Because of the events of last night, Ye Tiancheng and the other three were all somewhat traumatized.
Especially this early in the morning, the person knocking on the door, with their ungentle knocking, was enough to tell that the person outside either had a bad temper, was impatient, or was here with ill intentions, looking to cause trouble for them.
After the little fox sat up in shock, they looked around confusedly and exclaimed, "What's going on? Are those things back?"
Nie Chongyang, unusually tired, also complained with some morning grumpiness, "Isn't everything back to normal outside? They're still coming?"
It was evident that after a whole night of torment, everyone's nerves were exceptionally frayed, and they hadn't rested well, making their tempers considerably more irritable. Even those who were usually composed weren't in good shape at this moment.
Ye Tiancheng was thoroughly woken up by the noise, feeling a surge of annoyance. However, he managed to suppress his impatience, listened for a few moments, and began to discern something.
He said, "This knocking doesn't sound like last night's. If everything outside has returned to normal, then the person knocking should also be in a normal state. Perhaps we can open the door and see."
Of the four of them, the little fox and Liang Ping's appearances were not very intimidating. Ye Tiancheng and Nie Chongyang were naturally more imposing, but compared to Nie Chongyang, Ye Tiancheng's demeanor was more reserved.
Therefore, Ye Tiancheng's gaze swept over his companions before settling on Nie Chongyang.
He said, "You go open the door and see. They're knocking so fiercely outside, you'll be better at handling the situation."
Nie Chongyang gave Ye Tiancheng a somewhat helpless look, but he had no objections. He stood up directly and walked towards the room door.
The knocking had been going on for a while, and the person outside was likely losing patience, their knocking becoming more urgent and louder.
However, this time the noise was indeed different from last night's, which could be described as mental pollution. It was likely that there were no strange things outside anymore, so Nie Chongyang going to check probably wouldn't involve much risk.
Even if there was a possibility of danger, Ye Tiancheng and the others were all in the room and could react quickly, so they naturally wouldn't let anything happen to Nie Chongyang.
Nie Chongyang opened the room door. The person outside was still knocking, almost punching Nie Chongyang. However, the person outside suddenly felt their vision clear and met Nie Chongyang's rather intimidating, serious, and proper face. They were genuinely startled and instinctively retracted their hand, even stepping back a couple of paces.
After completing this series of actions, the person seemed to feel that their behavior had made them lose face, so they mumbled in an attempt to save face, "What's going on? After knocking for so long, you finally open the door."
The visitor was the owner of the inn.
Thinking back, the person who had caused such severe mental pollution for Ye Tiancheng and the other three last night was the one who claimed to be the inn owner. It was unknown if that was indeed the inn owner, or if something had impersonated him due to some strange changes that occurred after nightfall.
However, after experiencing what happened last night, seeing the inn owner's face so early in the morning, even Nie Chongyang's expression was difficult to keep pleasant.
Therefore, Nie Chongyang's expression became even more sour.
Carrying his morning grumpiness, he asked the inn owner with great displeasure, "You're knocking on the door so early in the morning, what's the matter?"
Hearing Nie Chongyang's question, even though he felt Nie Chongyang was fierce, the inn owner still straightened his back, cleared his throat, and with a sour face towards Nie Chongyang, said, "You've stayed for one night, it's time for you to leave!"
"What are you saying..." Nie Chongyang almost blurted out something unpleasant, but he ultimately swallowed back the excessively vulgar words. After a pause, he changed his tune, "What are you talking about? We've only stayed one night, why should we leave?"
They weren't fools who would throw their money away.
Even in this place, they weren't afraid of running out of money, but there was no reason to squander it for no reason.
They were forced to use cash for now.
However, precisely because they needed to use cash, the amount of cash they could obtain in a short period was limited. Who knew how long they would have to stay in this ghost town, and they couldn't just waste their money carelessly.
Especially with the lesson of last night, if they had no place to stay at night, who knew what would happen.
Ye Tiancheng also walked from inside the room to the doorway, fixing his gaze on the inn owner.
Before this, Ye Tiancheng had given the little fox a look. They had a unique understanding between them.
The little fox immediately understood Ye Tiancheng's intention, made a gesture, and indicated to Ye Tiancheng that they understood.
The inn owner saw another person walk out. Although he didn't feel that Ye Tiancheng had Nie Chongyang's intimidating aura, and his appearance was actually much gentler,
However, the moment he saw Ye Tiancheng, the inn owner couldn't help but feel a chill and cowed, involuntarily stepping back a couple more paces.
Ye Tiancheng was quite pleased to see someone like this who would get cold feet.
Since they knew fear, they were beings that could be controlled.
Ye Tiancheng stood beside Nie Chongyang, leaning casually against the doorframe, and said lazily, "We're not leaving. When we checked in, we agreed on a week, and we paid for a week's lodging. You expect us to leave after just one day, how could you even say that, boss?"
The inn owner's heart pounded, and he genuinely feared this person.
However, even so, he still stuck out his neck and insisted, "When did you book for a week? The registration clearly stated one night. Since it's one night, you should leave now!"
Ye Tiancheng narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, straightened up, and took a step closer to the inn owner.
"Is the boss trying to pocket the room fees?"
The inn owner's expression instantly showed a hint of cunning and smugness.
He said triumphantly to Ye Tiancheng and the others, "If you insist that you booked for a week, and say I'm trying to pocket your room fees, then show me the evidence!"
"You can examine our inn's registration book. If you can find any corresponding identity registration information, I will admit it and let you stay for a full week."
Ye Tiancheng said, "Are you threatening us?"
The inn owner said, "This is nothing yet, what kind of threat is this?"
If it weren't for the fact that this dingy black inn didn't require identity registration, how could Ye Tiancheng and the other three have stayed here, and where would they have found any identity registration information?
Moreover, whether this registration information existed or not was actually not important.
The inn owner was clearly intending to pocket their money.
It seemed this was truly a black inn in every sense of the word.
Since, for the inn owner, whether identity registration information existed or not made no fundamental difference, it would also make no difference for Ye Tiancheng and the others.
Seeing the smug look on his face, Ye Tiancheng smiled slightly.
He walked up to the inn owner. Before the inn owner could react, let alone cry out, Ye Tiancheng grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the room.
At the same time, Ye Tiancheng also pulled Nie Chongyang, causing him to retreat into the room as well.
Then, the room door slammed shut with a bang.
Accompanied by a click.
Suddenly dragged into the room by Ye Tiancheng, with the door even locked, the inn owner immediately trembled in fear.
He warned Ye Tiancheng in a trembling voice, "Wh-what do you want to do?! I'm telling you, if you dare to lay a hand on me, that's illegal. Believe it or not, I'll call the police!"
Ye Tiancheng found it amusing.
He said to the inn owner, "If you really have the ability, then call. Is opening a black inn legal for you?"
"If I beat you up today, even if I'm arrested later, although I'll be at fault, the cause will be you running a black shop and trying to swindle our room fees. In a fit of rage, I resorted to violence. Even if I hit you, as long as I gauge it to cause pain and there are no visible injuries, I won't receive any severe punishment."
"Do you really think we can't produce identity information?"
"On the other hand, if we report you for running a black shop later, I'm afraid your fate will be much worse?"
Ye Tiancheng held the inn owner by his collar, a gentle smile on his face, but his eyes held a hint of coldness.
This threat was indeed effective.
Ye Tiancheng originally wanted to use this to test whether, in this strange space that simulated the real world, some of the external rules still applied.
The inn owner's reaction proved to Ye Tiancheng that, at least during the day, those rules should still have some use and validity.
Because the inn owner was afraid.
However, for some reason, even when threatened and intimidated by Ye Tiancheng, he still didn't want to give up and greedily take more money.
After being threatened by Ye Tiancheng, the inn owner said, "There's no information about you on the registration ledger, so there isn't any. Even if you threaten me, it won't have any effect."
"It's not impossible for you to stay."
The inn owner's eyes darted around, clearly scheming and thinking of other ways. "If you want to stay, you must pay me ten times the amount. Otherwise, no matter what you say, even if you threaten me, it will be useless!"
Ten times?
Ye Tiancheng sneered. He would be a fool to agree.
Did the few of them look like easy marks?
Ye Tiancheng smiled and shook the inn owner's collar with great force. The inn owner couldn't stand steady and cried out in fear, yelling for Ye Tiancheng to let him go.
Originally, Ye Tiancheng didn't intend to actually beat him. After scaring the inn owner a bit, he stopped his actions when the other party begged for mercy, though he didn't release the inn owner.
Ye Tiancheng lowered his head, using his height advantage to look down at the inn owner, and asked with a smile, "Are you sure? Ten times?"
"We won't give a single cent more. However, if you insist, I think perhaps a black-on-black situation might be faster. What do you think?"
The inn owner didn't think anything.
If he couldn't leave this room today, then Ye Tiancheng would have truly succeeded in a black-on-black situation.
Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping, due to the nature of their professions, watched from the side with complex expressions. After half a lifetime, this was the first time they had faced such a situation and done nothing, even being considered accomplices and participants.
That kid Ye Tiancheng, with his gentle demeanor, was even more intimidating when threatening people.
The inn owner hesitated and said, "If I don't agree..."
"Then you don't need to leave this room today."
Before he could finish, Ye Tiancheng said these words.