Apartment from Hell Chapter 1 (2/2)

When it is June 7th, they have to enter the Village of Tranquil Water. And before July 7th, they definitely must not leave that place by any means.

Definitely must not…

Time flies. Soon, the day has arrived.

Right now, it is 2 in the afternoon.

On the precipitous mountain road, Li Yin along with those three people, are walking forwards step by step.

This mountain is called the “Black Crow Mountain”. After checking many times, they find the Village of Tranquil Water is to the west of this mountain. The steep slope of the mountain makes transportation to the outside world very inconvenient. Thus the village is almost isolated from the rest of the world. People sustained their lifestyles through agriculture. Without running water and even electricity, this place can be considered very dest.i.tute.

The bespectacled man in the suit is named Qin Shoutian. As he is a journalist of a small newspaper, he is constantly on the run between news scenes, so it is not that tiring for him. But the other two people — the boy in hat, Luo Hengyan, and the pretty young lady in green dress, Ye Kexin — are both ordinary white collars workers who sit in the office everyday. After hiking a couple of miles of mountain trails, their shoes have already been scruffed raw. They all feel exceptionally tired. But still, no one dares to rest. They must arrive at the Village of Tranquil Water as early as possible before the sky gets dark.

With a compa.s.s and map on his hands, Li Yin does not seem to be too exhausted.

“Li… Li Yin”, Luo Hengyan asks breathlessly, “How, how long more does it take to get there? My, my legs are about to drop off.”

“You can stop whenever you want,” Li Yin looks at the compa.s.s and says, without even turning around. “As long as you are not afraid of dying. I don’t care about leaving you behind.”

“How…how can I!” Luo Heng Yan knows Li Yin’s character well. No… actually, everyone is like this.

The residents who live in that apartment will all become indifferent towards other people’s life or death eventually. It has only been half a year since Luo Heng Yan moved into the apartment.

Pa.s.sing another mountain, Li Yin’s spirits rise. Gazing towards the foot of the mountain, he says, “Quick, look! We have arrived!”

Unsurprisingly, there is a huge village. Although it looks dilapidated, the houses are not as poorly constructed as they imagined. At first glance, there are several hundreds of houses built on a s.p.a.cious piece of land, some with two storeys. Rows and rows of rice fields stretch in between the houses, and they can see a lot of farmers hard at work.

Since they have arrived, they should be safe.

The four people rush down to the foot of the mountain excitedly.

To enter the Village of Tranquil Water… That is then equivalent to completing the orders of the b.l.o.o.d.y words.

There is no one, who can violate the orders given by the b.l.o.o.d.y words.

When they arrive at the foot of the mountain, Li Yin suddenly notices a pretty farm girl pa.s.sing by, carrying two buckets of water. He immediately intercepts the girl.

“Ma’am… ” Li Yin walks up to her and asks, “This place… is the Village of Tranquil Water, right?”

That farm girl seems to be around 17 or 18 years of age. With her big eyes, she looks very charming.

“Yes, that’s right. You guys…” That farm girls looks at Li Yin and asks in confusion, “Excuse me, you are…”

“We are tourists from City K. After all those walking for so long on the mountain trails, we want to take a rest in this village.”

The girl immediately brightens up as she says, “It’s so rare to actually see people from the city come here! My name is Xiu. You guys can follow me. I’ll bring you to Uncle w.a.n.g’s restaurant. Plain noodles made by Uncle w.a.n.g tastes really good since it’s made from well water”

Well water… As expected, this village seems to have no running water?

Moreover, when they were overlooking the village just now, they did not actually spot any telephone poles. It seems like this village is indeed relatively outdated.

Since that farmgirl, Xiu, is quite welcoming, Li Yin’s group decides to follows her lead.

At this moment, Li Yin’s line of sight unintentionally moves to one of the buckets that Xiu carries on her back. The water in the bucket looks quite clear so it is uncertain whether it is well water or stream water.

But then…As though he has been electrocuted, Li Yin’s body jerks!

From the bottom of the well, a deathly pale, pupiless woman’s face abruptly emerges!

This face showed up too suddenly, giving him no time at all to react.

Li Yin immediately retreated a few steps, his heart palpitating wildly. Then he walks forwards and peeks at the bucket again… But it remains a bucket of clear water. There is nothing weird about it.

But, Li Yin knows that what he just saw was definitely not an illusion.

“Miss… Miss Xiu…” Li Yin forcefully represses the terror in his heart and says, “We, we should not bother you any more. You look quite busy carrying those buckets”

After that, without even waiting for Xiu’s response, he turns his head around quickly and walks toward his three other companions with large steps, giving them a meaningful glance.

The three people understand him instantly and hurry to follow Li Yin, leaving Xiu alone. Xiu stands blankly in her original spot, wondering how she has offended them.

As they walk in the village, the group’s unfamiliar faces attract many people’s attention as the villagers stare at them in bewildered suspicion. Why are there tourists here despite the fact that the Black Crow Mountain does not have any ancient sites or renowned attractions?

Ye Ke xin asks Li Yin in a low voice, “Mr… Mr. Li Yin, just now…did you already see ‘that thing’?”

Li Yin remains silent, only nodding his head in response.

They have long expected that it is impossible for the month to pa.s.s peacefully after they arrive in the Village of Tranquil Water. But they did not imagine that the moment they stepped foot into the village, and in day time, that such a thing…

Li Yin looks at the sky above his head. It seems like the sun is slowly being covered by the clouds.

This time…Among the four of them, how many of them can return to the apartment in K City alive?

It has already been a year… Li Yin has experienced this kind of thing many times.

He almost died many times.

Almost died at the hands of ‘those things’.

‘Those things’ – where they come from and why they appear is still unknown. But they are everywhere. At any time, at any place, they can kill you where you stand.

And in the whole world, the apartment in K city is the only place one can hide from ‘those things’. Only in that place is their security ensured.

This, is the inviolable rule that the residents of that apartment must follow.

Footnotes:

The Hope Crew is China’s equivalent to the Red Cross Foundation.

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