After hearing Shang Jianyao’s description, Jiang Baimian nodded and didn’t say anything.
Bai Chen and Long Yuehong suddenly felt a little heavy and didn’t know how to respond.
After a few seconds, Jiang Baimian looked at the blue LCD screen and said, “Which floor are we going to? The two elevators should be usable.”
At this moment, the numbers representing the other two elevators were normal.
“Sixth floor? We’ve carefully searched through the previous room already. It should be the safest place,” Bai Chen suggested.
“Alright.” Jiang Baimian nodded slightly and smiled. “Besides, Qiao Chu definitely won’t expect us to dare to continue staying there. Even if Qiao Chu returns, we’ll catch him off-guard.”
As she spoke, she took a few steps forward and pressed the button with her Ice Moss-wielding hand.
The silver-black door to an elevator soon opened, emitting a slightly putrid aura.
Jiang Baimian examined it carefully and walked in first. “Clear.”
After Shang Jianyao and the others entered, the elevator door slowly closed and went up steadily.
When they left, they didn’t close Unit 605’s door but left it ajar.
A white light now shone out from its interior, illuminating the metal door’s gap.
Shang Jianyao had just opened the door when Jiang Baimian suddenly stretched out a hand and blocked his path.
“There’s someone inside,” said Jiang Baimian in a low voice.
“How many?” Shang Jianyao seemed to be asking how many guests there were.
Long Yuehong raised his gun in response, prepared to fire.
Jiang Baimian slowly took a deep breath and glanced at Shang Jianyao. “One.”
“Qiao Chu definitely isn’t as fast as us... The stronger ones should have rushed to the City Intelligence Network Control Center... The weaker ones won’t act alone either...” Bai Chen quickly analyzed the situation. “Either all their companions have died, and they are Ruin Hunters who are searching for a place to hide alone. However, this is too much of a coincidence.
“This city ruin is so large and has so many buildings. How can it be possible that they happened to choose the one we previously stayed in? Or it could be that this apartment’s original owner—a Heartless—came back based on their instincts after the lights were switched on.”
“Yes, my rationality tells me that the probability of the former is equal to zero. But didn’t we happen to encounter many things along the way and ended up here? As humans, we shouldn’t be stubborn. We should be more vigilant.” Jiang Baimian originally wanted to say, “This might be because our luck hasn’t been good recently.” But she was afraid of agitating Long Yuehong, so she forcefully changed her words.
Just as she was about to give the order to change rooms, Shang Jianyao suddenly said, “I want to go in and take a look.”
“Okay...” Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and said, “Let’s take a look. I’m also curious about this apartment’s original owner. Be careful.”
Shang Jianyao nodded and carefully entered Unit 605 with the assault rifle.
This place was almost the same as when they left. But the white tiles and brown floor now reflected the light, giving off an indescribable warmth.
After entering a certain range, Shang Jianyao could sense the person’s location without Jiang Baimian’s reminder.
‘He’ was deep in the corridor, in a small bedroom to the right.
Shang Jianyao walked over step by step and quickly saw that the bedroom door was open. Orange-yellow light seeped out.
On the small bed inside, on the blue bedsheet with many golden stars, lay a person.
She was likely a woman. Her body was slightly hunched, and her face was shriveled. She was covered in wrinkles like a dried orange peel. Her hair was long and messy, completely white.
Upon seeing this woman, Shang Jianyao instantly understood where the strand of white hair he had found on the bedroom pillow came from. At the same time, he recognized the other party. It was a Heartless he had seen during night duty.
The Heartless had already pulled up the messy, curled-up blanket and covered half of her body. She had her hands stretched out at this moment, holding something as she stared at it attentively.
Her sleeves were pink and a little white, looking as if they didn’t fit.
Upon sensing Shang Jianyao’s approach, the Heartless looked up at him before lowering her head to look at the booklet in her hand.
Shang Jianyao stared at her for a while before gently walking over with the assault rifle in hand.
Jiang Baimian—who was behind Shang Jianyao—wanted to remind him, but she saw Shang Jianyao squatting by the bed and looking at the item in her hand together with the Heartless.
After considering for a second, Jiang Baimian followed him. She leaned over Shang Jianyao’s head and looked at the booklet.
With her experience and knowledge, she immediately recognized it as a photo album.
Every page of this photo album was made of transparent plastic. Inside were many colorful photos.
Jiang Baimian saw a little girl first.
The little girl was wearing furry clothes and looked rather cute. She was being hugged by a young woman with a dignified and elegant smile on her face. The girl was crying very sadly.
At this moment, the Heartless flipped through the album and went to the next page.
This also allowed Jiang Baimian to see the back of the photo. The white color there was slightly yellowish. Someone had written a sentence with a black pen: “When Nan Nan was one.”
Jiang Baimian seemed to understand something. As the Heartless flipped through the photos, she glanced at the other photos.
In those photos, the little girl gradually grew up. She was either riding a man’s shoulder or being held by a man and woman—who appeared in the photos repeatedly. She had also worn a green monster suit with a tail. She had also been in pink, making her skin look fair and tender.
Behind these photos were the same black handwriting.
They wrote: “When Nan Nan was two.”
“When Nan Nan was three.”
“When Nan Nan was four.”
When the photo album was flipped over, the words stopped at “When Nan Nan was seven.”
Jiang Baimian silently finished looking at the photos. She looked up and sized up the Heartless lying on the bed again.