Chapter 75 Imperial Apartment 2
The Dihao Apartment and the Jiahao Shopping Mall in front of it were allocated the same piece of land. Originally, the apartment was supposed to be a podium building of the shopping mall. The developer may have anticipated that Datai City could not support such a large shopping mall, so he enclosed an area of the land and built the Dihao Apartment.
When Dihao Apartments was being sold, one of the major promotions was that it was close to a shopping mall and provided convenient living.
After many years, being close to the shopping mall became a disadvantage of the Dihao Apartment. This small apartment building with only 11 floors is blocked from sunlight by the shopping mall and office building in front. There is a lot of rain in Datai City, and they don’t know how dark and damp the apartment building is. Anyway, the garbage outside has been soaked and rotten, and the stench is terrible.
"Damn! Why doesn't the gaming authority clean it up!" A male player waved the air in front of him, but soon found that he couldn't get rid of the stench. He was already surrounded by the stench, and in annoyance he blocked his nose with his sleeve.
After Ye Jiyue apologized to everyone, she said, "This will reduce the number of ordinary people approaching."
"Yes, no one would go near a garbage dump. It would only reduce the workload of your Tourism Bureau." The man said sarcastically.
Lin Xiang mocked, "You paid taxes for the Tourism Administration or something, so what does the Tourism Administration owe you? If you can do it, go ahead."
Xia Bai: “…”
It can be seen that he is very depressed.
When the male player looked at him fiercely, Lin Xiang immediately said, "I am a healing player. Fighting a healing player is something that all players despise."
Xia Bai: “…”
The urge is not too serious.
The woman that Xia Bai felt was a little strange stood up and said, "Stop arguing, it's nothing serious, let's go in quickly, won't it stop smelling after we enter the game?"
"Who knows what it's like inside the game? It might be even stinkier inside than outside. Damn, I regret taking this game." The man cursed as he stepped on the stinky water and entered the apartment building.
Ling Changye smiled and said to Ye Jiyue: "Don't mind, go back to the car and wait, it's dirty here."
Ye Jiyue immediately returned to the car with gratitude.
Xia Bai and the others also walked into the apartment.
The apartment was dark, as expected, and there was no electricity.
It's not time to play the game yet, and they're not sure whether the entrance to the game is the entire apartment building or just a certain floor. The group climbs the elevator floor by floor holding flashlights to observe.
When they climbed to the ninth floor, they wanted to go to the tenth floor, but they couldn't go any further.
Game locked state.
We are all old players, and we are all familiar with the process. We are waiting on the ninth floor for the lock-in state to end.
"Would you like to take this opportunity to introduce yourself to each other?" the beautiful woman said, "Now that we know each other, at least we know each other's names. That will make things easier in the game, right? I'll go first. My name is Qian Xing."
Lin Xiang whispered in Xia Bai's ear, "I saw that the group was so quiet and cold, and I thought it was all a group of indifferent people, but I didn't expect there was such a warm person."
The woman seemed to have heard Lin Xiang's muttering and turned to look over.
Lin Xiang immediately said: "Hello everyone, my name is Lin Xiang, the older ones can call me Xiangzi, the younger ones can call me Brother Lin."
Xia Bai followed up and said, "My name is Xia Bai."
Yang Mei also said: "My name is Yang Mei."
After they finished talking, everyone else looked over. Xia Bai felt that they were mainly looking at the big star Yang Mei.
Following their lead, others also said their names, with varying attitudes.
"Yes, yes, that's right. We should help each other in the game." The beautiful woman named Qian Xing smiled and nodded repeatedly.
The more Xia Bai looked at her, the stranger she felt, but he couldn't tell what was strange. When he looked at Qian Xing, Qian Xing suddenly turned her head.
Xia Bai quickly looked away.
Unfortunately, after the brief introduction, the atmosphere fell silent again.
Qian Xing looked left and right, sighed, and sat down.
In silence, they waited for the sound of the game system.
[The game is restarting...]
[The game has been restarted, and the normal map Dihao Apartment has been refreshed. Welcome everyone to Dihao Apartment. 】
[Emgrand Apartments seems to be forgotten by the world, but the residents here are working hard and living seriously. Welcome everyone to stay in Emgrand Apartments and feel the atmosphere of life here. The room has been prepared for everyone. I wish you all a happy life. 】
【Welcome, corpse collector Xia Bai. 】
This time the system prompts were not like in Wugu Village, which made the main storyline clear. It was the same as Xia Baijin’s first game, Peace Medical College. That game allowed them to appreciate the beautiful story of Peace Medical College, while this game allowed everyone to feel the everyday life of Dihao Apartments.
In either case, just tell them it's a normal map.
No matter whether an ordinary map is clear or vague, no matter whether it is fancy or simple, its essence is to find the truth.
After the system sound disappeared, a low-wattage incandescent lamp appeared in the dark corridor, dimly illuminating the dirty and messy corridor.
The corridor was even messier than when they first came in, and even messier than the Dihao Apartment in reality. It was piled with a lot of household garbage, garlic sprouts grown in iron boxes, broken bicycles, sacrificial items, and even a large cat cage.
There was a skinny milky white cat in the cage. The cat food in the bowl had not been changed for who knows how long, and it had grown hair. The kitten stepped on the scattered cat food grains and looked at them quietly.
“You’re here!”
A slender man ran over from the end of the corridor. He liked to lift his pointed chin when he spoke. "Come with me. I tell you, this apartment is usually not rented for a few days. It starts from a month. If you hadn't said you were here to travel on a budget, I wouldn't have rented it to you for five days. It wouldn't have been enough trouble."
Their gaming time is five days, but actually it should be less than five days. If it is a short-term rental for five days, they should be required to check out at 12 noon or before one or two in the afternoon, just like hotels and B&Bs.
Sure enough, the man took them to the upper floor, which was the second floor of the Dihao Apartment in the game, and gave them a few keys. He said, "It's so cheap, don't ask for anything. Remember to leave before 12 noon on the 7th."
The key has the doorman's number on it, and there are seven keys in total.
Seeing the man was about to leave, Lin Xiang asked, "Brother, if anything happens, how can we find you?"
"What are you looking for? I told you, there is no service at such a cheap price!" said the man.
"How dare we ask you to serve us? I mean, if we want to consume something..." Lin Xiang hesitated to speak.
The man's attitude improved after hearing what he said. He said, "Come to the security office at the door to find me. If you're hungry, there's fast food on the first floor."
"Keep a low profile." The man reminded them before leaving.
There were 13 of them in total, and there were seven rooms, so one person wanted to stay in one room.
If you travel on weekdays, many people may scramble to stay in a single room, but this is a horror game. There may be ghosts or other evil things in this gloomy and dilapidated apartment building, so it is not so good to stay in a single room alone.
Qian Xing looked around, as if he could see what everyone was thinking, "I want to live in a room by myself, is that okay?"
Since she brought it up, naturally no one would compete with her for it.
Xia Bai and his friends got two keys, one for room 202 and one for room 206. The rooms the man gave them were not next to each other, nor were they all on the same floor.
Xia Bai held a key in each hand, "How do we divide it?"
"Let's just stay in one room." Lin Xiang said, "Just like the last game."
Xia Bai glanced at him and said, "Actually, you can also live in the same room with Yang Mei."
Lin Xiang: “…”
"Ah?" Yang Mei went from being surprised to seeming to understand something, "Ah~"
"Lin Xiang, let's live in the same room." He hugged Lin Xiang's arm, "Xia Bai and the captain are going to be partners, so of course we should try to live together in advance."
“…”
Lin Xiang was so stiff that he couldn't speak.
Xia Bai also felt that there was something wrong with what Yang Mei said. He had already been immersed in the Lover Card.
Ling Changye casually took the key to Room 206 from Xia Bai and threw it to Lin Xiang like a bundle, "Thank you for taking care of Yang Mei."
Seeing this, Xia Bai grabbed the key to Room 202 and went to the room with Ling Changye.
Lin Xiang: “…”
Wait, no one asked his opinion?
Lin Xiang hurriedly followed them.
Xia Bai and Ling Changye turned to look at him at the same time.
Lin Xiang said, "It's only five or six o'clock. Shouldn't we go to bed now? The four of us are here to discuss the game. Are we just going to sleep without caring about anything tonight?"
That makes sense. Xia Bai opened the door and looked to the side when he was about to go in.
Lin Xiang also looked in the direction he was looking. The door of Room 204 next to them had opened a crack at some point, and a pair of eyes were staring at them through the crack. The eyes were cloudy and dry, and emitted a faint light in the dim environment.
"Ah!" Lin Xiang was so scared that he immediately hid behind Xia Bai.
"You old bastard, you're peeping again!" A cute scolding voice came from the stairs.
The four of them turned around and saw a charming woman wearing a leopard print halter dress, bright red lips, and corn-curled hair standing at the stairs.
"Handsome guys, I live in room 303 upstairs and run a beauty salon. If you need anything, come to me anytime. I will give you a big discount." She said with a giggle.
"Okay." Ling Changye said with a smile: "Looking at the boss lady's hairstyle, I know you have good skills."
The proprietress stared at him for a few more seconds, watching him smile so hard that his body shook uncontrollably. "Hey, handsome guy, why are you so sweet? If you come, I'll give it to you for free, okay?"
Before Ling Changye could say anything, he saw a gloomy man carrying two plastic bags of noodles coming up from the first floor and said to the lady boss, "Aren't you hungry? Do you still have the energy to come down and talk to people?"
"You're just too slow!" The lady boss seemed like a different person, and said to the man in a harsh voice, "You're so slow even when buying noodles, how can you be so useless!"
The man slowly lowered his head, his rough and swollen hands tightly clenching the thin plastic bag.
"You must come." As they went upstairs, the proprietress said to them with a sweet smile.
Ling Changye smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay."
After the proprietress and the man went upstairs, they looked at the person behind the crack of the door next door. From what the proprietress said, it was an old man who loved to peep.
Lin Xiang thought to himself, Grandpa, your peeping posture is even scarier than Song Mingliang's.
Seeing that they were all looking at him, the old man snorted coldly and slammed the door shut. "Annoying!"
“…”
He seems so reasonable.
Only then did Xia Bai push open the door.
The man told them that the room was cheap and they didn't need to make any requests. Maybe he was trying to warn them that the room was really very, very cheap.
A musty and corrupt smell wafted towards me. With the light from outside the corridor, I could see that it was a one-bedroom apartment. The kitchen was at the door and the induction cooker was piled with household garbage. Looking up, I saw a double sofa and a bed. The sheets and quilt cover on the bed were dirty even in such dim light.
Xia Bai reached for the light switch and pressed it.
There is no electricity.
“…”
The four of them had never lived in such a bad room in their four lives. Although they had slept in a six-person room in "Idol 404", that room at least had electricity and light.
Ling Changye walked into the room, drew open the curtains, and opened the only window in the room. The light from outside shone in, making the room brighter.
"No, no matter how bad it is, we still have to have electricity, right?" Lin Xiang always stayed in five-star hotels when he went out to play, but he was not a spoiled person. He would be very happy to sleep at Xia Bai's house for a night, but this time he really couldn't bear it.
Xia Bai raised the water tap and said, "There's no water yet."
“…”
Xia Bai felt that the most unbearable person should be the one who had to change clothes during the game mission. He turned to look at Ling Changye and saw that he was spraying perfume.
He didn't know where he got so many magical perfumes from, and the room became fresh and smelling good in seconds. It seemed that all the musty and rotten smells were decomposed into the scent of the forest.
Lin Xiang was immediately attracted, "Captain Ling, what brand of perfume is this? Where did you buy it from?"
Yang Mei said to him enthusiastically, "There is a player in the Tourism Management Bureau who has a skill related to fragrance. The perfumes and aromatherapy he makes with his skill are amazing. Not only do they smell good, but they also have different effects. It only costs tens or even hundreds of millions of points to customize a bottle."
Lin Xiang: "...Goodbye."
Yang Mei leaned closer to him, "Do you want it? I'll give it to you."
Lin Xiang: “…”
I almost forgot that this person is ranked first in the standings.
It's a really novel experience.
Lin Xiang used to be someone who gave away luxury gifts casually, but this was the first time he was given a gift and experienced what it felt like to be poor.
But how could he let Yang Mei send him off?
Even though he is a boy now, when he was still wearing women's clothes, Lin Xiang had already made a two-page list of gifts for him.
He stiffly changed the subject, "There's only one bed in the room."
"It's normal that there is only one bed. This place was not originally a hotel or a B&B. Maybe the security guard secretly rented it to us for a short period of time without the knowledge of the room owner to make money." Ling Changye said while looking out the window.
The two walked over and looked out through the slightly narrow window.
Similar to the real Dihao Apartment, the area surrounding this Dihao Apartment in the game is also very prosperous, with colorful neon lights flashing ambiguously outside. Not far ahead is a very tall building, but there is only one.
Lin Xiang said: "It seems to be 20 or 20 years ago? Weren't the buildings relatively short at that time? The concept of residential quarters had just been introduced?"
Ling Changye nodded, "It should be. Our apartment building only has five floors. This apartment is different from the apartments of our time. It may just be a trendy name, a name given in an effort to keep up with the times."
Yes, their apartment building is the most dilapidated one in the surrounding area, like a slum left behind by modernization, but when it was first built, it was probably the most dazzling building of its generation.
Lin Xiang looked around carefully and said, "It looks like a family building, the kind of family building allocated by factories in that era, but this one looks more like a dormitory building for unmarried single workers."
Ling Changye: "As expected, he is the young master of a well-known real estate company."
Lin Xiang chuckled and looked at the security room at the door downstairs. "I guess this place and the building in front originally belonged to a factory. Later, the land in front was built into a new building. I don't know why this dormitory building was not demolished and has been preserved."
"The dormitories are so old and dilapidated now that many people have moved out. Those who are still here are in financial difficulty and cannot move out."
Xia Bai nodded, "Few people come here anymore, so the security guards secretly rent out the vacant houses for short periods of time to make money. They're afraid that the owners will find out, so they won't provide water and electricity?"
"That may be the case." Ling Changye said, "He said he was not happy with the short-term rental, but in fact he was eager for us to leave quickly."
Yang Mei: "In that case, we are like the rats in the room."
“…”
Lin Xiang said, "Won't the people in this apartment building tell the owner?"
Ling Changye said: "Maybe people here think we rented the house from the landlord. Some of them secretly got the room at a low price from the security guard like us, and some are like the lady boss on the second floor who hopes someone will take care of her business."
"Yeah." Lin Xiang said, "Maybe he got some benefits."
Seeing the security guard looking at this side with dissatisfaction, Ling Changye closed the window.
The room suddenly became much darker.
Xia Bai turned on his cell phone and used it to light the room.
Lin Xiang said, "Let's talk about what we found. I feel like there must be ghosts or evil spirits in this apartment. Did you see a lot of offerings in the corridor? They are piled together like a small altar. Do they believe in some weird evil spirit?"
Xia Bai added a detail, "Just now when the old man next door opened his room, I smelled the smell of incense. He might have burned incense in his room."
"Then can we..." Lin Xiang said.
"You want to see his room?" Ling Changye said as he stood up and shone his cell phone on the wall opposite the bed.
"Shit!" Lin Xiang was shocked again when he saw the hole there.
Ling Changye smiled and said, "Our room was seen clearly first."
"We can't be watched for nothing. In this case, let's drill a hole and look through." Xia Bai said with a dull face.
The eyes in the hole immediately moved away and soon turned into an old man's mouth, which made a "pah" shape towards them and immediately moved away.
“…”
Xia Bai's earthworm arms have grown out.
“…”
Lin Xiang hurriedly pulled him back, "This little broken building can't stand a blow from you."
Ling Changye said: "Let him drill a hole. It would be a waste if you don't take a look."
Xia Bai's earthworm arms shrank a little, "Should I make sure where the load-bearing wall is?"
Lin Xiang: "...Xia Bai, you are very well behaved."
Ling Changye: "Just drill under his hole."
Xia Bai immediately drilled a fist-sized hole, and then drilled another one above the old man's hole, "One for each of us."
Xia Bai and Ling Changye, one taller than the other, looked towards the old man's room.
The old man who had been peeping at others looked at the four eyes in the two big holes and said, "..."
He was so angry that he went to look for something to cover himself, but by the time he found something to cover himself, the two men had already looked through his room.
The layout of the old man's room looked the same as theirs, but he made a partition and placed two beds in it, both of which were neatly made.
There was a light in his room, and it was obvious that he lived a tight life. His bed sheets were so washed that they turned white. On the small table in the distance there was only a half-eaten steamed bun and half a bowl of water.
I didn't see any Buddhist shrines or anything like that.
"Unlucky!" the old man cursed at them and then pasted a New Year picture on the two holes.
“…”
Although they didn't see the old man's room on the other side of the cave, Lin Xiang and Yang Mei heard the curse and they remained silent.
Xia Bai told the two what he saw, "It doesn't seem to be anything strange."
Lin Xiang scratched the back of his head. "This game is a bit confusing. What are we going to do tonight?"
Ling Changye: "Let's wait and see. Since the game allows us to experience the life of a human being in an apartment, there will always be clues."
What he didn't say was that the clues might be observed from the dead. If you explore too much, you might become a corpse that others observe and look for clues.
However, other players may think so too.
"Hey!" Lin Xiang lowered his head in disappointment, "Then shall we go?"
“…”
He really just didn't want to go back.
But there was no way, he hesitated and hesitated, and finally went back with Yang Mei.
After the two left, Ling Changye walked naturally to the bed, took down the moldy quilt and sheets on the bed, and replaced them with the silk quilt and goose down pillow he took out from the space props. He even changed the mattress, which left Xia Bai stunned.
Ling Changye turned to look at him, and seeing his surprised look, he asked, "Haven't you made any preparations for life in the game?"
Xia Bai shook his head.
Ling Changye asked with a smile: "The treatment of the assault team is not bad, why do you live like an ascetic monk?"
"Maybe he's used to living a poor life?" Xia Bai really didn't expect that he could change the mattress when sleeping in the game.
Soon, Xia Bai thought, it was not because he was used to living a poor life, Lin Xiang certainly did not expect this, it could only be said that Ling Changye was too particular and knew how to enjoy life.
Ling Changye patted the fluffy pillow and said to him, "Come and sleep."
Xia Bai looked at the other pillow next to him, a little embarrassed, "There's no water to take a bath, what if I get dirty?"
Ling Changye said: "Then I'll change another one for you tomorrow night."
Xia Bai: “…”
After a moment of silence, Xia Bai quickly grasped the point, "Me? Captain, aren't you going to sleep?"
"Well, it's not suitable." Ling Changye said: "I'll sleep on the floor."
"Oh oh." Xia Bai didn't ask what was wrong, as if he subconsciously felt it was inappropriate, "Captain, you sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the floor."
Seeing Ling Changye was about to speak, Xia Bai said in advance: "Captain, do you have a tent? I like sleeping in a tent. There is a tent in the room in the yard of my old home."
"Yes." Ling Changye didn't say anything else and set up a soft and comfortable tent for him.
The room was very small, so they moved the sofa away and set up the tent next to the bed to make it big enough for Xia Bai to lie down.
When setting up the tent, Ling Changye asked him: "Why do you like sleeping in a tent?"
Xia Bai said: "The tent is like a small world of my own, which is fun and safe. I like to lie in the tent with a flashlight and read strange books."
When the tent was set up, Xia Bai saw a string of star lights and a book called "Fantasy Creatures" inside.
Xia Bai lay on the soft goose down quilt, looking at the sparkling star lights and the book that was opened to the first page, and his eyes seemed to have stolen two stars.
He poked his head out of the tent, wanting to say something to Ling Changye, but when he saw him picking up his coat and heading out, the words in his mouth changed to: "Captain, where are you going?"
Ling Changye: "I'm going to the second floor to ask the boss lady to wash my hair."
Xia Bai: “?”
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