Chapter 367: Chen Ling's Unique Path

“Old Xiao, checking out!”

As Chen Ling discreetly observed the ant distribution, several figures descended the stairs.

Hearing these words, Chen Ling’s eyes narrowed slightly. After confirming their gaze was on him, a smile appeared on his face.

“Checking out so early?”

“Ah… Old Xiao, honestly, hardly anyone dares to stay in your inn now,” the man at the front said helplessly. “They’re all talking upstairs about whether there’s some kind of serial killer living here; the rumors are getting wild… You know, we’re merchants who travel a lot, safety comes first. We should find another inn for now.”

Behind him, several other people, carrying bags of various sizes, also seemed shaken by the recent explosion and nodded in agreement with the man’s words.

“This…”

A hint of bitterness flickered in Chen Ling’s eyes, but he still nodded, “Alright.”

After he spoke, the group didn’t move. They stood quietly in front of the counter, watching Chen Ling.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Ling suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Old Xiao, you have to refund us for the remaining nights, right?”

“That’s right, we paid a deposit for several days when we arrived. Check how many days are left and refund the difference for any unspent nights.”

“We’ve been old friends for so many years; you wouldn’t try to withhold our money, would you?”

As they complained one after another, Chen Ling’s heart sank.

Damn it… his worst fear had come true.

Although he had taken over the identity of the innkeeper, he didn’t recognize any of these people. If he didn't refund them, it would surely cause a scene and arouse suspicion from the ant’s owner. But if he did refund them, he couldn't match faces to names, so how could he calculate their room fees? Wouldn't asking about it reveal his true identity?

Chen Ling’s mind raced. He looked at the group before him, his face ashen, and slammed his hand on the counter!

Bang—!

“Fine! Fine, fine, fine…”

“You want a refund, right? Alright, I’ll refund all of you!”

Chen Ling yanked open the drawer, pulled out all the money inside, and slammed it onto the counter, veins bulging in his neck!

“Take it! Take as much as you want to be refunded!! Damn it, I was running a perfectly good business, and my place got bombed! Now you’re all trying to take advantage… Take whatever you want refunded yourselves! If you’re so capable, just take my whole inn!! Damn!”

Chen Ling turned and stormed into the back room, slamming the door shut with a bang. The air instantly fell silent.

“Well…”

Everyone was stunned by Chen Ling’s sudden outburst of anger. They looked at the pile of money on the counter, momentarily at a loss.

After an unknown amount of time, someone sighed:

“It’s true, Old Xiao is already having a tough time…”

“After all, his own inn was bombed. I took a look; that floor was severely damaged. Repairs won’t be cheap.”

“Ultimately, it was a completely unprovoked disaster. No one could bear it, and Old Xiao’s temper has been quite good…”

“We went too far… Let’s forget about the remaining two days’ rent. It’s not much anyway; consider it our apology to Old Xiao.”

“What does that have to do with us? We didn’t bomb the place. Not a single penny that’s due back should be withheld… Excuse me, I need to get my money.”

Some, who had good relationships with the innkeeper, ultimately didn’t take the money back. Others walked directly to the counter, counted out their rightful refunds, and then headed outside. Yet, among them, not a single person noticed anything unusual about the innkeeper.

Before long, the inn was mostly empty.

Leaning in the back room, Chen Ling heard the commotion outside and narrowed his eyes slightly.

He had managed to bluff his way through this hurdle, but under the ants’ surveillance, he couldn’t guarantee success every time. He was, after all, merely an imposter. If someone with a close relationship to the real innkeeper appeared again, the chances of exposure would be high.

Just as Chen Ling was pondering how to leave discreetly, a commotion came from outside. He peered out from the edge of the window and saw that the guests who had just left were now stopped by a group of police officers, who seemed to be interrogating them thoroughly.

“Another trick up their sleeve?” Chen Ling knew that those police officers were most likely there to screen for him.

The inn was now under surveillance by ants everywhere. He couldn't even change his face and blend into the crowd. The situation seemed to have reached a complete stalemate… Chen Ling's only option now was to continue playing the role of the innkeeper until the three from Fangsheng Hui lost patience and stopped monitoring the inn.

However, doing so carried a significant risk of exposure for him, and he couldn't just hide in the back room indefinitely.

“Should I go out and confront them now?”

Chen Ling paced back and forth in the room, mentally listing combinations of his skills, wondering if he could find a way to break the deadlock.

Just then, it was as if he remembered something, and a strange light flickered in his eyes:

“Come to think of it… what exactly is this skill?”

Since reaching the third stage, Chen Ling had never used the skill granted by his Twisted Thespian Path. Compared to his previous “Faceless” and “Scarlet Trick,” this new skill felt very vague, so much so that he still didn’t understand what it meant.

“‘Designate a character, and the sense of conviction while impersonating will, to some extent, influence reality...’” Chen Ling murmured to himself.

Compared to “Faceless,” which specialized in disguise, and “Scarlet Trick,” which deceived vision, this skill seemed to offer more options. But Chen Ling didn’t understand what “sense of conviction” truly meant. How could it influence reality?

Chen Ling had previously heard Han Meng mention that within the same divine path, there could be multiple branches, and some skills in the first three stages might be identical. For instance, most martial divine paths begin with “Iron Armor” at the first stage, but upon advancing to the fourth stage, domain characteristics are determined by different branches…

In other words, as one’s rank increases, the differences in skills between various branches become more pronounced. In later stages, even within the same branch, skills may differ among owners, determined by individual characteristics.

Could it be that this third-stage skill of his was a manifestation of his unique “specialty”? Would it determine the direction of all his subsequent domains and skills?

At this moment, the figures of Mo Jiao and Spade K naturally appeared in Chen Ling’s mind.

He had only encountered these two individuals who followed the Thespian Path, but though they shared the same path, their abilities were entirely different. “Sheng,” “Dan,” “Jing,” “Mo,” “Chou”—each role varied wildly from the others… Yet, he had never performed in Peking Opera and had no understanding of these roles.

What, then, would be the unique “specialty” path belonging to Chen Ling?

Chen Ling’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper. He felt as if a dense fog enveloped his vision, and through the haze, he seemed to have arrived at a crucial crossroads.

Just as he was deep in thought, a handsome young man walked up to the counter outside the door and asked, innocently and with confusion:

“Huh? Where’s the innkeeper??”