Chapter 204

That tall, strong, black–faced man quickly left the airport after Lilly got into the cab and left.

The illegal cabbie watched as that cab drove away. He cursed, “What an annoying kid! You are the one who will bump into the ghost! So is your whole family!”

He spat out of the window and continued to pick up more passengers.

Lilly unzipped her small shoulder bag inside the cab and pulled out a sizable wallet. There were several gift bags in the wallet.

Zachary had been attempting to reconnect to the internet for some time but was having no luck. He frustratedly tucked his phone away. Then he saw Lilly counting the gift bags. He was somewhat speechless, and he said, “What era is it? Are people still using cash today?”

Lilly was quite shocked, and she asked, “Zac, don’t you use money?”

Zachary impatiently replied, “I mean, nowadays everyone pays online; people rarely use cash.”

Lilly shook her head and said, “I don’t like online payments. I like spending actual money. I can precisely see how much is left by doing this.”

I feel heartbroken when my wallet gets lighter, which discourages me from making reckless purchases.

I’ll be able to save a lot of money and keep getting richer.

Zachary sneered dismissively. He picked up a gift bag and looked at it disdainfully, saying, “You didn’t ́ have to keep the gift bag intact, did you?”

No one would put a gift bag in their wallet, even if they paid with cash.

Lilly was staring intently at the gift bag Zachary was holding. She said, “Zac, you don’t understand. The money inside the gift bag can multiply. This way, I’ll have more money in the long run!”

Zachary scoffed, “Superstitious beliefs!”

Lilly extended her hand and took the gift bag back, saying, “I’m speechless. You just don’t get it!”

Zachary was not in the mood to argue with her. He just remained silent. Lilly leaned between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat. She did not let her gaze leave the meter. It showed 89, and then it quickly jumped to 96.

The cab driver announced, “We’re here.”

Lilly wrinkled her face in distress. She was devastated to see the price rise from 89 to 96 dollars, even though the car had only moved a short distance. It cost her an additional seven dollars. She could have walked the short distance.

Lilly looked at the gift bag in her hand. She asked reluctantly, “Mister, can you reverse the car a little bit?” The driver asked in confusion, “Huh? Did I drive too far? I can’t reverse or I’ll get fined.”

This cab did not belong to him. It was fine if his own car got fined, but he did not want it to happen to the actual cab driver.

Lilly shook her head and said, “No, but I don’t have enough money; 89 dollars is just nice.

The cab driver replied, “Sweetie, reversing also carries a fee.”

“Huh?” Lilly asked in confusion.

Why does it require an additional fee when reversed? This meter isn’t fair!

When the cabbie saw how young and adorable she was, his heart melted, and he said, “Okay, let’s make it 85 bucks.”

Lilly’s eyes lit up in delight, and she said, “Thank you, Mister!”

After saying that, she took a 100–dollar bill out of the gift bag.

The cabbie twitched his mouth and asked, “Didn’t you say you don’t have the money?”

Lilly felt a bit embarrassed. She whispered, “Daddy said, a penny saved is a penny gain.”

The driver looked skeptical. Would someone like Chief MacNeil say such a thing?

When Blake noticed this, he too twitched the corner of his mouth. He protested in his heart. I didn’t. I never did.

The cabbie helped Lilly carry the suitcase from the car and helped her with the birdcage. He saw Zachary trailing behind, but the boy constantly wanted to reconnect to a mobile game. He turned his head and stuffed the handle of the suitcase into Zachary’s hand. Then he hung the bags and the birdcage on the handle of the suitcase.

Zachary looked up and realized he had a bunch of things in his hand.He was stunned and finally realized that Lilly had carried all the luggage just now.

Lilly reached out and said, “Zac, let me take it. I’m strong!”

Lilly did not think there was anything wrong with it.

Zachary shoved her hand away. He said with a serious look on his face, “Forget it. If you carry it, you will get tired later and start to cry. Are you going to complain to Grandpa and Granny when we go home?”

He said it stubbornly. Then he pulled out the suitcase and quickly walked toward the hotel entrance.

Lilly happily followed behind, chattering away, “This is Cherry Inn! We’ll be staying here for the next two days.”

Zachary replied, “Oh.”

Cherry Inn–why does this name sound familiar?

Lilly added, “Before we came, I asked Daddy to reserve room 34008 here. It’s a two–bedroom suite, and it’s right next to the room of the girl that committed suicide.”

Zachary stopped walking abruptly. He chided, “Damn! Why are we staying here?”

Lilly questioned rhetorically, while sporting a perplexed expression, “Why else would we come here?”

We came here to catch the female spirit! Zachary was haunted by that female spirit after taking a look at the post–mortem photograph. Of course, we have to come here and catch that spirit.

Lilly noticed Zachary’s complexion had turned pale and asked, “Zac, are you scared?”

Zachary retorted, “Nonsense!”

Lilly said, “Then, let’s go!”

Zachary did not say anything. When he looked up, he could make out the two words “Cherry Inn”

written on the top floor of two tall buildings that were facing one another.

Lilly tiptoed and registered at the front desk. After she was done, she pulled Zachary into the elevator and said, “Let’s go!”

The elevator went straight up, all the way to the 34th floor. The building had multiple floors, and the rooms were densely packed. The lengthy corridor appeared to go on forever.

Zachary only gave the hallway a quick glance, but for some reason, he felt a chill go through him.

Lilly took a look and analyzed, “There’s something off with the design, and it forms into an aura. Since the hallway is so long, a lot of ghosts are likely to congregate in this building.”

Zachary was stunned.

You did a good job of explaining it, but please don’t do it again.

This building was not exactly a luxury hotel, and the people who lived on this floor were not made tourists. Instead, it was a chaotic residence for short- and long–term rentals.

up of There was no carpet in the hallway. When the children dragged the suitcase, the sound of rolling wheels filled the entire hallway. As they advanced, the sound gradually spread to other floors.

One of the doors would occasionally open from both sides of the corridor. The tenant could be seen relaxing in the cool breeze while sitting in the doorway. They would look blankly at the kids when they saw them.

Zachary felt that this corridor was incredibly long, but they finally made it to suite 34008. Lilly used the room key to unlock the lock; they heard a beeping sound, and the door was opened.

When Lilly pushed the door open, a gust of cool wind blew in. Zachary’s scalp pricked when he heard a faint creaking noise coming from the neighboring room.

To make matters worse, Polly made a sound and exclaimed, “Oh, it’s so refreshing!”

Zachary felt his heart almost jump out of his throat. He exclaimed, “Quick, we have to go inside!”

He wanted to enter the room immediately, but the door slammed shut with a bang because the wind was too strong. Lilly had entered the room, but Zachary was locked outside.

The whistling sound of the wind could be heard in the hallway. Zachary had a feeling that even though the door to the neighboring room was securely closed, it would suddenly open in the next second. This feeling struck him as something creepier when he failed to enter the room.

Zachary frantically banged on the door. He yelled, “Lilly! Open the door!”

The tenant, who was enjoying the cool breeze in the distance, peered out. Zachary’s fear grew as a result of the wind’s whistling sound.

He heard a clicking sound coming from the door. Zachary was overjoyed and tried to enter the room.

When he grabbed the door handle and pushed it, he realized that the door did not open.

In other words, the clicking sound did not come from their room but from the neighboring room.