The system’s description of Little Eight also mentioned that she was a key, but beyond that, no further explanation was provided.
Just knowing that Little Eight was a key didn’t help much, as it was unclear what the key was supposed to unlock.
"Did the previous Building Chief tell you anything else?"
Han Fei looked around at the room full of roommates, the living room was very quiet.
It seemed there was nothing more.
"The previous Building Chief, although amiable and a very good person, I could sense that he didn’t really trust us or rather, he was reluctant to trust anything about this world," Wei Youfu slowly started, "He was fundamentally different from you."
Han Fei also remembered the scene when he encountered the Building Chief’s Memory Fragments, recalling that the previous Building Chief had chosen to completely destroy the Deep World, unfortunately, the Building Chief failed, and his memories were shattered.
"A person aimed at destroying the Deep World indeed wouldn’t fully trust Fierce Ghosts and Grudges."
Since the previous Building Chief hadn’t disclosed more information to the residents, if Han Fei wanted to uncover the truth and keep understanding this world, he had no choice but to continue searching for the Building Chief’s Memory Fragments.
Fortunately, I memorized the map from the Building Chief’s room before. The neighboring Yimin Private Academy was marked as a key point, likely also containing the previous Building Chief’s memories," Han Fei pulled out a teacher certification from the Item Bar, "This must have been left intentionally for me."
Han Fei did not know how to deal with the Song, and now the Happiness Residential Community had also become dangerous. His only hope lay in the other Memory Fragments of the Building Chief.
"That Song might come back any time; we must prepare some contingencies."
Now Han Fei finally understood how desperate this world was, looking around, no building was absolutely safe, unless he himself became an Unspeakable entity.
"The task is heavy and the road is long," Han Fei led Wei Youfu out of the Haunted House, "Let’s go check on the other neighbors, hopefully, they’re alright."
"When the Song was still far away, I had already notified the residents, and if they believed me, they should all be in Building Two now," Wei Youfu was a very kind and reliable "person," both in life and after death.
Han Fei first entered Building Two, and not finding Xu Qin among the crowd, he became unsettled.
Rushing back to the fifth floor of Building One, Xu Qin seemed to still be absent, her room was wrecked, all the various jars that had contained "delicacies" were shattered, and a strong Curse lingered in the room.
Even worse than Xu Qin’s room was the adjacent Room 1051, Xu Qin’s pet appeared to have been killed, the dark room now only contained rotten bones and a foul stench, devoid of any human presence.
"Are the souls in the house gone?"
Han Fei and Wei Youfu entered Room 1051, the darkness gave way to a pervasive stench of Curse.
The Song was terrifying, and just when Han Fei had lost all hope, suddenly a very aggrieved voice came from the window in the inner room.
Going deeper into Room 1051, Han Fei stuck his head out the window, and he saw a strand of shadow as thin as hair hiding in a crack at the corner of the window sill.
"This is too tragic," he exclaimed.
The original shadow that had enveloped the entire Room 1051 now only had a "strand" left, which managed to escape calamity by hiding in a crack outside the room.
Reaching out towards the slender shadow, Han Fei used the secret of touching a soul’s depths.
The shadow timidly crawled out from the crevice and wound around Han Fei’s finger, and from it, Han Fei sensed fear, helplessness, panic, and longing for Xu Qin.
In the past, it had always been the one to devour others heartily; it had never suffered such indignity before.
"Player 0000, please note! You have discovered a special unknown item."
"Special Unknown Object (???)": A special existence saturated with a curse and grudge, no one knows how it formed, situated between items, life, and grudges."
Looking at the hair entwined around his finger, Han Fei was surprised that even the system couldn’t identify the little pet Xu Qin had raised, classifying it as a special unknown object.
"What has Xu Qin been feeding this guy? How did it turn a perfectly good room into such a little monster?"
Han Fei tried to store the dark shadow into the item bar, but the system indicated it wasn’t an item, so he had no choice but to let the shadow coil around his finger.
"Does this little guy see me as the master, or does it feel safe with me because I’m the weakest in the building?"
After leaving Room 1051, Han Fei ran to Room 1054. The human pupae raised by Xu Qin here were lucky; Gesheng had randomly pushed doors, but it hadn’t pushed open the door to Room 1054.
What surprised Han Fei was that the two insect pupae, lacking the nourishment of flesh, started devouring each other. One insect pupae’s vitality dissipated, while the other turned a bright blood-red, and it seemed that something could break out of it at any moment.
"These insect pupae are related to those outsiders, and the outsiders have butterfly tattoos on them. They might also be linked to butterflies." For now, he didn’t know what use the insect pupae had, so he temporarily stored it in his item bar.
After checking around, there weren’t significant damages inside the building, and to Han Fei’s surprise, even the seventh floor’s mirror had survived the ordeal.
"This mirror truly is one of the earliest residents of Happiness Residential Community; it really has some tricks up its sleeve."
After Gesheng left, all the residents spontaneously gathered. Happiness Residential Community wasn’t safe anymore, and everyone started to take Han Fei’s earlier suggestion seriously.
In the face of Gesheng’s threat, the owners finally united. They believed the story Han Fei had initially fabricated, feeling that Han Fei truly had extraordinary foresight.
All owners didn’t know when Gesheng would appear again. They couldn’t find the reason and were unable to feel at ease staying in their homes.
This time disaster struck Building One, and next time it could be Building Two. They had also noticed that Gesheng had been appearing more frequently.
"Indeed, an external threat is the best way to unite internally."
After discussing with everyone, Han Fei let those who really couldn’t leave stay in the community, while the others entered the convenience store.
He planned to explore around the school tonight with the help of his neighbors.
In the middle of the night, Han Fei and a few neighbors arrived at the back door of the convenience store. By then, he had completed a Grade-G general mission and could log out of the game at any time.
At this point, Han Fei was at his strongest. He even dared to curse at Gesheng from a distance before logging out.
"Is everyone ready? We can’t afford any slip-ups. Yimin Private Academy has recently undergone strange changes and is very dangerous. Outsiders seem to have invaded it as well. So, we’ll just scout around the perimeter, and if we chance upon a student who is alone, we’ll work together to rescue them!"
Han Fei needed to gather information within the school. The more information he had, the more confident he felt about tackling the school.
Taking a deep breath, Han Fei, carrying the crying Spiritual Altar and Li Zai with Big Head’s backpack, looked ominous as their tall and short silhouettes radiated an inauspicious aura.
After everyone was in their assigned positions, Han Fei and Li Zai ran out of the convenience store’s back alley, crossed the road, but just as they stepped onto the school gate’s pedestrian steps, a sudden change occurred.
"Player number 0000 has obtained a teacher’s work card from Yimin Private Academy! Congratulations on entering the hidden map—Yimin Private Academy!"
"Mission list updated! Please check!"
Hearing the voice in his mind, Han Fei immediately felt uneasy. He had heard about hidden maps from Huang Ying but never expected to encounter one, especially under these circumstances.
Looking at the Spiritual Altar full of cracks in his hand, Han Fei tried calling out to Cry, but Cry didn’t seem to be inside the Spiritual Altar.
"Are the hidden maps in this game really so blatantly placed out in the open on the street?"