Apartment Managers

On the balcony were three faces smeared with blood, each wearing a strange smile.

They belonged to "Father," "Mother," and "Sister."

Blood kept dripping from the balcony above. At first, Gao Tian thought it was coming from their faces, but then he realized their cheeks couldn't have been dripping blood so densely and continuously. The real source was their uneven necks.

Their necks had been cut off, leaving only their heads. Three Pale Hands reached out from behind them, holding their heads over the balcony. Fresh blood still dripped from their severed necks, dropping onto Gao Tian one bead at a time.

Even with only his head left, Gao Xi, whose head was being held over the balcony by a pale, elongated arm, cheerfully greeted Gao Tian:

"Hello, Gao Tian. We were almost fooled by you. We couldn't tell whether you were human or a ghost.

"The ability to alter other people's memories... We always thought we were the only ones who could do that. This is the first time in our lives we've seen something else with the same ability. You distorted my memories with your words earlier, didn't you? We only just came to our senses. Honestly, having your memories altered feels awful.

"So you're a ghost too, then. That must be why you have ghostly abilities.

"But whatever you are, it's all over. The Building Manager is here, and it's furious because we didn't do as it asked. We were supposed to keep you here so it could open the door and eat you. Worse, you even altered our memories and made us stay in the study to hold the Building Manager off for you. You're so mean.

"Because we were so useless, it came to handle things itself.

"Ghosts may be immortal, but that doesn't mean we don't feel pain. After the Building Manager finishes eating you, what do you think it'll do to us?

"Having our heads pulled straight off like this already hurts enough to make us break out in a cold sweat. We can't die, so we just have to endure it.

"Honestly, sometimes I envy humans. Once they've suffered enough, they die, and then they don't have to suffer anymore. Compared to the torture the Building Manager has in store for us, what we're going through now probably doesn't even count as anything..."

The Memory Ghost was a chatterbox. Even with only three heads left, dangling in midair from the monstrous Pale Hands, it kept rambling on and on.

The "Li Xing" who had twisted off the Memory Ghost's head—the one it had fearfully called the "Building Manager," and who had been knocking on the door outside—made his move. He was the one those Pale Hands belonged to.

Though three hands were holding three heads, Gao Tian saw a fourth equally bloodless arm reach out from behind the balcony. It slithered out like a crooked snake, stretching past the balcony below and reaching for Gao Tian, who was hanging in midair.

The arm had already stretched more than two meters, far longer than any ordinary human arm. Yet it still showed no sign of reaching its limit. Four or five joints twisted at once, constantly adjusting its position, while its palm—like the head of a long snake—reached for Gao Tian's head with its five fingers spread wide.

In fact, while "Gao Xi" had been talking, Gao Tian hadn't stopped moving. He had carefully continued climbing down the blanket, trying to reach the landing on the Third Floor as quickly as possible.

But two fingers on his left hand were already broken, leaving him unable to grip properly. The unnaturally long arm, cobbled together from several joints, was clearly moving faster than it looked. In the blink of an eye, it had reached the top of Gao Tian's head. At this distance, he could even see the countless lines in its palm. And the sweat.

It looked just like a living person's hand.

That thing could pull a person's head off as easily as pulling a cork from a bottle. If it touched him, would there be any chance of escape? Gao Tian's heart pounded wildly. He knew he had to move faster, but rushing only made things worse. The harder he tried to reach the Third Floor quickly, the slower he descended.

As the ghostly hand was about to touch him, Gao Tian grew even more nervous. His injured hand suddenly gave out, and he let go of the blanket, dropping from above the Third Floor.

It was all over. Hanging in midair, Gao Tian knew he was done for. Rather than fall into a ghost's hands and be tortured, he'd rather die from the fall.

Just as he thought that, he realized that even after letting go of the blanket, he had only fallen for a moment before coming to a standstill in the air, as if his feet had touched solid ground.

What was going on?

Still shaken, Gao Tian looked down. Two slender arms extended from a window on the Third Floor, holding his legs securely. It was the girl in the Lolita outfit. Gao Tian had seen her once before in the First Floor Hall.

But his memories had been corrupted then. His head had been full of thoughts about hurrying "home" to see his parents. He hadn't realized that the three strange people in the hall were monsters, much less noticed the sign at the entrance to the apartment building that read "Living Person Apartment."

Now he saw the girl's slender arms supporting his feet from below, steady as a rock. Gao Tian was a healthy adult man, yet under the delicate girl's hands, he weighed no more than a chick. No ordinary human woman could have such incredible strength. Only a ghost could possess such astonishing power.

Gao Tian stared at her, uncertain.

"Are you human or a ghost?"

The girl's expression was impassive, like a doll with no emotions:

"If I were a ghost, I'd tear you in half right now and shut that mouth of yours.

"Just kidding. Below the Third Floor is the Living Person Apartment. Ghosts can't go downstairs. Climb in through the window first, then we'll talk."

She slowly lowered Gao Tian, who had been suspended between the Third and Fourth Floors. The sight of a delicate girl lowering a man two heads taller than herself, as if she were holding a figurine, was beyond bizarre.

As if to prove the girl's claim that this was a "Living Person" apartment, the three heads on the Fourth Floor shrieked in unison: "Don't let him escape!" The white arm, still stretching like a snake, stubbornly continued after him.

But when it reached the level of the Third Floor window, the arm suddenly convulsed violently. Tiny green plants sprouted from its rotting exterior, as if trying to bind it to the wall. Realizing it had crossed the boundary, the ghost's arm recoiled as if shocked by electricity, quickly withdrawing to the inside of the Fourth Floor balcony, along with the three heads hanging outside.

For once, the ghost backed down. After suffering such a huge loss, it simply gave up chasing Gao Tian.

Just as the delicate girl had said—

Below the Third Floor, only the living were allowed. This was a forbidden zone for ghosts.

Still shaken, Gao Tian practically tumbled through the window on the Third Floor into the girl's room.

The room seemed to be styled after old Europe, with dim lighting, rows of bookshelves packed with parchment books, a fireplace crackling in the distance, and a large dark-red rug. Rugs of that color were the most ominous. Even if someone died and splattered blood all over the floor, the rug's color wouldn't change in the slightest.

The three people standing in the room were the same ones Gao Tian had seen earlier in the First Floor Hall: a boy in a black jacket, with silver hair and eyes narrowed into slits; the delicate girl in an extravagant Lolita outfit, brushing dust off her hands; and a thin monk in a gray robe, with a gleaming scalp cleaner than the bottom of a wallet.

"Another one. Someone else tricked into the Living Person Apartment. There seem to be more new residents here this month.

"But the first thing this guy did after arriving was go straight up to the Fourth Floor—and he even came back alive. He's got guts, and he's no slouch."

The silver-haired boy toyed with the lighter in his hand as he sized up Gao Tian, the newcomer.

Back in the hall, he had watched Gao Tian calmly walk to the elevator and press the button to go up.

He had no idea that Gao Tian's memories had already been altered. Gao Tian hadn't known this was the Living Person Apartment, much less that Vengeful Ghosts couldn't go below the Third Floor, while everything in the Third Floor and above was a playground for Demons.

From the boy's perspective, Gao Tian had gone up to the Fourth Floor on his first day in the Living Person Apartment and returned unscathed. He was both arrogant and capable.

The young monk clasped his hands in prayer.

"Amitabha."

The Lolita Girl, her emerald-green eyes fixed quietly on Gao Tian, said:

"Next time, don't go upstairs rashly without first investigating thoroughly.

"The ghosts on every floor, in every room, are different. Some Vengeful Ghosts are absolutely impossible to deal with. The moment you enter, you're doomed.

"I know you're capable, but now that you've come to this apartment, you'll have plenty of chances to get yourself killed. There's no need to rush to your death now."

Gao Tian knew she thought he was putting on an act, too. There was no point trying to explain for now.

"Now that you're here, you'll become a new resident of the Living Person Apartment. Either you complete ten missions and leave, or you die.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shata. This bald man is Yusheng. The one with dyed gray hair and eyes that never open is Jiangyang."

The Lolita Girl narrowed her eyes as she introduced them one by one.

"We're the managers of this apartment building. For now, someone dies here every month. Those lucky enough to survive long enough become managers. Maybe we'll die one day, too. Maybe as soon as tomorrow. And if all the residents who've been here longer than you die someday, you'll take my place and guide the newcomers who've just arrived."

Her words were concise, and she left many things unclear. But Gao Tian read plenty of web novels, so he knew some of the basic rules. And after being hunted by the Vengeful Ghosts released by the Jialan Society, he had already accepted that supernatural events existed in this world.

Still, being caught up in two supernatural events within two days was incredibly bad luck.

Gao Tian let out a long sigh and asked for final confirmation:

"Once you enter this apartment, you become one of its residents, bound to it.

"Then, every so often, it assigns you dangerous supernatural missions. If you survive, that counts as completing one mission.

"Complete ten missions, and you can break free and leave.

"If you don't follow the apartment's requirements, it'll kill you in all kinds of ways.

"Have I got that right?"