Chapter 122: The Apartment Building

Severely Distorted World.

Courtyard plaza in front of the apartment building.

Suddenly, a purple light appeared.

After eight seconds, Liu Yiran, Fang Tang, and the others stepped out from the purple glow.

“Severe distortion rule concentration, small-scale area. The target building is eighteen stories tall, covering approximately two thousand square meters. No corrupted beings detected so far.”

Almost instantly, Su Mang provided a detailed analysis.

Liu Yiran observed the building and smiled warmly. “This should be a puzzle-solving or evidence-gathering area. It operates under specific rules. We must not act rashly; understanding the rules first will make things easier.”

Fang Tang focused on the building, and golden subtitles unfolded before his eyes.

[A familiar scent is truly exhilarating! I love this area so much. As an external aid, I hope you can play an important role here. Of course, the one who truly makes a difference is the adorable Lord Eye, for only I can lead you through the exploration of this area. But before we begin, you need to know something. This place is under severe distortion rules; any unscientific phenomena are understandable. Control your emotions diligently—I don’t want any mutated abilities to emerge.]

“Let’s go in!” Liu Yiran stepped toward the building.

Fang Tang and the others followed closely. As they entered, Xie Ling suddenly let out a soft exclamation.

“Huh? How did I suddenly get a new sequence talent?”

Xie Ling blinked her big eyes, looking puzzled at Liu Yiran.

Fang Tang was envious. Was this what being lucky meant? Upon entering the building, Xie Ling had awakened a new sequence talent.

Liu Yiran smiled faintly. “The higher your evolution level, the more likely you are to awaken new sequence talents again in areas with high distortion concentration. Until now, no one knows how many sequence talents a person can awaken in total. You’ll encounter this too in the future; don’t be nervous. It’s rare but normal.”

Fang Tang and the others suddenly understood.

In other words, after reaching the twelfth rank, entering a super-distorted area could maximize the awakening of new sequence talents?

Just thinking about it made me look forward to it.

Fang Tang looked at Xie Ling and now knew which sequence she had awakened.

Sequence 321: Calm and Collected.

A sequence talent that stabilizes emotions—very useful.

Now Xie Ling had a certain degree of safety within the distortion.

Among the entire team, only Liu Xu lacked a sequence talent to stabilize emotions.

Liu Yiran had searched for one for Liu Xu but found none.

After all, sequence talents that stabilize emotions are very rare and in high demand—even the garrison forces couldn’t supply enough. Liu Xu had to wait her turn.

However, without such a talent, a calming agent could help somewhat, though its effect lasted only about half an hour, requiring frequent use.

The lobby was empty. On the wall of the nearby duty room hung a notice board.

Su Mang walked over, reading the missing person notice, then quickly called the others.

“Come quickly, this might be useful.”

Fang Tang approached, focused on the notice board.

[Let’s play hide-and-seek together! I’m the cat, and you’re all mice. Meow, meow, meow! When I find you, I’ll eat you all up—yum yum!

This is a clue given as a gift to my beloved. Let’s not talk about anything else now. A kiss for my beloved, love you, Su Su~

When the distortion rules descended, a strange thing happened in this area: children mysteriously vanished from their homes. A chilling rumor spread throughout the apartment about a child-eating monster, unsettling everyone.

Families with children moved out en masse, leaving only those who lost children or had none at all. Until later…

Rule number one: Hide-and-seek!]

Upon seeing the hint, Fang Tang raised an eyebrow and said to Su Mang and Liu Yiran, “Within a month, there were frequent child disappearances in this apartment. Judging by the timing, that must have been when the distortion rules arrived. This might be related to the rules.”

Liu Yiran showed a barely perceptible look of approval and nodded slightly. “You’re right. This should be a manifestation of some rule, though we don’t know the specifics.”

“Check each floor one by one?” Su Mang suggested. “Except for the first floor, each floor has six households. With eighteen floors, that’s ninety households. Checking floor by floor might waste some time but should yield results. How about splitting into teams?”

“No splitting!” Fang Tang shook his head firmly. “Without knowing the rules, breaking up blindly will only increase our risk. Besides, Sister Su, Liu Xu, and Xie Ling aren’t good at fighting.”

Liu Yiran smiled faintly. “Right. Let’s find out the rules first; we can split up later.”

“...Agreed!” Su Mang considered this and nodded slowly. “But on the same floor, we can separate somewhat to save time.”

Fang Tang thought it over and didn’t object.

Splitting briefly then regrouping would indeed improve efficiency.

There were many unknown factors within distortion rules; saving time was the safest approach.

The first floor mainly housed a supermarket and the duty room.

The duty room was a suite; besides some dusty furniture, there was nothing else to study.

As they were about to leave, an oil painting caught Fang Tang’s attention.

He approached it suspiciously and touched the painting on the wall, frowning deeply.

“What’s wrong?”

Liu Xu asked curiously.

Fang Tang replied, “Don’t you think this painting feels off?”

Liu Xu glanced at the painting and shook her head. “Isn’t it just an ordinary painting?”

Su Mang overheard their conversation and looked at the painting, letting out a soft sound of surprise. “This painting is a bit strange.”

Fang Tang nodded. “Exactly. Step back and see if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Liu Xu stepped back a few paces and suddenly understood. “The painting is hung too low—just around my neck height.”

Fang Tang grabbed the frame with both hands and removed the oil painting. Behind it was empty, revealing nothing.

“Something’s wrong…”

Fang Tang shook his head and reached out to touch the wall.

The texture was soft. Applying some force, the wall tore open with a tearing sound.

Fang Tang’s thoughts raced as he hastened his movements, quickly peeling off the wallpaper to reveal a dark hole in the wall.

“Sister Su,” Fang Tang called softly.

Su Mang nodded and sensed inside. “No danger. There’s only a safe.”

“Why hide a safe so secretly?” Liu Xu wondered.

Fang Tang half-entered the hole, then lifted out a safe nearly half his height.

Despite its weight, the safe felt as light as a feather in Fang Tang’s hands. With his evolution level and sequence skills adding strength points, plus the power of a bear, his strength had become astonishing.

With a thud, the safe was set on the ground.

Fang Tang donned his magma armor; his reverse blade became very slender. He slipped it into the safe’s seam.

Clang!

The safe’s door fell off, and its contents instantly spilled out.

A colorful array of women’s lingerie splattered all over Fang Tang.

Drenched by the lingerie, Fang Tang stared blankly at the safe, eyes hollow.

“Damn… all this trouble just to hide some underwear?”

Su Mang and Liu Xu exchanged glances, both trying to suppress their laughter.

But Su Mang, the team’s evidence-gathering expert, immediately spotted something beneath the pile of lingerie.

“This is a diary and a bunch of keys?”