Chapter 52

The North Suburb Abandoned Hospital… Zhou Fangdong remembered now. There was indeed a red dot near a hospital in the northern suburbs on the map exploration interface.

He could have Hong Zhong go check it out tomorrow. There were likely many ordinary people imprisoned there, and even if there weren’t, capturing a few cultists would be worthwhile.

“I understand.” Zhou Fangdong tucked the business card into his Inventory. Seeing that the vendor had nothing more to say, he gripped the blade and the paper doll heads and teleported back to the apartments.

Not long after he returned to the apartments, dawn broke.

The familiar system pop-up appeared once again:

[Dynamic Event: Night Attack of a Hundred Ghosts (Countdown: 12 days)]

Zhou Fangdong opened the rental preview interface and took a look. Seeing that Hong Zhong was already awake, he gripped the blade and teleported directly into Room 106.

Hearing the sound of chains as someone appeared out of thin air, Hong Zhong, who was on the floor doing push-ups, paused his movements and looked up in confusion.

He was immediately met with a massive, shimmering blade that looked like an executioner’s sword, positioned extremely close to his head.

Fortunately, the person holding the blade was the Landlord… Hong Zhong stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Landlord, do you have business with me?”

It was barely past five in the morning, and the sky was just beginning to lighten. To seek him out this early, there must be an emergency.

“I’ve discovered a location where the Sigu Society might be imprisoning ordinary people. I’d like you to take a team there today to handle it.”

Zhou Fangdong gave him the detailed address of the North Suburb Abandoned Hospital he had just learned about in the Ghost Market.

Hong Zhong’s expression turned serious. “Understood. I’ll pack my gear and lead the team out immediately.”

Zhou Fangdong dragged the massive executioner’s blade out of Room 106.

…To be honest, this thing was a bit heavy. Why had it felt as light as a piece of paper when he was using Mu Yuechan’s body last night?

Zhou Fangdong arrived at the Liwan Apartments activity room.

Using the [Ghost Pupils] skill to control the five cultists had been unexpectedly easy. Zhou Fangdong had thought their willpower would be firmer.

…Then again, no one with a functioning brain joins a cult.

Zhou Fangdong commanded the five cultists to march up to the second floor in a grand procession.

The flesh and blood in the second-floor corridor had grown back significantly. Qian Duolai and the other two were diligently clearing it away.

Zhou Fangdong first manipulated the cultists to use the Blood Compass, neutralizing the Flesh Ganoderma curse on Qian Duolai and his companions.

While the three of them were still in a state of confusion, Zhou Fangdong placed the paper doll heads on their necks. To prevent them from being caught in the crossfire later, he kicked them directly down the stairs.

Shortly after Qian Duolai and the others tumbled down, a mutation began to occur within the cultists whose heads had turned into three masses of meat paste. Their bodies collapsed rapidly like melting wax statues, soon losing their human forms. Only three puddles of dark red meat paste remained on the ground, slowly writhing as they devoured the fresh flesh in the hallway.

Afterward, Zhou Fangdong once again controlled the remaining two cultists to use the Blood Compass to neutralize the curse of the constantly growing flesh in the corridor.

This also went very smoothly. The crazed growth of flesh on the walls, floor, and ceiling vanished instantly. In its place, two complete human figures with heads slowly appeared in the hallway.

Before Zhou Fangdong could get a clear look at the two men, the two cultists suffered a backlash from the Blood Compass’s side effects and exploded like fireworks of gore.

This time, the flesh curse erupted with abnormal speed. The fragments of meat scattered on the ground rapidly grew into massive, crimson lumps of flesh as tall as a person, encroaching on the entire hallway at a terrifying pace.

Quan Wuming and Ming Wuqian, having regained their human bodies, appeared amidst the flesh of the Flesh Ganoderma. Their faces were still blank with confusion, and they were on the verge of being swallowed by the redoubled eruption of gore…

In this critical moment, Zhou Fangdong hurriedly swung the giant blade in his hand, attempting to shatter the surging torrent of flesh surrounding the two men—

[Insufficient balance. This special item requires a top-up to use.]

Zhou Fangdong: ???

Damn it! No wonder that Butcher Shop Owner didn’t ask for money up front!!

The situation was too dire to worry about it. Since he had gained two thousand for free yesterday anyway, Zhou Fangdong directly topped up the blade with five hundred.

Though the blade was a money sink, its effects were no joke. After the Ghost Coins were deposited, the giant blade actually began to move on its own.

Red baleful energy wrapped around the blade’s body. Amidst the clanking of chains, several cold flashes of light streaked out. Wherever the blade pointed, the Flesh Ganoderma was repelled and blasted apart, rendered into countless fragments that scattered on the ground, quickly withering and losing the vitality to regrow.

Despite its massive size and clumsy appearance, the giant blade was incredibly agile and swift in motion, striking wherever he directed it, moving according to his will.

Combined with the meat chunks constantly flying, exploding, and falling to the ground, the tactile feedback and rhythm gave Zhou Fangdong the sensation that he was playing Fruit Ninja.

When Quan Wuming and Ming Wuqian regained consciousness, what they saw was a figure like a ghost-god.

The massive blade, radiating terrifying blood-red baleful energy, danced around the man as if it were alive. Those pitch-black eyes, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, stared coldly at everything before him.

Clusters of flesh fireworks bloomed amidst the cold light, and countless crimson fragments scattered on the ground, yet not a single drop touched the hem of his clothes.

That powerful ghost-god stepped through a sea of corpses and blood, dragging them back to the mortal world from a bottomless hell.

While Zhou Fangdong was upstairs spending money to slice meat, Hong Zhong had finished washing up and was preparing to leave the apartments for the abandoned hospital.

This time, he didn’t plan to take a team; he intended to go alone.

The abandoned hospital was located in the northern suburbs, so there was no need for a lockdown, and he didn’t have to worry about the erupting supernatural power affecting the surrounding public.

It was more convenient for him to sneak in alone, allowing him to deal with the cultists more quickly. Furthermore, with the protection of the apartment’s power, he had absolutely no fear of those fellows’ occult methods.

However, what Hong Zhong didn’t expect was that even leaving this early, he would encounter another tenant in the apartment corridor.

It was a young girl who looked to be about ten years old. Her eyes seemed blind, and her feet appeared to have old injuries.

Though she looked frail and had difficulty moving, she didn’t bump into any obstacles as she walked. Those dull eyes seemed able to distinguish the traces of another world to allow her to move normally.

As expected, the tenants of the apartments were not to be judged by appearances; this little girl likely possessed some special ability.

When the girl passed Hong Zhong, her footsteps paused. She said to him, “You’re an apartment tenant too, right? I’m Xiao Xiaoyu from Room 105. Do you have a moment?”

Hong Zhong didn’t answer directly, but asked instead, “Do you need my help?”

Xiao Xiaoyu said, “Do you know about that abandoned private hospital in the northern suburbs? I’d like to ask you to take me there. I have something I need to handle.”

There were no bus stops near that hospital. After returning from Chuyun Temple yesterday, she had sat on the Ghost Bus for quite a while, listening to the onboard announcements for half the day without hearing anything related to the North Suburb Hospital.

The reason she wanted to go to that hospital was because while Xiao Xiaoyu was staying at Chuyun Temple the day before yesterday, her [Yin-Yang Eyes] had noticed abnormal supernatural fluctuations across the mountain from the temple.

She had grown accustomed to this world becoming a place where ghosts and monsters roamed, and she was used to supernatural fluctuations being everywhere. She had intended to ignore it, but then she suddenly realized something was wrong—

This kind of large-scale convergence of supernatural fluctuations was exactly like a Main God’s reward dungeon! Only when more than ten types of supernatural items gathered together would such a stable yet non-chaotic abnormal fluctuation appear.

Xiao Xiaoyu immediately thought of the supernatural items she had lost.

She had learned from Zhang Qingyang, the master of the Taoist temple, that the location was an abandoned private hospital in the North Suburb.

From the South Suburb Funeral Parlor to the North Suburb Abandoned Hospital, although it spanned the entire city, no one could say for sure if some anomaly had occurred when she was transported from the funeral parlor to the apartment—for example, if the apartment’s power had crushed her storage space, causing the items inside to be randomly teleported to the other side of the city.

Moreover, even if those weren’t her items, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around a reward instance.

Because there were no ghosts in such reward instances, no tasks would be triggered, and one wouldn’t be trapped inside. You could leave whenever you wanted. Once all the items in the instance were taken, the instance would completely disappear; it was strictly first-come, first-served.

Xiao Xiaoyu had spent the entire day thinking about it after returning to the apartment from the temple yesterday, and she felt she should make the trip.

Being without items was simply too unsettling. Even with the protection of the apartment key, she didn’t feel much of a sense of security.

After all, in the ten years she had been gone, this world had been filled with all sorts of ghosts. The once ordinary and mundane world had become as dangerous as those supernatural instances created by the Main God.

She had to prepare more life-saving means for herself… if she lived long enough, she might one day encounter her parents.

Hong Zhong had no idea that the place this little girl wanted to go was the same as his own destination.

He pondered for a moment and said, “Since we are both apartment tenants, you must have some special ability to keep yourself alive against ghosts, right? I can share my equipment with you first. By the same token, I hope you won’t hold anything back. The hospital we’re going to is a very dangerous place. If I’m taking you along, I need to perform a combat assessment and formulate an infiltration plan.”

After a pause, he added, “Of course, this isn’t mandatory. If you’re unwilling to speak, that’s fine, but I won’t go with you. You’ll have to find your own way there.”

Xiao Xiaoyu didn’t hesitate at all and agreed immediately.

In her view, the apartment tenants were all on the same side. Everyone was working for the Landlord, so there was no need to keep secrets.

After reaching an agreement, Hong Zhong drove Xiao Xiaoyu to the North Suburb.

The abandoned hospital was originally a private facility situated halfway up a mountain.

It was the height of summer, and the surrounding vegetation was lush, providing excellent concealment.

Carrying Xiao Xiaoyu, Hong Zhong moved under the cover of the bushes toward the hospital’s back entrance.

On the way there, he had already pulled up the floor plans for every level of the abandoned hospital from the bureau’s database and memorized them.

Hong Zhong had prepared a detailed infiltration plan. Although he would be carrying Xiao Xiaoyu the whole time, he felt that as teammates, he should inform her of the specific route and where they should meet if they were unfortunately separated.

He set Xiao Xiaoyu down in front of a window with shattered glass and pointed at it, saying, “The plan I’ve made is… ?!”

Halfway through his sentence, Hong Zhong felt a flash of white light before his eyes, and the scenery instantly changed.

Fortunately, the two were close enough that he managed to grab Xiao Xiaoyu in time.

In the blink of an eye, they had arrived inside a hospital ward.

Looking at the surroundings, Hong Zhong froze, his brow furrowed. “I think I just heard something speaking in my ear.”

Xiao Xiaoyu had heard it too, and her face was deathly pale.

That familiar electronic voice had said:

[B-Rank Instance: Flesh Pas…ture… Open—Ugh—!]

The Points System that had reappeared on her didn’t even finish its sentence. It was as if an invisible giant hand had seized the throat of fate; it left behind only a voice-cracking scream before vanishing.

Xiao Xiaoyu was stunned. Then, she suddenly understood why Duan Wenyu had said back at the funeral parlor that he didn’t have a Points System—it turned out that becoming an apartment tenant granted complete immunity to the Main God’s control!

She was both shocked and delighted. The fear that had surged due to the appearance of the Points System was swept away.

Xiao Xiaoyu grabbed the hem of Hong Zhong’s clothes and said anxiously, “We have to leave here quickly. I don’t know how, but this place has suddenly turned into a Main God supernatural instance. But we are apartment tenants; this instance can’t trap us. Follow me, I can see the way out. I’ll take you away.”

“We can’t leave,” Hong Zhong said, shaking his head.

Xiao Xiaoyu’s eyes could not see, so she could not witness how cruel the scene before them was, nor could she understand his current complex and furious emotions.

Hong Zhong somewhat understood why that suddenly vanished electronic voice had called this place a ‘Flesh Pasture.’

They were currently in a ward.

Inside the dilapidated, dim room, many ‘patients’ lay on rows of neatly arranged iron beds. They wore hospital gowns, were tied down with restraints, and had indwelling needles inserted into the backs of their hands.

Bags hung from the poles beside the beds… they weren’t for blood transfusions, but for blood collection.

Some patients had their sleeves rolled up, and on their gauze-wrapped arms, neatly sliced bloody gashes were seeping.

On the cold iron trays on the bedside tables that hadn’t been cleared away yet sat many freshly cut chunks of meat.

The people on the beds were still alive, but they couldn’t even struggle anymore; their eyes held nothing but numbness.

This was completely treating humans like livestock raised for the production of flesh and blood…

While Hong Zhong and Xiao Xiaoyu were mysteriously pulled into a Main God instance, inside an ordinary private residence in the city center:

“High Priest! It’s bad! Over in the North Suburb, our flesh-and-blood primers… that abandoned hospital!” A bald man burst in without knocking, speaking breathlessly as if he had run a great distance.

Under the cold gaze of the middle-aged man in a skullcap, he forced his breathing to steady and said in one breath, “A supernatural instance created by the Main God has descended upon our flesh-and-blood primer farm! We’ve lost contact with all the cultists and believers inside!”

After hearing this, the expression of the middle-aged man in the skullcap turned extremely grim.

After a long silence, the man in the skullcap sneered. “First, the Main God instance at the tourist town suddenly underwent an anomaly, inexplicably expanding its range and swallowing and obliterating many of our members…”

“I traced a girl through the Karma Lines of the members’ lives and deaths. As a result, I gave her the charm bestowed by the God this morning, but before I could read her memories, an Infinite Flow Player took the charm away at noon.”

“And now this. Heh, not even pretending anymore? Openly sending players over, using them as mediums to erode the Society’s strongholds with instances, attempting to destroy the primers the Society worked so hard to produce.”

“The failure of Yaoshan Hall’s plan was likely the Main God’s doing as well, just to prevent us from cultivating the Flesh Ganoderma.”

“We had an agreement to split this world equally, yet now he starts these petty tricks behind our backs to hinder our Society’s development…”

“Damn Main God…” The expression of the middle-aged man in the skullcap grew more hideous as he spoke. He waved his hand and gave orders. “Start the summoning ritual. Awaken the God’s consciousness and let the God drive that treacherous bastard out of this world.”

“This world can only belong to the Sigu Society.”

After spending a thousand Ghost Coins, Zhou Fangdong finally used this blade to clear away all the Flesh Ganoderma in the second-floor corridor.

The massive blade had turned completely red. Two palm-sized chunks of flesh were skewered on the hooks behind the blade, and many fragments of dark red, lifeless blood-flesh mushrooms were scattered across the floor.

Zhou Fangdong stared expressionlessly at the scene before him, remaining motionless for a long time.

Once the two ghosts, Quan Wuming and Ming Wuqian, regained their sanity, the Cleaners’ employment contracts originating from the apartment manifested in their minds.

They understood their current situation and realized that the ghost god who had saved them was the very landlord they were to serve in the future.

In truth, they didn’t even need the constraints of a work contract; they had already completely surrendered to the landlord’s immense power.

In the eyes of Quan Wuming and Ming Wuqian, their landlord had dealt with the erupting Flesh Ganoderma as easily as breathing. In no time at all, he had made all the flesh and blood in the corridor vanish completely.

They just couldn’t understand why, despite solving the problem so effortlessly, the landlord looked so displeased… It was likely anger, they reasoned. He was probably furious to see his apartment corridor occupied by such filthy things.

Quan Wuming and Ming Wuqian exchanged a glance and decided they would do a thorough job of cleaning up for the landlord in a moment.

Zhou Fangdong stood there, spending a long time trying to comfort himself.

…It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt. I picked up two thousand for free last night, so after clearing the flesh from the corridor, I’m still up by a thousand Ghost Coins if I round it off.

But even after waiting a long while, he still couldn’t quite get over it. Spending a thousand Ghost Coins all at once for the first time made Zhou Fangdong feel a physical ache in his heart.

Zhou Fangdong opened his system panel, preparing to check the progress of Side Quest 4.

Before he could see it clearly, a new system window suddenly popped up:

[Ding—Detected that the tenants of Room 105 and Room 106 have entered a Main God Supernatural Instance! The hidden function, Instance Erosion, can now be activated!]

[The Host can use a room key as a medium to select a ghost from one of the tenants’ rooms to erode the instance and steal energy from the Main God System!]

Seeing this pop-up, Zhou Fangdong didn’t hesitate for a second and quickly opened the map on the Instance Erosion interface.

In the live broadcast video, Xiao Xiaoyu and Hong Zhong were standing in a ward of an abandoned hospital.

Xiao Xiaoyu went out? Why was she at that abandoned hospital with Hong Zhong?

Zhou Fangdong had been so focused on clearing the pile of flesh in the corridor just now that he hadn’t noticed his tenants’ movements at all.

Moreover, they had actually triggered a Main God instance.

Zhou Fangdong suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and directly used the ghost from Xiao Xiaoyu’s room to erode the instance.

This instance had appeared at the perfect time; it completely soothed his wounded heart…

Completely eroding a Main God instance would earn him two thousand Ghost Coins. Blowing up this instance would exactly make up for the thousand Ghost Coins he had just lost.

He was truly grateful for the generous Main God.