Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 295: Chapter 256: Nursery Rhyme

Tonight’s commission only consisted of two tasks: one was for Mr. Wen, the novelist from room 5042, who, as usual, needed someone to provide him with inspiration; the other was a joint letter from several tenants on the third floor.

According to the letter, around midnight every night, the elevator on the third floor would start mysteriously and make strange noises. Neighbors who had gone to check it out had all disappeared. The tenants hoped someone could take their place and investigate.

Since there were only these two missions, the group had no choice but to take them all on.

Apart from these missions, they also found an envelope delivered by a manager, containing two letters, one of which was in Mr. Wen’s tone. freēwebnovel.com

Mr. Wen began his letter by expressing admiration for Qu Yi’s courage, but then critically pointed out her issues, commenting that she was not observant and of relatively average intellect. Her performance had failed to satisfy his readers. At the end of the letter, in a provocative tone, Mr. Wen expressed his hope that someone worthy of challenge would visit him that night.

The other letter was standard fare, a thank you note from Mr. Hou, the dancer, addressed to Tong Han, thanking her for the generous gift of a toe, saying it was the most satisfying gift he had ever received in his life.

To show his gratitude, he enclosed 19.7 yuan, his entire savings, pleading with Miss Tong to accept it.

Without doubt, the money ended up with Tong Han.

"Who’s taking on the writer’s task?" Mo Daidai asked, putting aside the letter and looking at the group.

The room fell silent at once, for just the night before, the veteran player Qu Yi had died on this mission, and from Mr. Wen’s tone, it was clear he was no easy gentleman to deal with.

"I’ll meet him," Yang Xiao stood up. As an author of supernatural screenplays in real life, he thought he would have much in common to discuss with Mr. Wen.

Of course, Yang Xiao knew the task was dangerous, but time waited for no one. Rather than trust these teammates with their own agendas, he preferred to trust himself.

Seeing Yang Xiao volunteer for the task, the conflicted looks on Fu Changxue and the others’ faces instantly eased; Fu Changxue even gave Yang Xiao a thumbs-up, "Chu is both talented and courageous, brother, I admire you!"

"Anyone can talk big, but if you really appreciate it, why not chip in a bit for the travel costs?" Yang Xiao was not going to pamper them, "10 yuan, that’s not too much, right?"

Fu Changxue’s smile froze on his face, while Mo Daidai, quite generously, pulled out a 5 yuan note from his pocket and handed it to Yang Xiao, "I’m in for 5 yuan, the rest of you can chip in."

So everyone contributed, one or two yuan here and there, and they managed to collect the 10 yuan for Yang Xiao. Of course, Cheng Ya didn’t contribute; she didn’t have any money to do so.

Yang Xiao took the money and felt fully entitled to it.

"Who’s going to take the elevator task?" Mo Daidai asked again.

This time, no one stepped forward willingly. Everyone kept to themselves, silently agreeing that if nobody spoke up, nobody would have to go.

"Tong Han, you go," Mo Daidai looked at Tong Han and urged, somehow naturally becoming the team’s coordinator.

Tong Han was taken aback and then sneered, "Why should it be me?"

"Miss Tong, after all, you proposed this method. None of us know what’s real and what’s not," Fu Changxue shrugged helplessly, playing the rogue.

Tong Han spat in his face without restraint and cursed, "Damn you, I shouldn’t have told you anything!"

"Watch your mouth!" Rebounding from the shock, Fu Changxue rolled up his sleeves, ready for a fight.

"You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing behind our backs?" Tong Han retorted fearlessly, and with that statement, Fu Changxue’s anger extinguished immediately; he looked suspiciously at Tong Han and in the end, didn’t dare make a move against her.

"Let’s all calm down, everybody just calm down," Li Qingxuan, acting as the peacemaker, pleaded with everyone. After a moment, the situation finally stabilized.

"Tong Han, it should be you; we all trust you. You know this might be our last chance," Mo Daidai said earnestly, and following his suggestion, everyone chipped in another 10 yuan for Tong Han’s travel costs, so the matter was settled.

But then Tong Han set a condition: she refused to let Fu Changxue be responsible for the night’s support, saying she didn’t trust him.

"You just don’t stop, do you!" Being targeted repeatedly, Fu Changxue’s anger flared completely.

This time, however, Mo Daidai also sided with Tong Han, his face turning stern as he coldly addressed Fu Changxue, "Fu Changxue, dare you take out the money from your pocket and show everyone?"

"I will show you; every dime I earned was by my own ability, I’ve stolen from no one, robbed no one. My conscience is clear," Fu Changxue took out his money, which included four 5 yuan notes, and some other one and two yuan notes. Yang Xiao didn’t expect him to be that wealthy.

After waving the money briefly, Fu Changxue stuffed it back into his pocket, "There, you see? I have money."

Mo Daidai reached out, "Let me have a look at your 5 yuan notes."

"Why should I? Are you trying to rob me?" Fu Changxue protested loudly.

The next second, Mo Daidai suddenly laughed, his tone becoming intriguing, "Big Brother Fu, don’t get me wrong; I’m just worried you might have mistakenly taken in counterfeit money and been blinded by cash."

With that, Fu Changxue’s face became a palette of interesting hues. Yang Xiao had already figured it out; it seemed that the person who had swapped for counterfeit money was none other than Fu Changxue.

He certainly wouldn’t dare to trick a Ghost with fake money; he planned to switch his fake bills with a teammate’s real ones when no one was paying attention.

This move was really bad. Once the ghost discovered the use of fake money, the unfortunate teammate might end up dead without understanding why.

Sure enough, Fu Changxue’s momentum immediately weakened. Although he muttered to himself, he dared not confront Mo Daidai and Tong Han any longer, "Fine, if I’m not responsible for the response, then I won’t be. I’m not serving you anymore, Miss. I’ll go patrol."

Yang Xiao saw everything clearly. A wise man adapts to circumstances. Mo Daidai had left Fu Changxue a final shred of dignity, and Fu Changxue, knowing what was good for him, chose to swallow his pride and keep the peace.

After all, if this matter was clearly spoken out, it would have completely turned Fu Changxue against everyone. The one thing that was least tolerant in a mission was to harm a teammate.

With the two most difficult commissions handled, what followed was choosing who was responsible for the response. This task required absolute reliability and the ability to adapt to unexpected situations.

Mo Daidai was naturally the first choice, and with Fu Changxue absent and Cheng Ya lacking in capability, Li Qingxuan logically became the second choice.

The final two night patrol security guards, by default, ended up being Fu Changxue and Cheng Ya.

After the planning, the arrangements for the night were set. Everyone had their own tasks. Yang Xiao and Tong Han were responsible for finding the way to the Mirror World to bring out the hidden child, and in case of an emergency, one could leave through the mirrors in the rooms where Mo Daidai or Li Qingxuan were situated.

Of course, there was also a mirror in the security room which could be used as an alternative.

"Let’s agree on a secret signal," Yang Xiao suggested, raising his hand and rhythmically tapping the wall beside him.

"Dong."

"Dong dong dong."

"Dong, dong"

One short, three short, two long—that was the signal. They agreed that upon hearing this, they would immediately open the bathroom door for a rescue.

Mo Daidai’s room was the first choice, followed by Li Qingxuan’s. If the first two options failed due to an accident, the security room was the final choice.

After clarifying the mission for the night, the group no longer delayed and stepped out of the apartment. And, as expected, just as they squeezed through a wall nearby, they ran into an old man selling candied haws.

The old man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, "Oh, what a coincidence?"

Since they already knew the old man was a clue provider and loved money above all else, they weren’t interested in small talk. They got straight to the point, asking how many candied haws they had to buy to learn about the apartment’s clues from him. The old man was straightforward, extending five fingers.

"Alright, alright, here you go," Tong Han didn’t want to haggle with him and directly handed over a 5-yuan note, as she was quite well-off at the moment.

But before Tong Han could even ask her question, she saw the old man, who had cheerfully accepted the money, stretching out his hand again, asking for more money.

"What do you mean?" Tong Han frowned.

"Fifty yuan, thank you," the old man didn’t miss a beat.

"So much?" Li Qingxuan was baffled; he hadn’t expected the old man to be so greedy. Just the other time it was 10 yuan, and now he was asking for 50.

It was Yang Xiao who stopped Li Qingxuan and stepped forward to speak warmly to the old man, "Elder, money is no issue, but you need to first tell us what you know."

The old man showed a confident smile, his face more wrinkled than a steamed bun, and whispered in a secretive tone, "I know some big news. You young folks will surely need it. Heh heh, back in the days, a household in this apartment was haunted by a ghost; two in the family died miserably... but... but someone survived, and they are the only one."

"Who?"

The old man smiled and rubbed his hands together, "Well, that’s... "

Yang Xiao pulled out 10 yuan from his pocket and stuffed it into the old man’s hand, "This is the deposit, the rest will be paid in full later."

The old man, pleased with the money in hand, didn’t hesitate to speak, "It was a child, a girl, only about 4 or 5 years old. Her parents both died, but she was unharmed, not a scratch on her. But she was so frightened she turned dumb. Since being rescued, all she does is look down and hum a nursery rhyme."

"What nursery rhyme?"

"Hmm..." The old man furrowed his brow, trying hard to recall, "It seems... it seems like something about ’when the sky is gray, do not open your eyes, stay still, and sleep until the dawn is bright.’"

After he finished speaking, the old man extended his hand to Yang Xiao, asking for the rest of the money, "I don’t know anything else, young folks, don’t bother asking. Give the money, give the money, I’ve prepared a 50-yuan worth of candied haws for you, kept me busy all night, nearly killed me with fatigue."

Li Qingxuan quietly cursed, "Why don’t you just drop dead?"

"Huh? What’s the young one muttering about?"

"Nothing much, elder. You did say the candied haws are for us, so shouldn’t you at least ask us what flavor we want today?" Yang Xiao smiled.

The old man was taken aback, "Do you want sugar-free ones?"

"No." Yang Xiao smiled. "I want the spicy kind."