The grating sound of the violin slowly woke the little black cat in Su Bai's arms. Grumpy at being woken, she rubbed against his hand, then curled her tail around his wrist and began pleading for affection.
Although Ning Yan's violin had sounded the signal for an emergency gathering of their temporary team, time did not pass inside the Mist Shop. Su Bai had more than enough time to return to the shop and settle the kitten there.
But seeing how the kitten clung to him, Su Bai changed his mind again. He decided to simply carry her downstairs in the elevator.
"In front of strangers, you need to be a quiet Regular kitten." Su Bai tapped the black cat's happy little head, then gave her a scratch.
Perhaps she understood what Su Bai had said. The little black cat tilted her head thoughtfully, then actually turned into a small puff of white mist that wound around his left wrist. Once the mist dispersed, only a thin black cord remained, nestled tightly beside the string of blood-red beads that housed Happy's "brothers and sisters."
Su Bai smiled too. Perhaps because the kitten was so weak and Regular, he had forgotten that, however insignificant she might be, she still barely qualified as a Strange Creature of the Nightmare World. If that writhing black shadow had concealed anything earlier, this little black cat might not even be nearly as Regular as she appeared.
Although the violin music coming through the window opposite the elevator was unpleasant, its rhythm was steady and unhurried. Su Bai guessed that something had happened on Ning Yan's end, but it was not particularly urgent. There probably was not much danger for the moment.
Su Bai instinctively followed the sound and looked out the window. The fourth floor was not very high, but he could see the large landscaped area enclosed by the four buildings of Happiness Residential Complex. Many tall trees grew near the residential buildings, blocking the Red Moon's light, but the center consisted mostly of shrubs and grass. There was even a small plaza where residents could dance and do some simple exercise.
Even in the Nightmare World, even in this "Happiness Residential Complex," the landscaped area downstairs looked perfectly normal.
But now, the supposedly "normal" landscaped area was densely packed with countless "people." These "people" stood rigid and motionless. Although they looked more human than "her" in Room 402, they stood like gravestones, one after another, row after row, across the complex's plaza and even its lawns, like rows of tombstones in a cemetery.
Every "person" had raised their head toward the Red Moon. Every "person" was steeped in red moonlight, as though performing some secret ritual-or perhaps... feeding?
After seeing the situation in the landscaped area below, Su Bai understood why Ning Yan had sounded the gathering signal, and why that grating violin music was neither hurried nor anxious. After all, although the scene was extremely eerie and the things gathered there clearly were not human, it looked more strange than dangerous.
And the number of things gathering in the landscaped area continued to grow. Every so often, stiff figures emerged from the four residential buildings, moving an arm and leg on the same side together, and joined the moonlight-basking crowd as though utterly devoid of consciousness.
At a glance, without needing to count carefully, Su Bai could tell that more than a hundred things had already gathered in the landscaped area, and their numbers were still rising.
In a situation like this, it was indeed necessary to gather all the players they could contact, in case something unexpected happened.
Su Bai also glanced at the elevator beside Room 401. The numbers above it were changing rapidly. More things were probably taking the elevator downstairs; after all, Miss Feng Ling on the sixth floor seemed strongly opposed to riding it.
Under these circumstances, Su Bai was in no hurry to go downstairs. Instead, he continued observing the situation below.
Then Su Bai caught something out of place among the neat, eerie rows of "gravestones" downstairs. Several furtive figures had appeared in the lobby of Building Two next door. They were hiding beside the glass entrance doors on the first floor, peering outside.
Judging by their movements, they looked like another team of players who had temporarily banded together.
Su Bai was equally curious about the eerie scene in the landscaped area and wanted to take a closer look. But he only entertained that idea because he had enough hidden trump cards. That was precisely why he became curious about the players in Building Two. Were they all outrageously bold? Or was there an experienced player on their team?
For a moment, Su Bai was more interested in the team in Building Two than in the people in Room 204.
With that person over in Room 204, Su Bai was not particularly worried about their safety. Besides, the people there probably would not care much whether a certain dark-skinned male student showed up. He decided to take a look at Building Two first.
But should he appear in Building Two as "Su Bai," or as someone else?
Carrying his long-handled umbrella, Su Bai walked to the door of Room 401. He was just about to open the Mist Shop's door with his left hand when he changed his mind and politely knocked on Room 401's door with his right.
"Mr. Lin Yongxian?" When there was no response from inside, Su Bai politely added, "I'm very sorry, but if you don't open the door, I may have to dismantle it."
"..."
Although no one spoke inside, Su Bai could faintly hear a clatter. Clearly, Mr. Lin Yongxian was not entirely unmoved.
"Mr. Lin Yongxian?"
Su Bai knocked again. This time, Room 401's door creaked open, revealing Lin Yongxian's rather bulky figure. His fleshy face was exactly like the black-and-white photograph Su Bai had seen earlier on Room 401's tombstone door.
"Mr. Lin Yongxian, you really are home." Su Bai's smile was as friendly as a health supplement salesman making a house call. "I heard there seems to be an event downstairs. Why haven't you joined in?"
Indeed, because Su Bai had been watching the fourth floor all along, he knew that Room 401's door had never opened. And when he first arrived on the fourth floor, he had heard Mr. Lin Yongxian banging against the wall inside. Clearly, he had been home the entire time.
Why had over a hundred walking-dead Ghost Creatures gathered in the landscaped area, while Mr. Lin Yongxian in Room 401 had not gone downstairs?
Su Bai needed to know the answer, so he had reached out and knocked.
"I-I don't know... I think I heard something, but I... why am I here?" Lin Yongxian's eyes were full of confusion. "I think the cats kept meowing so much that I couldn't sleep. Everything suddenly went quiet just now, so I finally got some proper sleep."
"But why am I here?" Lin Yongxian looked as though he had not fully woken up. Still, he was much calmer than when he had been furiously banging against the wall.
"Where should you be?" After hearing Lin Yongxian's words, Su Bai began to form a theory.
Lin Yongxian did seem to have heard something. Perhaps, like Ning Yan's violin music, it was a signal only Strange Creatures could hear. But instead of going downstairs like the other Ghost Creatures to bask in the moonlight like the walking dead, Lin Yongxian had chosen to remain in Room 401 and sleep.
Also, perhaps because the meowing had tormented him for so long, its disappearance seemed to have stimulated him instead, freeing him from the memory confusion caused by Happiness Residential Complex. After all, only Ghost Creatures and players who had escaped that confusion would ask a question like "Why am I here?"
"I-I just want to sleep... I always slept so comfortably in that long, rectangular box." As Lin Yongxian spoke, he seemed to grow sleepy again.
A long, rectangular box? A coffin?
Although he was only a supernatural creature who liked to sleep, Su Bai remembered how violent he became when deprived of sleep. He still borrowed Black Umbrella's power and used the long-handled umbrella in his hand to send Mr. Lin Yongxian into eternal slumber.
This gentleman really was too weak. After Su Bai sent him off, he dissolved into a cloud of black mist. Even the brand on Su Bai's left palm showed no interest in this Ghost Creature.
"I've designed another new outfit." Black Umbrella's sultry male voice sounded in Su Bai's ear.
"Forget it. Not now." Su Bai had indeed intended to return to the Mist Shop and change his outfit, but after glancing at the empty air beside him, he changed his mind again and walked straight out of Room 401. "When facing vengeful ghosts and evil spirits, it doesn't matter what I wear. But when facing humans, the more harmless someone like me appears, the better."
Before you continue