This was the first time Han Fei left the apartment building since he entered the game. When the rusted front door opened, an indescribable pressure pressed against Han Fei. The ring around his finger pulsed intermittently. Han Fei could feel malicious eyes opening to his presence. “So this is the entirety of the Happiness Neighbourhood?”
The bushes in the abandoned garden rustled noisily; the playground swings creaked in the windless night, echoes of laughter seemed to come from the black and red see-saw bench; creepers climbed all over the mottled apartment outer walls. Small critters shuttled between them. “Do not stay out in the open for too long. Staying in any building is better than being exposed in the open.” Xu Qin gripped the table knife. Her red irises glowed dangerously. A chilling presence surrounded her.
“Okay.” This was the first time Han Fei encountered Xu Qin in this state. From that, he knew how dangerous the outer world was. If not for Huang Yin, Han Fei would have stayed longer in Apartment 1 to complete all the possible missions before he considered leaving the place.
“Sometimes, I’ll go to Apartment 2 to grab some groceries. The lower 3 floors are relatively safe.” Licking her crimson lips, Xu Qin moved towards Apartment 2. Han Fei quickly moved to follow up. There were 2 apartment buildings in the Happiness Neighbourhood. There was a distance of 10 metres between the two buildings. While they traversed this distance, suddenly something dropped beside Han Fei, it almost landed on him. Han Fei turned to look at it and realized it was a bleeding snipped finger. Narrowing his eyes, Han Fei lifted his head upwards. Inside the old apartment building, there seemed to be monsters and ghosts hiding behind every dark window. “None of the room feels safe.”
Night enveloped the whole game world. Misfortune and eeriness permeated the air and it was no different at Happiness Neighbourhood. Han Fei did not stay to examine the finger but moved to follow Xu Qin to Apartment 2. Compared to Apartment 1, Apartment 2 was grimier and older. The front door was not locked. The lobby reeked of blood and something horrendous. Unknown stains dirtied the stairwell.
“There is no building manager here so technically there are no rules. The tenancy has a high turnover rate. If you’re strong enough, you can stay in any room you want.” Once Xu Qin entered the building, her icy presence disappeared. However, her eyes were still startling red. Han Fei believed he even saw a shadow flickering in her iris. “There are not many original tenants left, most of them have been forcibly evacuated. Instead, the building is occupied by many non-locals and they have been trying their best to chase away the straggling original tenants.”
“That sounds immoral, looks like this building also needs a manager.” Han Fei turned his ears up but he could no longer hear Huang Yin’s voice, “Brother Huang was last heard on the 2nd floor…” Right at that moment, rapid footsteps came down the stairs, like someone was running for their lives. “Xu Qin, take a hold of yourself, this might be a friend!”
…
Huang Yin charged out from the bathroom of Room 2021. He did not expect there would be another person inside the bathroom other than himself. Other than fear, there was also an inexplicable shame. His brain buzzed. Huang Yin commanded himself to calm down but his body shook uncontrollably. Ever since the girl revealed the real items that she lost, he had not had a moment to take a breath.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The knocking returned. Huang Yin turned subconsciously to the front door. The bloody face that poked through the gap looked at Huang Yin with plain confusion on its face as well. As the man and the ghost met each other’s eyes, the door of Room 2021’s innermost bedroom was blasted open. A fatty with half of his body scorched stomped out!
He was holding a bleeding knife. His beady eyes glared at Huang Yin. A creepy smile carved on his face. “A newcomer? You look delicious!” Then he aimed his knife at Huang Yin. Huang Yin’s body instinct kicked in and before his mind could fathom the situation, he was already running towards the front door. The bloody face was still there but Huang Yin’s mind couldn’t compute anything anymore. There was a ghost inside the bathroom, a ghost at the front door, a madman was chasing after him. There was no chance of survival, it was only a matter of how he wished to die. His throat was dry from all the shouting. When Huang Yin almost reached the front door, the bloody face suddenly shrieked. The door opened wider and Huang Yin saw a pale-faced young man closing his palm over his other bleeding wrist.
“My blood has exorcistic property but it can’t hold them for long. I need you to come with me!” The young man radiated kindness. His youthful face was the first friendly face Huang Yin had seen in a long time. He waved his blood crazily about as he led Huang Yin up the stairs. Huang Yin held onto this olive branch and stuck close to the young man. With the young man’s help, he successfully extricated himself from the dangerous situation for now.
“Come in and don’t utter a sound!” The young man dragged Huang Yin into a room on the 6th floor. The young man eased the door closed and leaned against it. It was not until the footsteps faded away that he sighed in relief. “That was so close.” The young man commented. His wrist was still bleeding.
“Thank you, thank you for saving my life!” Huang Yin repeated earnestly. He was never so frightened in his life, his eyes were still red.
“There’s no need to thank me.” The young man turned around and black capillaries pulsed on his previously smooth face. The capillaries were like crawling worms. “I only saved you because I can’t imagine sharing you with others.” His lips tore open and the man’s face split open horizontally. A fountain of smelly black blood surged out from the divided face!
Huang Yin was dropped from heaven back to hell. The roller coaster of emotion froze his mind and body. He even forgot to struggle.
Bang! The thick front door was kicked down from outside. A sharp table knife pierced through the man’s neck!
The curse injected itself into its prey. The knife sawed noisily and a person was thus chopped into pieces. When the young man’s body parts dropped to the ground, Huang Yin raised his eyes to witness a face that was so beautiful that it took his breath away. She bloomed in the sprays of blood. The bright lips were like a flame in the dark, mysterious and captivating.
His brain started to function again. Huang Yin was about to speak when the stench of black blood that previously flowed through the young man’s body crawled into his nostrils. His intestines protested and Huang Yin started to dry heave. His body broke through its limits. His mind dulled and he dropped next to the pieces of flesh. Xu Qin had just finished procuring her latest ingredient, but Huang Yin’s dry heaves got the woman’s brows pleated together and the smile frozen on her face.
“Tsk, that definitely does not help my appetite.”
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