Chapter 41: Power Outage

Chapter 41: Power Outage

At 5:30 p.m., Hotel front desk.

"You must have miscalculated! How can you charge me for two days when I only stayed one? I’m not even sleeping here tonight!" a middle-aged man argued with the receptionist.

"Sir, according to our policy, check-out after 12 p.m. automatically counts as another day. It’s already 5:30 p.m., and you’re only now checking out—far beyond the allotted time," the receptionist quickly explained.

"What kind of ridiculous policy is this? I haven’t even used the room, and now I have to pay? And it’s not like this cheap little hotel is fully booked anyway!" The man slammed his palm on the counter, the loud smack echoing his agitation.

Faced with a guest who seemed ready to throw a punch at any moment, the receptionist grew nervous and cautiously replied, "Sir, it really isn’t possible. Even if I wanted to refund you, the system has already registered it as a second day. I can’t just pay you back out of my own pocket."

"Don’t try to fool me! You think I don’t know how these things work? It’s just a simple adjustment. If you can’t decide, then call your manager or the owner!"

Just then, the hotel’s glass door swung open, and a young man walked in unhurriedly.

Hearing the noise, the middle-aged man instinctively glanced over. The boy was handsome but still carried an air of youthful inexperience. His clothes, however, were wrinkled and filthy, covered in dark and light stains as if he’d rolled around in mud.

The most ridiculous part was that despite his young age, he carried a briefcase like an adult.

Yet for some reason, as the boy approached with an expressionless face, the man felt an inexplicable tension, his breath hitching slightly.

"Welcome back, handsome!" the receptionist greeted the boy cheerfully.

The previously stoic boy immediately smiled. "Busy? I might have a package arriving in the next couple of days. Could you sign for it for me?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Then I’ll head to my room."

The boy glanced at the middle-aged man before continuing up the stairs.

Once the boy was gone, the man let out a quiet sigh of relief. The interruption had dissipated most of his anger and frustration.

……

The boy was, of course, Chen Shouyi.

As soon as he returned to his room, he stripped off his clothes and took a shower.

Standing in front of the mirror, he towel-dried his hair.

The reflection showed a lean, tightly muscled physique, every contour defined without an ounce of excess fat. Even the hard-to-target muscles along his ribs, back, and neck were visibly pronounced.

With the slightest movement, his muscles rippled like liquid mercury.

"My skin seems even better now," Chen Shouyi muttered, frowning slightly at his increasingly smooth and delicate complexion.

It wasn’t that he disliked it—who would complain about having good skin?

But the deadline for the excuse he’d used to leave home had long passed. Explaining this would be a problem.

Well, there were still a few days left. He’d figure out an explanation when the time came.

……

After changing into clean clothes, he opened his briefcase and released the Shell Woman, who immediately clamored to watch cartoons.

Habit is a terrifying force. When the Shell Woman was first tied up, she would be angry for half a day, but now she had long grown accustomed to it.

Chen Shouyi turned on the TV, switched to a cartoon channel, and then left her to it.

Immediately after, he took out his phone, logged into Weapon Treasure, and quietly analyzed the situation of the barbarian tribe near the island.

At the end of today’s battle, the barbarians’ morale had plummeted, and they fled outright—clearly, they were already terrified of him.

Coupled with the death of the barbarian tribe chief, it stood to reason that the barbarian tribe would be in chaos for a while.

Even if they elected a new tribe chief immediately, the lack of prestige would make it impossible to organize another war effort in the short term.

This meant that while the spatial gateway between him and the island seemed fully exposed to the barbarians’ sight, it was actually safe—at least for a while.

This battle had greatly boosted his confidence. As long as no strong warriors like the barbarian tribe chief appeared again, with just a war bow, he could slaughter any number of them in a siege of this scale.

Thinking this, his mind settled.

He quickly typed "arrow" into the search bar and filtered the results.

Soon, a row of shops appeared on the webpage.

The new phone was much smoother, no longer freezing up halfway through tasks.

There were many types of arrows—high-speed arrows, armor-piercing arrows, spin-stabilized arrows, heavy arrows, whistling arrows, and over a dozen others.

Each type differed completely in length, weight, and arrowhead design.

For example, spin-stabilized arrows had small propeller-like fins at the tail. These sacrificed some speed but provided a more stable trajectory, improving accuracy, while the high-speed rotation also enhanced lethality.

Of course, even the same type of arrow could vary in form and price depending on the shop.

Fortunately, compared to the exorbitant cost of a war bow, arrows were much cheaper.

The most expensive ones were just over 300 each—well within his budget.

Chen Shouyi quickly placed an order at a flagship store run by a well-established large cold weapons company, purchasing 100 high-speed arrows, 20 spin-stabilized arrows, and 10 whistling arrows.

Whistling arrows emitted an extremely sharp shriek in flight, though they weren’t particularly lethal. He bought them because he believed the piercing sound could panic the barbarians.

The total came to 28,000 yuan.

He paid without hesitation—after all, these were life-saving tools, so he naturally chose the best.

Just then, the room’s lights suddenly went out, and the TV screen turned black.

A power outage?

He couldn’t even remember the last time Dongning City had a blackout—it felt like it hadn’t happened in ages.

Before Chen Shouyi could even process his confusion, the Shell Woman angrily slapped her pillow and shouted, "Bei Qi! Bei Qi! Bei Qi!"

"Bei Qi my ass, can’t you see the power’s out?"

Though, for the Shell Woman, the concept of a power outage probably didn’t even exist in her mind.

"Stay here and don’t make noise. I’ll let you watch 'Bei Qi' later," Chen Shouyi told her.

Ignoring her displeasure, he turned on his phone’s flashlight and prepared to ask at the front desk.

When he opened the door, he saw that several people had already stepped out into the hallway.

"I just checked, the power is out everywhere. Was there any notice about a blackout in Dongning City today?"

"Never heard of it. Probably due to aging power lines."

"Ah, forget it. Might as well go to bed early!"

"So early? It's only 7 p.m. Can you even fall asleep?"

Listening to their discussion, Chen Shouyi suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Seems the blackout is real.