Chapter 269: Chapter 230: Clue
"I didn’t see any sign pointing the way; I came back because it looked like it was going to rain," Yang Xiao said, his expression unchanged as he looked at Mo Daidai with suspicion in his eyes, "You said you were following me. What for, to take the chance to steal my money?"
Mo Daidai shook her head, "It’s not that I wanted to follow you. It’s because Tong Han said you were very strange, so..."
"Hey, don’t talk nonsense. What I said was that I felt Mr. Chu was very impressive, and I never told you to follow him. You followed him on your own," Tong Han immediately distanced herself from the situation.
As they spoke, the fog outside surged dramatically, and figures emerged from it—they were tenants from the apartment.
These people acted very normally, some with children, others couples, and middle-aged men assisting the elderly. They were laughing and talking with their family, but what was strange was that these tenants didn’t greet each other; they seemed very unfamiliar with each other.
With Yang Xiao’s previous example, everyone understood that these tenants posed no threat during this particular time period.
On the contrary, if they found items lost by these tenants, they could exchange them for rewards.
This money was much easier to come by than the rewards for carrying out tasks at night.
Without much discussion, everyone picked their targets and chased after them desperately, while the tenants, as if seeing a ghost, scrambled toward the apartment.
Soon, someone succeeded. A man in business attire dropped his briefcase while being chased by Fu Changxue, and naturally, this briefcase became Fu Xuechang’s spoils of war.
But after that, the remaining tenants improved their escape speed and technique by more than a notch; the rest ended up with nothing.
Yang Xiao suggested that everyone should save their energy, as it was clear that the rules wouldn’t allow them to indefinitely farm money this way; there could be only one lucky person each day.
Fu Changxue held the briefcase, feeling very pleased. Everyone regrouped outside the security room, and tenants continued to enter through the apartment’s main door.
These people had the same reaction upon seeing Yang Xiao and the others: surprise, followed by fear, and then they ran away as fast as they could.
Yang Xiao and the others didn’t bother chasing because it was impossible to catch up; the tenants’ speed was beyond human.
While everyone was discussing how to deal with the night’s situation, a woman’s voice came from the apartment’s main gate, sounding rather surprised, "Mr. Chu?"
Everyone was stunned and looked towards the source of the voice to find, to their amazement, the woman who wore high heels. If they remembered correctly, her name was Yan Huiru, living in apartment 7034.
Yan Huiru was dressed just like the day before, still carrying her child’s schoolbag, but the shy little boy was nowhere to be seen.
Yan Huiru walked over briskly, her gaze fixed solely on Yang Xiao, "Mr. Chu, thank you so much for finding my shoe. I had to take my child home first, but after thinking it over, I decided to come down and thank you again."
Upon hearing this, Yang Xiao understood that Yan Huiru was still trapped in the day before her death. In Yan Huiru’s memory, he had just found and returned her shoe to her.
It seemed this was another hidden rule within the apartment: they could have brief interactions with tenants related to tasks outside of the apartment.
"Mr. Chu, thank you very much for your help. If there’s nothing else, I need to go back and cook for Lan Lan. Goodbye," Yan Huiru said to Yang Xiao with a polite smile and then turned to leave.
"Wait a moment." Yang Xiao quickly walked a few steps to catch up with Yan Huiru and probed, "Miss Yan, do you know the occupant of Room 8009?"
The male owner of Room 8009 claimed he had a little son who was very mischievous at school, and Yan Huiru also had a son who was in school; the two might know each other.
As expected, Yan Huiru nodded, but her expression turned somewhat strange. "I know him. His surname is Chen. He’s a drunkard who often beats his wife. Eventually, his wife couldn’t bear it and divorced him. He’s been raising his child alone, but that child hasn’t learned any good from him either; he often bullies his classmates at school."
"Lan Lan goes to the same school as him, but not the same grade. We’ve all heard about this child’s behavior, very vile. It seems the school even recommended he leave because of his actions, and his father made several scenes at the school because of it," Yan Huiru contemptuously continued about the impression Room 8009’s father and son left on her, "Afterward, the school security stopped being polite with them and their attitude towards them soured considerably. There were conflicts, and since then, they haven’t dared to come to the school and cause trouble anymore. Honestly, they’re the type who bullies the weak but fears the strong."
Yan Huiru’s words unlocked a new world for Yang Xiao; it turned out they could directly gather clues from the tenants themselves.
Just as Yang Xiao was about to ask something else, Yan Huiru hurriedly said she needed to go home to cook and didn’t wait for Yang Xiao to retain her - she left in a whiff.
Seeing Yan Huiru leave, an anxious Wang Longhui, his face flushed with anger, approached Yang Xiao and demanded, "Hey, why did you let her go? You just ask about your own stuff. What about us? I have a mission tonight too. Would it kill you to ask a few more questions?"
Yang Xiao hadn’t expected such shamelessness from an old player and sneered back in retort, "Am I your father? Do I have to take care of all your needs?"
"What’s with your tone?"
The two were about to start arguing when Fu Changxue stepped forward, playing the peacemaker. But Li Qingxuan could see clearly that Wang Longhui was just anxious and spoke without thinking - after all, the night’s task ahead was not an easy one, and neither of them meant to escalate the conflict.
Time was precious, and with some time left before the mission, everyone chatted briefly before dispersing to rest.
Sitting on the couch with his eyes closed, Yang Xiao habitually began to review everything that had happened that day. Xu Xinyi was dead, Cheng Ya was severely wounded, and as if being robbed wasn’t bad enough, he ended up with a bloody handprint from the female ghost on his back while Qu Yi, who was also without money, received a bloody handprint from the basketball-playing male ghost.
During the day, Yang Xiao thought of something but didn’t mention it; he suspected that these bloody handprints were a kind of marking, the male ghost’s handprint on the left, fingertips pointing down, and the female ghost’s on the right, fingertips pointing up.
If a person was marked by the male ghost and then by the female ghost, ending up with two bloody handprints, one on each side, what would happen next?
And then there was Mo Daidai, who had actually been tracking him. Yang Xiao had been careless, completely unaware. Both Mo Daidai and Tong Han were very odd, and he should be wary of both.
As time ticked by, the old clock on the wall struck 10:50 PM. Yang Xiao splashed his face with cold water, ready to set out.
His mission for the night was to visit Room 8009 in the apartment building to offer care to that "kind and enthusiastic" boy who bullied classmates at school.
Of course, that meant dealing with the boy’s abusive, drunken father, surnamed Chen.
"It would have been nice if I could bring a gun in here," Yang Xiao regretted.
