Wan Qiu was last seen at a small noodle restaurant adjacent to the Sishui Apartnt complex. Security cara footage captured him deliberately crossing the street and entering Building B within the complex.
“Could it really be that this young man hasn’t lost his mory?” Gao Ming pondered over Wan Qiu’s situation.
Moving quickly, Gao Ming spotted fresh, wet shoe prints in the hallway. He raced up the stairs, reaching the fifth floor without stopping for a breath.
“Where did the shoe prints go?” he wondered aloud.
As he turned a corner, he saw that apartnt 506’s door was ajar. A bunch of advertising leaflets that had been stuffed into the door were now scattered on the floor.
“This apartnt looks like it hasn’t been lived in for quite so ti,” Gao Ming observed.
He picked up the leaflets, wiping away a thick layer of dust, and peered into apartnt 506. The security door was coated in dust, suggesting it hadn’t been opened in a while. However, the interior of the apartnt was surprisingly clean, almost as if it was being regularly maintained.
Gao Ming knocked on the door. A frail figure, Wan Qiu, erged from the kitchen, awkwardly holding a spatula while wearing an apron that once belonged to the ghost mama living here.
“W-Who are you?” Wan Qiu asked timidly.
Previously, Wan Qiu was known for his shyness, rarely engaging with strangers and keeping to himself. It was only after his encounters with Gao Ming that he began opening up a bit more.
But this encounter was different. Not only was Wan Qiu actively cooking, but he also greeted Gao Ming first.
“I’m Gao Ming,” he introduced himself, slipping into house slippers. “I’ve been sent here to care for two young girls on behalf of their mother. Their nas are Xianxian and Nannan.”
Suddenly, the security door slamd shut behind him, and the room’s temperature seed to drop as though an air conditioner had been switched on. Wet footprints mysteriously appeared on the living room floor.
“That’s not possible, they don’t know you!” Wan Qiu, gripping the spatula as if it were a shield, stepped out of the kitchen, his newfound bravery evident in his stance against Gao Ming. “You’re not welco here, ple-please leave.”
Gao Ming, noticing a burning sll coming from the kitchen, raised an eyebrow. “I see you’re trying to take care of the kids, but is this really within your capabilities?”
Ignoring the warning signs and Wan Qiu’s defensive stance, Gao Ming walked into the kitchen and removed the nearly incinerated pot from the stove.
Peering into the pot, he couldn’t even identify what vegetable had been attempted: “Is this your doing?”
Wan Qiu, now slightly embarrassed and less sure of himself, admitted, “Yes.”
“Why not ask the girls if this makes them miss their mother even more?” Gao Ming suggested, as he disposed of the burnt food and began cleaning the pot. He opened the refrigerator to prepare sothing else but found it filled with spoiled food. “Never mind, we should just order so takeout.”
Returning to the dining table, Gao Ming noticed the shifting shadows in the room. The presence of the two young girls, Xianxian and Nannan, seed to carry a heavier sense of sadness than before.
Gao Ming gestured for Wan Qiu to join him, his gaze fixed on the young man with a mix of curiosity and concern. “You don’t rember , yet you’ve co here to care for these children. What motivated you to do this?”
Wan Qiu, setting aside his spatula, took a seat across from Gao Ming. His unique eyes, capable of perceiving ghosts and perhaps other unseen things, held a quiet intensity. “I felt a need to take care of them, that’s all. There wasn’t any specific reason.”
As he picked up a cloth to clean the burnt residue off the spatula, Wan Qiu shared a bit more about himself. “I’m not very quick-witted and often get picked on, but these kids, they never looked down on .”
Wan Qiu’s explanation was sowhat vague, but sincere. After cleaning the spatula, he timidly asked Gao Ming, “Could you possibly teach how to cook later?”
Observing Wan Qiu, Gao Ming struggled to reconcile this gentle, unassuming figure with the notorious criminal he was fated to beco, a man who would plague Hanhai for two decades. This man before him, now earnestly wanting to learn how to cook, seed so far removed from that future villain.
“Let’s put aside cooking for the mont. I am genuinely here on the behalf of the children’s mother,” Gao Ming stated, his hand resting on his chest. He rembered how their ghost mama had been tragically absorbed into the blood pool during a climactic battle with Qing Ge, eventually rging with the Flesh Immortal. He considered that so essence of her might still linger within the Flesh Immortal.
As he pondered this, blood strands began to converge in the room, and a daunting aura enveloped the space. The two little girls present seed disturbed by this, and a mass of shadows began to coalesce!
The room, with its curtains tightly drawn, was now occupied by two girls, one taller, the other shorter, standing beside the dining table. Their eyes were a deep blood-red, their complexions ghostly pale.
In the absence of Ghost Mama’s nurturing care, the children had taken on a frightening aspect. They slowly moved toward Gao Ming.
“Did you do their hair?” Gao Ming inquired, noting the girls’ unkempt braids.
“No, I… I don’t know how to,” Wan Qiu replied, shaking his head and positioning himself protectively between Gao Ming and the girls. Gao Ming, however, appeared unfazed.
He stood up and tenderly took hold of Nannan’s hair, his mory guiding him as he began to braid it, emulating the way their mother would have done.
As Gao Ming worked, the Flesh Immortal remained absent. He simply and patiently styled her hair, evoking the care and affection of their mother.
The room was filled with a blood-tinged scent, and as Nannan observed Gao Ming, she seed to perceive sothing of her mother in him.
The girls’ resistance and hostility gradually waned, but the shadows in room 506 had already started to expand, pulling them into the shadow world.
“Sishui Apartnt is becoming too dangerous. I’ll find a safer place for you to live,” Gao Ming said, crouching before the girls. “You’ve been waiting here for your mother, but I can help you search for her.”
Gao Ming’s appearance gave off the impression of a suspicious man who might deceive little girls, causing the two young sisters to be wary.
“I need all of you, not just the two of you, but everyone living in Sishui Apartnt, including Wan Qiu, to co with ,” Gao Ming said firmly. The absence of the Flesh Immortal in Sishui Apartnt, now taken by Gao Ming, left a significant void. However, Gao Ming knew that Situ An, who had ticulously laid his plans in this place over twenty years, wouldn’t easily relinquish his hold.
“We mustn’t waste ti. Let’s go and gather the others.” Gao Ming’s mission in Sishui Apartnt was twofold; apart from ensuring everyone’s safety, he was also intent on finding Granny.
This elderly woman, whose age seed a mystery, was known for her extraordinary nature.
As Gao Ming followed the corridor shadows, he soon encountered Ms. Nosy, the notorious gossiping neighbor, infamous for never keeping secrets. Despite her fearso reputation, Gao Ming greeted her with a smile and, relying on his mory, led the three children towards a secluded area on the first floor.
Once the shadows had engulfed the area completely, Gao Ming approached a particular door with respect and knocked. As his hand made contact, the wooden door transford into a blood-red color, with sinewy blood strands creeping across its surface. Several talismans that had been affixed to the fra shattered instantaneously.
From within, the sound of a statue breaking echoed. Gao Ming pushed the door open to find an elderly woman with white hair kneeling on the floor, a broken clay model of a Flesh Immortal in front of her.
The old woman lifted her head, her face lined with age. Her hand, resembling a gnarled tree branch, trembled as she inhaled sharply. “Flesh Immortal! You are the Flesh Immortal!” she exclaid.
“You could say that,” Gao Ming replied, entering the room accompanied by the older and two younger children. He glanced at the 365 ghost god statues lining the wall. “Grandma, I need your cooperation on a matter.”
“You seek to alter fate?” Granny slowly composed herself, gathering the broken pieces of the clay Flesh Immortal and placing them on a table.
“There’s no need for that. I’m soone who respects fate,” Gao Ming responded, moving a chair to sit opposite Granny. “I’m not sure what Situ An promised to convince you to stay here, but you need to know that he’s a dangerous man.”
“He didn’t promise anything. I have no desire to assist him,” Granny said, lighting three incense sticks and paying homage to all the ghosts and gods in her house. “He’s holding my two sisters’ children captive. If I don’t comply, he threatens to annihilate my entire lineage.”
“How can that man be more rciless than a ghost?” Gao Ming mused for a mont before speaking up. “Situ An aims to summon the Flesh Immortal, but I am the Flesh Immortal. His plan is dood to fail, and your family is fated to be unsavable. How about we alter our strategy instead? If you join forces with , together we can devise a plan to defeat Situ An.”
…
“You have a takeout order!”
Sumo, a delivery guy, was hustling with his task. He balanced two hefty bags filled with takeout food as he hurried into Sishui Apartnt. Eager to complete his delivery, he sprinted up to the fifth floor, his breaths growing labored. Upon reaching room 506, he knocked energetically, announcing, “Your takeout is here!”
The room, however, was empty. As he wondered what to do next, the door of the neighboring apartnt creaked open. A middle-aged woman appeared, her back turned to Sumo. “They’ve all gone down to the first floor,” she inford him.
Sumo, ever the diligent delivery person, asked, “Auntie, I’m really pressed for ti. Could I possibly leave the takeout here with you? Maybe you could let them know when they co back?”
The woman, known in the building for her chatty nature, hesitated. “I’m sorry, but I’d rather not take responsibility for these things. And, if I may say so, it might be wise for you to avoid delivering to Sishui Apartnt in the future.”
As she turned around to face Sumo, he was t with a startling sight. The woman’s face had four mouths, all moving simultaneously in an unsettling manner.
Shocked by this bizarre and frightening revelation, the bags of takeout slipped from Sumo’s grasp, crashing to the floor. Overwheld by the surreal scene, he fainted, collapsing next to the spilled food.
In a frantic attempt to revive him, the woman leaned over his unconscious form, imploring, “Wake up! Handso boy! Wake up!”
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