Chapter 80 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 80

In TVB dramas, the police always arrive late, only making their appearance after the protagonists have already settled everything.

That line from Ji Xiu made everyone feel a little embarrassed.

But more important matters were right in front of them. After an awkward pause, they quickly pulled themselves together and started asking about the situation.

“What is this place used for?”

Ji Xiu was studying the instruments in front of him and did not have the time to explain personally. He casually pointed at the door beside him. “Go in and see for yourselves.”

Everyone obediently went through that door. A few minutes later, they came back out, their expressions even uglier than before.

Inside were two fully sterilized operating rooms, high end and sophisticated equipment, and containers of Malfolin soaking human organs.

Based on the situation, this was very likely a secret site connected to organ trafficking.

The children were the hosts whose organs were harvested.

Du Sheng, as the world’s favored male protagonist, hated evil and loved justice, soft hearted and unable to stand seeing innocent children suffer. Seeing such a scene with his own eyes, he could not help grinding his teeth, enunciating each word. “Bastards.”

“Stop being angry. I found the mechanism to lower the iron cages. Let’s go. Take the kids downstairs and wait for the police.”

After Ji Xiu had dealt with all the thugs and guards, he called the police immediately. Ten minutes had passed by now, and the police cars should be arriving soon. They needed to escort the children safely away from the fourth floor.

Du Sheng snapped out of his fury, took a deep breath, and barely calmed down. With a grim face, he agreed, returning to the factory with Ji Xiu. They watched as the iron cages were lowered one by one, stepping forward to help open the doors, wanting to rescue the children.

The children had been badly frightened. When they saw Du Sheng reaching out, they panicked and retreated deeper inside, letting out sharp, terrified cries like small animals.

Du Sheng froze, not daring to approach rashly again. He turned to Ji Xiu with a look asking for help.

Ji Xiu thought for a moment, then raised his hand and summoned Wang Qiuyue and her son, explaining the situation to them.

Wang Qiuyue’s gaze swept over the surroundings, and she slowly nodded. “I understand.”

She was a mother. Loving her own child, she naturally cared for innocent children of a similar age. She also understood Ji Xiu’s intention in calling them out.

She patted Ji Chunsheng beside her. “Chunsheng, go say hello to your little friends. Tell them it’s safe now.”

Ji Chunsheng’s expression was complicated. Perhaps through these children, he saw his former self. He nodded seriously. “I know.”

As he spoke, he walked toward the first cage holding children.

“Hello, my name is Ji Chunsheng. Can we be friends?”

The child inside the cage looked wary. Seeing the hand Ji Chunsheng extended, he stayed silent for a long time before turning his face away.

Ji Chunsheng did not get discouraged. He kept at it, softly asking again and again no matter how many times he was rejected. After a few minutes, hesitation appeared in the child’s eyes, and he placed his hand into Ji Chunsheng’s palm. Just like that, Ji Chunsheng led this child to the second cage, the third, the fourth…

Half an hour later, a whole string of little tails followed behind him.

Those little tails blinked eyes that looked especially large because of their sallow, thin faces. They clung closely to Ji Chunsheng as they walked up to Ji Xiu and the others, their gazes full of caution and vigilance.

Ji Xiu’s heart softened. He showed a gentle expression, patted one child on the head, and said softly, “Let’s go. The police uncles are downstairs. They’ll take you home.”

…

There was no doubt this was a nationally shocking case.

After seeing the children and confirming the situation, the local police immediately reported it to higher authorities. In no time, dozens of police cars and several ambulances arrived, tightly surrounding the apartment building.

Leaders from all sides rushed over after hearing the news. Reporters scrambled to cover it. Online discussions exploded, climbing into trending towers within moments. Everyone was shocked by what was found on the fourth floor of the apartment, unanimously demanding severe punishment for the culprits.

Ji Xiu and Ji Chunsheng stood at the apartment entrance, with no time to pay attention to public opinion, watching as the children were taken onto police cars one by one.

The children were reluctant to part with Ji Chunsheng. Before leaving, each of them tugged at his sleeve, looking at him pitifully.

Ji Chunsheng, rarely showing the steadiness and maturity of a big brother, comforted them one by one with gentle pats and reassurance.

The children’s eyes reddened as they reluctantly let go. “Brother Chunsheng, I’ll miss you.”

Though they had only spent a few dozen minutes together, it was he who had held everyone’s hands and led them out of the cages in the darkness.

After thanking Ji Chunsheng, a few of the more composed children went up to Ji Xiu and cautiously expressed their gratitude.

Ji Xiu had single handedly defeated the guards on the fourth floor and found the mechanism to lower them. Though the children had not expressed it at the time, they knew who their true lifesaver was.

Ji Xiu smiled gently. “It’s nothing. Live well when you get back. Forget this nightmare.”

The children hesitantly turned and left.

Ji Xiu and the others stood in the lobby watching them go.

This was a major case. By rights, Ji Xiu and the others should have been taken to the police station to give statements. However, perhaps due to the game secretly influencing things, the statements were directly skipped. The police thanked Ji Xiu and the others and let them go.

After all, players could not leave a radius of five hundred meters from the residential area. Going to the police station would have been forcing the players to die.

However, while the players were spared, the other people involved were not. After several rounds of thorough investigation and questioning, not a single one of the property management, developers, or cleaners escaped the law.

Ji Xiu and the others stood by watching the situation unfold. Only when the sky darkened and night was about to fall did they take the elevator back up to the thirteenth floor.

Everyone’s thoughts were still stuck on the children. Ji Xiu changed the topic and analyzed the current situation for them.

“If my guess is correct, the fourth floor should have been the killing mechanism of the third day. Our searching everywhere for clues angered the force behind the fourth floor, so they took action against us. We never expected to face threats from ordinary people in a supernatural world, so we were completely unguarded. Because of that, the fourth floor became the most unpredictable and most dangerous final killing mechanism.”

“Since the fourth floor is the final killing mechanism, it has nothing to do with today. Today is only the second day. We should encounter another killing mechanism.”

“To avoid involving ordinary people, it’s better to stay in our rooms.”

Du Sheng suddenly understood and clapped excitedly like a fanboy. “As expected of the boss.”

“Hm?” Ji Xiu looked at him.

Du Sheng recounted the information he had obtained by knocking on doors earlier and affirmed, “The second day’s killing mechanism is in our room.”

Ji Xiu thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

“That makes sense. The thirteenth floor and the thirteen steps have all been resolved. Now the only problem left is our room number 1309.”

Suddenly, he thought of something and looked at the players in front of him, asking calmly, “Is someone missing?”

Du Sheng smiled nonchalantly. “Old Ye refused to act together, so I let him stay in the room.”

Ji Xiu paused, then looked at Du Sheng meaningfully.

Du Sheng was the type who loved someone to the point of wishing them life, and hated someone to the point of wishing them death.

He worshiped Ji Xiu, so he disregarded his own safety and went down to the fourth floor to find him. He found the scrawny old man annoying, and even though he knew there was danger in the room, he did not say a single word, letting the man wait for death.

For someone with such a personality to be the protagonist, it could only be because of the uniqueness of this world.

Ji Xiu said nothing more, casually nodding as he watched the elevator ascend.

As for the scrawny old man, he felt no goodwill. Since the man chose to leave the main group, whatever killing mechanism he encountered was something he should bear himself.

…

When they reached the thirteenth floor, Ji Xiu, Wang Qiuyue, and Ji Chunsheng exited the elevator together.

The fat man in the corner silently shrank his body, wishing he could make himself as small as an ant so they could pass by without noticing him.

Ji Chunsheng stopped and looked up at him curiously.

The fat man trembled, hugging his plump body in fear, his eyes screaming “Don’t look at me, don’t look at me, I don’t exist,” overflowing with a strong will to survive.

Ji Chunsheng found it boring, curled his lips, and withdrew his gaze.

The fat man finally let out a breath and relaxed.

The suited man beside him patted his shoulder, wearing an expression of enjoying the spectacle.

“Brother, now do you believe what I said?”

The fat man took a deep breath, eyes filled with tears, and nodded fiercely.

He believed it. Of course he did.

Mom was right. In this day and age, anything could happen.

Players raising two fierce ghosts, who were their own wife and child, somehow felt normal now.

But he was scared.

The first time having such close contact with fierce ghosts, sharing the same elevator, less than a meter apart… sob sob sob, it was terrifying.

Although Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng had long interacted with villagers and were extremely skilled at disguising themselves, so that no one downstairs had realized they were fierce ghosts and they did not look scary at all, the fat man, as a player, was far too familiar with this kind of oppressive, heart squeezing aura.

The fierce ghosts did not even need to deliberately apply pressure. Just the unintentional leakage of their aura and yin energy was enough to throw him instantly into emergency mode, his entire body tensed, not daring to speak.

“Bear with it. You’ll get used to it,” the suited man said.

The fat man nodded pitifully. Yes, he absolutely had to cling tightly to the boss’s thigh.

As for being scared or not, he would get used to it.

The group returned to 1309 and turned the doorknob.

A strong stench of blood hit their noses, coming from the direction of the bathroom.

Everyone froze and walked to the bathroom door, pushing it open.

Before their eyes was a scene of crimson.

Ji Xiu fell silent.

Although he had long known the scrawny old man might meet with disaster, actually seeing it happen was still somewhat surprising.

Because he had stayed here for two days and one night without sensing any ghost in the room.

Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng had also never mentioned it.

When Du Sheng said 1309 was dangerous, Ji Xiu had mostly judged it based on his own speculation from the clues and agreed with him.

Now that the scrawny old man was dead, proving the existence of a ghost, Ji Xiu felt puzzled.

How had the ghost avoided the sight of their family of three?

Ji Xiu frowned slightly and stepped into the bathroom. After checking the old man’s corpse and looking around the bathroom, he shook his head and walked out. “The ghost isn’t here.”

The fat man froze, feeling subtle. Listening to your tone, it sounds like you’re rather disappointed?

But soon, thinking of what the suited man had told him about yesterday, he suddenly understood and agreed with a sour feeling. Yes, it should be disappointing.

If they ran into a ghost face to face, it would be a desperate escape for them, but for the boss, it would be a complete beatdown. Of course he would regret that there was no ghost in the bathroom.

Maybe the ghost hid itself precisely because of the boss’s family.

Everyone searched around the bathroom, found no relevant clues, and gave up on dealing with the scrawny old man’s body. Under Ji Xiu’s lead, they began searching room by room, upstairs and downstairs.

After searching for a long time, they still did not find the ghost.

Ji Xiu waved his hand. “Forget it. Leave it for now. It will come out sooner or later.”

With a big shot in charge, everyone felt extremely reassured. They nodded obediently and waited with Ji Xiu in the living room for the ghost to appear.

When night came, they could not be bothered to go upstairs to sleep. Everyone made do on the sofas. If nothing unexpected happened, the world should clear before three in the morning.

The mission required them to survive three days, but under Ji Xiu’s leadership, they had resolved the hidden danger on the fourth floor ahead of time.

As long as they dealt with the ghost in the room, all killing mechanisms in this mission world would be eliminated, leaving no reason to continue staying here.

If so, the game should take them back to Game City ahead of schedule.

Aside from the few who had previously cleared stages with Ji Xiu, the other three were filled with anticipation. They had never enjoyed such treatment before. Clearing a mission early. What kind of treatment was that? It was the treatment of being carried to victory by a big shot.

They chatted absentmindedly, wishing the ghost would hurry up, hurry up, hurry up and come out.

In the blink of an eye, it was midnight. One by one, the players grew drowsy. The red curtains in the living room once again fluttered without wind.

Ji Chunsheng’s eyes lit up. Without waiting for Ji Xiu to say anything, he darted to the balcony in one step, staring unblinkingly at the curtains.

The curtains: “……”

Like a startled animal, the curtains slowly fell, not daring to act wildly anymore.

Ji Chunsheng did not care. He grabbed the curtains with one hand.

At that instant, a strange red light leaped out from the curtains and fled outward.

Ji Chunsheng, like an excited hunting hound, pounced and caught it, and with one slip up… swallowed it.

Ji Chunsheng froze, staring blankly at his empty hands, then turned to look at Ji Xiu.

Ji Xiu: “……”

Ji Chunsheng felt guilty. He lowered his head, toes digging into his shoes, too embarrassed to look at Ji Xiu.

That red light was not a ghost, but a kind of obsession that had transformed into yin energy in a semi corporeal state. It had no body of its own and was easily devoured by a stronger existence.

When Ji Chunsheng grabbed it, he had simply opened his mouth to speak and accidentally sucked the red light into his stomach.

A capture they had waited for hours ended in such an absurd and bizarre way.

Ji Xiu chuckled, shook his head, and did not blame the young boy. He waved his hand. “Forget it. This was your fortune and its misfortune. It cultivated consciousness but did not cultivate properly, instead taking the crooked path of devouring human lives. Its destruction is retribution.”

Ji Chunsheng grinned, relaxed, and patted his belly. “Right. It’s all retribution.”

“Wait! Does that mean we’ve completed all the missions in this world?” the fat man raised his hand and asked happily.

Ji Xiu thought for a moment and nodded. “More or less.”

Everyone showed excited expressions.

At that moment, Lu Zhizhen thought of something and hurriedly pulled Ji Chunsheng over. “Chunsheng, can you help me with something?”

Ji Chunsheng rubbed his small belly and asked with a smile, “What help?”

“Help me devour another similar spirit.”

Ji Chunsheng’s eyes lit up. “Where?”

Lu Zhizhen led Ji Chunsheng to the last room and knocked hard on the door.

The man who was fighting with a spirit inside opened the door, looking disheveled and terrified. When he saw Lu Zhizhen, he quickly relaxed. “It’s you? Why are you here?”

Lu Zhizhen pushed the young boy beside her forward.

Ji Chunsheng stared at the empty space in the living room, a greedy expression on his face. He pounced without hesitation and opened his mouth.

A ripple appeared in the void. Something vanished into Ji Chunsheng’s mouth before it could even fully manifest.

The man: “……”

Fighting wits and courage with an invisible ghost was one thing. Witnessing a supernatural event with his own eyes was another entirely. The man was completely stunned, standing there dumbfounded, unable to utter a single word.

Lu Zhizhen smiled and listened with satisfaction to the timely sound ringing in her ears.

Congratulations to players Ji Xiu, Du Sheng, Qi Qing, Lu Zhizhen, Huang Wenli… for clearing the mission world “Apartment Legends” ahead of schedule. You have obtained 2500 points. Please prepare for return. Countdown begins. Ten, nine, eight, seven…

Do one good deed a day. It was not something difficult anyway.

Oh right, she thought of something, took out her salary card, tossed it to the man beside her, then waved cheerfully and left, pulling Ji Chunsheng along.

This thing could not be taken back. Rather than waste it, better to give it away.

Considering that this NPC had once provided them with some useful clues, giving it to him was no big deal.

And judging from Lu Zhizhen’s experiences across dozens of worlds, the worldview of Apartment Legends was very complete, with the possibility of communication with the outside world. This meant that Apartment Legends was not an artificially created instance world by the game, but a story happening in some parallel space time.

Once they left, the people of this world would forget their existence. Time would continue flowing forward without resetting, so she did not need to worry that everything she did would be for nothing.

On the way back to 1309, the countdown reached its final second.

White light flashed. Ji Chunsheng and Lu Zhizhen vanished from this world, and everyone else in the living room of 1309 vanished with them.

In the last room, the man holding the salary card came back to his senses and rushed out of the room, raising his hand to call out, “……”

Huh, wait. Who was he trying to call?

His mind went blank. He looked at the salary card in his hand and the six digit password written on it, utterly confused.

What was this card again?

A new memory formed.

The man suddenly realized. Right, this was the hundred thousand plus prize money he had won yesterday. With this money, he could move out of this apartment and find a new place.

He smiled happily, scratched his head, gripped the card, and went back into the room.

Just endure the ghost for one more day. He would move out tomorrow.

Two days later, the man moved to another residential complex not far away. It was a bit more expensive than the old apartment, but it was not haunted and was safe, guaranteeing his life, so there was nothing to complain about.

He lowered his standards and found a job to get by first, planning to slowly look for something better.

That day, after work, he returned home, turned on the TV, and cooked while listening to the news. He heard a report about a shocking organ trafficking case.

After two months of investigation and evidence gathering, the mastermind behind it had been caught, and the internet was full of praise.

The man was surprised to realize that the location of the case was the apartment he used to live in.

“May I ask how you initially discovered the situation?” a reporter asked.

“We received a report from a concerned citizen and confirmed the situation after investigation…”

The man felt the story sounded familiar, yet he could not remember why.

Still, seeing the bad guys punished was a good thing.

…

…

When Ji Xiu entered the game, he was in the living room of his residence.

When he came out, he was naturally in the living room as well.

Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng appeared beside him a second later.

Sensing them, Ji Xiu lifted his head and gave them a gentle smile, then closed his eyes to check his points.

The points were successfully credited. He looked through the items in the game shop and bought a pet item that could hold Da Huang, as well as a storage space item so he could bring his firewood chopping knife next time.

After spending the points, the space item automatically appeared on him.

Ji Chunsheng blinked, staring at the pouch that suddenly appeared in his hand, curiosity shining in his eyes.

Ji Xiu rubbed the child’s head and casually took off the space item, tossing it to him. “Take it and play.”

In the cultivation world, this was the lowest grade storage pouch, only good for coaxing children. He had not expected it to sell for nearly a thousand points in the game.

Ji Xiu felt disdainful inside, but seeing Ji Chunsheng’s face full of joy as he clutched the pouch like a child who had received candy for the New Year, his heart softened again.

Chunsheng was always easy to please. Because his childhood had been so hard, even getting the tiniest gift made him happy.

Every time Ji Xiu looked at him and Wang Qiuyue, he felt an uncontrollable ache in his heart.

If only he could let him live the normal childhood a child should have…

Ji Xiu watched Ji Chunsheng, momentarily lost in thought, almost forgetting the other two.

Hearing movement behind him, he turned and saw Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli opening their eyes together, clearly having just finished browsing the game shop. Only then did he remember they were still here.

“What did you buy?” he asked casually.

Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli immediately rattled off a whole list.

Girls’ enthusiasm for shopping never diminished.

Ji Xiu felt dizzy listening and quickly waved his hand to signal them to stop.

Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli showed innocent expressions, then returned to the main topic and thanked Ji Xiu for leading them through the mission.

At the end, they tentatively asked, “Boss, want to do another one?”

This game had not been tiring at all. Eat when it was time to eat, sleep when it was time to sleep. It felt like a vacation, completely unlike previous missions where they had to sleep for three days straight afterward to recover.

Such a relaxed world was extremely rare.

They wished they could stay bound to Ji Xiu forever. As long as they listened to commands and hugged the thigh, they did not need to worry about anything.

Hearing this, Ji Xiu glanced at Wang Qiuyue.

Seeing her nod, he said casually, “Sure.”

It did not matter who he teamed up with. The mission could not fail anyway. Teammates only needed to follow commands. In that regard, Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli had performed quite well. From start to finish, they never talked back. Once Ji Xiu spoke, they obeyed immediately.

Teaming up with them was better than teaming up with people who could not grasp the situation.

But before that, he needed to meet Wu Letong.

Before returning from the world, Ji Xiu had asked Du Sheng for Wu Letong’s contact information, intending to fulfill his promise and repay Wu Letong for sending the contract.

Ji Xiu remembered that Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli seemed to have an unpleasant history with Wu Letong.

When they heard Ji Xiu was going to meet Wu Letong, the two froze, their excitement from earlier gone.

After a long silence, Lu Zhizhen spoke. “We’ll go with you, boss. Consider it visiting an old acquaintance.”

Using the word acquaintance made it clear that these three former teammates who had once shared life and death were now completely estranged.

Ji Xiu nodded. “Fine. If you want to come, then come.”

Game City had its own communication facilities. Ji Xiu dialed Wu Letong’s number. Luckily, Wu Letong was free and not in a game.

Ji Xiu set a time and place with him, and they met on time at a restaurant.

“Boss!” Wu Letong was still dressed in his hip hop style. Seeing Ji Xiu, he showed an expression that was both unfamiliar and excited.

However, that excitement turned into surprise and displeasure the moment he saw Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli behind Ji Xiu.

“Why are you here?”

Ji Xiu was taking his seat. Hearing this, he looked up at him.

Wu Letong quickly explained, “Boss, I didn’t mean to lose my temper at you.”

Ji Xiu pondered for a moment, looked at the three of them, and said, “What kind of conflict do you have? Why not clear it up here?”

Wu Letong paused and looked at Lu Zhizhen, signaling her to speak.

Lu Zhizhen’s gaze was cold, and she said nothing.

Huang Wenli smiled awkwardly. “Actually, it’s nothing. It’s all long past.”

From these few words, Ji Xiu sensed a tangled mess of love, resentment, and old grudges.

Seeing that none of them wanted to bring up the past, he did not press further. He took out a compass and handed it to Wu Letong.

“This is an item I obtained in the previous world. I’m giving it to you.”

“What is it?” Wu Letong took it and realized it was a B grade item. His face lit up with delight. “Boss, you’re too generous.”

Ji Xiu smiled lightly. “It’s nothing. I said I’d repay you, so I will. Besides, this thing isn’t anything special. I just happened to get it.”

Wu Letong was still very grateful and thanked Ji Xiu repeatedly. After that, hearing that Ji Xiu and the others were going to continue entering games, he did not linger, telling Ji Xiu to contact him if there was anything in the future, and left decisively.

That was just his personality. Clinging to a thigh was enjoyable, but being the boss himself was even better. He liked being the boss and did not plan to team up with Ji Xiu to clear worlds.

After he left, the atmosphere in the private dining room finally relaxed a bit.

Huang Wenli sat down across from them, fidgeted slightly, and could not help her curiosity. “Boss, was that compass really from the previous world?”

Ji Xiu nodded and said casually, “I got it from the elevator on the fourth floor.”

There was an elevator on the fourth floor? The two were stunned.

Ji Xiu explained, “There’s no fourth floor button in the elevator, but it still has to pass through the fourth floor. It won’t bypass it just because there’s no button. You know how elevators often attract bad things. When bad people do too many bad deeds and encounter supernatural events in elevators, they naturally want to place something to suppress it. That compass was what they placed in the elevator shaft.”

After thinking for a moment, Ji Xiu added, “You hadn’t found the path of survival in the previous world, right? In fact, because of the existence of that compass, the elevator itself was the path of survival.”

Because of Wang Qiuyue’s words, Ji Xiu had already paid attention to the elevator. Later, when he went to the fourth floor and saw the sealed elevator doors, he forced them open and found the compass inside. He took it and understood why the elevator carried an aura that made Wang Qiuyue uncomfortable, yet felt benevolent.

The compass itself was good. It was just that Wang Qiuyue was a fierce ghost, and the two could not coexist harmoniously.

After obtaining the compass, Ji Xiu had intended to give it away.

No matter how good something was, if it made her uncomfortable, it was not acceptable.

Coincidentally, he owed Wu Letong a favor. The compass was useless to him but perfect for Wu Letong.

After hearing Ji Xiu’s explanation, Huang Wenli and Lu Zhizhen exchanged looks, regret flashing across their faces.

If they had known Ji Xiu’s repayment would be an item of this level, they would not have refused in the first place.

There was no point dwelling on it. The matter was long past.

Seeing their regret, Ji Xiu could not take the compass back to give it to them. He changed the topic. “Let’s go. Enter the game first.”

Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng were in his sea of consciousness. Da Huang was in the pet item. The firewood chopping knife was in the storage item. He could enter the game at any time.

Huang Wenli and Lu Zhizhen came back to their senses, perked up, and agreed. The three formed a temporary team once more.

This world was:

Mission World: Ghost Capture Device Mission Level: Supernatural, A grade Player Identity: Programmer Mission Requirement: Capture three evil ghosts Mission Reward: 5000 points