Hide And Seek

　　The next day, at around noon, the doorbell rang at Li's apartment.

　　At that moment, Li had just finished updating the latest three chapters, shut down his computer, and went to open the door. 

　　And sure enough, the person standing at the door was Ziye.

　　Li smiled slightly and said, "You're here. I've been keeping the cake in the fridge."

　　After Ziye entered, Li went to the fridge to get the cake.

　　"Can you just take the food from the fridge in this apartment, you even made cake yourself?" Ziye asked in confusion.

　　"Yeah, I got the eggs and cream from the fridge. This apartment is very convenient, you can just write a sticky note on the fridge door if you want to eat something. Here's the cake."

　　Li walked over with a strawberry cream cake, saying, "I bought the cake making tools a few days ago. I made it by following a cake making book. Food tastes better when you make it yourself."

　　"Mhm." Ziye took out the notebook from her pocket, handed it to Li, and said, "Here's the notebook back. Thank you for your notes… I've memorized everything. Li, you… are very smart."

　　Li took the notebook with a smile, placed the strawberry cream cake in front of her, and put a fork on top of it, saying, "Try it and see how it tastes. I'm considering opening an online cake shop if it's good. Haha, I guess I've been watching too many Korean dramas lately… It's really delicious, at least have some, do you dislike cake?"

　　"Mhm… thanks." Ziye sat down, picked up the fork, and took a bite of the cake.

　　It tasted really good.

　　"The apartment really provides high-quality ingredients, this cream is so rich and flavorful, and the strawberries are…" Ziye savored the cake, saying, "But your cake making skills seem pretty good too."

　　"Right? Actually, I wanted to learn culinary arts back when I was taking the college entrance exams, but my parents insisted that I go to a science college. But I feel like I wasted my four years in college."

　　Li seemed to be reminiscing, then he continued, "If you like it, I'll continue to make cakes for you to eat in the future."

　　However, Li's next question that had nothing to do with the previous conversation made Ziye stop the fork she had inserted into the cake.

　　"Would you consider… being my girlfriend?"

　　Before Ziye could react, Li's expression had become incredibly serious: 

　　"I'm not joking with you, absolutely not."

　　"Girl…friend?" Ziye looked up at Li. Her expression hadn't changed much, as if nothing in the world could affect her.

　　"Li, you… don't really know me, right? We haven't known each other for that long, right?"

　　"That doesn't matter. I only know… I like you, so I want to be with you. And… we can gradually get to know each other as time goes on."

　　Ziye took another bite of the cake with her fork and said, "This is so sudden… someone actually confessed to me…"

　　"No one has ever confessed to you before?" Li was a little surprised.

　　Ziye was so beautiful, it wasn't possible that no one had ever pursued her, right?

　　"People who interacted with me were all scared away. They all said I was a research fanatic, and that I spend all my time in the lab,."

　　"No… I really like people with a strong thirst for knowledge."

　　"Really? However, I can't just give you an answer like that…"

　　"It's okay, you can take your time to think about it. I can wait for you. No matter how long, this proposal will always be valid."

　　"Mhm. I'll think about it. But right now, the most important thing is how to survive the next blood inscription."

　　"Yeah… I know…"

　　"Then… I'll be going now."

　　After finishing the cake on her plate, Ziye wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, "Thank you for the cake, I hope I can have some again next time."

　　"Yeah, okay, if you like it, I'll definitely make some for you again…"

　　After Ziye left, Li slumped onto the sofa, constantly scratching his hair and cursing:

　　"Li, you idiot! Why did you blurt it out so impulsively… Oh my God, what's wrong with me… But, who knows how much time I have left?

　　After Yuan's death, the residents held another meeting that night. 

　　Most of them believed that Li would be the new building manager. After all, he was the only one who had survived four blood inscription instructions out of all the residents in the apartment.

　　In fact, after hearing Ziye's account of how the blood inscription instruction was carried out this time, all the residents were quite excited.

　　Because… it proved one thing: as long as you found the apartment's hidden "way out", surviving the blood inscription instruction was actually very easy. 

　　This time, all they had to do was close their eyes, and they could safely survive for five days!

　　However, it was only easy in theory. 

　　If they didn't know this, who would close their eyes for 24 hours a day?

　　In the end, everyone unanimously decided that the new building manager would be… Li.

　　Several months passed.

　　One day… the apartment had another blood inscription instruction.

　　And this time, the blood inscription instruction was… incredibly strange.

　　The content was: "On November 1,2024, before 12:00 on that day, reach the top of Huayan Mountain in the suburbs of the city, and then start playing hide-and-seek. Choose one person to be the 'ghost', and the others will have to hide, preventing the 'ghost' from catching them. During this time, they cannot leave Huayan Mountain. They can return to the apartment after midnight of that day."

　　"Hide… hide-and-seek?"

　　The selected residents were all stunned when they saw these words. 

　　What did this mean? 

　　Playing hide-and-seek on the mountain counts as carrying out a blood inscription instruction?

　　How could it be that simple?

　　So, one of the selected residents, Yang from Room 806, went to ask the new building manager Li.

　　"I think it can't be that simple, just playing hide-and-seek, right?" Yang asked nervously, "Li, do you think there's something hidden in this?"