"What's making you uncomfortable?" Qin Nuo asked.

"Those two ghosts have sensed my presence and are hostile towards me," the Blood-Eyed Ghost replied in a deep voice.

As Qin Nuo pondered, a little girl suddenly spoke up, "Big brother, it seems like there's something inside you. My mom and dad asked if they should help you get it out and squash it?"

Qin Nuo's expression changed slightly, and he said, "It's my friend. Please tell your parents there's no need."

"Oh." The little girl nodded obediently.

After a seemingly endless dinner, Qin Nuo finally left the room, feeling relieved.

The Blood-Eyed Ghost was also uncomfortable; Qin Nuo could feel his right hand tense the entire time.

"Don't go into that room again. The way those two ghosts looked at me was like they were eyeing prey!" the Blood-Eyed Ghost said in a deep voice.

"Can't you take them on?"

"Do you think a rat can beat a cat?"

"Not even close!" The Blood-Eyed Ghost was a bit resentful, feeling dragged into such a dangerous place just for a meal.

Qin Nuo remained silent.

"Congratulations to the Host for completing the D-level instance mission. Additional scores will be calculated upon exiting the instance!"

"Ding, congratulations to the Host for acquiring a main quest—Room 401 seems to hold some clues. Why not take a look? There might be unexpected rewards!"

Room 401?

Qin Nuo suddenly realized.

Among the residents on the fourth floor, from rooms one to six, it seemed only room 401 was left, and he had never seen anyone there.

Because he had never seen the door open.

Qin Nuo had once thought it was a storage room, not rented out.

After pondering for a moment, Qin Nuo changed direction and stood in front of room 401, gently knocking on the door.

No response. Qin Nuo knocked again, and the door opened on its own.

It wasn't locked.

The creaking sound of the door echoed in the deathly silent room.

Inside, there was almost nothing, the space was small, with the living room and bedroom combined, trash everywhere, and sour, yellowed clothes piled on the bed.

A short-haired girl, around 18 years old, sat on the floor, wearing a torn and dirty school uniform.

"Hello?" Qin Nuo called out.

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The girl turned around, not with a terrifying ghost face, but rather a pretty appearance with a sunny beauty.

However,

Her hair was messy, drool ran down her mouth, and she sucked her fingers. Upon seeing Qin Nuo, she wasn't scared but giggled foolishly.

"An idiot," Qin Nuo realized.

He hadn't expected this.

How could the old landlord allow a mentally challenged girl to live in a room?

Granddaughter?

Qin Nuo didn't dwell on it. He was curious about the clue pointing to room 401, which must be hiding something.

Qin Nuo started searching around, while the girl on the floor just watched him walk back and forth with a silly smile.

Finally, in a drawer, Qin Nuo found a diary.

The diary belonged to the girl, named Xia Xinlu. She seemed to have been a vibrant university student, with a photo attached.

In the photo, Xia Xinlu was completely different from now, very clean, with a sweet smile, clearly normal.

Reading someone else's diary is unethical, so Qin Nuo gestured to Xia Xinlu on the floor. She just kept smiling foolishly, which he took as consent.

He opened the diary.

The early entries were about mundane things like a late period, a crush on a senior, participating in a speech contest... just normal diary entries.

Later, the girl left school for an internship and rented this Bloodstained Apartment.

The early entries were fine, but later the tone changed drastically.

"June 7th, saw on the news a virus is spreading, try to go out less, remember to wear a mask when going out, be brave Lulu, don't fear difficulties!"

"June 8th, heard there's a patient in our apartment too, don't know if it's true, but it's causing panic, and the landlord won't let anyone leave the apartment, afraid of spreading it to more people."

"June 11th, they are demons! Devils, why are they doing this? I want to call the police!"

Qin Nuo frowned as he read. What happened that day? What did Xia Xinlu see?

Qin Nuo turned to the next page, eager to find out.

But the next page wasn't a diary entry.

Instead, it was filled with a whole page of red "I'm sorry," densely packed, with what seemed to be blood or red ink, making his scalp tingle.

Flipping through the rest, there were no more entries.

This clue held a lot of information and seemed quite eerie.

Had something major happened in the Bloodstained Apartment before?

There was a noise at the door.

It was the little girl from room 402, pushing the door open with some food in her hands.

She was surprised to see Qin Nuo, "Oh, big brother, why are you here?"

Qin Nuo discreetly hid the diary in his clothes and turned to say, "I saw room 401's door open, so I came in to take a look."

"Who is this girl?" Qin Nuo asked.

"Her name is Xia Xinlu. She used to live here, but after her parents died in a car accident, she became like this, and no one takes care of her."

"I felt sorry for her, so I've been taking care of her," the little girl said.

"I see." Qin Nuo nodded, then said, "I won't disturb you then, carry on with what you were doing."

With that, Qin Nuo put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the door.

"Wait a minute," the little girl suddenly called out to Qin Nuo.

Qin Nuo paused and turned to ask, "What's up?"

"Big brother, I don't know your name yet."

"Just call me Brother Nuo."

"Okay, Brother Nuo, my name is Liu Meng, but you can call me Little Meng," Liu Meng said with a smile.

After leaving room 401, Qin Nuo returned to his room, took out Xia Xinlu's diary, and continued to study it, hoping to find more useful clues.

And indeed, after a night's effort, Qin Nuo found a crucial clue.

From the previous diary entries, Qin Nuo could confirm that Xia Xinlu lived alone.

Whether during university or her internship.

She was an orphan.

But Liu Meng told him that Xia Xinlu's parents died in a car accident!

The diary was written for herself, Xia Xinlu wouldn't lie, so the liar could only be Liu Meng.

Why would Liu Meng lie to him?

Or was she covering something up?

Without a doubt, that girl from room 402 was the biggest suspect so far.

But without solid evidence, he couldn't jump to conclusions.

However, in Qin Nuo's mind, he was already wary of that girl.

The next day was the fifth day of the game.

There were five days left until the instance ended.

The players were all focused on the instance tasks, hoping to get a high score when exiting the instance.

Qin Nuo had already completed five instance tasks and wasn't interested in continuing with them. Instead, he focused on investigating the main quest.

In the first-floor lobby.

Qin Nuo and the old landlord were playing chess.

However, one was bored, and the other was deep in thought, completely different vibes.

"Checkmate! Old man, you let me win!"

After the old landlord pondered for a full ten minutes, he finally made the last move.

Qin Nuo also made the final move without hesitation, ending the long chess game.

But this time, losing the game, the old landlord wasn't angry or upset. Instead, he stroked his beard and showed a smug smile.

"Even though I lost, this time you only beat me by a small margin!"

Qin Nuo laughed along, "Yes, as they say, after three days, one must look at a person with new eyes."

"Last time, I had you down to just your general, and now you still have so many pieces left. I almost lost this time."

"Old man, your chess skills have improved by leaps and bounds!" Qin Nuo said with a look of admiration.

These words made the old landlord even more pleased, his beard almost flying up.

In reality, Qin Nuo could have won ten moves ago if he wanted to.

And he could still have defeated the old landlord completely, making him question life.

But,

In life, one must have high emotional intelligence.

Was this game really about chess?

No!

It was about human relationships.

"Old man, can I ask you something?" Seeing that the time was right, Qin Nuo suddenly said.

"I knew you had ulterior motives for suddenly playing chess with me."

"But I'm in a good mood, so go ahead," the old landlord said, picking up his old pipe.

"Do you know the girl in room 401?"

"Yes, she's a pitiful child. A few years ago, her parents died in a car accident, and she became like this, and that girl from room 402 has been taking care of her since."

"Why do you ask?" the old man asked casually, taking a puff from his pipe.

Qin Nuo's expression turned a bit serious.

The old landlord's tone was the same as Liu Meng's!

Could it be that Liu Meng didn't lie?