83 8th Floor

 

‘It’s those footsteps again!’ Han Fei immediately stopped what he was doing, turned and scurried into Room 1062. He leaned into the wall next to the door and glanced through the peephole. ‘Even Xu Qin refused to encounter the owner of those footsteps, I can’t imagine how scary it must be!’

The footsteps picked up in pace. Han Fei’s ring reacted with a piercing cold. The thing was coming!

Holding his breath, Han Fei froze. His eyes stuck to the peephole, he wanted to take a gander at this thing. The footsteps stopped on the 6th floor. The chill from the ring almost frosted Han Fei’s finger off. Han Fei knew the thing was outside the door but he could see nothing through the peephole. The corridor was dark, not even a shadow could be seen. ‘An invisible neighbour?’ To be honest though, this kind of unknown presence was even scarier than a known threat. ‘I wonder if it’s looking at me through the peephole as well…’ Han Fei was frightened by his own thoughts. He quickly shrunk away from the peephole and made himself as small as possible. It was very quiet outside the door. If not for the landlord’s ring, Han Fei would assume the thing had left. ‘The thing is still waiting for me outside the door!’

This stalemate continued for another 15 minutes before the footsteps returned once more. The thing departed. ‘Just what kind of thing it is? It’s invisible but I’m sure it’s real. After all, there are those footsteps to account for.’ After the chill disappeared, Han Fei silently eased the door open. With no time to lose, he hurried to open the door to Room 1063. After he finished searching all the room on the 6th floor, the robotic voice appeared in his mind, “Notification for Player 0000! You have completed Grade G Main Mission, Explore the 6th Floor. You’ve obtained basic reward, 1 Free Skill Point.

“Notification for Player 0000! You have successfully reached level 5 and obtained 1 Free Attribute Point!”

Han Fei sighed in relief hearing those notifications. He added the attribute point to stamina and the skill point to acting. Now his stamina was at 8 and his acting skill, Intermediate Level 7. Soon he’d reach the level of advanced acting. ‘After the increase in stamina, my various physical capabilities should improve as well. I’m probably quite a competent fighter now… right?’ Han Fei tried a few punches. ‘My speed is almost as fast as the scarred men who ambushed me, but my overall strength is still weaker than them. However, after I level up my stamina further, they’ll be the ones who’ll need to run and hide in future encounters.’

After the main mission was completed, Han Fei was ready to search for the human jigsaw pieces. The most difficult part of this Grade F Mission was that the player was required to search for the pieces hidden throughout the entire apartment. In Han Fei’s case though, the mission was slightly easier. At least he knew where the jigsaw pieces were thanks to Meng Changxi. He easily located 3 jigsaw pieces. These pieces were actually the missing body parts of the human jigsaw victims. Based on the system’s identification, other than a surprising amount of curse and resentment, these jigsaw pieces possessed some kind of unique sentiment.

‘I’ve found all the simple ones. For the remaining 4 pieces, 2 of them are on the 8th floor and 2 on the 9th, neither of these floors I’ve visited before. If I quit the game now, I’ll only have the last day to finish this mission. I don’t think it’s possible to find all 4 pieces on both the 8th and 9th floor in one day.’ Han Fei took a deep breath. ‘If I don’t want to fail this mission, then I’ll have to find more pieces today.’ The system promised lucrative rewards for completing this mission, Han Fei did not want to give up on it. While he could still quit the game freely, Han Fei decided to venture to the 8th floor to take a look.

‘Meng Si did warn me about the landing between 7th and 8th floor. Apparently, going there at midnight, you might end up at some other location and witness some special things.’

Han Fei sneaked carefully up to the 7th floor and he noticed the door to Room 1074 was closed but not locked because he remembered the lock was busted. ‘Who closed this door? The owner of the mysterious footsteps? It too did not want to deal with the mirror? Why? This might be its weakness… Maybe the mirror can reflect its real appearance?’ Han Fei took down this detail. For now, he couldn’t do anything about it. Han Fei was sure that if he appeared before the mirror now, the grey hands would spare no mercy on him. ‘There’s still time to befriend this neighbour. I shan’t hurry a relationship.’

Going up the steps between 7th and 8th floor, Han Fei couldn’t help but notice that there were plenty of blood stains on the staircase. ‘Just how many people have died here?’ Similar to the stairwell on the other floors, there were strange doodles on the walls as well.

When he reached the landing, Han Fei did not feel anything out of place. The only change was the smell of blood in the air thickened.

‘Dong!’ Suddenly a sound entered his ears, it was followed by a shrill cackle. ‘Wait, the sound came from behind me?!’ Like usual, Han Fei backed himself against the wall as he climbed up the stairs so logically speaking, there shouldn’t be anyone behind him. When he turned his head back to look, Han Fei’s face blanched. He was standing in front of a doodle which depicted several youngsters pulling on the limbs of a middle-aged man. ‘Where did the laughter come from? From inside this doodle?!’

Han Fei narrowed his eyes at the painted people on the mottled wall. The youngsters were smiling as they yanked on the middle-aged man’s hands and legs. The painting was grotesque but that was the overall theme of this game. Han Fei could not tell if the painting was the source of the mysterious laughter or not. In any case, Han Fei abided by the philosophy, seek no trouble where there is none. He did not stay to scrutinize the painting lest trouble came from it.

However, Han Fei swore the moment he turned his gaze away, one of the young men in the painting turned to glare at him. Han Fei’s heart stopped but his face belied none of the anxiety he felt. He pretended he did not notice the living painting and hurried up to the 8th floor. ‘The houses are already haunted but now even the stairwell is haunted. Not even the walls and corners can be considered 100 percent safe anymore.’

After Han Fei exited the stairwell, the smell of blood cleared. When he turned back to look down the stairwell, grotesque doodles still decorated the walls but the one that he saw had disappeared. The youngsters and the middle-aged man vanished! ‘Could there be actual ghosts living inside the wall? They’re the one responsible for the blood stains inside the stairwell? But why would they only roam the space between the 7th and 8th floor?’

Han Fei was lucky this time but he could not guarantee his fortune would last forever. ‘It’s too dangerous to leave such a threat inside the stairwell. Perhaps I should consider burning down the wall coating… I wonder if there’s stuff like petrol to be found inside this building…’

While pondering a solution, Han Fei sought his way to Room 1084. One of the jigsaw puzzles was hidden inside this room. Han Fei grabbed the handle and pushed. ‘Wait, it’s not locked?’

Han Fei was surprised but before he could understand this situation, the strange footsteps returned. This time he heard it clearly, the sound came from right above him, from the 9th floor!

The thing was moving very quickly so Han Fei had no choice but to get into Room 1084 to hide.