"So your friend is still in 904?" asked the apartment manager Xiao Zhang.

Xiao Nuo immediately retorted, "No! If she was, would we be checking the surveillance footage?"

That's right. Earlier, the tall male student had already searched every corner of room 904 for Wang Ju before they began this investigation.

Manager Xiao Zhang frowned in confusion. "What's going on? Ghost activity? The surveillance didn't capture your friend leaving the room or the apartment building, meaning she should still be in 904. But she's nowhere to be found. Did she vanish into thin air inside 904?!"

"Could she have left earlier? Maybe you checked the wrong timeframe?"

While Xiao Zhang was asking these questions, Xiao Peng and the other college students had already walked out of the surveillance room, clearly ignoring the manager.

Xiao Zhang pouted and sat back down to play with his phone.

When the students reached the lobby, the tall male student and Xiao Hua returned from their search. They immediately asked about the surveillance findings, which Xiao Peng explained.

Both the tall male student and Xiao Hua's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Did I really search so poorly? Is Wang Ju still in the apartment?" The tall male student began doubting himself.

The others suggested, "Let's go back and search together."

So the group of college students returned to 904.

But even with nearly a dozen people combing through every inch of the apartment, they found no trace of Wang Ju.

"Damn it, Wang Ju! Where are you?! Where the hell are you?!" The tall male student was nearly in tears from desperation. Clearly, he had feelings for Wang Ju—all his earlier excuses had been lies.

Then a male student suddenly said, "If the surveillance didn't catch her leaving, maybe she went out through the window?"

"The window? This is the ninth floor! How could anyone leave through the window?" a female student countered.

But the next second, everyone—including the girl who'd just objected—fell silent as they realized what the boy truly meant.

No one could voluntarily leave through a ninth-floor window unless they could fly. But what if... it had been an accidental fall? If she'd stumbled out the window while drunk...

Remember, they'd been drinking last night...

The tall male student immediately rushed to the balcony window to look down, both hoping and dreading to see something. Others checked the remaining windows, but found nothing. Eventually, the whole group went downstairs to search the area directly beneath the ninth-floor windows.

After circling the area multiple times, they found neither Wang Ju nor any of her belongings—not even the slightest trace.

"Call the police! We need to call the police now!" The tall male student took out his phone to make the call.

Xiao Peng interjected, "I think they won't file a missing person report until 48 hours have passed."

Meanwhile, in the live stream room:

[Where did that girl Wang Ju go? I didn't stay up late watching last night—does anyone know? This is so creepy, vanishing mysteriously like that. Is Alice Apartment really haunted?]

[Haunted my ass! You're watching the surveillance footage from the students' perspective—it's all been altered. Check out the live stream's highlight clips. I just finished watching them and now I know the truth. She was taken by someone.]

[Taken? It must be Wang Tao from 804!!! Poor girl.]

[Hahaha, wrong guess! It wasn't Wang Tao from 804. I thought so too, but nope!]

[What the hell? Then who was it?]

[Go watch the clips yourself!]

The first commenter went to check the highlight clips—compilations prepared for viewers who missed the live stream. He found the latest one titled "Wang Ju's Abduction" and clicked play.

The video showed the ninth-floor hallway around 2 AM. A shadowy figure moved quietly toward 904. Whether skilled at lock-picking or not, the figure easily opened 904's door. Inside, the intruder continued moving stealthily, searching until finding Wang Ju. After pressing a white handkerchief over her mouth and nose for several seconds, the figure effortlessly picked up Wang Ju—who'd been sleeping on the floor—and carried her out of 904.

The video ended abruptly there.

The viewer was stunned. "How could it be that delivery guy?!" he exclaimed aloud.

Indeed, Wang Ju's abductor wasn't Wang Tao.

It was that middle-aged deliveryman from Lightning Delivery—the one Wang Ju had insulted and given a bad rating!

Baffled, the viewer immediately posted in the live stream:

[Guys, I watched the clip—it was the middle-aged deliveryman! But here's what's weird: if he took Wang Ju to retaliate for her humiliation and bad rating, why would the organizers alter the surveillance footage for him? He's not even a resident!]

Modifying surveillance footage to assist the apartment's serial killers was standard practice to enhance the show's thrill factor. But doing so for an outsider was unprecedented.

Domineering Female CEO chimed in: [You're overcomplicating it. The organizers didn't alter footage for an outsider—we've all been tricked.]

[Tricked? What do you mean?]

Domineering Female CEO: [That middle-aged deliveryman—none of us viewers expected this—is actually another resident of the apartment. Get it now?]

[What? That deliveryman lives here too? But that can't be! The apartment's rules restrict these psychopaths to the immediate vicinity. How could he deliver food? Unless Wang Ju ordered from a restaurant right next to the apartment last night?]

Domineering Female CEO: [You're overthinking again. The truth is, the actual deliveryman assigned to Wang Ju's order was killed beforehand by this resident. The killer then took his uniform and food order to impersonate him for the rest.]

[Holy shit! That's devious!]

Not just this viewer, but many others confused by Wang Ju's disappearance finally understood after reading Domineering Female CEO's explanation. That middle-aged deliveryman had fooled them all yesterday!

[So who is this bastard?]

Domineering Female CEO: [Lin Shengli, male, 45. A disgusting... rapist...]

Fairy Sister: [A rapist? How could the organizers let such vile scum into the apartment?]

Little Dragon Girl: [I hate these criminals most of all—even more than serial killers!]

I am the Hero: [As a man, I also despise these types. How did this one get selected?]