Dark Palace (Seeking Follow-ups, Seeking Votes!)

The woman pushed open the bedroom door and cast a glance at the girl sleeping soundly on the bed.

After confirming repeatedly that the girl had not left the room, she finally closed the door.

"Yingzhi? Is that my name?"

Zhao Yingzhi lay on the bed, recalling the woman calling out to her from outside the door just moments ago.

She did not rush to get up from the bed this time; the woman was still outside, as there had been no sound of footsteps leaving.

Suddenly, the door was flung open violently.

The woman's gaze swept sharply toward Zhao Yingzhi, and only after confirming once more that there was nothing unusual did she close the door and leave.

This time, Zhao Yingzhi heard the sound of footsteps receding, and only then did she slowly open her eyes.

"Are they really my family?"

Zhao Yingzhi got up and walked to the window, looking out at the gloomy sky and the residential complex with its dense greenery.

She was on the ground floor, and the complex was exceptionally quiet; not even the chirping of insects or birds could be heard.

On the park path not far away, a boy was walking with his head down, searching for something.

The boy's face looked somewhat familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

At that moment, the boy noticed her as well.

The instant their gazes met.

"Ah~!"

A piercing, heart-wrenching pain surged into her head.

Yulan Academy--

Weird World--

Twenty-five players--

Your identity is--

Those strange memories flooded in like a surging tide, and in an instant, she remembered many things.

"I am Zhao Yingzhi, and this is the Weird World..."

"My job is a real estate agent..."

"My true identity is--an assassin!"

"Was there someone there just now?"

Li Ran stared at a small window on the ground floor to the right of Building No. 5.

He had just seen a woman standing there, but before he could get a clear look, she had vanished.

"Strange, no prompt?"

Li Ran wondered aloud. Usually, whenever he saw people in the complex, there would be a prompt, but this time there was nothing.

"Maybe it was too brief, and I didn't see clearly."

Li Ran didn't dwell on it and resumed his scavenging journey.

He still had several unfinished tasks hanging over him.

The top priority was definitely the marriage certificate hidden by his wife.

He was searching the complex for it right now, while also seeing if he could pick up any quest items along the way.

Aside from the marriage certificate, there was also Grandma Mi's follow-up quest, [Find the Real Culprit], and a quest item called the [Mirror of Truth].

The quest to find the real culprit was quite troublesome, as it required actual searching.

The Back Street had complex terrain, dense housing, and a mixed crowd; finding a killer there was like looking for a needle in the Ocean, so this quest could definitely be put on hold for now.

"Should I go try the Mirror of Truth quest now?"

Li Ran wasn't entirely sure if the Mirror of Truth could trigger the quest involving the lunatic on the rooftop, but he could approach it with a "try it and see" attitude.

Li Ran glanced up at the 11th-floor balcony of Building No. 3: "First day of envying that fool, being able to live so happily inside a dungeon."

Li Ran wasn't worried about Lu Zhaohui being drained of his yang energy to death; he had already bought health supplements to strengthen his kidneys before that could happen.

He was more worried about Song Linjia now. She hadn't missed a single gathering at the complex meeting point over the past few days, but she was absent today. He had called and sent messages, but they were like stones sinking into the Ocean, receiving no response at all.

This was clearly not right; she was likely in some kind of trouble.

"Forget it, let's go meet that lunatic first."

With that thought, Li Ran headed toward Building No. 4.

He arrived at the elevator lobby.

"Ding~!"

The elevator arrived.

Li Ran stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the 21st floor, the rooftop.

The elevator doors slowly slid shut, and the lift began to descend.

"Huh?"

Li Ran frowned slightly. The elevator should have been going up, so why was it heading down?

"Ding!"

The elevator reached the second basement level.

"B2?" Li Ran's brows furrowed tightly.

When he first brought Li Ziyang home, he had driven into the underground parking garage, and he remembered there being only one basement level.

How did Building No. 4 suddenly have a second basement level?

Could it be that Building No. 4 was designed with two levels of underground parking?

As the elevator doors opened, a gust of sinister wind poured into the cabin, cold as a winter night, chilling him to the bone.

However, Li Ran's current physique was vastly different from before; this gust of yin wind was not enough to frighten him.

It was clear that this second basement level was highly abnormal.

Looking out of the elevator, there was only pitch-black darkness, so thick he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face; he couldn't even tell if it was a parking garage.

"What exactly is this place?" Li Ran felt a surge of doubt.

He had no intention of stepping out; he still held a sense of awe toward the unknown.

(Dark Palace: A dark zone filled with the unknown, said to be accessible only to those who have passed away.)

The prompt appeared accordingly.

"Damn it!"

Li Ran never expected the second basement of Building No. 4 to be a place like this.

Staring into that endless darkness, he felt an instant sensation of stepping into the underworld.

He would rather avoid such a hellish place if he could; the pitch-black, deathly silent atmosphere alone was enough to scare a person to death.

Li Ran decisively pressed the door-close button, eager to get away from this place of trouble.

"Slap!"

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a pale woman's hand suddenly slammed against the door.

The hand was so white it didn't look like human skin; black veins were clearly visible beneath the pale surface, the nails were long and black, and a striking red sleeve was visible at the wrist.

A woman in red...

Li Ran's expression shifted slightly, a terrifying image involuntarily surfacing in his mind as he stepped back.

He summoned his Thunder Dagger behind his back, his eyes fixed sharply on that deathly pale hand.

"Sorry, I didn't scare you, did I?"

The elevator doors automatically reopened after hitting the obstacle, and a woman in red with soaking wet hair stood at the entrance.

Her voice sounded normal, though it felt somewhat chilling in this eerie environment.

Not to mention the terrifying sight of her red attire.

"It started raining; I'm just glad I made it."

The woman carried two takeout bags as she stepped into the elevator. Under the elevator's light, Li Ran finally saw that she wasn't wearing a red dress, but a red raincoat. The long coat covered the boots on her feet, and beneath her dripping hair was a pale face. Her lips were trembling and purple, yet her face was full of apology.

"My grandfather used to be a fisherman who saved a ten-thousand-year-old sea turtle. When I was born, my family hired a Fortune Teller to read my fortune. He said our family had accumulated virtue and that we would definitely produce someone who wears a yellow uniform in the future. Now, I've finally fulfilled that wish."

The woman lifted her red raincoat to reveal a yellow delivery uniform underneath. She joked heartily, her attitude appearing remarkably positive.

"Don't look at me like that. There are plenty of women who deliver food; haven't you ever seen one?" The woman glanced at Li Ran, shifted both takeout bags into one hand, and used her free hand to pull a dry towel from her pocket.

The woman looked to be about thirty, with delicate and pleasant features. Her wet hair plastered against her pale face made her look somewhat haggard and weathered, but her spirits were high, and a smile remained on her face.

"Is it raining outside?" Li Ran asked.

Li Ran remembered it hadn't been raining before he entered the elevator, and for her to be this soaked in such a short time, the rain must have been torrential.

It clearly didn't make sense, and Li Ran watched her closely.

(Delivery Worker: Yang Ping)

(A-rank Mental Infector.)

(Mysterious Power: 1200)

(That day, a rainstorm arrived suddenly, and orders surged. To ensure her deliveries weren't late, she sped through the rain, and an accident ended her life.)

(Hint: She is still rushing about to help support her family. If she learns that she is already dead, she will kill everyone in front of her.)

(Hint: If you are willing to help her deliver the remaining orders, you will receive an unexpected reward.)