Global Collapse-Chapter 664 - 632: Feeling Lost in the Vehicle after Looking Around_1
No ghosts appeared in the elevator, nor did any other incidents occur. It just swayed a few times as they rode it, as if it were long overdue for maintenance.
Gu Mian and his group safely reached the thirteenth floor.
As Bai Lu stepped out of the elevator, she lightly stamped her foot, triggering the sound-activated lights in the hallway.
Gu Mian scanned his surroundings under the dim orange glow.
Yuan Haotian's apartment was in a building with two units per floor. The other unit on this floor appeared unsold, its door plastered with small advertisements.
Gu Mian looked out through a corridor window and saw several unfinished, abandoned buildings.
These buildings looked like they had been deserted for a long time, judging by the overgrown weeds on the ground beneath them.
"The developer skipped town, didn't they?" Keke also came to the window, looking at the unfinished buildings in the distance. "My family used to live in a complex like this. The developer bailed halfway through construction, leaving no property management and no security. Residents had to do everything themselves."
No wonder the guardhouse was empty and even the access control system was broken.
Behind them, Bai Lu stood before Yuan Haotian's door, hesitating.
"We had keys for Li Shu's place, so we could get in, but what about Yuan Haotian's?" She looked rather helpless as she studied the sturdy apartment door.
Before coming here, she had imagined Yuan Haotian's door, damaged from a fire, would be so decrepit that a simple hammer blow could break the lock.
But that wasn't the case.
Yuan Haotian seemed to have a strong awareness of burglars; his door was far more robust than most.
Bai Lu glanced at the advertisements on the other door. "Should we call a locksmith…?"
She was halfway through her sentence when she heard the sound of a zipper from behind her.
Bai Lu abruptly fell silent.
She suddenly remembered something: the NPC known as Coach Che had only sprung up from the bed to help them drive off two ghosts after the sound of a zipper.
And after those two ghosts were driven off, this doctor-like Judge had zipped up his guitar case.
As she recalled these recent events, her imagination began to run wild.
Could the guitar in the Doctor's bag be a special item? Would any NPC who saw it feel compelled to help him? Does this game really have such ridiculously powerful special items? An item like that would be Epic level!
Lost in thought, Bai Lu turned around, eager to witness the glory of such an Epic level special item.
When she turned, she indeed saw the brilliant radiance she had imagined—a huge chainsaw gleamed under the sound-activated light, the guitar case tossed carelessly aside.
Coach Che, clad in his suit, seemed stunned by the Epic level special item. He recoiled against the wall, clutching his chest, his face contorted in pain.
A chainsaw… in the guitar case?
Before Bai Lu could recover from her shock, she saw Gu Mian, in his white lab coat, advancing on the seemingly indestructible door with the chainsaw.
Then, with a RRRIP—
The sturdy door Yuan Haotian had so carefully installed split open.
Bai Lu: "..."
"Alright," Gu Mian said, kicking the cracked door fully open. "We can go in."
Bai Lu silently took a step back, a serene expression on her face.
Keke and Xie Bi'an, unfazed, followed Gu Mian into the room. Coach Che, who had been leaning against the wall, his heart still pounding, also staggered in after them.
CLICK.
Gu Mian casually flipped the light switch by the door.
The overhead lightbulb flickered, casting a dim glow.
Only then could they clearly see the room's interior.
It was a… very shabbily kept room.
The apartment had clearly suffered a fire. Parts of the walls showed signs of demolition and reconstruction, but the work was unfinished.
The whole place had a rather war-torn, dilapidated look.
The dilapidated room contained little furniture; there wasn't even a sofa.
A few mismatched chairs were scattered around the living room. Near the balcony stood a small, knee-high round table. Beside it was a small, old-looking thermos.
On the table rested a chipped bowl, and next to it, a pair of chopsticks of different lengths.
Gu Mian stepped closer to examine the bowl's contents.
"Instant noodles?" Keke also approached the table. "No, doesn't look like it…"
"Plain noodles soaked in boiling water," Gu Mian said, staring at the bowl's contents.
They were the kind of plain noodles sold in bulk containers, likely what Yuan Haotian ate because he didn't have a pot to cook with. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Xie Bi'an also came forward, his gaze fixed on the bowl and chopsticks on the table, his thoughts unreadable.
"How miserable," Bai Lu remarked, surveying the surroundings. "Living in a place like this, eating plain noodles soaked in boiling water."
Gu Mian then turned his gaze towards the bedroom.
The bedroom door was long gone, leaving only an empty doorframe as a stark reminder that a door had once been there.
A bed—no, a mattress lay on the bedroom floor. This appeared to be where Yuan Haotian usually slept.
The quilt on it, however, was neatly folded.
Gu Mian took a couple of steps to the mattress and reached under the quilt.
Sure enough, his hand touched something.
He pulled out what was hidden under the quilt: a photograph—a family portrait.
The photo was well-preserved, without a single crease.
It showed Yuan Haotian's family of four.
The photograph had been taken at an amusement park, with a gigantic Ferris Wheel in the background.
The Yuan Haotian in the picture looked much as he did now, making a V-sign at the camera. His sister, around seventeen or eighteen years old, stood quietly beside him, looking at the camera with a hint of shyness.
Behind them stood their parents, smiling gently.
Everything looked so wonderful.
Except for the butterfly hairpin in his sister's hair.
"This is…" Bai Lu's pupils constricted as she looked at the photo. She then took out the pink hairpin she had been carrying in her pocket.
She placed the hairpin next to the photo and compared them carefully.
They were identical.
Only, the hairpin in the photo didn't look as new as the one in her hand.
"What's going on?" Bai Lu frowned. "Cao Deren had a hairpin identical to Yuan Haotian's sister's, but this isn't her sister's hairpin—it's just exactly the same."
Did Yuan Haotian kill because of this hairpin? Was he triggered on Wei Mountain when he found Cao Deren had a hairpin identical to his deceased sister's? No, that doesn't add up. This hairpin was bought just a few days before the incident; the timing doesn't match their trip to Wei Mountain.
Bai Lu frowned deeply. She felt she was onto something but couldn't quite grasp the elusive thread of connection in her mind.
"There's an even bigger coincidence," Gu Mian, who had been standing to one side, suddenly said.
Bai Lu then saw him take another photograph from his lab coat pocket.
She looked down and recognized it as the one from Li Shu's computer desk.
"What about this photo?" Bai Lu asked, puzzled.
"Look at the background."
Hearing this, Bai Lu carefully examined the gray building in the background of Li Shu's photo. The more she looked, the more familiar its facade seemed.
Then, a realization struck her, and her breath hitched. "Isn't this… the building we're in right now?"
