"Be gentle. Don't make a sound. The activity room is right above Grandma Li's apartment."
Fan Li held nothing back, sharing every rule he knew with the others. "The clay sculpture we're after should be in Grandma Li's apartment. Once we destroy it, leave immediately."
His gaze swept over the group, and he pointed at Bai Shu and Li. "I'll guard the stairs leading to the upper floors. You two go into Grandma Li's apartment."
"Is that really a good idea?" Youyou clutched her boyfriend's arm. "None of us knows what's inside Grandma Li's apartment. What if you run into danger by going straight in?"
"The clay sculpture is the source of all the anomalies. Destroying it will definitely draw the Residents' Committee members down from upstairs. I'll hold them off in the stairwell and buy you time to leave." No one had ever objected when Fan Li assigned tasks before, because he always took the most dangerous job himself. That was also why everyone trusted him.
"But covering our retreat is important too. Gao Ming's new. Can he handle it?" Youyou glanced at Gao Ming, who stood at the very back. The man never took the initiative and always hung back.
"It's fine. Leave it to me." Bai Shu patted Youyou's hand, then moved to the front with Li.
They opened the rusty iron door to the stairwell. In an old residential complex like this, the stairwell was much colder than outside. As they walked in, they could faintly hear someone singing opera.
It was past midnight, when the darkness was deepest, and the Residents' Committee's activities seemed to have finally begun.
Black moss seemed to have sprouted on the steps. The eerie voice slipped into their collars like an icy wind and burrowed into their ears.
The higher