Li Wei raised an eyebrow.

"Sir, allow me to valet your car." A young male attendant approached and respectfully held out his hand for the car keys.

"No, thank you," Li Wei declined. "This car is modified. I’m afraid you won’t be used to it."

The attendant’s hand lingered in the air. He glanced awkwardly at his supervisor. The supervisor just smiled and nodded, gesturing for the attendant to retreat. "It’s no problem. Our guests are entitled to their preferences. Please, follow me to check in."

After he parked the car, Sarah got out to find Mark. Li Wei turned to Anya, who was grabbing her handbag, and said softly, "There’s no signal here. Bring the satellite phone."

"Already in here," Anya said, shaking the size 40 platinum bag in her hand. "I brought two handguns as well."

Li Wei froze for a second, then smiled. "Excellent. Good girl."

The group of four entered the semi-open-air lobby, escorted by the front desk supervisor and the attendants. The moment they stepped inside, that feeling of being unstuck in time washed over them again. It was an exact echo of what they had seen in town. The female staff bustling about the lobby were all uniformly dressed in shapeless, solid-colored long dresses. The long sleeves were buttoned tightly at the wrist, and the hems trailed to their ankles. Even indoors, their hair was meticulously swept into high, vintage-style updos. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Just now, in town," Mark couldn’t help but ask, "I saw all the women here wearing this... vintage-style clothing. Is this place connected to a church?"

"You have a very sharp eye, esteemed guest," the front desk supervisor said. "Most of the residents in our town are followers of the Saints Church of Jesus Christ."

Mark nodded in understanding and said nothing more.

After they finished checking in, the supervisor’s smile didn’t waver. "To welcome you and help you unwind from your journey, we’ve arranged a singing bowl sound therapy for the two ladies this afternoon. Tomorrow, there will be an energy yoga session. The gentlemen are welcome to visit our Cliffside Cigar Bar and sample some of our fine cigars. We have the largest cigar showroom in Utah. Our welcome drinks are also quite excellent and make for a wonderful pairing."

...

「Three P.M. The underground salt cave spa.」

The soundproofing here was incredibly effective. The walls were half a meter thick, built to recording-studio specifications.

Anya and Sarah had changed into exceptionally comfortable cotton robes and were lying beside warm saltwater flotation tanks.

The air vibrated with the low-frequency resonance of quartz crystal bowls, each tuned to a different frequency. These physical sound waves could penetrate straight to the bone, inducing a state of deep relaxation almost instantly.

"This treatment feels a lot like the ones I’ve had in Southeast Asia. For the United States of America, this is absolutely top-tier," Anya sighed in contentment, feeling the fatigue of the last two days melt away.

’Even though Li Wei did ninety percent of the driving, just being a passenger for that long was exhausting in its own way.’

’Anya really couldn’t understand how Li Wei could drive all day without showing the slightest sign of fatigue.’

’But that didn’t stop her from dutifully attending to Li Wei, entertaining him in all sorts of ways during their breaks.’

"It is," Sarah said, also closing her eyes. "I’ve never done anything like this in New York. It feels amazing to try it here."

"Oh, you know, there’s actually a wellness club on the Upper East Side that has these kinds of man-made flotation tanks," Anya said after a moment of thought. "But, well... it’s a bit pricey. Over 700 USD per session."

"That is really expensive," Sarah said, shocked. "Even for New York, that’s a little steep. I’m a stay-at-home wife. It’s already a struggle for us to support the family and maintain a respectable lifestyle on just Mark’s salary and bonuses."

"Isn’t your husband on Wall Street?" Anya asked. "It should be fine to treat yourself once in a while, no?"

"Treating ourselves once in a while would be nice," Sarah said, rubbing her belly, "but we have to prepare for little Mark. It’s basically impossible for us to save any money in New York."

"Can’t save money?" Anya asked, turning her head in surprise.

’She had little grasp of a typical middle-class life, wondering if people could really be so poor they couldn’t afford a pair of 1,000 USD shoes. But she knew Mark’s position: a partner at a mid-sized investment bank. Even in Manhattan, that title implied an extremely high social status and a substantial income.’

"Mark’s annual salary plus his year-end bonus comes to about 1.2 million USD before taxes." Sarah’s eyes fluttered open. She stared at the dim, soft lights on the salt cave’s ceiling, her voice tinged with weary resignation. "It sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? To the average person, that puts us firmly in the wealthy class."

Anya nodded. In a normal person’s eyes, that was certainly an excellent income.

"But Miss Anna, keeping up appearances in New York is very expensive," Sarah sighed. "Federal, state, and city taxes, plus all the other surcharges... half of that money is gone before we even see it."

"We rent a two-bedroom luxury apartment on the Upper West Side. To guarantee a good school district and security, the monthly rent plus the exorbitant maintenance fees comes to 15,000 USD." She wiped a few salt crystals from her hair as she spoke. "Mark’s investment banking circle has an incredibly strict, unspoken social code. He has to wear custom-tailored suits that cost several thousand USD. He has to own a watch that costs at least 20,000 USD. On weekends, he has to go to the Hamptons or some expensive country club to play golf. If he doesn’t, his clients and partners will think he’s not successful, or that he’s new to money and doesn’t know how to handle it."