Chapter 62: The Initial Manifestation of Terror

Human fate was unpredictable.

Li Jin had been laid off from his company two months ago. At thirty-five, he hadn't received a single cent in severance. With his lease up, he had scoured the internet for a cheap place to stay, which naturally led to his being duped into the Living Apartment and forced to carry out various terrifying missions.

He had thought his luck was already bad enough. To his surprise, after surviving two missions without incident under the guidance of veterans and earning a month's reprieve, he gradually realized that this godforsaken place actually had its merits.

No matter how many Fierce Ghosts rampaged outside, the interior of the Living Apartment remained safe. This was an absolute truth; every resident had told him so after he moved in.

As supernatural incidents erupted worldwide, the media exhausted every conceivable excuse—shocking "murders," "accidents," "large-scale lab leaks." The severity of the situation had reached a point where it could no longer be covered up.

Pedestrians grew scarce on the streets, and many shops had temporarily closed.

Thank God for the Living Apartment.

Hauling a massive pile of food he had grabbed for free from the first-floor pantry, he reached the door of his room on the second-floor corridor. He reached for his keys, ready to go inside, game all day, and enjoy a beautiful life free of Green Text Missions.

For some reason, the corridor lights on this floor were flickering, looking somewhat eerie in the distance. It looked exactly like the omen of a ghost's arrival in a horror novel.

Li Jin chuckled, paying it no mind.

This was the second floor of the Living Apartment. There were no ghosts here.

Standing at his door, he set down the large bags of food and began rummaging through his pockets for his keys.

Strange. He remembered putting them in his jacket pocket on his way out. How could they vanish after a quick trip downstairs?

As Li Jin continued to search, the flickering corridor lights in the distance began to wink out one by one. The darkness crept closer, as if something were walking toward him.

Only then did he sense that something was wrong. He slowly looked up.

No way... How could there be a ghost on the second floor?

He had to be dreaming.

Looking down the hall, Li Jin saw a little girl in a floral dress. She wore a smile, staring up at him as she slowly walked his way.

Li Jin let out a long breath.

It was just someone's kid who had run out.

Although it was school hours, many schools in the city had temporarily closed due to the frequent supernatural outbreaks. Parents preferred to keep their children home for online classes.

He smiled at the approaching little girl.

"Which room do you live in, kiddo? Why aren't you taking your online classes? What are you doing out here at this hour?"

Something was off.

The little girl seemed completely unable to understand him. Still wearing that puppet-like smile, she quickened her pace toward him.

Li Jin began to feel a twinge of unease.

Was there really no one else in the hallway besides this strange little girl?

Reason told him this was the second floor of the Living Apartment, making it absolutely safe. Emotionally, however, he had already begun to feel a sliver of fear, and he sped up his search for the keys.

Fortunately, he found the keys in his jeans pocket. Just before the little girl in the hallway could lunge at him, Li Jin unlocked the door as fast as he could, slipped inside, and bolted it behind him.

Out in the hallway, the strange little girl dropped her act. She began pounding madly on the door, letting out beast-like, ghostly wails.

"What is going on..."

Li Jin felt something was very wrong.

Whose kid was this? She was acting like she had rabies.

He would definitely have to complain to the apartment administrator, Xia Ta, later. This was simply outrageous.

Leaning against the door, Li Jin panted for a moment before finally finding the strength to put down his food bags and walk toward the living room.

He was completely unaware that on the ceiling of his room, a little boy in linen clothes was hanging upside down from the rafters like a spider. Gripping a bloodstained fruit knife, the boy wore an eerie smile as he watched Li Jin walk past below.

...

...

Up on the fourth floor, the various administrators, Lan Zhu, and Gao Tian were completely oblivious to the incident unfolding on the second floor.

That was because they were currently facing a far more terrifying mission.

Xia Ta had already twisted the doorknob and yanked open the door to Room 413.

The moment the door opened, the group fanned out into a predetermined arc, just as they had agreed upon downstairs. Gao Tian, Jiang Yang, and Zhao Zhenjia stood to the left of the door, while Lan Zhu and Xia Ta stood to the right. They maintained a safe distance, ready for whatever might come charging out of the eerie room.

One minute.

Three minutes.

Five minutes.

The forcibly opened Room 413 remained dead silent and pitch black. It was difficult to see inside from the hallway, and nothing suddenly rushed out.

A foul odor drifted out—the dead stench of a room left uninhabited for a long time, smelling of rot and mildew.

Bzzzz...

"Good evening, viewers...

"The year is 3154... Month thirteen, day zero... the eighth day of the week, lunar calendar... welcome to the evening news...

"First, we will introduce the... main contents... of tonight's program... ah..."

In the center of the living room, a black-and-white television emitted harsh static. The news anchor read the day's broadcast in a bizarre accent. The screen warped and skipped frames constantly. Such an old, bulky CRT television was a relic of a bygone era, something rarely seen anymore.

Who was watching the news?

Outside the door, Xia Ta and Zhao Zhenjia exchanged a glance.

"Wind Attendant Buddha!"

Zhao Zhenjia chanted the incantation, activating his strongest Supernatural Item. Countless gusts of wind gathered, and a figure made of wind—identical to him in both appearance and height—materialized out of thin air. It bore a solemn, dignified expression.

The moment the "Zhao Zhenjia" touched the ground, it didn't hesitate. With steady steps, it strode straight into the endless, cloying darkness of Room 413.

It was utterly fearless. From the moment it was created, its sole purpose was to die in its master's stead.

The master shared the majority of the Wind Attendant Buddha's vision. By sending "Zhao Zhenjia" in to scout the path, he intended to trigger any potential Killing Rules first.

The puppet ran its hands along the walls, feeling for a light switch.

It found one. The lightbulb overhead flickered once before dimming again. The living room floor was littered with messy cardboard boxes and scattered trash, with a trail of unknown animal blood smeared across it.

Xia Ta was highly experienced. She mouthed a message to Zhao Zhenjia across from her:

"There's something wrong with that TV. Go turn it off."

Zhao Zhenjia commanded the Wind Attendant Buddha inside to grope its way forward step by step, closing in on the black-and-white television.

Opposite the TV was a sofa where the silhouettes of two people sat. Judging from their posture, they were intently watching the severely distorted broadcast.

Lan Zhu had better eyesight and asked Zhao Zhenjia, "Who are those two sitting on the couch?

"Are they still alive?"

The Wind Attendant Buddha circled around to the front of the sofa first. After sharing its vision, Zhao Zhenjia frowned.

"One man and one woman, both adults.

"Looks like the married couple who lived here.

"The woman is holding a remote, and the man is still clutching a bottle of beer.

"But they've been dead for a long time. The skin clinging to their bones has already weathered away.

"I can't find any specific wounds."

After confirming what was on the couch, the Wind Attendant Buddha ignored them and walked stiffly over to the hissing black-and-white TV.

Zhao Zhenjia anticipated that the two corpses on the sofa would attack the Wind Puppet the moment it turned off the television. However, he didn't care. What he wanted was exactly that—to enrage the Fierce Ghosts in the room and trigger their Killing Rules.

An undiscovered Killing Rule was the most terrifying thing of all. If a Fierce Ghost's Killing Rule could be tested and exposed, it would lose all its threat.

The Wind Attendant Buddha reached the television. The power buttons for this type of old-fashioned TV were located at the bottom. "Zhao Zhenjia" bent over, ran its fingers along the underside, and quickly found the protruding switch.

It pressed the power button firmly.

With a sharp click, the only remaining source of noise in Room 413 shut off. The entire room instantly plunged into dead silence.

Good...

The Wind Attendant Buddha slowly turned its head. On the couch, the two corpses—the man and the woman—remained sitting blankly.

They showed absolutely no sign of suddenly standing up or bearing their fangs.

Strange.

Could the two corpses on the sofa actually be victims instead of ghosts?

Outside the door, Zhao Zhenjia fell deep into thought.

"I'll go deeper into the room to take a look first.

"Maybe I can find some clues in the kitchen or bedroom."

The Wind Attendant Buddha, continuing its exploration inward, suddenly stopped in its tracks. It heard a bizarre burst of static hissing coming from behind it.