One Rule

"Let me go…!" The jade doll squirmed and thrashed their four limbs in rage, forcing Jin Jiuchi to tighten his hold around their body.

"Sssh!" Jin Jiuchi hushed them and bent down to whisper with a pitiful look on his face. He almost squeezed out some crocodile tears to make his acting more believable. "Help me out here just this once, will you? I really, really want to stay in this place! Where is your compassion for a fellow human being, kid?!"

"Are you even human?" The jade doll sneered, their silver ponytail falling over one shoulder and making their features look all the more ethereal, especially with the bright and vivid emotions in those pale purple eyes."And let me tell you for the last time, stop calling me a kid!"

Jin Jiuchi let out a gasp of disbelief. He switched the way he was carrying the jade doll and clasped their head to his chest, forcing them to listen to his heartbeat. "Hear this. What am I if not a human?!"

They fell strangely silent after that, but Jin Jiuchi did not think much about it in lieu of grinning toward the blank-eyed landlady. For some unknown reason, Jin Jiuchi could sense the extreme shock she radiated despite her expression that hardly changed at all.

"Sorry, sorry," he said apologetically, the picture perfect of a big brother who was covering for their younger sibling's mischief. "They're in a rebellious state now. They don't mean to chase me away. Let me tell you a secret, they can't even sleep without me at night!" He spouted out lies through his teeth, unfazed by the dumbfounded look from others. "So how about it? I am allowed to stay, right?"

Jin Jiuchi's words seemed to shatter the brief spell in the air and for the second time tonight, another uproar descended among the four others.

"B–Brother, he said…"

"Wait a minute, why… why haven't I realized that there's a child among us until now?!"

"You are not alone," Sister Hong said coldly, her gaze turning vigilant as it landed on the jade doll. "That child is not simple. The ticket has clearly stated that six people will board the bus, but now there are seven of us. It looks like they are in here together… I suspect that one of them is not human."

In a few mere sentences, she succeeded in increasing the players' wariness toward the mysterious jade doll by a few folds. Even Old Guan let out a yelp and hastily distanced himself from Jin Jiuchi, huddling in fear.

"Damn…!" the jade doll cursed under their breath, vexed. They shot Jin Jiuchi a glare that seemed to convey, 'You're dead meat!'

Of course, Jin Jiuchi was not worried at all. What could a mere child do to him?

Madam Liu blinked and a little life returned to her dead eyes. "Ah, you're his big brother? You're right, there must be some kind of error in the process. Of course, we will welcome you with open arms. The more people, the better…" her smile looked kinda strange when she said this, but it soon disappeared as though that little curl on the corner of her black lips was nothing but a mirage. "There are so many things we have to prepare. After all, a wedding is a big celebration that only happens once in a lifetime, right?"

The man surnamed Zhi, who had never opened his mouth from the start, suddenly asked in a gruff voice, "How do we earn the ticket?"

"Of course," the landlady blinked and offered another weird smile of hers. "It will be after you finish your job."

Tang Yeg pressed tentatively, "And what does our job entail, to be exact?"

This time, she acted as if she heard nothing. She checked the time and frowned. "It's getting late. Quickly register yourself and go to your room. Remember, we have only one rule in this place." She paused for two seconds to increase the tension, her uncanny gaze fixed on them. "Do not come out of your room after 10 pm no matter what."

Everyone sucked in a breath simultaneously. Old Guan looked like he was on the verge of fainting. As for the reason why they were not allowed to go out after ten, nobody asked.

Wait… nobody really asked? Jin Jiuchi looked around in utter confusion. Why would they obey such an unreasonable rule? He was ready to speak up in protest when all of a sudden, Xinxin cried out in alarm,

"It's already 9.40! We only have less than twenty minutes to get into our room!" Everyone followed her line of sight to the clock on the wall and true to her words, it was already close to ten pm!

Sister Hong quickly walked toward the landlady and accepted the clipboard. She scanned the paper and turned to the others, "There are six empty rooms. We will divide it according to the number in our bus ticket. How about it?"

Nobody raised an argument. Satisfied, Sister Hong wrote her name down before giving it to the person beside her, Surname Zhi.

Soon, the clipboard was passed to Xinxin, Tang Ye and Old Guan… before it was finally Jin Jiuchi and the jade doll's turn.

"H–Here…" Old Guan handed the clipboard over tremblingly.

Looking at him like this, Jin Jiuchi had the urge to give him a jump scare just to see if the man would truly faint away. Alas, before he could even act on it, the beautiful jade doll slipped away from his grip like an eel, snatched the clipboard from Old Guan's hand and wrote something down on the form furiously. Then he threw it to Jin Jiuchi.

Catching something midair was his forte. He did not even need to move his feet as he stretched an arm out and caught the clipboard effortlessly in his hand, much to the jade doll's anger. "Hmm…" Jin Jiuchi gave it a once-over. It was a simple list of tenant names and the room number they were occupying, as followed:

Xinxin, third floor, room 303

Sister Hong, fourth floor, room 404

Surnamed Zhi, fourth floor, room 406

Old Guan, fifth floor, 507

Tang Ye, fifth floor, 509

As for the jade doll… Jin Jiuchi's eyes moved to the only bracket that was still fresh with ink, a smile curving on his lips.

Nian, third floor, 301

"So it's Nian'er, huh…?" he rolled the name in his tongue as though savoring it, chuckling. Then he wrote his alias down beside Nian and returned the clipboard back to the landlady. By then, five minutes had already passed and that meant, they only had less than fifteen minutes to go to the safety of their rooms.

Under the tense atmosphere, Madam Liu's eyes slowly rolled in the sockets as she checked the form. Then she gave a nod of approval and moved away from the stairs. "Breakfast will be ready at seven. I will see you tomorrow morning. Good night, everyone."

Her words had not even fully settled in the air yet when everyone hastily rushed to the stairs. Alas, the space was too narrow to accommodate two fully grown adults and hence, the strong and robust Zhi managed to go up first, followed by Sister Hong, Xinxin, Tang Ye and Old Guan.

Jin Jiuchi watched the jade doll from the corner of his eyes and saw them taking a step forward after everyone had gone up, still with the frosty and mightier-than-thou expression on their face. Happily, Jin Jiuchi trailed after them, even bidding the landlady goodnight along the way. "Have a good rest and sweet dreams, Madam Liu!"

Madam Liu's expression froze, but Jin Jiuchi had already looked away and climbed up the stairs, humming a random tune.

It did not take long for them to reach the third floor.

It turned out that Xinxin's room was only two doors away. Jin Jiuchi waved her goodbye – which earned him a frightened cry and a door slammed on his face. Tsk, how rude – before following Nian into room number 301.

Alas, he had not even taken in the room's interior yet when a shadow passed by in front of him and a solid kick landed on his stomach, sending him stumbling a few steps backward and crashing onto the door. It hurt so much that Jin Jiuchi gasped, feeling like his inner organs had just burst apart from that terrifying kick.

Nian's little exquisite face was twisted in fury. "If you want to die, just die alone and don't drag me with you, bastard!"