The Consequences of Littering a Milk Tea Cup

Outside the front gate.

Guan En bent down and picked up the inconspicuous milk tea cup beneath the flower bed.

The cup was hidden in shadow. If he had gone straight to the door and knocked, he would not have seen it.

But professional habit had led Guan En to take a look around.

He raised the cup and focused his gaze on it.

It was a 500 ml cup of milk tea.

More precisely, it was a fruit tea that had been drunk until only a little remained at the bottom.

Fresh condensation covered the cup, and the thermal paper label showed the order time, the drink's name, and its flavor.

Refreshing guava grape tea - zero-calorie sugar - no slush.

The order had been placed at 8:50 that morning, at the Anwu Myriad Forms Plaza central branch.

Myriad Forms Plaza was where the [Hall of Mourning] was located, and a tragedy had occurred there not long ago.

Who would have come all the way here from the [Hall of Mourning]?

Guan En hid the milk tea cup behind his back and rang the doorbell.

Upstairs.

Zhu Yan still wanted to speak, but the timing seemed unfortunate.

A clear doorbell rang out in the garden, followed by a somewhat familiar voice calling out.

"Hello, is anyone there?"

The landlord raised its head as though it had encountered a savior.

"Madam, it's a player!" it said hurriedly. "I'll go open the door right away. I promise, I promise I'll pay the rent in full today, and I'll definitely feed, feed you until you're full—"

"Get lost," Zhu Yan said curtly.

He looked down and toyed with his fingers, instructing the landlord as it hurried out, "Get back up here after the player comes in, idiot."

The landlord left, meek and obedient.

The moment the door closed, Zhu Yan immediately pulled the bottle of [Universal Potion] from his pocket.

It was no longer an itch, but a searing pain.

Luckily.

Luckily, he had bought this potion from the shop in advance!

Zhu Yan gritted his teeth and poured all the potion over his back and injured arm, taking the opportunity to glance around the unlit room.

It seemed his [Roleplay] had fooled the house as well.

The mouth that should have been in the middle of the room had vanished, leaving what looked like an utterly ordinary, dusty patch of carpet.

As the potion ran over his injuries, it sizzled like boiling water.

Zhu Yan felt the unbearable pain disappear, replaced by the itch of flesh rapidly growing back.

He breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to the window, watching the hunched landlord slowly open the front gate.

A familiar figure in civilian clothes stood outside.

The streetlight by the gate illuminated the person's face clearly, making Zhu Yan's heart jump.

It was actually his old friend, Guan En.

There was no way the police station didn't know this guy had come here to take part in the instance.

Zhu Yan instinctively adjusted his position and glanced farther into the distance.

He wondered whether, before Guan En joined the instance, the female voice had announced some of the reasons behind it.

If Guan En knew the other player in the instance was the person the police station was looking for...

Zhu Yan grew more vigilant, watching Guan En follow the hunched landlord while sizing up his surroundings along the way.

No.

He not only had to survive, but also had to find a way to escape from right under the police station's nose in one piece!

At that thought, Zhu Yan pried the tightly shut glass window open a crack and leaned close, trying to hear what was happening downstairs.

"A player?" the landlord asked hoarsely, leading Guan En through the garden with a shuffling gait.

Its expression was frighteningly dark, and it felt as though a flame were burning in its shriveled chest, leaving it terribly anxious.

"Before you go in, I need to check your left hand!"

Guan En did not reply immediately, silently studying the house and garden before him.

Clearly, this landlord was the boss.

If it used the left hand as the criterion for identifying players, then...

Guan En recalled wiping that person's palm with makeup remover.

Would this acquaintance take on the appearance of a Pseudo-human or an ordinary person, just as before?

"I'm a player," Guan En said cautiously, observing the landlord's reaction.

He held out his left hand, revealing the caged bird mark.

The monster trembled slightly, though not from nervousness. Rather, it seemed relieved—

It then turned around, an impatient expression appearing on its decay-tinged face.

"Come in, quickly." The landlord reached out and clamped a hand around Guan En's arm, dragging and pulling him toward the door.

Zhu Yan saw the whole scene clearly from upstairs.

Maintaining his horrifying creature form, he backed away, carefully stepped across the carpet thick with accumulated dust, and silently turned the wooden door open.

Just like in the previous instance, Zhu Yan had no idea what Guan En's position or mission was.

But from his experience in the previous two instances, Zhu Yan knew their positions were very likely opposed.

However, Guan En had already fought him and seen his ability [Roleplay] and the methods he usually used.

The dim yellow light in the hallway was still on. Perhaps the Cannibal House had regained some strength, because the old green lampshade had begun to creak faintly again.

"Shut up," Zhu Yan whispered threateningly, activating his ability [Complaining].

"I was just telling the truth before, and you've got a problem with that? You can't even get a proper look at yourself in a puddle of piss. If you're sick, get treatment."

The lampshade fell silent.

Zhu Yan's mind raced.

He absolutely could not let Guan En see him now, when he hadn't obtained any information at all.

He dared not underestimate a police officer, especially one who had seen him use [Roleplay] to become a Pseudo-human.

He knew nothing about this house, and he had no trump card that would let him take on the level-five landlord head-on.

If Guan En exposed him, he would be in serious trouble.

Zhu Yan tried turning the door of the room opposite, and sure enough, it was locked, just as he had expected.

...He had to use the identity he was currently [Roleplaying] to keep himself hidden.

Then, while Guan En was talking to the landlord, he would see if he could find more clues.

Of the three rooms on the second floor, the landlord had opened the one containing the [Cannibal House]'s mouth, but the other two were securely locked.

Downstairs, the sound of the front door opening rang out.

Guan En's voice sounded somewhat distant. "Am I the first player to come here, sir?"

Zhu Yan smiled.

He was now a high-level horrifying creature, and the landlord was firmly convinced of it. It was unlikely to expose his presence in front of another player.

Keeping his attention on the sounds downstairs, Zhu Yan moved nimbly and lightly toward the stairs at the end of the hallway.

They led to the attic—

He clearly remembered that the monster landlord had come down very quickly to open the front gate for him.

It was very likely that it hadn't had time to lock the attic!

Surely there would be more information in the place where the landlord usually sat?

Where was the [Rental Contract] mentioned in "Coexisting with Forbidden Things"?

"No," the landlord's sticky, muffled voice came from below. "Sit here and don't move. I'll get you a glass of water..."

Zhu Yan crept up the old wooden stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a small landing, its bare carpet covered in dark stains.

Behind the landing was an ajar wooden door. The door was very old, without even a modern handle like those downstairs; instead, it was secured only by a heavy brass lock that had been turned open.