Nan Yue scanned the crowd and noticed that the one who hadn't come down for breakfast was the remaining female Scavenger, an older woman who had barely spoken yesterday and didn't seem very approachable.
Nan Yue remembered she had gotten off the elevator on the 6th floor.
The food on the table was light—plain porridge and steamed buns. Some Scavengers were already eating, so Nan Yue sat down, served herself a bowl of porridge, and began her breakfast slowly.
"Did anyone see Zhang Ping? I added her as a friend, but she hasn't replied."
Lu Li didn't have much of an appetite. If someone had already run into trouble on the first day, the difficulty of this mission would be very high.
"No. We're all on different floors, and no one knows anyone else here. Why would anyone specifically look for her?"
The gloomy man took a sip of porridge and spoke with an air of indifference. Nan Yue remembered his name in the group chat was Pu Kun.
"Let's go check on her together after breakfast."
"Um... did any of you see your neighbors last night?"
Zhang Qingyang, the honest-looking man, spoke up cautiously, drawing the attention of several people.
He was a bit nervous and swallowed hard before saying, "My neighbor is a beautiful woman—a real beauty, heavily made up. She saw me moving in last night and took the initiative to greet me."
Lu Li's gaze became somewhat mocking. "You didn't..."
Zhang Qingyang waved his hands repeatedly. "No, no, I know where to draw the line. I just opened the door and chatted with her for a bit. She seemed like a nice person."
Lu Li gave a soft snort. "Everyone, be careful. Who knows which of these neighbors might have problems."
She paused for a moment. "But speaking of neighbors... I saw mine last night too. It was a little girl."
"She looked about ten years old. As soon as I reached the hallway, she opened her door and stared at me. When I tried to speak to her, she shut the door."
Although a little girl was a staple of ghost stories, everyone had undergone courage training at the academy. Lu Li had likely completed many missions, so she naturally wasn't going to be frightened by a young girl whose background was unknown.
Since Lu Li and Zhang Qingyang had spoken, the others also opened up.
Pu Kun had encountered a somewhat neurotic housewife whose clothes were a mess and whose hair was disheveled. She clearly didn't seem normal.
The housewife seemed to want to say something to Pu Kun, but he had avoided her. After seeing the Tenant Rules later, he felt a bit of regret.
Luo Feifei, the girl with twintails, had met a man who looked completely ordinary. He seemed to be an office worker who had just returned home, and upon seeing Luo Feifei, he had even tried to ask for her number.
Gu Xiang Kai was as simple and direct as ever, providing only two points of information.
His neighbor was an old man in his sixties who had invited him to come over and sit for a while when he had the time.
Once everyone else had finished speaking, they all turned to look at Nan Yue and Chi He.
Chi He glanced at Nan Yue and flashed his standard smile. "I'll go first. We have two neighbors on the 8th floor, but I only saw the grandmother from 803."
"To be precise, she didn't knock. She just stood perfectly still outside my door for a while. I noticed her."
The others felt a wave of cold dread. Compared to making a direct request, the feeling of someone silently watching from outside the door was even more terrifying.
Nan Yue waited until she was full before putting down her bowl. "I saw both neighbors on the 8th floor."
This one sentence made everyone turn their heads to look at her. In this mission, neighbors were inherently dangerous subjects.
Every other floor only had one neighbor, but since two Scavengers lived on the 8th floor, there were two corresponding neighbors.
"One was that old grandmother. When I passed by, she told me not to wander around at night."
"The other was the man from 802."
Hearing this, Zhang Qingyang quickly asked, "And then? You didn't open the door?"
Nan Yue shook her head. "No."
Zhang Qingyang was stunned. "Didn't you see the Tenant Rules?"
"I saw them."
Zhang Qingyang looked incredulous. "Earlier, Pu Kun didn't respond because he hadn't had time to read the Tenant Rules yet. Since you saw them, how did you dare not to open the door?"
Zhang Qingyang looked at the student uniform Nan Yue was wearing and seemed to understand. "You must be new. It's normal for a newcomer to be afraid, but you can't just slack off. This is a group mission; you can't just fail to gather any clues."
Nan Yue finally gave Zhang Qingyang a strange look. "Gathering clues should be done under the premise of staying alive, shouldn't it? It was nearly midnight when we checked in yesterday. Under normal circumstances, what kind of neighbor would come to say hello at that time?"
"I'm a girl. Why would I open the door for a man I don't know in the middle of the night? Do I have a death wish?"
Nan Yue's previous appearance had been too deceptive, making everyone think she was soft-tempered and timid. Thus, Zhang Qingyang didn't know how to react for a moment after being scolded with such biting words.
"Ha!"
Gu Xiang Kai was the first to laugh. He roughly knew that Nan Yue wasn't as fragile as she looked; on the contrary, she might be an extremely formidable character.
He hadn't expected to end up in the same mission as her. However, since everyone else had added him as a friend last night except for Nan Yue, he knew she was a very independent person with great ability and courage.
Zhang Qingyang only snapped out of it after Gu Xiang Kai laughed, his face flushing red and white. "You... what do you mean! Is opening the door the same as throwing your life away?"
Nan Yue was already growing tired of this conversation. "Why you opened the door—whether it was because of the Tenant Rules or something else—no one knows. But if opening the door counts as actively exploring the mission, then what did you discover?"
Zhang Qingyang was completely choked up. He hadn't expected a newcomer who couldn't even afford to change out of her uniform to dare speak to him like this. Just as he was about to lose his temper, he heard Lu Li speak.
"Is everyone finished eating? Then let's go check on Zhang Ping together."
Zhang Qingyang could be rude to Nan Yue, but he didn't dare be rude to Lu Li. Hearing her words, he stood up submissively.
As for Nan Yue, Lu Li lightly patted her shoulder as they headed out.
"You have a keen eye for detail."
Lu Li rarely showed a gentle side, smiling at Nan Yue. "Keep it up."
Hm... Nan Yue's irritation from Zhang Qingyang's behavior dissipated. She gave a good-natured smile that was highly misleading.
The group arrived at the 6th floor in a large crowd. Fortunately, Luo Feifei had seen that Zhang Ping's key was for 602, so they knocked directly on the door.
It took a long time before Zhang Ping finally opened the door.
Seeing so many people at her doorstep, Zhang Ping's expression turned ugly.
"What's wrong?"
Lu Li discreetly scanned the room. The decor and facilities were similar to her own, and there was a rag on the table.
"Are you cleaning? We couldn't reach you in the group chat, and you didn't come down for breakfast."
Zhang Ping's face was pale. "You still have an appetite for breakfast? The room was so filthy, I've been cleaning all night!"
The others exchanged looks. Zhang Ping quickly realized something. "What? Were there no bloodstains in your bathrooms?"
No one answered her. Zhang Ping's face slowly turned deathly pale, and she began to teeter.
"Impossible. I didn't do anything. Why me!"
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