Noticing the strangeness behind them, the players all turned to stare at the corridor.
The corridor still looked the same as ever: dark, narrow, and dirty. The doors were tightly shut and there didn’t seem to be anyone, but the sounds from each room were gradually becoming more distinct.
There were the sounds of high-heeled shoes walking back and forth, children fooling around inside, elderly people coughing, as well as babies bawling after being frightened.
Under the players’ attentive gazes, the appearance of these sounds was followed by incremental movements at the tightly shut doors, which started to let out the sound of clicks.
The originally dark corridor slowly lit up, and the old incandescent lights buzzed with the strain and flickered incessantly. The flashing, low wattage light gave the atmosphere an even stranger air.
Xiao Lan looked at these movements. “Looks very lively ah…”
Wu Ting: “That’s right. Each and every household is waiting for you to enter as a guest; aren’t you delighted?”
Xiao Lan replied in the tone of a scumbag, “I’m just a drifter without feelings. Don’t ask me to stay, it’s not worth it.”
Duan Xueyin shouted in her heart, Sob sob sob, big shots, can you stop rambling, I’m so fucking terrified right now!
Li Haokuan looked at Duan Xueyin’s expression, and experienced what was called a resonance of the heart.
As if responding to them, the doors in the corridor shook even harder, the dust that fell from them like a rising fog in the flickering light.
Seeing that the situation didn’t look good, the players began to retreat to the other side of the corridor.
At the same time, they heard the creaks of old doors opening behind them.
Xiao Lan took a chance and turned to look — ‘people’ began to fall from the ceilings of the rooms one after another, as if they had squeezed out of the walls out of nowhere. They landed on the floor and walked out of the rooms.
Calling them people wasn’t quite right; these ‘people’ looked like extremely botched handiworks kneaded by students.
Although they had tried their best to imitate human figures, the facial features were arranged carelessly, and some even fell short; their bodies were stiff and they moved slowly. Their limbs were somewhat irregular and twisted, and their movements were incredibly grotesque.
The asymmetrical limbs conversely gave Xiao Lan some deja vu.
He pointed at the monstrous human figures behind them and asked Luo, “Look, aren’t they like your drawings?”
Luo looked at the human figures whose legs weren’t level. “…”
Although there is no proof, I suspect that sir is mocking my artwork.
More and more rooms opened, and the figures that emerged were made up of young and old, and male and female. It was as if these things were still imitating the original tenants. The households were evenly distributed. Their looks aside, they were arranged surprisingly fittingly.
The figures that walked out were like sharks that had smelled blood as they disregarded everything else and attacked the nearest player.
There was no attack strategy of any sort either; they all swarmed over, tearing and scratching like a bunch of aunties who had heard that the supermarket was having a clearance sale.
Conversely, it was atypical and chaotic attacks like this one that caused the players a great amount of trouble.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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God knew how this person’s hands were made so shoddily; if they played rock paper scissors, the other party would definitely lose everything but their underpants.
Luo followed closely behind Xiao Lan the entire time. After being inexplicably separated twice, he now watched very closely and no longer allowed Xiao Lan to disappear from his line of sight.
Suddenly, two doors in front of Xiao Lan opened at the same time.
Large families had been set up here as well. Figures from both sides appeared in the corridor at the same time, instantly packing the entire corridor. The moment they stepped outside, their heads turned towards Xiao Lan right away.
Faced with a crowd of grotesquely shaped heads, Xiao Lan turned and ran.
Who would have thought that just as he turned and took two steps, another two doors behind him opened as well, cutting off his path of retreat. This was the so-called “wolf in the front, tiger in the back”.
Xiao Lan rubbed his hands together. “It’s getting interesting.”
The next second, the figures in front and behind all charged towards Xiao Lan in the center, and looked like they were going to directly rely on body weight and numbers to squash him flat.
Seeing that the situation was going downhill, Xiao Lan took a running leap of two steps. Then, kicking off the wall, he flew over the heads of the crowd in front of him. The figures reached out to catch him, but grabbed nothing but air.
Luo was close behind him. He snapped off several ignorant, groping hands in passing with his swats and appeared extremely merciless.
At that moment, the figures on both sides couldn’t brake immediately, and slammed into each other.
Seizing the moment when they had yet to return to their senses, Xiao Lan entered one of the open doors and locked it, thus locking the real owner outside.
This action stupefied the things outside. How could there be someone who would steal their room?
Was the Advent World not going to handle this?
Hearing the thuds against the door, Xiao Lan smiled in satisfaction.
Luo: “Sir, you’re like a tyrant seizing someone else's home for yourself.”
Xiao Lan’s smile didn’t change. “This is called borrowing. How can this be viewed as us broke people seizing a home for ourselves?”
He turned around and sized up the unit. Previously, these apartments were all empty and appeared completely uninhabited. Now, however, there was furniture everywhere; dinner was even laid out on the table. It was just like a normal family home.
Aside from the fact that it was those strangely shaped ‘people’ who lived here.
The clamour outside gradually faded, as if giving up on Xiao Lan.
Xiao Lan examined the dinner on the table.
It wasn’t noticeable from afar, but at a closer look, these were unexpectedly also clumsy handmade products that had been molded with crooked and skewed angles. They carried the unrestrained freedom of being immersed in one’s own world of art.
“Clang — clang — clang —”
The sound of a clock rang throughout the entire apartment from somewhere.
As the clock chimed, it was as if invisible hands started to control everything.
The coarse and fake food suddenly changed as dense steam began to rise from them and the dishes even gave off a faint aroma. The light also no longer flickered, but emitted a warm, yellow halo.
The din outside the window also reached this place.
Xiao Lan approached the window and saw that the heavy rain had disappeared without them knowing. In the fake city, people who were either out for a walk or returning from work appeared.
A television news report even rang out within the silent room:
“This evening, a couple drew a crowd as they suddenly came to blows over a bunch of leeks on Central Street.”
Xiao Lan was just about to ridicule the broadcast of such crack news at this time, but wound up seeing familiar faces — the couple.
“What are you getting angry for?! I just said your armpits smell like leek; it’s not like I’m lying!”
“You’re the one who’s fucking like a leek! Your whole family smells of leek!”
“Pah, my family clearly smells of cumin!”
“I see you’re looking for a fight!”
“Ow, ow, this woman, why are you this fierce?! I want to break up!!”
Xiao Lan: “…”
Are you guys done?!!!
Luo considerately went over and stretched out one long leg to neatly kick the television over, and the world was finally at peace. Xiao Lan gave him another like, and received a reserved and elegant smile from Luo.
At that moment, the sound of the neighbours chatting could be heard from the corridor. The shabby main door had no soundproofing at all, so the two of them in the unit could hear the chatter as clear as day.
It was just bits and pieces of idle talk about household stuff, like your family’s child, or my family’s relative.
Everything seemed so normal, as if the previous strangeness and horrors hadn’t existed at all.
Xiao Lan opened the door to sound out the situation, and just happened to see two plump aunties walking down the corridor.
The aunties were very friendly when they saw him, as if they had known him for a very long time. “Hey, why are the two of you still here? The party is about to start; if you don’t hurry, you won’t be able to make it.”
Xiao Lan asked, “Party?”
The auntie laughed. “A married couple like you can’t even remember the passing days; the party is tonight ah.”
Xiao Lan was a little confused. Married couple?
He looked at the tall and long-legged Luo beside him, then thought of his own appearance. It wasn’t like Wu Ting was here. How did the both of them look like a married couple in any way?
The other chubby auntie also added, “That’s right, that’s right, the door to the fifth floor was even specially opened today. It’s right over there.”
Xiao Lan looked in the direction she was pointing and realised that that was where the landlord had disappeared with the bodies of the mother and daughter. What had been a completely empty place now had a staircase which had appeared out of nowhere. The staircase went right up, and the top couldn’t be seen clearly.
The aunties who were talking saw that Xiao Lan now understood the situation, then waved at him in farewell. “Run along, everyone’s waiting for you. We’ll be going first.”
The other auntie even gave them an envious look before leaving. “Aiya, the feelings between a married couple are good ne~”
Xiao Lan: “…”
Auntie: “Aiyo, don’t say any more. Look, they’re already embarrassed~”
I’m not, I wasn’t, don’t talk nonsense!
As they spoke, the two aunts walked towards the stairs, and because of the way the place was structured, Xiao Lan then lost sight of them.
There were quite a number of people in the corridor who did the same thing. When they saw Xiao Lan and Luo, they greeted them with an air of familiarity, as if the both of them had been their neighbours for many years.
And they were even a married couple.
Due to their current personas, Xiao Lan was forced to accept a heap of praise like: Your husband is so handsome, you really are blessed, where did you find such a good husband, you two are so enviable.
After that, Xiao Lan expressionlessly watched as Luo gave an appropriate smile and thanked them for their compliments, even promising to always take good care of him. He even discussed their long-term life plans for the future.
Truly serious neighbourly feelings.
But Xiao Lan understood that the next step in the game was on that so-called fifth floor.
He called for Luo, and the two headed to the fifth floor together.
They arrived at the foot of the stairs.
This flight of stairs looked unremarkable, but the top of the stairs seemed to be blocked by some force and couldn’t be clearly seen.
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Lan and Luo went up the stairs.
The instant they stepped onto the stairs, the facade around them was instantly stripped away, and everything returned to a dilapidated and dirty feel. There was no aroma of food, nor was there traffic or crowds outside the window, to say nothing of friendly neighbours.
The steps seemed to exist in an illusion, and there was no visible end to the flight of stairs heading upwards.
XL, you have to pay attention to the aunties! It will be good for your future~ Sorry can I just point out how much I love that XL sees the fighting couple at the weirdest times😂
Thanks for the chapter~
Thanks 4 the chapter….😆😆😆 Luo took advantage
The couple 😂😂 they just keep appearing n I’m not complaining
Omg hahaha dejavu, those good ol days when Luo was just a floppy flat headed cat swear I’m gonna be one of those aunties in the future
Ohh, and thanks for the chappy~
Wait i want to see their marriage
These aunties can predict the future
Thank you for the chapter!!!! ❤️❤️
Haha these aunties know and can already see all the tension and feelings between the two even if they themselves can’t~
Thank you for translating!!!💖💕🥰🎂💕
Married couple, not yet, not yet aunties. But you have a good eye xDD
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
Thanks for the chapter! ^ ^)♡
Luo all proud while thanking the auntie for complimenting hi marriage xD. too cute!
Thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you for the chapter ^^ ✨The aunties have really good abilities, and good eyes, as I expected from the Advent World, even the ordinary neighbors have great aura reading abilities.
Thx for the chappy
Thank you for translating! <3
Stay strong, XL, hubby luo is one of the best hubbies (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Boss fight incoming? Thanks for the chapter~
Aunties I LoVe YoU
Damn, Uncle Luo is gay.
Xiao Lan: I’m not, I wasn’t, don’t talk nonsense!
Me: yeah yeah your mouth said no but your heart said yes~
I will be sad when the couple no longer appear, they are so funny
Aiyaaaa the aunties are not homophobic, I like them hehe
Como siempre, Luo aprovechando el pánico 🤣🤣🤣
😂🤣XL is to STUNNED to speak
hahaha!! why can’t you be married? QAQ
i love the homely vibe here, it was really nice T^T so sad it was so short