"Hi guys, how are you doing?" When the crew entered the hotel lobby, Andria's voice came even before anyone saw her.
"Hey Andria." Leslie McKinsey went up to greet her: "How are you?"
"Good, good." Andria nodded with the same practiced smile. She then scanned the crew, her eyes lingering on Wu Xiaoming for a brief moment: "How was your shoot? I heard you got something last night?"
"We did get something, but we need to review it a few more times." The director nodded, not giving out too much: "And tonight, we are going to try Room 127."
"Oh, the 'Room of Wandering Dream'." Andria's smile grew wider: "That was a good choice. But - how are you going to record it? I don't suppose technology has improved so much that you can record each other's dreams?" She laughed at her own joke, the crew chuckled along just to be polite.
"No - no. We are just going to record the room, and see if we can get anything." Leslie McKinsey shook his head, then he looked at Andria straight in her eyes: "Actually, Andria, I was wondering if we can take a few shots at the 'Queen's Suite'? "
Andria's smile froze for a brief moment: "We don't have it anymore."
"I know, I know. Just - I would like a few shots of the place where it once was." Leslie McKinsey nodded, his voice was as earnest as it can be: "Can we? Just a few shots from outside. It's sealed, but not demolished, right? If we can just get a few exterior shots with the host retelling the 'origin story', it would up the atmosphere by quite a bit."
"I see…" Andria nodded and went into her thoughts. The rest of the crew waited where they were for around half a minute, before she finally nodded: "Okay, I think that will be fine. But I'll need to confirm with the owner."
"When can we hear back? " Leslie McKinsey asked.
"I'll see what I can do." Andria only smiled at the question: "But - have fun shooting!" She went away before the crew could ask for anything else.
"Yeah, let's start after lunch." Tammy whispered to Wu Xiaoming.
"What? Wouldn't that get us in trouble?" Wu Xiaoming frowned.
"Meh, that's what lawsuit insurances are for." Tammy waved her right hand: "Also, it's good PR for the hotel if that happens, so if we get sued we're probably gonna settle anyway. Probably wouldn't even be that much of a hassle."
"That's - that's interesting." Wu Xiaoming scratched his jaw.
"Hey, welcome to reality TV." Tammy chuckled.
The afternoon was mostly eventless. The crew set up cameras and microphones for Room 127, while Wu Xiaoming kept on reading the detailed notes from Tammy.
After at least two read throughs, there was not much new information he could dig up or new conclusions he could draw. Everything would have to wait till tonight, it seemed.
"Alright, dinner first?" Tammy asked Wu Xiaoming as she checked the room one last time: "Gotta sleep with a full stomach."
"Thanks, but I'll just buy a burger later." Wu Xiaoming scanned the entire room yet again - still, nothing stood out to him. Still something felt off about this room, in a different way than Room 404. He could not tell what it was yet, it was mostly a gut feeling.
"Oh." Tammy nodded: "Then, I guess we will see you tonight?"
"Sure. " Wu Xiaoming nodded back: "Let's - uh - try to get something."
When Tammy left, Wu Xiaoming went to a burger joint on the busy street to the hotel gate's left and bought a cheeseburger. He was not really lying about the burger. It was actually for a good reason - to him anyway. He decided to stroll around the block one more time before he would start filming, and maybe even take a look at where The Queen's Suite was from afar - though it was sealed from inside the hotel, the part of it must still be visible from outside.
According to the notes provided by Tammy, The Queen's Suite was on the eighth floor of the hotel, and was facing the direction where this busy street was - partially east, just so the guest in it could see the sunrise.
And it was not that hard to spot either - high up on the side of the hotel building where one could see windows and balconies, was a spot where there was enough room for a wide balcony or two windows, yet was only left with a completely blank wall. He counted the number of floors the blank wall was on - it was the eighth.
Curiosity and caution began battling in his mind. On one hand, for the owner of the hotel to seal the place completely, there must be something big inside the suite; on the other, it must be quite dangerous for him to venture in, whether in real life or in the ethereal realm.
Something to consider at another time - it would be great if there was a jump point here connected to the one in his community. In one of the minor skill trees, the tree of Lu Ban Craft, to be precise, there was a skill that would allow him to place jump points. But as he recalled, the skill was deep in its tree, which meant he needed a lot of skill points to unlock. And jump points weren't free either, he would need a lot of different resources to actually build one.
With the burger fully in his stomach, Wu Xiaoming went back into Room 127. The time was 6:32PM, the sun was about to set. It was a pretty good time to take a short break before the shoot would start. Maybe familiarize himself with the room a little bit.
When Tammy and Leslie McKinsey came into the room looking for Wu Xiaoming at around 7:30 PM, they found him on the bed, asleep already. Though they were somewhat displeased that Wu Xiaoming would come without telling them, they completed the rest of the set up work and began shooting - Wu Xiaoming signed the contract already, he already consented to being recorded, even while he was sleeping.
"Alright, good." Back in the control room, Leslie McKinsey adjusted the angles of the cameras slightly. There were three pointing at Wu Xiaoming, another three pointing at the rest of the corners of the room, and one recording in the bathroom. They set up only three microphones this time, as there were no reports of strange sounds in this room.
"Let's see, let's see." Tammy fixed her eyes on one particular screen, where the display was focused on Wu Xiaoming's face: "Let's see if you're dreaming - "
As if just to show it to Tammy, Wu Xiaoming frowned right as she finished adjusting the display.
In Wu Xiaoming's perspective, he was indeed faced with something worth frowning about.
Just a few minutes ago, he was just about to lie on the bed to get a feel of it. But somehow, a wave of fatigue and weariness ambushed him, pulling him into an unexpected slumber.
What awaited him next was a dream - THE dream. He was inside of an old building with red lanterns of different sizes on the walls - walls that did not really show any clear layout of the floor or directions. The wall to his left was one with a small hallway leading into some further unknown structure, and a flight of stairs leading to the upper floor; to his right, the wall was curved outwards, and if he walked along it he would be led into another hallway. Behind him was a wall, with no way back, and in front of him was a wide, straight hallway with doorways leading left and right. The far end of the hallway in front of him was covered in shadow, and from where he was he could not see where it eventually would lead.
Red lanterns weren't the only sources of light - there were red candles placed along the foot of the walls as well, though there were clearly less of it.
It would appear that this was the dream - he was in the "Wandering Dream".