Although the figure hid quickly behind the curtains, Lin Rong still caught a glimpse of the terror and fear in their eyes.
It wasn’t directed at them, but rather at the door next to her that had just been closed.
It was as if entering that room was an extremely frightening thing.
Lin Rong stared at the tightly drawn curtains and suddenly realized what was so odd.
On the first day they knocked on doors, they had noted which rooms were occupied and which were not. The room before them was supposed to be unoccupied.
At least, when they knocked on the first day, there had been no response from inside!
Damn it!
Lin Rong urgently raised her hand to knock on the door, but she froze the moment her knuckles were about to make contact. In the end, she silently withdrew her hand.
In high-level scenarios, directly confronting the boss or NPC of the instance had nearly zero chance of survival.
Even if one didn’t die immediately, being marked for death meant it was only a matter of time.
Lin Rong glanced at the tightly shut door and then decisively turned around, heading to the door of the room where the figure had been watching them from behind the curtains.
That room was occupied.
However, despite knocking on the door for a long time, no one answered, as if no one lived there.
But the players had all seen the figure hiding behind the curtains. Someone definitely lived in that room.
And that person likely knew something.
After a moment’s thought, Lin Rong knocked again and cautiously said, “Hello, we just moved into unit 444 today.”
It was only after purchasing the property and moving in that the neighborhood became like this. The identity of the other residents was bound to be particularly important.
Her intuition proved correct. After she said this, the tightly shut door opened a small crack.
The person inside pressed against the door, nervously peeking out through the gap, and spoke in a hoarse voice, “Are you… players?”
The voice sounded like a man’s, but it was so hoarse and unpleasant—probably because he hadn’t spoken in a long time.
At the mention of the word “players,” Lin Rong’s eyes instantly turned sharp, filled with vigilance.
Noticing her reaction, the man let out a bitter, silent laugh before speaking again in his raspy, muffled voice, “There’s no need to be so wary of me. I’m a player too.”
The players widened their eyes, staring in disbelief at the man before them.
"Come in and let's talk," the man said, opening the door.
The players hesitated for a moment but eventually followed him into the room.
The man's name was Zhang Ting, and he was the only player still alive three days after entering the instance.
Zhang Ting didn't hold back the information he knew. With a hoarse voice, he began to share everything he had learned.
It was only then that the players understood why none of the residents had interacted with them before they bought a house.
It was because the residents of this neighborhood would trigger a death condition if they opened the door for someone who wasn't already a resident.
Only by purchasing a house in this neighborhood could someone become an official resident and be accepted by the community.
But being "accepted" by this neighborhood meant certain death.
This was because most of the residents in the neighborhood were no longer human—they were malicious ghosts wearing human skin.
These ghosts could only be seen by other residents of the neighborhood, and they could also only see fellow residents.
During the day, these ghosts would disguise themselves as humans to lure other residents into their rooms. Once someone entered their room, no one had ever been seen alive again.
But this wasn’t even the most dangerous part. The true terror came at night.
Once midnight passed, these ghosts would be completely unrestrained and indiscriminately hunt anyone alive within their domain.
In other words, buying a house in this neighborhood meant exposing oneself directly to the ghosts, essentially marking oneself for death.
The players' faces were filled with fear and unease. As expected, the names on those property contracts were nothing more than a death trap.
Seeing their reactions, the man spoke in his hoarse voice, "Don’t overthink it. If you don’t sign the property contract, you won’t even have a chance to struggle."
The man let out a bitter laugh as he continued, "Do you know why I’m still alive?"
"It’s because I signed the property contract."
Lighting a cigarette, the man took a drag and slowly said, "Outsiders who don’t sign the contract won’t survive past the second day."
Not becoming a resident of the neighborhood meant one wouldn’t be accepted by the community and wouldn’t see the ghosts. But that didn’t mean they were safe.
Outsiders without a house had nowhere to go at night and would become the ghosts' first targets.
Staying in what appeared to be an empty room was no different from seeking death, because those "empty rooms" weren’t empty at all—they belonged to the ghosts.
It was just that those who hadn’t purchased a property in the neighborhood couldn’t see the ghosts, meaning they didn’t even have a chance to hide.
This dungeon was unsolvable.
Whether you bought a house in the community or not, the final outcome was death—it’s just a matter of dying sooner or later.
"The longer you stay in the community, the more likely you are to become the target of a vengeful ghost," Zhang Ting exhaled a puff of smoke. His expression was unreadable through the swirling haze.
"I probably won’t survive tonight."
The players shuddered. They knew that high-level dungeons were incredibly difficult, but they hadn't expected it to be this extreme.
It was practically impossible to clear.
As the sky darkened, Zhang Ting drove them out of his room. The players had no choice but to return to their own rooms.
Lin Rong looked at the others and calmly said, "According to Zhang Ting, we can’t act together at night, nor can we stay in the same room for too long."
Vengeful ghosts judge their targets based on the scent of the living. The more people gather together, the easier it is to become a target.
If you stay in one place for too long, the scent of the living grows stronger, and you’re more likely to be targeted.
The safest way to survive the night is to remember which rooms don’t have vengeful ghosts and switch rooms periodically to avoid the nighttime slaughter.
Wang Qian nervously picked at her nails, tears welling in her eyes. Her voice trembled slightly, "There are so many rooms. I didn’t remember which ones were empty when I checked earlier, and I didn’t pay attention to that detail."
The other players were in the same boat. On the first day, when they were inspecting the rooms, they hadn’t noted which ones were occupied and which ones were empty.
Since they hadn’t made a conscious effort to remember, their memories were now vague at best.
If they chose the wrong room, it would be akin to delivering themselves straight into the hands of the vengeful ghosts.
Now, it was too late to try and figure it out. Ever since they started seeing the ghosts, they realized that the vengeful spirits were indistinguishable from real residents. There was no clear way to tell them apart.
The players could only piece together a list of rooms they vaguely remembered and hope their judgment and luck would lead them to the right ones.
Night quickly fell, and the entire Mingya Building dimmed, emanating an ominous and dangerous aura.
To minimize the scent of the living, the players decided to hide separately this time, and no one disclosed their hiding places to the others.
Only one person, 'Ruan Qing', was different. He didn’t hide. Instead, he took a stroll outside before returning to Room 444 in Building A. Then, he carefully selected an outfit he liked best and headed toward the bathroom.
The bathroom had a full-length mirror, placed not far from the bathroom itself.
Just as 'Ruan Qing' was holding his clothes and about to step into the bathroom, his footsteps suddenly came to a halt. Then, he abruptly turned his head to look at the full-length mirror behind him.
The next second, 'Ruan Qing' widened his eyes in shock, because the 'person' in the mirror was staring directly at him.
It wasn’t because he looked at the mirror that the reflection stared back; the figure in the mirror had a completely different posture from his own. ‘It’ wasn’t turning its head to look at him but was facing him head-on.
That was definitely not what a mirror should reflect!
Thank you for the chapter!!
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