The tube-shaped apartment building was exceptionally quiet at night. Even the faintest sound of wind outside the window was clearly audible.
Ning Su opened his eyes and looked at the fluttering window curtain, then lowered his gaze to his own feet. His curled toes wiggled slightly.
Ning Su stared for a good while before finally closing his eyes to sleep.
The next day, all the players began inquiring about the woman from room 612.
Usually, the doors of each room in the tube-shaped building were tightly shut. Breakfast time in the cafeteria was a good opportunity.
When Ning Su and his group arrived at the cafeteria, several players were already there, including those who typically skipped breakfast.
Just as Ning Su, Ling Xiao, and the two children sat down, Qin Wu and Tang Xin came over with indescribable expressions on their faces, especially Tang Xin, who looked utterly disgusted, as if she had eaten something foul.
With a grimace, she said, "I've lost my appetite for breakfast. How can they be so disgusting?"
As she spoke, she wiped her hands with a tissue. Since there were no wet wipes, she dampened a napkin with water and scrubbed, acting as if she had touched something filthy.
It turned out they had come early to inquire about the woman from Room 612.
Last night, Ling Xiao mentioned the story might be related to desire. They all assumed the woman's desire was carnal. Thinking the story involved carnal desire, they went to ask the men.
The tube-shaped building had seven floors, with 32 apartments on each floor. Excluding the unoccupied units and the players, there were 209 households in total.
The apartments were densely packed, forming a self-contained community, and gossip was plentiful.
The woman from Room 612 was a household name, especially among the men.
Qin Wu and Jia Yahua thought it would be easy to identify a few people who had been in Room 612.
It was relatively easy because there were so many people.
Of the two men they went to find, one had been inside.
When they brought up the matter, the two men looked at them with knowing glances, wearing expressions that said "we get it." They eagerly shared many details the investigators didn't want to hear and even tried to set up appointments with them.
Tang Xin's experience was even worse.
Too embarrassed to ask the younger men, she found a man in his fifties and cautiously inquired about the woman in Room 612.
To her surprise, the moment the man heard her mention the woman from Room 612, he assumed she was just another curious type. Within a few sentences, the conversation turned explicit, and he even reached out to touch Tang Xin's hand.
Tang Xin: "Filthy, brainless pervert!"
After fuming, she inexplicably felt a pang of sadness.
In just half an hour, she had glimpsed the ugliness and disgust lurking within this tenement building.
A place favored by Desire Monsters—human desires here were so naked and direct, flourishing wildly in the squalid environment.
She could almost imagine that plenty of men from this building had been in Room 612.
"But she's really... why?"
She had heard of such conditions, but not to this extent. Why would a woman do this? Was she forced? Did she have some unspoken hardship?
Ling Xiao lowered his gaze and said coolly, "I did say desires might be connected to the story, but I never told you to probe specifically for sexual desires. You go in with a certain aim, and that's the kind of response you'll get."
Qin Wu and Tang Xin were taken aback.
Ning Su looked up and asked, "Why do you all assume her desire is a sexual one?"
The two were stunned again.
Ning Su asked earnestly, with genuine curiosity, waiting for their answer.
It was precisely this sincerity that made their daze even deeper.
Qin Wu: "What do you mean 'why'? Isn't it obvious? She's been with so many men."
Tang Xin: "Right. And there's the deceased Li Ming. The system said Desire Monsters can amplify human desires. It makes sense that her desire is a sexual one for Li Ming to have ended up like that."
Ning Su first responded to Qin Wu's words, "I think desire is the deepest craving buried in the heart, especially for a desire monster—it should be the core. She has had relationships with many men, so is her desire sexual desire?"
Qin Wu was momentarily stunned again.
Ning Su then responded to Tang Xin, "Is it possible that it wasn’t the woman from Room 612 who intensified Li Ming’s sexual desire, but rather Li Ming himself wanted it?"
"Do you know Li Ming very well? Even if he usually appears proper and restrained, it’s hard to say when faced with that kind of situation."
Tang Xin felt a twinge of shame.
In truth, she didn’t know Li Ming well. She had only seen him a few times since entering the instance and thought he was a polite and gentlemanly man.
To her, Li Ming and the woman from Room 612 were, to some extent, both strangers.
Yet, influenced by the environment, she had assumed that the woman from Room 612 had intensified Li Ming’s sexual desire and tempted him.
Just because she was a desire monster, did that mean she was the one seducing him? And then, based on that, conclude that her desire as a desire monster was sexual desire?
She herself was a woman, yet she had thought this way.
Ling Xiao turned to look at Ning Su.
Ning Su, like the other players there, asked him, "Am I right, top-ranked expert?"
He thought Ling Xiao might have thought the same way—he had never said from start to finish that the woman from Room 612’s desire was sexual desire.
Ling Xiao: "Do you still need my confirmation?"
It was a question, but his attitude was already clear.
Tang Xin: "But if her desire isn’t sexual desire, why did she have relationships with so many men?"
Ning Su: "That might be the key."
Qin Wu and Tang Xin’s eyes both widened slightly, as if they had some realization.
Breaking free from the assumption that the woman from Room 612’s desire was sexual desire suddenly opened up many thoughts, and their minds were instantly clearer.
Just as they were about to speak, the cafeteria suddenly fell silent.
A woman walked in through the cafeteria entrance. She had thick, wavy black hair, and her skin, under the reddish sky, appeared pale in an ambiguous way.
She hurriedly walked over to Uncle Li, bought a bunch of steamed buns and eggs, brought them all to Ning Su’s table, and nervously tugged at her dirty skirt. She said to him, "Hurry up and eat. It’s eight o’clock."
Yesterday, at eight o’clock, Ning Su had eaten breakfast, and she had bought eggs and steamed buns for him and the two children.
Today, upon arriving at the cafeteria, they were already discussing her matter, not having gone to buy breakfast yet.
Everyone in the cafeteria looked over, including Uncle Li.
Seeing that Ning Su wasn't eating, the woman from room 612 grew even more nervous, a mix of anxiety and urgency. "Eat, eat quickly, don't go hungry."
She thought for a moment and added, "It's clean, it's clean."
"Thank you."
Ning Su opened the bag, gave each of the two children an egg and a bun, and picked up a bun for himself as well.
The woman stared intently at him until they had finished eating, then let out a relieved sigh. She bent down, stuffed all the money in her hand into Ning Su's pocket, smiled happily, and left.
Qin Wu and Tang Xin, who had faced her for the first time, were left somewhat stunned.
Yesterday morning, when Qin Wu had seen her buying buns and eggs for Ning Su, he said she had taken a liking to him. Ning Su had refuted it at the time, and Qin Wu hadn't believed him.
Now he did.
She really didn't have that kind of intention toward Ning Su.
Tang Xin said, "She seems like a child."
She couldn't quite describe the feeling—it wasn't that she smiled like a child, but rather, she felt like a child.
Apart from seeing her yesterday morning and thinking she was an exceptionally beautiful woman, all her other encounters with her had been at night.
She had been sitting on her messy, dirty bed, her back to them.
Her thick, dark hair cascaded down past her waist, half-covering her bare back. The extreme whiteness and rich darkness under the dim light created an intense, eerie allure.
And then last night, she had been lying on top of a man, that thick, dark hair covering her face and spilling over the man, like a ghostly spirit feeding on human essence.
Then came the horror of how, amidst severed limbs and corpses, she simply could not be killed.
Just now, facing her directly had completely shattered the fixed impression Tang Xin had of her, leaving her momentarily unable to react.
