Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 262: Chapter 223: Tenant Information

"You’ve got guts to take on this job, quite the spirited young man," Fu Changxue looked at Li Qingxuan, who had accepted the commission, with a tone that was either mocking or admiring.

Li Qingxuan still had that stunned look about him, like an idiot boy, completely indifferent to Fu Xuechang’s teasing.

The remaining security positions for the night ended up being contended for by Mo Daidai and Qu Yi, while the newcomer Cheng Ya became the one that slipped through the net after two days of tasks.

"Cheng Ya, you have to understand, everyone is taking care of you because you’re new. Tomorrow, whether it’s taking on a task or a security job, you must choose one," Fu Changxue sternly warned her; after all, in Nightmare World, no one would tolerate freeloaders.

"Brother Fu, I... I understand," Cheng Ya appeared to be very sensible, assuring everyone incessantly that she wasn’t the sort to break her word.

The one who died couldn’t have been an Evil Cultivator; according to Yang Xiao’s observations, neither Xu Xinyi nor this Cheng Ya seemed like Evil Cultivators. Xu Xinyi was a bad actress, offending both Tong Han and Wang Longhui the moment she opened her mouth, and even dared to take on his job from yesterday—Evil Cultivators shouldn’t be that brainless.

As for Cheng Ya, Yang Xiao thought she must be the only newcomer in this mission, behaving timidly and cautiously. Had it been him, he would never have ended up being the only one in the team who had neither taken on a commission nor applied for a security position. In Nightmare World, it was very difficult to cut corners—who knows if there was even greater trouble waiting for her.

Outside the security room, that lone high heel was still left where it was, and the lost and found notice Yang Xiao had handwritten remained untouched.

"Did... Did any of you hear any noises last night?" Wang Longhui suddenly asked.

"Like what?" Fu Xuechang asked curiously.

"It was as if someone was slapping a ball, and it was one that was out of air. The sound was very muffled, over and over, with a frequency that kept increasing," Wang Longhui cautiously described while paying attention to everyone’s micro-expressions.

"No," Fu Changxue answered.

"I heard it," Yang Xiao didn’t hide it, "That thing moved very quickly, almost instantly circling from one side of the corridor to the other."

"I heard it too," Tong Han said in a strange tone.

Oddly enough, aside from Yang Xiao, Wang Longhui, and Tong Han, no one else heard any muffled sounds of a ball being slapped at night, including Fu Changxue who also performed the task.

Yang Xiao could understand not hearing the ball-slapping noise while hiding in his room at night; after all, he hadn’t been selected for the task and hadn’t gone out at night. But why not Fu Changxue? Yang Xiao didn’t think that Fu’s task to clean the sewers was better than what he had completed.

"Chu Xi, what time did you leave Old Lady Wu’s?" Mo Daidai asked with a simple-minded look, not seeming very clever.

"Around 12:30 a.m.," Yang Xiao recalled. In fact, he had returned to his room nearly at 1 a.m., after all, he had spent some time at Li Qingxuan’s place.

"And you, Fu Changxue?" Mo Daidai continued to inquire.

"I don’t remember what time I left, but I got back to my room at 11:55 p.m., I made a point to check the time," Fu Changxue replied.

"It’s clear now. The reason why the three of you heard the ball slapping is because that entity only becomes active after midnight. Fu Changxue returned to his room before midnight, so naturally, he didn’t hear it. I think based on the task assessment, anyone who stayed in their rooms didn’t hear the ball-slapping sounds, nor were they affected by the Ball-slapping Ghost," Mo Daidai adjusted his big-framed glasses, analyzing with a dull expression.

"Makes sense," Tong Han’s eyes lit up.

Both Yang Xiao and Fu Changxue couldn’t help but look at this slow-witted guy in a new light; indeed, it’s true that one should not judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to eccentrics who mention their poor study habits in their self-introductions.

"Keep going, Brother Mo," Fu Changxue looked at Mo Daidai with a glimmer of expectation in his eyes, and his attitude had improved greatly.

But Mo Daidai just shook his head and said rigidly, "Based on the current situation, that’s the only analysis I can provide unless there are new clues."

"There’s one more thing, everyone, don’t you think this apartment building is too quiet?" Yang Xiao asked.

"Yes, from the moment I woke up this morning until now, I haven’t seen a single person," Li Qingxuan echoed from behind.

After a brief discussion, everyone decided to leave the apartment to look for clues separately—after all, the apartment’s front door was open, and it was already daylight outside.

But just as they got to the front door, a poster on the wall caught everyone’s attention—it wasn’t there when they had arrived the day before.

The title "Tenant Notice" was exceptionally eye-catching.

"1: Live in harmony with your neighbors and reject harm."

"2: Do not venture out after midnight to prevent any accidents."

"3: Be sure to return to the apartment before dark, as the front door closes at dusk and will not wait for latecomers. All consequences are the tenant’s own responsibility."

"4: To ensure tenant safety, the front door of the apartment will close early in case of bad weather like rainy or foggy days (half an hour after it starts raining or fogging). Please be informed."

"5: There is suspected to be an intruder in the apartment recently. To ensure tenant safety, the apartment management has specially hired security and service personnel to deal with this matter. We hope everyone will live in harmony and foster a harmonious apartment, starting with you and me."

Yang Xiao perused the poster, thinking that these must be the rules of the apartment. Their task was to investigate the truth behind the tragic incidents that occurred in Dongzhou Apartment within 7 days and to expose the so-called intruder mentioned above.

Without delay, everyone headed out of the apartment, walking around the nearly 4-meter-tall greyish-white concrete wall surround. Finally, they found a collapsed gap and stepped out of the apartment’s bounds.

Just as he stepped out, he bumped into a man pushing a bicycle and selling candied haws along the road. The man was probably just over sixty years old, his temples greyed with age. Seeing Yang Xiao and the others, the old man’s first reaction was to freeze in place.

"Old man, we..."

Qu Yi hadn’t finished speaking when she heard the old man’s voice change in fright, "Oh my dear mother, you youngsters are too bold!"

"This place... is this somewhere you should be coming to?" The old man’s eyes widened in urgency as he waved his hands frantically, "Go away, go, go, go! There are ghosts here!"

"Ghosts?"

Guided by the old man’s direction, they turned around and looked back. The sunlight was shining down, instantly dispersing the fog that had enveloped the Dongzhou Apartment. What appeared before Yang Xiao and the others was an old, dilapidated building.

Even in the sunlight, there was still a chilling air lingering around the building, and the broken windows were long gone, leaving only pitch-black, empty sockets, concealing who knows what.

Seeing this sudden scene, Xu Xinyi and Cheng Ya’s faces turned pale with fear, but Fu Changxue, Yang Xiao, and the rest were not particularly surprised; after all, they had anticipated this outcome.

"Elder, what exactly is going on with Dongzhou Apartment?" Yang Xiao asked.

But this question frightened the old man so much he almost lost his dentures in panic, "Young fellow, don’t... don’t talk nonsense, that name must not be mentioned, it’s taboo. If you mention it and get heard, those things inside... inside, they will come for you."

"Is it really that sinister?" Fu Changxue and Yang Xiao played the two-man act, "Can’t be, old man, you mustn’t scare us." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"Ha, that’s all I have to say, it’s up to you to listen or not. If you youngsters don’t believe me, go ask anyone nearby."

After speaking, the old man wasted no further words. He looked up at the abandoned building of Dongzhou Apartment, his face clearly showing fear, then mounted his bike and sped away like the wind.

Only then did Yang Xiao and the others notice a demolition sign written on the nearby wall.

Fu Changxue sighed and looked up at the abandoned apartment, "Looks like we were right; this place has long been abandoned, which is why we saw no one this morning."

Cheng Ya was already scared stiff, her lips trembling non-stop, "So... so the people we saw last night... those people..."

"Those people were all ghosts," Yang Xiao said softly to comfort her.

Cheng Ya shuddered violently, almost bursting into tears.

"Cheng Ya, keep your spirits up. Ghosts might not take your life, but if you get frightened, and your fear leads to chaos, and from chaos comes mistakes, that’s what’s truly deadly," Mo Daidai spoke with the tone of someone who had been through it all.

"Enough wasting time. Everyone split up into groups of three and gather information, then meet back here in an hour," Fu Changxue commanded with a leader’s demeanor.

The grouping went smoothly. Yang Xiao, Tong Han, and Li Qingxuan were a team; they visited several businesses and randomly stopped a few pedestrians, but the information they gathered was eerily consistent: the people around were all very averse to Dongzhou Apartment and unwilling to say anything about it.

After enough questioning, they would become irritated and end the inquiry with a blunt "I don’t know," saying that after so many years, they could only ask the entities inside the apartment.

Not even an hour was needed; Yang Xiao and his group returned to the meeting point after half an hour. As he had expected, all three groups came back early, and their findings were all the same: they were directed to ask the ghosts inside the apartment.

"Fuck, if I could ask ghosts, why would I ask you?"

Wang Longhui was so angry he almost got into a fight with someone who looked honest and student-like. Luckily, Fu Xuechang pulled him away. Otherwise, the "student" might have called the police, and if they were caught, Wang Longhui wouldn’t be able to make it back to the apartment that night, putting him in danger.

It was bad enough that they hadn’t found any useful information, but they hadn’t eaten dinner or breakfast, and after spending a night on tenterhooks, now their stomachs were growling with hunger.

"Let’s get something to eat; it seems this apartment doesn’t provide meals." Yang Xiao was quite annoyed at having to operate on an empty stomach.

"Eat, you don’t have any money, so what are you going to eat?" Wang Longhui was displeased with everyone, having a big temper despite not having much ability. But then, no one really cared about him anyway.

A few of them, including Yang Xiao, did have money, but it was clear that the money was needed for the mission, and using it to eat would be too wasteful.

Seeing Yang Xiao head towards a small local restaurant, the others followed. Xu Xinyi quietly asked from behind, "Are we going to dine and dash? If we don’t have money to pay, the owner might call the police."

Watching Yang Xiao enter a small restaurant - a family-run business with the owner cooking in the back and his wife greeting customers at the front - the group waited outside.

As the owner’s wife brought over the menu, Yang Xiao looked at her with a distressed face, and after a moment, his eyes reddened, his knees began to bend slowly. Noticing his ragged cotton clothes and interpreting his actions, she immediately understood and rushed over to support him just as he was about to kneel.

"Young brother, you mustn’t do this!"

With tears welling in his eyes, Yang Xiao choked up, "Sister, I came from the countryside, and some damned thief stole my wallet at the train station, I... I haven’t eaten for two days."

"Husband, hurry, serve this young brother a bowl of rice, and make two more dishes for him, give him plenty!" shouted the owner’s wife, calling back to her husband in the kitchen.

Those outside: "..."

Li Qingxuan: "666666"