Chapter 108: A Crack Appears on the Third Floor – A Choice Made by Both the Main God and the Evil God…
Tang Huili never expected that simply picking up a letter would lead to such a situation.
This morning, when she was about to leave the apartment, she found that the tenant mailbox at the apartment entrance had been repaired.
During her time living in the apartment, Tang Huili noticed that the landlord had been renovating it. The apartment's decor was gradually improving, and the facilities were becoming more and more complete. When she went downstairs, she also discovered a courier station that was not yet open in the hallway on the first floor.
She was going out to send a package; the publishing house was holding an anniversary celebration and needed to exhibit the original artwork of cartoonists.
Although digital drawing is now more efficient and convenient, Tang Huili still insists on hand-drawing. For this exhibition, she will send her original comic manuscripts to the publisher.
Then, as she walked to the door, her attention was drawn to the apartment mailbox next to it—the mailbox had been transformed from its previous rusty and dilapidated state into a brand new one, and the room numbers of the tenants had been painted red.
Seeing that there were papers faintly visible in the gap of the mailbox marked with her room number, Tang Huili, somewhat curious, tried to open the mailbox with her room key.
The mailbox was opened smoothly, and there really was a thick envelope inside.
The letter gave Tang Huili the same feeling as the apartment: dangerous but not fatal, with a hint of unexpected joy.
Therefore, Tang Huili didn't pay any attention and simply picked up the letter.
The envelope and its contents surprised her... The sender was a publishing house, saying that the original artwork exhibition had ended, and the contents of the envelope were the original comic manuscripts that she hadn't yet sent out.
But she clearly had the original manuscript in her hands, so how did two identical stacks of manuscript appear?
Before she could figure out what was happening, she felt a sudden dizziness, and the scene before her eyes changed.
A strange electronic voice flashed through her mind, and Tang Huili found herself transported to a place that was both strange and familiar. Opposite her stood a handsome, long-haired man in a black tai chi uniform.
Zhang Qingyang was also filled with despair after discovering that he had been teleported here.
He felt that this was probably retribution for skipping his early morning class.
He wanted to take a break today, so he sneaked out of his room during his morning class and happened to run into the actor from room 103 who was carrying a video camera.
When the actor mentioned that his video recorder was broken and he wanted to find someone to help him fix it, Zhang Qingyang, who happened to have no excuse to slack off, readily agreed and said he would take a look.
It's understandable that I didn't do my homework because I was helping other tenants. I guess my master won't beat me too badly in front of the other tenants...
Although Zhang Qingyang wasn't very good at repairing video recorders, the standard repair method for these old items should be to take a picture.
After tapping it didn't work, Zhang Qingyang guessed that it might be because the disc was stuck, so he decided to take the disc out and put it back in.
Then the unexpected happened... He had just taken the disc out when he was suddenly teleported here, next to a petite girl wearing a hat and mask.
Sensing the strange, eerie aura around him, Zhang Qingyang felt utterly hopeless.
I should have known better than to be lazy...
He had to get back to the apartment before his master found out. If his master had to come to rescue him personally... Zhang Qingyang was already scared just thinking about it. He could almost see himself drawing talismans until his hands were sore.
Zhang Qingyang looked around and frowned as he stared at the room number 301 not far away.
This strange place looks like an apartment hallway... no, it looks like the Liwan Apartments.
Both the door style and the room number look very similar to those of the Liwan Apartments, and the corridor also looks very familiar...
Could this be the third floor of the apartment building?
After touching the disc, he wasn't taken away by a ghost, but was teleported to the third floor of the apartment.
But it's strange, this yin energy doesn't seem like the yin energy in the apartment; something feels off to him...
Zhang Qingyang looked at the girl who was a head shorter than him and tentatively asked, "Are you also a tenant of Liwan Apartment?"
Tang Huili nodded silently.
This place, which resembled an apartment corridor, gave her a similar feeling to the apartment, and in terms of danger, it was purely dangerous, offering no sense of protection.
Moreover, there's a feeling of being spied on, as if something is watching you.
The only saving grace was that the two stacks of identical comic book manuscripts didn't come with her, so she didn't have to worry about anything happening later that could destroy the manuscripts.
Zhang Qingyang suggested, "I'm also an apartment tenant, I live on the first floor... I think this place looks a lot like Liwan Apartments, maybe it's on the third floor. Why don't we go down the stairs and see if we can find our respective rooms?"
Tang Huili felt this was not a good idea.
The moment the idea of going to the stairwell popped into her mind, a sharp warning of danger exploded in her head.
Just as she was about to persuade Zhang Qingyang not to go over, the door to room 301, not far from the two of them, was suddenly kicked open, and several people engulfed in flames rushed out.
"Holy crap! This won't work, I can't get past this dungeon! This dungeon is full of smaller dungeons, and the boss of each of these smaller dungeons could be the boss of the main dungeon."
"Is anyone actually able to clear this dungeon? We can't even get past the first one... Hmm? Who are these two?"
"What's going on? How come more players are joining halfway through the dungeon?"
"That's normal. This is a welfare dungeon after all, so it won't be that strict. If too many people die, there won't be enough players to keep the dungeon running, so naturally they'll bring in a few more. But their rewards will probably be halved."
"What level are you? How many dungeons have you completed? What skills do you have?"
Tang Huili and Zhang Qingyang both looked completely bewildered as they listened to these people's questions.
Seeing their condition, the leader slapped his forehead: "Damn it, they're still newbies. We're definitely not going to clear this time."
Zhang Qingyang asked, puzzled, "What do you mean? Isn't this the Liwan Apartment complex?"
"Yes, it's the 'Liwan Apartment' instance. Your points system should have given you information about the instance by now," the leading player explained patiently.
"However, newcomers like you who have just passed the player qualification selection may not understand what a welfare dungeon is, so let me explain it to you simply."
While the team leader was explaining to Zhang Qingyang and the others, the other players extinguished the fire on their bodies and sat down to rest.
"One type of welfare dungeon is a pure item reward dungeon. After a player dies, the unclaimed supernatural items will be collected by the main god and placed in one place. This is the item reward dungeon."
"After you finish clearing a dungeon, you can wait inside the dungeon and don't immediately teleport back to the Main God Space. These item dungeons will appear in the dungeons after you clear them. It's first-come, first-served. Once all the items are taken, the dungeon will disappear."
The team leader paused for a moment, then continued, "There's another type of bonus instance, which is the virtual instance we're in right now."
"A supernatural copy that does not exist in other worlds or in reality, created out of thin air by the main god, based on a certain memory or the obsession of a certain ghost."
“I’ve also heard that it might be a fragment of time existing in some void,” one player added.
The team leader nodded. "That's possible. In any case, there's no penalty for dying in this kind of dungeon. At most, you'll lose some points, but the rewards after clearing it are exceptionally generous, so it's a bonus dungeon."
Another player, whose hair was all singed and curled, curled his lip and said, "And yet no one has finished the game yet... All our efforts are in vain, it's like we're just throwing points at the gods."
The team leader sighed, "This is the last time, the last time. We won't be coming again."
After hearing his words, Tang Huili and Zhang Qingyang exchanged a glance, both seeing the same despair in each other's eyes.
They were all young people in their twenties, and they could understand the dungeon and points system that the team leader was talking about.
It is precisely because of this understanding that I feel despair.
...Could it be that the two of them have been transported to some game world? Is there any chance of them going back?
Off-screen, Zhou Fangdong's expression was also very serious.
To his surprise, this main god instance was actually based on the third floor of Liwan Apartment... It looked like the old Liwan Apartment.
Yesterday, when he went up to the third floor, he heard the cleaner, Quan Wuming, say that not long after the apartment was sealed off, a strange person suddenly appeared on the third floor and did something that almost caused the apartment to collapse.
This caused the apartment to inject a lot of yin energy into the third-floor rooms, forcibly increasing the power of the ghosts and monsters in the third-floor rooms.
While this operation enhanced the defenses, it also caused the ghostly realm in the third-floor room to go out of control.
...Is it possible that the person who caused trouble on the third floor was related to the main god?
Maybe they're some kind of player who plays the infinite flow game.
Otherwise, it's impossible to explain why this virtual copy is based on the third floor of the apartment, and even the ghosts in the room are the same.
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong had a bad feeling. He teleported directly to the third floor to check on the state of the ghosts in the third-floor rooms.
However, as soon as he reached the vicinity of the third-floor tenant corridor, his heart skipped a beat.
A familiar black crack phantom appeared in front of Zhou Fangdong. This crack phantom was exactly the same as the crack in the collapsed area on the fifth floor at night.
Moreover, within the crack, one could vaguely see a mirror image of an apartment building on the third floor, but one that looked even more dilapidated, with several figures standing in the corridor.
...Will this rift form after these players successfully complete the dungeon?
The system said that the evil god would definitely come to Liwan Apartment after his resurrection.
After being tricked by cultists, the main god, who suffered heavy losses, suddenly activated this third-floor apartment dungeon. Is its purpose the same as the evil god's, to invade the apartment?
What exactly does Liwan Apartment have that makes them all want to come here...?
This main god instance is easy to solve. Zhou Fangdong has already used the ghost soul-devouring technique in room 204 to corrupt the instance. Just wait for the loading bar to finish.
The cracks on the third floor haven't fully appeared yet. Perhaps they'll disappear once the dungeon successfully erodes the area. Even if they don't disappear, they can be repaired with blood.
The most troublesome thing now is that both the main god and the evil god have inexplicably set their sights on the apartment.
It's really annoying. No matter what their purpose is, we have to find a way to keep them occupied and distract them.
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Author's note: I was working on the detailed plot outline today, so the update was a bit shorter. I'll add more chapters tomorrow.
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