After finishing the barbecue feast, the ti reached 8:30 PM as the welco party concluded. People in the activity room began leaving one after another.
Manager Xiao Zhang stayed behind alone to clean up, telling Jiang Ran to clock out first.
Jiang Ran offered to help, but Manager Xiao Zhang refused, insisting he should leave first while he handled the cleanup slowly, along with finishing any leftover barbecue.
With no other choice, Jiang Ran left work first.
On his way back to his apartnt 304, Jiang Ran unexpectedly encountered the Arican Mike in the sa elevator.
He noticed Mike was heading to the rooftop.
"Going to the rooftop?"
Jiang Ran was puzzled. What would a foreigner be doing on the rooftop so late at night?
Mike smiled and replied, "I enjoy stargazing. I've set up a telescope there."
Jiang Ran suddenly understood. "Oh, stargazing! Hey, have you ever spotted any UFOs or aliens?" he asked curiously.
"Uh... well... not really," Mike answered.
Jiang Ran said, "That makes sense. Most UFO sightings happen in Arica anyway. Maybe aliens prefer visiting there. That's why we don't see them in China."
This left Mike montarily speechless, only able to respond with an awkward smile.
......
10:00 PM.
Wu You, who had spent the whole day caring for his father, ca to relieve his mother who had just finished her night shift.
Though exhausted from tending to a cancer patient, Wu You knew his mother had it worse - working day shifts before coming to care for her husband at night.
What amazed him more was how his mother never complained, often comforting him that everything would pass.
Yes, everything would pass.
Wu You stepped out of his father's hospital room.
The hospital corridor at 10 PM was eerily quiet.
Pulling out his phone, he murmured, "Just two more hours until tomorrow when I'll get that ten thousand yuan."
Before signing the agreent to live at Alice Apartnt, Wu You would have simply ridden a shared bike ho after leaving the hospital.
But now he had to return to Alice Apartnt - the middle-aged man had emphasized sleeping there nightly was mandatory to receive the paynt.
He couldn't risk losing the money by not being there during these final two hours.
Grabbing a shared bike outside the hospital, Wu You took one last look at the darkness-shrouded dical building.
The thought of returning tomorrow to this money-devouring white hell filled him with thick dread.
Pedaling furiously, he raced toward Alice Apartnt.
While taking the bus would have been ideal, the route stopped running after 9 PM.
Rideshares were too expensive, leaving the bike as his only option.
After a full hour of cycling, he finally reached Alice Apartnt.
Parking the bike among the cluster of shared bikes outside, Wu You checked the ti - 11 PM.
"Good, still within the tifra," he smiled in relief.
Approaching the facial recognition entrance, he noticed lights still on in the security booth, shadows moving behind the illuminated windows.
This late-night sight of fellow awake souls comforted him, easing his sense of isolation.
Entering the complex, he headed toward the residential building, already imagining the luxurious bath awaiting him in his money-earning apartnt.
A real bathtub! His room had one!
Having only experienced public bathhouses before, the prospect of his first proper soak lifted his spirits, his steps lightening with anticipation of both the tub and his impending paynt.
The well-lit path from security booth to building passed uneventfully.
Arriving at the pitch-black lobby, he barely noticed the darkness - he was accustod to it.
The automatic glass doors slid open.
When his foot stomp failed to activate expected voice-controlled lights, he pulled out his phone flashlight instead.
The beam revealed the lobby's simple, elegant decor.
Sweeping the light forward, he located the elevator - currently stopped on the 7th floor.
Pressing the call button, he waited while checking missed ssages on WeChat.
Several @ ntions from the Alice Apartnt residents' group caught his attention - all from Manager Xiao Zhang repeatedly asking if he'd attend the welco party.
Private ssages echoed the sa inquiries.
Well...
Between caring for his father and catching a brief nap before his mother's arrival, he'd seen but ignored the notifications, deeming them unimportant.
"I've got no ti for welco parties," Wu You muttered. His father's care left no room for such frivolities.
Ding!
The elevator arrived.
As the doors parted with their cheerful chi, Wu You lowered his phone and moved to enter - then froze completely.
His body locked rigid, eyes widening in shock and terror.
Expecting an empty car, he instead faced a towering, broad-shouldered man wearing a grotesque mask and butcher-style attire - like sothing straight from a horror film.
Though unidentified, Wu You's body instinctively recoiled, stumbling backward away from this nightmare figure.
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