Dimensional Hotel

To be honest, while the ride in Xu Jiali’s old, creaky car left much to be desired, listening to his steady stream of obscure facts along the way was surprisingly entertaining. His lively delivery brought a vibrancy that the dry, rigid entries in the “Frontier Communication” database couldn’t even begin to match.

Outside the window, the scenery raced past as the battered Xiali wove its way through the worn streets of the old city district. The car eventually reached the bustling main roads of the city center, with its towering skyscrapers and sprawling malls. Foxy, perched eagerly by the window, watched the scenery flash by with wide, curious eyes. Though her ears and tail were carefully hidden, her excited demeanor made it easy for Yu Sheng to imagine a bushy tail swishing energetically behind her.

“So, how long does it take to get to your Special Affairs Bureau?” Yu Sheng asked, breaking the silence. “Are we heading to your headquarters—or should I call it the main office?”

“It’s the headquarters,” Xu Jiali confirmed with a nod, glancing at Yu Sheng through the rearview mirror. “It won’t take long—about half an hour.”

“Half an hour?!” Yu Sheng exclaimed, clearly astonished. Considering the city’s sprawling size, he found it hard to believe the trip would be so short. “Is your headquarters near the old city district?”

Xu Jiali chuckled and shook his head. “No, the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters is actually very far away. But no matter where you are in this city, you can reach it in half an hour.”

Yu Sheng blinked, baffled. “Wait… What?”

“That’s because we use a ‘shortcut,’” Xu Jiali said with a satisfied grin, clearly enjoying Yu Sheng’s confusion. With a deliberate turn of the steering wheel, he veered off the main road, guiding the car along a quiet lane at the edge of the commercial district. They entered an unassuming area behind a shopping mall. “Our Bureau has a few… tricks of its own.”

Ahead, an underground parking garage entrance came into view. Xu Jiali drove the car down the ramp into the lot. The first level appeared normal enough, filled with parked cars and signs directing visitors to various shops and supermarkets. But then, with several sharp turns, Xu Jiali maneuvered the car into an obscure section at the back of the garage.

Yu Sheng stared in confusion as a seemingly empty stretch of ground transformed before his eyes. A shallow puddle reflected dim, shifting lights, and then, as they approached, a sloping passageway materialized from the shadows. Pale, cold lighting illuminated a long, downward path that felt distinctly off. The further they drove, the stranger it became, as though the car were descending into the earth itself.

The walls of the tunnel glowed with a faint, icy blue light. The air grew eerily still, muting even the sound of the car engine, which now seemed distant and muffled. Yu Sheng’s spiritual intuition began to hum with warning signals, an incessant prickling that refused to be ignored. Before he could figure out what was happening, Irene, ever quicker to sense danger, voiced her alarm.

“Wait—are we entering a subset?!”

“Technically, we’re just ‘passing through’ one,” Xu Jiali replied casually, sparing a glance back. “Depth level L1. It’s a subset ‘shortcut’ that overlays the entire Borderland. It doesn’t produce entities, and aside from a slight risk of getting lost, it’s harmless. The Special Affairs Bureau is located at the central junction of this shortcut, and we’ve, well… borrowed a bit of its unique power. Anyway—here we are.”

Just as Xu Jiali finished speaking, Yu Sheng felt the strange, jittery sensation in his spiritual core abruptly fade. The car emerged from the tunnel into a bright, well-lit parking lot. A security gate swung open as they passed through, and Xu Jiali smoothly pulled into an open parking space.

“Let’s get out,” Xu Jiali said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door. “We’ll take the central elevator up.”

Hoisting Irene onto his shoulder, Yu Sheng followed Xu Jiali through the sprawling parking garage. Foxy trailed behind, her wide-eyed curiosity and uncontainable excitement making her seem almost giddy. The group wound their way through the maze-like underground space until they reached an elevator lobby. Xu Jiali swiped a card against the elevator panel, and the doors slid open.

Inside, Yu Sheng noticed several notes taped to the walls and near the buttons. The signs were covered with strange warnings and instructions:

“The elevator does not stop at the 13th floor.”

“On floor 4, lighting is restricted. If you find yourself in a brightly lit area, return to the parking lot or proceed to security on floor 12 immediately.”

“Saturday is elevator maintenance day. If the screen displays ‘Maintenance’ outside these hours, press the blue button and leave. You may use elevators 2 or 5 instead.”

“If you are an upper-level employee, use this elevator only for floors -1, -2, and ground levels. If the elevator stops at level -3 or deeper, greet any deep-layer staff politely but do not leave the cabin.”

The list continued with similarly bizarre instructions.

Reading the notes, Yu Sheng felt his confusion mount. “Your work environment is… risky, to say the least. Do you have to memorize a set of rules just to clock in?”

“You get used to it,” Xu Jiali replied, unfazed. “The headquarters building has a lot of unique ‘nodes’ that connect to different places. Some floors are even set in alternate spaces. They’re not as dangerous as people think, though. Most areas are perfectly safe, and there are systems in place to help anyone who gets lost—like emergency assistance devices or guides to return to the shortcut paths.”

He paused for effect before adding, “We even have a ‘Peaceful Work Department.’ They partner with security to bring lost employees back to their desks.”

“Peaceful Work Department?” Irene muttered, her tone dripping with incredulity. “What, do they drag you back to your workstation if you sneak off to take a break?”

Xu Jiali shrugged. “It’s a necessary precaution. If someone’s gone for more than thirty minutes, we have to check whether they’re slacking or got swallowed by something in a neighboring office.”

The elevator dinged and stopped at floor 54½. As the doors opened, a bright corridor stretched before them. Walking through, Yu Sheng noticed uniformed staff moving briskly, their expressions stern. On one side of the hallway were closed doors; on the other, large windows offered an extraordinary view. Beyond the glass lay an enormous cavern, its dark, jagged rock formations interspersed with snow-covered trees bathed in sunlight.

“What kind of place is this?” Yu Sheng muttered, stunned.

Xu Jiali grinned. “Oh, it’s just the view outside floor 54½. Nice weather today. It’s been snowing here for months.”

Foxy blinked in wonder. “Do all the floors have their own worlds?”

“Not all,” Xu Jiali corrected, amused. “Most floors are normal. Only about a third have… unusual features.”

Yu Sheng sighed. “Just a third, huh? This place gets weirder by the second.”

Xu Jiali’s explanation continued as they moved. “Think of our headquarters like a giant ‘temporal-spatial rift sampling needle.’ Each floor intersects with different ‘special locations.’ Since the Borderland serves as this world’s spatial hub, our building sits at the busiest intersection. That’s why we even have customs checkpoints and border transit stations.”

“And how did you even build something like this?” Yu Sheng asked.

“Some… magical construction techniques, I guess,” Xu Jiali replied with a shrug. “Now you see why things get chaotic whenever you ‘open a gate.’”

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation

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