Seeing that Ji Qing had also successfully secured a job, the other players’ eyes instantly lit up. Hesitating no longer, they began scrambling to speak up.
“Director, I can do magic tricks to amuse the children in the community.”
“Director, I am very compassionate and will definitely respect the elderly, love the young, and complete my work properly.”
“Director, I always proactively help old grandmothers cross the street.”
“Director, I…”
“Director…”
“Enough! What kind of ruckus is this? From now on, form an orderly queue based on the order of resumes,” the director shouted, slamming his hand down on the table.
The other players instantly fell silent like cicadas in winter, casting envious glances toward Chi Ling and Ji Qing while staring with worried expressions at the pile of resumes beneath the director’s hand, hoping desperately that they wouldn’t be among the last few.
Ji Qing looked gratefully at Chi Ling, who nodded in response. The two walked out the door, leaving the gazes of the remaining players behind them.
Chi Ling didn’t care whether the others could pass this hurdle. After all, failing to secure a job didn’t necessarily mean a dead end; it just meant the road ahead might be a bit rougher.
[Next, please check into Room 313 within 1 hour.]
Just as they left the mediation office, the system prompt rang out. Chi Ling reached into his pocket and sure enough found something resembling a room card. He turned his head to look at Ji Qing, who nodded hurriedly to indicate that he had also received the task, and promptly shared his system panel for Chi Ling to see.
“You’re in 313 as well?”
Chi Ling withdrew his gaze. It seemed that because the two of them had entered the instance as a team, the system treated them as default partners within the instance.
“Then Brother, should we go now?”
“Of course we have to go. After all, our task is to find the secret of the community; how can we find it without going inside?” Chi Ling gave his answer after a moment of contemplation.
The two followed the directional signs all the way to Building 3 of Community 75. There were a total of seven buildings here, and they weren’t very tall, probably around ten stories high.
Various miscellaneous flyer advertisements were plastered across the walls outside the community, alongside numerous contact numbers written with permanent markers. Chi Ling swept past them casually when a palm-sized metal plaque caught his eye.
Chi Ling stepped closer to look. Inscribed on the small plaque were the resident rules. He skimmed through them briefly and then took a photo with his phone.
Ji Qing followed suit. After the two carefully inspected the exterior of the community and found nothing else, they walked right inside. There were no elevators in the building, and their room was on the 7th floor, so they had to walk up step by step.
The seven buildings in the community were spaced too closely together, resulting in poor lighting. Below the fifth floor, it was difficult to catch any sunlight. It was only early evening, yet stepping into the stairwell plunged them into pitch-black darkness.
Accompanied by their footsteps, the sensor lights in the stairwell clicked on, casting a pale, ghastly light that illuminated the messy, eerie graffiti scrawled all over the white walls, looking exceptionally glaring.
The stairwell was old and dilapidated; the white wall plaster was starting to peel, the wooden handrails were covered in a thick layer of dust, and the railing at the corner was somewhat cracked.
As the two climbed higher, the sensor lights behind them flickered out, plunging the floor back into darkness.
At every corner of the stairwell, garbage had accumulated—discarded empty bottles, cardboard boxes, old bicycles, and trash emitting a decaying stench.
An environment like this reminded Chi Ling of some unpleasant memories, causing his brow to furrow unconsciously.
Ji Qing had been closely watching Chi Ling’s expression. Seeing him frown, Ji Qing swallowed hard, glanced around, and then spoke softly as if afraid of startling something: “Brother, is something wrong here?”
Chi Ling snapped out of it. Seeing Ji Qing’s distressed and bitter expression, he couldn’t help but chuckle: “Nothing found yet. Don’t be so nervous.”
They finally reached Room 313, and Ji Qing excitedly pulled out the room card.
Chi Ling raised a hand to stop him and glanced at the door opposite them: “Is the neighbor in 314 home? I am the resident of 313. I have arrived home, and you are welcome to drop by for a visit anytime.”
Chi Ling stood at the doorway, waiting for a response from the opposite door.
“Understood!” An elderly voice sounded.
Chi Ling took out the room card and unlocked the door.
Only after entering and securing the door behind them did Chi Ling speak again: “Did you read the resident rules carefully?”
Ji Qing didn’t speak and silently opened his phone.
Resident Rules: [1. To increase affection among residents, please greet the residents across from you before returning home, and enter only after receiving a response…]
“I was wrong! I definitely won’t be so reckless next time!”
He admitted his mistake quite promptly. A single reminder was enough; Chi Ling wouldn’t keep pressing the issue.
Now that they were inside the room, they could finally rest for a bit. Ji Qing slumped onto the sofa with a blank, glazed look in his eyes.
Chi Ling also relaxed a bit, but instead of sitting down immediately, he walked around the room.
The stairwell looked run-down, but the apartment itself was actually quite decent, matching the standard of a normal residential community at least. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Chi Ling thought expressionlessly that it was at least much larger than his residential pod.
Seeing how serious Chi Ling was, Ji Qing quickly climbed back up and followed him to inspect the apartment.
Ji Qing checked the kitchen and bathroom, while Chi Ling walked into the larger bedroom. Upon seeing the photo hanging on the wall, he felt like his eyes must be failing him.
This is…
Chi Ling poked his head out to glance at Ji Qing, who was rummaging through the living room, and raised a hand to support his forehead.
“Hahaha! Is it even auto-completing character background lore now?!” “I’m dying, what is this? A wedding photo?” “Not gonna lie, wearing a dress actually looks pretty good.” “As expected, good-looking people look good in anything!” “Who’s that guy on top? How dare he Photoshop my wife’s and my wedding photo into his face?!” (Viewer No. 3888 tipped 800 points)
Chi Ling glanced at the chat barrage and silently blocked those spectators who were watching the show with zero intention of helping.
He stepped onto the nightstand, reached the photo frame, and tried to take it down.
[System Prompt: Congratulations to player Chi Ling for finding “Chi Ling’s Diary” and triggering a character side quest. Completing the task yields no reward; failing the task randomly reduces character attributes by 30% and triggers a minor injury buff.] [Chi Ling was very happy to reach a happy ending with his first love. After moving into Community 75, he was happy every day. However, what secrets might lie hidden beneath this seemingly peaceful and happy married life?]
System! F*** your ****!
Chi Ling took down the wedding photo and threw it onto the floor, shattering the glass into pieces instantly.
He jumped down from the nightstand, opened the drawer, and pulled out the diary inside, cursing the system internally. He clearly hadn’t even touched the diary yet, yet he had still managed to trigger a character side quest.
However, the system prompt sounded the very next second.
[System Prompt: Upon detection, player Chi Ling’s action of destroying the wedding photo does not match the original “Chi Ling” persona. Character side quest failed.] [System Prompt: Player Chi Ling’s Sanity is reduced by 30%, and a minor injury buff is triggered.]
Chi Ling instantly felt dizzy, and his throat itched uncomfortably. He raised a hand to block his mouth and coughed heavily. To his surprise, this cough actually brought up a mouthful of fresh blood.
Chi Ling looked at the diary in his left hand and the blood on his right hand, feeling another wave of dizziness wash over him. He felt like he was being driven mad by pure exasperation this time.
To hell with this minor injury buff!
“What’s wrong, Brother?”
Ji Qing rushed over anxiously from the living room at the sound of the commotion, only to see glass scattered all over the floor and Chi Ling sitting pale-faced on the bed with his eyes tightly shut.
Chi Ling slowly opened his eyes and shot Ji Qing a glance.
Ji Qing inexplicably felt that look carried murderous intent. He shrank his neck back and nervously looked left and right, suspicious of everything: “Brother, did you run into danger?”
Chi Ling raised his chin, signaling Ji Qing to pick up the photo on the floor.
Ji Qing picked it up, took a look, and was dumbfounded: “Th-this is a wedding photo of you and me?!”
Chi Ling’s head throbbed with a dull ache. He spoke in a raspy voice: “Did anything trigger?”
Ji Qing shook his head.
Chi Ling tossed the diary in his hand to him instead: “Did this trigger anything?”
Ji Qing caught it immediately, flipped through a couple of pages, and shook his head again.
“Wonderful!” Chi Ling gritted his teeth.
“Brother, don’t smile like that, you’re scaring me!” Ji Qing hurriedly tossed both the photo and the diary back onto the bed.
“Brother, are you alright now?”
“I’m fine.”
Chi Ling briefly explained how he had just triggered the character side quest.
“Good thing my luck was good!” Ji Qing let out a long sigh of relief, lingering fear still gripping him.
He peeked at Chi Ling twice before lowering his gaze. If this meant he had to roleplay a couple with Brother Chi, he wouldn’t have the guts to do it!
Though to be fair, Brother Chi really was gorgeous.
Sitting quietly with his eyes closed against the bedside, his face lacking even a trace of color with dark bangs resting against his forehead, he gave off an inexplicable fragility at a single glance. A speck of bright red blood at the corner of his lips added a hint of alluring wickedness to him. Right now, he didn’t look human anymore, resembling some sort of otherworldly sprite or spirit instead.
“My wife is too pretty!” “Got to admit his luck is really terrible, getting slapped with a debuff right at the start of the instance. The rest of the run is probably going to be super tough.” “To the person above, if you don’t know how to talk, then don’t.”
However, once he opened his eyes, that uncanny and mesmerizing allure was diluted. The cold gaze and sharp aura radiating from his entire being forced Ji Qing to lower his head again. Still, he couldn’t help looking back up.
“What are you looking at?” Chi Ling had just closed his eyes to rest, and the moment he opened them, he caught Ji Qing staring blankly.
“Looking at you! My precious.”
“Haha!”
“N-nothing much. Brother Chi, what should we do next?” Ji Qing raised his head, feeling a bit annoyed—why was he lowering his head anyway? Obviously Brother Chi wasn’t all that terrifying.
Hearing him call him “brother” again, Chi Ling fell silent.
“Call me Chi Ling,” Chi Ling said flatly, steadying himself against the edge of the bed as he stood up.
Having rested for a bit, he felt mostly recovered now, though his head still spun slightly—making him finally believe this really was a minor injury buff.
“Alright, Chi Ling. What do we do next?” Ji Qing adapted smoothly, changing his address immediately.
“Let’s take a careful look at the resident rules and this diary first. We’ll head out tomorrow.”
Chi Ling picked up the diary. It was only the first day, so he wasn’t in a rush.
Ji Qing nodded in agreement. For two grown men to stand in a bedroom studying it felt slightly awkward, so Chi Ling took the diary out to the living room.
Community 75 Resident Rules:
[1. To increase affection among residents, please greet the residents across from you before returning home, and enter only after receiving a response. Before leaving, please also bid farewell to your next-door neighbor; he/she will send you blessings.] [2. To maintain affection among residents, all residents are expected to actively visit their neighbors and welcome visits from them.] [3. To maintain mental health, all residents must visit the 75th Family Dispute Mediation Office daily to receive mediation.] [4. To maintain physical health, all residents must visit the 75th Community Hospital for a medical checkup every two days.] [5. To cultivate good living habits, all residents should sleep early and wake up early, and must not disturb other residents at night.] [6. As residents of Community 75, you must unite with your neighbors, respect the elderly, love the young, and passionately love the community!]
A sense of realization dawning on him, Chi Ling put down his phone and picked up the diary instead.