"So," Yansheng began, "What do you want to know first? You get three questions before its my turn."
"Who are you?"
A bit surprised at the question, Yan knew he had definitely judged this person correctly. After running this Inn for the last nine years, the number of people who asked this as their initial question could be counted on his hands, and he had met a 'lot' of people during his stay here.
"I'm someone from a different universe and timeline, where I'm from, I was a General before dying upon victory and coming here."
A hint of shock crossed Guo Zhens face upon the answer Yansheng had given him, but he quickly absorbed the information.
'No wonder you're dressed so weirdly.' Guo zhen muttered under his breath.
Su Yansheng heard him but decided to be the bigger person.
"You died before coming here, does that mean I'm dead too?"
Chucking softly, Yan responded, "No, you're not dead, yet, but the RRI, which is this Inn has noticed your Dand D levels were at 90% and that receiving one more stimulus would definitely lead to your death. So it guided your spirit here."
Pouring another drink for himself, Yan was waiting for the last question but looking up, he saw Guo zhen staring at him with a deadpan look.
Realizing he had been caught, he only smirked. He had tried to force Guo zhen to use his last question trying to clarify what he had said in his answer to the second question.
"D and D levels are the shorten form for saying your desolation and despair levels."
A look of understanding crossed Guo zhens face even though he did not have the whole picture, but he still looked at Yan as if he was a little disappointed he had tried to cheat him.
Being stared at by red fiery eyes and that face, Yanshengs guilt increased and in his heart he decided he was going to put in a lot of effort with this new guest.
Yes, he would be nice to him as well.
How kind of him. He.. he.. he.. he laughed maniacally in his mind.
Seeing the lost, almost stupid look on Yanshengs face, for the first time since he got here, Guo zhen had a small smile on his lips. It was due to exsparation but still, a smile nonetheless.
A knock on the counter top brought 'kind' Yan back to the living and seeing the smile on Guo zhens face, he was a bit confused.
Did he miss anything, he scratched a bit at his head.
The cat seeing everything, simply looked at its pet in embarrassment but turned its head to squint at Guo zhen. Feeling too lazy to be bothered, it turned its back to them, lying down comfortably.
Clearing his throat to clear the air, Yan raised his hands to move the strands of hair that were loose on his head to the knot on top of his head to hold it together, but seeing that it wasn't working, he gave up.
Looking at the Inn owners theatrics, Guo zhen retracted the smile he had given and went back to business.
"Last question, when I appeared here, it was outside the Inn, and from my calculations, the size of what I saw outside as the size of this building can definitely not contain the amount of people and objects I've seen upon entering, what is this place exactly?"
"If I told you I don't have all the information about this place, would you believe me?"
"Yes," nodding his head, Guo zhen responded. "I would."
The smile came back on Yanshengs face. It's always interesting to talk to smart people.
"What I do know is that I've been the Inn owner since I got here. When i opened the door upon my death after appearing here, all I saw was an Inn filled to the brim with provisions that I recognized and a lot that i didn't, furnishing in every room and Fei bao being the only other living being in the Inn."
"Oh, incase you're confused, Fei bao is that white grumpy cat over there," he said, pointing to the white cat that had its back turned to them.
Taking a sip of the water from a glass that had been placed on the counter top earlier in the day by him, Yan tried to quench his thirst. It's not that he preferred water to the nice liquor he was drinking before, but looking at the almost empty bottle, he felt he needed to stop.
After this bottle finished, he would only have one left. And knowing the Inn, it would only replenish it until certain conditions were met.
So annoying.
Realizing he was daydreaming again and keeping his guest waiting, he decided to take this more seriously, lest he offend the silver haired beauty in front of him.
Yan turned to look at Guo zhen and saw that he was actually not angry, neither did he have a look of impatience on his face. He was simply waiting for him to continue.
Such a good dog, he praised in his mind.
"As for the difference in size you mentioned, actually, there's a lot you've not seen. Right now, this Inn houses 179 guests." There was a proud look on Yanshengs face when he said this.
Guo zhen inhaled sharply, looking around and finally for the first time, almost not believing what Yansheng was telling him.
He saw the people chatting in the great room, about 12 people in small groups or some people sitting alone at a table, either eating a meal, reading a book or looking through some odd objects he could not identify.
Then he turned back to look at Yansheng, saw the look of pride and sincerity on his face and could only let out a short laugh.
He wasn't sure what to believe, he didn't know what was going on but deep down he knew, he knew he could trust this white robed stranger, and other than Lu zhihao, this was the first time he had met someone in so short a time that he felt he could believe in.
'Yes, believe in, Lu zhihao, believe in.' The thoughts in his head became scrambled and he felt like there was no air left to breath, just thinking of that persons name caused him to hyperventilate, almost falling off the stool he was seating on.
Realizing the situation of things, Yan stood up and removing the cup in Guo zhens hands, he realized he was removing a cup from this guys hands a lot today, which he had only ever taken a sip from, he placed his hands in his palm, holding him firmly.
The first thing Guo zhen noticed in his haze was that something very cold was in his hands. The cold almost seeping into his bones at the point of contact, clearing his head a bit.
Then he felt the force in which Yansheng was holding him, it wasn't a simple hand holding session, Yan held him like he was falling and he wasn't going to let him.
The strength behind the force and the cold finally allowed him to focus on the person in front of him, and seeing him smiling at him again, no judgment, no ridicule, he could suddenly breathe again.
A bit embarrassed that he had disgraced himself so thoroughly outside, Guo zhen tried to remove his hands from Yanshengs.
"Thank you," he said, his eyes darting evasively.
"No problem, happy to help." Yan said, but he did not allow Guo zhen to remove his hands.
A bit flustered and upset that they were still touching, Guo zhen was about to use his corporate CEO voice to reprimand Yansheng when he heard him speak.
"Who is Lu zhihao?"