Chapter 44: Doctor and Patient, the True Culprit

Chapter 44: Doctor and Patient, the True Culprit

On the battlefield, the Thief endured relentless attacks from the Players, its twisted, horrifying Supernatural Faces wailing and contorting in agony.

Countless Supernatural Insects shed from the Thief's body, yet it showed no intention of fleeing. Instead, it accelerated its destruction of the walls, gnawing at the flesh of the original residents embedded within.

Boom!!

A deafening explosion rang out—something struck the Thief, blowing its head apart. Innumerable Supernatural Insects rained down like a downpour.

The Players were stunned.

Turning their heads, they saw Long Yuan standing on the second-floor railing, a shotgun in hand, smoke still curling from the barrel.

"It's that Long bastard again!"

"I knew this guy was lurking somewhere!"

The moment Huang Ran spotted Long Yuan, his expression darkened. Ranked second in progress, he had always viewed Long Yuan as his greatest rival, perpetually overshadowed by him.

"The main boss lost its head—it should be dead…"

Before a Player could finish speaking, the Thief's head began to regenerate, the cries of its Supernatural Faces growing even more piercing…

"Looks like to kill this thing, we have to destroy all its Supernatural Faces!"

Perhaps its goal had been achieved, or perhaps it sensed danger—the Thief ceased its destruction and turned to flee.

"It's running!"

"Can it escape? As long as it's in this apartment, it has nowhere to hide!"

The barrage of attacks had clearly taken effect. The Thief's aura diminished rapidly, proving it could be injured… and killed!

The remaining Players, exhilarated, gave chase.

Watching the pursuing Players and the walls around him cracking and oozing blood, Long Yuan narrowed his eyes, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

But then, his smile vanished abruptly.

In the lobby, he noticed one Player who hadn't joined the mindless pursuit of the Thief.

Stepping through the pools of blood on the floor, Ji Yan entered the aftermath of the battle.

His gaze fixed solely on the shattered, dying Supernatural Faces scattered across the ground.

He crouched down, reaching out to touch them one by one.

As his Talent triggered repeatedly, Ji Yan gleaned information no other Player had uncovered.

[My child has been corrupted… I wanted to protect my child, to let them grow up healthy.]

[How pitiful these outsiders are—foolish and laughable, believing only what they see before them.]

[They dig a deep pit with fervor, thinking it a shelter from disaster, unaware it’s their own grave!]

[Who will save us? Save our family? We’ve tried our best, but we’re growing weaker… Soon, we’ll only be able to watch helplessly as everything vanishes.]

[…]

Clutching a Supernatural Face in his hand, Ji Yan’s expression grew increasingly grave.

His eyes fell upon the dead Supernatural Insects littering the ground—and suddenly, he understood something.

"Ji Yan, aren’t we going after it?" Liu Yitong asked.

Only after all the Supernatural Faces had withered and died did Ji Yan stand up.

Surveying the dense web of cracks covering the first-floor lobby, the walls oozing thick, coagulated blood, he approached and pressed his hand against the flesh protruding from the fractures.

Then, his gaze sharpened.

"I’m heading to the eighth floor," he told Liu Yitong.

"If you trust me, go back to Room 404 and stay out of the Main Plot."

Liu Yitong was taken aback. "Did you discover something?"

Ji Yan didn’t answer. He turned and ran upstairs—he had no time to explain. Whether Liu Yitong listened or not was her choice. As fellow Players under the same roof, the care he’d shown was already enough.

As he climbed the stairs, Ji Yan paused on each floor, observing something before continuing upward.

Soon, he reached the 8th Floor.

He knocked on the door of Room 801.

The door opened, revealing Xi Xi.

She was still dressed in plain white clothes, her face bearing the same deeply depressed expression.

"Elder Sister said you’d come."

"And you arrived even earlier than she guessed."

Inside, Miss Xu Xin lounged on the sleep chair as usual, lazily flipping through a book.

"Shouldn’t you be busy catching the Thief right now?"

"What brings you here in such a leisurely mood?"

Miss Xu turned a page, her tone indifferent.

Ji Yan approached but didn’t rush to explain. Instead, he countered, "Miss Xu, last night you were seething with hatred for that Thief stealing your original residents."

"So why do you seem so indifferent now?"

Miss Xu didn’t look at him, smiling faintly. "What’s the use of being anxious?"

"Might as well let go. If the culprit destroying the apartment isn’t stopped, we’ll all perish together in the end."

"On second thought, having so many tenants as company isn’t a bad deal, is it?"

Ji Yan shook his head. "You knew from the start that the Thief would break into your Room 801."

"But you wouldn’t stop it."

Miss Xu closed her book and raised her beautiful eyes. "Why?"

"Because when that multi-faced supernatural entity entered your room, it wasn’t stealing your original residents. On the contrary, it was doing everything it could to save this house."

"Or rather, the entire apartment!"

"From the beginning, we were misled."

"The real Thief isn’t that multi-faced supernatural entity at all—it’s someone else."

"The apartment has suffered severe damage. A supernatural entity has been gnawing at the apartment’s foundation, constantly corrupting the original residents within the walls. The multi-faced supernatural entity’s appearance was actually playing the role of a 'doctor.'"

"It tirelessly roams every corner of the apartment, tearing open walls, ripping out the flesh of the original residents, and taking the 'rent'—but those were all contaminated sources of disease. If not removed, they would deepen the cracks in the walls and accelerate the apartment’s collapse."

"Yet the Players and most supernatural tenants remain unaware."

"They’ve pinned the blame for the cracked walls and the apartment’s ruin squarely on the multi-faced supernatural entity!"

Ji Yan’s expression darkened. "This has created a tragic situation."

"A doctor working hard to save a patient is mistaken for a murderer because the family sees the knife in his hand and the blood staining it. They attack him in a frenzy."

"The patient believes they’re stopping a killer and saving the one on the bed."

"But they don’t realize that by interfering, they’re harming the patient—and may have even missed the best chance for rescue."

Ji Yan’s face was grave.

In reality, he already had some suspicions based on that hidden information.

But they were just suspicions after all.

After the commotion in the first-floor lobby, he became certain.

It was also largely intuition—everything had gone too smoothly.

After listening to Ji Yan's words, Miss Xu tossed the book in her hand aside, a faint smile appearing on her exquisite face. "Your analysis is quite thorough."

"You really do seem like a great detective."

"Then let’s assume your deductions are all correct."

"So, where is the real culprit gnawing at the apartment's foundation, pushing it toward the abyss of destruction?"

Ji Yan pondered for a moment before countering with a question:

"I’d guess... the apartment has a basement, doesn’t it?"