Chapter 486: Origins (Combined)

Thanks to the Cleanup Bureau for their help? Does that mean someone in the Bureau had actually made contact with Happiness Apartment before?

But according to the Bureau's records, the first person to discover this apartment was himself. So, did that person discover it and fail to report it? Or perhaps...

After pondering the landlady's words for a moment, Li Ang tentatively spoke up:

"May I ask, when you speak of 'help,' do you mean some relatively ordinary assistance, or the kind of fundamental 'help' that turned the two of you into what you are now?"

"Of course, the fundamental kind."

The fundamental kind... in other words, was this Happiness Apartment actually "manufactured" by someone within the Cleanup Bureau?

But... how could that be possible?

Recalling the "common knowledge" the red-haired Director and Senior Ai Ma had told him, Li Ang's brow furrowed subconsciously.

For anomalous objects, "manufacturing" and "forging" are two completely different concepts.

Anomalous objects "produced" by the Cleanup Bureau are mostly like Director Jin Niu, forged from the remains recovered after completing cleanup missions, retaining their core abilities. In reality, they are existing, uncontrollable anomalies "modified" into basically controllable anomalous objects.

But if the landlady's description and his own understanding were both correct, then this Happiness Apartment... this 【Spirit-Lodging Apartment】 no longer followed this common knowledge; it had been created from nothing by someone!

Such an important matter must be clarified! But...

"Anna..."

"You two go ahead and talk."

After receiving the troubled look from Li Ang, the frail girl, despite being very curious, smiled understandingly, stood up, and walked toward the inner room.

"It's quite cold lately. I'll go see if Mei Lan Ni and the others kicked off their blankets; I don't want them catching a cold."

"Thank you for your hard work..."

Not wanting his family to have too deep a contact with the "world beneath the water's surface," Li Ang breathed a sigh of relief only after Anna entered the inner room and closed the door. He asked with a serious expression:

"If possible, could you tell me how that person 'helped' you back then?"

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Li Ang's suddenly serious expression, the landlady seemed to realize something was amiss. She said with some hesitation:

"Young man, tell me the truth: does your Bureau have some regulation that forbids helping us become what we are now?"

"Rather than forbidden, it's more that it's fundamentally impossible to do..."

Trying his best to use language the other party could understand, Li Ang briefly described the difficulty of doing such a thing. Seeing the landlady's slightly worried expression, he comforted her:

"Don't worry, you don't need to fear that person will be punished. This ability to create anomalies is the first time I've heard of it; the Bureau has no relevant regulations.

Besides, you've been anomalies for nearly a hundred years. Although our Cleanup Bureau personnel have much stronger physical constitutions than the average person, most people's lifespans are about the same as ordinary people's. That person is likely long gone by now.

Furthermore, because this involves creating anomalies, this matter is truly very, very important. If possible, I hope you can tell me in as much detail as possible."

"I see..."

Hearing that it wouldn't bring trouble to their "benefactor," the landlady immediately breathed a sigh of relief. After recalling for a moment, she spoke with some hesitation:

"There's nothing that can't be told, it's just that we don't know much either... Hmm... the predecessor to this apartment was a poorhouse that the old man and I converted using our own property. You should have already found that out, right?"

"Yes."

Seeing Li Ang nod, the landlady touched her white curly hair and continued her recollection calmly:

"This hair of mine wasn't originally white; it turned white bit by bit after I fell seriously ill back then.

That illness brought continuous pain. I had to rely on excessive amounts of sleeping pills and painkillers to get through it. I could only stay awake for three or four hours a day, but even during those three hours of clarity, I had to suffer from constant vomiting and diarrhea due to the drug reactions...

Sigh... although I couldn't bear to leave the old man, after being tortured for several years, I really didn't want to live anymore. I prepared to apply to convert the poorhouse into an official municipal facility, and then just stop the medication and die."

After speaking in a flat tone about the origin of her hair, the landlady's eyes gradually turned fierce, and she continued in a chilling voice:

"I filed that application more than thirty times, and my old man dragged his lame leg to the municipal office two or three hundred times in total, but the answer was always to go back and wait.

At that time, I knew the municipal side probably didn't want to take it over. Once the two of us old folks died, the fate of those people sheltered in the poorhouse certainly wouldn't be very good."

The landlady said with a face full of resentment:

"At that time, the poorhouse property was under my name, and the old man didn't have the qualifications to inherit property because of some past events, so I really didn't dare to die. I could only endure it like that, dragging out time and trying hard to help the people in the poorhouse find other ways out.

In the end, although I successfully sent some people away, most of the people in the poorhouse had no ability to work, and I still couldn't find other places for them. Moreover, my own body wasn't doing well at the time.

I heard the old man say that my heart stopped three times in that last month, and the number of times my breathing stopped was too many to count. But even at the end, I held on and didn't die, but bit by bit, I reached my limit..."

Heart stopped... even like that, she held on...

Hearing the landlady's past experiences, although it was a bit inappropriate, Li Ang remembered what he had heard from the red-haired Director.

Only the extreme will be remembered, only the paranoid dare to forge ahead, and only the insane can understand greatness.

Or rather, whether positive or negative, only the most pure and extreme things can leave a mark on this world.

"But I really didn't want to die, and I didn't dare to die."

Not knowing Li Ang's thoughts, the landlady, recalling those painful days, said with a somewhat ferocious expression:

"By the last day, besides being able to open my eyes occasionally, my heartbeat and breathing had completely stopped. I was almost a pure dead person, and my soul had even briefly left my body, seeing what I looked like on the hospital bed...

But in the end, I forced myself back in! There was nothing else; I just wasn't reconciled! I just wanted to know why, why was it that even though signing a paper could save so many people, no one was willing to stand up and approve my application!"

After panting a few times in a rush, the landlady's expression softened a little. She held the hand of the strong old man who had walked back at some point and was standing behind her supporting her, and continued in a lowered voice:

"However, although my soul squeezed back in, my physical body had indeed completely died. The old man, who had already prepared everything, called over the person responsible for preparing the remains.

Hmm... I don't remember very clearly, but that mortician was a young man. Besides being born with both corners of his mouth turned down, a bit like he was crying, he actually looked quite ordinary. However, his eyes were very bright, and he seemed to be able to see things others couldn't. Those eyes of his looked directly through my corpse and saw my soul, which was still lingering, and then he asked me with some surprise why I had insisted on staying until now and wasn't willing to leave."

A young man with a natural crying face and very bright eyes?

Seriously noting down these characteristics, preparing to ask the red-haired Director tomorrow, Li Ang asked softly:

"Is this the one..."

"Yes, it's him."

After giving a definite answer, the landlady said with a complex expression:

"He asked me what other wishes I had, but at that time I was full of hatred, wishing I could immediately turn into a crazy evil spirit and kill everyone in the municipal office, so I roared at him for a while.

But after that young man heard the reason, he didn't pay attention to me, but instead asked my old man if he wanted to see me one more time, but the price was to die immediately."

When he said this, the landlady paused for a moment, then squeezed the strong old man's hand hard, and said with tenderness in her eyes:

"The old man didn't agree immediately, but asked that young man with the natural crying face, if he didn't just want to see me one more time, but wanted to see me many more times, what would he need to pay?

After hearing his question, although that young man was a bit surprised, after thinking about it, he still told the old man that besides seeing me one more time, he could also let the old man's soul accompany me forever.

But because my soul had gone through these years of torture, it was much stronger and more resilient than his, so if our souls were bound together, the old man would lose most of his humanity and wisdom, becoming a simple appendage to my soul..."

So... he agreed, right?

Looking at the strong old man who was clutching the landlady's palm with one hand while secretly reaching for a large pair of scissors with the other, Li Ang, feeling both moved and speechless, couldn't help but blink, not knowing what to say for a moment.

"Don't move around!"

Having already noticed the strong old man's movements, she pinched the back of his hand hard, making the strong old man behave again. The landlady said with a slight apology:

"Don't worry, with me watching, he can't cut you."

"Ah... it's nothing, it's nothing."

Secretly touching the pendant on his chest to ensure he could react in time, Li Ang couldn't help but ask:

"Later, were your souls bound together by him and put into this apartment?"

"More or less."

Hearing this, the landlady's eyes dimmed slightly, and she said with some dejection:

"However, we didn't have our current power from the beginning. At that time, let alone eating and drinking like living people, we couldn't even say a word to the people inside.

It wasn't until the poorhouse was reclaimed by the municipal office and the remaining people inside were forcibly driven away by the police department that we could barely manifest a bit of our figures in the deepest part of the night."

Li Ang nodded upon hearing this, pondered for a moment, and asked:

"So you became stronger slowly over time?"

"No... the reason we became like this was actually just an accident."

Hearing Li Ang's question, the landlady turned her head away silently, buried her face in the strong old man's chest, and recounted in a somewhat muffled voice:

"There was an orphan who had been driven out of the poorhouse who wanted to come back and take a look in the middle of the night. He almost fell when climbing over the wall. The old man and I were worried, so we briefly manifested our figures to catch him.

That child might have sensed something; he was startled at the time and ran away screaming, but later he couldn't help but come back a few times. We... the news that we might 'still be here' spread among those who had been driven away."

After clenching her palms in extreme regret, the landlady said, trembling all over:

"Then... many children heard the news and came back with hope, wanting to see us one more time. We two were also a bit... so we showed ourselves a few more times.

Once someone really saw us, more and more people came back. Even many of those who had already found a way out and had been sent away early came back from other counties.

But... but... later it was winter... that year's winter was unusually cold, and they were all... so in the end, fewer and fewer people could come, and their physical conditions were worse each time, and then... and then..."

"..."

And then... did most of them freeze to death in the first winter after being driven away?

Hearing this, Li Ang, whose eyes were a bit sore, looked up slightly, unable to help but recall the relevant files he had seen before.

There were about a hundred people who were finally driven out of the poorhouse. Because they had no ability to work, most of them didn't survive that winter and froze to death near Happiness Apartment.

But when those cold, stiff, shriveled corpses were discovered, most of them had smiles on their faces. This incident even made the news at the time, and a few clippings were preserved in the files.

He had originally thought that those people were smiling because of hallucinations before freezing to death, but now it seemed their smiles were likely sincere.

"My condolences..."

Looking at the landlady, who had her face buried in the strong old man's chest and was clearly crying silently, Li Ang, who regretted asking these things, pursed his lips, not knowing what to say. The strong old man, who was patting the landlady's back, spoke up at this moment.

"One hundred and three."

After spitting out this number expressionlessly, the strong old man rarely said a few extra words, and said warmly in a hoarse voice:

"I received those children's final thoughts."

"..."

So... the reason the two of you can be like living people now is because those one hundred and three people who were driven out of Happiness Apartment that year and froze to death outside, as well as more people who once lived in this apartment, sincerely believed that you were still here...

After roughly understanding what he meant, looking at the landlady who had already started sobbing lowly, Li Ang clenched his fists, feeling at a loss, and then hurriedly changed the subject:

"What about that young man with the crying face? Did he come again later?"

"He came... he came once."

After wiping her tears in the strong old man's chest, the landlady said in a low voice:

"After that winter, about three more years passed, and he came to see us once.

After seeing our situation, he was a bit pleasantly surprised, saying that our 'progress' speed exceeded his imagination, and asked me what I had done over these years, why I had become strong so quickly, and whether I had killed those people I hated.

However, after hearing us finish the reason, he seemed a bit disappointed, asked us why we didn't think about revenge, and then never came again... Oh, that's right!"

After trying hard to recall, the landlady said with some uncertainty:

"That time we also asked about his recent situation, asking if he was still working as a mortician. He said he wasn't doing mortician work anymore, and had joined the Cleanup Bureau to become an officer? A deacon? Or something like that... Does your Cleanup Bureau have this position?"

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 487 =====