Chapter 14: The Landlord

“I see now!” Upon Linghu Shiyu’s explanation, the others suddenly understood.

Yet some were uninterested in the puzzle’s solution, their minds fixed solely on enjoying the fruits of their discovery.

“Since we already have the number, let’s call right away!” Chen Minqun eagerly approached the phone.

“Wait a moment. We only have one minute for the call. We need to carefully consider what questions to ask,” Linghu Shiyu interrupted, holding up a hand.

“What’s the point of waiting? We should definitely ask how to escape from here!” Chen Minqun bit her lip in frustration, finding this junior who kept contradicting her utterly unreasonable.

What nonsense was this? She was older, so why should she listen to this little girl’s orders?

“The check-in instructions say that after five days, you can leave,” Li Hua interjected hastily, sensing the tension rising.

“Five days? I can’t stand this hellhole even for a second!” Chen Minqun dismissed him outright and tried to grab the phone.

Just as she stepped forward, she noticed a frivolous young man sitting on the edge of the bed, legs crossed casually.

This was Zhou Ke. Never one to engage in quarrels, he picked up the old, yellowed handset and began pressing buttons deliberately.

“Hey! Have some manners! I was going to call first!” Chen Minqun protested, but a large, hairy hand stopped her.

Looking up, she met Louis’s polite yet intimidating broad smile.

Louis had been guarding the phone from anyone sneaking up, but he hadn’t stopped Zhou Ke.

For one, he believed Zhou Ke—who had solved the number puzzle—was entitled to make the call.

Secondly, he trusted Zhou Ke to use the call more effectively.

“You…” Chen Minqun glanced at Louis’s sturdy frame, swallowed her anger, and fell silent.

Beep, beep—

With the last button pressed and released, the call switched to speakerphone, emitting the dialing tone.

The beeps struck a chord, the air thickened; everyone held their breath, watching Zhou Ke intently.

“Hello, this is the landlord of the Ghost Golden Sheep Apartments. What questions do you have?”

Finally, the call connected.

A resonant middle-aged male voice bridged the outside world with the apartment’s interior.

Though a complete stranger, for those trapped here two days and nights, it was joyous news indeed.

If they could get in, it meant they could get out.

---

Zhou Ke, however, cared little for such hopes. He muttered rudely, “Just by the voice, you can tell he’s a fat, greasy capitalist.”

Yes, he harbored a deep-seated hatred of wealth.

Still, words to himself aside, he maintained a facade of politeness.

Clearing his throat, he said with exaggerated civility, “Oh! Honorable landlord, I’m thrilled to hear your voice—it’s as delightful as smelling Mrs. Harry’s homemade cherry pie from next door!”

The expressions in the room instantly turned dark, twitching at the corners of their eyes.

Everyone felt an urge to snatch the phone from Zhou Ke, even Louis and Linghu Shiyu pondered silently.

Shouldn’t they have stopped Chen Minqun instead? At least she would probably speak sensibly.

“Why do you have to speak in that damn stilted, translated tone? And so stiffly?” The landlord responded after a pause.

He felt much the same confusion as Linghu Shiyu and the others—what on earth was Zhou Ke selling?

All previous tenants called in panic, begging for help and asking all sorts of questions.

So, as usual, he had prepared to record the beautiful despair of humanity, but Zhou Ke came out with something completely unexpected.

“Ah, so you’re not a foreigner.” Zhou Ke shifted his tone back. “You should have said so earlier.”

“No, the only foreign-sounding word in my first sentence was ‘hello.’ And even if I were a foreigner, would you speak so stiffly? You should just speak the foreign language directly!” The landlord nearly lost his temper.

“You should not. In the movies, foreigners always talk like this,” Zhou Ke replied.

“What year are your movies from? Black and white, perhaps?”

“Sigh, movies are really harmful.”

“Don’t blame everything on movies! Movies are a magnificent invention!” The landlord nearly shouted.

He panted, unsure if it was from the exertion of his rant or pure irritation with Zhou Ke.

Holding his heaving chest, he glanced at the phone. Only one minute had passed.

He had heard before that when facing a life countdown, doing a plank exercise made time feel endless.

He figured that didn’t work but chatting with Zhou Ke might guarantee each second dragged on forever.

“It’s late, so I’ll be brief and get straight to the point, landlord,” Zhou Ke shifted quickly, ignoring others’ feelings.

“Who’s been rambling all this time?” The landlord was speechless.

“Landlord, hotels usually provide free breakfast, right? Please prepare one for us. Thank you.”

---

“Is that all?” The landlord was puzzled by the silence that followed.

“My request is this simple. The remaining tenants will communicate with you.”

“But shouldn’t you be asking me questions?”

Zhou Ke ignored this and hung up, walking over to the corpse in room two.

His expression mixed relief and regret. “Great, four-eyes, you won’t have to worry about your body being eaten anymore.”

He reached out to close the dead man’s eyes but couldn’t find the glasses-wearing man’s head.

His hand froze mid-air before he cheekily slipped it into the man’s jacket pocket, rifling through it like a robber.

“Perfect. No problems at all,” Zhou Ke murmured, checking if his conversation had any flaws.

His request was well thought out, quite clever.

First, Zhou Ke knew there were false rules in the check-in instructions but couldn’t directly ask which were false or true.

Because the landlord’s relationship with the Doorbell Ghost was unclear—maybe even the landlord didn’t know what the ghost had tampered with—asking would be pointless.

Second, Zhou Ke knew the rule warning of bad security near hotel 4 and to lock doors at night was false.

But he couldn’t outright ask how to defend against the Doorbell Ghost’s attacks.

Because rule six stated, “This hotel has no supernatural legends. Please do not spread rumors that damage our reputation.”

If rule six was true, Zhou Ke’s question might anger the landlord and cause harm.

Finally, and most importantly, rule five read, “For any problems, consult the landlord. The landlord’s words are absolutely truthful and trustworthy.”

But was that really true?

If rule five was false, and the landlord lied, blindly trusting him would lead them into a dead end.

Summing up, Zhou Ke concluded:

Don’t ask the landlord any questions. Let him handle practical matters.

Speaking of which, the top priority now was food and water.

As for the earlier awkward exchange, it was just Zhou Ke’s petty grudge manifesting.

Facing the likely instigator—the landlord—he had to play some tricks.