Guided by the imprisoned Eerie Tenant, they entered the deepest part of the secret chamber.
There were no clay jars here, and the air was thick with a strange, foul stench.
At the end stood an ancient tree towering toward the ceiling. Yet it was not truly a tree, but a shrub-like mass formed from countless heaps of crimson flesh. Root-like veins crawled across the Basement's ceiling and floor, while countless twisted human faces covered its surface like leaves.
Those faces wailed in agony in unison!
Even more horrifyingly, beside the "face tree," thick black liquid could clearly be seen gnawing most of the faces full of holes like maggots clinging to bone!
The sight before them was steeped in Cthulhu-esque grotesquery.
Disgusting and bizarre.
Ji Yan and Long Yuan both suffered a powerful shock to their eyes.
An aged old woman, her withered face twisted beyond recognition, shakily pointed at the flesh tree. "This is the foundation of the Apartment Dungeon!"
"The faces covering the surface of the foundation are the true bodies of the Apartment's original residents. Every so often, the Landlord comes down to inspect and feed them. Only once they grow, and their increasing flesh seeps into the walls, can the Apartment be reinforced."
"But now, as you can see, the foundation is riddled with holes, and the Apartment is on the verge of collapse!"
"Those black parasites feed on the foundation. By now, they've spread beyond control!"
Upon closer inspection, those black substances were densely packed black maggots writhing beneath the surface.
Long Yuan's scalp went numb as he watched.
If a player with a cleanliness obsession were here, they would probably die on the spot.
"You just stood around and watched without doing anything?"
Ji Yan glanced at them.
A bald old man said hoarsely, "There was nothing we could do."
"Those parasites have completely grown into the foundation. Removing them recklessly will only speed up the foundation's death!"
A short old man added, "Only by dealing with the source of these parasites can we save this Apartment!"
He pointed behind the Apartment's foundation.
A rotten coffin sat there.
The parasites were endlessly crawling out through the coffin's opening...
"That coffin is the culprit!"
"We don't know where it came from, nor do we know how its lid was opened. But as long as we seal the coffin again, we can definitely stop these parasites from spreading!"
An Eerie Old Woman raised her bloody, mangled hands. "But we can't touch those Coffin Nails at all. They're as hot as branding irons."
"So we can only rely on you to seal the coffin!"
As they described the source of the problem, Ji Yan and Long Yuan both received prompts from the Game Panel.
The Game Panel had appeared.
That meant they were headed in the right direction.
As long as they closed and sealed that Black Coffin, this goddamn Main Quest would be over!
Long Yuan's eyes gleamed with fervor.
Ji Yan, however, remained somewhat cautious. The more critical the moment, the less he dared celebrate early.
Under the imprisoned Eerie Tenant's guidance, Ji Yan and Long Yuan crossed over the writhing veins and approached the coffin.
They could clearly see several Coffin Nails that had been pried loose and fallen onto the floor.
There were four in total.
In Long Yuan's eyes, those four coffin-sealing nails were four equal slices of cake laid bare before him!
He looked at Ji Yan. "Two each? We split the reward down the middle?"
Ji Yan shook his head. "It won't be that simple."
"That coffin is so sinister. How could it obediently let us seal it?"
Long Yuan said, "How will we know if we don't try?"
"If you don't dare, then I'll be the first to step on this landmine."
With that, he walked forward, picked up two Coffin Nails from the floor, and approached the coffin.
As the Black Coffin's lid slowly closed, Long Yuan held a Coffin Nail in his hand. Before he could hammer it in, blood suddenly gushed from his seven orifices.
The next second, he collapsed onto the ground, his corpse horrifying to behold!
Ji Yan's eyelid twitched.
This guy had just died that easily?!
Why had he suddenly suffered a Sudden Death from bleeding out of his seven orifices? Could that Black Coffin be emitting some kind of lethal radiation?
The next moment, something even more alarming made Ji Yan's eyelid twitch.
Long Yuan, who had just died from Sudden Death, suddenly opened his eyes, "revived," and climbed back to his feet.
He wiped the blood from his mouth and nose and quickly backed away.
He cursed under his breath. "The coffin and the nails are both cursed. Touch them, and you die!"
Ji Yan's eyes flickered as he guessed something. "Is that your talent?"
"My talent is the A-rank talent, Nirvana Rebirth. It can trigger once whenever I accept a quest. That means I have two lives in every quest. And after reviving, I can learn the cause of my previous death," Long Yuan answered Ji Yan's question with unexpected seriousness.
Wiping the blood from his palm, Long Yuan said to Ji Yan.
Ji Yan sounded doubtful. "A talent is a player's most important trump card. You're just telling me like that?"
Long Yuan said, "We're tied to the same rope now. There's no need to hide anything."
"I've already stepped on one landmine. Now it's your turn to show what you can do."
Long Yuan stared at Ji Yan.
The problem before them was simple.
They had to seal the coffin.
But both the coffin and the nails carried lethal curses.
It was like having life-saving medicine inside a box, while the outside was covered in tripwires that would kill anyone who touched them!
How were they supposed to complete this task?
Ji Yan thought for a moment, then turned back to the imprisoned Eerie Tenants standing helplessly behind them. "Whenever you run into something you don't understand in a game, interact with the NPCs."
"You'll find clues one way or another."
Ji Yan stepped back and threw the problem to those imprisoned Eerie Tenants.
Upon hearing this, the bald old Eerie Tenant shakily tore off a completely necrotic original resident's face and smeared its thick black blood over Ji Yan's hand.
"Use this blood... It can block those curses!"
When the Eerie Tenants touched him, Ji Yan's gaze shifted. After his eyes flickered a few times, he showed a surprised expression. "It's that simple?"
Long Yuan moved closer, equally incredulous. "The problem was solved just by interacting with them for a few lines?"
"We won't hurt you. We also want to save this Apartment. One of you can try first."
As the Eerie Old Woman spoke, she tore flesh from a dead original resident and smeared black blood over Long Yuan's hand.
Looking at the blood covering his hand, Long Yuan volunteered himself and picked up another cursed coffin-sealing nail.
After waiting for a moment, delight appeared on his face.
"I'm fine. The curse really was blocked!"
He walked over, grabbed Ji Yan's hand, and placed the coffin-sealing nail in Ji Yan's palm. "Want to try?"
The instant Ji Yan shook hands with Long Yuan, his expression changed. A moment later, he nodded without revealing anything. "It does resist the curse."
"Then let's hurry up and seal the coffin!"
Picking up the remaining three Coffin Nails from the floor, Ji Yan and Long Yuan began nailing the Black Coffin shut...
Behind them, the gathered Eerie Tenants watched nervously. Yet beneath that nervousness, something else seemed to be hidden...
Ji Yan took out the Spike Hammer and struck one of the rusty coffin-sealing nails.
But after only two blows, he felt a wave of discomfort.
When Ji Yan came back to his senses, he discovered blood gushing from his mouth and nose...
His pupils contracted.
What was going on? Hadn't the curse been blocked?!
Before you continue