comfortable enough, and there was even a small table with an unlit candle.

“Do you have any questions for me?” Wu Chang asked from the doorway. When William shook his head, he said, “Then I’ll be in the lobby if you need me.”

William waited for the door to close before sitting roughly on the bed. He sighed in relief at having something soft to sit on and stared at the remaining Dragonfruit.

If this was the type of food Wang Xiaoling had access to, it made sense why she seemed to be so freakishly strong. It made William wonder what the effects of the other fruits were.

William could understand why eating the second Dragonfruit did nothing for him. It would have been ridiculous if all he had to do was gorge himself on them to increase the strength attribute. However, he really, really hoped that eating the Dragonfruit wouldn’t disqualify him from gaining the benefit of the other fruits, if they had any.

If only his soul-damaged state hadn’t ruined the surprise discovery of the Dragonfruit. What William hated more than having that trait itself was the vagueness of its effect.

Traits:

Soul Damage (Major) - Chance of all base attributes to reset to 1 with every point added

William frowned at the word ‘chance.’ Who exactly was deciding the randomness? And was it really random, or would he eventually find that the system had some sort of vendetta against him. The latter was a thought that appeared in his mind frequently on the ride to the hotel. It was highly convenient that the trait randomly activated the moment he received an attribute point.

The easiest way to test it was to spend one of the stat points he received and use it on an attribute, but William wasn’t desperate enough to risk that. Still, it would be nice if he could get more details on how it worked.

[Visible RNG for Soul Damage (Major) effect enabled]

[Current chance of Soul Damage (Major) effect activating: 5%]

[Activation Numbers: 1-50 | Total Numbers: 1000]

[Previous result: 43]

William stared at the info dump in surprise. He expected the HUD to show something, but he certainly didn’t expect it to be what he wished. With how common the occurrence had been, he was sure he would have gotten an alert about safe mode blocking it for his own good.

It was a little comforting that a random number generator controlled this, but that was as long as the RNG was genuinely random as the name implied. William couldn’t exactly confirm if it was true. However, something was better than nothing.

William grunted as he pushed off the bed and put the Dragonfruit on the table. He didn’t think it would be edible for much longer with how damaged it was, but even if he ate it now, it would be useless. It obviously wouldn’t help with increasing his strength attribute, nor would it ease his hunger since he had a full stomach from the past two Dragonfruits he had eaten.

William stretched his hands above his head and groaned at the pops in his back. He gave the room another glance, and if he didn’t know better, it would have fooled him into thinking that he was in his old world.

There were differently sized, folded towels on the counter near the bathroom, along with small bottles of what must be some sort of body wash or something similar. Honestly, everything was eerily similar to what a hotel room looked like in his old world.

With Daoist Chen’s master likely to be a transmigrator or at least have some memory of his old world, it wasn’t that big of a surprise that some similarities could be seen. Not that William expected to see it in a hotel room, of all places.

However, the similarity gave him a sense of calm that William didn’t even know he needed. He locked the door, purely out of habit, not expecting it to do anything for safety, and climbed back into bed.

It would be nice to shut his eyes and let his mind reset from the insane hell he had been through today.