Free Web NovelChapter 31: Chapter 31: The Upstairs Squad
"Voluntarily exploring the fourth floor..."
This was no joking matter.
The fourth floor might have incredible rewards like black cards, but very few apartment residents would ever go up there on their own initiative. No matter how good the reward, you had to be alive to use it.
Unless it was a green-text mission where not doing it meant death, no one was willing to risk their life.
Even someone as bold as Jiang Yang was filled with lingering fear when he recalled his experience on the fourth floor:
"When I first came to the Living Human Apartment, I got through my first two newbie missions pretty smoothly. I got a little cocky, thought I was hot stuff. I was also pretty curious and wanted to go up to the fourth floor to see what kind of damn things were up there."
He paused there.
That was when he got the first—and only—black card of his life.
Jiang Yang rarely mentioned what he actually encountered on the fourth floor. But ever since, he had become much more humble and had never set foot on those stairs again.
Xia Ta’s gaze fell on Yu Sheng, whose eyes were downcast:
"If we’re talking about wanting to check out the fourth floor, Yu Sheng should be the expert on the matter.
"After all, he’s a man who’s obtained four black cards."
As soon as she said this, the few people remaining in the room all let out quiet gasps.
This bald Monk was so unassuming, yet he was this powerful. He had completed six green-text missions and obtained four black cards, putting him far ahead of everyone else in the Living Human Apartment in every respect.
If Xia Ta hadn’t been observing him in secret, no one would have ever known, as the Monk Yu Sheng never spoke of it himself.
Faced with everyone’s astonished and admiring gazes, Yu Sheng simply brushed it off:
"Actually, it wasn’t four.
"I went up four times, but on two of those occasions, I encountered situations that even I couldn’t handle and was forced to use two black cards to return to the first-floor lobby.
"So, I only have two black cards left now.
"Also, your speculation is correct. Above the fourth floor is the fifth, and there are new floors above that.
"The number of floors in the apartment is the same as the number of green-text missions. The higher you go, the more difficult it gets. The fifth floor’s difficulty is already unimaginable. As for the sixth floor above it, I had a chance to go up, but my instincts told me that if I stepped onto those blood-red stairs, I would definitely die on the sixth floor. Not even a black card could save me."
The Buddhist Beads in his hand turned, making a crisp clicking sound:
"If you’re going to go upstairs, I advise you.
"Go to the fifth floor at most. The absolute most.
"The things on the fourth floor will probably already push you to your limit. To say nothing of the fifth, or even the sixth floor."
Zhao Zhenjia couldn’t help but ask: fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"You’ve risked your life to go up so many times. Is it because you know there’s something you need on the upper floors?
"Yu Sheng, you’ve completed six green-text missions so far, but every resident who did a mission with you has died. That means no one has ever seen you in action, let alone knows your background or the effects of the Supernatural Artifacts you possess."
Faced with Zhao Zhenjia’s somewhat aggressive questioning, Yu Sheng remained as unmovable as a mountain:
"Sorry, no comment.
"I won’t join your exploration team. However, if you need it, I can write up a guide for the fourth floor for you. Some room numbers are occupied by fixed ’residents.’ As long as you follow certain rules, you can effectively avoid a direct confrontation with them.
"Of course, even with this, going upstairs is a near-death affair. The fifth floor is a journey of certain death."
Yu Sheng glanced at the sky outside the window:
"It’s getting late. This humble monk will take his leave and rest."
After saying this, he ignored the reactions of the other residents, stood up, walked straight to the door, opened it, and left.
Yu Sheng had always been like this—indifferent to the other people in the apartment, leaving whenever he pleased.
He was turning this cooperative team instance into a single-player game. Yu Sheng explored the entire apartment alone, treating everyone else as if they didn’t exist.
Jiang Yang shook his head:
"Forget it. Let’s not talk about Yu Sheng.
"I think Gao Tian has a point. Instead of waiting for those filthy things from the fourth floor to come down and harass us whenever they feel like it, we should take the initiative and go up there to see what they’re plotting.
"We’ve never tried sending a team up to investigate the fourth floor before.
"Fighting alone, it’s really hard for one person to deal with the endless ghosts, and you can’t reach the higher floors. But if it’s a team that can cover each other’s weaknesses, then it might really be possible to achieve what previous residents couldn’t."
Zhao Zhenjia expressed his concern:
"What if this elite team includes all the elites and administrators of the apartment? If the team goes upstairs, encounters some kind of death rule, and gets completely wiped out on the fourth floor, wouldn’t everyone else in the apartment be finished?"
Without these high-level administrators in the apartment, the newcomers wouldn’t know the procedures for the upcoming missions.
Xia Ta said calmly:
"Ever since entering the Living Human Apartment, the odds have always been more death than life.
"In all these decades, besides the legendary Xu Yuan, I’ve never heard of a second person completing ten missions.
"If being afraid of death is a reason not to go to the fourth floor, then you might as well not complete any green-text missions at all."
Xia Ta’s words were final.
After entering the Living Human Apartment, it was always a matter of more death than life; they were treating a dead horse as if it were still alive.
Since it was decided they would go to the fourth floor, and with an unprecedentedly strong lineup from this generation of residents, the next step was to confirm the roster for the team going up.
In supernatural incidents, more people wasn’t necessarily better; a larger group also meant it was easier to trigger a ghost’s killing rules. If someone who didn’t follow orders or had such poor mental fortitude that they could break down at any moment got into the team, they’d be an unstable bomb. It was better to have no one than to bring such a person along.
After a brief discussion, they decided the team for the fourth floor would have about four to six members. The first criterion for joining was possessing a black card, allowing for an immediate retreat to the first-floor lobby if things went south.
By this standard alone, few of the remaining third-floor residents in the room could qualify. In the end, the only ones left were Jiang Yang, Xia Ta, Zhao Zhenjia, and Gao Tian.
The other three were fine, but Zhao Zhenjia voiced his clear opposition to Gao Tian:
"No way. A newbie who’s only passed two green-text missions absolutely cannot enter the fourth floor with us.
"Your strength, your mental fortitude—these aren’t things that can be trained in a short time. You have a lot of potential, but our goal is to reach the fifth floor, maybe even the sixth. You need to have completed at least three or four green-text missions and have four life-saving artifacts in your possession."
If Yu Sheng were a bit more normal, he would be the perfect candidate for the team’s fourth member. Unfortunately, Yu Sheng was erratic and unpredictable, so their team only had three people, leaving one spot open.
Gao Tian responded:
"I went to the fourth floor on my very first day in the Living Human Apartment.
"That place is dangerous, but I made it back down alive without having completed a single green-text mission."
He had the cinerary urn that imprisoned the Shattered-Face Ghost and had stolen the Memory Ghost’s ability. He also had the Ghost Card to increase his margin for error. One could say he was well-rounded in both offense and defense.
Veins bulged on Zhao Zhenjia’s neck. It was the first time he’d seen such a stubborn newbie, and his hot temper flared:
"Telling you not to go up is for your own good. Why can’t you kids tell when someone is trying to help you?
"That girl from upstairs already has her eyes on you. She might be waiting up there for you to walk right into her trap. If we run into real danger on the fourth floor, we won’t have the spare energy to look after you once a fight breaks out."
Just as the two were about to argue, Xia Ta cut them off with a single sentence:
"Gao Tian, your next green-text mission is in about two weeks, right?" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
The early green-text missions were relatively simple, but the intervals between them were short. The difficulty of later missions would increase exponentially, but the time between them was measured in years.
Gao Tian had joined his second green-text mission as an intruder, so his third mission should be issued on a normal timeline, about a month from now. It had been about two weeks since the end of the Sapphire Mall, so the timing was about right.
Of course, as the number of missions increased, the interval between them would also grow longer.
For five-mission administrators like Xia Ta and Jiang Yang, the interval was already calculated in years.
He didn’t know what Xia Ta meant by bringing this up now, but he nodded and said:
"About that."
Xia Ta:
"Then that’s settled.
"Our team is waiting for someone to return.
"That person will return to the Living Human Apartment in about three weeks and will be an important addition to the team. Gao Tian, if you can pass your third green-text mission by then and meet the minimum requirement, you can join our team. That would bring our team to five members.
"If you haven’t met the requirement by then, we will proceed to the fourth floor as a team of four.
"Everyone, is that acceptable?"
Hearing the compromise proposed by Xia Ta, Zhao Zhenjia reluctantly accepted:
"Completing three missions is the absolute minimum requirement to go upstairs with us.
"If you can complete three missions, it proves you have some ability to protect yourself. I’ll agree to you joining our team."
But this time, the one who objected was, unexpectedly, Jiang Yang:
"Sister Ta, why did you agree to let that lunatic join our team?
"Isn’t she more dangerous than Yu Sheng? The most Yu Sheng does is act like a riddler, knowing things but not telling us. That crazy woman... if she goes berserk after we go upstairs, she’ll really get us all killed."
To this, Xia Ta simply replied nonchalantly:
"It’s fine. I’ll handle communicating with her.
"In fact, she’s also very curious about what’s hidden above the fourth floor. She’s currently in the United States dealing with a malevolent ghost incident. I’ll handle the communication once she’s back in the country."
