Three different approaches to clearing the game

"Situ An?" At the name, Uncle Wu's hunched back bent even further. He instinctively tried to hide himself. "You must be careful of that man."

"You've dealt with him before?"

"I used to think Ghosts were terrifying, until I met Situ An at Sishui Apartments." Uncle Wu licked the wound on his lip. "He's the reason I can't leave Sishui Apartments, the reason I have to play the fool just to stay alive. I can't escape Hanhai. If I show even the slightest sign of being clearheaded, I could be killed. I once thought about giving the footage to the Hanhai Police, but something similar had happened before. A young volunteer told a newspaper something he'd overheard. Later, the recording ended up with Situ An, and that young volunteer vanished from the building forever."

Hearing Uncle Wu's account, Gong Xi's Grandma suddenly grew agitated. The young volunteer he mentioned seemed to have been Gong Xi!

Gong Xi himself, however, remembered none of it. He lay prostrate on the floor, utterly respectful.

"Situ An... Looks like we'll have to find a way to keep him trapped in an Anomaly Event forever." Gao Ming felt something very strange. He had never met Situ An in person, yet he felt extreme hostility toward him, even an urge to kill him, as though something terrible had once happened between them.

"That man is an evil Ghost wearing human skin." A trace of fear showed in Uncle Wu's eyes. "The Flesh and Blood Heart inside the murderer from the Family Annihilation Case, and the Divine Heart inside the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal Clay Statue, must never fall into Situ An's hands. Those two hearts seem to be why the Charity Association has been raising Ghosts in Sishui Apartments."

Uncle Wu drew several lines on the yellow paper. "The murderous ghost lives in one of the rooms in this building. It only comes out to kill, so even I can't pinpoint its location. But you can destroy the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal's clay statue first."

"Where is the statue?"

"On the first basement level of Building A. There's a hidden shrine in the darkest, most ill-omened part of the entire apartment complex. The Flesh-and-Blood Immortal's statue is enshrined there." Uncle Wu took another handful of talisman papers from inside his clothes. "I'm old, and my legs aren't much good. I'd only slow you down if I went along. Keep these talismans safe. They might come in handy."

Putting away the talisman papers, Gao Ming looked at the paper figures. "Will you come with us? Your murderer is right here in the building. This is a blood debt."

None of the seven paper figures moved. Only the oldest grabbed a handful of White Rice from the altar and stuffed it into Gao Ming's pocket.

"What's this for?"

"The White Rice is an offering I made to the dead," Uncle Wu explained. "If you truly reach the point where you have no choice but to eat the meat, this handful of rice will help you stay sane for a short while."

The meat Uncle Wu mentioned was probably the kind Bai Xiao had eaten. Anyone who ate it went mad, but became extremely difficult to kill.

"You seem to be preparing for the worst already." Gao Ming left the haunted dwelling with Zhu Miaomiao. Before long, Gong Xi came running after them.

The paper figures had agreed to shelter Gong Xi's family, on the condition that he helped Gao Ming destroy the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal's clay statue.

Most residents of the building worshipped the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal, but Gong Xi was an exception. His faith lay in taking good care of his Grandma. As long as he could protect his family, it didn't matter whom he worshipped.

"I'll lead the way. I know where the Ancestral Hall is." Gong Xi had become their "inside Ghost" and walked at the front.

Carrying Zhao Xi on his back, Gao Ming followed silently. Through this ghost story game, he was beginning to truly understand the shadow world.

Appearance arose from the heart. The residents of the building were divided into Four Aspects, maintaining a delicate balance, and this place was only a tiny reflection of the Shadow World.

"The Shadow World isn't merely a disaster. It's a world in its own right, with its own rules."

After passing through the Building Corridor, Xuan Wen stopped. She faintly heard Gao Ming calling her.

Turning back, Xuan Wen saw Gao Ming and Zhu Miaomiao following side by side. Everything still seemed normal.

She continued onward, but after rounding another corner, her expression suddenly changed. She pulled a sharp knife from her backpack.

"What's wrong?" Yan Hua frowned.

"While we were immersed in the shadows, Gao Ming and the other living person were replaced." Xuan Wen's voice held no emotion. She was a completely different person from when she was with Gao Ming.

"You can tell?"

"I can sense Gao Ming's approximate location. The person behind us isn't him." Turning around, Xuan Wen concealed her knife hand behind her back. Wearing a "smile," she strode toward "Gao Ming."

"Gao Ming" looked puzzled as Xuan Wen approached. He had barely begun to speak when the shadow-wrapped knife pierced his neck!

No blood flowed. With his neck pierced, "Gao Ming's" expression slowly shifted from surprise to madness. He lunged at Xuan Wen, driving himself onto the blade.

The blade slid, and Xuan Wen's eyes turned crimson. She pressed her hand against "Gao Ming's" chest. The replacement gradually lost control of his body. The shadows within him were attacking themselves!

Beside him, "Zhu Miaomiao" realized she had been exposed and swung her Fire Axe at Xuan Wen, but five fingers like steel rebar seized her arm.

Yan Hua brought her fist down, instantly deforming "Zhu Miaomiao's" body. She gave "Zhu Miaomiao" no time to react, her fists raining down like a violent storm.

There was no blood, nor any sound of breaking bones, but with every punch Yan Hua threw, the Demon Tattoo on her body grew more lifelike. The evil Ghost devoured every wisp of shadow escaping from Zhu Miaomiao!

Only after beating the replacement "Zhu Miaomiao" apart did Yan Hua lower her fists. She glanced aside. Xuan Wen had already dealt with "Gao Ming."

"Leave the finishing blow to me. Don't use your fists recklessly." Xuan Wen seemed to have noticed something. She stared at Yan Hua's left hand.

After Yan Hua killed Zhu Miaomiao, several strange black characters appeared on her hand, resembling some kind of curse.

At Xuan Wen's warning, Yan Hua noticed the black characters too, but she didn't care. "Let's find Gao Ming first. He's the only one who knows where my older sister is. He absolutely cannot die."

"He's the only one who knows where your older sister is?" Xuan Wen held the sharp knife in a reverse grip. "Men really do love keeping secrets."

Yan Hua strode forward, and the shadows gave way. Her tall, powerful body made hiding difficult. Of course, she had never intended to hide in the first place.

Whatever she encountered, Yan Hua dared to charge forward and fight it. The hideous Giant Ghost on her body grew increasingly real, but the black characters covering her also multiplied.

"Are you planning to kill your way through the entire building? This is a level four anomaly event." Xuan Wen couldn't talk Yan Hua down. Every one of them could become a supercriminal in the future. People like that tended to be obsessive. Apart from Gao Ming, who served as their connecting thread, they found it difficult to truly trust anyone.

"I don't know what a Level Four Anomaly Event is. All I know is that if my fists can hurt them, I have no reason to be afraid."

As more black characters appeared on his body, Yan Hua grew stronger and more muscular. His Giant Ghost tattoo became increasingly intricate, as though a real evil Ghost stood behind Yan Hua.

Wan Qiu followed silently at the rear of the group. As he walked, he suddenly realized he was the only person left in the Building Corridor.

"The corridor's different from before?"

Wan Qiu shrank back. Shadows surged toward him from every direction, and he felt afraid.

The apartment building was even more sinister than before, and an indescribable stench filled the air.

His heart pounded as Wan Qiu stood in a corner. The unknown situation frightened him, but compared with the harm his past life had inflicted on him, these anomalies had not broken through his psychological defenses.

"G-Gao Ming..."

He called softly, but there was no answer from anywhere around him. The person who had promised to protect him had simply disappeared.

His extraordinary intuition told him danger lay ahead. Not knowing what to do, Wan Qiu curled up in a corner of the corridor and hugged his legs.

A few minutes later, Wan Qiu's heartbeat suddenly quickened. An intense sense of danger warned him that he had to leave.

With no idea where to hide, Wan Qiu scrambled into the nearby rental apartment, Room 506.

Shortly after he closed the door, a man wearing a rat mask approached. He held keys and a Building Manager's ID, then stopped where Wan Qiu had just been sitting.

Chewing something, the man removed his mask. His nose twitched, as though searching for the scent of a living person.

Wan Qiu covered his mouth and nose. Through the peephole, he saw it clearly: beneath that rat mask was a rat's face!

The Building Manager everyone in the apartment building feared seemed to be nothing more than a rat that had secretly eaten some Flesh and Blood!

(End of chapter)