"The 444 bus has returned? This is a good opportunity to gather intel, I need to hurry down."
Wang Zhifan saw the black bus appear on the desolate and dilapidated street from the corridor on the sixth floor of his apartment, and immediately ran into the elevator to get down to the first floor.
When he stepped out of the elevator on the first floor, he turned his head to see many people gathered at the two glass doors at the apartment entrance. Nearly all the residents on the first floor were crowded on the inside, peering out the doors, and standing at the forefront in the center was that hunchbacked building manager.
"Wonder how many will come back today... Hopefully, it’s not an empty bus again..."
As he stepped towards the entrance, Wang Zhifan overheard residents speaking in hushed tones, filled with anxiety and fear, as if they were the ones taking on missions outside the apartment.
"Impossible! I just saw silhouettes in the bus windows, more than one!"
Immediately, another resident refuted this overly pessimistic notion.
"The doors are opening! The doors are opening! Quite a few people have returned this time!"
Soon, as the residents gathered at the glass doors made some excited sounds, Wang Zhifan also arrived near the entrance. Due to his tall stature, he didn’t need to push to the center; he could easily see the situation outside the glass doors from the periphery.
At this moment, the black bus numbered 444 had already stopped on the street in front of the apartment, and its middle door was open. Two middle-aged men, one tall and one short, jumped off the bus and started sprinting towards the apartment door, while at least two more people were visible descending from inside the bus.
As Wang Zhifan observed, the expressions of the two middle-aged men rushing towards the apartment entrance outside were tense yet joyful, as if they had been stranded in a desert for a long time and suddenly discovered a small oasis ahead.
Contrary to what Wang Zhifan expected, he then noticed that the hunchbacked building manager standing just inside the apartment doors hadn’t opened the glass doors at all, not even a crack, simply standing there waiting.
A few seconds later, the shorter middle-aged man, who was running faster, finally crashed into the glass door. Yet, eerily, the glass door neither shuddered nor collapsed but instead opened a crack just the right size for the short man to smoothly "dive" into the apartment, landing at the feet of the hunchbacked building manager inside.
"Manager! I survived! I survived!"
The short middle-aged man fell hard but showed no sign of pain or regret; instead, he climbed up with joy, looking excitedly at the hunchbacked old man standing before him.
To everyone’s surprise, the hunchbacked building manager did not utter congratulations for this returning resident; instead, he suddenly extended his right hand, grabbing the short man’s neck in a flash.
"Get out!"
The hunchbacked old man’s right hand, clutching the short man, suddenly elongated several times and displayed astonishing strength unbefitting his age and physique, flinging the short man violently out through the doorway and back onto the street, where he landed face-first in disgrace.
"Manager!"
"Manager, he..."
People inside the apartment were momentarily shocked by this sudden event and turned to the hunchbacked man with queries.
However, the old man offered no explanation, instead loudly shouting to those outside,
"Hurry up! Get in quickly!"
Before his shout faded, the taller middle-aged man, who had lagged behind, hurried into the apartment. He had intended to rush straight in, but seeing the short man thrown out by the manager, he showed traces of fear and bewilderment on his face and slowed his steps, not daring to act rashly in front of the elder.
"Quick, stand aside! Don’t block the path for those coming in behind you!"
Yet the old man didn’t act against the tall middle-aged man any further; he merely urged him to make way after entering so as not to block those following him.
The tall man complied promptly and ran to the side among the residents gathered inside the apartment. Turning around, he saw a slender young woman in red cloth shoes hastily enter through the glass doors. She was not stopped by the old doorman—the man in a bloody trench coat and glasses followed her in at speed, equally unimpeded. After the glasses-wearing youth in the bloody trench coat got in, the old man immediately closed the glass doors before him without leaving a gap.
"Manager! Open the door! I’m still outside!"
Outside the apartment’s glass door, a leather-clad young man resembling a skinny monkey hadn’t made it inside; he pushed hard against the glass doors to no avail and shouted anxiously at the manager inside.
But the old man’s only response was a thunderous roar,
"OUT!!!"
The old man’s shout, almost ear-piercing, transformed the face of the young man pushing the door. His anxious appearance flickered, turning into a twisted, venomous, pale woman with a narrow face! The woman stared with black, pupil-less eyes full of hatred and malice at the people inside the apartment through the glass doors!
"Ah!!!"
"Holy shit!"
"A ghost! It’s a ghost!"
...
Many inside the apartment screamed or exclaimed in fright at this sight, though some seemed unfazed by the paranormal presence, remaining calm and silent.
"Is that the ghost? The evil being the old man mentioned? Its essence is undoubtedly potent and strange... but it doesn’t seem overwhelmingly formidable against me..."
Wang Zhifan naturally saw the horrifying transformation of the leather-clad young man into the ghostly woman outside the apartment and noted, too, that the short middle-aged man the old man had thrown out had already vanished without a trace from the street, disappearing from his face-first splayed position in the blink of an eye.
"Not bad! For this time, having three residents complete their missions and return safely means the survival rate is nearing thirty percent! It seems my usual guidance to you all hasn’t been in vain! Particularly He Ping and Liu Fang; they’ve completed their seventh mission already, worthy of commendation!"
Without acknowledging the female ghost still affixed to the leather-clad young man peering at those inside from outside the glass doors, the hunchbacked building manager turned back to address the residents behind him.