Chapter 3

Looking at this newly appeared mission, Zhou Fangdong was somewhat speechless.

“System, I can’t even leave the building right now, so how am I supposed to hand out flyers? Am I supposed to fold them into paper airplanes and throw them out the window? Oh, wait, the windows in this dump are all boarded up. I couldn’t fly a paper airplane even if I wanted to.”

【Promotion function unlocked. Host may purchase as needed.】

As the electronic voice spoke, a brandless black smartphone appeared out of thin air on the desk.

Zhou Fangdong, who had been slumped on the bed, instantly perked up. He sprang to his feet and lunged toward the desk.

Fantastic. With a phone, he could watch videos, play games, and read novels. There would be no rush to complete system missions just to leave the building. Give him Wi-Fi, and he could stay in this room for a lifetime.

However, after turning the phone on, Zhou Fangdong discovered that the thing was nothing more than a glowing brick.

The phone was completely empty. Forget games; it didn’t even have the functionality to make calls or send texts.

“System, what use is this thing to me?”

【The promotion function has been unlocked in the system interface. Once the host purchases the required items, they will be displayed on the phone.】

Zhou Fangdong patiently scrolled through the system interface and finally found a newly unlocked sub-menu in the mall.

Currently, the only function in the promotion interface was distributing flyers, with three price points available for purchase:

① 【Honest Flyer】 x10

Free, limited to one purchase per day.

② [Art of Language Flyer] x10

30 Ghost Coins, no purchase limit.

③ [Top Sales Pitch Flyer] x10

300 Ghost Coins, no purchase limit.

(Pity Mechanism: Using this guarantees one tenant will come to view the apartment.)

Zhou Fangdong didn’t hesitate for long before choosing ① 【Honest Flyer】.

If option two had a pity mechanism like option three, it might be different, but he had only just received his 30 Ghost Coins. He wasn’t willing to spend all his money on a flyer with uncertain results.

After Zhou Fangdong clicked to purchase the 【Honest Flyer】, a light green app slowly materialized on his phone screen.

The app’s name was straightforward: Rental Exchange Forum.

He assumed he would have to open this app to distribute the 【Honest Flyer】.

Zhou Fangdong tapped it casually.

However, instead of a forum interface, a warning box popped up on the screen:

【Insufficient mobile data. Unable to use the app. Would you like to purchase a data plan?】

Before Zhou Fangdong could react, the screen automatically jumped to the data plan purchase page.

The cheapest plan was 30 Ghost Coins per month.

Zhou Fangdong laughed out of sheer frustration. “I have to use Ghost Coins to buy data for this piece of junk? System, if you want to rob me, just say so.”

Faced with his skepticism, the system explained in its emotionless electronic voice:

【The interior of the building is a gathering place for ghosts. The magnetic field is chaotic, and ordinary signals cannot be transmitted from within.】

【To improve the living experience for tenants, the host will eventually need to use Ghost Coins to install broadband so that tenants can access the internet within the apartments. Please work hard to complete missions and earn Ghost Coins.】

Zhou Fangdong fell silent.

That actually made a bit of sense.

“But I’ve already bought the 【Honest Flyer】. Can’t you just distribute it directly, System? Why do I need to do it manually on the phone?”

Zhou Fangdong was still reluctant to part with his Ghost Coins.

He had been terrified by ghosts, toured a murder scene, and inhaled a mouthful of dust. He really didn’t want to waste the 30 Ghost Coins he had worked so hard for on a mobile data plan.

Most importantly, after buying this plan, he couldn’t do anything except browse a rental forum. It felt like a total rip-off.

【System power cannot directly alter reality; it requires the host’s intervention.】

“Will I get Ghost Coins for completing Beginner Mission ②?”

【Rewards will be announced upon mission completion. Please distribute the flyers as soon as possible.】

“Fine, fine…” Zhou Fangdong sighed and clicked to purchase the 30 Ghost Coin data plan.

Once the plan was active, the Rental Exchange Forum app opened smoothly.

The forum page was so crude it looked like a group project made by a college student just to pass a class. There were only two sub-sections: 【Rental Discussion Area】 and 【Advertising Area】. The 【Advertising Area】 was currently highlighted.

Zhou Fangdong opened the 【Advertising Area】 and found the 【Honest Flyer】 the system had already drafted in the post’s draft box.

As he scanned the contents of the 【Honest Flyer】, Zhou Fangdong was left speechless.

No wonder it was called an 【Honest Flyer】. This was a bit too honest, wasn’t it?

【Liwan Apartments is now officially open for rent!】

【Are you still troubled by expensive rent? Do you feel lonely because your room is too quiet? Are you worried about being unable to afford funeral expenses? Then come rent at Liwan Apartments!

Our apartment building has the most ghosts in the city, the lowest rent, the least sunlight, and the filthiest sanitary conditions! As long as you are willing to come, we can provide you with a cheap, affordable, and thrilling rental experience!

Room 101 is now officially available for rent at only 30 coins a month! You won’t find a better deal anywhere else! For just 30 coins, you can have a room where rest and death coexist!

Our apartments also include after-sales service: the ghosts in this building guarantee that not even your bones will remain, so you’ll never have to worry about expensive funeral costs or cemetery fees again!】

【Click the link below for our detailed address and contact information. Liwan Apartments looks forward to your arrival~】

After reading the promotional text, Zhou Fangdong felt a sudden urge to smash the phone.

This trash system really put its heart into screwing over the host while writing the flyers with its feet.

If this actually worked, it would be a miracle. Would any sane person actually come to see the place after reading this?

Zhou Fangdong tried to edit the wording of the post, only to discover that this crappy phone didn’t even have an input method. The only thing he could do was click “Send.”

Things had come to this; all he could do now was leave it to fate.

Desperate, Zhou Fangdong tapped the send button ten times in a row.

Zhao Dawei was forty-five years old, a perfectly ordinary middle-aged man.

This morning, he had been laid off by his company.

Upon returning home, he discovered that his eldest son, who was supposed to be away at university, was actually at the house.

The son confessed that he was over a hundred thousand yuan in debt from online loans. Having failed his college entrance exams years ago, he had forged an admission letter and spent the last two years rotting away in a rented room, pretending to be a student. Recently, he had fallen into the trap of online gambling, taking out loans to pay off other loans until the hole was too deep to fill. Finally, he had come home to beg for help.

Zhao Dawei gave his son a brutal beating, but in the end, he chose to help him settle the debt.

However, when he went to his wife for the money, he discovered that his younger son, a junior high dropout, was addicted to in-game microtransactions, while his housewife wife was addicted to shopping via livestreams. Together, the two of them had managed to drain the family’s entire savings.

When the eldest son realized the money was gone, his long-suppressed emotions finally snapped. He grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to hack his younger brother to death. Their mother, trying to protect the younger boy, took a blade to the carotid artery. Seeing his mother injured, the younger son also lost it and lunged at his older brother. Neither could keep their footing, and they tumbled together off the nineteenth-floor balcony.

By the time Zhao Dawei realized what had happened, his wife had bled out, and his two sons had been reduced to a pile of mangled flesh where one could no longer be distinguished from the other.

Zhao Dawei was utterly despondent.

Since all three had died violent deaths, the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight had cordoned off the entire building to prevent the manifestation of ghosts.

And so, Zhao Dawei was forced to leave his home, wandering the streets like a lost soul.

Night was the time when ghosts were most active. He had to find a place to stay before the sun went down.

Before this, Zhao Dawei had always handed his entire salary over to his wife. His company was struggling, so his severance pay wouldn’t be issued until next month. Currently, he had only two hundred yuan to his name.

That wasn’t even enough for a cheap hotel, let alone renting an apartment in the city.

Sleeping under a bridge or on a park bench wasn’t an option either. The city had a curfew; if anyone was caught wandering outside at night, whether human or ghost, they would be expelled from the city immediately.

Rather than waiting to be driven out to the suburbs, it was better to find a place to stay there ahead of time.

Zhao Dawei sifted through a dense thicket of rental apps.

Ever since the paranormal outbreaks began, no one bought property anymore. Everyone chose to rent, as no one knew when their home might be sealed off due to a haunting.

Consequently, various rental apps had proliferated, some even categorizing listings down to the exact price point.

After scrolling for a long time, Zhao Dawei found an app with a green icon: a rental exchange forum.

The forum was filled with cheap listings in the suburbs.

The more people there were, the fewer ghosts appeared. Conversely, the fewer people there were, the more ghosts there were.

Furthermore, suburban houses were generally poorly maintained and had weak defenses against ghost attacks. Unless someone was truly at the end of their rope, no one would look for a place to live in the suburbs.

Zhao Dawei gripped his phone and tapped on the forum. He only needed to survive in the suburbs for a month.

Just as he opened the app, an advertisement suddenly appeared, instantly flooding the forum’s front page.

Zhao Dawei blinked, subconsciously clicking on it. He fell into a stunned silence as he read the brutally honest promotional slogan.

Was someone really this candid?

When other haunted houses were put up for rent, the owners would at least try to dress it up with some linguistic flair. This landlord of the Liwan Apartments wasn’t even pretending.

Zhao Dawei knew of the Liwan Apartments. The notoriety of that cursed building was such that even people from outside the city had heard of it.

Even before the paranormal outbreaks, over a hundred people had died in that apartment complex, mostly through homicide.

After the building was abandoned, people continued to die there one after another, leading to the entire structure being completely sealed off.

He didn’t know when the property rights had been transferred, but someone actually had the nerve to list it for rent now.

Zhao Dawei shook his head and exited the post, beginning to browse other listings.

However, after scouring every single post on the forum, Zhao Dawei realized that the only room he could actually afford was the one in the Liwan Apartments.

The cheapest of the other rooms started at one hundred and fifty yuan a month.

He only had two hundred yuan. It would take time to find a new job, and he needed to save some money for food.

Zhao Dawei gritted his teeth and eventually clicked back into the post for the Liwan Apartments.

They were all suburban houses anyway, and they were all equally dangerous. If that was the case, he might as well choose the cheapest one.

He clicked the attached link to note down the address of the Liwan Apartments, then boarded a bus and headed that way.

When he received the notification that a tenant wanted to view the room, Zhou Fangdong was stunned.

No way. Someone actually came?

【Ding—Congratulations to the Host for completing Beginner Tutorial Mission ②. Reward: One set of Low-Level Automated Cleaning Tools.】

An icon shaped like a broom appeared in his inventory. Zhou Fangdong clicked it to check the item description.

[Low-Level Automated Cleaning Tools]

(Can be sold. Mall buyback price: 10 Ghost Coins)

Duration: 30 minutes

Cleaning Area: 50 square meters

Are you still troubled by omnipresent dust? Come use the automated cleaning tools to free your hands!

Zhou Fangdong noticed the buyback price and took the opportunity to open the System Mall.

The item was also unlocked in the mall and was currently available for purchase at a price of 30 Ghost Coins.

What a ripoff. This system is a total profiteer.

Selling it back would be an immediate loss of 20 Ghost Coins. Seeing this, Zhou Fangdong abandoned the idea of selling the item.

Just then, the system voice rang out:

【Ding—Host, please proceed to Beginner Tutorial Mission ③: Lead the tenant to view the room, convince the tenant to rent the room, and complete the first leasing transaction.】

Zhou Fangdong was starting to develop a psychological trauma from these “ding” sounds.

“System, can we negotiate something? Can you change the notification sound? This one is too piercing.”

【300 Ghost Coins to unlock the Human Voice Dubbing function.】

“Never mind. Forget I asked.”

Determined to keep his very first tenant, Zhou Fangdong thought it over and decided to use the Automatic Cleaning Tool on Room 101.

After all, if this deal fell through, it would be difficult to find another person who wasn’t afraid of a haunted house.

While the Automatic Cleaning Tool scrubbed the room, Zhou Fangdong stood by the apartment’s entrance hall, holding his Kerosene Lamp as he waited for the prospective tenant.

Half an hour later, a short, stout figure appeared outside the gates of Liwan Apartments.

Zhao Dawei stared at the eerie building before him and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, suddenly feeling the urge to back out.

The building looked completely abandoned; even the windows were boarded shut. He couldn’t tell how long it had been since the front doors were last used. Layers of dust had accumulated so thickly that the glass doors had been transformed into a frosted texture. There was even a suspicious blackish-red liquid staining the welcome mat at the entrance.

Just as he was hesitating in front of the door, it swung open on its own.

Zhao Dawei flinched and took a step back.

Then, to his surprise, he realized someone was standing inside the pitch-black building.

It was a slender young man dressed in oversized black clothing, holding an old-fashioned Kerosene Lamp.

Under the dim, amber glow of the lamp, his cool, handsome face felt strangely surreal.

His complexion was a porcelain white, the kind born from a long absence of sunlight. His narrow, upturned phoenix eyes held a sense of compassion even when his expression remained blank. Beneath a straight bridge of a nose and thin, bloodless lips sat a tiny, cinnabar-red mole. He looked like a divine statue carved from white porcelain.

The boundless darkness enveloped him, the lamplight dancing in his dark pupils as dust motes swirled within the warm yellow halo. That compassionate gaze pierced through the floating dust to rest upon the newcomer, appearing as if he were either scrutinizing him or pitying him.

The moment their eyes met, Zhao Dawei felt a brief trance-like state, followed by an inexplicable sense of peace.

Was this the landlord who had posted the ad? He looked so young. Since he was brave enough to rent the rooms out, he must be able to guarantee the safety of his tenants, right?

While Zhao Dawei was sizing up Zhou Fangdong, Zhou Fangdong was doing the same to him.

Zhou Fangdong looked at this unremarkable middle-aged man and wondered if this was truly to be his first tenant.

He looked ordinary enough, but since he had dared to come here after reading the Honest Flyer, he must be able to guarantee his own safety, right?

Translator’s Notes

• cinnabar mole: A small red mole (朱砂痣) is often used in Chinese literature as a beauty mark that enhances a character’s refined or ‘immortal’ appearance. Here, it contributes to the protagonist’s description as looking like a ‘porcelain deity.’

• phoenix eyes: The ‘danfeng’ or phoenix eye (丹凤眼) is a traditional Chinese aesthetic ideal characterized by a long, narrow shape with an upward-slanting tail. In literature, it often denotes elegance, authority, or a refined, otherworldly beauty.