Chapter 100
Chapter 100
Cheng Miao searched the room meticulously but found no obvious cameras. She returned to the living area, and the peephole in her door caught the corner of her eye.
The hallway used motion-activated lights, so it made sense that the corridor would be dark when no one was outside. Even so, Cheng Miao felt that something was wrong.
Pretending to wander casually, she approached the door, then suddenly pressed her eye to the peephole.
The corridor outside was pitch-black. There was no bloodred eye and no eerie white figure.
Just as Cheng Miao began to relax, she spotted a tiny black dot at the edge of her vision.
The peephole lens was spherical. Only the center was clear, while everything around it blurred.
Within that hazy ring, Cheng Miao saw a black speck sitting perfectly still.
Was it an illusion?
She shifted her body slightly aside, allowing light to pass through the peephole. A moment later, the shadow moved.
It was not an illusion!
Cheng Miao did not look again. She had already guessed that the one constantly spying on her was the Landlord.
But why would he do that…?
The Landlord carried an intense aura of death. He was clearly no longer human. NPC or not, he was a ghost.
Why would a ghost secretly watch her?
Cheng Miao left everything in the room untouched. She opened the door, contemplated the empty corridor for a moment, then took the elevator to the fifth floor to find her teammates.
She gathered everyone in Qin Musong’s room and invited Freckles as well. As expected, the sensation of being watched was absent there.
After hearing Cheng Miao’s account, Lin Zhu could not sit still. “Why don’t Brother Qin or I switch rooms with Sister Miaomiao? I’m not afraid of ghosts, and Brother Qin is a great fighter.”
Cheng Miao rapped him on the forehead. “I’m not exactly helpless in a fight.”
Clutching his forehead, Lin Zhu argued stubbornly, “But what if he’s a perverted ghost?!”
Everyone else: …They could not argue with that.
Qin Musong patted Lin Zhu’s shoulder, signaling him to relax. He could see that Cheng Miao had no intention of violating the rule against switching rooms. The young woman who had once feared ghosts as much as he did had grown steadier and tougher.
Perhaps even Cheng Miao had not noticed how much less fear she felt when discussing ghosts and supernatural events. Cautious analysis and an eagerness to test herself had taken its place.
Qin Musong reflected that joining this team had been the best decision he ever made. Outsiders might think Cheng Miao had struck gold by gaining a heavy hitter like him, but Qin Musong was the one who had truly benefited.
He was undeniably formidable, but physical skill alone had limits inside an instance.
Qin Musong, Lin Zhu, and Qi Jiajia each surpassed Cheng Miao in one area or another. But the three of them were like students who excelled in only one subject. Alone, none of them could travel far or survive for long.
Cheng Miao was the student who might not rank first in every subject, but still placed among the very best in all of them.
More importantly, she carried hope and a power that drew people together. She could turn teammates with no original connection into a group that advanced from victory to victory.
Qin Musong returned his attention to Cheng Miao, who was joking with Lin Zhu. That was why he never doubted she would refuse to run from danger or make a teammate take the fall for her.
Lin Zhu knew Cheng Miao would never agree. Still, the thought of her staying upstairs alone left him uneasy.
Unexpectedly, Qi Jiajia did not make a fuss this time. Sitting on the edge of the bed and swinging her legs, she opened the bag of marshmallows Qin Musong had brought her and picked one up to squeeze it.
“What are you worrying about? After all these instances, haven’t you noticed we’re always the ones drowning in danger while she barely breaks a sweat?”
Lin Zhu shut his mouth. Right. A rookie like him had no business worrying about an expert.
Qi Jiajia ate the marshmallow and licked her lips. “Just be careful.”
Cheng Miao privately marveled that the little brat had finally matured. She patted Qi Jiajia’s head and assured everyone there was no need to worry.
The players were too restless to stay in their rooms, so they gathered on the second floor. Rooms 201 and 202 were unoccupied Assessment Rooms, while Little Red and Little Green lived in the other two apartments.
Their reasoning was simple: the farther they stayed from the mysterious-looking Longtime Tenants, the better.
A small lounge sat outside the elevator on every floor. The players gathered there, and the Landlord had dinner delivered to them.
The meal was brought by the five Longtime Tenants. Besides the Landlord, there was a kindly faced, slightly plump old woman; a heavily pregnant woman who moved with brisk efficiency; a stern-looking old man; and a handsome young man named Xiao Zhang, whose looks rivaled Yang Ke’s.
The players hurried to their feet. Even without considering respect for the elderly or care for the young, one of the residents looked ready to give birth at any moment. And in a strange building like this, no one dared sit comfortably while the Longtime Tenants did all the work.
Everyone removed the dishes from the food containers and spread them across the table. Then each Longtime Tenant set an individual bowl of rice in front of a player, with a pair of chopsticks stuck upright in it.
No one dared touch the food. Every player stared silently at the rice before them.
Only Fan Tiantian failed to understand. The others’ reactions frightened her into thinking something was wrong with the meal, so she did not touch her chopsticks either.
“Wh-what’s wrong?” Fan Tiantian tried to ask her teammate, but before Sun Jiao could answer, the old woman standing behind Fan Tiantian spoke first.
“Good child, why aren’t you eating?” Fan Tiantian did not know how to answer. The old woman’s gaze felt chilling, as though she would eat Fan Tiantian if the girl refused to eat the rice.
Afraid to think further, Fan Tiantian pulled out the chopsticks and shoveled down two bites. “I’m eating. See? I’m eating.”
Sun Jiao reacted a step too slowly and failed to stop her teammate. Now that Fan Tiantian had eaten from the bowl, she was so anxious she did not know what to say.
Fan Tiantian did not understand her teammate’s alarm. She ate a couple bites of food and then some more rice. There was hardly anything to eat at the Dormitory except bread every day. Now that they finally had a hot meal, why was everyone refusing it?
The others watched Fan Tiantian with grim expressions. After quite a while, it seemed… nothing had happened?
Apart from turning pale under everyone’s looks of impending doom, she remained perfectly lively.
So was the rice… safe to eat?
Cheng Miao looked up at the Landlord standing nearby. “Are there any other chopsticks?”
The corners of the Landlord’s mouth drooped. “No. Those are the only pairs.”
Cheng Miao sighed. Under the Longtime Tenants’ eager gazes, she pulled the chopsticks out of the rice, pushed the bowl aside, flipped the chopsticks around, and began eating the other dishes with the clean ends.
Lin Zhu and the other two teammates immediately followed suit. Not one of them waited to see whether anything happened to Cheng Miao first.
The Longtime Tenants’ expressions darkened enough to drip water, frightening several players who had planned to copy Cheng Miao into keeping their hands still.
“You aren’t eating the rice? I spent a long time cooking it.” The pregnant woman spoke through clenched teeth, looking one breath away from stuffing it into Cheng Miao’s mouth herself.
“I’m from northern China. I’m not used to eating rice,” Cheng Miao lied without blinking.
The Longtime Tenants: …Then stop shoveling down that entire pot of Sichuan boiled pork. It looks spicy enough to burn!
Cheng Miao ate with perfect peace of mind, her appetite completely unaffected. Apart from the four members of her team, only Baili Qianqiu and Gu Jian ate with equal relish.
The others either left their chopsticks untouched or copied Cheng Miao. Those who tried her method managed only a couple bites before the pressure became unbearable and they gave up.
When Cheng Miao finally finished eating and drinking, the Landlord glanced at the pitch-black sky outside and ground his teeth. “Tonight’s test requires two New Tenants. The test game is Turn Around If You Dare.”