The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 71: Stirring Up Trouble for the Sake of Drama
The innkeeper responded with skepticism to the middle-aged man’s words, taking out his phone to dial the repairman’s number. Sure enough, a female voice repeatedly stated over the speakerphone, ’The number you are trying to call is outside the service area.’
The disappearance of the repair crew made the other guests in the inn uneasy. Their faces were full of anxiety, and it wasn’t just because of the bad weather.
The fear of the unknown was eroding their sanity. They had already reported to the police and searched for the people; at the moment, besides waiting, there was nothing more anyone could do.
"I can’t wait, I have to find him!" A woman, identified as Li’s wife, suddenly voiced a different opinion.
"You go alone? What if you encounter danger? Our relatives and friends are among the missing too. No one isn’t worried, but with the current weather, it’s too dangerous to go out. Perhaps they’re just lost, and will return when the fog clears." The person speaking was a classmate of a young man in the search team; they came to travel in a group of three, and two of them had joined the search team.
Truthfully, the boy was correct. Venturing into the fog one by one was tantamount to asking for trouble. Moreover, the previous group of four young men had run into trouble together. If anyone acted alone at this time, it’d be a death wish.
"If there wasn’t an accident, why would they let go of the rope?" a middle-aged man with graying hair mused.
His words excited the woman who had just calmed down, determined to go out and search for them, unstoppable by anyone.
"Uncle, didn’t you say that every seven years, seven people die here? You should know what happened to them~" I shouted from the balcony to the crowd downstairs.
"Who’s that?"
"What dead people?"
"Nonsense, this is my first time visiting here."
"I heard you two whispering just now, and you’re still denying it? Are you urging that lady out to fulfill your seven-person count?"
The last thing I feared was their retaliation, so I spoke my mind freely, unafraid of offending anyone. I exposed the private conversation to see their reaction.
"Seven people?"
"What’s happening here?"
"Six have already disappeared, only one more needed..."
"Don’t listen to her nonsense, we never said such a thing—"
The seeds of suspicion, planted in the right conditions, can easily double in effect. The guests downstairs were already anxious, and hearing that someone among them knew the ’inside story’ meant they’d rather wrongly accuse than overlook anyone.
Two middle-aged men were surrounded by other guests, and though no extreme actions were taken, they likely wouldn’t leave until they got a satisfactory answer.
Especially the relatives of the missing ones, their pain was more acute, their emotions more intense than others.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the room door. Chen Qinghan walked over to open it, and it was the innkeeper standing outside.
She asked Chen Qinghan if she could come in to chat. Chen Qinghan courteously invited her inside, and she sighed sorrowfully as she entered.
After a couple of casual exchanges, she got straight to the point, saying how difficult it was for her as a woman to run this inn, from losing her father in childhood to losing her husband in middle age, her life’s tragedies could be featured on talent shows.
But ignoring the guests downstairs and coming here just to complain? Of course not!
Her main point was that she needed the inn to sustain her livelihood, and my previous remarks had incited customer panic, so she hoped I could help quell the rumors.
"She wasn’t lying. Guests disappearing for no reason, and families being so worried, my girlfriend was just giving a kind reminder in hopes of finding clues. Why... is the boss anxious to suppress the lead? Could it be she wants to hide something?" Chen Qinghan spoke nonchalantly, as if casually, but the innkeeper immediately cleared her throat and forced a smile.
"How could that be? With this happening, I’m more worried than anyone else. I’m the last person who’d wish them any harm."
With eyes full of grievance, the innkeeper ranted, "But now outsiders can’t come in, people feeling more anxious is more likely to cause accidents. We need to stabilize people’s minds first before thinking of solutions."
"The boss is right, we also hope it’s just a rumor. Explaining it clearly would help, otherwise, we wouldn’t feel safe staying here."
Seeing the tragic play failing to affect us, the innkeeper forced a reluctant smile, saying ’absolutely’, and took her leave, heading back downstairs.
"You, you just love causing chaos." Chen Qinghan turned back to glare at me after the innkeeper left.
"Whether it’s a rumor or not, that man was clearly trying to provoke the woman to search, do you really believe he was simply unintentionally telling her to take such a risky step out of low emotional intelligence right then?"
If the man hadn’t previously mentioned the seven-year curse, I might believe he spoke holding no ulterior motive.
But the issue is, he has said it before. The purpose of their visit to this inn is surely not like everyone else’s.
Purely trying to verify the seven-year curse? No way~
"In front of everyone, they might not be truthful." Chen Qinghan joined me on the balcony, squatting shoulder to shoulder.
"It doesn’t matter if they’re not truthful; once the seeds of doubt are sown, people will watch their every move."
"You just enjoy the spectacle." Chen Qinghan heard the innkeeper downstairs attempt to calm the agitated guests, and pulled me back into the room.
"I count this as helping the missing persons. What do you think happens if the seventh person doesn’t disappear?"
"I don’t know. Let’s wait and see."
Chen Qinghan might have been discussing work with his colleagues earlier, and now that he’s free, he finally has the leisure to care about what’s happening in the inn.
The innkeeper persuaded the guests back into the lobby, and the woman who wanted to go out searching was also convinced to stay.
The two middle-aged men clung to "rumor" claims, giving away nothing substantial to others.
Yet they faced a demand that the two men must stay within everyone’s sight as they waited for the fog to dissipate.
At dinner time, the boss invited us downstairs to dine with others.
She apologized for the unpleasant incident at her inn and offered a large meal to thank everyone for their patience.
My habit of not eating should not be exposed publicly, so Chen Qinghan excused my absence claiming a leg injury, and brought a portion back upstairs.
Other guests were too scared to return to their rooms and instead stayed together for comfort and courage.
However, Chen Qinghan cited my leg injury and his own concerns about leaving me alone, and thus after a quick bite, came back up to keep me company.
My share was disposed of in the toilet, and the empty dishes and bowls were taken downstairs by Chen Qinghan.
But five minutes after he returned, he started yawning, as if too sleepy to keep his eyes open.
I raced to the balcony to listen, finding the chatter from downstairs had ceased too.
I chuckled to myself, thinking what a true black inn this is!
