Chapter 19: The Kanjing Gui Feasts on the Apartment

Chapter 19: The Kanjing Gui Feasts on the Apartment

["They’re like maggots clinging to bones—persistent and deadly. To drive them away, you must resolve the issue at its root. Once the source is gone, the plague of rats will scatter."]

"The source?"

Ji Yan froze for a moment.

Indeed, mindlessly clearing them out wouldn’t work.

But what—and where—was the source?

Lost in thought, Ji Yan tightened his grip on the Rusted Hatchet and continued killing.

Whatever.

If he had any doubts, his Talent would provide the answers!

The other Players shook their heads as they watched Ji Yan stubbornly slaughter the plague rats.

There were thousands of them—how could he possibly clear them all?

And they had to finish before nightfall, with barely four hours left!

"Simple-minded fool," Long Yuan sneered, but his eyes locked onto the Rusted Hatchet in Ji Yan’s hand.

"That’s the Rusted Hatchet from the Resentful Supernatural Entity in Room 702?"

"How did this guy get his hands on it?"

Long Yuan’s brow twitched.

He had completed 70% of the Crimson Apartment’s Missions, but the remaining 30% were the toughest challenges—including the one in Room 702.

Back then, he’d spent two days trying to obtain it but failed, eventually giving up.

Yet now, some other Player had somehow acquired this Supernatural Artifact.

Long Yuan pulled up Ji Yan’s profile panel.

It was so bare it could be described as "empty as a beggar’s bowl."

"Five days of survival in the game?"

Long Yuan was stunned, then smirked. "Looks like this rookie got lucky."

"Well, now that hatchet is mine."

He chuckled.

Snatching equipment from clueless newcomers like this was second nature to him—he had plenty of methods.

Unaware that his Rusted Hatchet had been marked, Ji Yan kept slaughtering the mutated rats one after another.

Almost every five kills, a Hidden Information Panel popped up.

"Kid, stop wasting your energy. It’s impossible."

"Why not just donate 1000 milliliters of blood with us? Once we get the Mission’s food supply, maybe we can recover after a few days of rest..."

The other Players spoke, though even they didn’t believe their own words.

Ji Yan acted as if he hadn’t heard them, focused solely on killing rats and gathering Hidden Information.

[Kanjing Gui: A type of Disaster Supernatural Entity that carries a rat plague. It wanders the Eerie World without a fixed dwelling, preferring to infest buildings steeped in resentment. It feeds on vengeful spirits to nourish and expand the plague, strengthening itself in the process.]

"Got it!"

"This must be the source entity."

Ji Yan’s eyes lit up just as the mutated rats suddenly surged backward, as if drawn by something.

In his line of sight, a filthy figure covered in sewage and trash slowly crawled out of the grimy Drainage Ditch.

Though it resembled a person, it was undeniably a Supernatural Entity.

Once it emerged, the mutated rats parted to make way as it dragged itself through the filth toward the base of the apartment wall.

Crouching down, it began digging with its hands before devouring whatever it unearthed in large, ravenous bites.

With each grotesque mouthful, the entire Crimson Apartment trembled violently!

The massive structure seethed with dark resentment, as though countless tormented souls wailed within.

Within minutes, the Kanjing Gui had gnawed a bowl-sized hole into the wall.

As soon as the hole appeared, the mutated rats scrambled inside in a frenzy.

"Delicious… so delicious!!"

"Delicious! I can't finish it all, it's too tasty!"

The apartment building teetered on the verge of collapse.

The mutated rats that had burrowed inside gnawed at anything they could find within the apartment.

Like termites, they seemed determined to hollow out the entire building.

Stomping a mutated rat into pulp, the Charming Specter from Room 101 on the first floor was the first to suffer, her eyes filled with disgust.

"Damn it! Not only is the rent for this apartment outrageously expensive, but they can’t even handle basic sanitation!"

"This is infuriating!"

Outside, Cheng Fang was also wailing like a ghost.

"Holy shit! These rats are huge! Damn, why are there so many?"

The Charming Specter icily ordered Cheng Fang: "Don’t let a single rat into my room."

"If even one gets in, you won’t be staying here anymore."

Cheng Fang felt utterly wronged, grumbling internally: "All the dirty work falls on me—what sins did I commit in my past life?"

As time passed, more and more residents in the apartment voiced their complaints.

The landlord swept the hallway, listening to the grievances with a cold snort before projecting his voice outside the apartment: "Tell them to hurry up and eliminate the rat plague."

"If they can’t, they don’t need to come back."

"This apartment never lacks tenants, let alone these pitiful outsiders who can’t even pay rent?"

The Bandaged Supernatural Entity relayed the landlord’s words to the cleaning squad.

Already under immense pressure, the squad finally caved in to Long Yuan’s demands.

"Long God, I’m willing to help you feed that knife—please, just act now!"

"Me too! Losing a thousand milliliters of blood is better than certain death if we can’t return to the apartment!"

"I’d rather be drained dry than get eaten bite by bite by the Supernatural Entities in the fog!"

Long Yuan remained unmoved by their pleas, his gaze fixed on Ji Yan in the distance.

"There’s still one left."

The other players quickly turned to persuade Ji Yan.

Ji Yan flicked the blood off his hands and cast a cold glance at Long Yuan.

"Why rely on him?"

"This rat plague was brought by the Kanjing Gui. Kill that thing, and the plague will collapse on its own."

Over there, the Kanjing Gui, gnawing on the apartment building, grew larger with every bite, its once-gaunt body swelling steadily.

Long Yuan chuckled in surprise. "You actually know about the Kanjing Gui?"

"True, once the Kanjing Gui dies, the plague will disperse."

"But it’s like knowing the answer is in the textbook—who here can actually solve it?"

Long Yuan rested his hands behind his head.

"To kill the Kanjing Gui, you need at least a Collector’s Grade Supernatural Artifact—and that’s only if you know its weakness."

"Which of you here has that kind of equipment? Who has that kind of confidence?"

The players fell silent.

A female player whispered to Ji Yan, "Bro, for everyone’s sake, just give in."

"Yeah, look at you—you’re in great shape! Losing some blood won’t kill you. We’ve been starving for days, and we’re not complaining!"

"Hurry up and agree! If he leaves, we’re all doomed! Don’t be the rotten apple that spoils the whole barrel!"

Driven by survival instinct, the players took turns lecturing Ji Yan—some pleading, others pressuring.

Just as Ji Yan was about to speak, Long Yuan suddenly changed his mind. "I’ve reconsidered."

He pointed at Ji Yan: "You, on top of the basic conditions, have one more thing to add—that Rusted Hatchet belongs to me."

"Reason?" Ji Yan countered.

"No reason. I just don’t like you."

"Agree, and I’ll save you all."

"Refuse, and I walk away right now."

Long Yuan directed all the conflict’s pressure toward Ji Yan, pushing him into the eye of the storm.

In this situation, the most desperate were the other Players, who would frantically heap pressure onto Ji Yan.

If Long Yuan left, Ji Yan would be the sole scapegoat.

So, no matter how unreasonable his demands became, Ji Yan had no choice but to agree.

When it came to manipulating people’s hearts, Long Yuan had plenty of tricks.

Ji Yan saw through it too.

This guy was targeting him purely because he had his eyes on the Rusted Hatchet.

Glancing at the Hidden Information he’d obtained, Ji Yan suddenly thought of something.

"What if you can’t kill that Kanjing Gui?" Ji Yan asked.

"Disaster-class Gui like this? I’ve killed at least ten in this dungeon alone."

"What do you think?"

Ji Yan: "There’s always an exception."

Long Yuan, furious, laughed coldly. "If I fail, this Kitchen Knife of mine is yours!"

"Deal."

Seeing Ji Yan agree so readily, Long Yuan’s expression darkened. He hadn’t expected to be mocked by a rookie in this dungeon.

His gaze shifted to the Kanjing Gui in the distance, and a scheme suddenly formed in his mind.

"You like betting with me?"

"I’ll make sure you lose completely—not just your Rusted Hatchet, but your life too!"

Long Yuan sneered inwardly, his killing intent rising.