Chapter 2: Visitors are guest

Apartment Building Five (2)

[ Elevator Instructions

To ensure elevator safety, please observe the following Rules:

1. Due to varying disinfection times between floors, for your health, Owners on floors 1, 3, and 5 may only go to floors 1, 3, and 5. Owners on floors 2, 4, and 6 may only go to floors 1, 2, 4, and 6.

2. If Elevator A cannot close its doors and an alert sounds, this indicates overload protection has been triggered. Regardless of the number of people inside, please exit the elevator.

3. If the elevator unexpectedly stops while moving between floors, please contact the Property Manager immediately. Do not force open the elevator doors before the Property Manager arrives or the elevator resumes operation. In most cases, the elevator is safe.

4. If you notice the elevator lights are malfunctioning, this indicates a fault. Do not use the elevator and notify the Property Manager for repairs.

5. If the elevator lights suddenly go out while moving between floors, remain calm, do not make any noise, and press the yellow emergency button for assistance.

6. Please note: The highest floor this elevator reaches is the sixth floor. There is no seventh floor. ]

The elevator ascended floor by floor.

A pale white light illuminated the entire compartment, and the elevator stopped at the fifth floor.

Jiang Xi yawned, dragging her exhausted body, and stopped in front of 5-524i.

As she passed by 5-523 along the wall, the neighbor’s dog barked twice symbolically.

Jiang Xi lifted her head, confirmed the house number—5-524—it was her home.

She knocked on the door twice.

With a click, the door slowly creaked open.

A slightly plump woman with a stiff expression sluggishly pulled open the door, her pitch-black eyes staring intently at Jiang Xi.

Jiang Xi was used to this and said calmly, “Mom, I’m back.” She sidestepped the woman, lowering her lashes to glance at the clock hanging in the living room.

[11:43]

Lunchtime.

Jiang Xi walked straight to the dining table, sweeping her eyes over the food: two bowls, their contents thick and pitch-black, resembling some kind of excrement.

Jiang Xi closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her stomach.

So hungry.

But no matter how hungry she was, she had no appetite for the gooey stuff on the table.

“Hurry and eat.”

Mother silently pressed up behind Jiang Xi.

“Good child, are you looking down on Mom’s cooking?”

Jiang Xi held her head, expressionless, looking at the woman practically glued to her back.

The woman.

Her stomach felt hollow, and her mood wasn’t great either. Jiang Xi kept her tone cold and distant, her gaze at the woman thin as air.

“Mom, I’m full,” Jiang Xi eat firmly. “I respect your eating habits, so please respect mine, okay?”

The woman’s eyes were as lifeless as dead fish, her gaze locked on Jiang Xi.

Her body seemed restricted by some invisible force as she slowly moved toward the kitchen.

The chilly, silent atmosphere was suddenly broken by an abrupt knock at the door.

Jiang Xi and the woman looked toward the door at the same time.

The woman’s pupils shrank. She rushed toward the entrance at a speed that was shockingly fast, completely at odds with her heavyset frame.

Jiang Xi saw Mother sniffing at the air, about to reach for the door.

“Don’t move, Mom.”

The woman’s fingers, just about to grab the doorknob, stiffened.

Jiang Xi coughed twice, dragging her increasingly weary body over to stand by Mother’s side.

“Don’t open the door for strangers, remember?”

“Go look at the Rules again.”

Maybe the sounds inside were heard, as the knocking resumed. Jiang Xi approached the door, pressing her left eye close to the peephole.

Through the round lens, two people stood at her doorstep.

A man and a woman.

The peephole stretched their figures, making their faces appear unfamiliar.

These two, Jiang Xi had never seen in the building before.

But that was normal. She had never seen any of her neighbors.

Jiang Xi didn’t open the door.

There was no answer, yet the two outside didn’t leave.

The woman’s voice came through the door: “Excuse me, is anyone there?”

“Don’t be afraid, we’re here to help you. I’m with the authorities! You can trust us!”

Authorities? Jiang Xi raised an eyebrow. …What does that mean?

Jiang Xi rubbed her stomach, not planning to respond to the two outside. Not opening the door for strangers was a family Rule.

Jiang Xi was someone who respected Rules.

She moved her gaze away, walking back toward the dining table.

Mother no longer tried to open the door, but still stared hungrily at the door, itching to act.

“Mom,”

“Are you very hungry?”

“Come here and have some porridge.”

Mother said so.

The knocking outside was suddenly interrupted by another voice—

“Are you the Owner of this unit?”

The new voice was familiar to Jiang Xi—it was the Property Manager of this apartment building.

As the Property Manager’s voice came through, Mother shrank back in fear, but couldn’t bear to leave the door, her throat making hungry gulping sounds: “Hungry…”

But there’s porridge, so why say she’s hungry?

Jiang Xi crossed her arms, coldly watching Mother.

Was she treating the people outside as food?

So the porridge didn’t matter… It wasn’t that she just loved porridge?

“Hello, this is the Special Administration Bureau…”

“All residents of this apartment building, all must be considered bugs.”

“Bugs should be eliminated—”

Jiang Xi tilted her head slightly, not understanding the Property Manager’s logic.

What is the Special Administration Bureau?

If you’re not an Owner, you’re a bug—what does that mean?

Jiang Xi stared at her abnormal Mother, pondering for a moment, the corners of her lips twitching.

She walked back to the door, her slender fingers pressing down on the doorknob.

Like pressing a pause button, the noise outside fell silent.

Three pairs of eyes all turned to look at her.

Jiang Xi surveyed the three people outside the door.

The Property Manager wore a baseball cap and mask, the skin outside the mask flushed as if boiled. When he saw Jiang Xi, the redness visibly faded back to normal color.

“Owner of this unit, do you need any assistance?”

The two who claimed to be “officials” looked stern.

The man stood closer to the Property Manager, shielding the woman protectively.

His well-defined hand was pressed against the tube on his head, as if he might pull it out at any moment.

When he saw Jiang Xi, he slowly lowered his hand.

The woman looked at her, emotions complicated, with lingering fear: “You—”

Jiang Xi looked at the Property Manager but spoke to the two, “You two, come in.”

“This does not comply with the Rules,” the Property Manager said rigidly.

He scrutinized the two without doubt, the air almost suffocating.

Her home had its own Rules, and the Property Manager had his own Rules.

Jiang Xi thought for a moment. “They are my Guests.”

The Property Manager repeated, “This is not in accordance with the Rules.”

“So?”

The Property Manager didn’t answer, his eyes under the brim of his cap staring dully and stubbornly at Jiang Xi.

Fine.

Jiang Xi leaned against the door, organizing her words, trying to reason with him.

With a hoarse but clear voice, she spoke word by word: “A Guest, invited by the Owner, is allowed to enter the home.”

As if a wild beast had brushed past, the moment the two stepped into 524, a sticky chill crept up their backs.

A middle-aged woman, skin tinged green, her eyes sticky and greedy, locked her gaze on them.

Pei Qing shuddered all over, almost crying out.

Inside the bug nest, those contaminated have a certain chance of turning into Fallen. The Fallen can no longer be considered human—they become the fangs of the “God”, fanatically worshipping “God”.

Most Fallen undergo physical mutations, gaining superhuman abilities, and their minds and thoughts are utterly different from humans.

Pei Qing’s mind went blank.

There was a Fallen here—had they walked right into a trap?

Was Jiang Xi also a Fallen?

Did she lure them in on purpose?

A violent coughing fit interrupted Pei Qing’s thoughts. She instinctively sized up the thin, sickly woman beside her.

Tall, thin, and weak.

She looked terribly ill and skinny, her cheeks sunken, skin pale, and heavy dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept in days.

After letting them in, she hunched over and sat down by herself, coughing so hard it seemed her lungs would burst, looking every bit the image of someone gravely ill and near death.

Her back was nudged.

Pei Qing jumped, and Luo Chenyi, who was standing behind her, gestured with his eyes to the wall beside the door.

A sheet of paper was posted there. At the top, bolded and in black, were two characters: [House Rules].

There were a total of eleven House Rules.

When Pei Qing saw the eleventh one at the bottom, her breathing stopped and her pupils contracted.

[11. Guests invited by the Owner are allowed to enter the home.]

Eight years ago, the “bug nest” suddenly appeared in their world like a leech clinging to Earth.

Any creature caught in the bug nest became food for the nest, nourishing the “egg” at the nest’s energy core.

From the first discovered bug nest, more and more appeared, popping up everywhere like mushrooms after rain.

Almost no one who entered a bug nest ever made it out alive. Fortunately, in the second year after the nests appeared, humanity had a breakthrough.

The first person with Rule Ability appeared.

From then on, Rules descended upon the bug nest.

Rules brought Order, while the bug nest was full of chaos. In the first few years, as long as you followed the Rules inside the bug nest, you could survive and escape.

But after a while, that unspeakable “God” grew stronger, and bug nests around the world evolved, beginning to corrupt the Rules.

Rules could no longer be fully trusted.

Yet within the bug nest, Rules were still the only way out.

Likewise, those with Order Ability became the most sought-after talents by the nation.

There were eleven House Rules posted here, and the eleventh was the very Rule Jiang Xi had just spoken.

[Guests invited by the Owner are allowed to enter the home.]

Only those with Order Ability could modify or create Rules.

The Fallen in this house eyed them hungrily, yet did not attack.

Pei Qing’s heart was filled with suspicion and unease.

“Ha…cough, cough…” The sick woman’s cough was almost soul-rending, as if she wanted to cough her lungs out through her throat.

Not all abilities are beneficial. Any power that exceeds human limits comes at a price. The stronger the ability, the higher the cost.

If this woman was indeed an Order Ability user, then her frailty was likely the result of using her power…

Pei Qing felt complicated, a bitter taste on her tongue. Who exactly was this woman, living together with a Fallen, making it hard for anyone to let down their guard?

If Jiang Xi hadn’t used her ability to create the Rule allowing them to enter, they would have been forced into a fight.

“Ma’am, you…” Pei Qing had just opened her mouth when another fierce coughing fit interrupted her.

Standing behind her, Luo Chenyi suddenly moved, walking to the woman’s side.

Jiang Xi didn’t look up, just happened to see a lean waist in her view.

“Ma’am, how should we address you?” The man’s voice from above carried a calm coldness, like an iceberg beneath the sea.

Jiang Xi glanced up at him.

The man took out an ID from his pocket and showed it to her, then placed a medicine bottle in front of her.

“This is medicine that can ease your symptoms. You can trust me.”

The ID had his photo, the name Luo Chenyi, and his unit was listed as Green Eyebrow.

Jiang Xi glanced at the medicine bottle. There were no instructions on it.

Pei Qing quickly showed her own ID, her unit: Special Administration Bureau.

So they weren’t from the same place.

Seeing Jiang Xi holding the medicine bottle without taking it, Pei Qing gently reassured, “Your cough is very serious… This medicine will help your condition, you can rest assured.”

As she spoke, Jiang Xi’s throat started to itch again, her head throbbing fiercely, as if a saw were cutting through her brain.

She opened the bottle, sniffed it, poured out a capsule, glanced at Luo Chenyi, and swallowed it directly.

As the capsule slid down her throat, the effect was immediate. Jiang Xi felt a warm current flow through her limbs, the pain in her head instantly suppressed, and her throat no longer itched.

It really was good medicine.

Jiang Xi let out a sigh.

“Thank you.” Reluctantly, she handed the medicine bottle back to Luo Chenyi.

“Jiang Xi, that’s my name.”

“Jiang?” Pei Qing was stunned. It was a rare surname.

Jiang Xi slouched against the cabinet, grunting casually, not wanting to move at all.

Her stomach felt so empty.

Luo Chenyi took back the medicine bottle and asked, “Ms. Jiang, may I ask you a few questions?”

Jiang Xi closed her eyes, propped up her head, leaned back against the chair, and slowly lifted her misty black eyes to look at Luo Chenyi.

“Before I answer, there’s one thing I must do.”

Luo Chenyi: “What is it?”

Jiang Xi held her head and called out, “Mom!”

Mother, who had been staring hungrily at the two newcomers, suddenly froze.

“That’s right.” Jiang Xi remembered her Guests, turned to the dazed Pei Qing and Luo Chenyi, and asked, “Have you eaten?”