Kane returned to Building 3 with the key. Alan was no longer tending his flowers downstairs; he'd vanished somewhere.
Kane leaned closer to inspect the flowerbed. His senses prickled. The flowers seemed to exude a chilling aura. Their petals exploded outward like fireworks, but the stamens were tangled masses, stark black and white. From a distance, the whole bloom resembled a dull, lifeless pupil. The stems had knobby protrusions like bone joints and were covered in fine, hair-like black fuzz. They looked unnervingly similar to the Snowsoft Flower sprout from the mysterious app!
"This Alan… definitely hiding something."
Kane didn't believe in coincidences like this. The flowers Alan cultivated were practically identical to the Snowsoft Flower the app had shown him. It could only mean Alan was concealing something Kane needed to uncover.
It was late now, streetlights casting pools of illumination. Kane wasted no time heading up to the 13th floor. Despite Creekview Apartments' bad reputation, it had once been prestigious, and the upkeep showed. The hallway was well-lit, the floors clean. Yet, it was unnervingly quiet, as if Alan were the only resident on the entire floor.
"Something's here! It really is here!"
Kane had barely passed Unit 1307, still far from Alan's 1303, when a wave of icy dread washed over him. It felt like being sealed in an iron coffin, the air thick and suffocating.
Kane swallowed hard. He tightened the blood-stained apron around him, gripped a torn-open bag of salt ready to throw, and positioned the hilt of his Peachwood Sword outside his bag for quick access.
"Should've brought Leo… wouldn't be dealing with this alone," he muttered, filled with regret. But it was too late now; Leo was probably settling in for the night. He didn't live alone, and his family wouldn't let him out this late.
Kane moved slowly, taking a full five minutes to reach the door of 1304. The chill intensified here. He could also hear rhythmic hammering sounds from inside 1303, like someone nailing planks of wood, echoing relentlessly.
"Doesn't feel dangerous, though…"
Kane sensed the cold emanating from next door wasn't necessarily a conscious spirit. It felt similar to the flowers downstairs – a passive presence that hadn't reacted to his arrival.
"How much of that stuff is he growing inside…?"
He breathed a sigh of relief, unlocked his door, and immediately emptied the entire bag of salt across the threshold – a supposed ward against evil.
"Alright. Just gotta wait here. Might catch something useful…"
Kane found the bedroom sharing a wall with 1303 and sat down with his back against it. He quickly set up speed dial on his phone for Jake, Leo, and emergency services. If things went south, help might arrive too late, but at least they could collect his body.
He placed the Peachwood Sword and a fresh bag of salt within easy reach, leaned against the wall, and focused on listening to every sound next door. But apart from the persistent hammering, there was nothing.
*Thud. Thud. Thud…*
It was relentless, mechanical. The hammering continued without pause for two solid hours. Kane had no clue what Alan could be doing.
His nerves had been stretched taut. Now, seated in the comfortable room, lulled by the rhythmic pounding next door, his tension gradually eased. Without meaning to, he drifted off to sleep.
He dreamed of a room. Dark. Narrow. Suffocating. Like a cellar.
Kane lay on a cold metal table in the center, paralyzed. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. Like a corpse slowly rotting, just lying there.
Time lost meaning. Then, the cellar door creaked open. A shadowy figure entered. An overwhelming sense of intimacy and trust washed over Kane towards this dark shape.
"I loved you so much… but you never cared. I was in such pain… but you never saw."
The shadow murmured, its voice thick with complex, indescribable emotions.
"So you must become a flower. Flowers are beautiful. I love flowers. Flowers are fragrant… filling the air. Flowers are quiet… flowers don't speak."
Lost in its own world, the shadow picked up a bone saw lying nearby.
Kane couldn't see. Couldn't scream. He could only *feel* – a bone-deep agony exploding from his wrist. He was like a puppet with its strings cut, utterly helpless.
The sawing stopped. The shadow held something up before Kane's unseeing eyes.
"Look. It's blooming. So beautiful."
It was a woman's severed hand, slender and delicate. But no blood dripped from the stump. Instead, the flesh began to writhe, sprouting buds that rapidly bloomed into grotesque flowers. They were identical to Alan's blooms, but not jade-blue. These were vicious, blood-red blossoms of flesh.
"AAAAHHH!"
Kane jolted awake with a gasp, tumbling off the chair in a cold sweat. Instinctively, he looked at his right arm. Seeing his 'five loyal friends' still safely attached to his wrist, he exhaled a shuddering breath of profound relief.
"A nightmare? But it felt so real…"
A chill lingered. The flower was too bizarre; even invading his dreams.
"Huh? The hammering stopped."
Calming down, Kane realized the rhythmic thudding next door had ceased. An absolute silence had fallen. Not even footsteps.
"Past ten. Maybe he went to bed."
Kane wrestled internally for a moment, then hardened his resolve. He needed to climb over to Alan's apartment. It might be the only way to uncover the truth.
He went to the window and peered out. Thirteen floors down. A fall meant a direct trip to the crematorium. Thankfully, there were footholds: two air conditioner units spaced about three or four meters apart between his window and Alan's. With care, it was doable.
Kane gripped the window frame, poised to step out. Then, footsteps echoed in the hallway, stopping right at 1303. A knock sounded on Alan's door. Kane yanked himself back inside just in time. Getting caught mid-climb, face-to-face with Alan, would be beyond awkward.
"Brother-in-law… are you feeling any better? I brought you some tonics."
A woman's voice, clear and crisp, but laced with deep worry and sorrow, drifted down the hall.
"Brother-in-law? Su Xueqing?"
Kane rushed to his door, peering through the peephole. The angle only allowed a glimpse of a large plastic bag full of health products.
Footsteps sounded next door. Alan opened his door but said nothing.
"Brother-in-law, you really need to move on. Don't let the past chain you down." Su Xueqing's voice was gentle, yet weary. "Big Sister… she wouldn't want to see you like this. You're my only family left. Please… pull yourself together."
Silence descended on the hallway after that. Neither spoke. Kane could even hear their breathing.
"...."
Alan remained silent, but Kane sensed it wasn't a lack of words. It felt like refusal. Like Alan knew what he was doing, knew no one would understand, and simply couldn't be bothered to explain.
Finally, after a standoff lasting over a minute, Alan expressionlessly accepted the bag of tonics. He gave a curt nod of thanks, then closed the door, leaving Su Xueqing standing alone outside.
Kane watched through the peephole. Su Xueqing lingered for a moment. He heard soft sobs. Then she walked away. As she passed 1304, Kane caught her profile. She was truly beautiful, her demeanor gentle, strikingly similar to her sister Eve. Similar? No. It was uncanny. Practically the same face.
"Huh?"
Su Xueqing seemed to sense his gaze. As she passed Kane's door, she suddenly stopped. She turned, her eyes locking onto the peephole.
She stepped closer. Her right eye pressed against the fisheye lens, peering intently inside. Kane froze. If he moved now, the change in light within the peephole would give him away. While him staying here wasn't a secret, the fact he'd chosen the unit *right next to Alan's* might raise suspicions if she knew.
Her eyes were beautiful, but bloodshot from crying. She didn't look long before turning away and leaving Kane alone to digest the new information.
"The task is called 'Snowsoft Flower'. Alan's flowers look just like the one from the app. That nightmare was bizarre… flowers growing from a severed arm stump, also Snowsoft Flowers. Is Eve sending me a message?"
Kane replayed everything. Suddenly, he remembered the hint from the Nightmare Task!
**[Love is the cruelest devil in the world.]**
"That phrase… it's loaded. Could it be a clue?"
The more Kane thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The description for the Snowsoft Flower item had similar cryptic lines, like a dark nursery rhyme. But what this so-called **[Guixin]** was remained a mystery.
Kane racked his brain, trying to connect all the dots. His limited intellect only tangled the threads further into confusion. Just then, a phone ringtone pierced the silence from next door. Alan had received a text. This was followed by the sounds of swift, frantic movement.
"What's happening? Going out in the dead of night?"
Kane pushed other thoughts aside, focusing entirely on the sounds from 1303.
Alan moved quickly, gathering things. Then came the sound of his door opening and closing as he hurried out. Kane caught a fleeting glimpse of Alan's face through his own peephole. Excitement? Eagerness?
Kane remembered people saying Alan had become withdrawn and taciturn after Eve's disappearance. Why that look of near-joy now? And in the middle of the night?
"Perfect opportunity…"
Never mind the rest. Kane knew one thing for certain: Alan's apartment was empty. If not now, when? It was a gift from the heavens!