Chapter 125: Strange Occurrences

Second floor of the apartment building.

Since they were taking the stairs, Fang Tang and his companions decided to ascend floor by floor. Besides, now that they had their suspicions about the seventeenth and eighteenth floors, there was no urgent need to rush the search for the truth.

"The Guardian must be hidden within the undiscovered rules. Everyone, observe carefully; do not let any information pointing toward a rule slip by," Liu Yiran instructed. The seven of them then split into six groups and entered their respective units.

Room 201.

Fang Tang used the key obtained from the duty room to open the door and was instantly stunned upon entering. The room was impeccably clean, as if it had just been tidied, and even the wall clock was still ticking. Standing at the entrance, he narrowed his eyes and scanned the room.

After a long while, his eyes yielded nothing. Fang Tang pondered for a moment and came to an understanding: the hints provided by his eyes were contingent upon him finding clues first. Since he hadn't found any leads yet, his eyes were effectively useless. Well, that was a convenient excuse to cover for his eyes' laziness.

201 was a three-bedroom apartment, quite spacious at over 150 square meters. Each room was decorated warmly, and there was even a nursery. A family portrait hung on the wall, showing a young couple with a son and a daughter, all smiling sweetly. The vegetables in the refrigerator were still fresh, though the freezer compartment was packed with a large amount of meat wrapped in plastic bags. There was nothing strange about it; the apartment was so ordinary that Fang Tang felt a bit suspicious.

"The more ordinary it seems, the more extraordinary it is; the more abnormal it is, the more normal it appears. There must be something here I haven't found yet. If only I had studied criminal investigation; I’d probably be an expert at finding clues," Fang Tang muttered, smacking his lips, and walked into the couple's bedroom.

As soon as he entered, he noticed the computer in the corner. He walked straight over, sat down, and tried to turn it on. The startup music played, and Fang Tang’s eyes lit up. There’s something here!

Just as the computer screen lit up, the image suddenly turned black, and bright red liquid began to ooze from the top of the monitor. Fang Tang touched the liquid, rubbed it between his fingers, and brought it to his nose to sniff. It was undoubtedly blood.

At the moment the computer "bled," the house underwent a transformation, as if it had been suddenly yanked awake from a beautiful dream and forced back into reality. In Fang Tang’s eyes, everything in the room began to decay bit by bit; the photographs yellowed, and edges began to crumble into dust. The bedsheets and duvet covers wrinkled and became covered in thick dust; the nightstand slowly rotted away until it collapsed entirely.

The previous warmth vanished completely, replaced by a crime scene. Fang Tang found three human-shaped outlines drawn in white chalk on the bed—presumably the husband and the two children.

What about the wife?

Fang Tang frowned, rose from a three-legged chair, and walked out of the room. The living room, kitchen, and the other two bedrooms had also reverted to their true state. The living room was splattered with large patches of blood, and the other rooms were soaked in blood and gore, emitting a foul, fishy stench.

"What on earth happened to this family?" Fang Tang couldn't fathom it.

*Thump, thump.*

A knocking sound came from the refrigerator. Fang Tang followed the noise. The refrigerator door was suddenly kicked open, and a head tumbled out, rolling to a stop facing him. Long black hair completely obscured the face, making it impossible to see her features.

"Hehehe..." The head let out a chilling laugh.

With his "Equanimity" ability, Fang Tang just picked at his ear, almost wanting to laugh. He crouched down and brushed the hair away from the face, revealing a pale visage. Based on the contours, it was the missing wife.

"How did you end up stuffed in the freezer?" Fang Tang asked curiously.

"Hehehe..." The woman didn't answer; she just giggled at Fang Tang like a fool.

Fang Tang curled his lip in boredom. "I'm trying to help you. It looks like you were murdered, right? Maybe I can help you get revenge."

"Hehehe..."

Fang Tang: "..." Forget it, waste of breath.

Fang Tang set the head aside and took the bags of meat out of the refrigerator, arranging them piece by piece until he had reconstructed the woman—the corpse of the apartment's mistress. Because so much time had passed, the body emitted a sickening stench that made Fang Tang dizzy. In his dazed state, he saw a beautiful figure smiling kindly at him.

"Hmm?" Fang Tang frowned, fighting back his nausea, and took a deep breath. The figure solidified; it was indeed the mistress from the wedding photo.

"Thank you," the woman bowed slightly to Fang Tang.

Fang Tang waved his hand dismissively and urged, "Spare me the pleasantries. I don't want to breathe this air any longer; I'll probably be unable to eat for days after this. Answer me a few questions: how did you die, what happened to your family, and what is going on with this apartment building?"

The woman offered an apologetic smile and spoke slowly: "The outside world fell into chaos. Over eighty percent of the world's population disappeared overnight. Nearby neighborhoods emptied out inexplicably, leaving only our apartment building with no losses.

"But the atmosphere of the apocalypse weighed on everyone's hearts. During a group outing to scavenge for food, we encountered a monster. It was incredibly powerful, and we suffered heavy losses. The survivors returned and completely sealed off the apartment building; no one was allowed to leave.

"As the days passed, being trapped in the building for so long, combined with dwindling food supplies, led to riots. A man named Wang Gang wanted to rule the building by force. Everyone else agreed, except for my husband and me. To maintain his position, Wang Gang wanted to lay his hands on me. My husband tried to protect me and was brutally beaten by Wang Gang, and my two children were killed.

"In the end, I was ravished by that beast and ended up like this. I don't understand—we never wished harm on anyone, yet we ended up like this. When I finally came to, I found myself dismembered, and I had no way to take revenge."

The woman wept as she recounted what had happened in the building. Hearing this, Fang Tang could only offer a word of comfort: "The cycles of karma are impartial; perhaps that Wang Gang is already dead."

The woman just sobbed, unaware if she had even heard him. Seeing her figure beginning to blur, Fang Tang asked urgently, "Do you know of any other strange occurrences in this building?"

"Before the massive disappearances, several children in the building went missing for no reason. Some people said they heard children crying on the seventeenth and eighteenth floors..."

Before the woman could finish, Fang Tang interrupted, "I know about that. Anything else? Something like the deadly elevator, or other strange things?"

"Yes. Every night, everyone in the building has the same nightmare. Regardless of the content, everyone dreams the same thing. Does that count as strange?" the woman asked uncertainly.

"It counts," Fang Tang nodded. "Anything else?"

"There is also a legend about a 'Heavenly Mezzanine.' It’s said that between the fifth and sixth floors, there is a hidden level filled with all kinds of food. That place is heaven; several families have managed to get food from there."