Main Quest: Apartment Thief

After opening the box, Ji Yan's expression froze for a moment. Then he turned the box toward Xu Xin.

Inside was a set of exquisite cosmetics, vivid as blood.

"Look how nervous you are. Anyone would think there was a bomb in the box."

Xu Xin smiled and picked up a Lipstick, applying it to her cracked lips.

Ji Yan said nothing. Staring at the cosmetics, he caught a faint yet familiar scent of blood.

Of course, Ji Yan did not care whether it was what he suspected. He only wanted to finish the task as soon as possible.

"Since the item has been delivered, I won't disturb Miss Xu any longer."

Ji Yan spoke as he prepared to leave.

"Why are you in such a hurry to go? Afraid I'll eat you?"

"I brewed a pot of tea. Have a drink before you leave."

Xu Xin closed the box and invited Ji Yan.

"No, my mother gave me other things to do. Maybe next time."

The task was already complete. Ji Yan had no desire to let this woman tie him down. The longer he stayed, the more trouble there would be.

But just as Ji Yan was about to leave, he found that the room gate would not open no matter what he did. He sighed helplessly and turned back to look at Xu Xin, who was sitting by the coffee table with a smile on her face.

"I've decided what I want in return for the favor you owe me."

"These past few days, thieves have been breaking into my room often and stealing things that are very important to me. I want you to help me catch that thief."

Ji Yan smiled bitterly. "I'm no great detective. If even Miss Xu can't handle it, then I definitely can't."

How could a ghost capable of stealing from the haunted Room 801 possibly be a simple character?

"I think you can catch it. Anyone else in the Apartment would be unreliable."

"But no one else has your courage. Even in such a dangerous situation on the Rooftop last night, you remained so calm."

Ji Yan stopped pretending. "To be honest, Miss Xu, that was only on the surface. When I went back last night, I had to change my pants."

Miss Xu said nothing more. She merely sipped her tea while watching Ji Yan.

In the end, Ji Yan could only compromise. "Fine. I'll do my best."

The bedroom gate was opened.

Ji Yan looked around the room. Everything seemed normal. "What was stolen?"

"Didn't you notice the two holes dug into the wall corner?"

Xu Xin leaned against the doorway, her hands folded.

Only then did Ji Yan notice that two holes had been dug into the wall above the bedside table.

And blood was continuously seeping out of those two Wall Holes!

"The thief dug out two chunks of Cement?"

Ji Yan pretended to be shocked.

But inwardly, he knew very well that the walls of Crimson Apartment were built from countless heaps of bloody flesh.

Breaking through the walls was the first great taboo of the Apartment rules.

How had that thief avoided the Punishment of the rules and dug them out unharmed?

"Go take a look. See if you can find any Traces." Xu Xin did not answer, merely tilting her head toward the holes.

Ji Yan stepped forward and reached out to touch the two bloody Wall Holes.

The moment he touched them, his expression changed.

His Omniscient Understanding talent was triggered repeatedly, like a car radar hitting a wall.

Lines of hidden blood-red information appeared before his eyes.

A great fire had consumed the room, causing twelve children to die here. Their charred flesh had been built into the walls, and Room 801, home to twelve "residents," became the most vicious room in Crimson Apartment.

Because no tenant dared to live there, the room had remained sealed until one day, when a Black-Skirted Woman carrying a Black Umbrella moved into Room 801. The twelve children finally had a "teacher."

One week ago, a thief snuck into Room 801 and "stole" two children, leaving cracks in Room 801.

This was no ordinary thief. It could ignore the Landlord's surveillance and evade the Punishment of the Apartment rules.

Warning! This Side Quest is deeply connected to the Main Quest. Accepting it carries an 80% chance of binding you to the Main Quest. Please carefully consider whether to accept.

When Ji Yan saw that final warning among the hidden information, his vision went dark.

If it was a blessing, it would not be a disaster. If it was a disaster, he could not avoid it.

He could not escape this Main Quest after all.

Ji Yan was also astonished. What kind of thief was so formidable that even the Landlord and the Apartment rules could not punish it? It had blatantly broken through the Blood Wall right under their noses?

He continued reaching out to touch it.

Soon, another piece of hidden information appeared.

One of the children inside the wall had seen the culprit's general features. It was tall, its body covered in human faces, with a Red-String Bell hanging from its waist. Every step it took came with a piercing bell sound.

It had torn Brother and Sister out of the wall and eaten them. Then, when the teacher returned, the culprit escaped through the window.

"Covered in human faces?"

Ji Yan raised an eyebrow.

"You found a clue?" Xu Xin noticed and asked.

Ji Yan repeated the thief's characteristics.

Xu Xin said, "There are no tenants in the Apartment that disgusting."

Then she added, "But I can't rule out the nighttime."

At night, the Apartment would produce all kinds of strange and bizarre tenants.

But a ghost that could run directly into Room 801, ignore the Apartment rules, evade the Landlord's surveillance, and dig out the residents' flesh to eat? He had never heard of anything so overbearing!

"Come here at midnight tonight."

"What for?" Ji Yan asked.

"Catch the thief with me." A cold glint appeared in Xu Xin's eyes.

"...Sis, I've already stayed up working overtime for several days in a row. I'm mentally exhausted. Please spare me."

Xu Xin stared at Ji Yan. The corner of Ji Yan's mouth twitched, and he could only nod in agreement.

Ding! Congratulations player, you have successfully triggered an A+-grade task: Help the residents of Room 801 recover their lost items.

Ji Yan rubbed his brow.

His final favor had turned into an A+-grade task.

Thinking about how he had been frantically taking task after task these past few days, like an overworked beast that could not stop grinding, he could not help sighing. This was completely contrary to the laid-back survival he had envisioned at the beginning.

And he was straying farther and farther from it...

After leaving Room 801, Ji Yan ran into the Old Landlord again while going downstairs.

The Old Landlord was carrying another stack of Announcement Flyers and began posting them at the turns of every floor's corridor.

Another announcement task?

Having learned from last time's lesson, Ji Yan did not even feel like joining the crowd this time.

He passed through the Players drawn in by the announcement and turned to go downstairs.

But to his surprise, this announcement task had actually entered the Game Panel.

While he was still going downstairs, an announcement prompt appeared in his line of sight.

Emergency announcement! Following complaints, a large number of Apartment tenants have recently reported lost property. The Landlord calls on all tenants to participate in the collective capture of the thief. Participants will receive generous rewards.

Ding! The Dungeon the Player is in has activated an S Rank task. All Players may choose whether to participate.

Task type: Main Quest.

Standard completion: Capture the thief.

Perfect completion: Capture the thief and help the tenants recover their lost property.

Task reward: You may mark the current Dungeon as a stronghold and obtain the Apartment Door Key.

(Warning: There is no penalty for failing the Main Quest after participating, but the thief is extremely dangerous.)

"Main Quest?"

Ji Yan's expression changed. That thief was actually the boss of the latest Main Quest?

He now understood why the Side Quest triggered in Room 801 was so deeply entangled with the Main Quest.

The two tasks had the exact same objective.

"This thief is really capable."

Ji Yan took a deep breath.

It dug out and ate the flesh inside the walls, and the Dungeon had designated it as the new Main Quest boss. What kind of monster was it?

Ding! Player "Long Yuan" has accepted the Main Quest. Current participant count: 1/1.

Ding! Player "Yuan Qiu" has accepted the Main Quest. Current participant count: 2/2.

Ding! Player...

After the Main Quest was announced, an endless stream of Players began joining it.

As the only S Rank task, the Main Quest had the highest danger rating. Logically speaking, many Players only hoped to survive and would not even want to look at the Main Quest.

Yet seeing Players scrambling to accept it took Ji Yan by surprise.

Someone unaware of the situation might have thought the Main Quest was free money falling from the sky.

Among the Players participating in the Main Quest, Ji Yan even saw the name of his own "Sister," Liu Yitong.

"This is getting more and more interesting." Ji Yan closed the pop-up panel and returned to Room 404.

In the living room, after receiving a task from her eerie family, Liu Yitong had, for once, not gone out immediately.

"What is it? Was the task Grandmother assigned today very difficult?" Ji Yan asked, seeing how terrible her expression was.

Liu Yitong clutched her messy hair, an uncommon look of headache and distress on her face. "Grandmother is in a very bad mood."

"The three Sweaters she knitted were stolen. They were two months of her hard work."

"She asked me to find the stolen Sweaters."

"The task is rated A+!"

"This is too strange. I've already raised Grandmother's favorability to nearly 70%. How am I still getting an A+-grade task?"

Liu Yitong felt like she was about to collapse.

Listening to this, Ji Yan could not help rubbing his forehead.

First it targeted Miss Xu, then it stole Grandmother's Sweaters. Judging from that announcement, quite a few other tenants had also suffered.

At this rate, the thief was planning to steal from the entire Apartment!

Ji Yan said, "I saw that you joined the Main Quest too."

"Grandmother's task is deeply connected to the Main Quest."

"If I participate in the Main Quest, it means I'll be tied to those Players. If we catch the thief together, I'll definitely be able to recover Grandmother's stolen Sweaters, and I can also get a share of the Main Quest rewards."

Liu Yitong's understanding was the same one many Players had reached.

No wonder Players had eagerly joined once the Main Quest appeared.

Of course, another reason was that the Player leading the charge was Long Yuan.

After all, that guy had cleared the Main Quest of the previous Apartment Dungeon.

With him on the team, it was like swallowing a reassuring pill.

But Ji Yan knew that guy well. Why would he let others ride on his achievements?

"Others may be forced into it, but I think Long Yuan is after the task reward."

Liu Yitong had survived in Dungeons for some time, so she naturally knew who Long Yuan was. "He cleared the previous Main Quest because he wanted the Apartment Door Key."

"But unfortunately, the task was ultimately judged only as a 'standard' completion. The rewards were greatly reduced, and the gate key reward was gone too."

"This time, he definitely wants to fight for another chance."

Resting her chin on her hands, Liu Yitong spoke to Ji Yan.

Ji Yan was puzzled. "Getting the key means going to the next Dungeon."

"But the next Dungeon is an unknown danger. He's living well in this Crimson Apartment Dungeon, so wouldn't going to a new, unfamiliar Dungeon just be asking for trouble?"

Liu Yitong shook her head. "Marking this Dungeon changes its nature completely."

"It's like saving a game. If you die in a new level, you can jump back to the save point. The progress you made in the cleared levels stays, so you don't have to start over from the first level."

"Marking works in roughly the same way."

"If Long Yuan gets a mark, then after he leaves this Dungeon, he can trigger a Death Save if he dies in another Dungeon and return to the Crimson Apartment Dungeon."

"Moreover, all his progress in the Apartment will be retained. He can still enjoy the benefits brought by the tenants' favorability!"

"I just don't know how many times this mark can be used."

One mark allowed one Death Save.

Long Yuan definitely wanted to challenge new Dungeons.

He wanted to continue expanding his Dungeon territory.

If things went smoothly, he might even be able to jump back and forth between several Dungeons in the future.

New Dungeons meant new challenges and new horizons.

No matter how patient a Player was, no one wanted to remain in the beginner village for a lifetime.

In the vast map of this Eerie World, no one truly wanted to be a frog at the bottom of a well forever. Some wanted to lift the fog and see the true face of this world, to see just how vast it was. Others still remembered their original intentions and hoped to find a way back to Blue Star...

When Ji Yan heard that, his eyes lit up.

Looking at it this way, the Main Quest was not entirely bad.

Its reward could be said to grant the greatest privilege possible!

Then Ji Yan opened the Information Panel and chose to participate in the Main Quest as well.

"Isn't your task just to deliver something upstairs for Mother? There's no need..."

Ji Yan interrupted her. "It's a long story. No matter what, we're teammates on the same task now."

Liu Yitong sighed helplessly. "But we have no clue about the Main Quest right now."

"There are so many tenants in the Apartment. Finding the thief is like searching for a needle in the sea."

"Let's hope the other Players can make some progress on the Main Quest."

Seeing that Liu Yitong was slacking off too, Ji Yan pulled out a Compressed Biscuit and ate as he said, "Why pin our hopes on someone else?"

"We can push the Main Quest forward too."

Liu Yitong looked at Ji Yan, who did not seem to be joking. "Why do I get the feeling you've got your eye on the Main Quest reward?"

Ji Yan said, "The reward is secondary. I don't like having my fate in someone else's hands."

"Then what clues do you have?"

"None I can speak of for now, but I do have a direction to act on."

"Let's go out again tonight and take a look."

He felt that if he continued interacting with Miss Xu from 801 tonight, he would definitely gain something.

"Speaking of action, the Players participating in the Main Quest are already calling for a meeting in the chat box. They're probably planning to exchange clues, discuss countermeasures, and figure out how to catch that thief."

Ji Yan said, "The more people there are, the easier it is for things to get chaotic."

"We..."

Before Ji Yan could finish, Liu Yitong interrupted him. "I think I should go meet up with them and see if there's anything I can help with."

"You can act on your own for now."

"I'll let you know immediately if there's any progress. Good luck."

Liu Yitong clearly had no intention of acting together with Ji Yan.

She had always leaned toward Long Yuan's larger group.

That was the normal person's choice. Ji Yan understood and nodded.

After Liu Yitong left, Ji Yan looked toward Grandmother's room. After hesitating for a moment, he tossed the last bit of coarse grain into his mouth and knocked on her door.

Hearing Grandmother respond, Ji Yan gently pushed open the door.

Grandmother had also fallen victim to that thief.

Perhaps he could obtain some useful clues through interacting with her?

With the Omniscient Understanding talent, Ji Yan's greatest advantage was the hidden information others did not have.

That was also what gave him the confidence to go solo on the Main Quest...