Ghost Upstairs

It was that strange marbles sound again, rolling back and forth between the third-floor ceiling and the fourth-floor floor.

It seemed that directly above Gao Tian lived a family of three. The parents were always at work and not home, leaving only a preschool girl who liked to roll marbles on the floor.

How nice. If only Gao Tian didn't know that the person upstairs was a ghost.

Although he had already gotten used to the noises made by the "residents" on the fourth floor, he still felt a creepy feeling every time he heard them.

Just as Gao Tian closed his eyes, preparing to take another nap, he heard a low, somewhat muffled whisper from above:

"I'm sorry, Big Brother, my marbles accidentally rolled into your room. Can you help me pick them up?

"To you, it might just be an easily done favor, but it's really important to me. If Mom finds out a marble is missing after she gets home, she'll really beat me to death.

"Wuwuwu, please..."

It took Gao Tian a long time to realize that the "little girl" upstairs was talking to him.

This was a very unusual omen. It was the first time since he moved into the Living Person Apartment that his "neighbor" upstairs had tried to communicate with him.

What should he do? Reply to the little girl and communicate with her to some extent, to understand as much information as possible about the Fourth Floor Resident.

Or should he completely ignore her words.

What Gao Tian always remembered was that as long as he stayed on the third floor of the Living Person Apartment and didn't heed any temptation to go to the fourth floor, he would be absolutely safe.

But it was also possible that the little girl upstairs had some special abilities. As long as he spoke to her, there was a certain probability that he would end up on the fourth floor.

Before understanding the other party's abilities, Gao Tian decided to play it safe and say nothing.

In his heart, he still hoped that the little girl upstairs would continue to speak. He wanted to know the origin of these Fourth Floor Residents and what evil schemes they were plotting.

The crying sound from upstairs lasted for a while, and the little girl's voice disappeared directly. It was as if she had never appeared.

Gao Tian waited for a while, but still got no response from the little girl on the ceiling. She had probably really left.

He lay on the bed, letting out a sigh of relief, unsure whether he felt fortunate or disappointed.

Bang, bang.

Just then--

A horrifying event occurred, making Gao Tian's blood almost freeze.

The sound of marbles rolling across the floor echoed in his ears.

If the sound of marbles had come from upstairs, Gao Tian would not have panicked like this. He had known from the start that upstairs was the Ghost's Residence. He had chosen the third-floor room, and he was well aware that living here would definitely mean hearing sounds from the fourth floor. He had intended to monitor the Fourth Floor Activity from the beginning.

But why was the sound of marbles coming from the third-floor floor, from his room?

This is impossible. The rules of the Living Person Apartment are absolute. The dead ghost on the fourth floor cannot possibly affect the third floor in any way. Residents on the third floor are absolutely safe.

Gao Tian was very sure that marbles shouldn't have been in his room originally. After the little girl's voice from the fourth floor appeared, the marbles that should have been constantly rolling on the fourth floor had now moved towards the third floor.

This meant the third floor was no longer absolutely safe. The ghost upstairs had transported two marbles down.

If the situation was true, and this wasn't a hallucination, and the ghost on the fourth floor could affect people on the third floor, then the last safe haven for the Living Person Apartment residents had been breached. The psychological blow this would deal to all residents, including apartment administrators like Shata and Jiangyang, was unimaginable.

Gao Tian slowly sat up, looking from the direction of the bed towards the direction of the rolling marbles.

Under the TV cabinet, two children's glass marbles had indeed rolled out, slowly moving towards Gao Tian.

One was pink, the other blue. The sound of them rolling across the floor was originally extremely, extremely faint, but in Gao Tian's ears at this moment, it was like an earthquake and tsunami.

He wasn't sure to what extent the ghost on the fourth floor could affect the third floor. He grabbed the Ghost Transformation Spear from under the headboard for self-defense, his peripheral vision constantly fixed on the marbles on the floor. At the same time, he took out his mobile phone and called Shata, who was currently outside the apartment.

The phone rang for a while before being answered, and a cool female voice sounded:

"Gao Tian, what's wrong?"

She thought, what could possibly happen to Gao Tian now that he was inside the Living Person Apartment?

Gao Tian:

"Shata, has anything like this ever happened before? A resident on the fourth floor successfully threw a marble, or something similar, down to the third floor?"

Shata:

"How is that possible?

"If residents on the fourth floor could physically transmit things to the third floor, then they would have long ago dropped some supernatural item down, and all the residents on the third floor would be dead. How could the Living Person Apartment still be called a safe zone?"

Shata wasn't stupid. Combining Gao Tian's question, she asked him back after a moment:

"Are you in a room on the third floor right now?"

Gao Tian gave a wry smile:

"Yes."

Shata:

"What came down from upstairs? How did it come down?"

Gao Tian looked at the marbles still circling in his bedroom:

"At first, I just heard the sound of marbles on the floor on the fourth floor.

"Today, I suddenly heard a little girl upstairs asking if I could help her pick up her marbles. She said her mother would kill her if she lost one or something."

"And then two marbles inexplicably appeared in my room, they're still rolling on the floor."

Sha Ta's voice on the mobile phone suddenly turned serious. Matters concerning the safety of the Living Person Apartment were of utmost importance.

If the first three floors of the Living Person Apartment were already invaded by ghosts, then they didn't know where else in this world would be safe.

Sha Ta:

"When the Girl Upstairs was talking to you, did you talk back to her?"

Gao Tian:

"Not at all."

Sha Ta:

"Could it be that there were already marbles in your room?"

Gao Tian:

"I didn't bring any marbles with my luggage. In the week since I moved into the Living Person Apartment, I've never found any marbles in the closet or anywhere else. These things aren't mine."

Sha Ta made his final confirmation:

"Gao Tian, are you very sure this is reality, and not a hallucination caused by too much mental pressure?"

This kind of situation had happened before to new residents of the Living Person Apartment.

Some residents, encountering supernatural events for the first time in their lives, had become mentally unstable after two Green Text Missions. Even after returning to the apartment, they kept shouting that there were ghosts in their rooms. In the end, they were diagnosed with schizophrenia and could no longer perform missions normally.

Gao Tian gave a wry smile:

"It shouldn't be.

"My mental state is very good right now, and I'm certain that everything I'm seeing is not a hallucination."

If the Fourth Floor Ghost could indeed transport a marble to the third floor through some channel, then this news would be no different from the end of the world for the people in the apartment.

Could it really be as the Former Apartment Administrator said, that the ghosts in the apartment building were truly starting to invade floor by floor?

With something this significant, no matter where Sha Ta was outside, he had to rush back.

Sha Ta:

"Listen to me, Gao Tian.

"Stay in your room right now, and don't go out no matter what happens.

"If the ghost upstairs could have attacked you, she would have done so long ago. She only teleported one marble down; perhaps she just wanted to force you out of your room."

"I'm taking a taxi back to the apartment right now. I should be there within a quarter hour. Just hold on a little longer."

Gao Tian:

"What you said makes a lot of sense. I understand."

Shata:

"Are there any other residents in the Third Floor Room?"

Gao Tian only knew that Jiangyang had been gone for a long time.

When this kid wasn't on a mission, he was either at the bar or the basketball court. In his own words, since apartment residents could die at any moment, he might as well live for the day.

As for the Gray Monk Yusheng, his whereabouts were usually the most mysterious. The door to his room was always locked, and there was never any sound from inside.

Gao Tian:

"I'm not entirely sure. But when I went up the corridor, I didn't hear any movement from other rooms."

There were few Third Floor Residents to begin with. Those who chose to live here were more or less unusual.

Shata, who was opposite him, hung up the phone. It seemed she was also in a hurry, rushing back to the apartment as fast as she could.

Gao Tian had just hung up the phone. The deathly silence of the room, now devoid of Shata's reassuring voice, was filled only by the sound of marbles rolling, making it even more eerie.

For a short while, the two marbles merely rolled around the room's floor without any pattern, posing no threat to Gao Tian.

But as time ticked by, the little girl's voice from the ceiling echoed again:

"Brother, aren't you very interested in me? On your first day in the Living Person Apartment, you asked about me, wanting to find me.

"Why are you so scared now that I'm actually here?

"My family too, they initially thought this was a cheap apartment, believing they had finally found a place to settle in the Big City. They never expected that after moving in, it would be the beginning of a nightmare.

"The Apartment Administrator forced us to undertake all sorts of missions. In fact, even without the administrator, the apartment would directly erase residents who didn't complete a mission within a certain time.

"My parents were ordinary people among ordinary people. They died quickly in the First and Second Missions. My brother was a bit more capable and completed Two Missions. He could have passed the Third Mission as well, but he was betrayed by other Participants. He was chased by a Vengeful Ghost all the way to the Apartment Entrance and finally had his face peeled off right in front of me.

"My entire family is dead, and I'm the only one left. I can't complete any Green Text Missions and can only be a burden to others. Moreover, the ghost that peeled off my brother's face is still lingering at the Apartment Entrance. It really wants to break into the apartment and drag me out to peel off my face too."

The little girl's crying, at some point, turned into laughter.

"In the apartment, everyone is very indifferent. No one cares about me.

"Fortunately, there are many Uncle and Aunts on the Fourth Floor. They care about me very much. Besides my deceased family, they are the only people in this world who are good to me."