CH 50

Back in her room, Xiao Lan finally enjoys a rare moment of peace and quiet.

He returned to the bed that creaked, smelled of rust and was uncomfortable to lie on, ready to take a formal break.

Xiao Lan's eyes sweep to the side, but he sees Luo, who has consciously run to the window to pose again, his back looking lonely and silent. Xiao Lan once again feels as if he were a black-hearted landlord who is oppressing the poor old labourer.

Conscience, with a drop of pain.

He beckoned to Luo, "Why don't you come and sit by the bed?"

The bed frame creaked again as he moved it in twice. The stingy landlord had prepared the bed so that it was only a little big, and it was almost on the wall, but he hadn't made much room.

In the faint light of the night, Luo curled his lips slightly: "Yes, sir."

He came towards Xiao Lan and sat gently on the edge of the bed without making a sound, and just in time to guard the entrance to the bars around the bed.

The whole building was almost empty of occupants except for them, and there was not the slightest sound coming from the false city outside the window; the sound of the night wind blowing through seemed extremely clear at the moment.

At this moment, there was a silence between heaven and earth.

Quiet it is, however ...... is so hot!

The heat, combined with what appeared to be heavy rain, made the air as humid and stifling as a freshly showered bathroom, and the wind blew without a hint of coolness.

When Luo sat down, part of his back was pressed against Xiao Lan's body. Xiao Lan then realised that Luo's clothes were made of some kind of material that was as cold as his own, and did not get warm when it came into contact with human body heat, just like a large ice pillow.

Xiao Lan couldn't help but lean towards him quietly, but Luo didn't turn around, seemingly acquiescing to his actions.

Seeing no resistance from Luo, Xiao Lan fell asleep in this position.

I don't know if it's warm in winter, but at least it's cool in summer.

A few moments later.

Luo sensed that the breathing behind him had become long and even.

He turned back to the man and examined him with a look of with seriousness.

Xiao Lan looks very quiet and soft after he falls asleep. His breathing is calm, like a soft, harmless creature, not at all reminiscent of the one who woke up kicking a murderer and punching a big boss.

However, from that handsome sleeping face, he could not read the answer he wanted either.

He is like a ghost with no place to go, haunting a passing traveller in the hope that he will be taken to a distant land, but even he does not know where this distant land is.

And what is he to Xiao Lan?

A good helper, a companion on the road together, or a monster with evil intentions from .......

Luo ponders in the night, as he always does when all is quiet, pondering questions that he knows will lead nowhere.

For if he stopped to think, he would feel like a dead thing, something that doesn't breathe, doesn't have a heartbeat, and doesn't think, what is it if not a dead thing?

He hated that feeling.

At that moment a faint wave came through the air.

But it has not escaped Luo's notice.

By the time Xiao Lan fell asleep, Luo had already covered the room with shadows invisible to the rest of the world, and the room could now be described as a net.

The wave seems to be caused by some kind of insect flapping its wings, and the source of the fluctuation edges closer to Xiao Lan's position. It is trying to enter through a gap in the bedside fence when a slender palm with a black glove catches it.

Luo looked at his palm, which looked empty, but his senses told him that there was a small worm in there, now struggling.

Black shadows rise from the heart of the hand and form an orb, which slowly shrinks and swallows up whatever is struggling in it.

A few moments later.

Feeling the life gone from his hands, Luo's lips open and close as he says silently, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you disturb my husband.

Luo smiled silently as he looked at Xiao Lan, who was still sleeping peacefully next to him.

Meanwhile, in the darkness, somewhere in a narrow room.

One man covered his eyes and let out a barely suppressed cry of pain, "Uh-"

The intense pain caused his spine to arch and shudder uncontrollably.

Waiting for the pain to pass before he gasped and propped himself up, his face was covered in cold sweat, "Ho ...... nice sharp guy ......"

--

Early the next morning.

"Dang! Dang! THUNK!!!"

Xiao Lan was awakened by a loud banging sound.

The sound was so direct to his soul that he scrambled out of bed, forgetting the size and height of the bed, and ran headlong into Luo's back.

"Hiss..." Xiao Lan collapsed on the bedpan, covering his head.

Luo, what did this guy eat to grow, why is his back so hard, like a ten-ton steel plate, obviously it feels like muscle.

Luo, the victim who looked like the culprit, looked back innocently, "Good morning, sir."

"Morning ......" Xiao Lan said breathlessly.

Luo helped him sort out his clothes, and in the process mentioned the bug that had crept in last night. Although Luo couldn't remember the name of the bug, he analysed that it should be a scrying prop, more advanced than the Diving Shadow and Eye of Time he had encountered before, which meant it was from a player's means.

Xiao Lan was on alert. Who was trying to find out about him? And what was the purpose?

He felt that he was now caught in a fog, and that he knew nothing about what his opponent in the fog was actually trying to do.

--

On the way out to wash up, Xiao Lan took the opportunity to check with the original occupants to find out what the knock on the door was all about this morning. They all looked surprised, saying that it was the landlord and that he did it almost every day, so they were used to it.

What a dedicated, good landlord who makes it his mission to make life difficult for his tenants ......

By the time breakfast rolls around.

The table was still a paste with no visible ingredients, and the players looked a little sick to their stomachs, but had to eat it for the sake of their strength for the next few days.

Wu Ting reluctantly took a bite into her mouth, frowning and taking a deep breath before lifting her chopsticks, and she looked at Xiao Lan, who ate quickly without changing her expression, and felt sincere admiration.

Again, all humans, why is this guy so good.

Strong, just too strong.

That's when the couple came mushy out of the room.

"Baby you look so beautiful today!"

"You look good today too~"

"How did I get such a good looking girlfriend~"

"Nasty~"

It was as if they had forgotten about last night's greeting each other's entire family and even fighting; couples are such a strange symbiotic pattern.

The players felt even more sick to their stomachs as they watched the two walk over to each other like Siamese twins.

Only then do the two lovers look up from the breakfast table, where they are joined by Xiao Lan and Luo, who are eating.

The two men's movements stiffened momentarily.

Yesterday's inhumane experience is still fresh in their minds and they all feel as if they are still wrapped up in a thick blanket and can't breathe.

Instantly, they stopped shaking in their speech and walking without the need to support each other. Quiet as chickens, the two dawdled over to the table and sat down, choosing a spot furthest away from the two Xiao Lan's, and silently began to eat, skipping even the daily feeding session that would play out.

The players looked on in awe and Wu Ting gave the pair a silent thumbs up.

The cultist and the pregnant woman were served one after another, the cultist still ranting and raving, and the pregnant woman, as usual, not saying a word and indulging in her bowl of food.

At this point Wu Ting spoke up, "Do you know of a mother and daughter who live around here? The mother looks very thin and the girl is not too old and looks very lively."

The cultist thought for a moment, "Oh, they're the ones who live here. But I haven't seen anyone since early yesterday morning, and I don't know where they've gone. How can this woman, ah, not find a man to follow her, to be out in the open like that, God is going to punish her ......"

"God, who will not allow your disobedience ......"

He pointed again at Wu Ting's sexy red dress: "You, who deliberately dressed like this are tempting the world! God will not forgive you!"

Wu Ting rolled her eyes at him and said she didn't want to talk at all.

Xiao Lan thought to himself, "You're too simple, big brother, it's just silicone and sponge pads that will lure you in.

Ignoring the cultists' blind comparisons, the players were a little confused, the mother and daughter had taken the lift with them yesterday. If they lived here, why didn't they come back? They had got off the lift on this floor, so where could they have gone afterwards?

After a while, breakfast was nearly over.

Xiao Lan scanned the crowd and noticed that he hadn't seen Meng Ze, he looked at He Rui: "Why haven't you seen Meng Ze today?"

He Rui looked up and calmly met Xiao Lan's eyes, "He said there was something he wanted to investigate, so he skipped breakfast first."

Xiao Lan: "What is it, do you need to go out so early in the morning?"

He Rui still looked amiable: "Oh, maybe he has a clue, we can ask him when the time comes."

Xiao Lan's face shows no weakness or evasiveness, nor can he read anything else into it. Perhaps he really didn't know, or perhaps this was an old fox of great merit.

--

After breakfast, there are no restrictions on what players can do.

Xiao Lan plans to have a look around the building with Luo and maybe find something useful for the party on the fourth day.

The corridor was still dim and smelled stale, and outside there was a gloomy sky. The sky looked oppressive before the heavy rain was about to come, and the air was so full of moisture that it was actually a few degrees more stifling than last night, giving you a feeling of almost being unable to breathe.

Many of the doors in the corridors are tangled with wire and are not easily accessible.

Xiao Lan has observed carefully that most of the lock holes on these doors are rusted shut and cannot be opened even with a key, and one cannot get in unless one removes the lock on the door.

The rooms were empty and nothing special could be seen in them after Luo's powers had been used to explore them.

As there were no clues to the rooms, there was no need to break in for the time being, and Xiao Lan decided to go to the lifts and see if the other floors were the same.

They were about to walk around the corner when they heard the sound of something being dragged.

"Sasha ......"

"Sha-"

It sounded like someone dragging something heavy and bulky across the floor. Along with the sound was the unpleasant smell of rotting meat, especially in the narrow and stuffy corridor.

Xiao Lan and Luo looked at each other and in silence they stopped at the corner and quietly looked in the direction from which the sound was coming.

The first thing they saw was the back of the landlord.

The landlord's withered body was struggling to drag something through the lift, which appeared to be broken, opening the door to see not the old, outdated lift compartment from before, but the top of the mechanical structure.

The two men could not see what he was dragging in his hand for the moment because of the angle of obstruction.

The landlord looked happy at this time, his face was one of unspeakable excitement, "Come on come on~ no one is leaving."

He even hummed a song, which sounded hoarse and unpleasant, as if it were the wailing of a crow.

"Hey ......" the landlord's laughter echoed through the corridor, creating an eerie feeling to the silent space.

As he moved, little by little the contents of the lift were dragged out. Black, long and soft in texture, it spread out on the floor and appeared to be - hair.

Then other parts slowly appeared, the shoulders, the chest, the arms that had started to open up with corpse spots ......

As the body slowly emerges, Xiao Lan realises that the clothes on the body look very familiar.

This is - the mother's dress in the lift!

The landlord stroked her hair excitedly before setting the woman's body down next to him. He reached into the top of the lift again, this time dragging out a much smaller body, and the landlord hauled her out with ease.

The body's clothes also look familiar to Xiao Lan, the little girl who was counting in the lift.

The body was accompanied by a Little Xiao's red leather ball which rolled down.

The little ball was now covered in dust and oil from the top of the lift and looked very dirty. But Xiao Lan knew this little ball very well, wasn't it the same ball he had asked him to help pick up in the shower? He had even used the shower to nip it out.

Both bodies had decomposed somewhat, their skin colour had changed dramatically and swelled up, and even at the current temperature, the time of death must have been more than 24 hours.

The cultists had also said earlier that they hadn't been seen since early yesterday morning, so it was likely that the mother and daughter had been dead by yesterday morning.

Yet, just yesterday in the lift before dinner, the players had met with the mother and daughter!

What exactly did they see then ......

They looked normal at the time, but did they know they were dead?

Xiao Lan recalled again that the players had briefly seen the shadow of a hand flicker in the light box at the top of the lift. Could that have been the little girl's hand that had just accidentally rolled off due to the movement of the lift.

The fact that the mother and daughter disappeared after leaving the lift seems to be explained by the fact that they were already dead at that point and the ghosts naturally did not need to find another place to sleep.

Also, the fact that the little girl counted ten people in a lift of nine people already made the players' hearts skip a beat at the time. But as things stand now, it was human at the time - only seven, in fact.

What's the other one?

It's not that ghosts are scary, it's just that it's so exciting to overturn the original perception.

The author has something to say.

I've just gotten to this point in the Christmas season, and it seems a bit exciting, so I'm going to give you a little drama to slow things down.

Xiao Lan: Merry Christmas! Father Christmas, transformed!

Luo: Sir, can you get off the roof first?

--

Wang Taidi: Merry Christmas everyone, did you miss me? Let me tell you that my brother's underwear colour today is...

Wang Ke picks up his silly brother and flies away, with a faint: Merry Christmas in the air.