Chapter 32: The Siblings Meet, Leaving Everyone Stunned

"Just kidding, don't take it seriously."

Ji Yan waved his hand, leaning against the water tank as he spoke to the sisters, "Just stay here with me and enjoy the show."

The older sister, Zhong Yi, couldn't help but ask, "That injury on the ghost child's forehead—did you smash it?"

"Yes."

"The rules of the night apartment are null and void now. What are we going to use to block two corrupted, malicious ghost tenants from the eighth floor?"

Ji Yan smiled but said nothing.

"He's a complete madman."

"Sister, let's go!"

Zhong Yi grabbed Zhong Ting and turned to leave, but the moment they looked back, the expressions on their beautiful faces changed drastically. Their talents had triggered; they both heard hysterical roars echoing in the stairwell. The corrupted ghost couple was already coming up!

"It's over..." Zhong Yi’s face turned deathly pale.

Her younger sister heard it too, clutching her sister’s wrist in terror: "Sister, they're so fierce!"

Almost as soon as she spoke, the stainless steel door in the distance was burst open. A thick, suffocating aura of malice billowed out as the corrupted ghost couple, eyes burning blood-red, stepped onto the rooftop. The stainless steel door rapidly oxidized and rusted, while the painted walls cracked and weathered in an instant.

"You damn rat, you kidnapped our child?!"

"Don't worry, even that woman in 801 can't save you. Hand over our child, and we might let you die quickly!"

Compared to the ashen-faced twin sisters, Ji Yan remained relatively calm, though he fought to suppress his pounding heart. He knew he was gambling. Now, it all depended on whether the chemical reaction caused by dumping the ghost child into the water tank would meet his expectations.

"I didn't kidnap your child."

"Your child asked me to take him to a fun place, so I let him go play with his sister—the one he’d never met before."

The moment Ji Yan finished speaking, the ghost couple’s eyes visibly bulged, their corruption intensifying into something even more horrific. A red warning panel even popped up before the eyes of the twins and Ji Yan.

[Warning! Player's actions have caused the ghost tenants' corruption to reach 90%. You are facing a mortal threat. Find a way to escape!]

The ghost couple stepped closer, their level of corruption making them look like two nuclear-irradiated monsters who had long since lost their humanity. Ignoring the warning panel, Ji Yan leaned against the water tank, suddenly feeling his back grow sticky. He turned his head and realized black pus was oozing down the wall of the tank...

He looked up and realized the tank seemed to be overflowing, with large amounts of filthy, black water surging out. A pair of bloated, black hands gripped the cement lid, and a ghost covered in slimy, matted hair slowly crawled out.

She crawled out like a mutant spider, clutching the still-unconscious ghost child in her hands. The approaching ghost couple stopped in their tracks, staring at the drowning ghost—their daughter, whom they had killed with their own hands—towering over Ji Yan. Their terrifying rage gradually transformed into sheer horror.

Ji Yan didn't dare move, letting the puddles of pus drip onto his head. His heart had never raced this fast before, because the ghost above him was the most hair-raising entity he had encountered since entering this instance.

"Mommy, Daddy... you've come up?"

"Xi Xi has been playing hide-and-seek very seriously, but you both took such a long time to find me. You don't know... it was so cold in there, all water. Xi Xi curled up in the corner, waiting and waiting..."

"I was both happy and scared. Happy because once you found me, you would surely praise me for hiding so well. Scared because I feared you had forgotten to come for me..."

A hand rested on his shoulder; it felt like scorching hot asphalt, covered in black, viscous slime that hissed with rising steam. Ji Yan held his breath, his body tensing involuntarily.

"But this brother told me this is my little brother."

"I didn't believe it, but I smelled you on him. Every corner of him smells like you..."

"But why didn't I know about this brother?"

"Where did he come from?!"

The ghost daughter’s voice ended in a hysterical shriek. The slimy liquid on her body evaporated, causing Ji Yan’s eardrums to ache. The ghost parents looked into their daughter’s terrifying eyes, unable to utter a sound. The scene they feared most had finally unfolded. They turned their gaze toward the culprit, Ji Yan!

"I will tear you apart, you damn rat!!"

The mother ghost completely snapped, lunging at Ji Yan regardless of the consequences. But in an instant, the ghost daughter grabbed her with one hand and pinned her to the floor.

The floor buckled like mud, and the ghost daughter’s dark, matted face moved in close. "Mommy, why are you angry?"

"Is it because this brother was right?"

"Is this really my little brother?"

"You abandoned me and gave all your love to this newborn brother, didn't you?"

"What did I do wrong? Why trick me into playing hide-and-seek? Why leave me hiding in that cold, dark cell?"

The ghost daughter’s hands caressed the mother’s face, whispering and questioning her repeatedly. The mother ghost stopped hiding her true feelings and roared hysterically, "You damn mongrel, let go of my son!"

"What right do you have to our love? Because of that ominous curse on you, we became neither human nor ghost, and were almost kicked out of the apartment."

"Do you think we picked you up from the outside out of kindness?"

"It was for the rent, to meet the 'family of three' criteria for 804. You were just a cheap substitute for my son!"

"If we had known about your curse, we should have thrown you into the sewer from the start, to be gnawed clean by the rats!"

The mother ghost vented, every word laced with disgust, murderous intent, and curses. Listening to this, the ghost daughter gradually grew calm. Her dark, matted little hands gently stroked her mother’s cheeks.

"How could you say that?"

"Mommy, you're just saying that in anger. You used to love me the most. Your love belongs only to me; everything you have is mine..."

As she spoke, her gentle fingers pierced into the eye sockets and crushed the eyeballs. Her hands, like red-hot branding irons, melted the skin and tore through the facial bone. Under the mother ghost’s shrill, piercing scream, she gave a light tug, and the head tore open like a pomelo.

The screaming ceased abruptly.

The ghost daughter hung her head, pressing her cheek against the split-open skull, feeling the flowing blood and the radiating warmth.

"Mommy, you're so warm."

"It's been so long since I was this close to you, Mommy. It was so cold in there. You really are the best mommy in the world."

Watching this horrific and nauseating scene, Ji Yan felt as if his very senses had been recalibrated. After surviving for so many days, he thought he had become mostly immune to blood, gore, and terror. But now, he could only admit that he had been far too confident. He could even clearly smell the scent and heat emanating from the brain matter. The ghost daughter held the fragments of her mother’s head, her eyes overflowing with bliss.

As for the twin sisters, the younger one had already fainted. The older one was fighting to keep her stomach contents down, struggling not to vomit.

Nearby, the ghost father looked at his brutally murdered wife, his insane daughter, his unconscious son, and his shattered family. He didn't lose his mind. Instead, cold sweat poured down his face. He turned and, like a crazed bull, began crashing and stumbling, desperate to flee into the stairwell.