Gao Tian called out toward the door.

"I’m fine. I’m awake now."

Hearing Gao Tian’s voice, the people outside didn’t hesitate anymore. This was Jiang Yang’s room, so Jiang Yang opened the door and walked right in.

To Gao Tian’s surprise, the gray-robed Monk, Yu Sheng, was also among them. His hands were pressed together as he silently chanted sutras.

Seeing his weakened state, Xia Ta remained business-like.

"You still used the black card in the final moments of the mission."

Gao Tian:

"Yes."

Xia Ta:

"Hmm... Even though you completed your third green-font mission, you still can’t join the upcoming fourth-floor team.

"It’s too dangerous for someone without a black card to go upstairs. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"This is for your own good. I hope you can understand."

Gao Tian had already expected this outcome, so he accepted it calmly.

So many people had died on this mission. He carefully explained to the apartment administrators everything that had happened on the bus and what he had seen in the Inner World.

First, there was that strange multi-headed ghost.

The ghost’s power was beyond the administrators’ imagination. In the Inner World, it was only thanks to the bus’s rules suppressing it that Gao Tian managed to survive by a stroke of luck.

Regarding the multi-headed ghost’s origin, the others looked at each other, completely clueless. They had no information at all.

Unexpectedly, the most mysterious one, Yu Sheng, spoke up.

"Under normal circumstances, a ghost only has one murder rule.

"But that ghost is different. Every head on its body is a new ghost. In effect, it’s a single ghost composed of countless other ghosts. Its murder rules are innumerable.

"One of its rules is that if you mention its name anywhere (understanding it as the name of a powerful ghost), it will appear instantly and kill whoever spoke it.

"That thing’s true name is—the Artist."

The Artist was the multi-headed ghost’s original name.

This was the Living Human Apartment, so calling the Artist by its name wouldn’t trigger its murder rule.

But even after Yu Sheng said it with a deadpan expression, Zhao Zhenjia and the others still felt an inexplicable chill. They subconsciously glanced at the open doorway, as if a tall, deformed, dark figure might slowly materialize there at any moment.

The Artist’s murder rules were dense and numerous. From what was currently known, Gao Tian could deduce three of them:

1. It can sense human hostility.

On the bus, Gao Tian had briefly entertained the idea of using the Smashed-Face Ghost. The thought lasted for less than a second before he suppressed it, but the Artist clearly reacted and subsequently began targeting him.

It was hard to explain that away as a coincidence.

2. It can suppress a Ghost Hunter’s Supernatural Artifacts and other ghosts’ murder rules.

The Artist had only glanced at him, and Gao Tian had instantly felt empty, becoming like an ordinary person for a period of time. All his abilities and artifacts became completely useless.

This rule was simply too overpowered. It was unknown if there was a limit to the number of things the Artist could suppress.

If there wasn’t, it would be a guaranteed kill on the first encounter.

Any Ghost Hunter who fought the Artist for the first time would definitely be killed by it.

It was very likely that Xu Yuan from Sapphire Mall, despite being decked out in god-tier Supernatural Artifacts, had temporarily reverted to a normal person the moment he encountered the Artist. He would have been completely defenseless, casually slaughtered by it.

3. Speaking the Artist’s name (its true name as a powerful ghost).

It will instantly arrive to kill.

...

Besides that, the Artist could also detach its own head and turn it into a new, smaller ghost.

However, this ability wasn’t much of a threat; it was just used for voting on the bus.

Gao Tian, once he’d recovered, had obliterated it with a single terrifying slash.

When the topic turned to the Ghost Mother, the apartment administrators weren’t very knowledgeable. The Blood-colored Nursery Hall was also a very dangerous supernatural location. Xia Ta had passed by it when she took the bus, but she had never encountered the Ghost Mother who led more than 30 Ghost Infants.

Finally, there were the "children" in Pagoda Primary School—

Gao Tian’s gaze fell on Jiang Yang’s face.

"After getting close to Pagoda Primary School, I left the ring as you asked. Then, on my way back, I heard a faint female voice speaking in my ear.

"That voice must have been your fiancée’s. She warned me to use the black card immediately and not to even think about taking the bus back. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t make it in time.

"At first, I thought it was a trap set by a powerful ghost, so I ignored her. Now, looking back with 20/20 hindsight, she was right.

"Su Jiu didn’t have a black card, so she died. I was a few seconds too slow using my black card and almost died on the way back, too. You all saw it in the lobby."

Xia Ta recalled:

"When Jiang Yang was on his fifth mission, the entrance to Pagoda Primary School was safe.

"They were only attacked by those ’unclean things’ after they went more than a hundred meters into the school and entered the first academic building.

"I didn’t expect the danger zone of Pagoda Primary School to have expanded this much. This is indeed something we administrators were unaware of."

Jiang Yang looked at Gao Tian and spoke slowly.

"Are you sure you heard that voice?

"It wasn’t an auditory hallucination from being too stressed?"

’If that voice really belongs to the one who was trapped in Pagoda Primary School all those years ago...’

’Is there a chance, even a one-in-ten-thousand chance, that Jiang Yang’s fiancée is still conscious?’

’She can even think like a human, from a resident’s perspective.’

Zhao Zhenjia placed his hands on Jiang Yang’s shoulders, signaling for him to calm down.

Xia Ta turned her gem-like eyes to Gao Tian.

"You stay here and rest up. The rest of us are staying next door; we’ve set up a temporary room.

"If anything happens, knock on the wall or make some noise. We’ll be there to support you within five seconds."

Seeing the other administrators preparing to leave, Gao Tian couldn’t help but ask:

"What happened in the Living Human Apartment while I was gone? Why can’t I stay in my original room, 313, anymore?"

Hearing this question, Zhao Zhenjia sighed, seemingly wanting to avoid answering. Xia Ta spoke up.

"Just tell him.

"If we end up dying on the fourth floor, at least someone should know what’s happening on the third. Maybe... the next generation of residents can still find a way to survive."

’When it rains, it pours.’

With the Living Human Apartment itself having problems, Gao Tian didn’t know how ordinary residents were supposed to survive.

Since Xia Ta had said so, Zhao Zhenjia no longer hesitated and told Gao Tian everything he had discovered last night:

"Late one night, the day after you left for your green-font mission, at around one in the morning, I was sleeping in my room. Suddenly, I heard a knocking sound from the room next door—your room—accompanied by a muffled, pained breathing, like someone was calling for help.

"I jumped up, thinking you’d run into some kind of trouble again. I just threw on a coat, rushed out the door, and went into the hallway to push open your door.

"The biting cold wind in the hallway snapped me to my senses. I suddenly realized—wait, you were on your damn third mission, you weren’t even in the apartment. How could your room be making any noise? What the hell was breathing in there?"

Come to think of it, the big guy was actually quite responsible. He had promised to back Gao Tian up, and he was still faithfully keeping watch even when Gao Tian wasn’t there.

Zhao Zhenjia continued:

"I have a master key. I stuck it in, and with a soft CLICK, I pushed the door open.

"The room was pitch-black and empty. After opening the door, the first thing I saw was the living room. Other than the silhouettes of some furniture, there were no figures. The bedroom door was ajar, and that strange knocking and breathing was coming from inside.

"As I went deeper, the muffled sound from your bedroom gradually changed into the soft, suppressed sobs of a little girl.

"Why would a little girl be in your room when the front door was locked? It seemed unlikely that a child from the second floor had wandered up to the third. The only explanation was that the ghost from the fourth floor had completely broken through its restrictions and could freely enter and exit your room.

"It was there to kill you.

"You just happened to be out on a mission, so you dodged a bullet."