No Heaven and Earth Tongbao, Thanks

In the stairwell.

Walking around late at night with a Fire Axe in his hand made him look like a wandering serial killer.

A building more than ten stories tall naturally had an elevator, but Fang Xian needed to avoid the obvious surveillance cameras. That meant taking the fire escape—the stairs.

Darkness.

A deep, shadowy stairwell.

The green [Emergency Exit] sign gave off a faint glow.

"Wait... Which floor does Old Zhou live on?"

Fang Xian thought it over carefully.

The woman on the tenth floor had been watching him all along.

Did that mean Old Zhou, who had died not long ago, was connected to the tenth floor too?

After all, the Urban Legend Compendium app probably hadn't made it up out of nowhere.

No point waiting around.

Fang Xian started climbing.

The sound-activated lights came on one by one in the narrow stairwell.

One floor.

Two floors.

Fang Xian wasn't moving fast.

Clutter was piled on every landing of the cramped fire escape.

And every floor had the same blind spot.

Fang Xian couldn't see what lay on the other side of the wall, where the stairs continued upward.

In the entire space,

only Fang Xian's breathing remained.

Ring, ring.

Ring, ring.

In the gloom, Fang Xian's phone suddenly rang.

It gave him a start.

He glanced at the screen.

An unfamiliar local number from Jiangzhou.

Fang Xian tapped the screen.

He hung up.

Scam calls were everywhere these days. Anyone he knew from school would message him on WeChat instead of calling.

As for someone who didn't even have his WeChat,

he had even less reason to answer.

Besides, the call had startled him.

But only thirty seconds later,

Fang Xian's phone rang again.

This time, he frowned and answered.

"Hello, young man."

"Guess who I am~"

A lovely voice came through the phone, the sort that seemed to tickle at a person's heart.

Fang Xian's face remained blank. "Hello. The number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later."

With that, he hung up and put his phone on silent.

The Rental Apartment on Garbage Street.

On the sofa.

Song Yizhou adjusted her glasses as she watched Yao Hui grit her teeth.

"Unbelievable!"

"That rotten little brat!"

"How dare he treat the beautiful Huihui like that!"

Yao Hui steadied her heaving chest. "Yi Zhou! Is it possible that boy's playing hard to get?"

Song Yizhou shook her head. "I don't know, but judging by how he ignored your first call and how quickly he hung up the second, I don't think he's playing hard to get. He seems pretty busy, too."

Song Yizhou looked back down at her book. Yao Hui leaned close to her. "Oh, little Yi Zhou is clever. One day, I'll pick out the very best boyfriend for you..."

Song Yizhou pursed her lips. "Um... Cousin, find one for yourself first and set me an example. You're already twenty-eight, after all. No matter how you look at it, you're old enough to get married."

Yao Hui snorted. "Let's not talk about age..."

As she spoke, Huihui started fiddling with her phone again, apparently determined to add that boy who was playing hard to get on WeChat.

She didn't actually fall for me just because I saved her once, did she?

No, thanks.

Fang Xian wanted no part of it.

By then, he had reached the ninth floor.

Thanks to his good physical fitness, the climb hadn't taxed him at all. The only reason he was sweating was the stuffy stairwell.

The figure on the [Emergency Exit] sign looked like someone fleeing in terror.

Fang Xian leaned against the wall and looked up toward the tenth floor.

A faint smell of burning hung in the air.

The door leading to the tenth-floor apartments stood ajar.

A sliver of light showed through it.

A gust blew through the crack in the door.

Something fluttered into Fang Xian's face.

"Pah. What is this?"

Fang Xian pulled it off and looked.

[Heaven and Earth Tongbao].

Joss paper.

Fang Xian's eyes narrowed slightly.

That, together with the smell...

Someone was burning joss paper in the hallway.

"That could easily start a fire. Even if property management doesn't know, wouldn't the neighbors come out and stop it?"

"No... not necessarily."

Fang Xian recalled how dark the entire residential complex had been.

There were hardly any residents left nearby.

Fang Xian crouched low and continued up the stairs.

[Tenth Floor].

He had arrived.

Staying close to the half-open door, Fang Xian listened.

An odd sound came from outside.

It sounded like a woman murmuring something in the hallway.

"Xiao Wan."

"Take care of yourself down there."

"Zhou Dun is dead."

"He's gone down to find you. Don't let him bully you."

There was little emotion in the woman's voice, accompanied by the crackle of the fire in the brazier.

Xiao Wan.

Zhou Dun.

Fang Xian pressed his lips together.

[Old Zhou died not long ago].

Zhou Dun.

If he wasn't mistaken, Zhou Dun was probably the suspect the bald shopkeeper had mentioned.

If the shopkeeper still considered him a suspect ten years later, then the police ten years ago must have focused their investigation on Old Zhou.

As for this woman...

Fang Xian put the Fire Axe back in his bag.

He opened the tenth-floor door and stepped out.

Click.

The sound-activated light came on.

The woman burning joss paper in the brazier was clearly startled. She went rigid and stammered, "W-who are you?"

Fang Xian froze. His already pale face looked almost sickly white in the darkness. He stumbled back two steps and hit the wall. "Holy shit."

Seeing that she had startled Fang Xian too, the woman hurriedly said, "Don't be afraid."

Don't be afraid?

Fang Xian wasn't afraid. He took a closer look and frowned slightly.

"Ma'am, you're burning joss paper here in the middle of the night?"

"Aren't you worried about starting a fire?"

"Do you live here?"

"I'm calling property management."

Fang Xian took out his phone as if he were about to make the call.

The woman hurriedly said, "It's not like that."

"This is just a one-time thing."

"I'll put it out right away."

A basin of water and firefighting equipment sat beside her. She did seem well prepared.

"You are..."

Fang Xian gave her a friendly smile. "I'm a new tenant here. I'm climbing stairs with weights to lose some pounds—"

As he spoke, Fang Xian's youthful face turned stern. "But then, just as I reached the tenth floor, a piece of spirit money flew over and smacked me right in the face. I'm brave, but someone else would've been scared out of their mind. You can't do this, ma'am."

"It shows no consideration for anyone else."

Fang Xian still seemed a little angry. "You're dressed respectably, ma'am, and you're quite pretty. I'd guess you've had a good education. You don't look like the sort of person who'd do this."

The woman looked somewhat embarrassed. "About that..."

Fang Xian waved a hand. "The space outside your apartment is shared by everyone. Please be more careful in the future, ma'am."

Fang Xian looked at the woman's face with growing suspicion, as though something had just occurred to him.

"Wait."

"I've met Old Zhou and his wife, the people who live on the tenth floor."

"This isn't your home?"

"Who are you?"

"You came all the way here to burn joss paper outside someone else's door?"

Fang Xian suddenly bristled as though she'd called him impotent. He unlocked his phone. "The police. I have to call the police right now."

The woman grew even more embarrassed and quickly grabbed his hand. "Wait. Hear me out first."

Fang Xian held his phone up high. "Keep your hands to yourself! This is a public place!"

"I'll report you for sexual harassment!"

"I've got proof! I'm filming!"

"Your hand! Your hand! You're about to touch me!"