I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 735 - 735 734. Fourth floor_1

Chapter 735: 734. Fourth floor_1 Chapter 735: 734. Fourth floor_1 Zhou Changqing rubbed his eyes.

The reflection in the mirror rubbed its eyes too.

Zhou Changqing thought it might be because he had played games too much and felt fatigued, which could have caused the misperception just now.

He turned on the tap, scooped up a handful of cool water, and vigorously rubbed it across his face, making himself much more alert.

He raised his head and looked at the mirror.

The mirror was empty, reflecting the wall of the washroom.

“It’s fine now.”

Only then did Zhou Changqing relax. He wiped his face with a towel and returned to the living room.

He put away his clothes, grabbed his keys and phone, and went downstairs. The stairwell was dimly lit, the dusk had been falling later recently, and a faint afterglow was spreading from the clouds, gently caressing the somewhat narrow entrance to the stairwell, casting an ambiguous glow.

The elevator ascended floor by floor; Zhou Changqing browsed on his phone while waiting.

Then, he heard the elevator stop; it was on the ground floor.

“Huh?”

Zhou Changqing had pressed for the elevator to go down, so in theory, it should have first gone up to the highest floor where the down button was pressed, then gradually moved down. Even if someone downstairs pressed the up button before getting in, it should have been another elevator that stopped, not the one he was waiting for.

“There must be a glitch in the program.”

Zhou Changqing didn’t worry about it.

The elevator soon resumed operation, and with a ding, the doors opened.

Zhou Changqing had intended to see who was pressing the elevator at the ground floor, but to his surprise, the elevator was completely empty; there was no one inside.

Only the smooth mirror surface inside reflected Zhou Changqing’s face.

He paused for a moment, then stepped into the elevator.

He pressed the button for the first floor, the elevator doors closed, and the sealed doors also mirrored Zhou Changqing’s figure like a mirror.

He looked down at his phone and scrolled through a couple of news articles, feeling the elevator slowing down as it neared the ground floor.

Looking up, Zhou Changqing found that the elevator hadn’t stopped at the first floor.

It was the fourth floor.

It was quite normal for elevators to malfunction.

But the problem was, in the complex where Zhou Changqing lived, the developer was a little superstitious and omitted the fourth floor, the fourteenth floor, and the fourth building was also a property building that housed no residents.

So the question arose.

What floor was Zhou Changqing on now?

The elevator was stationary at this level. Zhou Changqing glancing at the display, wondering if it was a display error, and whether this was actually the fifth or third floor or something else.

Ding—

Suddenly, the elevator chimed, making Zhou Changqing jump.

He saw the elevator doors slowly open, revealing the corridor outside.

The corridor was pitch black—how could it have gotten completely dark in the less than two minutes it took to ride the elevator?

Zhou Changqing pressed the button to close the elevator doors, but it was as if the button were broken—pressing it had no effect at all.

He hesitated for a moment, then peered outside.

The corridor was dark as pitch, and he could see no doors; nor did any light penetrate through windows, creating an unsettling feeling.

Under normal circumstances, Zhou Changqing would have started to panic by now.

But he had experienced the Black Forest in Night Country. At night, although the Black Forest wasn’t pitch black, it was far more terrifying than this. The mournful cries of unknown creatures within the depths of the forest, the chirping of insects, and the sparse noise of leaves stirred by the breeze agitated a sense of panic.

But now, Zhou Changqing just felt it was odd.

He waited a short while and decided to go out and take a look.

After all, even though there was no fourth floor labeled, the actual fourth floor was in fact the fifth floor. It was impossible for the elevator to create a non-existent fourth floor out of thin air.

Zhou Changqing had even met residents of the fifth floor before, a couple who seemed quite amicable.

He stepped out of the elevator, using the dim light inside to peer toward the end of the hallway.

There, there was a door.

That door emitted a faint red glow, as if illuminated by a candle, which appeared exceptionally eerie amidst the darkness.

Zhou Changqing initially thought it was an emergency exit, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was neither in the position of the stairs nor near any residents’ dwellings; on other floors, there would just be a wall.

He furrowed his brow slightly, his curiosity leading him to decide to check out what exactly was there.

Had it been before, Zhou Changqing would probably have started looking for the stairs to quickly leave.

But now, the experiences inside the game had made Zhou Changqing less timid, and he walked toward that door.

As he walked through the darkened hallway, Zhou Changqing heard some footsteps.

These footsteps were not in sync with his, as if something was following him.

He couldn’t help but look back, only to see the light from the elevator still illuminating that section of the hallway.

Turning back around, Zhou Changqing saw a face in front of him.

He startled and took a half step back.

The face looked like a man with his eyes closed, pale, displaying an expression of anguish.

Zhou Changqing was only able to see the face, not its body or limbs.

That face just hovered in the air, level with Zhou Changqing’s own face.

He felt his heart skip a beat, as if something had poked it.

Only then did Zhou Changqing notice that the face was identical to his own!

This was himself!

The face was Unmoving, seemingly an illusion, fading in and out of visibility within the glow of the red door.

He thought for a moment, then sidestepped the face and quickly made his way to the door.

Zhou Changqing noticed that the door was made of wood, with rough textures all over, and even had several pieces of Talisman Paper attached, bearing characters he couldn’t understand.

It was as if it was some kind of seal.

He thought for a moment, reached out to peel off the Talisman Paper, but suddenly, with a creak, the door slowly opened.

Zhou Changqing peered inside and saw a very simple room, resembling those found in rural settings, complete with wooden tables and chairs, a teapot and cups, old paintings, ancestral tablets, and an incense burner.

In the room, someone was sitting at the table, with their back to Zhou Changqing.

It looked like an old man. Zhou Changqing didn’t recall if there were any elderly tenants like this in his building, but he stepped closer and spoke up.

“Uh, sorry, I saw the door wasn’t closed, so I came in to check.”

Zhou Changqing coughed and said.

But the other person didn’t respond.

He stepped closer, wanting to tap the person’s shoulder.

But just as Zhou Changqing was about to reach out, the person suddenly turned their head.

His face was full of wrinkles, like a shriveled, moldy persimmon, with a pair of eyes lacking any whites, just pitch black. But more importantly, his body hadn’t turned at all, just his head, stretching his neck into a twisted Ma Hua shape as if there were no bones at all, turned around.

At this sight, Zhou Changqing’s eyelids twitched.

However, the old man opened his nearly toothless mouth, and from his parched throat, he squeezed out a few words.

“Water, give, me, water.”

“You want water?”

Zhou Changqing replied; he quickly picked up a somewhat cracked ceramic cup from the table, lifted the teapot, and poured water into the cup.

But it seemed there was nothing in the teapot; he had tilted it quite a bit, yet nothing came out.

As Zhou Changqing was left perplexed, liquid finally flowed from the teapot.

It was red blood.