Demon Apartment - Chapter 11 - Li Yin

At this moment, the hallway was devoid of any light.

The narrow corridor seemed like the gaping maw of a monster, constantly exuding an overwhelming darkness. Dong Xie felt as if the darkness before him could swallow him whole at any moment, a true descent into hell.

They walked along the fifth floor corridor, reaching a corner.

Now, all the light came from the lighter in Ge Qi’s hand, as the hallway had no windows. It seemed the fifth floor had been uninhabited for a long time, with old cardboard boxes and plastic bags piled everywhere, and cobwebs filling the corners.

“This musty smell… it’s unbearable…” Feng Yu instinctively covered his nose, finding the odor indescribable.

As they moved forward, they encountered a corner.

They cautiously approached, fearing that turning the corner might reveal some “Unnameable Things.” Each person pressed closely together, with Feng Yu and Ge Qi both hoping that if the “Unnameable Things” attacked, it would be someone else who faced the danger first.

Fortunately, nothing appeared when they turned the corner.

“Hmm… what’s this?”

Ge Qi directed the lighter towards the wall, discovering some strange doodles.

The doodles clearly looked like they were drawn by a young child.

Ge Qi stepped closer, illuminating the wall with the lighter.

“This… what is this?”

He widened his eyes, staring intently at the wall.

Dong Xie and Dong Ning also approached, examining the doodles on the wall. The drawings depicted what looked like stair steps, and beneath them were several shadowy human figures.

It was clearly a child’s doodle, yet seeing it here was chilling.

“Thinking about it now…” Dong Xie instinctively rubbed his chin, a habit Dong Ning knew he had when he was nervous.

“What?” Zhao Long looked over, asking, “Do you have any ideas?”

Zhao Long, like Feng Yu and Ge Qi, didn’t have high expectations for Dong Xie, only remembering his name because it was quite memorable. With Mo Yuan out of contact, Zhao Long was willing to hear Dong Xie’s thoughts, hoping that brainstorming might yield some insights.

“The fourth floor being locked… that implies something happened there before…” Dong Xie said, looking at the drawing. “This drawing might be…”

The fourth floor was now locked, accessible only by elevator, and uninhabited. But in the past, people might have lived there. Perhaps something terrible happened back then. The shadowy figures in the drawing might represent the “Unnameable Things.”

“Yeah…” Dong Ning pointed at the stair-like drawing. “If those stairs were seen by a child… some ‘dirty things’ on the fourth floor…”

Everyone exchanged glances. Looking at the shadowy figures on the wall, they all felt a chill down their spines.

“Those things… won’t they leave the fourth floor? If so, are we safe?” Feng Yu pointed at the drawing, saying, “Because… the child who witnessed and drew this didn’t die, right?”

“Did you forget about the old lady?” Ge Qi’s words reminded Feng Yu of his wishful thinking.

“Right…” Feng Yu scratched his head. “Speaking of which… if the old lady is one of those ‘Unnameable Things,’ why warn us against entering the fourth floor? By warning us, she actually kept us away from danger?”

“Indeed,” Zhao Long agreed, “that doesn’t quite add up. Why is that?”

Dong Ning suddenly spoke up, “It should be a kind of Hint for Survival.”

Everyone immediately focused their attention on Dong Ning.

Zhao Long was intrigued by Dong Ning’s theory and asked, “What do you mean?”

He hadn’t expected much from the siblings, thinking it would be enough if they didn’t hold the group back. However, since the Blood Letter began, Feng Yu and Ge Qi, who had survived a previous Blood Letter, were panicking to the point of almost wetting themselves, even though the “dirty things” hadn’t appeared yet. Dong Xie and Dong Ning, though clearly frightened, were handling the situation with more composure.

Dong Ning continued, “In past Blood Letter records, there have been instances where those… things… provided residents with Hints for Survival. For example, in a Blood Letter Task years ago, residents delivered letters between two deceased lovers in abandoned houses. The information in the letters gave the residents crucial Hints for Survival.”

“Oh!” Dong Xie quickly added, “That’s the one where the information and names in the letters misled the residents, leading them to trigger the path of death…”

That Blood Letter case was classic for its high level of misdirection, almost resulting in a complete wipeout. Most importantly, one of the executors of that Blood Letter Instruction was Li Yin, a resident who later successfully left the Apartment. Dong Xie admired Li Yin greatly, as many Blood Letter records were personally compiled by him for future residents. He was the one who discovered the trap in that Blood Letter Instruction.

“The path of death and the Path to Survival are relative,” Dong Ning continued. “From that past Blood Letter record, it seems that ‘those things’ are restricted by the Apartment early in the Blood Letter, causing them to leak information to us. Although it’s unclear if avoiding the fourth floor is the path of death, there might be hope for finding the Path to Survival.”

“But…” Dong Xie pondered and said, “If, as you say, ‘those things’ will give us important hints, then if going to the fourth floor is the path of death and avoiding it is the Path to Survival, isn’t that too simple?”

The others agreed; it seemed too easy. Staying on the fifth floor for five hours safely? Such a Blood Letter record had never existed.

Going to the fourth floor might trigger the path of death. But knowing this in advance, who would willingly go to the fourth floor to die?

From the old lady’s words, it seemed passing through the fourth floor stairwell didn’t count as entering the “fourth floor.” Not going to the fourth floor as the Path to Survival was something no one believed.

So… could it be that going to the fourth floor was necessary to deduce the Path to Survival?

Dong Xie felt a headache coming on, wondering how to find clues to the Path to Survival.

Unlike Dong Xie, Dong Ning was firmly convinced of one thing deep down. That old lady must have revealed the key Hint for Survival to them!