Chapter 45

Zhou Fangdong forced himself to stop staring at the reward pop-ups. With a powerful display of willpower, he closed them all. He then turned to Hong Zhong, his expression calm and face devoid of emotion. “I have things to attend to, so I’ll head back first. Take your time packing your bags.”

Without waiting for Hong Zhong’s reaction, he decisively teleported back to his room.

Hong Zhong had just raised his hand, the words to ask him to stay still on his lips, when he saw the Landlord vanish into thin air.

His outstretched hand faltered mid-air, and he scratched his head awkwardly.

Forget it, there was no rush. Since he had successfully moved in, he would surely run into the Landlord again in the future.

The moment he returned to his room, Zhou Fangdong impatiently opened all the main quest reward pop-ups.

[Main Quest Reward: ① All upgradeable skills increased by one level.]

[Detection: Host simultaneously possesses [Gentle Mind Reading] and the passive skill [Plucking Feathers from a Passing Goose]. The compatibility between these two skills is extremely high; merging and upgrading…]

[Gentle Mind Reading] + [Plucking Feathers from a Passing Goose] —— [Advanced Skill: Soul Siphon]

[Soul Siphon]

Skill Description: Upon activation, you can read a ghost’s memories simply by looking at them, without needing physical contact.

This skill carries a powerful deterrent buff. During the memory-reading process, ghosts who have completely submitted to you will proactively offer varying amounts of Ghost Coins to avoid being killed.

(Note: This skill will fail against special ghosts of excessively high level or ghosts that have lost all sanity.)

Looking at the description of this upgraded skill, Zhou Fangdong suddenly felt a wave of emotion.

Was there a more perfect skill in this world?

He would never have to worry about Ghost Coins again. After all, if Liwan Apartments had nothing else, it certainly had plenty of ghosts. Whenever he was short on cash, he could just grab a few ghosts and stare at them. It couldn’t be more convenient.

Zhou Fangdong continued to check the other skill upgrade descriptions.

Skill 3, [Eyes of True Essence], had upgraded into [Advanced Skill: Ghost Pupils].

[Ghost Pupils]

Skill Description: Using this skill allows you not only to see a ghost’s appearance before death but also to clearly perceive abnormal supernatural fluctuations and predict the movement trajectories of low-level ghosts.

The [Ghost Pupils] skill carries an inherent deterrent buff. When active, low-level ghosts cannot look you in the eye, and even high-level ghosts dare not maintain eye contact for long.

When used on humans, you can see their Favorability values. Humans with weak willpower may lose consciousness for a short time under the influence of this skill, becoming obedient puppets.

The more Zhou Fangdong looked at the upgraded Ghost Pupils skill, the more he liked it.

He hadn’t expected that what was originally his most useless skill would become so powerful after upgrading.

After closing the [Ghost Pupils] pop-up, Zhou Fangdong mentally prepared himself and summoned the courage to open the attack skill he least wanted to see.

[Eerie Shrine] had upgraded to [Half-Body Shrine].

[Half-Body Shrine]

Skill Description: It is you, and you are it. You were once inseparable, and one day, you shall be one again.

Usage: If the summoned shrine is dilapidated, please offer four sticks of Offering Incense. If the summoned shrine is brand new, please offer three sticks of Offering Incense.

This was the third upgrade for this skill. Zhou Fangdong remembered that when he first drew it, it was the [Strange Shrine], and using it back then required three sticks of Offering Incense.

Looking at the change in the number of incense sticks, Zhou Fangdong thought of something and asked:

“System, in my old world, there was a saying about offering incense: ‘Three for gods, four for ghosts¹.’ You offer three sticks to worship a deity, but four to commemorate the deceased.”

“Does this mean the two states of this skill represent one without side effects and one with? If I summon the brand-new shrine, I won’t eat ghosts, but if I summon the dilapidated one, I will?”

[The Host may understand it that way. Although the [Brand-New Shrine] lasts for a shorter duration than the [Dilapidated Shrine], it carries no side effects and will not trigger the Dementia Debuff.]

Zhou Fangdong sighed softly. “I see.”

No wonder the system had suggested he keep upgrading it. As the skill level increased, its side effects would likely grow smaller and smaller until they vanished entirely.

By then, it would be a perfect offensive skill.

However, he currently only had two Skill Points, which wasn’t enough to level the skill up again. If a situation arose where he absolutely had to use it in the meantime, he could only pray to draw the brand-new shrine.

A fifty percent chance wasn’t bad; it wasn’t too low.

Zhou Fangdong glanced at the unlocked skills on his character attribute panel. Currently, only the [Provider] skill remained unupgraded.

[Provider] was a bloodline skill, so it was normal that it couldn’t be leveled up. Since the skill consumed a fixed half of his health, if he wanted to enhance its effects, he would need to manually add points to his Health Bar.

Zhou Fangdong closed the skill upgrade interfaces and continued to check the remaining quest rewards.

Main Quest Reward ② was a canister of kerosene lamp oil, which was equivalent to the system giving him thirty thousand Ghost Coins for free.

When did his formerly black-hearted, profiteering system become so generous?

Was it because he had eroded two of the Main God’s instances over the past two days? Had the power he stole from the Main God replenished the system’s energy consumption?

Recalling the small fireworks the system had set off after his successful Instance Erosion, Zhou Fangdong made a silent vow.

In the future, he would have to work even harder to pluck feathers from the Main God.

Eroding the Main God’s instances replenished the system’s energy; with sufficient energy, the rewards became more generous; with better rewards, his strength would grow; and with more strength, he could erode the Main God’s instances even faster. A perfect positive feedback loop—it was brilliant!

Moving on to Main Quest Reward ③, the system gave him a socketable Landlord-exclusive item.

③ [Accessory: Blood-Stained Pendant (Damaged)]

(Landlord-exclusive item, non-salable)

Item Effect: Stabilizes the mind. Increases the Spirit Bar by a fixed 25% when worn.

The [Landlord’s Clothing] Zhou Fangdong was currently wearing had a total of four item sockets. Only two were currently occupied: one by the [Kerosene Lamp] and one by the [Landlord’s Key].

Without much thought, he placed the pendant into one of the empty sockets.

Unlike other Landlord-exclusive items, this one didn’t seem to have a socketing bonus; it appeared to be a rather ordinary item.

Once successfully socketed, an oval brass pendant appeared around Zhou Fangdong’s neck.

It was the kind of locket that could be opened to hold a photo, but its surface was stained with blood. The blood happened to be right on the clasp, rusting it shut and making it impossible to open and see the photo inside.

Zhou Fangdong toyed with the pendant. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before.

…If he couldn’t remember, he wouldn’t dwell on it. He moved on to the other rewards.

Main Quest Reward ④ was also an item, named [The Peddler’s Invoice].

Zhou Fangdong retrieved it and found it was a worn-out notebook with yellowed pages.

He checked the item description.

[The Peddler’s Invoice]

Item Description: Tear a page from this notebook and write down the items you wish to consign at the Ghost Market. The Peddler will appear and help you transport the goods to the Ghost Market.

Note 1: This item was crafted from unpaid debts the Peddler previously owed to the apartments. No additional Ghost Coins are required when asking the Peddler to transport goods.

Note 2: Once the pages in this notebook are used up, you will no longer be able to summon The Peddler at will.

This item was very practical. It was equivalent to having a free delivery boy to help him sell goods, saving him the trouble of wasting exploration attempts to teleport to the Ghost Market.

After putting [The Peddler’s Order Form] into his inventory, Zhou Fangdong wanted to check the other rewards, only to find that the subsequent pop-ups were not Main Mission rewards.

Ah… that’s it?

It seemed that the flurry of pop-ups just now hadn’t all been for the Main Mission; some were likely the interface for his skill upgrades, which made it look like a lot.

Well, he couldn’t be too greedy. The rewards for this Main Mission were already quite generous.

Zhou Fangdong glanced at the remaining pop-ups. One was the reward for Side Mission 7, completed after he successfully rented out Room 106. He had gained 300 Ghost Coins, 1,000 Experience Points, and one random Skill Point.

He now had three Skill Points in his possession, though he still needed another thousand Experience Points to level up again.

“System, can I use the three Skill Points I have now to upgrade the [Half-Body Shrine]?”

[Host does not possess enough Skill Points. Upgrading this skill again requires fifteen Skill Points.]

That’s a lot… looks like I’ll have to save up for a while.

While Zhou Fangdong was happily reviewing his harvest of rewards, Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu had already taken the Ghost Bus to the stop near Penghu Gardens.

Penghu Gardens was an old residential area. Before the supernatural incidents broke out, the residents were mostly elderly people.

During the early days of the supernatural outbreaks, some people foresaw the future of the rental market and purchased a batch of these old, dilapidated units. Once the rental prices in the city center skyrocketed, they rented them out at high prices.

Currently, the neighborhood had transformed from a decaying, desolate old complex into a primary residential area for wealthy middle-class families and high-earning white-collar workers.

After Miao Zheng accompanied Xiao Xiaoyu to Unit 2 of Penghu Gardens, they discovered that her parents had already moved away. Her original home had been sold during the early stages of the supernatural outbreaks, and it was now being rented by someone else.

When the two of them knocked on the door, a strange man walked out of Xiao Xiaoyu’s former home.

Under the man’s suspicious gaze, Miao Zheng made the excuse that they had the wrong place and led Xiao Xiaoyu back into the stairwell.

Looking at Xiao Xiaoyu standing dejectedly on the steps, Miao Zheng comforted her softly, “Your parents might have sold the house just to find you. After all, it’s impossible to work while searching for a missing child, and the financial cost is immense… Let’s look around the neighborhood. We might find a missing person’s notice left by your parents. It might have their current contact information on it.”

On the way over, Xiao Xiaoyu had told Miao Zheng about her general experience.

Miao Zheng learned that she had been taken from this world ten years ago by the Main God System, and had been struggling to survive in various Supernatural Instances ever since.

She never expected that besides the ghosts roaming this world, there was actually such a human-trafficking-like, bizarre Main God System. Even a child this young was squeezed like a beast of burden by that system; it was truly despicable.

“It’s okay, I anticipated this possibility before coming here… but if I didn’t come in person, I wouldn’t be able to let it go,” Xiao Xiaoyu said softly. “I’m not looking down because I’m sad; I’m looking because I saw something.”

Xiao Xiaoyu pointed downward. “Although my eyes can’t see things normally, I can see abnormal supernatural fluctuations. I saw this kind of supernatural power on the floors below. It’s not aggressive; it’s more like a kind of link…”

At this point, she paused and asked again, “Which floor are we on now?”

Xiao Xiaoyu’s old home was on the eighth floor. This old complex had no elevator. After leaving that household, the two had returned to the stairwell and were slowly walking down the stairs.

Miao Zheng glanced at the floor number above the stair landing and replied, “We’re on the sixth floor.”

“Then let’s go to the fifth floor and check. There are only two households per floor in each unit of this complex, so it’s easy to narrow down.”

Miao Zheng nodded.

She might as well accompany the little sister since she had nothing else to do. Besides, the girl said the supernatural power wasn’t aggressive, so there shouldn’t be any danger in looking.

Despite thinking this, Miao Zheng still took out the Ghost Expelling Talisman the landlord had given her and gripped it in her palm.

The two arrived on the fifth floor. Xiao Xiaoyu looked at the doors on both sides and finally chose the household on the west side.

Miao Zheng stepped forward and knocked.

A long-haired girl wearing pajamas opened the door. She was yawning, with heavy dark circles under her eyes. She looked listless, as if she hadn’t slept well.

She looked at Miao Zheng, then at Xiao Xiaoyu, and asked in confusion, “Hello? Can I help you with something?”

Before Miao Zheng could speak, Xiao Xiaoyu spoke up: “Have you encountered any strange people lately?” As she spoke, she pointed toward the bedroom. “There, it should be where your bed and pillow are. What did you put there?”

Zhu Di froze, looking at the blind young girl in shock.

What was going on today? In the morning, she had met a Skullcap Master² who saw at a glance that she was troubled by nightmares and gave her a calming talisman.

Now at noon, a strange little girl appeared. They had never met before, yet she could accurately point out the direction of the bedroom and even say there was a talisman under her pillow… this was too miraculous!

Wait, no… something seemed wrong.

Zhu Di thought of something else, and her expression suddenly changed.

Could these two be in cahoots with that Skullcap Master?

Perhaps that Skullcap Master really did have some skill, but he probably also really wanted to scam her for money. He acted like he didn’t care about wealth and said he was helping her for free, but in reality, he sent two accomplices over immediately after leaving to play ghost and trick her.

One plays the good cop, one plays the bad cop³—the old routine.

Adopting a “let’s see you try to perform” posture, Zhu Di sneered and said, “Are you going to tell me next that the talisman under my pillow has some kind of curse effect that will ruin my health, and then try to sell me some new talisman to break the curse?”

“We aren’t selling talismans…” Xiao Xiaoyu looked distressed, seemingly unsure of how to gain the girl’s trust.

“We aren’t scammers.” Miao Zheng directly took out her phone, opened her video account homepage, and showed it to Zhu Di.

“I’m a supernatural streamer. My account is certified by the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight. I specialize in exploring supernatural locations or recording abnormal supernatural fluctuations to report to the Bureau. When we passed your home, we noticed some abnormal supernatural energy, so we came to disturb you.”

Zhu Di’s eyes widened as she looked at the video homepage with the nickname [Zheng, Are You For Real?].

She instantly swept away her previous distrust and excitedly grabbed Miao Zheng’s hand. “You’re Zheng! I’m your fan! I especially love your first-person perspective haunted house exploration videos! That Female Ghost Sister livestream you did recently was also super interesting! I really didn’t expect to meet you in real life—can we take a photo together?”

Hearing that the girl was her fan and even wanted a photo, Miao Zheng was overjoyed. she said repeatedly, “Yes, yes, of course! A photo is no problem at all, you can take as many as you want! Do you want an autographed photo too?”

With that, the two hugged affectionately. Miao Zheng put her arm around Zhu Di’s shoulder and took many photos with Zhu Di’s phone. She even used a Polaroid she carried with her to produce a photo, signed it, and gave it to her.

Zhu Di took the phone excitedly, and the two of them hugged each other once again.

Xiao Xiaoyu silently took a few steps back, leaving the space by the doorway to the two hyper-emotional girls.

Because she had never been exposed to the internet before leaving this world, Xiao Xiaoyu found it difficult to understand behavior that fell so far outside her realm of knowledge—it was just a video account, so how did that girl transform from a state of high alert to such excitement, acting as if she had just reunited with a long-lost friend?

Was Miao Zheng’s phone actually some kind of magical item that could instantly increase Favorability?

Once the “fan meeting” concluded and Miao Zheng requested to see the talisman under the pillow, Zhu Di agreed without a second thought.

She jogged back into the bedroom, retrieved the talisman the Skullcap Master had given her that morning, and handed it over to Miao Zheng.

Miao Zheng looked at the triangular-folded talisman for a moment. Unable to see anything wrong with it, she passed it to Xiao Xiaoyu.

Xiao Xiaoyu took the talisman and breathed a sigh of relief.

Regardless of the method used, they had achieved the purpose of their visit.

She held the talisman and observed it carefully with her Yin-Yang Eyes for a while, finally confirming her suspicions.

There was indeed something wrong with this talisman; it was likely some kind of cursed item.

The supernatural power extending from it was connected to an unknown, mysterious entity. That unknown thing could very likely use the talisman to access the girl’s memories, manipulate her actions, or perhaps even use it to possess her body.

Fortunately, they had arrived in time, and the girl hadn’t been in contact with the talisman for long. Now that the talisman was being taken away, the girl shouldn’t be in any further danger.

Xiao Xiaoyu nodded to Miao Zheng, signaling that the talisman was indeed problematic.

Seeing this, Miao Zheng spoke directly to Zhu Di. “There’s something wrong with this talisman. It might harm you, so we need to confiscate it.”

Hearing Miao Zheng say the talisman was dangerous, Zhu Di felt a wave of lingering fear.

Miao Zheng was a supernatural streamer certified by the Bureau of Investigation; if she said there was a problem, then it was definitely a supernatural issue that an ordinary person couldn’t handle.

As expected, free things always ended up being the most expensive. That Skullcap Master wasn’t trying to scam her money—he was after her life.

“No problem, if you need it, just take it,” Zhu Di thanked them repeatedly. “Thank goodness you found it in time. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if I stayed with this thing much longer.”

After checking the main quest rewards, Zhou Fangdong had intended to look at the newly unlocked Tenant Illustrated Guide for Hong Zhong and the reward for reaching one hundred Favorability with Zhang Zhiwu.

But at that moment, three pop-up windows suddenly flashed one after another on his Special Tenant Watchlist.

[Warning! High-risk warning! It has been detected that the tenants of Room 105 and Room 109 have come into contact with a cursed item carrying the aura of an Evil God! There is a possibility of contamination!]

[Warning! Please teleport these two tenants to Chuyun Temple immediately to recover the cursed item! Clear the Evil God marks from their bodies!]

[Until the purification is complete, these two tenants are forbidden from entering Liwan Apartments! These two tenants are forbidden from entering Liwan Apartments!!]

The text in the pop-ups was a glaring, blood-red color, radiating an overwhelming sense of danger.

This was the first time Zhou Fangdong had seen a pop-up entirely in red. It startled him so much that he stood up abruptly, calling out to the system in his mind with a hint of panic:

“System! What’s going on? How am I supposed to teleport them to Chuyun Temple? Can tenants be teleported directly too?”

Translator’s Notes