Chapter 24: As Long As You Want

Summer still couldn’t believe how quickly these guards had gone from pointing guns at her head to lining up for her autograph.

Seriously. Wasn’t this change a little too fast?

Still, Summer happily signed whatever they handed her. At the end of the day, they had only been doing their jobs.

More importantly, she could build her fanbase this way.

"Have you followed me on BeastNet?" Summer asked as she signed another guard’s shirt.

"Of course! Of course!" The guard nodded eagerly. "And from now on, I’ll watch all your livestreams too! Please don’t die too soon, Miss Bunny!"

What an odd thing to say.

Then again, in a world where people regularly entered polluted zones and got eaten by mutated creatures, that was probably a perfectly normal thing to wish for someone.

"Thanks... I’ll try my best not to die," she said casually.

Right beside her, Archer watched the whole scene with a slightly confused look on his face.

Apparently, he had no idea Summer was this famous.

Either that, or he simply hadn’t been paying attention all those times she openly checked her livestream page right in front of him.

Honestly, both sounded possible.

"Summer, I have to go somewhere else." Archer’s voice finally pulled her attention away from her new fans.

Summer turned toward him. "Oh, yeah. Where are you going?"

Archer went quiet for a moment. "It’s classified."

Of course it was. Summer wasn’t even surprised.

Elite Sentinels probably had access to all kinds of government secrets, while she currently had about as much clearance as a random rabbit on the street.

"I see..." Summer nodded. "Then I guess this is goodbye for now."

She immediately abandoned her little autograph session and walked over to Archer. Then, with a serious expression, she held out her hand. "Thank you for today, Mr. Reed."

Archer looked at her hand before letting out a sigh. "Just Archer is fine."

"I know." Summer chuckled. "I’m just messing with you. You should smile more, Mr. Sentinel."

Archer completely ignored her advice. Instead, he tapped something on his terminal.

[Ding!]

[Your name has been registered for a reservation at the Zeros Hotel.]

[Length of stay: As long as you want.]

She blinked in disbelief and slowly lifted her head and stared at Archer. "What is this?" She pointed at her terminal. "As long as I want?"

Why did this man love saying as long as you want so much? Was he not familiar with numbers?

"I don’t know how long you’ll need to stay in Zone 0, so you can stay at the hotel for as long as you want," Archer explained calmly. "Don’t worry about the bill. I’ll take care of it."

He paused before adding, "But if you’d rather stay somewhere else, that’s fine too."

Somewhere else? Summer immediately threw that option out of her mind.

Why would she stay somewhere else when someone was offering her a hotel room for free? She would have to be the dumbest person alive to turn down something like this.

Still, Summer narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure?" she asked. "What if I stay there for a whole month? Would you go bankrupt?"

For once, Archer didn’t answer her with his usual blank expression. Instead, a low chuckle escaped his lips.

Did he just laugh?

"No," Archer replied, the faint smile still lingering on his face. "That won’t happen. You can rest assured."

Summer smiled again. "Then I’ll gladly accept it."

Not long after that, Archer finally left through his teleportation portal, while Summer entered Zone 0 after giving autographs to all of her fans.

Since it was her first time setting foot in Zone 0, one of the guards offered to guide her to the Zeros Hotel.

He took Summer there in a patrol car, but instead of gasoline, the vehicle also used Energy Cells as fuel.

"Are you really Archer Reed’s Guide now, Miss Bunny?" the guard asked while they were in the car.

Summer sighed slowly because apparently, she really couldn’t escape that nickname. But if the nickname could make her even more famous, then so be it.

"Yeah, for now," she answered briefly.

"Woah! Superb!"

The guard kept talking throughout the journey, but Summer only gave short replies because she was already sleepy.

Fortunately, the trip to the entrance of the Zeros Hotel only took about fifteen minutes.

"Thank you for the ride..." Summer glanced at his name tag. "Lex."

The guard’s eyes immediately lit up. "You know my name! Can you mention my name on your stream too?!"

Summer chuckled awkwardly. "I’ll think about that. Good night, Lex."

She walked into the hotel after watching the patrol car disappear down the road.

The moment the glass doors slid open, she stopped in her tracks.

Wow.

The Zeros Hotel was huge.

The lobby alone looked bigger than her entire old dorm building. The ceiling stretched high above her, warm lights filled the room, and huge glass windows offered a clear view of Zone 0 outside.

Everything looked clean, modern, and expensive without being too flashy.

Summer looked around for a few seconds before finally remembering that she was supposed to check in.

She walked toward the reception desk. "I have a reservation. Summer Beaumont."

The receptionist scanned her terminal, confirmed the reservation under her name, and handed her a room access card without asking her to pay for anything.

Perfect.

Summer took the elevator upstairs and found her room. But the moment she opened the door to her room, she almost wanted to cry.

There was a large bed, a private bathroom, and a clean toilet. Something she probably wouldn’t have been able to get for free if it weren’t for Archer.

Summer immediately jumped into the shower and scrubbed away every bit of dirt, sweat, and whatever else had stuck to her body during the mission.

As for her dirty clothes? Summer simply called room service and asked them to send everything to the laundry.

For once, she didn’t need to fight monsters, worry about credits, or sleep on a bed that felt like it was trying to break her back.

All she needed to do tonight was sleep and Summer fully intended to enjoy every second of it.