Under the "Fierce Ghosts Prohibited" rule, the ghost of Room 413 couldn’t manipulate her mind.

However, it could make her recall the memories that had been sealed away.

"Legally speaking, all of our family’s remaining assets were auctioned off to compensate the victims. My parents also died in the fire, and that was the end of the official incident.

"But the grief of the victims’ families, the agony of those who burned to death in the blaze because they couldn’t be rescued in time... it’s like a curse that will never end."

Xia Ta spoke, narrating her own past as if from a third-person perspective.

"After that incident, I dropped out of school. I moved to a small house in the countryside.

"The matter didn’t just vanish into thin air with my parents’ deaths. On the contrary, it was just beginning.

"Every time I closed my eyes, I could hear the children who died in that fire crying in my ear, over and over. They were in so much pain, a pain that not even death could stop.

"One of the victim’s family members found me. No amount of compensation could ever soothe the pain of losing his child. He pointed at my face and asked me, again and again, why the daughter of the murderer who caused all this was still living just fine in this world, while his own child had gone to the next. Was that fair? Was there any justice in this world?

"The immense mental pressure, combined with the constant supernatural incidents happening around me—as if the victims’ spirits were coming to claim my life—finally broke me. My mind began to collapse. Unable to bear such a heavy past, my brain actively sealed away my memories. It was a form of self-preservation, but it also caused me to forget my past and everything related to my parents.

"For others, entering the Living Human Apartment is a kind of Hell. For me, it’s a peaceful sanctuary. Since I started hiding here, the souls of those children haven’t haunted me, and I’ve finally been able to live a rare, quiet life.

"It is only right that children should pay for the sins of their parents. I used this cowardly method to escape the heavy burden that I was supposed to bear. I always thought I could keep hiding like this, for the rest of my life."

A terrible answer was already forming in Gao Tian’s mind:

"This fire... when, roughly, did it happen?"

Xia Ta:

"About ten years ago.

"Or was it twelve years ago? Thirteen? I can’t remember."

Gao Tian felt his heart lurch.

The timeline matched up.

The Children’s Home that Lin Nan’an had mentioned appeared seven years ago.

They only recruit children because they, too, were once children.

Only children could persuade other children to go upstairs.

Gao Tian struggled to ask:

"Do you think the Children’s Home is some monstrous creation born from that fire?"

Xia Ta:

"In the Inner World, the birth of every supernatural location corresponds to an event in the real world.

"I don’t know if the Living Human Apartment is like that, but it now seems there’s a subtle connection between the apartment and the Inner World."

The Children’s Home, a room in the Living Human Apartment, was born from the fire thirteen years ago. Generations of residents have had to pay with their lives to atone for the sins of Xia Ta’s parents.

Gao Tian pressed on:

"So, you think the two desiccated corpses on the sofa are your parents’ remains?

"And the TV hosts calling you their ’good girl’... that’s the call of your parents’ spirits?"

Xia Ta:

"That’s right.

"At first, I genuinely didn’t realize that these two desiccated corpses were what remained of my parents after the fire."

’So when Lan Chu dragged away one of the bodies with a dog chain before fleeing, they dragged away Xia Ta’s mom?’

’That’s insane.’

And the "supernatural subsidence" that occurred every seven years was actually the reawakening of the Children’s Home on the fifth floor.

Marbles rolling down to the lower floors, women’s hair appearing in faucets... All these signs were a collective outbreak, the psychological trauma of countless people from that year made manifest.

Xia Ta:

"The apartment’s suppressive power is still in effect.

"The true form of the ghost upstairs can’t come downstairs at all, let alone attack residents on the second and third floors.

"These supernatural signs, by themselves, can’t harm the living residents inside the apartment.

"But once most of the living people on a floor have been killed or driven away, the empty floors and rooms are slowly encroached upon by the ghost from upstairs, becoming a new forbidden zone.

"The last batch of residents failed to hold their floor. They were wiped out, which is why the fourth floor is now also occupied by the ghost.

"This is a game of wits between humans and ghosts. If our group loses, then the third floor will become a forbidden zone, too."

’But why can’t the other rooms affect the living areas on the second and third floors? Why only the Children’s Home? What makes it so special compared to the others?’

’And if the ghosts can’t come downstairs, then what was that child who appeared in my room the other day?’

Suddenly, Gao Tian understood Xia Ta’s subtext.

Gao Tian:

"You’re saying the ghosts still can’t get down to the third floor?"

Xia Ta:

"That’s right."

Gao Tian:

"So, the only ones who can come down from the fourth floor... are living people, right?

"Their goal is to drive us all out, just like they did to the last group of residents, and turn the third floor into another home for the ghosts."

Xia Ta:

"You’re exactly right."

The truth was finally coming to light.

So that’s why they were luring so many children upstairs. The new kids, like Xiaoding’s little one and Old Wang’s child, were all living people.

And living people, of course, could move freely between the second and third floors, unrestricted by the apartment’s rules.

Xia Ta:

"In the Children’s Home, a group of special ’companions’ keeps them company, playing, roughhousing, and living alongside them.

"After those children have lived in the Children’s Home for a long time, their brains, memories, and perceptions are all altered. Their sense of self is no longer human.

"So when they go downstairs to attack living people—those they don’t consider their own kind—they feel no psychological burden at all.

"Even the inhabitants of the fifth floor treat them as their own kind. Under the protection of the Children’s Home, the ghosts won’t attack them because they need the children’s living bodies to go downstairs.

"They’re just like those feral children our team encountered when we first went up to the fourth floor.

"They are all living people."

This also explained why a group of children had suddenly appeared in the hallway for no reason.

The list of rules Yu Sheng wrote down stated that the apartment’s original residents would not willingly leave their rooms.

This group of children weren’t original residents at all—they were outsiders to begin with.

But the soccer ball they kicked—the human head—was a ghost. That’s why Zhao Zhenjia’s puppet still triggered the death rule when it touched it.

Gao Tian:

"I have one more question."

Xia Ta:

"Go on."

Gao Tian:

"How did that group of kids from seven years ago survive upstairs for so long?

"Once they went up, what did they live on? And in seven years, if they became adults in the Children’s Home, what would happen? Would they still be ’accepted’ by their companions?"

Xia Ta:

"The Children’s Home only accepts children. It won’t accept adults. It won’t even accept adult ghosts.

"As for your question, that situation would never happen.

"Because the children who go to the fifth floor never grow up."

She explained further:

"The apartment opens roughly once every seven years. After the last group of residents was wiped out, it remained sealed for a long time, waiting for the next to move in.

"The awakening of the Children’s Home is synchronized with the apartment’s opening, becoming active once every seven years.

"For most of that time, the living children in the Children’s Home are also asleep. They sleep for seven years at a time, almost like hibernation. During these seven years, their physical growth is nearly zero, and they require very little sustenance.

"As for what they eat to survive when they do wake up... you don’t want to know."

Gao Tian had a pretty good idea.

’What is there an abundance of upstairs?’

’Ghosts.’

’There would be no shortage of corpses and blood.’

As the two of them spoke, the TV behind them—which had returned to normal—began to change. The black sludge flowing from the eyes and mouths of the two hosts increased, spilling over the screen and starting to spread into Room 413.

"Our good, good girl... we haven’t seen you in so many years... we never thought you’d grow so big... We... we almost didn’t recognize you.

"But no matter how big you get... in our eyes... you will always be a child, a... little girl who needs to be looked after.

"The world outside is too dangerous... Come to your parents’ arms... We’ll take you to a beautiful place... a carefree kindergarten... There... all you’ll have to do is eat, drink... and play with everyone.

"Mommy and Daddy... won’t let any of the ghosts outside threaten you."

Xia Ta cast one last glance at Gao Tian.

"When the TV’s curse activated in Room 413 just now, I should have been transported to the Children’s Home.

"The four of you were supposed to be transported to separate rooms and picked off one by one by different killing rules.

"But because Lan Chu dragged away my mother’s corpse before leaving, the activation of the Supernatural Artifact malfunctioned. I was left behind, and you all weren’t transported to your designated rooms in the correct numbers.

"Regardless, the creation of the Children’s Home is a sin my parents committed when they were alive. Now that we’ve pinpointed the source of the ghost, I think I know how to end this."

She slowly turned around and actually began to walk toward the two hosts on the TV screen.

"Are you crazy, Xia Ta?!"

Gao Tian yelled at her retreating back,

"That was your parents’ doing! It has nothing to do with you!

"Come back with me! We’re all waiting for you in the hallway. We can figure this out together. Don’t just go off to die alone!"

Xia Ta stopped walking.

Gao Tian thought she’d heard him and had a change of heart.

The next moment, she only turned her head to glance in his direction.

"Don’t worry. The one they really want is me.

"I know my parents best. I have a good idea of what they want to do.

"I’ll go up there and take care of everything.

"The mission for the upstairs team is officially over. Thank you all for your hard work. Now, you need to go back to the third floor and stand by."