Rules for Residents of Apartment 404

The Rules for Residents of Apartment 404 1. You may not leave the apartment grounds after midnight. 2. You may not tell anyone who does not live in the apartment about its true nature. 3. You may not move out without the property management's permission. 4. Property management hours: Monday to Friday, midnight to 3 a.m. Closed on weekends. 5. Littering and throwing things from high places are forbidden, even if the thing being thrown is yourself. Reality is like a bag of assorted-flavor jelly beans: you never know what flavor the next one will be. After quitting her job, Xin Bai found a cheap apartment to stay in temporarily. She was prepared for aging facilities, a terrible environment, and management that had vanished without a trace. She thought she had covered all her bases, but reality still knocked her for a loop. Apartment 404: convenient transport, low rent, friendly neighbors. The only drawback is that tenants have to sign a long-term lease: the kind where you might never be able to move out for the rest of your life. From then on, whether on the last subway of the night, in an empty alley, inside a rising elevator, or among her coworkers, familiar online friends, and the woman running the street-food stall, anyone could become part of the backdrop to a ghost story, or even the center of one. And Xin Bai is the poor soul who gets stuck as the protagonist. From the moment she stepped into the apartment, the legends that existed only in stories became events fated to happen in her life. Reader's guide: 1. More plot, less romance. 2. Supernatural horror. 3. Mildly scary. It should be only mildly scary, since I'm a coward. 4. The idea of not being allowed to leave after midnight came from the 2006 Japanese horror film Ghost House Tales. Here's a new story of mine. It's already underway. Visit my profile to find it: The Strongest Card Maker in the Stars Here's another new story of mine. It's already underway~ Visit my profile to find it~ Interstellar Card Maker, But Mythology Style After Lin Xi dies suddenly, she wakes up in the interstellar era, inhabiting the body of a pitiful girl whose parents neither love nor care for her. In this world, card makers and card wielders are the most prestigious professions. Unfortunately, the original owner's mental power is only Grade D, nowhere near the threshold for either career. Compared with her older sister, a card wielder, and her older brother, a card maker, the original owner is the neglected member of the family, someone her parents are ashamed to mention. What's more, at just nineteen, the original owner is personally sent by her parents aboard a spaceship bound for a frontier planet. Then the original owner dies in an accident aboard the ship, and Lin Xi wakes up in her place. Lin Xi: Fine, so I'm going to a dangerous frontier planet. As long as I'm willing to work hard, there's always a way through any difficulty. If you want to live, you have to eat. If you want to eat, you have to make money first. After tests reveal that her mental power meets the requirements for becoming a card maker, Lin Xi enrolls in a card-making school to learn more techniques. Then she makes a spectacular debut. When she meets her family again, it's at the Interstellar Card Wielder Tournament. Facing her stunned brother and sister, Lin Xi reveals her cards. "Jingwei bears tiny twigs, determined to fill the boundless sea." A black bird with a white beak and red claws spreads its wings. The falling twigs, sharp as needles, rain down over a wide area upon Lin Xi's opponents. "Xing Tian dances with shield and axe, his fierce resolve ever unbroken." A headless giant appears with a roar, wielding a sharp axe in one hand and a shield in the other. It charges at its already trembling enemies. Lin Xi stands onstage wearing the Red Armillary Sash, holding the Fire-Tipped Spear, riding the Wind-Fire Wheels, and sporting a gleaming Universe Ring on her chest. She grins and says, "I borrowed this gear from the Great God of the Three Altars and Seas. Don't be jealous. You don't have the connections." After all, these myths have been passed down in my family! Reader's guide: 1. More plot, less romance. 2. Slow burn. 3. Updates promptly at 9 a.m. If I haven't said otherwise and it's more than an hour late, I probably forgot to schedule it. Please remind me. Thanks. 4. I'll do my best to keep the story logically consistent. Questions are welcome, but please don't get hostile. P.S.: "Jingwei bears tiny twigs, determined to fill the boundless sea. Xing Tian dances with shield and axe, his fierce resolve ever unbroken." From Tao Yuanming's Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas Theme: Be resilient and keep an optimistic outlook