Chapter 43: Just Be Attentive
The five followed the property manager’s instructions and pressed the button for the second floor.
There was no locked gate on the second floor, the elevator opening directly into a quiet corridor.
The closest door to them was painted a bright green, ominously ajar, a sliver of deep darkness within.
Fortunately, there was a reassuring sign on the door: Kitchen.
The kitchen was empty, covered in dust, rust, and cobwebs, seemingly abandoned for a long time.
“Although according to today’s rules, we’ll most likely be separated…” Xi Leng, still thinking about the one-hundred-thousand-yuan MVP prize, took the opportunity to lead, “While we’re still together, let’s split up and search this kitchen quickly.”
“Okay.” Luo Jiayan was the first to agree. “I’ll go over there…”
Qiaoqiao, following closely behind, very enthusiastic: “Jiayan, I’ll go with you!”
Xi Leng went to the other side of the room. Several bulging, old sacks were piled in the corner. He picked one up, the shape suggesting it wasn’t filled with rice, flour, or grains, but it was still quite heavy, seemingly a deliberately placed obstacle.
Xi Leng had a plan, moving the sacks decisively and efficiently.
Seeing this, Min Zhi came over to help. Working together, they quickly cleared the pile of sacks, revealing what was hidden beneath.
“I found it.”
Xi Leng picked up the backpack and placed it on the spacious countertop. As soon as he opened the main compartment, he found something.
Identical walkie-talkies, one after another, five in total, neatly arranged.
“Hey, exactly five.” Luo Jiayan said. “They’re for us, right?”
Qiaoqiao immediately picked up a walkie-talkie and tried it, confirming it worked, her joy short-lived as she said dejectedly: “It seems we’re really going to be separated, let’s each take one, be careful not to lose it.”
Qiaoqiao distributed the walkie-talkies, and Xi Leng continued searching the backpack, this time finding a spiral notebook from the inner pocket.
Qiaoqiao, seeing the words on the notebook cover, couldn’t help but rub her arms, her delicate face crumpling: “Paranormal Investigation Log… seriously? Are there ghosts here? I’d rather be trapped in that dark elevator.”
Everyone saw the prominent red title. The clue notebook they had finally obtained carried an eerie and ominous aura.
Xi Leng’s fingers moved to the corner of the notebook, reading the small print: “Green City University Detective Club. It seems this is a detective club member’s backpack.”
He then checked the contents of the notebook.
First, various news reports collected by the detective club.
It was said that Happy Apartments had been abandoned for many years, and there were rumors of it being haunted. The evidence came from news reports in recent years—several elderly people passing by at night claimed to have seen white ghosts floating from the corridor, smelled burning, and heard a woman’s sobs, causing quite a stir locally.
Happy Apartments thus became even more mysterious, a forbidden place for local residents, the nearby housing prices plummeting, shops closing down one after another, and fewer and fewer people around.
“These kinds of paranormal tabloids are usually just fake news to attract attention and generate traffic.” Jiang Songnan said dismissively. “Vague and mysterious, never giving a definite answer, not saying whether there are actually ghosts or not. They get the traffic, the audience is fooled, but there’s no way to report them for fabricating stories.”
Having been in the entertainment industry for so long, Jiang Songnan was very familiar with these marketing tactics.
His fiery red hair, styled messily, each strand seemingly dancing.
“That’s right!” Luo Jiayan readily agreed.
“Mm-hmm.” Xi Leng also nodded.
Just as Jiang Songnan was feeling smug.
“But…” Xi Leng then said, “although there are no ghosts in real life, we might not be in a real place, otherwise how could we have called someone ten years ago from the elevator?”
Xi Leng, playing the role of a contrarian today, was clearly aiming for the one-hundred-thousand-yuan MVP prize.
After figuring out his simple logic, everything became interesting.
Min Zhi was intrigued, unlike Jiang Songnan, who was fuming pointlessly, like an idiot.
Jiang Songnan, repeatedly having his opinions dismissed, instinctively felt angry, but after a few times, he became accustomed to it, even unconsciously considering the logic behind those words.
They continued flipping through the notebook.
The reason for the detective club’s backpack appearing here was also clarified.
In 2024, the adventure-loving Green City University Detective Club, to investigate the truth, decided to visit Happy Apartments and debunk the rumors that had caused panic for so many years.
After finishing all the written pages, between the investigation notes and the blank pages at the back, was a jagged tear, the word “map” vaguely discernible, but the rest was missing.
“Someone tore off the map, it’s probably hidden nearby, let’s look for it.”
Xi Leng put down the notebook, letting the others continue examining it, while he searched the backpack, finding a chocolate bar from the smallest pocket. Seeing no one paying attention, he silently pocketed it.
He casually mentioned: “There are some darker stains on the backpack, looks like blood.”
…And he could still pocket the chocolate without changing his expression? Truly impressive.
Min Zhi silently observed the wildlife, not saying a word.
“Really…”
“This is too realistic!”
Qiaoqiao and Luo Jiayan exclaimed. With their lively and extroverted personalities, there was no need to worry about awkward silences during filming as long as they were around.
“Right, I found bloodstains on the tiles over there.” Jiang Songnan suddenly spoke up.
This time, led by Jiang Songnan, they gathered on the other side of the kitchen, seeing bloodstains near the bottom of a shelf, trailing towards the corner.
Xi Leng decisively moved the shelf out of the way.
After the ear-piercing screech of metal against tile, a vent was revealed.
Xi Leng, not caring about getting dirty, knelt down on the dusty floor, his knees seemingly brushing against some dark red bloodstains, but he remained unfazed, bending down to look through the gap in the vent cover.
He squinted, observing the dark interior of the vent.
Xi Leng wasn’t entirely certain, but his cameraman also squatted down, the lens focusing on the inside of the vent.
The cameraman definitely knew the locations of the clues in advance to avoid missing any important footage.
Xi Leng understood, his judgment confirmed. Looking closely again, he saw the corner of a white piece of paper in the darkness, presumably the torn map.
“There’s something inside.” He stood up and said to the others. “Either remove the cover or find a hook to pull it out.”
“Here, a screwdriver!”
Before anyone else could react, Luo Jiayan excitedly presented his find.
Xi Leng casually thanked him, taking the screwdriver and examining it, but it didn’t match the lock on the vent cover. He then tried inserting the metal shaft of the screwdriver into the gap, carefully reaching for the white object, pressing down on it, and slowly pulling it outwards.
The white piece of paper emerged from the gap. Xi Leng pulled it out with his fingers and unfolded the crumpled ball of paper.
A few lines of red characters, incredibly striking, jumped out at him.
[Be careful of him.]
[Don’t let him catch you!]
[Get out of here, quickly!]
[Stay calm! Stay alert! Find the right exit!]
Xi Leng remained calm: “This might be a clue left by a detective club member for those who came after them. Crooked handwriting, it seems like it was written in a hurry.”
“But telling us now is a bit late, isn’t it?” Min Zhi wasn’t fazed by the warning, even slightly annoyed. “This kind of thing should be said before we enter.”
“Mm-hmm.” Xi Leng nodded. “They probably didn’t escape.”
This topic was a bit creepy. Just then, Qiaoqiao discovered a new clue and hurriedly interjected: “Eh? The other side seems to be a map.”
Xi Leng turned over the paper in his hand.
It was indeed a rough hand-drawn map.
At first glance, it looked a bit like a chessboard. Seven rows in total, representing the seven floors of Happy Apartments. A few vertical lines crossed the horizontal lines, dividing them into small squares, representing the ten apartments on each floor.
Most of the squares were blank, only a few marked with apartment numbers, with simple drawings beside them.
201 (pot), 209 (ball); 308 (crutch); 605 (book); 507 (carnation); 709 (skull), 710 (heart).
“These should be the rooms with clues.” Xi Leng analyzed. “Each room probably has a different task or storyline, and those that aren’t the kitchen, the drawings might be related to the residents’ identities. Didn’t Sheng-dao say we should win over the NPCs? Perhaps he was referring to the residents of these rooms. Only 709 is different, with a skull, it might be a dangerous place, we need to be careful.”
“Then… what about this one?” Qiaoqiao frowned, pointing at a drawing of a devil mask outside the apartment building with a worried expression.
And beside the devil mask was a drawing of a key, hard to miss.
“Why is it drawn outside the building?” Qiaoqiao muttered, shivering involuntarily. “…A ghost?”
“Drawn outside, perhaps meaning his movements aren’t fixed.” Xi Leng flipped to the warning on the other side. “This might be the ‘him’ in the red message. He will try to catch us, and he can move around the building. We have to be careful. But this key… perhaps it’s the key to the exit, on him?”
As for the exits, the map showed an elevator added on the left side, and the stairwell in the center of each floor.
The path from the stairs to the first floor was marked with a stone wall, seemingly blocked. And the elevator on the first floor had a gate and a lock, which they had just seen, with a hopeful word next to it: Exit.
Qiaoqiao suggested: “Should we check these marked rooms one by one first?”
Xi Leng nodded: “Okay, let’s go gather clues.”
“Ah Zhao…” Luo Jiayan hesitated, pointing at the map and asking, “There’s a big cross on the stairwell, does that mean we can’t use it?”
Xi Leng had naturally noticed it.
The elevator was working again. Whether the stairs were usable or not didn’t affect them going upstairs, the only one affected being Xi Leng, who didn’t want to take the elevator.
“Let’s split up. We all have walkie-talkies now, we should put them to use.” Xi Leng suggested. “You guys take the elevator upstairs, starting from the sixth or seventh floor and working your way down. I’ll check the stairwell, if it’s usable, I’ll search from the bottom up.”
As the key figure in the last escape room, Xi Leng, in this escape room, surprisingly suggested splitting up shortly after it began.
Qiaoqiao, frowning, was the first to object: “With this devil mask around, wouldn’t it be more dangerous to split up?”
Luo Jiayan, roughly guessing Xi Leng’s reason, offered a temporary compromise: “Why don’t we check 209 first? We can go upstairs after searching this floor together.”
The five temporarily reached an agreement and left the kitchen, 201.
The elevator was on their right, and the stairwell entrance was between 205 and 206, dark and narrow, clearly filled with unknown danger.
Just then.
With a ding, the elevator not far behind them slowly opened.
Someone screamed first, followed by the sound of chaotic footsteps.
The person who emerged from the elevator was tall and sturdy, wearing gleaming silver armor, black cargo pants tucked into long leather boots.
At first glance, a rather handsome outfit.
However, he wore a terrifying devil mask, two dark, hollow holes for eyes, his head slowly turning, focusing on the five panicked figures.
Having confirmed his target, he raised a menacing black gun in one hand, dragging a heavy chain and shackles in the other, and chased after them at a swift pace!
With the sudden and unexpected attack, the five could only run in the opposite direction, but there was very limited space to hide, only the corridor.
Min Zhi was the first to calm down, reminding them: “Go to 209.”
209 was one of the marked rooms on the map, although they didn’t know if it contained clues or unknown dangers, it was definitely a room they could enter, a place to hide from the masked man.
In the chaos, Min Zhi turned his head slightly, froze, then cursed: “Holy shit…”
He instinctively tried to turn back, but the masked man was already right behind him, pulling the trigger!
Splat!
Bright green liquid sprayed from the menacing-looking black gun.
Min Zhi froze.
The masked man’s movements were smooth and fluid. The next second, he aimed at another stunned person. Luo Jiayan, who had turned to look at the stairs, was also hit, caught completely off guard, his sleeve stained green.
The cameraman hurriedly said: “You’ve been hit, please remain still, don’t move, or you’ll be eliminated.”
“…”
The two could only watch as the masked man approached, handcuffing them.
The masked man then grabbed the chain connecting the handcuffs and led them towards the elevator.
Min Zhi remained silent, but everyone could feel the suffocating pressure around him, like the prelude to a storm.
With the masked man in front and Min-shen beside him, Luo Jiayan didn’t even dare to breathe, his throat tight with nervousness.
More concerned about someone else than his own situation, Luo Jiayan asked anxiously: “How is Ah Zhao going upstairs?”
At that critical moment, when everyone was running in the same direction, only Xi Leng had abruptly turned and run into the stairwell.
This indirectly led to two of them being shot.
“Ha…” Min Zhi’s face darkened, his utter speechlessness turning into a chuckle. “He wants to be the MVP.”
He instantly understood the reason, but he was a step too late. The clearer his understanding now, the more frustrated he felt.
For a hundred-thousand-yuan prize, abandoning the idol he had liked for three years (and even kissed)?
🙂
With the urgency of the situation, Xi Leng didn’t know what happened behind him after he left.
He seemed to hear a chaotic mix of voices, but he didn’t have a chance to look back.
Entering the stairwell marked with a large cross on the map, he wasn’t sure if it was the right choice.
Anyway, as long as he was the first to uncover more of the story, and achieved the perfect ending if possible, his chances of becoming MVP were high.
A chilling cry suddenly echoed in the dim stairwell. His fear of the unknown made him pause slightly, but only briefly, then he continued upwards resolutely, following the sound.
His confidence in winning MVP increased from 50% to 70-80%.
“Sob… sob, sob…”
The stairwell was a cold and enclosed concrete space. The woman’s cries echoed and amplified, permeating every corner, invisible yet lingering, eerie and unsettling.
“You said you would help me, you would help me…”
The higher he went, the clearer the voice became, the mournful cries gradually revealing more content.
Xi Leng frowned, deep in thought.
“Huff… Xi… Xi-laoshi?”
A panting voice came from behind him.
Xi Leng, lacking in filming experience, only then remembered the cameraman he had left behind. He looked back and moved aside, allowing him to film the scene in front of him.
“Holy shit!!!
The cameraman, caught off guard, fell back onto the floor in fright.
After the cameraman calmed down and adjusted his camera, Xi Leng observed the woman in the corner.
The woman was hiding in a dark corner, her head lowered, her face obscured. Her long hair was disheveled like weeds, with a few strands of noticeable silver.
She seemed to be middle-aged, wearing a dirty gray cleaning lady uniform, stained with mud and blood.
“Sob, sob, sob…”
She continued crying.
“Ghosts” were scary, but there were far more terrifying things in this world than “ghosts.”
The cleaning lady mopped the floor while muttering to herself.
“You said, you would help me…”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“I’ve been waiting for you, waiting for you to help me.”
“Why haven’t you come… sob, sob, sob…”
Xi Leng gradually understood, striding forward and asking: “What do you need help with?”
The cleaning lady’s movements froze, and she slowly raised her head, revealing her face.
A face even more ghostly than a ghost.
In his peripheral vision, the cameraman beside him covered his mouth, stifling a scream.
The cleaning lady’s face was weathered, the corners of her eyes and mouth drooping, her skin bruised and bloodied.
Xi Leng understood now, it was just special effects makeup.
Meeting the woman’s gaze, he calmly asked again: “What do you need help with?”
Successfully triggering the next part of the story.
The cleaning lady walked to the door. In the light, her figure became clearer, slightly less ghostly.
She looked out at the corridor on the sixth floor and said slowly: “I can’t finish cleaning, I can’t leave, I can’t get off work.”
“I can’t go out…” Her tone was filled with a heavy sadness and helplessness. “They’ll deduct my pay, I can’t go out.”
“I’m so tired, but I still want to make a meal for Nannan. She works hard too, comes home at ten every night, and can’t eat my cooking.”
“I can’t go out… I can’t go out…”
The cleaning lady’s words were filled with confused repetition. Xi Leng frowned, trying to decipher the information she gave him.
After thinking for a moment, Xi Leng tentatively asked: “Then, should I deliver the food to your daughter for you?”
Meanwhile, Min Zhi and Luo Jiayan were taken to the seventh floor by the masked man and locked in room 709, the one marked with a “skull” on the map.
The apartment wasn’t big, the usual two-bedroom, one-living room layout. The fluorescent light above flickered, a transparent plastic film haphazardly covering it, various marks, stains, and bloodstains faintly visible.
The masked man locked them in a small room, presumably a bedroom, but it no longer had any trace of warmth. A single bed was overturned in a corner, a ragged corpse slumped against it.
Luo Jiayan immediately screamed, trembling as he called out to his only companion: “Min… Min-shen…”
Min Zhi frowned, walking straight towards the incredibly realistic “corpse,” his tone indifferent: “It’s just a mannequin.”
This scene was still too shocking for Luo Jiayan. It took him a while to let go of the wall, slowly shuffling over.
Min Zhi, ignoring him, started searching the mannequin, avoiding the disgusting “bloodstains,” first prying open its clenched hand, revealing a metal brooch with the words “Green City University Detective Club.”
Another clue quickly followed, he found a piece of paper from its trouser pocket.
A small square piece of paper, one perfect right angle, the other two sides jagged tears. Min Zhi understood and continued searching the mannequin’s shirt, finding another similar piece of paper.
“There’s a clue, we need to piece these papers together.” He then turned to Luo Jiayan. “We probably need two or three more pieces.”
“Okay, I understand.” Luo Jiayan, composing himself, overcoming his fear and disgust, started searching the tattered single bed.
He quickly found the remaining two pieces of paper from inside the mattress and handed them to Min Zhi. Not only not holding him back, but even contributing.
Min Zhi only glanced at him, seemingly not impressed.
But being able to solve puzzles with his idol was enough to make Luo Jiayan overjoyed. This opportunity, only arriving in the second episode, made him both excited and nervous, and coupled with the scare from the masked man, his fair face was flushed.
Luo Jiayan was the typical flower raised in a greenhouse. Growing up safe and sound, his personality cheerful and kind, he had plenty of love and was willing to generously share it with others.
He was like a ray of sunshine.
He didn’t know why Jackson had suddenly become interested in this type, but in their past lives, they had never encountered this type, only superficial, fake innocence and purity.
Speaking of which, that time he asked Jackson to pursue him…
“Hiss.”
Min Zhi suddenly gasped, another headache.
“…Min-shen?” Luo Jiayan immediately asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
Thankfully, the headache was fleeting, the pain less intense than the one at Xi Leng’s apartment last time. Min Zhi frowned, his lowered voice carrying a warning: “Stay away from me.”
Luo Jiayan obediently moved back, his face showing no displeasure at being coldly treated.
Min Zhi ignored him, lowering his head to piece together the paper fragments.
It was another simple drawing, a square with several horizontal lines inside, looking very much like the ventilation duct they saw in the kitchen.
After a moment of thought, Min Zhi focused on the single bed that was blocking half the wall.
Before moving the bed, Min Zhi suddenly turned around and called out: “Luo Jiayan.”
“Let me ask you something.”
Luo Jiayan’s eyes sparkled as he leaned closer: “What is it?”
“Why doesn’t Xi Leng take the elevator?”
This question was completely unexpected, and Luo Jiayan froze.
“You definitely know.” Min Zhi’s tone was certain.
Luo Jiayan pondered for a long time, then shook his head, saying: “I don’t know, he never told me, I just figured it out myself.”
This was still within Min Zhi’s expectations, he said casually: “I thought so, he wouldn’t tell you.”
Min Zhi was the reason Luo Jiayan entered the entertainment industry, the idol he worshipped. But at this moment, facing the person he once looked up to, his tone, although straightforward, carried an indescribable discomfort.
To be precise, aggression.
Luo Jiayan instinctively frowned and took half a step back.
“Yes, he didn’t tell me.” Luo Jiayan still answered honestly, his bright eyes like mirrors. “But I figured it out, I figured out that he’s afraid of elevators, that’s why he always takes the stairs. I pretended not to know because I was afraid he’d be unhappy. I know him, he doesn’t need pity. As for the reason, I have a guess, but I can’t tell you. He definitely wouldn’t want me to tell others about his private matters.”
Private matters? Others?
Min Zhi suddenly chuckled.
Luo Jiayan frowned, puzzled, his gaze firm and unflinching, neither servile nor arrogant.
“You’ve also known him for almost ten years, right? But why do I feel… Luo Jiayan, you don’t seem to know him very well.” Min Zhi said unhurriedly. “He’s not afraid of the elevator itself, but something outside the elevator doors.”
Luo Jiayan froze, clear ripples appearing in his calm eyes.
Min Zhi, on the other hand, was calm and collected, curling his lips slightly: “So surprised?”
Luo Jiayan’s eyes flickered, his lips pressing together several times, as if wanting to speak but hesitating.
Xi Leng’s condition seemed like PTSD, but not the common claustrophobia or nyctophobia, Min Zhi had confirmed this after two recordings. After ruling out other possibilities, only one answer remained. Xi Leng wasn’t afraid of the elevator itself, but something outside the elevator doors.
But that momentary fear was enough for him to resist taking the elevator, tirelessly climbing ten floors every day to go home.
Although this was unusual, or rather, unheard of, one could still notice it.
Just be attentive.
