"Tinting, I'm back..."

Huang Quan cheerfully opened the door, but the scene before him made his blood run cold.

Today was his girlfriend Cao Tinting's birthday, and Huang Quan had bought her a necklace as a gift. He was just an ordinary employee at a trading company, earning only three to four thousand yuan a month. This necklace had cost him three to four months of saving, tightening his belt just to make her happy. But what he saw in front of him struck him like a bolt of lightning.

On the bed—there were two people!

Cao Tinting's face was flushed, her hair disheveled, and her intimate clothes scattered on the floor. Beside her, a shirtless man was calmly getting dressed.

Huang Quan's eyes filled with blood, his mind went blank.

He had met Cao Tinting two years ago. At the time, she was penniless, and Huang Quan, who had just found a job and was quite good-looking, naturally ended up in a relationship with her. But this woman was extremely lazy. Since they started living together, she had never bothered to find a job, relying entirely on Huang Quan for everything. She even swore that she was a traditional girl and wanted to save the most important night for their wedding, so despite living together for years, they always slept in separate beds.

He never expected that she would betray him like this...

"Why? ... Why?"

Cao Tinting nonchalantly finished dressing and cast a cold glance at Huang Quan.

"Why? I should be the one asking you that! Idiot, barging in here and ruining our fun!"

She raised her hand, not even looking directly at Huang Quan, her face full of disdain. "You're nothing but a worthless piece of trash. Just looking at you makes me sick. Get out of here!"

"Tinting, why are you doing this to me? I saved up three months' salary for your birthday... and this is how you repay me!"

"Do you think that's fair?"

His last sentence was almost a roar.

Cao Tinting, spoiled for so long, saw that Huang Quan dared to shout at her, and her temper flared up instantly.

"Trash, scum, garbage, don't think you're something special! You don't even deserve to look at yourself in the mirror! And you think you can talk to me like that?"

"A pathetic loser making three or four thousand a month thinks he can be with me? A toad dreaming of eating swan meat!"

"You can't even compare to a single hair on Wen Dong's leg! You're not even worthy to tie his shoes!"

"Get out!"

Huang Quan was trembling with rage.

On the side, Wen Dong calmly held Cao Tinting in his arms, his hands slowly moving over her body, his face full of a lecherous smile.

"Darling, don't get angry. Why bother with a dog?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Shut up! Take your hands off her; I'm Tinting's boyfriend!" Huang Quan clenched his fists, shouting angrily.

"Pah, and a dog like you can measure up to me?" Cao Tinting sneered.

"It's over between us! I'd rather die than stay with a worthless man!"

"Hah, these days, there are always idiots who don't know their place... Hey! Fool, Tinting is mine from now on. If you want to keep living, you'd better tuck your tail between your legs and get lost!"

"Ma, you've gone too far!" Huang Quan's anger erupted, and he couldn't hold back any longer.

He clenched his fists and charged at Wen Dong.

But Wen Dong was strong and robust, how could Huang Quan be his match? With Cao Tinting helping to pin him down, Huang Quan couldn't even fight back.

Filled with sorrow and fury, Huang Quan struggled to break free from Cao Tinting's grip, desperate to fight back.

Bang!

A loud crash, and a heavy blow struck his head, rendering him unconscious on the floor.

Behind him, Cao Tinting stood with a vase in her hand, her face twisted in a malicious grin.

Huang Quan, still reeling from the earlier confrontation, lay unconscious in the filth and grime of the garbage heap, the pouring rain mixing with the blood and dirt that coated his battered body. Just moments before, he had been dragged by two burly bodyguards, his head scraping against the rough ground, leaving a trail of blood behind as they tossed him away like discarded trash at the behest of Ma Wendong. The sky cracked with thunder as the storm intensified, but Huang Quan remained motionless, lost in a world of darkness and pain.

In his unconscious state, Huang Quan's wounds began to heal, his body responding to some strange, unseen force. As he drifted in and out of awareness, an eerie vision began to form in his mind—a building, ancient and foreboding, loomed before him. It appeared as an old, rectangular apartment complex, standing four or five stories tall, with rows of windows that stretched endlessly. No matter how hard he tried, Huang Quan couldn’t count the exact number of floors or units, the details constantly shifting, eluding his grasp.

The more he stared at the building, the more it seemed to exude a malevolent presence. Dark shadows flitted behind the windows, sinister and watching him with unholy intent. The entire structure radiated an overwhelming sense of viciousness, as though it were alive with evil. Huang Quan felt a deep sense of dread, as if staring too long would drive him to madness.

"Is this hell?" Huang Quan muttered, his voice laced with despair. "I've lived my life like an insignificant ant, never harming anyone, and yet, even in death, I've been condemned to hell."

As his mind struggled to comprehend the situation, a flood of information surged into his consciousness. In an instant, Huang Quan understood the true nature of the building—it was the Hell Apartment, a place that existed within his mind, accessible with just a single thought. He had been chosen as its Apostle, the title given to the building's caretaker.

As an Apostle, Huang Quan's duty was to help the residents of the Hell Apartment fulfill their final desires, their lingering obsessions that bound them to this eerie place. In exchange, these residents would pay their "rent" by bestowing their powers and abilities upon him.

"So, by resolving the tenants' obsessions, I can gain their strength and powers?" Huang Quan was shocked by the revelation, realizing that this could be the very opportunity he needed to exact his revenge and rise to greatness.

Just as he came to this realization, the door of the apartment swung open, and a young woman stepped out into the dim light. Her delicate figure bowed slightly in greeting. "Honored Apostle, you’ve arrived to help me fulfill my obsession, haven’t you?"

Her voice was clear and gentle, but there was an unsettling echo of water rippling within it. Huang Quan could tell that she was one of the tenants.

"What is your obsession?" he asked without hesitation.

"My name is Yang Mei, and my boyfriend was Xu Hai," she began softly. "Three days ago, I accidentally drowned... Please, could you check on my boyfriend, help him move on from his grief... And, if you would be so kind, could you retrieve my body?"

Huang Quan couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her tragic story. "I’ll help you with your obsession," he promised without much thought, nodding in agreement.

"Thank you, honored Apostle," Yang Mei said, a hint of joy creeping into her voice. "The more obsessions you complete, the more powers you can borrow from us. We can even descend to the human world to assist you directly."

Huang Quan was intrigued. "You can descend to the human world?"

"Yes, as tenants of the Hell Apartment, we can fulfill any request you have," Yang Mei whispered as she stepped closer to Huang Quan, placing her hand lightly on his chest. "Even those... more excessive requests..."