Chapter 6

A black off-road SUV screeched to a halt in front of the Liwan Apartments.

Hong Zhong sat in the vehicle, gazing at the vacant lot beside the apartment building.

Aside from his own car, a bus was actually parked next to the complex.

The bus looked brand new, as if it had just rolled off the assembly line. It had no license plate, no route markings on the front, and the windows were completely opaque, making it impossible to see inside from the exterior.

Liwan Apartments had been thoroughly cordoned off; even the roads leading to the complex were marked as no-entry zones.

No taxi would ever come here, and no normal bus would stop anywhere near this vicinity.

The only exception was this bus.

This vehicle with blacked-out windows belonged to no company. No one knew who the driver was, and no one knew its route.

But if someone wanted to go to the Liwan Apartments, they only had to stand under any bus stop sign to find this vehicle… It was like a warp gate connected to the complex.

Because this Ghost Bus posed no substantive harm, and because any sane person knew how dangerous the Liwan Apartments were and wouldn’t go there voluntarily, the Paranormal Affairs Department had never bothered to deal with it.

Hong Zhong withdrew his gaze and checked his gear. He clicked on the long-range light mounted on his tactical helmet, then clipped spare magazines to the side of his backpack and stuffed emergency medicine and thermal blankets inside just in case.

As he prepared to get out of the car, he remembered that bizarre cleaning order on his phone.

After a moment of hesitation, Hong Zhong packed a body bag he had borrowed from the Criminal Investigation Division and the cleaning tools he’d grabbed from Logistics into a separate bag, slinging it across his shoulder.

For a man like Hong Zhong, who frequently underwent weighted cross-country training, carrying a bit of extra gear wouldn’t hinder his movements.

Hong Zhong stepped out of the car and looked up at the sinister, haunted building before him.

The sense of oppression radiating from the tower felt like a mountain on the verge of collapsing. Tangible resentment and yin energy were so tightly interwoven that the entire building seemed shrouded in a layer of grey, murky haze.

Quantity eventually leads to a change in quality. He estimated that in a short while, this structure housing countless ghosts would come to life and turn into a man-eating monster.

According to official records, at the very beginning, Liwan Apartments was just an ordinary residential building constructed under the supervision of a well-known real estate developer.

The complex consisted of two buildings: a front tower and a back tower. The back tower received absolutely no natural light. The two buildings were connected by a skybridge, and the open space between them served as a courtyard garden.

At the time, only the front tower was actually put up for rent. Although the back tower was also residential, it was for purchase only, not for rent. Furthermore, purchasing a unit required asset verification; it was primarily used by the wealthy to store the corpses of their deceased relatives.

That real estate developer hadn’t built the Liwan Apartments to earn rent; he was profiting from the purchase money of those wealthy elites.

The reason the front tower was rented out was partly for feng shui, and partly at the request of those wealthy owners: they wanted the living to keep their dead relatives company.

Later, things went south. Homicides and suicides began to occur frequently at the Liwan Apartments, and the fact that the back tower was filled with corpses was finally exposed.

After that, the disturbances grew more violent. Both the developer who built the complex and the wealthy elites who stored their relatives’ bodies met with untimely, violent deaths.

The ownership of Liwan Apartments changed hands through several generations, but no matter what, everyone involved with the property met a tragic end.

Finally, the supernatural incidents erupted. The ghosts within the building not only began to harm people wantonly but also showed signs of spreading outward. Consequently, the Liwan Apartments were completely sealed off.

Speaking of ghosts harming people, Hong Zhong recalled the case he had just finished handling this morning: a mother hacked to death by her eldest son, while the eldest and youngest sons fell to their deaths from the nineteenth floor. The only survivor was the father.

Subsequent investigation confirmed that a ghost had been brought home by the eldest son. It was a D-rank entity, not particularly dangerous, but extremely skilled at manipulating human emotions. It had possessed the eldest son to trigger his negative emotions while simultaneously influencing the younger son, leading to the three deaths.

Similar tragedies where entire families were wiped out by ghosts occurred frequently. Most supernatural energy fluctuations produced by ghosts possessing humans were very weak; even if the members of the Paranormal Investigation Division worked through the night, they couldn’t clear them all out.

The supernatural outbreak had happened too quickly, and there were too few talented individuals capable of dealing with ghosts. Everyone in the Paranormal Affairs Department was doing the work of two people. Hong Zhong had only slept three hours in the past two days.

He downed a can of energy drink, forcing himself to sharpen his focus, and prepared to enter the Liwan Apartments.

Just as he pushed open the main doors of the complex, Hong Zhong suddenly noticed something and came to a sharp halt.

Judging by the footprints at the entrance, someone had entered the Liwan Apartments recently.

The prints were fresh, likely from just a few hours ago.

From the tracks, he could tell the person wore roughly a size 42 shoe, their left leg was slightly shorter than the right, they weighed about 85 kilograms, and stood around 170 centimeters tall. With a short stride, narrow step width, a center of gravity on the second toe, and a weak, floating gait, the person was likely over forty years old. They were probably a middle-aged male who sat in an office year-round and was not athletic.

Hong Zhong’s brow furrowed.

What was an ordinary person like that doing at the Liwan Apartments? Could he be the one who sent the cleaning order?

As he pondered, Hong Zhong’s peripheral vision caught sight of someone hiding in the shadows.

The person held a Kerosene Lamp and had been standing in the shadows watching him for an unknown amount of time…

By reflex, Hong Zhong reached for the weapon at his waist and took a slow step back.

It was a lean young man, about 180cm tall and weighing roughly 60 kilograms. He was dressed in a trendy style, with a tall, straight posture, fair skin, and handsome features. His profession was likely a model or an actor, which completely contradicted the profile of the footprints at the door.

“You’re here,” Zhou Fangdong said, looking at Hong Zhong with a friendly smile.

He was very satisfied with this cleaning professional. That sturdy physique and gear-to-the-teeth equipment made him look exceptionally professional and reliable.

Zhou Fangdong had specifically stood at the door to welcome his cleaning staff.

Although the recruitment panel stated that this person had the ability to deal with fierce ghosts, Zhou Fangdong felt he should look out for him just in case and escort him to Room 109.

After all, a human life was on the line. It would be far too tragic if he died on the job while trying to work hard.

Zhou Fangdong himself had been killed by a car while on a business trip. Whenever he thought about how no one back in his original world was helping him claim his work-related injury compensation and insurance payouts, he felt a deep sense of distress.

Looking at the mild-mannered young man before him, Hong Zhong spoke hesitantly, “Are you the one who placed the cleaning order?” As he spoke, his muscles remained tense, and his hand never left his waist.

Zhou Fangdong nodded. “That’s right, it was me. I’m the landlord of Liwan Apartments.” He turned and walked into the darkness. “Follow me. I’ll take you to the room that needs cleaning. Room 109 has quite a bit of trash, so it’ll be hard work for you.”

Watching his retreating back, Hong Zhong furrowed his brows, his gaze slowly shifting downward.

By the light of his tactical helmet, he saw it clearly: on the floor covered in a thick layer of dust, there were absolutely no footprints where the young man had walked.

Was this guy claiming to be the landlord of Liwan Apartments a human or a ghost?

Seeing that the cleaner hadn’t followed, Zhou Fangdong stopped and warned, “Stay close to me. Don’t leave the range of the light, or you’ll die.”

That cool voice carried no emotional fluctuation, as if he were merely stating a simple fact. It wasn’t intended as a threat, yet it was more terrifying than one, sounding like a death notice being delivered.

Hong Zhong grit his teeth.

He knew the young man wasn’t joking.

Because he frequently handled cases involving ghosts and monsters, Hong Zhong was extremely sensitive to life-and-death crises. He could already sense the things hiding in the darkness.

There was more than one, and they were definitely not low-level D-rank entities.

Those things had completely blocked his path of retreat. Countless eyes hidden in the shadows were staring fixedly at him, ready to tear him to pieces at any moment.

At this moment, he had only one choice: obey the young man’s orders. If he didn’t listen to him inside this building, he would definitely die.

With a grim expression, Hong Zhong grabbed his cleaning tools and hurried to Zhou Fangdong’s side.

These entities appeared alongside this young man. Could he actually control the ghosts in Liwan Apartments with just words? What a terrifying ability.

Unaware of the complex psychological struggle Hong Zhong was enduring, Zhou Fangdong continued leading him toward Room 109 with a calm expression.

As they drew closer to Room 109, Hong Zhong’s expression grew increasingly unsightly.

Along the way, he hadn’t seen a single ghost. The hallway was as clean as any ordinary abandoned building.

One had to remember that Liwan Apartments was a ghost nest. As the source of the supernatural outbreak, the ghosts of all sizes in this building should have been as numerous as the ubiquitous dust in the apartments.

Hong Zhong glanced at the young man beside him out of the corner of his eye, his heart filled with extraordinary shock.

How on earth did he do it? This wasn’t as simple as controlling a few ghosts. The scene before him suggested that every ghost in the building feared him, not even daring to obstruct his path. It was truly horrifying!

“This is the room you’ll be cleaning,” Zhou Fangdong said, pointing toward the wide-open door of Room 109. After letting the room air out for so long, the thick, putrid stench inside had diminished considerably.

“I haven’t cleared out the ghosts inside yet. You might encounter an attack while you’re cleaning, so please stay safe.”

It was impossible for Zhou Fangdong to stay and hold the light for Hong Zhong while he cleaned. He had hired Hong Zhong specifically because he valued the man’s ability to resist ghost attacks. His remaining lamp oil could only burn for another ten hours; he absolutely wouldn’t waste several hours on a cleaner. That would be a terrible deal.

Hong Zhong did a quick sweep of the area and nodded. “I understand.” In his current situation, he had no choice but to obey the landlord’s orders unconditionally.

“Don’t leave Room 109 during the cleaning process. Just call out to me from inside the room when you’re finished,” Zhou Fangdong added.

Room 109 was already occupied by a ghost. The room was now “owned,” so the ghosts in the hallway wouldn’t just wander in. Staying in the room meant only having to deal with one ghost; if he wandered into the hallway, there was no telling what he might run into.

“Alright.” Hong Zhong rolled up his sleeves and professionally began taking his cleaning tools out of his bag one by one.

Seeing that he was ready to start, Zhou Fangdong stopped hovering and teleported directly back to his own room.

Once he saw Zhou Fangdong leave, Hong Zhong finally breathed a sigh of relief and dropped his performative cleaning stance.

This landlord was definitely a ghost, and no ordinary one at that.

His thoughts were completely inscrutable. He clearly had the power to make all ghosts submit, yet he insisted on disguising himself as a normal person and even commissioned someone to clean a room. Did ghosts have standards for their living environment too?

For the sake of his own safety, Hong Zhong decided to follow orders for now and obediently clean the room.

He chambered a round in his specialized firearm and, holding the gun, slowly opened the black plastic bag closest to him.

Inside the plastic bag was a human head still attached to a spine.

It was the head of a woman in her thirties. The livor mortis on the side of her face was a spreading purplish-red, suggesting she had been dead for about eight to ten hours. Judging by the jagged state of the flesh around the neck, she had likely been dismembered with a saw.

The head looked like a normal corpse, but the spine beneath it was strange.

The forest-white spine coiled beneath the head like a snake. The vertebrae had been scraped clean without a trace of flesh, forming a sharp contrast with the blood-drenched head. It was as tidy as a skeletal specimen.

As Hong Zhong observed it, the head’s eyelids flickered and suddenly snapped open.

She stared at Hong Zhong with her hollow eye sockets, her mouth slowly curling into a bloody, cruel smile.

Translator’s Notes

• truly horrifying: The source uses the internet slang ‘恐怖如斯’ (kǒngbù rúsī), which literally means ‘horrifying to such an extent.’ This phrase is a well-known meme in Chinese web novel circles (originating from the novel Battle Through the Heavens). It is often used to hyperbolically emphasize a character’s shock at an opponent’s overwhelming power.

• feng shui: In this context, the developer used the ‘living’ residents in the front tower to balance the ‘dead’ energy of the back tower. This reflects a specific architectural application of Feng Shui intended to harmonize the flow of energy (Qi) between the world of the living and the world of the dead to prevent misfortune.

• yin energy: Yin energy (阴气, yīnqì) refers to the cold, dark, and negative force associated with death, ghosts, and the feminine in traditional Chinese cosmology. In the context of a ‘haunted building,’ it signifies a literal chilling atmosphere that indicates the presence of the supernatural or the dead.

• warp gate: The source text uses the term ‘Anywhere Door’ (任意门), a direct reference to the iconic gadget from the famous manga/anime series Doraemon. In Chinese pop culture, this is a common shorthand for a portal that can take you anywhere instantly. The use of this term highlights the supernatural, rule-breaking nature of the Ghost Bus.