House of Happiness

House of Happiness Apartments is not actually happy.

The place is dilapidated, old, and neglected for years, yet it's packed with people, to the point of being overcrowded.

"We've never had anyone like that living here."

The apartment manager, a middle-aged man who was probably hired, shook his head after looking at Flora's photo.

"Could you show us the empty rooms here?"

Trist pulled out a low-denomination banknote and handed it to the administrator.

"No problem, come with me."

The administrator took the money and smiled. He led Trist and the others upstairs to an empty room on the top floor.

"I guess you wouldn't rent it anyway, so I'll be frank. Someone died in this room before. I don't know exactly how, but ever since then, people who live here have had problems, so no one has lived here for a while."

The administrator gave an introduction and Door Opening.

Lu Ban saw a dilapidated but relatively clean room, which seemed to have been repainted, unlike the other houses he had walked through.

The room was small, with only a bed, a table, and a chair; there wasn't even a cabinet. But at least it had a door, which kept it isolated from the outside world.

Sunlight streamed into the room through the windowsill, casting a dazzling golden glow on the bedsheets. On the windowsill sat a somewhat broken, empty bottle.

"Strange, were there bottles here before?"

The administrator picked up the bottle to prevent it from being blown to the ground by the wind.

Trist stood there, stunned. He looked out the window at the smoke and dust from the factory and the curtains fluttering in the breeze. He thought he saw the girl smiling at him.

This is the room from my dream!

Exactly the same!

It's the same one!

Trist walked into the room as if he had been there countless times before. He sat on the edge of the bed, in the same spot from his dream.

Everything seemed to be repeating itself.

"Was there an incident here before? Who died? Is there a record?"

Trist hurriedly asked the administrator.

"I... I'll check."

The administrator was taken aback by Trist's attitude and forgot to ask for money. He staggered downstairs, and Xiya followed him. After a while, she returned carrying a thick volume of documents.

"Room 404, the previous occupant was John, a textile factory worker."

"No."

Trist immediately denied it, and he took the document to check the previous records of this room.

Fortunately, the apartment is managed fairly well, with records for each room on a separate page, showing the flow of tenants.

However, there is only textual information here, without photo comparison.

Soon, Trist spotted one of them.

"Tenant's name: Liz; moved in in May 2025; died in an accident in October."

Trist found the record of the death.

It is springtime in 2026, which was a year ago.

"Strange, why is there only one person?"

Xiya remembered that there should be two people in Trist's dream.

However, the rental record only has one person's name.

"This is normal. As long as you register your name, you can move into the apartment. It doesn't matter whether it's one person or two people, as long as it doesn't affect other people."

The administrator said it casually.

"Some people rent apartments and also rent out their beds to others, even the space under the bed can be rented out, it's no big deal."

"This sub-landlord is a bit outrageous."

Lu Ban probably knew that these people couldn't afford to pay enough money on their own, so they were looking for others to "share the cost," just like there are many shared rental apartments in big cities now.

Many people work hard and struggle, only to find that all their money goes to rent and is given to the landlord.

Landlords have existed in every era.

He sighed.

"Now that we know the name, we can check the police file."

"Xiya said, then looked at the paint on the room."

When was the paint applied here?

The paint color was different from the paint on the deceased's body; it wasn't as vibrant or colorful.

"It was after the incident. The manager at the time had already left, and I don't know where he went. But I heard that the situation here was quite serious at the time, and some gangsters were injured. The pipes in this building have also had problems."

The administrator said, recalling the events as he spoke.

"Do gangsters live here?"

Xiya found it a bit unbelievable. There were naturally no gangs in the Night Country, but according to Xiya's understanding, this should be some kind of loosely disciplined military organization, which should have a place to live together, not live in such a messy apartment.

"Yes, of course there are, but most apartments don't really accept these guys because they're easy to cause trouble. I remember the gang that came here back then was the Catania Family."

The administrator scratched his head.

"The Catania Family?"

Trist felt that something was connecting everything in the dark.

"You mean the Catania Family was here when the accident happened, and they were injured?"

"It should be, but I'm not sure."

Even the administrator was unsure after being questioned by Trist.

"But someone must have been injured at the time, because the neighbors were gangsters."

He pointed to the rental records.

It read, "Tack, moved in November 2023, left October 2025."

It's October too!

"Oh, I remember now, I even read about it in the newspaper back then, two gangs were fighting, and quite a few people died."

The administrator seemed to have just remembered.

"Because of this incident, the big shots in the Ruined City cracked down on the gangs for a while, but they only wiped out some insignificant ones; the real ones were fine."

Thank you for your explanation.

Trist handed a banknote to the administrator, then looked at Lu Ban and Xiya.

"We need to find out where Tack went, how this Liz died, and what the Catania Family did here."

"Then we should go to the police station first."

Lu Ban made the suggestion.

"Really."

Trist took one last look at the house as he went downstairs, deep in thought.

"If that girl is Flora, then there wouldn't be such a big change in just one year. So the girl in the dream must be Liz. But how did this pendant end up in Flora's hands?"

"Or rather, the perspective of my dream was Flora's. The gaze I felt in the basement was Flora's lingering will after she died because of her supernatural power. She was parasitizing me, trying to tell me the answer?"

"At least one thing is certain: the perpetrator didn't randomly choose his targets. Flora, Dr. House, and the deceased from the Catania Family —these people are connected. Once we can figure out these connections, we can find out who killed them, and..."

"The killer's next target."

Trist thought of the charity banquet that evening, where the entire Catania Family would be present.