```
[Apartment Notice]
[1. Do not make any contact with the manager.]
[2. The manager is responsible for cooking and will notify residents when meals are ready.]
[3. Every day, according to room number, a resident is designated for duty which includes cleaning up the dining hall plates, cleaning the first floor, and purchasing groceries for the next day.]
[4. No resident is allowed to enter the third-floor area.]
This notice was somewhat old, and the handwriting on it was not fresh, meaning these rules had been set in place a long time ago.
Even though the residents of the apartment might have changed several times, they had never been altered.
"It looks fairly normal, but considering the bizarre circumstances within the apartment, each rule seems to have deadly dangers, like..."
Su Qi turned his head to look at today's on-duty resident, Tentacle Man, who was trembling with plates in his tentacles, standing outside the kitchen too scared to enter, wearing an expression of fear.
"You keep shaking like that, and you're going to drop the plates."
Tentacle Man jumped with fright and, seeing Su Qi still on the first floor, said in a quivering low voice, "You should go back to your room. It's my duty today, there's no need to drag you into this."
Su Qi replied, "Then you... tell me what exactly is going on here."
"And this Palm Eye of mine..."
His Palm Eye was tightly closed; it would only open when activated.
Tentacle Man gave Su Qi a strange look, fell silent for a moment, "It seems you... are an outsider, no wonder you don't know anything and haven't been contaminated."
He waved his tentacles, "We have all been contaminated. While pollution has given us special abilities, prolonged exposure leads to mental breakdowns, and eventually, we become monsters completely."
"There are many terrifying things inside the first floor, and every resident on duty has to be extremely careful. If one isn't careful, their contamination will worsen."
Su Qi quickly understood what he meant by pollution.
Because when some sauce from the plates accidentally spilled onto the carpet, a terrifying low growl emitted from the kitchen.
Then.
Tentacle Man became rigid.
Su Qi also felt a ringing in his ears that made him feel faint.
[Spiritual Power -1]
So that's it.
In other words, it's a loss of sanity value; reflected numerically, it means decreased Spiritual Power, and the lower the Spiritual Power, the more severe the transformation into a monster.
But Tentacle Man's reaction seemed even more intense, not only was he trembling all over, but his tentacles were spraying water.
Did he just wet himself?
Su Qi dodged the water and then steadied the plate in his hands; otherwise, if the plate broke, more terrifying things were likely to happen.
Thankfully, the low growling only lasted a few moments.
Tentacle Man came back to his senses, his face deathly pale:
"It's over, I'm definitely going to die, definitely going to die."
Su Qi looked toward the dusky kitchen, "You won't die; just complete everything properly without making mistakes, and you'll be fine."
"No... that's not the point, it's going out to find groceries next that's the scariest," Tentacle Man trembled, "Although we have to be careful of pollution in this apartment at all times, it's already the safest place. The city outside has long since collapsed."
"We can only gain abilities by being contaminated, gaining the strength to survive."
Su Qi paused and then asked, "What happens if you don't find any groceries?"
Tentacle Man was silent, opening his parched lips, and said faintly, "I will become food."
Everything became clear; so this is the worldview of this world.
At the same time.
After learning this information.
The system also popped up an information panel.
[Main Quest Triggered]
[Survive for ten days—Investigate the third-floor room—Find the source of the ruin.]
```
[Choose one of the three main missions to pass.]
The main mission finally appeared.
Su Qi looked over, and the difficulty of the three missions was obvious at a glance.
Surviving ten days was the simplest, but of course, that was only relatively speaking. Whether it was the duties of the day or going out to forage for food, there was a risk of losing spiritual power. Most importantly, he had also been targeted by the guests.
To explore the third-floor room meant he would become enemies with the manager.
And finding the source of the breakdown was the most difficult mission, the source was definitely in the city outside, which had fallen into complete pollution, likely filled with all kinds of monsters everywhere.
Su Qi suddenly asked a question.
"By the way, do you know why those guests are targeting me?"
"Because you're normal," Tentacle Man said with a bitter smile. "Being normal here makes you an anomaly, and it also means you haven't been contaminated. If they eat you, they can alleviate the symptoms of their contamination."
"I see."
Su Qi's gaze flickered slightly. He didn't say which mission he would choose first but seemed to think of something.
"How about this, I'll take over the duties for today, alright?"
"Why?" Tentacle Man was shocked.
"Because I'm a bright and cheerful big boy, always happy to help," Su Qi patted his shoulder. "Plus, I have something I want to verify."
Tentacle Man trembled, wanting to agree, but then violently shook his head: "I can't do that. You've just gained your ability and you know nothing. You will die."
Su Qi smiled and said, "You're not a bad person at heart, but are you sure you can get through today?"
"Don't worry, leave it to me."
Tentacle Man looked hesitant but ultimately, his fear of death won over. He reached out his hand, took out a notebook, and gave it to Su Qi: "This has all the things you need to be aware of during my time on duty. You must read it carefully. You've just become contaminated. As long as there aren't any major problems, you won't run into trouble."
Su Qi took the notebook and nodded: "I'll keep it in mind."
Once Tentacle Man returned to his room on the second floor...
Su Qi opened the notebook and flipped through it, then picked up the plate and went straight into the dark kitchen.
[Kitchen Notices]
[Make sure to wash the plates thoroughly, and never look up while washing them. Make sure the freezer door in the kitchen is locked.]
Su Qi placed the plate under the faucet and turned on the running water.
But instead of looking down, he did the opposite. He lifted his head and looked up, where a bizarre monster's body was impaled, hanging on a hook, staring back with its unblinking oily green eyes.
In an instant.
Su Qi felt a sting in his eyes, as if various strange hallucinations appeared before him.
[Spiritual Power -1]
The weirdness disappeared after he looked away.
Su Qi had a strange expression, somewhat at a loss for words.
"Indeed, there's a problem here."
"Is this 'pollution' damage not a bit too low?"
Why is it all -1?
Didn't they see my 85 points of spiritual power? How long will it take to reduce that?
Su Qi fell into deep thought.
He didn't try again, though. Although the cost of trial and error was low, there was no need to waste it.
And he realized something.
"My spiritual power seems to be higher than the normal level for this instance?"
If it were other players, such an intensity would be reasonable. Normal players have limited attribute points and would definitely prioritize Physical Strength, Strength, and movement techniques, which can be quickly converted into real power.
No one would initially put attribute points into spiritual power, which doesn't seem to have much use at present.
So players generally only have the initial 10 points of spiritual power, allowing only a very few mistakes.
But Su Qi.
Clearly, he was an exception.