Demon Apartment - Chapter 12 - Doodle

“I think that… that Unnameable Thing… might have given us a Hint for Survival.”

As a fervent fan of the Cthulhu mythos, Dong Xie often spoke of “ancient gods,” “evil gods,” and “Unnameable Things.” Even he found it strange to say such things at this moment.

Among the residents of the Apartment, it had become customary to refer to “dirty things,” “those things,” and “Unnameable Things” as “Evil Spirits.” Dong Xie guessed that this last term probably emerged because of the recent popularity of the Cthulhu mythos.

After Dong Xie made this statement, Zhao Long looked at him closely and said, “This… might be possible.”

On the other hand, Feng Yu shook his head and said, “Are you joking? ‘Those things’ exist to kill us. Why would they give us hints to survive? That doesn’t make sense. And about the blood letter record your younger sister mentioned, it’s been so many years, who knows if it’s real or fake? Even if it is real, I think it’s more likely misleading residents to their deaths than anything else. How can we trust ‘those things’?”

Having experienced the first blood letter execution, Feng Yu was now extremely fearful; he truly did not want to face “those things” again. During his first blood letter execution, some residents, who were skeptics, carried items purchased online like peach wood swords, black dog’s blood, and even black donkey hoofs, but when they used these items against “those things,” they had absolutely no effect. The blood letter that Ge Qi participated in was even more exaggerated; one of the residents had even spent money to hire a so-called Exorcist from abroad to accompany them to the location of the blood letter execution. When this foreigner faced “those things,” he was so frightened he wet his pants, throwing holy water and crosses everywhere, clutching The Bible, and shouting “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”… but none of it prevented his fateful demise.

The current residents had exhausted all means, but it was proven that nothing could counter or harm “those things.” Eventually, when Fang Han survived his tenth blood letter and was thus “redeemed,” he had the opportunity to make a wish. Many residents pleaded with him to use his wish to gain freedom or to find a way to counter “those things.” Having grown up watching “Dragon Ball” and “Aladdin,” this generation often believed that “any wish could be granted.” However, they soon realized that fulfilling wishes was not omnipotent. The limitations on wishes were significant.

Bringing the dead back to life was impossible, as was wishing for anything that would break the rules of the Apartment, such as granting freedom to the residents, reducing the difficulty of the blood letters, or allowing residents to counter “those things.” Even wishing for superpowers like those of the Avengers or X-Men was out of the question, let alone “destroying the Apartment.” Even personal desires for immense social power were unrealistic, like becoming President of the United States. Thus, wishes seemed quite useless, but aside from that, if one wanted eternal youth, to cure terminal illnesses, or to gain love (or to be more precise, beautiful women, without any limit on the number), it was all too easy. Although bringing the dead back to life was impossible, causing the death of up to 10,000 people could be accomplished with a wish. From this perspective, the wish still held substantial allure.

In essence… granting a wish closed off all hopes that residents had of countering “those things.” In other words, although the wish was a reward for surviving ten blood letters, it felt more like charity.

The Apartment had many residents over the years, but only Fang Han was known to have survived the tenth blood letter. Whether anyone before Li Yin and after Fang Han had survived ten blood letters was unclear, as detailed records of the blood letters only began with Fang Han.

Ge Qi’s mindset was similar to that of Feng Yu. Initially, he too had witnessed the foreigner, a complete charlatan, but even The Bible and the cross had no effect in front of those “Unnameable Things.” Of course, some residents had desperately resisted before being killed, but no physical means had any effect on them. Even if Rambo¹ and Leng Feng² were to face them, their fate would be the same. So, mentally, it was hard for them to believe that “those things” would reveal a Path to Survival. After all, this was not like playing an online game where they were NPCs revealing clues to players.

However, unlike Feng Yu and Ge Qi, Dong Xie felt that the existence of this Apartment was very much like a horror role-playing game, the only difference being that even if one played to the end, there was no chance of leveling up. In the game, players could die and restart countless times, but in this Apartment, life was only given once; once dead, there was no chance for a restart.

“Let’s keep looking,” Zhao Long continued in his role as the peacemaker, “Our time is very precious. The blood letter has officially begun, and now… ‘they’ could appear at any moment.”

As he spoke, everyone’s faces turned pale.

“I… I understand…” Hearing Zhao Long say this, Feng Yu could only nod and say, “Let’s keep looking.”

As they walked along the corridor, they hadn’t gone far when, illuminated by the light of a lighter, they saw similar doodles on the walls.

On the walls were bunches of black silhouettes. If Dong Xie saw these images on any other day, they would seem as spine-chilling as they were. And a few steps further, they saw another doodle depicting two doors with a black shadow between them.

At that moment, Dong Xie suddenly realized that there were indeed two doors directly opposite each other along the corridor!

This discovery sent chills down his spine!

“This… this…” He pointed ahead, saying, “Could it be…”

Dong Ning followed the direction of Dong Xie’s pointing finger, then compared it with the doodle of the two doors and the shadow between them, and was also shocked.

“Could it be that this doodle depicts a scene that happened here?”

Dong Ning’s remark instantly frightened Zhao Long, Feng Yu, and Ge Qi.

“No… it can’t be!” Ge Qi shook his head desperately, stepping back subconsciously.

Feng Yu’s face also turned very pale, feeling as if his legs were so weak that he needed to support himself against the wall to walk.

And Zhao Long, looking at the doodle and the scene before him, fell into deep thought…

Footnote:

1. Rambo(兰博): A legendary action hero from the Rambo movie series, portrayed by Sylvester Stallone. Rambo is a highly skilled and relentless ex-special forces soldier, known for his survival instincts, combat expertise, and iconic representation of American individualism and resilience.
2. Leng Feng(冷锋): A fictional Chinese special forces soldier from the Wolf Warrior movie series, portrayed by Wu Jing. He symbolizes bravery, patriotism, and exceptional combat skills, similar to Hollywood action heroes like Rambo.