Apartment Building No. 5 (7)
Though the unknown presence inside the elevator showed no intent to attack, it blocked the elevator, preventing them from returning to the fifth floor.
Jiang Ji glanced at the empty elevator cabin and headed straight toward apartment 312.
“Jiang Xuan!” Xiao Qing hurriedly ran after her in small steps.
Jiang Ji stopped at the doorway of apartment 312.
The door was wide open, revealing the scene inside at a glance.
It was, to put it lightly, a complete mess.
The furniture was shattered and broken, the walls covered with scratches and dents, and splattered everywhere were darkened bloodstains.
It looked as if some massive heavy object had crushed everything inside and out, leaving multiple trails of devastation.
“G-meow…” Xiao Qing swallowed hard and instinctively glanced at the empty elevator, her pupils shrinking. “How big is that thing really?”
“He’s blocking the elevator. Does he want us to… stay here?” Xiao Qing muttered.
“Perhaps he wants to leave using the elevator,” Jiang Ji replied.
Xiao Qing was taken aback by this unexpected guess.
Jiang Ji’s dark eyes remained calm and emotionless, dense like a black mist.
She was neither nervous nor afraid—steadfast as a mountain.
It was easy to feel reliant on her presence.
Xiao Qing silently warned herself in her heart—she was a member of the Special Management Bureau, tasked with protecting the public, not the other way around.
Lo Chenyi’s voice sounded in her ear: “Miss Xiao, scan apartment 312.”
Xiao Qing immediately took out the detector she had just put away.
Xiao Qing: “No signs of life detected inside.”
“Good. You two go in; I’ll deal with it,” Lo Chenyi said.
Jiang Ji thought Lo Chenyi sounded a bit overconfident: “You can handle an invisible, intangible monster?”
Lo Chenyi: “Invisible and intangible doesn’t mean unconscious.”
With that, Jiang Ji understood.
Her own ability was rooted in order; Lo Chenyi’s was related to the mind.
Since the detector was out, Xiao Qing aimed it at the elevator.
The screen immediately displayed a red shadow—almost filling the entire elevator with a glowing red mass.
Xiao Qing felt a toothache—had they just been standing inside the monster’s body, tightly surrounded?
Meanwhile, just as Jiang Ji was about to step into apartment 312, she suddenly sensed a subtle, strange malice on her back.
She turned around.
An elevator quietly appeared behind her.
Xiao Qing waited inside apartment 312 for a while, but Jiang Ji did not come in.
She stuck her head out of the doorframe, looking for Jiang Ji’s figure: “Jiang Xuan? Come in!”
“Why are you just standing there? What’s wrong with you?”
Jiang Ji stepped aside and pointed at the wall next to her with slender fingers.
Xiao Qing looked over in confusion and saw an elevator had suddenly appeared on the previously flat wall.
“Two?” Xiao Qing’s eyes widened.
This elevator had appeared out of thin air, right on the wall.
From the outside, it looked no different from the other elevator beside it.
It was as if all abnormalities were squeezing together. Judging by Xiao Qing’s furrowed brow, since a normal elevator couldn’t operate, a second elevator appeared instead—wasn’t this obviously a trap?
【Property Rules Article 10—There is one and only one elevator in this building. If you discover a second elevator, do not use it and inform the property management staff, or return home and wait for ten minutes until only one elevator remains visible.】
“So, should we notify the property management?” Jiang Ji stared at the mysteriously appearing second elevator.
Xiao Qing: “That’s the rule… but…”
…Given past experience, she definitely would not foolishly face the property management unless absolutely necessary.
“Team Leader Lo?” Xiao Qing signaled to Lo Chenyi.
Lo Chenyi, who had just heard the commotion over here, walked over.
He stared intently at the elevator that had descended from the seventh floor and now slid down to the fifth.
If it were Lo Chenyi a few weeks ago—just a Class B hive—he could have handled it alone.
But now… his condition was unstable—this was also why he was assigned to a task that didn’t require deep infiltration into the hive.
Facing two abnormalities now, plus the suspected fallen entity within the property management, Lo Chenyi could not guarantee he could protect Jiang Ji and Xiao Qing while maintaining stable ability.
Silence was sometimes an answer.
Jiang Ji looked at Lo Chenyi’s pensive face: “You don’t trust the property management, but compared to us tenants, property management is still quite reliable.”
Jiang Ji took out her phone: “The property notification had a number. Should I call it?” She glanced at Lo Chenyi, seeking his opinion with her eyes.
In fact, letting the property management handle this was the least laborious option.
Provided that property management and the monster were not working together.
Xiao Qing’s expression shifted repeatedly.
She still remembered the hostility they encountered from the property management upon first entering Apartment Building No. 5.
But rules were rules.
Bound by them, property management might probably… help resolve this.
Lo Chenyi’s fingers twitched. He noticed Jiang Ji’s trust in property management, and as someone sensitive to consciousness, he picked up on it.
Perhaps their trust in her was still less than their trust in property management.
Consulting him now was merely a formality.
“All right.”
“Once property arrives, you hide inside 312,” Jiang Ji dialed the property service center number she had already input.
After a series of busy tones, someone answered the call.
“Hello.”
At the same time, the elevator descended to the third floor and opened without warning.
Drip…
A drop of black liquid fell to the floor.
The lights inside the cabin flickered unsteadily.
Strange graffiti covered the walls, as if mischievous children had scribbled everywhere.
Looking closely, words could be seen.
【1. We regret that you have entered this elevator. For your safety, please leave quickly before the elevator starts moving.
- Once the elevator is operational, do not press (blackened crayon marks, illegible). Please distinguish the buttons carefully. If you cannot discern the shape of the numbers, remember the first floor is at the bottom, closest to your feet.
- If unfortunate elevator failure occurs and operation is impossible, please press the yellow alarm button and try to contact property staff. Property staff may not hear your calls, so you must do everything possible to escape.
- Lastly, we wish you safety.】
Besides this, there seemed to be some other words.
Jiang Ji frowned slightly, trying hard to read them.
But the harder she tried, the more blurred the letters became, until at one moment, they seemed to writhe slightly.
When Jiang Ji realized this was contamination, the messy drawings transformed into blinking eyes, the words twisting like wriggling maggots…
Suddenly, she felt an itch at the corner of her eye, as if bugs were crawling and trying to burrow into her eyeball, incessantly urging her…
—Come in.
—Come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in, come in…
On the other end of the phone, there was no response for a long time, then the operator began asking, “Hello, which apartment are you calling from?”
“Hello, do you need assistance from property management?”
“Hello?”
Jiang Ji’s expression went blank.
She turned back, blindfolded Xiao Qing, and pressed the phone close: “Hello, there are two elevators here, one of which is unusable.
Can someone come and take care of it?”
Property management arrived quickly.
The graffiti inside the cabin was a form of mental invasion, and Lo Chenyi immediately purified it for the two.
Xiao Qing was stunned and used the back of her hand to press her eyelids before Jiang Ji gently caught her eyes—her movement was light, and a faint warmth spread from her palm.
The property staff approached, holding a flashlight.
Dressed in a blue work uniform top, white pants, wearing a mask and a baseball cap.
Confirmed to be property staff of Apartment Building No. 5, familiar silhouette and eyes.
Previously unnoticed, Jiang Ji now realized—why did this property staff still need to use a flashlight in the brightly lit hallway?
Since gaining consciousness three days ago, Jiang Ji had only encountered this one property staff member.
Doubt rose in her heart, and she curiously started a conversation: “Hello, do you have any other colleagues?”
Property staff: …
Jiang Ji: “It’s quite bright here. Why use a flashlight?”
Property staff: …
Jiang Ji: “Your attitude isn’t good. Is this how you treat tenants?”
Xiao Qing nervously observed Jiang Ji’s exchange with the property staff.
She and Lo Chenyi stayed by Jiang Ji’s side, choosing not to enter 312.
Finally, the property staff spoke. Standing in front of the abnormal elevator, he closed its door: “This elevator is out of order. Do not use.”
Jiang Ji: …
“That elevator over there has a big guy in it,” Jiang Ji pointed. “If we want to go back, we can only use this elevator.”
Under the baseball cap, the property staff glanced meaningfully at Jiang Ji.
Just as Jiang Ji thought he might say something, he stepped past the three of them and headed toward the big figure.
It was as if he could see the big figure clearly and had a clear target.
The constant overload beeping of the elevator suddenly stopped as the property staff neared.
It was like the monster inside the elevator encountered a mortal enemy and fled in panic.
Jiang Ji heard a faint rustling sound, like fabric scraping against the ground.
The creature moved by crawling.
With a sharp “clack,” apartment 312 suddenly closed. Xiao Qing’s expression changed, and she hurriedly stepped away from 312.
The property staff turned back, eyes scanning them silently, urging:
—“Hurry up.”
The three successfully returned to apartment 524.
Standing at the door of 524, Jiang Ji knocked.
Mom opened the door for them, her expression dark and sinister, eyes filled with resentment.
Jiang Ji stepped past her expressionlessly, taking the lead to say, “Time to watch the movie, Mom.”
Mom: “…..
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