Chapter 279: Among the Lab Rats — Sen Qingshi
Nakamori Aoshi looked at this blank piece of paper and felt it was real—a special mission given to him by the apartment.
So, would he accept it?
He would definitely accept.
After all, why did he enter Alice Apartment?
It was definitely for the money!
When he was young, he was just a cook.
His specialty was grilled fish.
As a cook, his biggest dream was to open his own izakaya.
Finally, this dream came true when he was 35 years old.
The dream was realized at 35, but shattered at 38. Due to poor management and other reasons, his first izakaya went bankrupt.
All the money he had earned from working before was lost.
But he didn't give up, so he continued working and saving money.
Finally, when he was 47 years old, using his savings and loan money,
he opened his second izakaya.
As a result, his bad luck caused it to go bankrupt again after just one year.
This bankruptcy hit him hard.
Because the money for his second izakaya included loan funds.
After that, he started working again to make a living and repay the loans.
Finally, when he was 53 years old, with his unfinished loans and betting his entire life,
he borrowed from loan sharks!
And started his third izakaya!
As the saying goes, third time's the charm—the third time, he succeeded!
Not only did he repay all the bank loans and private loan shark debts!
But he even had money to open branch stores!!!
During that period, he was riding high on success.
And that same year, he kept several young women as mistresses.
Not only were there Cherry Blossom Country girls, but also Hua Country and Vietnam girls.
He spent his days drinking and indulging with these girls.
Especially under the influence of the Hua Country mistress he kept, he even picked up gambling.
Gambling, gambling—it always starts with small bets and ends with losing everything.
He was no exception.
Not only did he gamble away all his stores,
but he also accumulated countless debts.
And with this sudden change,
all the mistresses he kept naturally packed their things and ran away.
As for his wife and son,
they hadn't abandoned him during his two business failures and had even encouraged him.
But after his business success with the izakaya,
seeing his moral decay,
his wife and son were completely disappointed and had long since distanced themselves from him.
Thus, he had nothing left.
Looking back on the past, he felt it was all that Hua Country girl's fault.
If it weren't for her leading him into gambling, how could he have ended up like this?
So this was also why he intensely disliked Hua Country people.
Anyway, the subsequent story goes without saying.
While he was working, a mysterious middle-aged man approached him.
Gave him an agreement... the agreement to enter Alice Apartment...
Therefore, when Nakamori Aoshi saw that paper about finding the golden postcard in his hotel room,
he clearly understood.
If he could find the golden postcard and get that 1 million USD, he would have the capital to start over.
He wouldn't need to keep struggling to earn money in Alice Apartment!
Of course, he felt this special mission definitely wouldn't be this simple—it would be very difficult.
But it was worth taking the gamble.
...
The door Nakamori Aoshi chose was Door 10, because 10 was his lucky number.
Of course, this Door 10 was counted by himself from right to left as number 10.
At this moment, the equipment he carried included: his own Fruit Phone, and a sharp fruit knife stolen from the hotel kitchen.
There was no other way—with flight security checks, dangerous items like that couldn't be brought on the plane.
Therefore, after arriving at Macedonia Island, all equipment had to be sourced locally.
"Are all haunted houses this boring? Then what are all those young people online screaming about all day? (Japanese)"
Inside the haunted house. Nakamori Aoshi used his phone's flashlight to illuminate the path ahead.
So far, after entering Door 10, he had been following the path without any forks.
Along the way, aside from it being truly pitch black with poor visibility,
he just felt inexplicably cold all over, unsure if it was because the haunted house had air conditioning on.
As for anything else, there was nothing, and nothing happened.
And just as he finished complaining that haunted houses were this boring,
sounds suddenly emerged around him.
"Wa...haha...wahaha..."
"Waha...ha..."
An ethereal, quiet woman's singing voice suddenly arose.
If you were a horror movie enthusiast, or liked watching horror movie explanations online,
you would definitely be familiar with this music.
This was a very classic horror music soundtrack called "Shiver."
If you searched for horror music on TikTok, you could find a bunch of similar soundtracks.
And in this kind of dark, silent environment, suddenly hearing this horror music—
unless you were truly brave, you'd feel somewhat panicked inside.
So, did Nakamori Aoshi panic?
He was okay.
He was indeed startled when he heard the sound.
But after being startled, he regained his composure.
After all, in the Cherry Blossom Country's Alice Apartment, he had counter-killed two deranged criminals.
No matter how you put it, his hands had been stained with blood.
He wouldn't be afraid of a mere haunted house.
Especially since he liked watching Cherry Blossom Country's historical dramas.
Historical dramas: Cherry Blossom Country's long-form historical series.
For example: "The One-Eyed Dragon Masamune," "Takeda Shingen," "Sanada Maru," "Shinsengumi!" etc.
These are all historical dramas.
However, Cherry Blossom Country's young people don't like watching them, while middle-aged and elderly people adore them.
And since he liked watching historical dramas, his favorite historical figure was Sanada Yukimura.
One of Cherry Blossom Country's three great tragic heroes.
During the Summer Siege of Osaka, he charged into Tokugawa Ieyasu's main camp, nearly killing Ieyasu and changing history.
But ultimately, he didn't change it, and died in this battle.
This historical figure is quite similar to Zhao Yun from the Three Kingdoms period.
But definitely not as fierce as Zhao Yun—after all, that fierce man carried A Dou and managed to charge through seven times, finally escaping successfully.
As for why he liked Sanada Yukimura?
He definitely admired his bravery, and also his loyalty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Perhaps because he liked this historical figure,
when he moved into the Cherry Blossom Country's Alice Apartment,
and gradually understood what the apartment contained,
he didn't feel fear toward those deranged criminals or deranged serial killers.
Because he felt that these deranged criminals and deranged serial killers only seemed scary in peaceful times.
If placed in ancient war periods, like the Cherry Blossom Country's Warring States period,
which general or soldier's hands weren't stained with more blood than these fools?
What were these people worth in front of them?
Therefore, he wasn't afraid at all.
"However, I've been walking for so long? Where is that box containing the golden postcard? Why isn't there any hint at all? (Japanese)"
He walked forward for another five minutes, and the horror music in his ears had already changed three times.
And just at this moment, he vaguely saw two human figures ahead.
He walked over, and the two figures ahead slowly turned toward him.