Chapter 70: The Total Annihilation of All Residents Seven Years Ago

In life, the owner of this corpse was named Lin Nan'an. The Wind Attendant Buddha walked over to him, flipped forward a few pages, and began reading aloud to Jiang Yang.

March 11, sunny.

Another fourth-floor resident complained to me about strange occurrences on the floor. It was a single woman. While she was washing vegetables, a massive clump of black hair flowed out of her faucet. Then, after she went to bed, she heard a child's voice calling from upstairs, constantly shouting things like, "Sister, come up and play with us."

How many times have I received a complaint like this over the past two months?

I'll just observe for now.

To be perfectly honest, even as an administrator of the Apartment, I am genuinely terrified of the fifth-floor corridor.

But I can never let the ordinary residents see that fear.

April 2, sunny.

Another highly promising newcomer died during their third Green Text Mission.

What a pity. Anyone who survives four Green Text Missions is incredibly rare.

I still have four months before my sixth Green Text Mission.

Logically, this should be a pleasant, long vacation. For these four months, at least, I wouldn't have to worry. I could just enjoy life.

But for some reason, as I write these words, my temples are throbbing. It feels as if something ominous is about to happen.

April 14, overcast.

Old Wang's child has disappeared.

When Aunt Wang went downstairs to get something from the food cabinet, she forgot to lock their door.

By the time she returned, the child had slipped out.

At first, it didn't seem like a big deal. All the children in the Apartment know each other well and frequently visit each other's homes.

But after knocking on every single door, they still couldn't find him. A few neighbors began searching every floor below the fourth, as well as the neighborhood around the Apartment.

They haven't found a single clue yet.

When Old Wang got home, he had a heart attack, and everyone scrambled to rush him to the hospital.

Alive or dead, he has to be found. Where on earth did Old Wang's child go?

April 21, heavy rain.

I have a terrible thought.

Is it possible that while the door was open, Old Wang's child wandered up to the fifth floor?

That is the only place none of the Apartment residents dare to search.

That shouldn't be possible...

On their very first day in the Apartment, every resident—especially the children—is warned repeatedly that they must absolutely never approach that stairwell.

When Xiao Ding's child merely got close to take a peek, his father beat him half to death. The boy's wails echoed across the entire floor.

Just what happened to Old Wang's child that day?

April 28, overcast.

Today I received a few more complaints about supernatural incidents.

It isn't just the fourth-floor residents experiencing strange occurrences in their homes anymore. Down on the Third Floor, someone woke up in a half-daze in the middle of the night and saw a silhouette standing by the head of their bed, staring down at them.

I don't know if this is just mass hysteria.

An atmosphere of fear is beginning to permeate the entire Apartment.

People have started moving out of the Living Apartment.

May 8, sunny.

Security cameras have been installed in every corner of the fourth-floor corridor.

Especially at the stairs leading to the fifth floor.

Next time, if any fourth-floor resident wanders upstairs, we'll be able to spot them immediately.

However, the few remaining households absolutely refuse to stay on the fourth floor anymore. They have all relocated down to the Third Floor.

As I write this, only two households remain on the fourth floor: me, and Xiao Ding's family.

May 13, overcast.

Xiao Ding's child said he frequently hears a familiar voice calling him from the direction of the fifth floor.

It is Old Wang's child, calling Xiao Dingbao to come upstairs and play.

Xiao Dingbao tentatively asked him why he had gone up there, and what was so fun about it.

Old Wang's child just giggled foolishly, saying that there were lots and lots of children on the fifth floor. Up there, there was no homework, no classes, no adults scolding them, and no terrifying Green Text Missions.

It was a place of freedom. Every child who went up there had found happiness.

May 22, sunny.

We checked the security cameras.

Xiao Dingbao never once approached the fifth-floor stairwell.

Nor did any child ever come down from the fifth floor on the footage, and not a single sound was heard.

The Apartment administrators reached a unanimous conclusion: Xiao Dingbao missed his playmate so much that he was hallucinating.

He was blurring the lines between dreams and reality.

May 25, sunny.

Xiao Ding's family has moved off the fourth floor.

Now, I am the only one left on the entire floor.

May 28, strong winds.

Old Wang's family died during their third Green Text Mission.

The mystery of their missing child will likely remain unsolved forever.

No one in the Apartment will ever investigate it again.

June 1, cloudy.

More and more complaints about supernatural incidents are being submitted to the Apartment administrators. It has become a reality we can no longer ignore.

It isn't just the fourth floor anymore; the Third Floor is completely unsafe now, too.

Another family's child has gone missing.

I have a powerful premonition. There must be a strong correlation between the downward spread of the supernatural incidents and these missing children.

They are happening together.

During a small meeting among the four administrators, I strongly suggested that we form an elite team to go up to the fifth floor and investigate what is going on.

To my disappointment, my proposal was shot down on the spot. It was basically a unanimous veto.

Some of the administrators are incredibly powerful and possess several top-tier Supernatural Items...

But they don't care about anyone else in the Apartment. They only care about rushing through their ten missions so they can leave this cursed place.

Of course, I know very well that I have no right to judge them.

June 7, overcast.

Barely escaping with my life, I survived my fifth Green Text Mission.

Even though I can rest for a long time now and have obtained a new Supernatural Item, I feel no joy whatsoever.

June 9, sunny.

Barely two days after returning to the Apartment, children's voices began appearing from upstairs, trying to talk to me.

I am the only resident left on the entire fourth floor now.

Even a veteran administrator who had completed six missions immediately used his privileges to move down to the safest level—the second floor, far away from the fifth.

To them, their own safety is always their absolute priority.

I am left alone to face this.

June 15, sunny.

Among the children's voices coming from upstairs, I heard Old Wang's child, Xiao Dingbao, and the little girl who had only recently moved in.

There were also many, many more that I didn't recognize.

I truly don't know when the fifth floor gathered so many children.

It was as if a kindergarten had opened upstairs.

They know I am right below them, and they know I can hear their voices.

At first, Xiao Dingbao tried calling down to talk to me. I ignored him.

I still have that much basic common sense. The adorable Xiao Dingbao has already turned into a ghost.

Things went wrong in the Living Apartment a long time ago. The fourth floor isn't necessarily safe either.

But gradually, I began to change my mind.

The entire Apartment is permeated by a profound, overwhelming sense of impending ruin.

June 19, same day.

Gradually, more and more people are refusing to return to the Apartment, or even flat-out ignoring the Green Text Missions.

Even if their time runs out and they are directly obliterated by the Apartment's rules, they just don't care anymore.

Some residents spend their days drinking themselves into a stupor inside the Apartment, and when the time for their Green Text Mission finally arrives, they just find a rope and hang themselves.

Some can't even be bothered to attempt the first two novice missions. They blow through all their savings, take out massive loans, and live as extravagantly as possible until the day they die.

Ten missions is simply too difficult. For newcomers, it is an impossibly distant goal.

Our numbers are dwindling. The amount of new residents arriving each month is far lower than the death toll.

At this rate, the final outcome for our entire generation of residents will be total annihilation. We'll leave behind nothing but a ruined, empty Apartment.

June 27, overcast turning to clear.

People have started dying inside the Apartment.

No one knows who the killer is.

They were most likely killed by supernatural forces.

Are the Apartment's restrictions beginning to fade?

June 30, rain.

Administrator Old Cao died while challenging his seventh Green Text Mission.

To be honest, this news hit me incredibly hard.

Old Cao was an extremely cold, selfish, and overbearing man. He never considered anyone else, and he would do whatever it took to survive.

Nobody liked him.

But even I have to admit that Old Cao was incredibly powerful.

If even someone like him can die in a Green Text Mission, I cannot fathom what kind of person it would take to survive ten Green Text Missions and leave this place.

Was our fate sealed the very first day we entered the Living Apartment?

This suffocating aura of ruin and despair continues to spread among the residents.

July 1, rain.

As I lay resting in my room, staring at the ceiling, the children upstairs tried to talk to me again.

There are far too many children up there. Their playing and noisy chatter every single night make it impossible for me to sleep.

I don't know why I haven't moved out of the Living Apartment. Perhaps my own mind is slipping into an abyssal ruin, too.

Oh, right.

I've started calling that room upstairs filled with children the Children's Home.