The Innkeeper

Chapter 1339  Completely screwed

Lex was very confident in his ability to hide his thoughts and emotions, but the moment he realized Wu Kong's identity - which synchronized with Mary telling him her suspicions - the guest turned his attention towards Lex.

The bizarre thing was that under the gaze of the new guest, Lex felt nothing. He distinctly recalled how the system had hidden itself in front of Ballom, yet in front of Wu Kong it did not react at all. It was as if the system wasn't capable of detecting him at all - something he dared not confirm with a scan of the system, or an evaluation of the guest in front of him.

Mary had never warned him like this before, which made Lex think of one thing: that she had heard of Wu Kong from back when she was alive.

As if uninterested, Wu Kong turned back towards the auditor.

"Junior, you're no fun," Wu Kong said with exasperation, causing the auditor to bow down even more.

"My deepest apologies, senior!" Ripley said, but before he could continue, Wu Kong flicked a finger, and caused Ripley to suddenly stand up straight - even if it was against his will.

"Young man, I am on vacation. Over here, I have no identity other than that of a simple guest, so treat me as such. If some of my local friends see you acting like this, they might make wrong assumptions. Now, ask your survey questions and give me that gambling token. I have had trouble getting some MP on my own."

Lex could not even begin to ponder why a suspected Dao Lord might have trouble getting some simple MP. The only thing on his mind was wondering how long he'd had a Dao Lord inside the Inn!

Lex no longer required the Host Attire to sense the Inn, as he could do it directly now. But whether it was on his own, or when he had been wearing the attire a short while ago, he had not noticed the presence of Wu Kong-

"Can you stop thinking about my name?" the guest said, looking at Lex with a look of exhaustion. "It's quite loud. If you must think about me, I prefer nicknames such as Handsome Monkey King or Great Sage."

Lex was stunned, and then forced himself to stop thinking altogether! He did not know if the Handsome Monkey King could read his thoughts or just tell when he was being thought of!

Wu Kong nodded, as if pleased by Lex's use of the appropriate nickname, and then turned back to Ripley.

"Don't make this awkward for me, young man. Get on with your survey."

"Yes! Of course!" Ripley said, trying to bow once more, but was physically unable to. Instead, he pulled out a clipboard with a survey printed out on a paper.

"My first… first question is: how did you hear about the Midnight Inn?" Ripley asked with a stutter.

Lex was now getting worried. He had suspicions he dared not think of, but the oddities were adding up. Ripley was nowhere near this awkward when he met the Innkeeper, and in fact had the air of someone who was used to meeting Dao Lords. In front of the Great Sage, however, he was like a fanboy who had met his celebrity crush! n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Wu Kong reached out to his ear and pulled out what Lex had originally assumed was a piercing going through the length of his ear. Then his eyes widened as he saw the 'piercing' suddenly grow till it was the same height as Wu Kong. It was a golden key for the Midnight Inn!

"I lost my spear in a fight one day and just reached out into space for a replacement, and found this key. It's not bad, but it breaks too easily. Not that I mind. Upon breaking, it brought me here, and it's been quite interesting ever since."

Oh, whether the system wanted to or not, Lex was going to employ that teleportation restriction as soon as this was over!

Ripley quickly wrote down the answer before proceeding to the next question.

"How long have you been at the Inn for?"

"Not too long. A few months at most. I wasn't really counting," said Wu Kong casually.

By now, Lex had mastered himself, and prevented any kind of emotional turbulence from hearing that an unidentified Dao Lord had been chilling inside the Inn for at least a few months!

Now he was certain that either the system could not detect the Handsome Monkey Sage at all. He remembered the names and details of every single guest inside the Inn for that period, and he did not recall this particular guest.

"And how would you describe your experience during this time?" Ripley asked, finally getting back into the groove of things if one ignored the fact that he, as a Celestial immortal, was sweating visibly.

"Quite novel," Wu Kong said. "By being allowed to enter and circumvent the restrictions of the realm's upper power limit without any personal effort, I was able to interact with an entire realm of beings who had no idea about anything at all. It's quite refreshing just hanging out with mortals once in a while. Not to mention, I saw a few interesting things here and there - though I suppose I shouldn't have really peeked. In my defense, the Innkeeper never really stopped me."

Wu Kong looked towards Lex when he mentioned seeing interesting things, and Lex had no doubt that the Monkey Sage had seen his sister fuse with a Sovereign. He'd probably even seen Moon, along with basically everything else that had been going on. At this point, Lex didn't even know if his identity as the Innkeeper was even safe anymore.

On top of everything, he still he his suspicions about the Handsome Sage's identit-

"Can you stop mixing my nicknames like that so casually?" Wu Kong asked while looking at Lex. "It doesn't feel nice. Here, let me show you."

Around a hundred miles from Lex, he was aware of anything and everything that happened so long as it was pertaining to him, and suddenly he could sense someone nearby purposefully insulting him in their thoughts. Lex couldn't hear the thoughts - not unless he specifically tried to - but he could still sense it.

"Doesn't feel nice, does it?" Wu Kong asked.

"My apologies. I meant no disrespect," Lex suddenly said.

Wu Kong waved his hand, as if he didn't really care.

"It's not disrespectful. It's just that I can't turn off the sensation, you know? Like, imagine having OCD and you open up your phone and you have countless notifications, and as soon as you go through them all, finally finding freedom, someone just sent you more messages. It's just mildly annoying in the kind of way you can't ignore."

Lex was dumbfounded for more than one reason! Alright, well, he was mostly dumbfounded because while Wu Kong was talking, a couple had walked up to them - a couple Lex knew very well!

Brandon and Audrey Morrison, Alexander Morrisons grandparents, and two of the most ridiculous people alive, walked up behind Wu Kong. Brandon tried to grab onto Wu Kong in a headlock, but Audrey slapped him on the back of his head, knocking him aside.

"Ah, Brandon and Audrey, I'm glad to see you're back. How was your doctor's visit? By the way, I'm taking a survey that has a 1,000,000 MP reward! I suggest you guys take it as well."

Lex and Ripley both shared a look, and got the feeling that the two new additions did not exactly know the true details of their associate, so it was best they not mention it.

"Not bad at all," Brandon said with a grin. "The doc said it's going to be triplets. Considering that I'm going to need money for the babies milk powder, a 1,000,000 MP survey sounds just right."

"I am considering a divorce," Audrey said without the slightest change in expression. "I'm not at the age of having kids. This man has no self control. My grandson is the one who should be having kids."

"Of course, I would love to include you in the survey as well," Ripley said without the slightest hint or hesitation. "During your stay at the Inn, has there been anything that you found dissatisfactory or disappointing?"

"It's more or less what I expected. I have no complaints," said Wu Kong with a shrug.

"Nah, the vibe is different," Brandon said. "Back in the day, when the Inn was new, it felt much cozier and fun. Now, even with all the expansion, it's too crowded for my taste."

"Don't listen to him," Audrey said, her expression still the same. "He's just sad I refused to do any more beauty contests. I'll have to admit, that was a bad idea on my part."

Ripley continued to ask the trio more questions while Lex just stood there, silently listening, keeping his mind completely blank of all thoughts. But an empty mind did not mean his emotions or feelings were also lacking, and at the moment, he was feeling extremely screwed. Brandon was trying to find Wu Kong a girlfriend.