Chapter 1 A Seemingly Well-Behaved Girl

She was a girl who looked very well-behaved, dressed simply, the kind of person who made you feel comfortable at first glance.

She just stood there, not approaching the crowd, her eyes relatively calm. It wasn't so much that she wasn't afraid, but rather that she seemed a little dull.

"Come over here quickly," Jiao Tailang waved and said, "There's danger for those who are alone here."

"Oh."

The girl walked over, taking small steps. Only when she got closer did everyone realize that she just looked small, but she had a great figure.

Beneath the loose-fitting home clothes, she was curvaceous.

Jiang Cheng's eyes lit up again.

And what was even stranger was that after joining the group, she seemed even more uncomfortable than before.

"My name is Wan Yuanning," she introduced under everyone's gaze.

Everyone waited for a long time, but no further words came.

She didn't seem to be good at communicating with people. After noticing that someone was looking at her, her gaze became even more uneasy, as if she was used to being quiet in life and didn't like being the center of attention.

Compared to the sudden appearance of this woman named Wan Yuanning, what worried everyone more was the difficulty of this instance.

As of now, there were already 12 players.

The fatty was expressionless, but panicked inside.

Jiang Cheng was the opposite. His face was full of panic, but his eyes kept darting back and forth between the women, his heart burning with desire.

Until his gaze collided with another gaze.

While he was openly peeking at others, there was also a woman looking at him, but not with admiration, but... with a hint of doubt, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

Chen Yi stared at this man who was not bad-looking but sneaky, her sharp eyebrows slightly furrowed as she searched her mind.

She was a policewoman, and this had become her professional habit.

She felt that this face was familiar, but not very clear, and she couldn't be sure.

She belonged to the public security management department. The specific functions of this department were more complex, ranging from managing gatherings, parades, and major mass security incidents to cracking down on prostitution in hotels, bars, and KTVs.

After making eye contact with Chen Yi for two seconds, Jiang Cheng seemed to have thought of something as well. The next second, he immediately lowered his head, stopped talking, and stopped looking around. His honest appearance surprised the fatty, who had just wanted to persuade him to be more low-key.

"Tap."

"Hiss—"

"Tap."

"Hiss—"

...

A strange and alternating sound came, like something heavy being dragged on the ground, slowly approaching them.

Everyone couldn't help but become alert.

Slowly, a figure emerged from the darkness.

It was an elderly man.

The moment he saw the old man, Chu Jiu's eyes paused, his breathing immediately became rapid, and the fingers holding onto Chen Yi's arm tightened.

The old man leaned on a crutch, his left leg twisted from the thigh down, obviously crippled. The tip of his shoe drooped on the ground, making a rustling sound as the old man moved.

What made everyone even more uncomfortable was... the old man's face.

Only one eye remained on his face, the other eye socket was sunken, presenting a very terrifying hole.

Part of his nose and lips were also missing.

There was a large area of burns on his right face, but it must have happened a long time ago. The scabs had fallen off, leaving only large patches of strangely colored flesh.

The old man had no eyebrows, and the hair on his head was very sparse, hanging down in twos and threes, with a playful tuft hanging on his half-missing ear.

There were clear scars on his nose and above his eye sockets, as if he had been cut by a knife.

The whole face gave the impression of being first slashed with a knife, and then thrown into a fire.

A single eye scanned from left to right. Slowly, the old man opened his mouth, "Are you... the ones who called to book rooms?"

Perhaps because he was missing his front teeth, the old man spoke with a leak of air, and his voice was somewhat distorted, his throat as rough as if it had been ground with a whetstone.

The fatty subconsciously touched his arm and found that it was covered in goosebumps.

For a moment, he even thought the old man was a ghost.

"That's right," Jiao Tailang spoke first, "It's us."

The old man glanced at him, then turned around and limped inside. "Follow me to get the keys," he said in a displeased voice.

Everyone exchanged glances, knowing that the mission had begun from this moment on.

"Since everyone is not a newbie, then I won't waste time," Liu Guo said quickly, "I just want to remind everyone that judging from the number of people, the difficulty of this mission will not be low. If we have serious internal conflicts, we are likely to be wiped out."

"You can rest assured about that," someone said, "As long as I'm alive, we can't be wiped out."

The fatty immediately looked at the doctor, but when he found that the doctor was staring with innocent wide eyes, the fatty realized that it wasn't him who said that.

It was the person named Wei Jinting. He had been grumbling all the way, mostly complaining, and had quieted down after Jiao Tailang had retorted a few times.

He didn't expect him to perk up so quickly.

Liu Guo was choked by his words. Although he didn't immediately explode, the way he looked at Wei Jinting was already different.

At the same time, the guy with the black stockings on his head, who called himself Lu Huaxu, laughed "hehe" twice, very abruptly, scaring Hua Luo, who was originally walking beside him, and she quickly ran away, holding up her skirt.

This was a very deep corridor. The floor wasn't dirty, and it should have been cleaned, but it was relatively old.

Every few distances there was a light on the ceiling, but it was the kind that was half-dead. The light was yellowish, like an old light bulb that hadn't been changed for decades.

"Creak—"

The old man finally stopped and pushed open a door painted with green paint.

As soon as the door was opened, everyone felt a gust of cold wind blowing in their faces.

Looking inside, it was a room that was not too big or too small. The window facing them had a large hole, and wind was whistling in.

Several red flowerpots were placed on the windowsill.

There was a very vintage table with a large glass surface. Some papers were pressed under the glass, and there seemed to be some photos as well.

There was a crack on one side of the glass, but it was taped up with duct tape.

There was no computer. Besides an old-fashioned telephone, there were no electronic products on the table, only a pile of messy papers and some flyers.

A large teacup that had been stained brown with tea stains was placed in a very conspicuous position. Next to the teacup was a tin can of tea leaves, with the lid casually thrown aside.

An open white plastic bag contained some transparent chunks, like rock candy.

A red-cased, big-headed TV was discarded in the corner, covered with a thick layer of dust.

It wasn't good to crowd at the door, so Liu Guo, Jiang Cheng, and the fatty, Jiao Tailang, and a few others went in, while the rest stayed outside.

After all, everyone didn't trust this old man. Although he seemed to be an NPC, they had seen storylines where NPCs turned into ghosts.

In their eyes, this old man had the potential to become a ghost.

As long as the lighting effects were good, no makeup was needed.

Jiang Cheng was holding a flyer in his hand, which was previously posted behind the door and he had just taken it off. The most conspicuous part of it was a building.

The words "Peace Apartment" were written on it in festive red letters.