Underground Resident, Devouring the Cake Alone

He looked at the blood spreading across the floor.

Ji Yan couldn't help but hold his breath. He hadn't expected that opening the basement would be so bloody.

He looked at the blood wall and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

The blood wall didn't respond.

After a long pause, it coalesced into a distorted word: "Pain..."

Ji Yan's eyes flickered. He could only seize the moment, pull out his Mother's flashlight, and enter the basement with its beam.

Just then, his hair felt itchy.

The three paper figures jumped out from his hair. They were like three Bian Ques hopping around on him, observing their surroundings.

Ji Yan didn't know why the three paper figures had jumped out, but it did give him a bit more a sense of security.

At this moment, a new panel notification popped up in his vision.

"Ding! Congratulations, player, for discovering the hidden new map segment of the dungeon—Forbidden Basement."

"Map Segment Introduction: This is a prison for residents who have severely violated apartment rules. It contains many unknown dangers. It is recommended that players do not rashly enter without sufficient equipment."

"Tip: The hidden map segment involves multiple core quests and hides a large amount of high-quality equipment."

"So it's a hidden map segment."

"No wonder there were no hints at all."

As Ji Yan murmured, the flashlight in his hand suddenly flickered.

He froze. Even his Mother's flashlight was useless here?

Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed bold of him to come down like this, but he was forced by the urgent situation. He had few means of self-preservation, practically none.

"I can only see how valuable Miss Xu's three paper figures are."

Although Ji Yan said this, he couldn't help but feel that these three paper figures, no bigger than his palm, were unreliable.

A moment later, he finished walking down the stairs leading underground.

When the soles of his shoes landed on the thick dust, Ji Yan knew he was in a new map segment.

Through the flickering beam of the flashlight, Ji Yan could see his surroundings clearly. It was called a forbidden place, a prison for sinful residents.

In reality, it was a wine cellar that had been sealed for an unknown amount of time.

There were pottery jars for wine everywhere.

Ji Yan took a few steps, and the flashlight suddenly went out, its beam disappearing.

He thought the flashlight had a loose connection, but the next second, he realized a hand had covered it.

Removing the flashlight, Ji Yan saw the other party clearly.

It was a disheveled, eerie old man, his body unnaturally hunched and deformed, resembling a goblin from reality.

He grinned, chuckling, "I knew it. There's always a few clear-headed ones who will discover the source of the problem is in the basement!"

As he spoke, dark figures crawled out from the hidden corners around them. They were all deformed and strange eerie residents, their bodies thin and exaggerated, without a trace of plump flesh, like refugees fleeing famine.

Upon seeing Ji Yan, they all smiled.

"We're saved. We can finally relax."

"This apartment of ours is saved! It won't collapse!"

These eerie residents, imprisoned in the basement, looked at Ji Yan as if they had seen hope, their joy indescribable.

This was not what Ji Yan had imagined.

Didn't they say the basement was extremely dangerous?

Didn't they say the imprisoned eerie residents were full of malice?

These imprisoned eerie residents seemed to understand Ji Yan's thoughts. They explained, "We may have made some mistakes in the past and were imprisoned here."

"But we don't want to see the apartment collapse and be destroyed. After all, our families still live upstairs."

"So we've all been waiting for a resident to come down and save this apartment!"

Ji Yan looked at the faces of these eerie residents and noticed that the three paper figures on his body showed no signs of attacking.

He asked, "So, who exactly is destroying the foundation of the apartment?"

Just as the imprisoned eerie residents were about to speak, footsteps suddenly came from the stairs behind them.

Ji Yan's expression turned grim.

He knew that a player had followed his progress!

This was faster than he had anticipated.

What made his expression even worse was that the player coming down was an old acquaintance.

Holding an old oil lamp, Long Yuan saw Ji Yan's face in the orange glow of the flame and narrowed his eyes.

When enemies meet, their eyes burn with hatred.

"We meet again," Ji Yan said, his smile not reaching his eyes.

"If I recall correctly, you still owe me a bet."

"The stake was a cleaver, wasn't it?"

Long Yuan let out a cold laugh. "I have something better to give you."

As he spoke, he tossed an eerie weapon over.

Upon closer inspection, it was his own cleaver.

???

Didn't some unlucky player snatch it away? How did it end up in this guy's hands?

"A clever plan. That cleaver of yours caused me a lot of trouble."

"You set me up, and I haven't forgotten it."

Long Yuan's smile was filled with a chilling coldness.

Ji Yan picked up the cleaver. It was even more severely damaged, with a piece broken off.

No wonder Long Yuan returned it to him. In his eyes, it was likely scrap. But in Ji Yan's, as long as he still had the talent of [Omniscient Understanding], this cleaver was a treasure of [Treasured] quality or higher.

He had reluctantly discarded the cleaver, which served as a tracker, to escape the Father Eerie of 804.

He hadn't expected that after going in circles, it would return to his hands.

"You say I set you up, but I don't know what you mean."

"All I know is that some scammer snatched my cleaver, and somehow it ended up in your hands?"

Ji Yan shook his head as he put the cleaver away.

Long Yuan narrowed his eyes, as if gauging the truthfulness of Ji Yan's words. He eventually chose to skip over the topic.

"How did you know about this basement?"

Ji Yan countered, "And how did you find it?"

The atmosphere grew silent for a moment.

Then, Ji Yan chuckled, "We both know what's going on, so there's no need to waste words."

"If I'm not mistaken, you knew from the start that the real culprit behind the destruction of the apartment was in the basement."

"But you didn't say anything. In fact, to reduce the competition, you deliberately posted the location of that Multi-faced Eerie in the group chat, luring all the players there to encircle and annihilate it, thereby deepening the players' misunderstanding."

"Am I correct?"

Ji Yan had spotted Long Yuan lurking in the shadows in the first-floor lobby, and at that time, he had already formed a suspicion. Seeing him appear in the basement now completely confirmed his guess.

Long Yuan also smiled. "This game is inherently about the smart ones eating the cake first."

"You should thank me. If it weren't for me, there would be more than just the two of us in this basement right now."

Ji Yan didn't deny it. "Indeed, I should thank you."

"Since that's the case, instead of fighting to the death, why don't we join forces to complete this main quest?"

"After all, we don't have much time left."

"Those fools have already surrounded and killed that Multi-faced Eerie. They'll realize the truth soon enough."

"We can devour this cake all by ourselves now!"

Long Yuan made the first move, extending an olive branch.

He truly didn't want to waste any more time and miss the opportunity.

Ji Yan didn't object either. This was the most critical juncture.

He then looked at the imprisoned eerie residents, "Do you know where the culprit that destroyed the apartment's foundation is?"

"We know, but that guy is very fierce. Are you sure you can handle it?"

Before Ji Yan could speak, Long Yuan interjected dismissively, "Just lead the way. We'll handle the rest!"