As soon as Jin Jiuchi took a step into the apartment, shivers ran down his spine and his scalp exploded in numbness. He sensed a cold and inhumane pair of eyes on him, so different than anything he had ever felt before, and it came from… above!
At once, he snapped his gaze up, lips pulling back into a silent snarl. If there was something he hated more than an empty stomach, then it was being monitored against his will!
The six-story apartment building featured an atrium with stained glass roof in the middle for better lighting. Corridors ran through the main structure with rooms on both sides of it. This must be the so-called tube shaped apartment Jin Jiuchi had only seen in newspapers before.
In hindsight, with this type of building, he should be able to see the entirety of the apartment's interior as well as catch a glimpse of the sky beyond the glass roof once he looked up.
However, when Jin Jiuchi raised his head intending to catch the perpetrator red-handed, what he found were empty corridors with nary a person in sight. He quickly shifted his gaze to the glass roof in the middle where he had sensed the inhumane gaze from. Instead of the darkening gray sky, he saw a stretch of infinite darkness, so intense it was like a bottle of ink had toppled across pure white paper.
'Huh?' Jin Jiuchi blinked in surprise.
He could not find the source of the cryptic gaze… but it was ever present. Jin Jiuchi felt it with every fiber of his cell. Who could it be…
"Wha—" Old Guan had hastily run after Jin Jiuchi, only to find the man standing still like a statue in front of the door. He braked himself in time and subconsciously raised his head to follow Jin Jiuchi's line of sight. "W–What are you looking at— ah!!" As soon as his eyes landed on the dark roof, he let out a terrified shriek and quickly lowered his head again, his thin frame shaking like a leaf. Jin Jiuchi could even hear the rattle of his teeth from where he was standing.
He finally retracted his gaze to cast a curious look at the middle aged man. Why was he so afraid? No, to be exact… what had he seen to make him react like this?
Alas, before Jin Jiuchi could get his answer, clicking of high heels reverberated in the air, slow and steady. Alarmed, everyone immediately shifted their eyes to the direction of the sound – the narrow staircase. All of them were spotted with a tense and nervous look on their faces, except for Jin Jiuchi… and the icy jade doll whose appearance stuck out like a sore thumb in the rundown building.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer to them, and finally, a faint silhouette appeared from the darkness. It was a woman in her forties clad in a long black dress with her hair pulled up in a tight bun on the base of her neck.
"Welcome to Shishen Apartment," she addressed them and pulled up the corner of her stiff – black colored – lips. There was nothing wrong with her appearance but somehow, everything about her screamed of violation. Perhaps it was her pallid complexion that contrasted greatly with her black dress, or perhaps it was her eyes that were always blank as if she had difficulty focusing her pupils, or perhaps it was the aura of stillness that radiated from every inch of her body. Whatever it was, she looked like a—
'Corpse,' the word popped up in Jin Jiuchi's mind.
That's right, she was akin to a puppet corpse controlled by strings. And that's why her movements looked so weird and jarring.
The corner of Jin Jiuchi's lips curved into an intrigued smile. What was the deal with this place? Really, he could not wait to explore and find out…
She continued gently, "You are the six helpers I have hired for this week, aren't you? I am the landlady here, you can just call me Madam Liu. Come here and register yourself first."
In the next second, Old Guan let out a surprised cry and looked around fearfully. "W–What was that…?!"
"Damn!" Tang Ye cursed in a low voice. "I hate ghost marriages!"
Beside him, Xinxin nodded wholeheartedly, tears pooling in the corner of her eyes, whereas Sister Hong and Surnamed Zhi abruptly went rigid.
Once again, Jin Jiuchi was left to stew in his own confusion.
"What?" He asked out loud. "What is it? What ghost marriage are you talking about?" Why did it seem like there was something he was not privy to?
"Y–You didn't hear that?!" Old Guan asked him, horrified.
"Hear what?" Jin Jiuchi was genuinely confused. Why was everyone keeping him in the dark?! He wanted to join in on the fun too!
"Oh?" Madam Liu's gaze landed on him, making Jin Jiuchi lose his chance to extract an explanation from Old Guan's mouth. The landlady's lips twitched and a hint of confusion appeared in her dead eyes. "And who might you be? I am sure that I have only employed six people…"
Jin Jiuchi raised a brow. Finally, there was someone who did not overlook the jade doll's presence? He turned to look at the jade doll and found that they were staring at him as well. Jin Jiuchi offered them a wide grin and in response, their eyes subtly widened as though sensing that Jin Jiuchi was up to no good again.
Alas, it was already too late to escape.
Jin Jiuchi pounced forward and swooped the jade doll into his arm, carrying them in the middle like a potato sack. He faced the shocked players and landlady with a wide grin. "Nice to meet you, Madam Liu. Sorry for the sudden intrusion. I really like your lipstick, by the way. Oh, I am this kid's big brother!"
His grin quickly faded into a troubled look and he shook his head, sighing. "How can you employ an underaged child? Isn't that against the law? That's why I am here to give a helping hand and to watch over my brother as well. Surely, you won't mind, right?"
"Don't worry," he added after a second pause, silver eyes sparkling in delight. "I will even work for free!"