Unexpectedly, their little gestures were noticed by the girl. She glanced at William Clark, then at Emily Clark, as if making some connections in her mind.

Her cheeks flushed slightly as she said, “Well, we’ll head out first. See you tonight!”

“Okay, see you tonight.”

As the girl pulled her boyfriend out the door, she suddenly showed a strange expression, then turned to her boyfriend and said, “That guy is pretty handsome, but it’s a pity his girlfriend is too beautiful—haha, she’s probably draining him dry!”

“Yeah!” The boy looked envious. Such a beautiful young lady!

Hotel.

William Clark watched the couple’s backs, filled with envy and jealousy—why could others sleep in with their warm girlfriends until almost eleven, while he had to face the night alone and suffer from some extraordinary torment!

Soon, only the two of them were left in the lobby.

Thinking of what happened that morning, William Clark felt even more embarrassed.

Emily Clark kept her head down, saying nothing.

William Clark realized he couldn’t let the awkwardness continue, or it would get out of hand!

So he pretended to ask casually, “What time did your shift end last night?”

“A bit after one. When there was no one left, I closed up and went to sleep.” Emily Clark kept her head down, opened the back office, and flipped to yesterday’s check-in records, which showed the names of the couple from earlier.

The girl was named Sarah Bolton, and the boy was Alice Grant.

But there was no check-in record for Room 202!

“A bit after one is about right. These days, if people are looking for a place to stay late, they usually book online in advance, or at least call ahead, so there’s really no need to keep the place open too late.” William Clark nodded, paused, then asked, “What time did you wake up this morning?”

“Seven.” Emily Clark didn’t look up.

“Did any guests come last night?”

“Yes, two.” Emily Clark replied coolly, then looked up at him and said, “You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you? Even others could tell. Don’t you think you should take better care of yourself? Go to bed earlier?”

“Uh… it’s not what you think.” William Clark hurried to explain.

“Then what is it?” Emily Clark said, “You can’t even walk down the stairs steadily!”

“…You’re so young, how can you have such dirty thoughts!” William Clark was speechless. “It’s just that I haven’t been sleeping well lately, always having insomnia and nightmares. It just so happened that one of the guests seemed to know a bit about traditional Chinese medicine and metaphysics, so I went to ask him for advice.”

Emily Clark slowly looked up at him, eyes narrowing, then lowered her head again without saying anything.

After a while, just as William Clark was starting to feel uneasy, she let out a barely audible sigh and said softly, “Traditional Chinese medicine has its merits, but don’t be too superstitious about it. Don’t trust those unlicensed street doctors, and don’t believe in metaphysics and the like. If you can’t sleep, take some melatonin. If that doesn’t work, take a sleeping pill. If you’re not well rested, just rest a bit more.”

“Okay, I got it.” William Clark nodded obediently.

Emily Clark took out her phone and started ordering takeout, not even looking at him as she said, “I’m going to take a nap at noon, then I’ll be on duty again. You go get some sleep, for as long as you want. Come back tomorrow morning for the shift change.”

“Thanks for your hard work.” William Clark also took out his phone. “I’ll try to hire a new front desk clerk as soon as possible.”

He posted a few more job ads for hotel cashiers online, then went out to print some recruitment notices and put them up at the hotel entrance, the school gate, and newsstands. When he got back, Emily Clark had already received the takeout.

The two guests from last night checked out one after the other. After eating, William Clark went to clean the rooms, then returned to the front desk to switch shifts with Emily Clark.

Not long after, Old King came down again.

This time, he was still wearing Professor Brooks’s pants, but had on one of William Clark’s white shirts. When he walked up to William Clark, he said, “I’m going out for a stroll, is that okay?”

“Sure.” William Clark nodded, then looked him over carefully. “But you won’t get lost, will you?”

“That’s unlikely.” Old King smiled. “Not to mention my extraordinary abilities, our world also went through the same level of civilization as yours. By that time, I was already quite old, so I’m very familiar with the living environment of this era.”

William Clark was taken aback, realizing that the civilization in Old King’s world was clearly more advanced than Earth’s, and that Old King himself was extremely experienced.

“So you’ll have no problem living in our world, right?” As he spoke, he took a few hundred yuan out of his pocket. “You’re an old hand at this—why not buy yourself a new set of clothes while you’re out? You keep wearing my father’s, and that girl might get suspicious.”

“Uh… alright.” Old King accepted the money helplessly.

He hadn’t bought clothes for himself in who knows how many years, and his idea of going out for a stroll was definitely not the same as an ordinary person’s.

When Old King was young, he traveled throughout the kingdom, and later left his footprints all over the world. He had been to the Forest of Ten Thousand Mountains, considered a forbidden land of demons, and to the Sky City, revered as the domain of the gods! But about eight or nine hundred years ago, after receiving endless praise from the world, he suddenly vanished from the public eye.