A Midnight Knock, A Familiar Scent

Soon, night fell.

Inky blackness seeped into Room 404 like spilled ink.

Following Liu Yitong's advice, Ji Yan obediently lay in bed and fell asleep before midnight.

Whether from exhaustion or not, the moment Ji Yan lay down, he sank into a deep slumber.

But in the middle of the night, he was roused by a faint knocking at the door.

Someone was knocking on his door?

"Ji Yan... Ji Yan, are you asleep?"

"If you can hear me, open the door quickly. Don't stay in bed—those three Gourmand Eeries are about to assign tasks again!"

"You need to come out now. If you miss a task, something terrible will happen!"

The voice was Liu Yitong's, sounding frantic yet hushed, as if afraid of something.

Ji Yan listened, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

He had no idea what was outside the door, but it could even mimic a Player's voice.

The baiting tactic was just too clumsy.

Even if it really were Liu Yitong outside, he wouldn't get up to open the door. After lights out, as long as a Player obediently slept, no Eerie could do anything to them.

The "Liu Yitong" outside kept urgently calling for Ji Yan. After getting no response, it grew agitated, its voice turning shrill and grating.

Then came the sound of nails scraping against the door, raising goosebumps...

After who knows how long, Ji Yan heard a door open.

He opened his eyes.

The sound came from next door—Dong Chu's room. Why had he opened the door? He should know how dangerous the Apartment was late at night...

Though puzzled, aside from the door opening, Ji Yan heard nothing else unusual.

He then drifted back into a deep sleep...

At six the next morning, the Grandfather Clock in the living room chimed.

Ji Yan got up on time. Liu Yitong and Dong Chu were already sitting in the living room, waiting for the day's tasks.

Perhaps from hunger, Dong Chu looked unwell—heavy dark circles, greasy, messy hair.

Ji Yan glanced at him. Dong Chu snorted coldly: "What, is there something written on my face?"

Liu Yitong seemed in decent spirits and asked Ji Yan, "How was your first night sleeping in the Dungeon?"

"Nothing happened last night?"

Ji Yan said, "Last night I heard you calling me from outside the door, as urgent as if the room were on fire."

Liu Yitong's expression shifted slightly. "That's all the Eeries' tricks. To get you to open the door, they can make you hear any sound."

"One night, I even heard my dead sister calling for help."

"I was half-asleep at the time and thought it was a dream. I almost went to open the door!"

"Did it affect you?"

Ji Yan shrugged. "I treated it like a lullaby and kept sleeping."

"..."

"Also, I heard the door next door open," Ji Yan added, glancing at Dong Chu.

Dong Chu shot him a sour look. "Do I have a death wish, opening the door?"

Ji Yan didn't respond, but he vaguely caught a strange smell on Dong Chu.

That smell... felt oddly familiar?

Just then, the clock chimed again. The day's tasks were about to be assigned.

The three quickly entered the corridor and looked toward the three Eerie rooms.

First, Grandmother's room called out: "Good granddaughter, Grandmother knitted you a sweater today. You'll love it. Come in and try it on for Grandmother!"

Liu Yitong was the first to be named.

Hearing it was Grandmother, she relaxed.

In this house, Grandmother had the highest favorability toward her. Hearing the key phrase "knitted a sweater," she roughly guessed today's task wouldn't be difficult and might even boost her favorability further.

Then, Mother's room spoke: "Little Dong, Mother has a bad cough today. Come in and help Mother see what's wrong?"

Dong Chu's expression improved at that.

In this house, Mother had the fewest blackened minefields. As long as he played it steady and didn't act out, he could usually complete the task and wouldn't go short on food.

Watching the two enter their respective Eerie rooms, leaving only himself in the corridor, Ji Yan suddenly had a bad feeling.

Not again...

Sure enough, the next second came the Gourmand Eerie's voice, laced with a mocking laugh.

"Good boy, come on in. Dad's going to spoil you alone again today!"

"...Damn, why is it still this one?"

Ji Yan cursed under his breath. Was this eerie thing really clinging to him?

Wasn't it supposed to be random? Was his luck really this rotten?

No choice. Ji Yan could only steel himself and enter that filthy, grimy room again.

It seemed that after tasting the full bottle of Blood Lyre yesterday, the Gourmand Eerie's task today was the same as yesterday's.

If the task was the same, then there wasn't much difficulty.

But when Ji Yan was about to leave the room, the Gourmand Eerie tossed him a glass bottle. "Use this to collect it, and fill it up!"

Looking at the bottle in his hand, which was a size bigger than yesterday's, Ji Yan frowned.

"This damn thing is insatiable. Next time, will it be a bucket?"

Ji Yan didn't linger. He replied and turned to leave, but as he exited the room, he caught a hint of amusement in the Gourmand Eerie's eyes...

That gave Ji Yan a vague sense of unease.

As he stepped out, the task panel popped up.

Code
"Ding! Congratulations player, you have triggered a daily task. Please go to Room 101 to obtain the Blood Lyre personally brewed by the Bewitching Eerie, and fill the bottle in your hand. Task rank: C-tier."

"The task's fine, so the Gourmand Eerie shouldn't be playing any tricks."

Ji Yan muttered, examining the bottle in his hand once more to confirm it was intact.

A moment later, Liu Yitong and Dong Chu also came out of their rooms.

Both of their tasks were rated D-tier. Dong Chu was tasked with finding cough medicine for his mother, while Liu Yitong's was even simpler—wearing the festive sweater her Grandmother had knitted for her, she just needed to get it altered by the tailor neighbor downstairs to fit perfectly.

And that red sweater was even an ordinary eerie item, capable of blocking 20 points of eerie damage.

The other two were speechless.

Was this a difficult task or a welfare task?

Sure enough, once favorability was high, not only did the difficulty drop, but welfare gear would occasionally pop out.

But for some reason, that Grandmother eerie had an unusual fondness for female players, especially someone as fair and tender as Liu Yitong.

Liu Yitong stroked the sweater happily, then remembered Ji Yan's task. "By the way, what's your task today?"

"Just as unlucky. Two days in a row, assigned to the Father Eerie's room."

"Same as yesterday, but the amount's increased."

Ji Yan raised the bottle in his hand.

"So you have to go to Room 101 again?" Liu Yitong blinked.

"Heh, didn't someone say yesterday that dumb luck can keep hitting, so what's there to worry about?"

"Maybe you'll perform even better today and even win over that tough nut, the Father Eerie?"

Dong Chu sneered a couple of jabs, then brushed past Ji Yan to go complete his task.

But at that moment, Ji Yan's expression shifted.

As Dong Chu passed by, the smell on him was stronger and more familiar.

Wasn't this the same scent from the Gourmand Eerie's room?

The Gourmand Eerie had specifically called for Ji Yan two days in a row. There was no reason for Dong Chu to have interacted with it.

Ji Yan suddenly recalled the door opening sound from last night and the odd look in the Gourmand Eerie's eyes when it closed the door. His brow furrowed slightly...

"Don't mind him. That's just how he talks."

"Good luck again today. Don't give up."

Seeing Ji Yan's strange expression, Liu Yitong thought his mood had been affected and offered a few words of comfort before heading off to do her task.

After the two left, Ji Yan stared at the unremarkable bottle in his hand. He pondered for a moment, then carefully ran his hands over every inch of the bottle.

Then, sure enough, his talent triggered, and a hidden information panel popped up.

Code
"Eerie item: Artist's Wine Bottle."
"Effect: Any liquid placed in this bottle will turn into a sedative with 90% anesthetic effect."
"Rank: Ordinary."
"Description: An artist obsessed with exploring life always liked to use this wine bottle, laced with anesthetic, to get his prey drunk. In the end, those prey all became so-called works of art under his blade. Isn't life wonderful?"

Ji Yan's brow furrowed.

This bottle was an eerie item?

Could it be Dong Chu's eerie item? Why would it end up in the Gourmand Eerie's hands, and then be handed to him?

The bottle only revealed these hidden details, but Ji Yan wasn't satisfied. His sixth sense told him there might be secrets unknown to others hidden here.

In a place like the Eerie World, he couldn't afford to be careless.

He wanted to enter Dong Chu's room to trigger more hidden information, but the door was locked.

After a moment's thought, Ji Yan suddenly looked at the doorknob of the Gourmand Eerie's room. If Dong Chu had entered that room last night, then...

Ji Yan reached out and grabbed the doorknob. The next moment, a hidden information panel really did pop up...