Chapter 59: Jiang Ran Confronts the Dog Man
Ding!
The elevator reached the third floor.
Jiang Ran stepped out after having lunch at a small restaurant near the apartment building.
He planned to return home to rest and relax before continuing his afternoon customer service work.
But the moment he exited the elevator, he found himself face to face with a monster.
Both Jiang Ran and the creature froze when their eyes met.
One stood motionless before the elevator, while the other remained still on all fours.
"Is this cosplay?"
Jiang Ran frowned deeply as he stared at the figure crouched on all fours, wearing a cheap human-skin mask and what appeared to be a yellow dog fur suit.
He couldn't for the life of him recognize which anime character this was supposed to be... Well, even if it wasn't cosplay, it must be some performance art.
Though honestly, it was downright creepy.
Seeing such a thing at high noon made Jiang Ran's heart skip a beat - for a moment he thought it was some mutated dog monster.
Had this happened at night, he probably would have screamed in terror.
The appearance was simply too horrifying and bizarre.
So Jiang Ran, after stepping out of the elevator, moved like a statue pressed against the wall to bypass the space occupied by the dog man.
Then he quickly scurried back to his apartment.
As Jiang Ran's door to Room 304 slammed shut, the motionless dog man resumed movement - slowly crawling up the stairs on all fours, occasionally turning its head left and right as if patrolling its territory.
Meanwhile, in the live stream room:
Ultimate Rich Kid: [Hey? Is this the lab rat from previous rounds that survived till now? Doesn't seem special at all. But I have a question - why did the dog man let this guy go without attacking him?]
Fairy Sister: [This dog man's victims are mostly women, though some men too - but only those who pose a threat to him. He's not the type to indiscriminately kill anyone walking down the street.]
Ultimate Rich Kid: [I see. By the way, how can I watch recordings of previous 25 rounds? I can't find them in the live stream room.]
Fairy Sister: [You can't watch past live stream recordings.]
Ultimate Rich Kid: [But I am the Hero said it was possible?]
I am the Hero: [What I meant was you can watch highlights from current round's recordings. Previous rounds automatically disappear when new ones begin.]
Ultimate Rich Kid: [Oh... Wait, can I secretly record this round then?]
Fairy Sister: [No one will stop you from recording, but if the organizers find out your recordings got leaked, you'll be in deep trouble.]
Ultimate Rich Kid: [Deep trouble? Like how?]
Fairy Sister: [Remember when you said you wanted to become an Alice Apartment resident? If your leaked recordings spread, the organizers will make sure you get in. Survive three rounds and you're free.]
Ultimate Rich Kid sent a disdainful emoji: [Hmph, I don't buy that. If I don't want to go in, can they really force me?]
Little Dragon Girl: [Ultimate Rich Kid, your confidence reminds me of another person in this chat room - a young man in his twenties whose family had about 5 billion in assets. He didn't believe the warnings either and secretly recorded videos that accidentally got leaked.]
[The organizers targeted him immediately. He fled abroad with at least fifty bodyguards around him constantly. Guess what? Within a week, the organizers captured him and made him a new lab rat.]
Ultimate Rich Kid was silent for a while before responding: [What... what happened to him in the end?]
Little Dragon Girl: [Since he was a live stream viewer who knew about Alice Apartment, he survived two rounds with precautions. But he died during the third round.]
The mood turned heavy.
[Alright alright, let's just watch the live stream and not do anything stupid. Look - the dog man went straight from the 3rd floor to the 6th. I remember two residents live there this round. Might see the first casualty of Round 26 soon.]
Meanwhile in Room 602:
Dance streamer Li Mengmeng and the skinny man had just finished their activities.
The rail-thin man tightly embraced Li Mengmeng's curvaceous body.
Putting on a gentle voice, he said: "Baby, I don't know why but I get so excited when I'm with you... finish so quickly... must be because I like you so much..."
Li Mengmeng didn't respond, burying her head in the man's chest.
She smiled sweetly while internally cringing: "Just call it premature ejaculation, don't make excuses. Disgusting pig."
As always, if not for the money, she would never be with such a man.
After cuddling for a while, the skinny man felt ready again.
Just as he was about to initiate, the doorbell to Room 602 suddenly rang.
Not wanting to waste precious intimate time, the skinny man ignored it.
But the doorbell kept ringing incessantly.
"Did you order delivery? Or expecting a package?" the skinny man asked Li Mengmeng.
"No deliveries, and my packages always go to lockers or stations - never to my door. Go see who it is, that constant ringing is annoying."
The skinny man kissed Li Mengmeng's forehead: "Okay baby, wait for me."
He got out of bed, pulling on a pair of pants and t-shirt discarded on the floor.
Walking through the living room toward the door while Li Mengmeng rested with her eyes closed.
"Coming coming, stop ringing already!"
The rapid-fire doorbell suggested someone either mindlessly pressing it or a mischievous kid.
He planned to give whoever it was a piece of his mind - what kind of idiot keeps ringing like the world's ending?
Reaching the door, he yanked it open.
"Huh? Nobody there?"
Seeing no one at eye level, he assumed it must be a kid and looked down, ready to scold the little brat who ruined his mood.
But what he saw below froze him in place, sending chills down his spine.
"What the hell are you?!"
No sooner had the terrified words left his mouth than the four-legged, mask-wearing creature let out a fierce "WOOF!"
Then, like an actual wolf, the dog man pounced.
The skinny man had no time to react before being tackled to the ground.
The dog man immediately went for his neck.
Though the skinny man desperately tried pushing the creature's face away, the dog man's strength overwhelmed him.
Breaking through the feeble defense, the dog man's jaws clamped onto the skinny man's neck - blood spraying everywhere as horrific screams filled the air.