3 sets of footsteps echoed in the midnight stairwell but only 2 people appeared from it. When Han Fei said that, both the young guard and Brother Hwa were startled. They were certain there were only 2 of them who went down the stairs. Cold sweat slid down their faces. Brother Hwa steadied himself as his grip on the flashlight tightened, “We better head upstairs first. We can talk about that later.”
Brother Hwa had been urging them to go upstairs but based on Han Fei’s experience, the higher the floor, the more dangerous it would be. Or the situation at Ziggurat was different than at Happiness Neighbourhood?
The ‘dying’ Han Fei leaned on the young guard’s back as he took in his surroundings. The corridor was tiled but the tiles were dirty due to lack of cleaning. He even saw several strands of very long hair. The stair banister was made from iron and it was painted red. It jumped out at you in the dark. The distance between each step was the same but for some reason, the young guard kept getting tripped. But the thing which was strangest to Han Fei was that only the odd number floors had voice-activated lights. When they came to the even number floors, it would be completely dark. Therefore, all the guards here were armed with flashlights wherever they went. They were already used to these strange events.
In the blink of an eye, the young guard already carried Han Fei to the 3rd floor. From the looks of it, they still wanted to continue to go up. Han Fei was apprehensive of that so he ‘woke up’ and said, “Which floor are we going to?”
“We’re going to the guard room, it’s the safest place after dark.” The young guard was honest and answered Han Fei.
“Which floor is the guard room at?” Han Fei didn’t think there was really a safe place at the building. He even suspected the two guards didn’t really want to save him but was trying to find a quiet place to kill him.
“It’s on the 4th floor, we’re almost there. Don’t worry.” Brother Hwa thought it was because of the heavy wounds on Han Fei’s body that he kept asking these questions. The unbearable pain was killing him.
“The 4th floor?” When he heard that, Han Fei who pretended to be nervous became really nervous. At Ziggurat, the room with more 4’s in its number would be more dangerous. And they were heading to the 4th floor?!
Han Fei finally understood why the guards would keep disappearing, their base itself was not safe. After climbing past the 3rd floor, the young guard carried Han Fei and charged towards the 4th floor which had no light. When they opened the safety door of the stairwell, the 3rd set of footsteps reappeared. Han Fei heard it clearly, the sound was coming from the 1st floor and was rapidly hurrying to the 4th floor!
Hearing those frantic footsteps, the back of Han Fei’s back crawled with goosebumps. But the young man and Brother Hwa didn’t seem to hear it. They still moved slowly and cautiously. Han Fei wanted to urge them but in the end, he wisely kept his mouth shut. As they stepped into the corridor on the 4th floor, the chill wind picked up. This floor had no light so the corridor was incredibly dark. The guards used their flashlights to scan around and the pale wall appeared to have mourning faces.
“We’re here, this is the guard room.” The young man stopped beside one of the doors, while Brother Hwa urgently tried to find the key in his pocket. Han Fei slowly lifted his head to glance at the room number of the guard room and his heart almost stopped!
‘Room 1044?!’ This room had the same number as his house at Happiness Neighbourhood. It had two 4’s in the room number, it should be the most dangerous room among the lower floors.
“Many things have happened here. No one knows what really transpired but after they hired some sensei, the strange occurrences finally stopped.” While Brother Hwa searched for the keys, the young man explained in a whisper, “I hear that someone has once died here, that happened before this place was sold. To calm future buyers, the developers decided to turn this room into a guard room, to use the guards’ Yang energy to stabilize this room and protect this building.”
“Yang energy?” In other words, they were using the guards’ lives to satisfy whatever creature that lived here so the other tenants wouldn’t be targeted. Only Butterfly would do something like that. The footsteps were rapidly approaching. When it appeared on the 4th floor stairwell, Brother Hwa finally found the key. The 3 of them entered the room. When they closed the door, Han Fei heard footsteps run past the corridor outside. With his back to the door, Brother Hwa finally sighed in relief. The young guard was pouring sweat.
Brother Hwa’s back was drenched in cold sweat. His uniform was stuck to his skin but he didn’t notice it himself, he still acted tough and calm. “It’s better to stay in after dark. Previously, there was a guard who went downstairs after midnight and then he never returned.” Brother Hwa arranged his collar to hide his shaking hands.
“Big brother, I heard that two deliverymen had died on the first floor? The killer ordered them into the room and then killed them. Until now, no one have seen their bodies…” The young guard placed Han Fei on the couch, he was trembling in fear too.
“You’re new here so you don’t know these things.” Brother Hwa lowered his voice, “When I patrolled the first floor that 1 time, I heard a knocking. But the strange thing was I knew none of the rooms on the 1st floor were occupied. I followed the knocking and went to check. Guess what I saw.”
“What?” The young guard looked at Brother Hwa with plain curiosity.
“A deliveryman wearing a red uniform. He was carrying a giant, bleeding delivery bag as he leaned on the door. He leaned on the door and kept mumbling—The meat you’ve ordered is here, the meat you’ve ordered is here…” Brother Hwa mimicked it so perfectly that the temperature in the room dropped.
“Really? Brother Hwa, you dared to go to the first floor alone? That doesn’t sound like you.”
“Do you think I’ll lie to you?”
The two guards were sharing the strange things that they had seen or heard about the 1st floor, and Han Fei paid his attention to listen. The monster Brother Hwa described was similar to the monster he encountered in Zhuang Ren’s game so that confirmed the Ziggurat Game was reflective of this Ziggurat in the cryptic world!
While he was eavesdropping, Han Fei also studied his surroundings. He didn’t expect the first room that he’d enter at Ziggurat would be Room 1044, it was like things were written in the stars. The haunted room that contained two 4’s in its room number looked normal on the surface. There were various patrol requirements, working schedules and so on in the room. It looked official. Compared to a normal security room, this building even provided the guards with rubber batons, strong flashlights, stab proof vests and gloves. Han Fei even spotted 4 walkie-talkies on the table in the inner room. There were many different accoutrements but there were few that were of real use. ‘There is not really anything special in here.’
Based on the Ziggurat game, after entering the Ziggurat, one had to acquire a Death Curse as soon as possible or else the Ziggurat would randomly assign one to you. ‘Each room here should correspond to a Death Curse, but this room…’ Han Fei was confused when he realized Brother Hwa and the young guard had stopped talking. With pale faces, they looked over Han Fei’s shoulder.
“That thing is back again?”
“Who brought it back? Haven’t we already dumped it?”
The two guards said in trembling voices. Piqued, Han Fei turned back to look. Inside the toilet of Room 1044, there was a long red dress. The skirt dragged on the ground. It looked like someone was standing inside the toilet.
