Chapter 261: Chapter 222: New Mission
"I didn’t dare to open the door, and I didn’t dare to make a sound. About a minute passed, maybe... maybe even less, and that thing left."
"It wasn’t until Wang Longhui came back and told me that I found out an envelope had been stuck on the door, with a bloody handprint on it." Speaking of last night’s event, Tong Han still felt a hint of lingering fear, and her complexion was noticeably pale.
Miss Xu was terrified just listening to it, "Did you... Did you not open it to see what was inside?"
Her question immediately provoked Tong Han’s criticism. She stared at Miss Xu’s pitiful look and sneered, "Miss, are you acting, or are you really that dumb? Please use your brain before you speak. If it were you, would you open an envelope delivered by a ghost at the dead of night, clearly ominous, and with a bloody handprint on it?"
After a few harsh words from Tong Han, Miss Xu shrank back, weakly standing behind the crowd, not daring to speak again.
Yang Xiao sighed inwardly, thinking that Miss Xu’s acting skills were terribly lacking. It was obvious she was an experienced player, but with little experience, her acting was atrocious. If she survived this time, Yang Xiao would recommend she read some of the scripts he had written.
Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming awkward, it was finally the self-proclaimed team leader Fu Xuechang who stepped forward to smooth things over, reassuringly saying, "Let’s not get emotional, Miss Xu was just anxious. Tong Han, Wang Longhui, please continue."
Wang Longhui raised his hand and pointed to the wall opposite the security room, which was covered with layers of small advertisements. "A few new task assignments appeared up there, which I think were brought by that guy."
Now the situation was quite clear. The envelope left in the security room had mentioned that new tasks for the day would be refreshed at 2 AM. It seemed likely that the mysterious person was the one issuing the tasks, and Yang Xiao even suspected this person to be the Dongzhou Apartment manager.
Fu Changxue leaned in for a closer look at the bloody envelope on the door and, finding no issues, finally took it down. To everyone’s surprise, it actually contained two letters.
And they were letters of gratitude.
One was written in the voice of Old Man Lü from room 3001 to Fu Changxue, thanking him for coming late at night to unclog the pipes for his family.
The other was from Old Lady Wu of room 6037 to Yang Xiao, expressing gratitude for treating her precious son using the family’s "Unique Skill" of Pulse Diagnosis with a Silk Thread. She referred to Yang Xiao as the "Divine Doctor" in the letter, praising his profound medical skills and understanding of destiny, with admiration spilling out between the lines.
"Unique Skill?" Fu Changxue and the others looked at Yang Xiao with puzzled faces. "And... Pulse Diagnosis with a Silk Thread?" After all, not long ago Yang Xiao had only given them a rough explanation without many details.
"Merely a trifling skill," Yang Xiao waved his hand, signaling that they shouldn’t dwell on these details.
Although both letters were words of thanks, their contents slightly differed. Old Man Lü had some criticism for Changxue, noting that while his workmanship was not bad, his attitude left much to be desired, and he wasn’t very efficient either. Clearing a drainpipe, he dawdled for nearly an hour, which greatly disrupted Lü’s rest time, so he could only pay half of the gratitude fee.
When he flipped the letter over, there were three old paper bills taped to the back, two green 2-yuan bills and one 1-yuan bill, making it a total of 5 yuan.
While flipping through the bills, several strands of a woman’s long hair were found sandwiched between the bills.
In contrast, the letter to Yang Xiao was much more satisfactory. Not only did Old Lady Wu pay the agreed full 10 yuan to Yang Xiao, but she also gave an additional 2 yuan as thanks.
A total of 12 yuan, these banknotes all had various degrees of brown stains on them. Upon closer inspection, one could smell a strong scent of medicinal residue.
As veteran players, Yang Xiao, Fu Changxue, and others immediately realized that this money was not given for nothing; it was likely to be of great importance during the mission. The money essentially acted as a reward for accepting the task, providing positive reinforcement to motivate players to take on missions.
Besides, their gazes towards Tong Han and Wang Longhui became strange. It was easy to understand; since accepting commissioned tasks came with rewards, it didn’t make sense for the two of them, who were on security patrol, to be empty-handed.
In response, after hesitating for a moment, Tong Han and Wang Longhui took out a few old banknotes hidden inside their clothes. Two green 2-yuan banknotes and one old, almost torn-in-half one-yuan banknote—it was 5 yuan for each of them.
Tong Han explained that they had found the money lying on the ground outside the security room. There were two batches, obviously left as payment for the building’s managers, so they kept it.
At this moment, Xu Xinyi’s feeble voice came right on cue, "Tong Han sister, you’re so strange. You insist on opening the letter in front of everyone, which I understand, is to share the risks, but why did you keep this questionable money for yourself?"
Tong Han didn’t bother with words and stepped forward briskly, then slapped Xu Xinyi’s face hard, "Slap!"
Xu Xinyi was stunned by this sudden slap. Holding her face, it took her a while to come to her senses, her teeth bared as she tried to pounce on Tong Han in a fight, "You hit me? You actually dared to hit me?!"
Originally, there were already enough troubles inside the apartment, and now these two women had started fighting at the drop of a hat, although Yang Xiao also thought this slap was satisfying.
Never underestimate the combat prowess of women. Yang Xiao and Li Qingxuan held back the unhinged Xu Xinyi, while Fu Xuechang and the others restrained Tong Han, who still wanted to land a few more kicks on Xu Xinyi, "Everyone calm down, calm down!!"
Yang Xiao was rather sly; he held Xu Xinyi from behind, while the tall and strong Li Qingxuan stood in front, getting his face clawed multiple times by the frantic Xu Xinyi, ending up with scratches.
"You filthy bitch, I’ll tear you apart!" Xu Xinyi, unable to hit her target, could only curse Tong Han aloud.
But Tong Han refused to show weakness, smiling coldly at Xu Xinyi, "Don’t be in such a hurry, we’ll have our alone time, just wait."
It took quite an effort to pacify the two, and Yang Xiao started looking for today’s newly posted commission tasks. There were still five tasks for the day, all commissioned by the apartment’s residents. After a short while, Yang Xiao unexpectedly found one from Old Lady Wu in room 6037.
"I, I will go and treat the old lady’s son!" Before Yang Xiao could take a closer look, one hand snatched the commission away—it was Xu Xinyi.
At the moment, Xu Xinyi was panting heavily, clutching Old Lady Wu’s commission in her hand, seemingly determined to keep it.
Yang Xiao was also aware of her motives; she had scoped out the situation the night before with his help and felt she had both the knowledge of the enemy and of herself, making today’s task seem like an easy gain.
Another commission was taken by Li Qingxuan: room 4017 on the fourth floor. The commission letter was very straightforward; it was from a young woman surnamed Su who tossed and turned in bed during the nights, troubled by loneliness and the dreariness of life, while also feeling cold, so she urgently needed someone to come over for companionship. It was noted in bold red letters at the end, with a male-only requirement, ’No men, do not disturb.’
