Chapter 60: The Black Card Gifted by Yusheng

The seventh mission? Everyone present fell silent. The only sound left in the room was their breathing.

Yusheng's seventh Green Text Mission had arrived?

After a resident completed five missions, the intervals between them extended indefinitely, measured in years.

Logically, he had completed his sixth mission just over half a year ago. His seventh shouldn't have arrived for another six months.

Unless Yusheng himself no longer wanted to wait.

Aside from ancient legends like Xu Yuan, it was exceptionally rare for recent generations of residents to reach the fifth mission, let alone the sixth. In some weaker generations, surviving just four was enough to become an Apartment administrator.

A seventh Green Text Mission rarely appeared anymore.

If Yusheng actually survived this mission...

He might truly complete ten missions, becoming the second legend to leave the Living Apartment after Xu Yuan.

...

...

Little did they know, the very Yusheng they were speaking of—the man about to depart for his seventh Green Text Mission—was currently knocking on a door. Pressing his palms together, he waited quietly for the person inside to open it.

Footsteps echoed from within. A moment later, the door swung open, revealing Gao Tian.

It was his room.

Looking at the unexpected visitor, Gao Tian frowned in confusion. He couldn't understand why this elusive monk would suddenly seek him out in private.

Still, he masked his bewilderment.

"Would you like to come in and sit down?"

Gao Tian stepped aside, gesturing for the senior resident to enter.

Yusheng remained standing in the doorway, his body as stiff as a withered wooden Buddha.

He lowered his eyes to look at Gao Tian. For some reason, Gao Tian felt a profound sense of pity in that gaze.

"My time has come. I depart tomorrow."

It was Yusheng's first sentence, as abrupt and contextless as usual.

"An old acquaintance from the past is coming to find me.

"I likely won't survive this time. All things are bound by karma. After this, I'll have to trouble you newcomers to take care of the Apartment's affairs."

Shock slowly seeped into Gao Tian's eyes.

He recognized the implication: Yusheng's seventh mission had arrived. More than that, the mysterious monk seemed to have foreseen something, explicitly stating that this might be the end of the line for him.

Yusheng didn't give Gao Tian much time to dwell on it. For once, he dropped the riddles and cut straight to the point.

"If I die, holding onto any number of Black Cards will be meaningless.

"If you plan to follow Xia Ta and the others to the fourth floor, you'll need a Black Card.

"I will keep one for myself. The spare, I can give to you.

"You only need to nod."

Gao Tian's heart skipped a beat.

Was the Fierce Ghost of the seventh Green Text Mission so terrifying that even a Black Card couldn't save a life?

For Yusheng, if one Black Card couldn't protect him, having a second one wouldn't make a difference. He was already putting his affairs in order.

Gao Tian couldn't fathom what Yusheng had foreseen, or if this next mission was truly that perilous.

He looked up into Yusheng's shadowless black eyes and asked, "Don't the Apartment's rules state that Black Cards cannot be transferred and can only be used by the owner?"

Otherwise, wealthy residents like Jin Daxiang could just offer half a million or a million to buy one. There would always be people in the Apartment willing to risk death on the fourth floor for that kind of money.

Fortunately, in the face of the supernatural, the rich and the poor were relatively equal.

Yusheng explained, "That is a restriction on fourth-floor Black Cards.

"What I am giving you is a Gray Card, earned by surviving the fifth floor.

"Compared to ordinary Black Cards, Gray Cards are exponentially harder to obtain, and they bring many privileges. For instance, Black Cards cannot be transferred, but Gray Cards can.

"None of that matters. What matters is, do you truly wish to go upstairs? If your heart is set, then I will officially transfer this Gray Card to you right now."

Gao Tian stayed silent for a moment before asking, "Is there really no chance of you surviving this mission?

"If you do survive, and I haven't used the Gray Card on the fourth floor, I'll just return it to you when the time comes."

Yusheng lowered his head, seeming to calmly accept his fate.

"Life and death in this world are dictated by karma and destiny. Everything is preordained.

"What must come, will come. Those meant to survive, will survive. Those meant to die, will certainly die.

"As for you, Gao Tian, do you know why I sought you out specifically?"

Gao Tian asked, "Why?"

Indeed, he was just a newcomer who had completed three missions. He had potential, sure, but not enough to warrant the special attention of a veteran who had survived six missions.

Yusheng said, "You carry the stench of death. Like me, you are a dying man whose time is running out."

His tone was entirely pure, devoid of any malice. It wasn't a curse or an insult. It was simply an objective fact; he was just describing what he saw.

"But what puzzles me is that your time of death is wrong.

"It won't happen after you go to the fourth floor—you still have some time left to live.

"And it won't happen during your fourth Green Text Mission—you won't live long enough to see it.

"If no accidents occur during this expedition upstairs, you should be able to scrape by and survive.

"But immediately after that, your day of death will arrive. You won't even last until the next Green Text Mission.

"Your life will end between the fourth-floor expedition and your fourth mission.

"It's truly strange. I can't for the life of me figure out what kind of entity will kill you.

"Mortals cannot defy the heavens, but I am different. I am a man on the brink of death. I want to try and alter your fate. If you can survive this certain-death destiny, you will become a 'non-existent person' within the weave of karma, and you can serve as a pawn I leave behind after I depart the Apartment."

A solid, pure-gray card had appeared in his hand. Externally, it looked identical to a fourth-floor Black Card, save for the color.

"If I don't return within a week after I set out, my room and everything inside it will be transferred to you.

"The key is under the rug. The passcode for the electronic lock is four 4s."

Yusheng's words were incredibly cryptic, speaking of fate, karma, and the intangible.

He knew many things, but he didn't care to change them, nor did he care to explain.

His background and personality made him an anomaly within the Apartment. He was completely out of tune with the other two administrators.

Facing this stubbornly tight-lipped monk, Gao Tian knew that repeatedly questioning him would just be a waste of time. Since Yusheng wanted to give him this Gray Card, he naturally accepted it without hesitation.

"Then I won't refuse.

"Thank you.

"And I wish you success on your seventh mission, senior."

Yusheng didn't say another word. His gray monk's robes fluttering in the draft, he turned and left.

Staring at the monk's bald head as he walked away, Gao Tian felt this might be the last time he ever saw the mysterious man.

The survival rate for a seventh Green Text Mission was exceptionally bleak. Even a monster like Yusheng had a vague premonition that he wouldn't make it back this time.

Similarly, Gao Tian himself was about to head to the fourth floor of the Apartment.

Although Yusheng said he wouldn't die on the fourth floor, nothing in this world was absolute. If he died on the fourth floor, it would simply be his fate; he could blame no one else.

Who knew what would happen tomorrow?

Xia Ta and the rest of the team would likely set out tomorrow morning.

He had to hurry and tell Xia Ta that he had obtained the Gray Card and reclaimed his spot in the Fourth Floor Team. Otherwise, if they decided to head up early, he'd be completely left in the dust.

Unlocking his mobile phone, he quickly found Xia Ta's WeChat contact.

[Gao Tian]:

The four-person team going upstairs just became five.

I have a Black Card again.

[Rabbit King]:

?

??

???

...

...

"So you're saying that baldy knocked on your door and told you he was leaving. He said his Black Card was useless to him, and since you were in such a rush to go upstairs and get yourself killed, he gave you this card to send you on your way.

"Is that what you mean?"

"Uh... pretty much."

Zhao Zhenjia and the others took a long time to accept this scenario.

After speaking with Gao Tian, Yusheng had left.

The strange thing was, Yusheng had first gone to the Third Floor to find Gao Tian. To leave the Living Apartment, shouldn't he have had to pass through the first-floor lobby to reach the doors?

Yet Xia Ta and Jiang Yang, who were on the first floor, hadn't seen Yusheng come down at all. Yusheng had simply departed the Apartment, not even giving the administrators a chance to say goodbye.

He had left silently, without a single word of farewell. Right before his departure, he had only seen Gao Tian, treating Xia Ta and Jiang Yang as if they were thin air.

"What is Yusheng's seventh mission called?"

"It's called Longshu Temple.

"The mission requirement was just one sentence: Come to Longshu Temple, meet an old acquaintance, and settle a past karmic tie."

"That's it? No hints? No survival conditions? Nothing at all?"

"No, nothing at all."

He was truly a veteran of seven missions; his Green Text Mission had evolved to a level completely different from everyone else's.

At the same time, Gao Tian also noticed Lan Zhu among the original four-person team—the eccentric woman with split lips and grotesque features.

As well as the Rule-Based Horror survival rules for the fourth floor that Yusheng had left them.

"Hey, brat who's only finished three missions, come here.

"Once we're on the fourth floor, just behave and stick close behind me. Don't do anything unnecessary.

"I'll show you what absolute power looks like, what it means to be an expert in the supernatural world.

"Just kick back and let me carry you, little noob."

Lan Zhu was overly familiar, aggressively throwing an arm around Gao Tian's shoulders and vigorously rubbing his head as if they were old friends. Her breath reeked of alcohol; the moment she opened her mouth, the stench nearly suffocated him.

"Lady, this is our first time meeting, right? Who even are you?"

Gao Tian broke out in goosebumps all over. By the time he finally managed to wrest himself free from the weird woman's armpit, one could imagine how awful his expression looked.

In his third mission, he had just run into two lunatics, Zhou Yan and Ling Feifei.

And for this mission, it seemed this woman... wasn't exactly normal either.