Chapter 86 Nightmare Community

With the help of the burnt fried egg, Xu Zhiyan successfully obtained the spare key and property certificate of 1402.

The price he paid was that he swore that he would always add oil and fry eggs slowly over low heat.

However, as a well-educated and very frugal modern young man, he felt that although the fried egg was burnt, it was still edible.

"How about you try some? I think Xu Xiaohua eats well."

Xu Zhiyan pushed the plate forward, trying to get Bai Jin to digest the fried egg.

Wasting food will result in poverty and starvation as retribution.

He is not afraid of having no food, but he is afraid of poverty.

"No."

Bai Jin closed his eyes with a look of pain and turned his head, refusing to cooperate.

"You're quite a picky eater."

Xu Zhiyan scratched his hair, speechless.

This guy didn't react so much when he was trapped by him, now it's just a burnt fried egg.

In line with the principle of not wasting anything, Xu Zhiyan used a fork to pick out the burnt parts and ate the fried egg in front of Bai Jin.

Bai Jin looked at his expression while eating, and it was as if the sweet human in front of him had evolved into a monster on the spot. Even the towel was not as stiff as before.

What a pleasant surprise.

Xu Zhiyan thought, it would be nice if this fried egg wasn’t so unpalatable.

However, can we make use of this attribute of the other party?

Take the property deed and keys.

The time came to eight o'clock in the morning.

As usual, Xu Zhiyan forwarded the takeaway order to Chu Fei, then ran to Bai Jin's closet and took out a black coat.

Go back upstairs.

After agreeing with Xu Xiaohua that he would come back to cook at noon, he quickened his pace and walked out the door in the desperate eyes of his adopted daughter.

When he got downstairs, Xu Zhiyan was much happier after confirming that Bai Jin's clothes, as a product of the copy, could also keep him warm.

This way his uniform jacket can be freed up for the next chosen delivery man.

The second-hand housing transaction center is deserted.

I don’t know if it’s because there are too many haunted houses in this neighborhood or if it’s the off-season.

Not many people need to replace their houses in the near future.

When Xu Zhiyan walked in, the salesmen in the trading center were standing in front of the water dispenser, chatting idly.

When the salesperson who had received Xu Zhiyan three days ago saw the visitor, he was so shocked that he was speechless.

He quickly found the manager and asked the person to leave.

In the reception room.

Xu Zhiyan shook the keys and property certificate in his hand with a stern face, his tone heavy.

"I stayed there for three days. There were serious problems inside. If I hadn't kept a backup plan, I would have died there."

When the manager and the salesperson saw the property certificate, cold sweat instantly broke out on their bodies and they nodded like chickens pecking at rice.

"Master, do you think this problem can be solved?" the salesperson asked nervously.

What kind of haunted house sleep tester? The salesperson felt that the person in front of him was a master with super powers who could deal with evil spirits and ghosts.

The manager also reacted and asked quickly: "Can this house be sold... I hope no more people die."

Xu Zhiyan nodded, although he really wanted to extort more money.

But if the problem of the haunted house is really solved, won’t he have no place to live?

So the house certainly cannot be sold.

But before that, he wanted to get some other information.

"Who is Bai Jin?"

"The ghost I met in there said his name was Bai Jin, but the name on the property certificate was not Bai."

When he just got the property certificate, Xu Zhiyan asked Bai Jin, but the other party didn't seem to know much and only remembered what happened after he lived in the house.

He pointed at the name on the property certificate, stared at the two people in front of him, and began to lie with his eyes open.

Before seeing the blood vessels, Xu Zhiyan always thought that Bai Jin might be a creature without a physical body and might not be visible.

But the final scene was very strange.

No change in appearance... and that cold body.

Hearing the name, the manager and the salesperson looked at each other with strange expressions.

"Mr. Bai is a very famous artist, and his paintings are very valuable."

"Mr. Bai is very talented, has a wide range of interests and is very successful in design."

As he spoke, the manager stood up, took out a magazine from the drawer of the cabinet in the reception room, and spread it out on the coffee table.

Inside are some architectural photography.

Among them, there is a red building that looks like it is made of liquid substance, and Bai Jin’s name is added in the designer column below.

In the photo, the dark red liquid made of steel bars and concrete tightly wrapped around the gloomy building, as if it was going to swallow up the entire building.

The design of the building is also very appropriate, with a corner that is deliberately pinched.

The whole photo inexplicably conveys a wild sense of oppression, and it is almost hard to breathe just looking at it.

Xu Zhiyan glanced at the name.

Eating

Well, it's interesting, but I don't know why it's impressive.

He has no artistic talent and cannot tell what deeper meaning the other party is expressing, but the visual effect alone is enough to make people amazed.

The manager flipped through a few more pages and continued his introduction.

"Mr. Bai is from this city. The developer approached him to help with the design."

"Was this community designed by Bai Jin?" Xu Zhiyan exclaimed.

The few photographs I just glanced at, plus the paintings I saw in 1402, all have a style of madness and despair.

The buildings in this community are buildings and the roads are roads. They look very normal and don't seem like they have a perverted design.

The manager shook his head quickly.

"How can that be possible? For a famous artist like Mr. Bai, the price of just designing the sculpture for the central pool would be enough to make the developer pay."

Xu Zhiyan frowned and nodded.

He knew the central pool.

It is located in the very center of the Meimeng community.

He had passed by it several times before on his electric bike and had taken a few glances at the sculpture in the middle.

The sculpture was a red ball wrapped with many threads. At first he thought it was made of electric wires.

However, thinking of 1402's blood vessels and Bai Jin's unrestrained style, Xu Zhiyan smacked his lips.

So it’s a sculpture related to blood vessels?

At this point, the manager sighed.

"But Mr. Bai has been dead for more than 20 years. If you really saw Mr. Bai's soul there, it is possible."

“…”

Xu Zhiyan's hand that was reaching for the cup paused. Twenty years?

The salesperson and the manager didn't notice anything unusual about Xu Zhiyan and were still discussing Bai Jin's work.

“The Last Dream is indeed a great work. Whenever I pass by the central pool, I will stop for a while.”

"That's right! Every time I see the sculpture, I feel refreshed and find the right path in life."

"What a pity, such a great artist..."

Xu Zhiyan simply couldn't keep up with the pace of the two people's flattery.

"Haha, yes, yes, yes."

He agreed awkwardly, thinking, isn't it just a wire ball painted red?

However, after hearing what passersby said, he thought that the electric wire ball might have other implications and uses, so he thought about finding an opportunity to dismantle it another day.

In order to prevent the two from making some over-interpretation such as "Why are the curtains blue", Xu Zhiyan quickly changed the topic away from the sculpture.

"So how did Mr. Bai die?"

He was a little concerned.

Can slices also die, like in the blind school?

Moreover, he had heard the time point of twenty years many times when he interacted with other NPCs.

The Meimeng Community was built more than 20 years ago. Although the business owners did not give the exact year, many of them always said, "I have been working here for 20 years."

The manager and the salesperson became a little nervous after hearing this question.

Sure enough, more than 20 years ago, Bai Jin died in the lobby of Room 1402, Building 167.

It is said that Room 1402 was renovated by the developer and given to Bai Jin.

Later, Bai Jin bought the tenth floor and above of the building at his own expense.

A few days after "The Last Dream" was installed, Bai Jin died there inexplicably.

The manager is old and has a lot of experience. He experienced this incident back then and is still frightened.

"The police searched the entire room but could not find the cause of Mr. Bai's death. They could only classify it as suicide and the case was left unresolved."

"Then the house returned to the developer, and it kept going around in their hands but couldn't be sold."

Thinking that the master in front of him might be able to solve their problem, the manager felt like he had grabbed a life-saving straw.

"This house has been here on and off for twenty years. Whenever something happens to this house, several people die."

"We don't know any more information."

With the NPC's interpretation, the comments also began to express admiration.

[Fuck, this perverted artist is something! ]

[Hiss——that architectural design is so fucking oppressive! ]

[What kind of all-round genius is this! ]

[When I looked at the painting, I didn't think there was anything special about it. It felt dark. But when I saw the building and the sculpture, I realized that this is truly an artist! ]

[What do you mean by looking at a painting and not feeling anything? I am dying of laughter. That perverted painting is also awesome, whether it is the structure or the light and shadow, they are all awesome, okay? ]

[Bullshit, anything I don’t understand is garbage, OK? ]

【What kind of brain circuit...】

[Just have a fight, don't argue here. ]

[@Reviewer, can you please remove the quarrel? It is annoying to watch. ]

Xu Zhiyan didn't know that the audience in his live broadcast room were arguing about Bai Jin's artwork.

By the time he came out of the second-hand housing transaction center, it was already noon.

The reward of three thousand yuan arrived smoothly.

Needless to say, the people at the transaction center said that if the house couldn't be sold, then forget it, and they would not take anyone to see the house in the future.

Standing on the commercial street, Xu Zhiyan saw Chu Fei.

Delivery boy number one works very hard.

It was the busy noon time. Chu Fei was carrying six takeout bags in both hands. He didn't even have time to say hello to Xu Zhiyan. He hurriedly rode on his electric scooter and sprinted out.

Seeing this, Xu Zhiyan took out the panel and took a look.

After Chu Fei exerted his full strength, he would have enough correct time even if he did not do night missions, but it would be a little tight.

The cash available now has reached three thousand six hundred yuan.

With enough money and time, and the problems of stable housing and perversion solved, Xu Zhiyan felt at ease.

The vegetable market is behind the commercial street.

Although there were a lot of semi-finished foods piled up in the kitchen of Room 1402, Xu Zhiyan couldn't help feeling a little overwhelmed when he thought that Bai Jin had been dead for so many years and these things might have been stored for more than 20 years.

He casually bought some vegetables that looked good and was not in a hurry to go home.

Wandering to the central pool.

Xu Zhiyan looked carefully at the red electric ball supported by six Roman columns in the center...the last beautiful dream.

Maybe it's true that I haven't awakened to the string related to art.

He looked around for a while but didn't think the sculpture was anything amazing.

But compared with his own perception, he found that the residents in the community had some changes after seeing the sculpture.

An old man with crutches was pulling a small vegetable cart, and he had obviously just bought some vegetables.

When she came over, her expression was very heavy, as if she had encountered some difficulties, but after staring at the sculpture for a while, she suddenly relaxed her expression.

The old man who was buying groceries was much more nimble when he left.

Xu Zhiyan was keenly aware of the impact of this sculpture on the people in the community.

He simply carried the vegetables to a secluded place and observed quietly.

Later, a few more passers-by passed by the central pool.

Since it was a weekday, most of the people there were elderly people and children who did not need to work.

When naughty children who don't go to school come near here, they will become more restrained and stop making noise. They will just look around and leave.

Some older people will stare at the sculpture for three to ten minutes.

After watching it, their expressions would be much more relaxed than before, as if they had been redeemed and forgiven, and then they would leave one after another.

Xu Zhiyan thought for a moment and decided to come back for a look when there were more people after get off work.

In fact, according to the rules, it is safer during the day, and we should observe here for a while longer.

But now, he had to go back.

Because the adopted daughter triggered a new task.

[Congratulations to the player for triggering the parent-child mission! ]

[Task: Please go home immediately and prepare a loving lunch]

[Reward: Fatherly Love +5]

[Note: Please pay attention to the time, your daughter is growing and needs to be fed a lot. ]

[Hint: She is almost too hungry to bear it, and your favorability is decreasing. ]

There is no reward for correct timing.

Xu Zhiyan slapped his forehead with a serious expression.

I almost forgot that there is a bottomless pit at home waiting to be fed.

Bai Jin had been taking care of the child before, and he did a good job of raising the child. He just let the child do what he wanted.

Now that the person was sealed, he had to speed up and go back to cook for himself.

He should have known that he should have prepared some food that Xiaohua could easily reach after making breakfast, but he had no experience and actually forgot about it.

After finishing cooking, be sure to ask the system when the control props can be transmitted over.

Not to mention other uses, just putting Bai Jin in the house and letting him take care of the children is enough.

1402, in the living room.

Xu Xiaohua lay on the still life table motionless, only her mouth was moving and she was mumbling something.

"I'm starving, I'm starving, I'm starving, I'm starving..."

She regretted that she had disliked her father's cooking in the morning, and she didn't dare to say that she was not full.

"Woo, woo, woo, I'm so hungry."

The little girl rolled over on the velvet cloth and lay face down.

"I'm so hungry, so hungry, so hungry..."

After just a few minutes, she felt her stomach was burning and she wanted to bite her arm.

Thinking this in her mind, Xu Xiaohua did just that.

She jumped off the stage and mustered up the courage to raise her arms. She didn't know if it was because of hunger that made her think faster.

Xu Xiaohua suddenly remembered that during breakfast, her father carried a plate and walked towards the secret door in the corridor.

Since Dad is an adult and doesn’t eat breakfast, does that mean that that black plate of breakfast should still be there!

Her eyes suddenly lit up and she ran towards the secret door.

“Squeak—”

When he heard the sound of the door being pushed open, Bai Jin thought Xu Zhiyan had returned.

It had calmed down from its desperate breakfast in the morning.

But when it turns around, it seems not to be the case?

Xu Xiaohua pushed the door open a crack, and before she looked inside, she felt a familiar sense of oppression.

It's the scary uncle!

She got nervous, shrank back out of the door, and was about to leave immediately.

Unexpectedly, someone inside the door called her.

"Xiaohua? Is that you?"

"Bang!"

Xu Xiaohua closed the door even faster.

How terrifying! She had always thought this scary uncle was scary.

“…”

Bai Jin paused. He didn't expect this kid to be so disrespectful. All the preparations he had prepared in advance were useless.

But hearing no footsteps, it tried shouting.

"Are you still there? Can you do your uncle a favor..." like taking off the jars on your body or something like that.

After a long time, so long that Bai Jin thought Xu Xiaohua had left, a little girl's muffled voice came from outside the door.

"Do you want to be my mother?"

After shouting, Xu Xiaohua didn't dare to listen to the answer and ran away in her slippers.

Bai Jin, who was left in the room, felt a little desperate.

"……Mother?"

What is going on?

It thought its prey was unique enough, but it didn't expect the gifts it brought were also so strange.

Bai Jin was puzzled.

This can only be blamed on Xu Zhiyan leading the child astray.

1:30 pm.

When Xu Zhiyan rushed back to Room 1402, he was kicked by Xu Xiaohua.

"Woo woo woo daddy!"

"I don't want a mom!"

"Mother?"

Xu Zhiyan was stunned, with a lot of questions in his mind.

But seeing that the child was about to cry, he could only comfort him first.

"Okay, okay, I don't want mommy, I don't want mommy, I don't want anything."

But when Xu Xiaohua heard this, she burst into tears.

"But without mom, I can't go to school, wuwuwuwu... Dad, go to school..."

Hearing this, Xu Zhiyan touched Xu Xiaohua's head to comfort her and called up the control panel.

"What do you think about what Xiaohua wants to do? Dad will listen to Xiaohua, okay?"

[Name: Xu Xiaohua]

【Age: 4 (not in school)】

[Favorability: 68]

After multiple feedings.

The favorability between the two is almost reaching seventy.

He has been controlling Xu Xiaohua's favorability all along. The reason he didn't increase it was because he was worried that new tasks would appear after the favorability was full.

It seems that this so-called "going to school" is the problem he will face in the next stage.

Xu Zhiyan did not forget that this was a punishment copy.

At present, it seems that all players, no matter how powerful they are, must first solve their own food and clothing.

It seemed that apart from him and Gan Mi, everyone else was in dire straits.

There are pros and cons.

Being able to take the lead in a copy is inherently advantageous.

But the disadvantages are also very obvious.

It is impossible to get enough information from other players, and everything has to be explored by yourself.

The reason I didn’t choose to look for Gan Mi today was that he didn’t look hungry.

It is not a wise choice to trade with another merchant when you cannot provide enough benefits.

Xu Zhiyan sighed deeply.

He took out a chicken leg from the bag in his hand and finally coaxed the crying little girl into silence.

Lunch was still terrible.

But with Bai Jin's teaching in the morning about slow frying over low heat, Xu Zhiyan's cooking skills improved qualitatively - the stew did not get burnt.

Xu Xiaohua had an expression that said "not even a dog would eat this" and angrily stuffed the stew into her mouth.

Several randomly selected vegetables were washed, dried, chopped, and simmered on low heat for an hour until they were soft.

In addition, the new chef was not sensitive to seasonings and put a little bit of everything in, making the taste of this pot of vegetable stew become weird.

Fortunately, Xu Zhiyan had some knowledge of his cooking skills and was not short of money, so he brought back some roasted chicken legs.

The father and daughter had a very happy afternoon together.

By the time we finished lunch, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

Xu Zhiyan took out all the fruits in the refrigerator and all the edible snacks in the cupboard and placed them in visible places throughout the house.

He squatted down and looked directly at Xu Xiaohua, then stuffed a whole can of beef jerky into his daughter's arms.

"If dad comes home late in the future, you can find something to eat by yourself."

"Okay, Dad!"

Xu Xiaohua almost shed tears of emotion.

Lunch was terrible!

She decided to finish the snacks first so that she wouldn't have to eat pig food at night.

Seeing that Xu Xiaohua was full and satisfied, Xu Zhiyan finally felt relieved.

He quickly went downstairs through the secret door.

When he saw Bai Jin, he subconsciously nodded and greeted him, and without waiting for the other party to respond, he put his hand into the pottery jar.

"When will the prop transmission channel be established?"

He is dying.

I didn’t know how hard it was to take care of a child before. Xu Xiaohua has a big appetite, and cooking two meals today almost exhausted him to death.

But current conditions do not allow him to take his children out to restaurants every day.

Seeing the painful expression on his adopted daughter's face after she finished eating, Xu Zhiyan was very worried that she would go crazy if she continued eating.

The 24-hour standby safe house system immediately became operational.

[Creating! It will take about two days! Please wait patiently! ]

"Two days, not bad..."

Xu Zhiyan let out a long sigh.

At worst, he could let these two go during the day, concentrate on cooking for Xu Xiaohua, and continue exploring at night.

Bai Jin couldn't help feeling a little jealous when he saw the young man coming in and only focusing on communicating with the things in the jar, completely ignoring him.

"How was your day?"

It tries to communicate with each other.

Xu Zhiyan also became much friendlier towards this slice that had completely lost its lethality.

"Well, thanks to you, the lunch dishes didn't get burnt."

“…”

When he heard about cooking, Bai Jin thought of the fried eggs he had made in the morning and turned off the fire immediately.

I can’t even remember what topic I was planning to talk about just now!

Xu Zhiyan didn't notice anything unusual about the other party.

He looked around and made sure there were no collections of works here, so he wanted to ask about "The Last Dream".

But he hasn't spoken yet.

The panel next to me started jumping around like crazy.

First there is a special color copy broadcast.

[It has been detected that a player (1) has completed the main goal of the first stage. After 24 hours, the Nightmare Community will enter a new stage! ]

A bad feeling came over me.

Xu Zhiyan's face was serious as he opened the pop-up window on his panel.

[Congratulations to the player for successfully raising the daughter's favorability to 100! ]

[Congratulations to the player for triggering a new stage mission! ]

It turned out that the can of beef jerky was of such high quality that after Xu Xiaohua finished it all, her favorability rating instantly reached the maximum.

[Task: Send my daughter to kindergarten]

[Note: Your daughter's condition has stabilized and she is about to enter a new stage of life. Please work hard to make money and give your child a better life. ]

[Tip: Parents will be required to sign together when the child is admitted to the kindergarten. Please find a suitable NPC as soon as possible (the system has arranged it for you, please ask the other party to cooperate as soon as possible)]

[Tip: You can get the admission instructions at the kindergarten (please prepare enough money)]

[Progress: 0%]

"…What about the reward? Is there no correct time?"

Xu Zhiyan was horrified.

However, the system completely ignored him.

Just when Xu Zhiyan thought that he was going to die on the spot because of no reward, he heard the call of the safe house system.

[Host! Slices seem to have new notes!]

“…”

Xu Zhiyan took a deep breath and turned his gaze to Bai Jin.

The half-naked artist was pinned to the bed by a pottery jar, unable to move, and his expression changed from a little weird to a half-smile.

And above its head, a new frame appeared.

【Mother】

"???"

Xu Zhiyan felt like he was about to collapse.