What’s Wrong With Seeking Death?

...Why do you think of Xu Tuoran?

To be honest, Yang Buqi himself does not know the answer to this question.

It's just that the moment he saw the unlucky and abominable thing outside, a thought suddenly popped up in his mind—is this something that humans can do?

Then the brain automatically matched the keywords, and in the next second it locked on the associated object: Xu Tuoran.

...The most important thing is that he guessed it right.

Yang Buqi's mood was delicate for a while. After thanking the boss, I was ready to hang up the phone. The boss stopped him at this moment.

"I don't know the specific situation at Plum Blossom Apartment. But Renxinyuan...you know, they act in extreme ways, and they don't have much patience with ordinary humans." The voice of the boss came from the phone, "If you can talk to that girl In terms of communication, let's persuade her to move out first. This is for her own good."

Yang Buqi looked at the doll dangling outside the window, and responded with a complicated expression.

He also felt that Xu Tuoran should be persuaded to move out. As for who it is for, he is not sure.

After finishing the call, Yang Buqi took a quick shower, picked out a more bluffing formal suit from the limited luggage, and put it on, before going out to find Xu Tuoran—he didn't forget to close the curtains before going out. Completely block the bitter face of the suit doll outside the window who wants to cry or not.

I didn't expect that as soon as I went out, I ran into a scarred face, walking quickly in a hurry.

"Brother Luo?" Yang Buqi recognized this person, and now he is mainly in charge of the plum blossom apartment, "Why did you come here so early in the morning?"

"It's urgent." Luo Ge hurriedly stuffed a bun for him, and then dragged him to the corridor, "I'm sorry, I need your help at this time. But the situation is urgent now, as you know, today is fourteen No…"

Yang Buqi:?

Of course he knew that the nights of the 14th and 24th of every month were high-risk times for this apartment. The use notice in the elevator came from this.

The question is, isn't it daytime?

"It's about to rain." Luo Ge frowned tightly, "The forecast just got is heavy rain."

The weather in City F is inherently unpredictable, let alone the day in June, the face of a child. It would be fine if it was just a little rain—heavy rain, especially the kind of heavy rain that shades the sun and makes the rain like a wall, is no less dangerous to them than the night.

After he mentioned it, Yang Buqi realized that today's weather is indeed a little too boring.

A more intuitive early warning comes from outside the elevator. Yang Buqi saw at a glance that there was an extra piece of paper outside the elevator.

It was a notice, written in red. At a glance, the small characters are densely packed, which is quite shocking.

Luo Ge directly took it off and handed it to Yang Buqi: "The rules that need to be followed are here. I will tell you in detail about the rest."

Yang Buqi responded, took the paper and quickly scanned it, his eyes gradually becoming serious.

Unlike the one in the elevator, this notice is only for people who can "see" it.

—[This notice will only appear during high-risk periods on the 14th and 24th of each month. For the safety of you and others, please see [capable persons] must act strictly in accordance with the requirements of this notice. 】

【1. When you are going to use the elevator, please make sure there is enough bright [natural light source] around the elevator. If not, or temporarily unable to determine the origin of the light source, please use the elevator with caution. 】

[2. If you need to use the elevator without satisfying the first requirement, please make sure that there is no [suspicious phenomenon] outside the elevator before the elevator door is closed. Including, but not limited to, bloodstains of unknown origin, abrupt shadows, contradictory time markers, strange footsteps, and more. If so, please leave the elevator immediately and enter the corridor. 】

[3. If the first article is not met, you see ordinary residents preparing to use the elevator. Also please make sure that there is no such situation around the elevator. If so, please leave the area around the elevator quickly and enter the corridor before ordinary residents enter the elevator. 】

[4. There will be corresponding ability users stationed in the corridor. After entering the corridor, please follow all their arrangements until this notice disappears. 】

[5. If you fail to meet the requirements of the second or third point, please quickly inform the ability users stationed in the corridor, this is very important! If you cannot go to the corridor for some reason, and encounter difficulties that cannot be solved by your own means, please immediately enter the room closest to you and close the door! Do everything you can to contact Renxinyuan! Do not open the door and do not leave your hiding place until you have been notified of the safety of other espers! 】

[6. Please ensure that you have [usable] communication equipment with you, and have the emergency contact information of the person in charge of the [Renshin-in-Plum Blossom Apartment Processing Team]. See below for contact details. 】

[7. Please pay attention! The content of Article 5 of this notice is only as a [Suggestion for Survival] and cannot fully guarantee your personal safety! If you have fallen into an irreversible crisis, according to Article 2.1 of the "Convention of Capable Persons", you are obliged to keep as much records as possible of everything you have experienced so far. Please believe that your contribution is meaningful. 】

【8. I hope you and I will not have the worst ending here. 】

The inscription is "Renshin-in-Plum Blossom Apartment Processing Team".

There is also a pattern next to the signature, which is a torch swaying in the wind, exactly the same as the one on Yang Buqi's business card.

This is not an organization-specific pattern. It is a common symbol of all absorbed ability users - holding a torch in the dark, even though the light and heat are limited, they need to burn themselves with all their strength.

This is the promise they made to each other and to themselves at the beginning of their careers.

Yang Buqi looked at the pattern, pursed his lips, and temporarily put down his plan to go upstairs to find Xu Tuoran. He turned to look at the person next to him with serious eyes: "What should I do?"

"Go to the corridor." Luo Ge said, "The 'marks' in the corridor need to be maintained. Luo Yu is in charge of the first to third floors, I am in charge of the fourth to ninth floors, and you are responsible for the rest of the floors... Sorry, I know this The pressure is a bit heavy. Since yesterday's accident, we are very short of manpower. Luo Yu's strength is not enough... to harm."

"It's okay, I understand." Yang Buqi nodded, raised the paper in his hand, and carefully pasted it back on the elevator door.

This kind of ruled paper seems to have many sheets, which can be posted in different places at the same time. But just like the girl in the closet in the homestay, all splits and states are synchronized. Once one of them is torn off and taken away, the rest will also disappear.

As far as Yang Buqi knows, the few capable users who disappeared yesterday due to accidents were all the main members of the management team of Plum Blossom Apartment. Once this incident happened, the entire management team almost collapsed, although some people were transferred from other places. , but it can really do the job, very rarely—posting the notice back can be regarded as a reminder to those people.

Brother Luo seemed to have thought of this, and raised his hand and rubbed the center of his brows: "The headquarters has only transferred a few new people, I dare not let them take charge of the corridor, I can only let them go to the elevator. You are the one who is more tired. In addition to maintaining the markers, patrolling... If 'they' show up, immediately trigger the markers, leave the corridor, notify others - don't fight them, don't let them leave the corridor. Got it?"

"They?" Yang Buqi frowned, "Why are they plural?"

"Because there are two objects we need to lock on." Luo Ge said solemnly, "Zha Ruoyu—and, that 'thing' hidden behind Zha Ruoyu."

At the same time, Xu Tuoran was in the room.

The smell of toasting bread still wafted from the kitchen. She was biting a homemade simple egg sandwich while quickly reading the materials sent by her assistant this morning.

The machine for baking bread, as well as ingredients such as bread and eggs, were all purchased in advance by the assistant yesterday. It has to be said that this assistant is really versatile, especially in the materials he sent.

There are two copies of the information he sent over. One was requested by Xu Tuoran last night, a case of sudden death of a young woman. She wanted to see if she could solve the mystery of the original owner's death from this angle, but the number of cases sent by the assistant was too large, and it would probably take a lot of time just to scan it.

She simply looked at the second file first—this is the more in-depth information about 1501, which was collected and sent by the assistant herself.

It was also in this document that Xu Tuoran saw the real name of the legendary **** killer for the first time——

Cha Ruoyu.

Male, aged forty-five. The instigator of the 1501 homicide two years ago, a serial murderer. He once hunted and killed six people without any rules, causing panic for a while. After being arrested by the police, he committed suicide in prison and left a suicide note of unknown meaning.

The suicide note indicated that he sent his wife and two children away with his own hands, and sent them across death to true eternal life. He can't find them just yet, but he will find them.

[Our family will definitely be reunited. Under the merciful gaze of the starry sky. 】

— These are the last words of the suicide note.

Prior to this, his wife and children had been missing, with no one alive or dead. It was because of this suicide note that it was concluded that his wife and children had also been killed.

A real perverted murderer, this was how people evaluated Zha Ruoyu at that time.

After his death, the fear he brought not only did not disappear, but continued to exist in people's hearts in another form—for a long time after Zha Ruoyu's death, there were many people who claimed to be "residents of Plum Blossom Apartment" on the Internet The news provided said that on the night of the 14th and 24th of each month, Zha Ruoyu could still be seen in the apartment.

Sometimes in the corridor, sometimes in the elevator, he carried the ax upside down and went all the way to the fifteenth floor. If he sees other people on the way, he will ask if he has seen his wife and children.

If the answer is no, he will chase after the person and hack until he kills the person...

Um.

To be honest, the last paragraph is a bit of a stretch.

Xu Tuoran swallowed the last bite of breakfast, carefully wiped off the fallen bread crumbs, and made an evaluation in his heart.

But looking at the nonsense, it was just the last paragraph - the first part, she took it seriously.

The reason is simple, she has never seen this part of the content online before.

The assistant also said that these things had been circulated on the forum for a long time, but at some point, all of them were suddenly deleted. Even he took a lot of effort to dig out such a little bit from the corners of the Internet.

There are many rumors about Plum Blossom Apartment. Why was this version deleted so cleanly?

Also, the 14th and the 24th—Xu Tuoran remembered these two times. It was the time emphasized in the notice in the elevator yesterday.

It is a coincidence to hit one day, but it is very mysterious to hit two days.

Speaking of which, today happens to be the fourteenth...

Xu Tuoran silently made a death plan for tonight, when he suddenly heard a muffled thunder outside the window. When I looked up, I found that the sky outside had suddenly darkened a lot—a strange dark yellow was all over the window, and it looked like it was going to rain.

It was only then that she remembered that she seemed to be hanging something outside. She leisurely strolled to the balcony, looking at the doll in a suit that was dropped out of the window.

"You've been hanging here for thirty minutes." She put her hands on the balcony, "Are you aware of your mistake?"

The suit doll didn't respond. He just tilted his neck awkwardly, helplessly circling with the wind, he didn't know if he didn't want to answer, or he couldn't speak.

Alright, then hang on.

Xu Tueran tried it, and added a little death value every time he hung out. Anyway, she is not at a loss.

Having said that, the guy named Luo Yu was really calm. The assassin he sent didn't go back all night, and was displayed on the balcony the next day. He was fine, no reaction at all.

Haven't seen it yet?

Xu Tueran thought about it secretly, and found that he hung the doll in this position, and the people upstairs seemed to be not easy to see. Thinking that there was nothing wrong at the moment, she simply packed up and went out directly, intending to take the initiative to go upstairs to find someone to chat with.

It just so happened that she wanted to figure it out too. What is going on with this floor that looks like the fifteenth floor, but is actually not the fifteenth floor at all.

As soon as he went out, there was another thunder. This time the thunder was extremely loud, and the heavy rain poured down, and the sky and the earth were filled with the sound of rushing.

Xu Tuoran looked out the window and frowned. She could feel that at the moment when the heavy rain fell, something seemed to have changed.

The change was very subtle, and she couldn't grasp it for a moment, so she followed her original plan and prepared to go upstairs. Because the notice in the elevator reminded not to take the corridor today, Xu Tuoran's first reaction was naturally to go to the corridor—but when she passed the elevator, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

There seemed to be something extra on the elevator door... She walked over to take a closer look, and found some white marks, which were still a little sticky when she touched it.

Was something originally posted here?

Xu Turan felt strange, and was about to take a closer look, when he suddenly heard the sound of the elevator running in front of him.

The elevator was going up—and it was coming up from the thirteenth floor.

...Didn't it mean that there is no one living on the thirteenth floor?

Frowning slightly, Xu Turan didn't know what to think, touched the tail ring on his little finger, then picked up a shoe from the external shoe rack next to him, dodged quietly, and hid in the corridor beside him.

On the other side, the first floor of the apartment.

Rewind the time to ten minutes ago.

Luo Yu's heart was ashamed, and his face was pale. According to the request of the person in charge, he carefully checked the "marks" in the corridor on the first floor. Next to him was a young man who was just transferred last night, chatting gossip with him casually.

The young man spoke with great interest, but Luo Yu actually had no patience to listen at all. All his thoughts were on the doll in a suit who hadn't returned all night last night, and only when he heard the keyword "Old Man Jiang's shop" did he finally give him a look.

"You mean, someone bought more than one item from Old Man Jiang's shop?"

The young man's name is Xiao Zhang, but he is only sixteen, and he talks a lot. Seeing that Luo Yu was finally willing to take care of him, he got excited on the spot and nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, yes, a friend of mine works in Old Man Jiang's shop. She told me herself. How many pieces do you think the buyer bought?"

He stretched out a hand mysteriously: "Five pieces!"

"Five pieces?" Luo Yu stopped his hands, "Impossible. Who would buy so many with normal abilities? I think I live too long."

"My friend also said the same." Xiao Zhang lowered his voice, "The most important thing is that he didn't want to buy five pieces at first. Do you know what that person said? He said, take all the lamp-level products in your store Come out, below the light level is barely enough—I want them all!"

"Isn't this funny?" Luo Yu laughed, "How can anyone do this, this is not a stick..."

"He really said that, but he couldn't help it later. The old man Jiang didn't sell it, so he only bought five pieces. And that person didn't ask about the details of the products, just looked at the pictures, and picked up the most vicious items in the old man Jiang's batch. , Picked them all away—three lamps, two candles. Do you know what those three lamps are? Book of Flesh, Yin Flute Puppet, Ghost Hair Fairy!"

"They were all sold before, but they were returned within a few days. My friend said that, among other things, the book of flesh and blood didn't stay outside for more than two days."

Old man Jiang is a mysterious figure in their industry, and currently the only ability user who is openly trading in abominations. The abominations he sells are relatively "tame" after long-term containment. Even so, they are quite dangerous to ordinary humans, and even to capable users.

Buying things in old man Jiang's store, you will be at your own risk by default. Recycling of sold items usually only means two situations:

First, the buyer is about to be overwhelmed, and is willing to pay for it so that old man Jiang can take it back.

Second, the buyer couldn't bear it anymore and hung up. The old man Jiang took the initiative to come to collect it.

It is said that all the products that the old man Jiang sells are marked, and once the buyer dies, it will be automatically triggered. Therefore, every time he recovers after death, it arrives in a particularly timely manner.

After hearing this, Luo Yu seemed to realize something, and disbelief appeared in his eyes: "Don't tell me, the five items he sold have not been returned yet."

"That's the point!" Xiao Zhang patted his thigh, "It has been two nights since the day of delivery. None of the marks on those products were triggered."

Luo Yu: "..."

"It's a lie." He felt deeply unbelievable, "Three light levels, how is it possible."

It's not difficult to control a light-level abomination, but taming three newly acquired abominations at the same time is something that only top-level ability users can do, right?

"I asked my friend the same thing. Guess what she said?" Xiao Zhang leaned over and put his hand over his mouth, "She said, old man Jiang checked the buyer's account. He was sure he wasn't someone in the circle. "

Luo Yu: "? You mean..."

"That is to say, that person is an airborne!" Xiao Zhang said, "A hidden boss who is airborne, understand? The kind who came out of nowhere!"

He does not belong to any organization, nor has he been involved in any inner circle affairs. The kind of airborne bigwig who finally made a move only because of a sudden need-not to mention the Shaolin sweeping monk, at least he has the level of a startup company sweeping aunt*.

"My friend listened to the old man Jiang's judgment and said that the other party is at least a Torch-level, maybe he is a 'Hui'." Xiao Zhang became more and more enthusiastic, his face full of excitement, "He also said in private, I don't know How the other party plans to act in the future. Maybe it will affect the whole circle... Huh? Teacher Luo? What's wrong with you, Teacher Luo?"

Seeing Luo Yu's expressionless face, he thought that the other party thought that his words were too exaggerated, so he didn't intend to answer; he didn't know that there was only one key word in Luo Yu's mind at the moment, spinning and jumping repeatedly——

Hide the boss.

Yes, why didn't he think of it before.

Luo Yu's heart set off a stormy sea.

In fact, he didn't sleep much last night, he was always worried about his doll in a suit. Of course, he was not worried about any damage to this abominable thing, but mainly because he was afraid that it would not come back if he lost it—this was the property of the Renxinyuan, which was approved for his use. If it is lost, his responsibility will be great.

Also because of this, he didn't dare to report the suit doll's failure to return overnight, just thinking that if he found it, nothing would happen. However, since early yesterday morning, he has tried all recall methods, but none of them worked.

He thought it was the doll who found a way to release the restraints on her body and ran away. Everyone is desperate. Xiao Zhang's words gave him a new guess—

What if, the doll didn't run away by himself?

What if it was seized?

Although the probability is very low, what if the new girl who moved in is really some kind of hidden boss? No, you don't have to be a big shot. That doll is only at the firefly level, and its abilities have been suppressed before. As long as it is a candle-level ability user, it can be dealt with...

In fact, Luo Yu himself also thinks that this is unlikely, but it is better to be "detained" than the baby who ran away by himself, at least there is still hope for the former.

He immediately wanted to go upstairs to find Xu Tuoran. However, after thinking about it, he couldn't get rid of this face - if it was really like what he guessed, then he would have to apologize. But he has stayed in the Renxinyuan for so many years anyway, he has old qualifications...

Besides, he still has work at hand, so he can't go away.

As soon as Luo Yu thought about it, he set his abacus on Xiao Zhang.

Xiao Zhang is a newcomer, young, and has little qualifications. He only has a firefly level, and people are still talking about it. If he made a mistake, everyone will think it is normal.

So he pretended to assign extra tasks to Xiao Zhang on the spot - immediately went upstairs to find Xu Tuoran, and asked if the doll was with her. If it is, say it ran over by itself, apologize, and bring it back.

He even taught Xu Tu how to test and how to make excuses after meeting Xu Tu. Xiao Zhang didn't understand anything, thought it was a very important matter, so he went happily.

Luo Yu knew that at this time, the capable person stationed upstairs must be in place, so he specially asked Xiao Zhang to get out of the elevator. It's a pity that he overestimated Xiao Zhang's familiarity with this building—the elevator has been modified by capable people, the fifteenth floor is not the fifteenth floor, and the fourteenth floor is not the fourteenth floor. third floor.

Strictly speaking, it is the thirteenth floor shown by the elevator.

The two rooms on the thirteenth floor are no longer occupied, dust is everywhere. The narrow corridor was covered with a layer of darkness because of the stormy weather, making it look very desolate.

Xiao Zhang walked to 1301 ignorantly. After knocking on the door for a while, he realized that he had made a mistake. He turned around and left in a hurry. At this moment, there was a thunder outside the window——

The downpour of rain poured down, and the originally dimly lit aisle suddenly became dark as if it had fallen into the night.

Xiao Zhang was startled, and quickly rushed to the elevator. On the elevator door, the notice in red was very conspicuous. He couldn't remember the rules for using the elevator for a while, so he tore it off to read it. Before he could read a few words, there was another thunderclap behind him!

Xiao Zhang was about to jump up, suppressing his fear, and glanced behind him as a check, then got into the elevator without looking back, and went straight upstairs.

Because he left in such a hurry, he didn't even have time to paste the torn-off notice in his hand.

Also because he was walking in such a hurry, he didn't notice that at the moment when a certain bolt of lightning fell, there was clearly a vague figure in the empty corridor.