It was night time, the weather was nice and the winds were cool. Xianshi Inn was at its normal serene environment, with the light and pleasant smell of flowers in the air. A black car pulled into the parking lot with three women inside. Each of them had a distinct hair color, which also seemed to matched the main theme color of their clothes: the woman with red hair was wearing mostly dark red shirt and long trousers and a black jacket; the woman with brown hair was wearing a suit of brown clothing looking like an army uniform but with only different shades of brown as camouflage; the woman with bright blue hair was wearing a blue T-shirt, a pair of short jeans and white sneakers.

“Okay, this is it.” the woman in red double checked their location on the car’s control screen against the address shown: “Let’s go in and get our rooms first, then we can try to find out if the codex is here. We must find it, or at least useful intel on where it is, per Lady Vyn’s orders, burn it down if we have to.”

“Looks like just an ordinary inn. I haven’t seen the traces of any cloaking or protection arrays, so they could be buried beneath the ground. Since this place is open to civilians, It’s safe and prudent to assume they are hidden from plain sight. ” the woman in blue said with her eyes narrowed: “The flowers and vegetation around are not from the civilian world, but they don’t seem to be that special either.”

The woman in brown already got off the car before the other two and started looking around the parking lot with a frown on her face - she sensed that something was a little off with the parking lot but she was having a hard time finding out what it was, or even how to properly describe the feeling she had.

“What’s the matter, Nat?” the woman in red got out of the car and brought her metal knuckles coated with rose gold: “Something wrong?”

“This parking lot is freaking me out a little.” Natalie, the woman in brown, answered and eventually her eyes landed on a broken down car at the corner of the parking lot: “You don’t feel the creepiness here? ”

“No.” “Not really.” the women in red and in blue shook their heads. This caused Natalie to appear more hesitant.

“Don’t worry Nat, I’ll protect you. Keep your eyes open. You’re the perceptive one.” Carmen, the woman in red said.

“Let’s just go in.” Nat sighed and said.

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“Hello, welcome to Xianshi Inn, what can I do for you?” sitting behind the reception’s desk was a slim man with clumsy arms, and a small white ball of fur on his shoulder: “Our kitchen’s not working at the moment, so I’m afraid we can’t offer you any food, just hot tea and coffee.”

“Hi, hello, we would like a big room, with three beds. Do you have those?” Kate, the woman in blue asked, while her eyes were just fixated on the white fur ball on the man’s shoulder: “And, uh, do you have alcoholic drinks?”

“We only have civilian drinks.” the man’s answer shocked the three women: “Do you still want them?”

“What do you mean, civilians?” Kate forced herself to remain calm and collected: “We’re all civilians, no?”

The slim man stared at the three women for a brief moment then laughed: “Alright ladies, if you say so. We have different kinds of alcoholic drinks, beer, wine, soju, sake, Chinese white rice wine, Chinese brown rice wine, Chinese plum wine...”

“That’s fine, that’s fine. We’d like three bottles of Chinese plum wine please.” Carmen cut the man off while focusing on the man’s name tag: “... Rash?”

“Yes.” the man smiled and stroked the fur ball on his shoulder and shuffled through the drawer: “I got you set up for room 204, that room has three queen size beds, one and a half bathrooms - and by half I mean one without shower. And it has a balcony with a view of the garden in the back. I think you would really like it. Here, your keys. You can go up and take a rest, and I will deliver the wine to your door in a minute.”

“Thank you.” Kate nodded and took a paper menu from the reception’s desk, then she patted on Natalie’s shoulder, who was still looking around like she was a lost kid in a museum.

“Nat, what happened? Anything wrong with this place?” Carmen pinched Natalie lightly and asked: “What do you see?”

“This place - it’s weird, very, very weird.” Natalie took a deep breath and said: “That lounge, for example, was built with magical materials, but they’re built in such a way that almost no magical energy is leaking into the surrounding environment. That alone takes a ton of work, unnecessary work, even, not to mention the light collecting qualities which syphons the external light into the room and lights up in all the right places to make a warm and non-sharp contrast that’s easy on the eyes. I mean, shit, it’s impressive art, but why all the work for this?”

“Flamboyant owner who likes to flex?” Kate asked.

“Maybe, maybe.” Nataline was still looking around when they walked onto the stairs and then into the aisle: “Are you seeing this place? It’s - it’s - ”

“Beautiful?” Kate chuckled widely: “Are you geeking out here? Come on, we will need more than that, like secret passageways and traps and hidden vaults.”

“No - it’s just - warm and fuzzy.” Natalie said: “Whoever did the interior design and decoration must have been really trying to make this place feel comfortable.”

“While we’re probing this place.” Kate was playing with her watch: “We are definitely inside of at least three arrays. One protective array protecting the people within from exterior attacks and forces, another protective array maintaining the integrity of the internal structures, and one spatial array, functionality unknown, but presumably one that allows the employees to travel from room to room without even walking the whole way.”

“Room 204.” Carmen found the room, then gently opened it.

Three beds in a room, with screens between rooms for privacy, and the three rooms with beddings whose colors matched them individually: red, brown and light blue.

“Anyone have any idea on how the hell he knows that we’re not civilians?” Carmen said.