Morning.
The grandfather clock chimed, and white mist lingered in the air.
With a creak, Liu Yitong's bedroom door slowly opened.
Seeing the bloodstains left in the hallway, she muttered, "Last night was really lively. I wonder which eerie had gone crazy and kept knocking on my door. So damn noisy!"
She was angry.
Not because she had morning grumpiness.
It was because if players did not get enough rest at night, their status values would decline the next day.
They could even become mentally exhausted and confused, which could easily affect their quests.
She headed into the living room, intending to freshen up.
But she quickly noticed something was wrong.
The hallway had become shorter.
After surviving in the Dungeon for twenty-two days, she had walked through it countless times every day. She had developed muscle memory for every inch of this home.
There was no mistake. Why had the bedroom hallway become shorter?
She turned her head and looked around. Then her pretty face suddenly changed.
The two doors that had originally been there had vanished!
The six-bedroom, one-living-room suite had become a four-bedroom, one-living-room suite.
Her first thought was Ji Yan, but after carefully checking the two rooms that had disappeared, she discovered that they belonged to Dong Chu and Father Eerie!
She tilted her head, completely bewildered.
Just then, Ji Yan opened his door and stepped out as well.
"Morning. Another energetic day."
Ji Yan gave a simple greeting.
"Ji Yan, Dong Chu..."
Ji Yan turned back with a faint smile. "You heard it too? That guy kept knocking on my door last night. I thought it was an eerie imitating his voice."
"Now it looks like it really was him. Tell me, how could an old player like him make such a low-level mistake?"
Liu Yitong fell silent.
She also knew Dong Chu would not make such a mistake, unless...
Her eyes flickered for a moment, but Liu Yitong did not ask further.
Sure enough, no matter the environment, the struggle between human hearts was always terrifying.
She did not sympathize much with Dong Chu. Someone like him, selfish and convinced that everyone should revolve around him, was a ticking time bomb. His death was a relief.
"But how did Father Eerie die? You... how did you do it?"
Liu Yitong could not help asking.
Father Eerie had the most danger zones and the most perilous quests. Yet overnight, the greatest threat to the players had been removed just like that!
At the dining table, Ji Yan swallowed a bite of wheat bread. "Whether I killed him or not isn't important."
"I only know that without Father Eerie, that poisonous tumor in Room 404, this place will become much warmer and safer."
"Don't you agree?"
Those words had indirectly confirmed that he had done it, while carrying another implication—when someone did something beneficial to the group, there was no need to ask questions. Just quietly enjoy the good food.
Liu Yitong understood.
She nodded. "You're absolutely right."
Sure enough, she had made the right choice by not rejecting this newcomer like Dong Chu had.
That Dong fool was an idiot!
After a simple breakfast, calls soon echoed through the hallway.
It was time to receive the day's new quests.
Liu Yitong was once again assigned Mother Eerie's quest.
She could now say that she felt no pressure at all.
Mother Eerie's favorability toward her had already accumulated to 70%!
Once it exceeded 65%, a blessing benefit would be triggered.
Even if she failed a quest once or twice, her favorability would only decrease slightly. There would be no punishment.
And once favorability reached the full 100%, she would achieve the perfect conquest achievement and no longer have to perform anxiety-filled daily quests.
An eerie you had conquered would no longer risk going berserk. Even if you provoked other Eerie Residents, they would step in and shield you from disaster.
Only at that point could the little house truly be considered a safe haven.
That was why Liu Yitong and Dong Chu had painstakingly completed quests every day, doing their best to satisfy their eerie family members.
Without conquering them, it was difficult to gain a foothold in the Dungeon!
It was much like a conquest-and-development game.
"Don't worry. Grandmother is much kinder than Father Eerie. Although she doesn't think much of male players, she won't deliberately target you."
Liu Yitong reminded Ji Yan.
She was afraid that Ji Yan might impulsively kill Eerie Grandmother too if he got annoyed!
Then all the effort she had invested in Eerie Grandmother would have been wasted.
"Don't worry."
"I want to conquer them too. If I kill all the eerie family members in Room 404, then Room 404 won't be any different from a family wiped out."
Ji Yan knew what she was thinking. She had taken him for some reckless brute who killed anyone he disagreed with?
Without saying more, the two of them entered their respective eerie family members' rooms.
Grandmother's room retained the style of an older generation. Many of its furnishings bore the marks of time, and the air was filled with the sour cotton scent of knitted clothing.
Grandmother sat on the bed, knitting a sweater in her hands, while a small mountain of sweaters had already piled up beside her.
It was as though she had sweaters she could never finish knitting.
"Child, though this is our first meeting, you're much more pleasing to the eye than that noisy boy."
Grandmother lowered her eyelids and commented to Ji Yan.
Ji Yan knew she meant Dong Chu. That guy was truly miserable—he had already logged off, yet he was still being brought up.
Being unable to get along with either people or eeries, surviving for over twenty days had been a miracle.
"I completely agree with you, Grandmother."
For now, Eerie Grandmother really was much easier to interact with than that hyperaggressive Father Eerie...
"This—help Grandmother thread it. Grandmother's eyesight is poor."
Eerie Grandmother handed him a thread and a needle.
Ji Yan took them. His eyesight was still good, and he threaded the needle successfully on his first try.
"I won't ask how you killed your father. If I weren't unable to leave my room, that ungrateful wretch would have had his head crushed long ago."
"Several of my good granddaughters were taken by that beast to Apartment 101 as drinking money for that vixen!"
"You've done a great kindness for Grandmother."
Grandmother spoke hoarsely.
From this, it was clear that the eeries within Room 404 had deep grudges against one another. Like the players, they were merely playing their respective roles.
No wonder that after killing Gourmand Eerie, he had gotten a free 20% favorability from both Grandmother and Mother Eerie.
"Do you want Grandmother to cherish you even more? Grandmother has two knots in her heart. Resolve one of them, and from then on, in this Apartment Building, aside from the Landlord, no matter who enters Room 404, they won't be able to touch a single hair on your head."
A knot in her heart!
Hearing those key words, Ji Yan's brows twitched.
A small number of eeries had knots in their hearts. Once you helped resolve one, you were guaranteed to gain 50% favorability!
"May I ask what knot is in Grandmother's heart?" Ji Yan asked tentatively.
Eerie Grandmother asked, "Have you met your mother?"
"Once."
"Kill her. As long as she disappears from Room 404, Grandmother will cherish only you from now on."
Grandmother set down the sweater. Her eyes narrowed, and her smile was kindly.
Ji Yan: "..."
He knew it would not be that easy.
"Fine, I won't make things difficult for you."
Grandmother casually tossed him a sachet and lowered her head to continue knitting. "Take this sachet to Room 605."
"It doesn't matter whether they accept it. Just deliver it there."
"After you return, Grandmother will personally knit you a sweater."
"You'll be the first boy Grandmother has knitted a sweater for."
Grandmother raised her kind, benevolent face. "Ordinary grandmothers don't give others such a benefit. It's only because you did a great deed last night."
Ji Yan was slightly stunned.
He looked at the sachet handed to him.
Peace Year After Year was embroidered on it.
That simple?
Ji Yan could barely suppress the corner of his mouth. Wasn't this practically a pure benefit quest?
Liu Yitong also had a sweater knitted by Grandmother.
Ji Yan had obtained information about it. It was guaranteed to be of rare quality.
When worn, it negated 30% of eerie damage. It was a genuine bulletproof vest.
"Don't worry, Grandmother. I'll definitely deliver it."
Ji Yan accepted it. It was merely an errand, and only an idiot would refuse it.
Grandmother chuckled and continued knitting with her head lowered.
After Ji Yan stepped out of the room.
The sachet in his hand finally triggered his talent, and a hidden information panel appeared: "The sachet is one of the foundational materials for 'Building Foundation.' To mend it properly, Grandmother spent half a month's effort and even wore out three sets of needle and thread. Guess why this broken, dilapidated Apartment Building can stand firm in the Eerie World without falling?"
Ji Yan looked at the panel's contents and could not help feeling puzzled.
Building Foundation.
Did that mean this sachet was a material used to construct the Apartment Building?
The hidden information was completely baffling.
Ji Yan shook his head and did not dwell on it.
In short, he only needed to deliver it. What the sachet was for or where it came from had nothing to do with him.
Just as he closed the information panel, Liu Yitong emerged from the room opposite him, carrying an empty soy sauce bottle.
"Seriously, another soy sauce errand? Does Mother Eerie eat soy sauce?"
The moment he saw the bottle, Ji Yan could not help complaining.
This was the advantage of having high favorability!
For the same quest reward, others had to make several trips through the gates of hell and barely survive to complete it, while Liu Yitong only needed to go downstairs to buy soy sauce.
Who would not be jealous after seeing that?
Liu Yitong scratched her head, feeling a little embarrassed too.
Mother Eerie's favoritism was indeed too obvious.
She changed the subject with a question. "What quest do you have today?"
"The quest panel hadn't even appeared before Grandmother gave me a sachet."
Ji Yan held up the Peace Year After Year sachet.
Yet the moment Liu Yitong saw the sachet, her pretty face turned somewhat pale...
Before you continue