I Manage Properties in Strange Instances

[Rules Horror + Subverting Expectations + Breaking the Deadlock with Property Management Procedures + Mystery]

At 1:40 a.m., someone in the residents' group chat tagged the property manager: "Someone's knocking on the door of Room 402. They've been at it for an hour."

But Building 7 in Jinhua Gardens didn't even have a fourth floor.

Night-shift security guard Zhou Zheng replied, "Complaint logged. I'll be right over." He stepped through the door and never came back.

A notice titled "Resident Guidelines" was posted on the wall: If someone knocks after 10 p.m., do not answer. This building has no fourth floor. Follow the rules and you will safely make it through three days.

Someone had just died. While everyone else was shaking with fear, Zhou Zheng frowned at the paper:

"No signature, no date, no notice period. Who issued these guidelines?"

The rules could kill people, but they had to follow the rules too.

They only took effect after being posted, and written objections could be submitted during the three-day notice period. If someone died, whoever made the rules would be held responsible.

With a notebook and a pen, he went door to door, getting every household to sign for the notice.

But someone had scratched out the third rule on the first page of the notebook.

The fire three years ago. The rectification notice nobody ever acted on. The name written in the handler's box was his own...