116 Happiness Neighbourhood Tenancy Committee

 

8 arms pulsing with hatred locked up the entrance. Compared to the red spectre, the tenants of Apartment 2 appeared so insignificant. The resentment materialized into corporeality, forcing the weaker wandering souls inside Apartment 2 to go into hiding. A barking came from the top floor. Blood trickled and an evil beast crawled out from the shadow on the 3rd floor. Its pure black fur stood on end, it sensed a great threat from the spectre. Even Han Fei did not expect the amalgamation of the 8 victims to be so scary. Their despair and pain empowered each other, their energy bounced off one another before collecting on Little Eight. The girl in this state was far more powerful than any ghost Han Fei had met so far. However, every single moment in this state would cause irreparable damage to Little Eight. Han Fei could feel the victims’ pain so he did not want to waste anymore time. He walked to stand between the spectre and the tenants.

“There are 8 of them in that one body and counting me, that’s 9 of us, voting yes.” Han Fei addressed the tenants. “I know you might not trust me now but I hope you can give me a chance, time will prove that you’ve made the right choice.”

“Most of our tenants here are picked off by the non-locals because we don’t have a building manager, the rest of us are forced to work together to stay alive. Yesterday night, you and that woman have helped us greatly and we appreciate that.” The tall ghost stared at the red spectre and slowly raised his hand. His voice was still dry and hoarse. “I believe an alliance will only help but not harm.” Then the girl with her hands chopped off joined in.

“My goal is to protect every single tenant, we can form a neighbourhood committee. It will be open to all tenants, everything will be decided fairly, openly and evenly.” Han Fei then pointed to the building behind him. “You’ve met the lady from yesterday night, there are 3 more tenants as powerful as her in Apartment 1. Combine that with my family, how long do you still think Apartment 2 can hold on if we push forth with this plan using brute force?” Han Fei played both the bad and good cop. “Before Apartment 1’s previous manager disappeared, he left me with a warning. We are going to face a terrifying threat. If we do not work together, we’ll all perish horribly.” Finally, Han Fei appealed to their emotions. He turned to the woman with the bruised and wounded body. “By the way, I’ve just met your son. He changed his surname to follow yours, his name is now Qu Wenhou.”

Hearing that, the quiet woman walked out from her pool of hair. She stalked like a spider to rest above Han Fei’s head. The bloody hair dangled before Han Fei. The latter felt no fear. He looked evenly at her face. “Your boy wants me to tell you this, he said, if he has the chance to see you again, he will apologize and then promise that he’d protect you from now on so that you will never be bullied again.”

The woman’s eyes pooled with blood. The boy appeared to have told her something similar when he was young. She stared at Han Fei as if trying to read his mind. “I’m telling the truth, I would never lie or harm any of you.” Han Fei promised sincerely. After boring her eyes into Han Fei, the woman crept back to her spot among her neighbours.

“Don’t be fooled by him, honesty is the rarest thing in this world.” The man with a knife in his chest turned to the dog in the shadow, as if asking for its opinion.

“You’re wrong, hope is the rarest thing in this world and the thing that I’m offering you is exactly that.” Han Fei’s eyes swept all the tenants from Apartment 2. Without the protection of a building manager, there weren’t many original tenants left. The rest of them were forced to cooperate to survive against the non-locals’ onslaught. “There is nothing for you to lose, just trust me this one time.”

Han Fei stood there facing the tenants until the dog in the shadows barked several times, and then disappeared.

“Even the Spectral Dog senses no malice on you?” The man with the knife studied Han Fei with disbelief. “Either you’re the most cunning demon or you really meant what you said…”

He did not think Han Fei was a saint, especially not in this world, but the man did not see Han Fei as a particularly malicious person either. After a long hesitation, he raised his arm, “Fine, I’ll play along for now.” At the same time, the robotic voice rang in Han Fei’s mind.

“Notification for Player 0000! You have activated Grade F Hidden Mission—Happiness at Happiness Neighbourhood!

“Happiness at Happiness Neighbourhood (Grade F Hidden Mission): No time limit, raise your friendliness level with all the tenants in Happiness Neighbourhood to Amicable!

“Warning! This mission is the last hidden mission at Happiness Neighbourhood, completing it will cause great influence to your Perfect Life!”

Han Fei clicked on the mission interface and saw the list of all the tenants under the description of this latest Hidden Mission. His current relationship level with each of the tenants was labelled out. The one who shared the highest friendliness level with Han Fei was Wei Youfu, followed by Xu Qin.

‘When did Wei Youfu’s friendliness level get so high? Is it because he has found his humanity and thus is privier to everything I’ve done for everyone?’ Both sides had agreed to the alliance so Han Fei hurried to have the victims return to normal. The combination seemed to affect Wei Youfu the most, his rationality that he recovered was shattering again.

‘Currently only Wei Youfu has found his rationality, after all 8 of them have reached the same level as he has, they should be able to carry on in that state much longer.’ Guarding before Wei Youfu, Han Fei had a discussion with the tenants from Apartment 2. With full agreement, they decided to set up the Happiness Neighbourhood Tenancy Committee. As the only person who could communicate with most of the tenants from both apartments, Han Fei was selected as the temporary leader.

“Thank you for your trust in me, I promise to lead everyone to turn Happiness Neighbourhood into a safe, comfortable and beautiful home. While protecting everyone’s benefits, we’ll open our doors to outside individuals seeking tenancy. If they promise to abide by our rules, we’ll extend a welcoming arm. If they refuse to, then we will strip them of what they’re worth to improve the overall strength of the existing tenants!

“We shan’t be complacent! We need to improve ourselves as fast as possible. Abandon that false sense of security. We shall try our best to face the imminent danger. I believe that with unity from everyone, all the tenants at this neighbourhood will eventually achieve true happiness!”