The Mover

The late-spring sun hung high that afternoon, spilling warm sunlight over the people walking beneath it and leaving them feeling a little hot.

Summer was approaching.

A hand pushed open the entrance to Building 6 in Peaceful Garden. With boxes of heavy supplies tied to his back with straps, Su Wu ducked through the doorway.

There were five large boxes on his back. Their contents were packed so tightly that the cardboard bulged outward.

The sunlight made Su Wu squint.

He raised a hand to shade his eyes. Hearing a commotion outside the building opposite, he naturally looked toward the entrance to Building 3.

Two police cars and an ambulance were parked below Building 3.

Quite a few people had gathered downstairs. Amid their noisy chatter, several medical workers carried three bulging body bags into the ambulance.

The ambulance then drove away.

The crowd continued to clamor.

People who lived nearby, including residents of Building 3 itself, wore grim expressions as they spoke to one another in hushed voices.

"Three people died for no apparent reason, all within an hour!"

"I heard their deaths were horrible. Two of them were apparently chopped straight into bits..."

"I've got photos here..."

"We can't live here anymore. It's one thing for the two of us, but the kids are still little. If the killer targets them, we'll be in real trouble. Let's move out first-today! We can make do in a hotel for the next few nights..."

"What's that moving app called?"

Su Wu listened to the conversations downstairs, his gaze inscrutable.

The notebook had said that three murders would take place in Building 3 today. That had now been confirmed.

The Shadow Fiend was beginning to awaken.

From this moment onward, every passing second would become less safe.

When it first revived, its power would still be somewhat unstable, and it would only kill three random residents of Building 3.

On the night of the fifteenth, after killing that couple, the Shadow Fiend would fully awaken.

Its power would encompass all of Peaceful Garden. Whenever a shadow appeared near anyone, it would swiftly descend and kill them one by one.

Su Wu sighed.

He had already posted a warning in Peaceful Garden's main tenant chat, but it had been buried under all the messages flirting and asking for dirty pictures.

No one had noticed what he had said.

If Su Wu kept posting messages like that in the group chat, he might be taken to a hospital for a psychiatric examination before the fiend even awakened.

Su Wu tightened the straps on his shoulders and walked on.

He could not even guarantee his own safety right now. How was he in any position to help others? All he could do was offer a few more warnings within the limits of his ability.

Besides, there were personnel in the real world specifically tasked with dealing with fiends.

For instance, when he checked the group messages in the simulation, he had seen a stern warning in the tenant chat from an officially verified account with a completely black profile picture.

That person was probably one of the personnel assigned to deal with fiends.

If even they had yet to act, what good would worrying do him?

Su Wu walked on with his load. As he passed Building 2, a mover was coming out through the entrance with an old single-door refrigerator on his back.

The man had graying hair and a dark complexion. He looked to be getting on in years.

He steadied the refrigerator behind him with one hand and pushed the entrance door open with the other. Just as he stepped out, his foot suddenly trembled!

The refrigerator on his back immediately tipped sideways, dragging his body along with it!

Su Wu was very close. Seeing the refrigerator about to topple and likely injure the man beneath it, he hurried two steps diagonally forward and reached out, bracing one hand against its side.

The full force of the refrigerator and the man tipping sideways pressed down on his left hand.

His body did not budge. The weight did not force him back even half a step.

The mover tightened his straps at the same time and pulled the refrigerator back onto his back. His dark face was flushed, and his forehead was covered in sweat. Looking embarrassed, he thanked Su Wu repeatedly. "Thank you, thank you! You're a strong young fellow!"

The refrigerator weighed only a little over a hundred jin, but Su Wu had stopped its fall with one hand while carrying more than a hundred jin on his own back.

Young people like him rarely did heavy labor anymore, so he could indeed be considered fairly strong among his peers.

Before lunch, his strength had been average for someone his age.

After that meal, he was already among the stronger people in his age group.

Such a dramatic change had naturally come from the Strongman Spellmark.

"Take a break if you're tired. Don't push yourself." Su Wu smiled at the mover. Only after helping him secure the refrigerator did he carry his load to the small storage room he had rented.

He stored all the boxes of candles, canned food, and assorted daily necessities there, then returned to his rented apartment empty-handed.

He opened the simulator.

He began the simulation.

This time, Su Wu entered the simulation without bringing anything, not even the Imperial Bell.

After appearing at the Little Temple save point, he waited for the neon lights outside to shine again, then immediately rushed out of the Little Temple, making trip after trip to transfer the supplies from the storage room into it.

At the cost of dying once, he finally managed to move everything into the temple.

Then he exited the simulator.

He went downstairs again to check the storage room.

The storage room was completely empty.

All the supplies he had stored there had already been moved to the Little Temple by Su Wu in the future.

When time advanced to the point in the future where he successfully entered the Little Temple, he would naturally find the supplies he had stored inside.

Moreover, in his simulations of the future, he could freely use whatever he had stored in the temple.

He would no longer have to spend ten Origin Jade every time he brought a box of candles into a future simulation.

With all of that done, Su Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

As the Shadow Fiend awakened, everything outside would gradually become unstable.

For the next day or so, he would be better off staying in his room and avoiding going out as much as possible. He would also need to leave Peaceful Garden at the right moment and head for the Little Temple.

In the dark room, Su Wu closed his eyes and thought for a while. After repeatedly making sure he had not overlooked anything, he opened the simulator.

"Welcome to the Perfect Life Simulator!"

"Your wallet balance is 1,183 Origin Jade. You may choose to simulate your own future life or someone else's past life.

Simulating your own future life costs 1 Origin Jade;

Simulating the Gang Cave owner's past life costs 500 Origin Jade;

Simulating the coarse porcelain bowl owner's past life costs 100 Origin Jade..."

Su Wu's gaze settled on the screen representing the Gang Cave owner's past life. He said, "Simulate the Gang Cave owner's past life."

"Selection confirmed."

"500 Origin Jade deducted. Your wallet balance is 683 Origin Jade."

"In this simulation, you may not bring in anything other than yourself. You may spend 20 Origin Jade to experience the original owner's past life firsthand. Would you like to spend it?"

"No."

"Loading game..."