Ninth Floor

In the gloomy concrete stairway, a toilet paper mummy silently sobbed to itself as it sat in front of the open door of the ninth floor. An invisible gaze was cast upon the location, awaiting the prey that would take the bait.

This mummy was of course Toi Toi. As Pro didn't want to take too much risk and disturb the entire floor by accident, he decided to use Toi Toi as bait for his hunt. A weak lingering spirit was then helplessly placed in plain sight, waiting for a ninth floor tenant that would be dumb enough to take the bait.

With the ruckus from the ninth floor door repeatedly opening and closing, it didn't take long to grab the attention of the tenants near the stairway door. However, the instinct of a hunter made them hold back for a long time, waiting for competitors to make the first move.

Finally, one of the tenants couldn't hold back any longer. The door to apartment 996 slowly creaked open. A floating head, embraced by black mist, bolted out of the room and towards the stairway doorway, leaving a trail of dissipating black mist on its path. It's target was the tempting lingering spirit that did not belong to its floor.

Although there were rules in place to avoid consuming the lingering spirits on their own floor because they belong to the strongest spirits on the floor, this rule doesn't apply to outsiders! Such a delicious meal, it was hard for a mid-level baleful spirit to resist.

Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy for it to reach its goal. Although it flew forward fairly quickly, its neighbor's reaction wasn't slow. Just when it approached apartment 998, the door creaked opened as black mist spilled out from within and formed a wall to block the floating head's path.

Pausing in place, the rotten face on the floating head distorted in anger and fear as it glared at apartment 998. From the gap of the door, a pale corpse hand with bony fingers reached out and gripped the door.

The door was then slowly pulled open as black mist dramatically spilled out, as if some boss was about to show up. From within the darkness of the black mist, a humanoid figure in a opaque, black cloak slowly floated out.

The temperature near the door chilled as a thin layer of ice began to form on the ground and walls near the figure. If this was the H*rry P*tter universe, one may recognize that this evil spirit's image is very similar to the so-called dementor.

The floating head that had paused in the air growled angrily towards its competitor, but after a bit of deliberating in the freezing cold, it eventually decided to retreat back to its apartment, but not before giving a roar of false bravado. It won't admit it was afraid, it was just much warmer in its apartment.

Seeing the weakling leaving and noticing that its competitor across the hallway didn't take any action, the dementor spirit then slowly made its way towards its prey while leaving a thin trail of ice wherever it passes.

Seeing the impending doom coming towards him, Toi Toi had no obligation to sit still as he wasn't commanded to do so. Just when the dementor spirit dived through the air and pounced upon him, the mummy made of toilet paper tossed a roll of toilet paper out from within its body.

The toilet paper roll tumbled down the stairs, leaving a trail of toilet paper behind it. The dementor spirit that pounced on the empty shell moaned angrily because its prey escaped. The temperature dropped even more as the toilet paper mummy shell was frozen into a sculpture of ice.

The dementor spirit then dived down the stairs with its swift flying speed, chasing after its delicious prey that rolled away. The ninth floor door slowly creaked shut, sealing the prey's fate.

The hunter blindly chased its prey that quickly rolled down the stairs. It wasn't until it reached the eighth floor before it paused in place. It finally felt that something was wrong because it didn't sense the dense yin qi radiating off the eighth floor like it expected.

Recalling the recent disturbance in the stairway that it didn't pay much attention to before, the dementor spirit finally realized that there might be a dangerous hunter in the stairway. Otherwise, how could an entire floor of spirits disappear.

Knowing that it may be in danger, the dementor spirit stopped its hunt and wanted to escape back to its domain. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Pro, who was awaiting his prey, pounced through the wall of the eighth floor and clashed with the dementor spirit. His claws glinted in the air as they smashed down on the dementor and shredded parts of its black cloak to reveal a pale, skinny corpse underneath. His other claw followed and gave the brittle corpse a deep scar.

Wuuuuu! The dementor spirit moaned in pain as cold air exploded from its body. A thin layer of ice formed on the nearby ground and walls while Pro was turned into an ice sculpture.

The dementor spirit then moved its face closer as it attempted to suck out the life force of its trapped prey, but it felt like it was sucking a rock as the life force in front of it didn't even budge. Knowing that the target in front of it was not something it could fight, the dementor spirit hoped that its ice could restrain the target and intended to escape.

Unfortunately, this restraining effect only worked for moments before Pro easily broke out from within, causing shards of ice to sparkle through the air. Not letting his prey escape, Pro chased after his flying enemy while shooting it with yin needles.

The dementor spirit howled in pain as its weak body was pelted by needles that corroded it. It tried to delay its hunter by freezing him, but the strength difference was too great. Although it had a strong freezing ability and an ability to suck the life force of living individual, its hunter is able to ignore both of these abilities!

Facing a pro hunter, It didn't take long for the poor dementor spirit to weaken and dissipate. The expected cut-scene didn't ... get skipped. Pro was forced to watch a man hidden in a house as he observed a family home across the street.

"Don't think you can escape just because you washed your hands with a golden basin. I will pay you back for the pain that you have caused me a thousand fold!"

"I will torture your family like you did to mine! I will watch you despair and take away all your happiness."

"You will never be able to find me as I manipulate everything behind the scenes."

The scene then transitioned to a dark apartment room where the man was tied to a chair.

"No! Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?! I want my revenge! Let me get my revenge- nooo!"

The scene faded away as Pro glanced at the new notification with no pity for the man.

[Host has eliminated an intruder in your domain. Domain is now absorbing the remains of the intruder ...]

[Absorption completed. Intruder was determined to be a Top-Level Baleful Spirit. System Library updated with new info.]

[After absorbing a powerful spirit, host gains 1430 life points.]

"For a top-level baleful spirit, it was rather weak. Or maybe it just seemed that way because it has trashy defense. It's freezing skill and life force sucking skill would probably be lethal to most humans, and maybe even mystics won't survive if they didn't have strong enough strength to break through the ice. Most physical attacks probably won't work on it either, but my claws and yin needles could harm evil spirits even if they are in ghost form."

After a brief conclusion, Pro skipped down the stairs and located Toi Toi. The helpless Toi Toi was then commanded to go back to the eight floor to serve as bait once more.

With the opening and closing of the eighth floor door, the tenants were taunted once more. This time, the door to apartment 996 opened much quicker as the flying head floated out. It glanced at the mummy spirit sitting in the stairway with a confused face. What happened to the scary neighbor that went to chase after it?

However, it didn't think much further after that. Since it wasn't eaten by its neighbor, then it was his turn! Just when the flying head was about to fly pass apartment 999, the door creaked open as a fairly familiar wall of black mist blocked its path once more.

Dramatic black mist spilled out of apartment 999 as another dementor spirit floated out of the room. The floating head glared back at it and growled in frustration. Oi! You two just like c*ckblocking me huh? Just when one of them left, the other comes out!

After growling with false bravado, the floating head flew back to its apartment and slammed the door shut behind it. Humph! I won't bully you. We are completely on different levels, with me being on top of course.

Watching the weakling escape once more, the dementor spirit moaned as if mocking it before it flew towards its prey in the stairway. A very similar wild goose chase happened once more. Of course, the ending was fairly similar as well.

Watching the cut-scene of a lady seeking revenge by attempting to break apart a happy family but failed mid-way due to the intervention of a third-party, Pro rolled his eyes in annoyance over some of the idiocy of human emotions. Why would you spend so much time to plan a wonderful scheme that has so much variables in it and has a high chance of being dismantled? If you truly want revenge, just downright kill them. Simple and efficient.

With another 1440 points in his pockets, Pro sent Toi Toi back to the eighth floor. There was still one more spirit that he could easily fish up.

It didn't take long for Toi Toi to play around with the door before the floating head flew out from apartment 996. Glaring at the mummy spirit in the stairway and not seeing the two scary neighbors, it finally had an evil grin on its face. Finally, no one can stop me, you're mines!

The unsuspecting flying head, that probably lost its brain, chased after the rolling toilet paper. It didn't take long for it to be greeted by Pro's fist.

After a happy conversation using fists and claws, the ambushed floating head was turned into a splat on the concrete stairs. Its screams that served as mental attack didn't manage to attract any reinforcements as all the floors near the battlefield were empty.

It could only perish in the face of a pro hunter, leaving a cut-scene of a disposable spy trying to gain information about the Black Death Society, but was obviously discovered.

[Host has eliminated an intruder in your domain. Domain is now absorbing the remains of the intruder ...]

[Absorption completed. Intruder was determined to be a Mid-Level Baleful Spirit. System Library updated with new info.]

[After absorbing a powerful spirit, host gains 930 life points.]

After clearing the evil spirits guarding the stairway door, Pro had enough confidence to sneak into the ninth floor. Of course, it's only at the end of the hallway that he cleared. He didn't want to end up getting trapped in an illusion by walking pass apartments he didn't clear.

Sneaking into the ninth floor hallway, Pro sneakily went through the apartment rooms of the three baleful spirits he hunted. He luckily found three possession objects that still had yin qi dissipating from them. Bringing them back to his domain, he easily earned a small amount of 210 free points.

Glancing at his total of 23160 points, Pro could already feel the taste of freedom ever so close. However, he did not rush. Although he could knock on the door of a ninth floor tenant and complete his hunt, it wasn't worth it to disturb a whole floor of spirits that may potentially have a blood spirit at the other end. His senses can't reach that far yet, and Pro didn't want to take the gamble.

If a blood spirit chased Toi Toi into his domain, Pro won't mind harvesting it, but the chances of that happening would be low. A lingering spirit may not be too appetizing for a blood spirit, and Pro didn't want to sacrifice Alice or Ali.

"Only 2000 more points. I can wait. I'll just call the police a couple more times. Maybe I can also get some deliveries as well because I haven't called for those in a while. While I wait, I can spend some more time to plan out my escape and book my tickets with the credit cards I harvested from the recent batch of visitors."

With this thought, Pro returned to his bedroom on the fourth floor and began making calls. The daylight was fading away, but visitors can come even at night as long as there was enough incentive, and Pro had plenty of credit cards to use.