Volume One, Chapter Sixteen: The Eerie Crimson Apartment

Lin Xi had never imagined he could kill such a terrifying monster inside the inn. His sole purpose was merely to seize the moment when the creature was distracted to rescue the two pitiful women lying on the floor.

Playing the part fully, Lin Xi fought the beast with a desperate, life-or-death intensity. At last, he managed to intimidate the innkeeper.

Finding an opportunity, Lin Xi threw the two barely conscious women out through the inn’s main door.

As the innkeeper went into a frenzy, Lin Xi deliberately exposed a weakness and took a punch from him. Using the immense force of the blow, Lin Xi was flung backward. Just as he flew out, the inn’s heavy door slammed shut completely.

From within came the enraged roars of the innkeeper, but he was powerless. Through the crack beneath the door, he could only watch helplessly as Lin Xi vanished from sight.

...

“Ugh...”

Lin Xi spat a mouthful of blood onto the dark brown concrete floor. Although he had narrowly avoided the monster’s punch hitting any vital points, the sheer force still rattled his internal organs.

Staggering to his feet, everything around him was shrouded in a deep crimson mist. Before him stood a door bathed in the same red hue.

The whisper he had heard before echoed again in his mind: “Escape from the Calamity Inn successful. Status: Critical—internal injuries sustained. Acquired: The Ghost Woman’s Gift—two spectral weapons, each usable three times with no time limit per use. Additional hidden bonus: The Ghost Woman’s Gratitude—combining the two weapons grants power rivaling an evil deity, usable three times for one minute each.”

The voice paused briefly.

“Beep—Warning—Calamity Inn difficulty escalating—Calamity Furnace activated—Innkeeper has entered killing mode. You are cursed by an evil god. The difficulty of purgatory spirits has increased significantly. May you die a fitting death.”

Hearing the voice in his head, Lin Xi felt a strange unease. Had he truly escaped that infamous Calamity Inn, yet found no way to return?

Still, he was trapped with no other path. The blood-red mist remained perilous, so he cautiously reached out and opened the door before him.

A flash of white light, and Lin Xi found himself at the end of a corridor on the third floor of a peculiar building. Behind him, the ink-black door silently closed.

---

Glancing back, Lin Xi noticed the door’s color differed from the one he had seen in the mist. Had he entered another layer of purgatory? Judging by the surroundings, it seemed to be some kind of apartment.

He carefully descended the stairs. The stairwell was open, allowing a clear view of the lobby below. There, a young girl sat on a solid wood sofa, engrossed in a book.

As he stepped down, Lin Xi studied the girl cautiously. Her skin was flawless as creamy jade, her features delicate and refined, and her eyes shimmered like rippling waves.

Suddenly aware of his gaze—or perhaps unsettled by it—she slightly furrowed her brows, lifting her starry eyes to meet his.

In that instant, Lin Xi felt his soul bathed in a warm spring breeze, the terror and exhaustion he had endured melting away completely.

“A glimpse of the iceberg’s tip, yet a beauty unmatched in this world,” he murmured instinctively.

The girl, as if momentarily entranced, softly whispered, “We… seem to have met before.”

“Newcomer, huh? Lin Mengran,” a rough voice called from the second-floor corridor above.

Startled, both Lin Xi and the girl snapped back to reality. A blush tinted her cheeks as she playfully winked and replied upstairs, “Yes, Brother Gu, there’s a newcomer.”

Lin Xi turned to see a tall, burly man descending the stairs on the second floor.

“Where is this place?” Lin Xi asked the man and the girl with some confusion.

“Newcomer, I’m Gu Changtian. This is called the Scarlet Phantom Residence. It will be your temporary home. Now, tell me about your first layer of hell,” Gu Changtian said warmly, patting Lin Xi on the shoulder.

“First layer?” Lin Xi’s mind raced as he hesitated, then asked many questions. “Hell? The hell after death? Am I dead? Can I return to reality?”

“The people here call it Purgatory. It has eighteen layers, which we call the Eighteen Hells,” Gu Changtian explained patiently. “It’s very different from the hell you know. There are no black-and-white impermanence spirits maintaining order, nor the Ten Yama Kings ruling over malevolent ghosts. Here, only greedy demons and man-eating evil gods roam.”

Pouring Lin Xi a cup of hot tea, Gu Changtian continued, “As for reality, yes, you can return. You need a transit card to wait at the bus stop outside. Riding the bus will take you back—and it’s also your means of traveling to the next layer of purgatory.”

---

“Hey, young man, what’s your name? And since you’ve asked so many questions, you should answer Brother Gu’s now. Tell us, what did you encounter in your first layer of hell?” The girl’s starry eyes sparkled as she looked at Lin Xi.

“We… seem to have met before?” Lin Xi recalled the girl’s earlier words and smiled wryly, asking in return.

The blush on her cheeks returned as if she were bashful.

Without waiting for her reply, Lin Xi pondered briefly before recounting his ordeal at the Calamity Inn.

...

“Whoa, wow, your first layer of hell is as tough as the fourth! And that mark on your brow—that’s the curse of the evil god, right? You’re in deep trouble, young man,” Lin Mengran exclaimed after hearing Lin Xi’s story, staring at the crimson leaf-shaped mark on his forehead.

Taking the mirror she handed him, Lin Xi examined the mark, noting how it had appeared without his knowledge.

“Are you the only two in the Phantom Residence?” Lin Xi asked curiously.

“No, some have moved on to the next layer to survive, others haven’t returned from the real world,” Gu Changtian replied thoughtfully.

“By the way, the Eighteen Hells have a time limit. When time’s up, no matter where we are, we instantly appear on the bus. To avoid forgetting our spectral weapons, we bring them to the bus stop before time is up to wait,” Lin Mengran added, pulling a Hell Manual from a bookshelf in the corner and handing it to Lin Xi.

“You should have seen the Purgatory Manual in hell, right? It’s like the beginner’s guide in a game—a unique survival handbook passed down through generations by veterans who have endured the most layers,” she explained. “You can take a look.”

“Veterans? Are they still around?” Lin Xi asked, sipping his tea.

“Alas,” Lin Mengran’s expression grew somber. “When I first arrived, they were still here. But later, they all disappeared during a collective trial in the sixteenth layer of hell.”