Seeing Xiao Peng's absolutely certain gaze, Xiao Q thought it would be better if he remained a handsome playboy.

"Will you help me?" Xiao Peng asked.

Xiao Q helplessly spread his hands. "I'll help. Consider it risking my life to accompany a gentleman."

Xiao Peng smiled slightly at this moment. "You're so good. If you were a girl, I'd definitely marry you."

Xiao Q turned around and stuck out his butt at Xiao Peng. "That's still an option now."

Xiao Peng's face darkened.

Meanwhile, in the live stream room:

Middle-aged Uncle: [It's worth skipping work to watch this live stream. The 26th round is too exciting! Xiao Q brings his own entertainment value by actively investigating and even bringing along Xiao Nuo's ex-boyfriend. But what really surprises me is how conscientious this young man Xiao Peng turns out to be.]

Domineering Female CEO: [This world is quite strange. You really can't judge a book by its cover when finding a partner. Handsome guys aren't necessarily players—they might be loyal. And seemingly honest people aren't necessarily faithful—they might be the biggest players.]

Little Aunt: [Middle-aged Uncle and Domineering Female CEO sister, I have a question. That Ke Bei—I remember him discussing with Xiao Q that night about finding out who killed his father. Was his father also a resident of the apartment?]

Domineering Female CEO: [I forgot. With five lab rats every round, who can remember everyone?]

Middle-aged Uncle: [His father should have been an apartment resident long ago. I don't recall anyone with the surname Ke. After all, I didn't start watching this game from the first round. Ask someone else!]

Back at Alice Apartment, Xiao Q and Xiao Peng went to the first floor to find the apartment manager, Xiao Zhang, to inquire about a resident.

"Oh, that person you're asking about? His name is Bai Ze. He lives in Room 201."

Bai Ze was the pale young man who had previously told Xiao Peng and the others which room Wang Ju had been taken to by Lin Shengli. He was also the same person Jiang Ran had encountered when he first came to Alice Apartment.

The reason they were looking for Bai Ze was simple—when Xiao Peng and the others were struggling to find Wang Ju, it was Bai Ze who gave them hope by providing information. Therefore, they felt this person must know something and decided to start with him.

"By the way, Xiao Zhang, was that chainsaw man found that night?" Xiao Q asked before getting on the elevator.

Manager Xiao Zhang spread his hands. "We called the police, but they couldn't find him."

Xiao Q said, "Alright then," and entered the elevator with Xiao Peng.

Inside the elevator, Xiao Peng curiously asked about the chainsaw man. Could it be those two damned foreigners?

Xiao Q explained in detail about that night when he and Ke Bei encountered the chainsaw man—the chainsaw murderer.

Xiao Peng shuddered all over. "Damn, this haunted place really has all sorts of monsters and demons!"

Xiao Q said, "So it's not too late to back out now."

Xiao Peng turned his head away. "Let's talk after we find Xiao Nuo, whether she's dead or alive."

Instead of going straight to Room 201 to find Bai Ze, the two first went to Room 601 to find Ke Bei. After finding Ke Bei, they introduced Xiao Peng to him.

Ke Bei was quite happy to have a newcomer join them—after all, many hands make light work. Upon hearing they planned to find that Bai Ze, he decided to go with them.

The three soon arrived outside Room 201. This time, instead of knocking, they rang the doorbell. But after many rings, no one came to answer.

"Not home?" Xiao Q muttered to himself.

Just then, the door of nearby Room 202 opened. Hearing the sound, Xiao Peng turned to see a rather beautiful young woman, about thirty years old.

"Three handsome young men? Who are you looking for?" The young woman swayed her slender waist as she walked over after opening the door.

Xiao Peng spoke first. "We're looking for Bai Ze in 201."

"Oh, that fair-skinned handsome guy? He went out this morning. He's not home."

"Not home?" Xiao Q and Ke Bei also turned to look at the young woman.

Just as Xiao Q looked at her, his pupils suddenly contracted sharply. He pointed into the distance ahead and shouted, "What the hell is that?!"

Then they saw Xiao Q quickly run in that direction. Xiao Peng and Ke Bei had no idea what Xiao Q had seen but could only follow. When they reached the second-floor stairwell, Xiao Q looked around with an extremely confused expression.

"What did you see just now?" Ke Bei also looked around curiously, trying to spot something.

Xiao Q frowned. "I saw a human face peeking out from here, secretly watching us the whole time."

Ke Bei: "Someone was spying on us?"

Xiao Q said, "It was too far away to be sure, but the face that peeked out looked really strange."

Listening to their conversation, Xiao Peng felt like he was in a horror movie.

Since Bai Ze wasn't home and they'd just seen someone with a strange appearance watching them, the three went back to the first floor to find Manager Xiao Zhang to check the surveillance footage.

If this were an ordinary residential complex, residents couldn't just casually request to check surveillance—the staff wouldn't allow it. But Alice Apartment was different. Being a high-end apartment, Manager Xiao Zhang simply let them check the footage themselves.

They quickly found the second-floor surveillance footage from that time. They saw their three figures appear outside Room 201. Then Xiao Q, controlling the mouse, opened the footage from the second-floor stairwell.

What they saw next sent chills of terror through all three of them.

From the third-floor stairs, a human-like creature crawled down on all fours. Its body was covered in what looked like a smooth, tan dog-skin bodysuit. Additionally, its face appeared to be wearing a cheap-looking human mask bought online.

This figure reached the second floor, then peeked its head out to spy on the three of them. When Xiao Q noticed it and shouted while giving chase, the figure hurriedly scrambled up the stairs on all fours like a dog.

Xiao Q continued checking the footage, following this figure. They watched as it quickly climbed to the ninth floor on all fours. Upon reaching the ninth floor, it paused outside Room 904 as if leaving something behind before continuing to crawl away. This time, the surveillance lost sight of it.

The three exchanged glances, then rushed out of the surveillance room and returned to Room 904. There, they found that the figure had left behind a disc—a disc wrapped in a clear plastic case.

"I don't have anything to play this at my place," Xiao Q said as he picked up the disc from the floor. "I haven't used one of these in years."

Ke Bei suggested going to his place, as he still had an old disc player. The three went to Ke Bei's home. Ke Bei took out an old disc player, connected it to the wall-mounted TV in the living room, and after some adjustments, inserted the disc.

Even though it was daytime, the three breathed heavily in the complete silence. The buzzing sound of the disc player was piercing, as if slowly opening the gates of hell...

...

Previously when publishing this book, I found the data was too poor and thought it was doomed—another flop. After so many failures, I'd become numb to it... writing one flop after another... So I'd been using my stockpile of chapters without writing new ones.

Recently, I discovered the data has actually improved, though it's still not great. But there's still hope for recovery. Now that my stockpile is exhausted, I can only manage one chapter per day instead of two. Sorry, everyone. For now, I can only guarantee one chapter daily until I've built up some reserves to return to two chapters per day.