City of Time: Falling into the kill zone at the start

Chapter 90 Luxury Apartment

August 15, 294 AD.

Just like yesterday, the bus arrived at the North Gate around 20 PM.

All passengers disembarked, the driver closed the doors, and disappeared around the street corner.

As soon as Lu Chen got out of the car, he immediately located the hotel street.

Then, Lu Chen discovered the first unusual thing about Beicheng.

—There are almost no rope hotels.

Only at the very end of the hotel street, there are a few symbolic hotels scattered about.

There weren't many makeshift hotels either, occupying less than a third of the hotel street.

Occupying most of the hotel street are "normal" hotels that are completely enclosed.

It occupies not much more space than a rope hotel or a makeshift hotel, but it is ultimately not a pavilion.

Lu Chen walked to one of the rooms, craned his neck, and looked inside the hotel.

There is a bed.

It was a bunk bed that Lu Chen was very familiar with, commonly seen in school dormitories and youth hostels in 2025.

To be precise, it's more like the upper, middle, and lower berths of a hard sleeper train.

The berths are about the same length and width as the "long boxes" in makeshift hotels, but at least they are not enclosed spaces.

There is also a passageway between the beds, large enough for one person to pass through.

As for the price, Lu Chen wasn't in a hurry to ask.

It's probably a bit more expensive than a makeshift hotel, but not by much.

...

On the outermost side of the hotel street, closest to the city gate, there are several noticeably larger and neater buildings.

Unlike the rope hotel, the makeshift hotel, and the "normal" three-story hotel, these "luxury" hotels have security checkpoints at the entrance.

Lu Chen secretly guessed that when someone enters a luxury hotel, the security checkpoint scans the entrant's pupil information.

As for the reason, it is most likely that there are restrictions on the identity, status, or profession of the person entering.

For example, parasites are not allowed to enter;

Or it could mean prohibiting certain professions from entering.

After observing for a moment, Lu Chen noticed another difference.

—It was just past 20 p.m.

Rope hotels and makeshift hotels have not yet entered their peak operating period;

Almost no one goes to the rope hotel or makeshift hotel several hours before the curfew begins.

Even a normal hotel with three floors is only slightly better, and occasionally someone will go there early to lie down.

But luxury hotels are different.

Even though there were still nearly three hours until curfew, the entrance to the luxury hotel was still bustling with people coming and going.

Although there were no nobles who exuded an air of wealth and power at first glance, there were also no poor people dressed in shabby clothes.

Lu Chen felt that the people entering and leaving luxury hotels were probably not very wealthy and were in good-owned professions.

For example, a bakery owner.

Standing outside the luxury hotel, Lu Chen hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to step inside.

Lu Chen felt it would be very expensive.

Rope Hotel one night [12 minutes], Fangcang Hotel one night [1 hour 15 minutes];

As for hard sleeper train hotels and luxury hotels, Lu Chen roughly guessed that the former would last about 2 hours per night, and at most no more than 3 hours.

Lu Chen was somewhat hesitant to guess the latter.

Because Lu Chen couldn't see the interior of the luxury hotel.

If it's like the hotel in 2025, with separate guest rooms, as well as amenities such as a king-size bed and bathroom...

"Yu's apartment rents for 12 days a month, which averages out to less than 10 hours a day."

Muttering to himself, Lu Chen secretly made a rough deduction.

—A hotel room that is more spacious and better equipped than Yu’s apartment would likely cost up to [1 day].

For Lu Chen, it certainly wasn't an astronomical figure.

However, compared to a makeshift hotel that lasts for 1 hour and 15 minutes, it is undoubtedly an unnecessary extra expense.

"Since we're already here..."

"Shall we go in and take a look?"

"At least find out how expensive it is."

"If it's really too expensive, I can just stay here; it's not a big loss."

Thinking this, Lu Chen subconsciously straightened his back, tightened his trench coat, and stepped forward.

Sure enough, when Lu Chen arrived at the security checkpoint, the familiar mechanical voice rang out.

"Scan pupil information."

...

"Recovered: No. 9527"

"Permission granted."

The security checkpoint turned green, and Lu Chen waited a while to make sure that he didn't need to pay for the time before entering the hotel.

It was somewhat different from what Lu Chen had imagined.

The hotel interior wasn't particularly 'magnificent'.

They weren't even as bright and clean as the cheap guesthouses in small county towns in 2025.

Under the dim yellow light, the entire lobby appeared somewhat gloomy.

At the far end of the lobby, there is a row of metal counters, which is probably where you check in.

On the left and right sides of the lobby, there are several round tables.

The male dealer stands on one side of the round table, holding a deck of cards, and deals cards to the guests sitting around the table in twos and threes.

After receiving their cards, the guests either secretly cursed their bad luck and threw them away, or, with varying expressions, took a few chips from the pile in front of them and casually tossed them onto the center of the table.

"No wonder there's no need to pay for the time at the entrance."

"Not everyone who comes here is a guest staying overnight; some are gamblers who come to play cards too?"

While deep in thought, Lu Chen quietly walked forward and came to one of the round tables.

The playing cards were old; the lettering on the cards had faded and turned white.

The chips, about the size of coins, were not the colorful ones Lu Chen had imagined, but rather a gradient of color from white to black.

Some are whiter, some are blacker, some are light gray, some are dark gray...

The dealer dealt two cards to each person, and three additional face cards were dealt to the table.

Lu Chen thought to himself, "Good heavens."

—Isn't this Texas Hold'em...?

After watching for a while, one of them lost all his chips, muttered something, stood up, and went to the registration desk inside the lobby.

After a brief exchange, the greeter behind the registration desk took out a new box of chips and a capsule from under the table.

The man fastened the capsule to his left wrist, paid for 3 days, picked up his newly purchased chips, and returned to the poker table.

Having witnessed all of this, Lu Chen roughly estimated the total number of chips on the table based on the man's newly purchased "3-day" chips.

It will take approximately 20 days.

The outcome of each hand of cards usually takes between 2 and 3 hours.

Occasionally, it can reach 5 hours, but it is very rare.

"Being able to gamble with 3 days of work time is definitely not a manual labor profession."

"Winning or losing in one night for ten days or so wouldn't make you a top-tier, well-off profession."

After making his judgment, Lu Chen stopped watching the card game and went to the registration desk.

"I need accommodation."

As Lu Chen spoke, the woman behind the registration desk had already cleverly taken out a box of chips.

It turned out that Lu Chen didn't intend to gamble, so he awkwardly took back his chips.

He then forced a slightly contrived smile.

"Single room, 15 hours per night."

"Double room [20 hours], two people can share a room."

"And even better, the penthouse suite."

"There is a bathroom and hot water, for one night [3 days]."

Water fees are separate.