Chapter 12

After Zhou Fangdong posted the flyer on the forum, members of the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight, who monitored the rental boards 24 hours a day, immediately contacted Hong Zhong.

When he received the call from his colleague, Hong Zhong was driving to Guijia Furniture Store. He had received another order from Liwan Apartments this morning, asking him to transport two more pieces of furniture to the building.

After hanging up, Hong Zhong contacted a paranormal streamer and asked her to book a viewing under the rental post first. Once he finished picking up the furniture, the two of them would head to Liwan Apartments together.

In this era, paranormal streamers were considered external official members—essentially contract workers for the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight without a formal government post. It was a high-risk, high-reward profession.

The Paranormal Affairs Department was severely understaffed and required volunteers to investigate suspected hauntings to confirm whether reports were true. They also needed the power of the media to educate the public on the methods common ghosts used to harm people and self-rescue techniques for ghost attacks. After all, official accounts were too stiff; unless something major happened, ordinary people didn’t follow them daily.

Consequently, the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight employed a large number of paranormal streamers to educate the public through a mix of entertainment and science.

These streamers underwent several months of special training before starting. While not as professional as investigators from the Paranormal Affairs Department, they were capable of staying alive in the hands of ghosts.

Miao Zheng was one such streamer.

She loved the feeling of being the center of attention. Her childhood dream was to become a big star; she craved fame and longed for the love and adoration of an audience.

However, because her physical appearance was too plain, Miao Zheng abandoned that dream as she grew up.

Later, with the rise of self-media, she signed with an MCN company. Still, because she wasn’t striking enough to become a front-facing influencer, she became a script planner for the company instead.

When paranormal incidents began to erupt, Miao Zheng resigned from the MCN company and applied for a contract position at the Paranormal Affairs Department, becoming a relatively obscure paranormal streamer.

Even in paranormal streaming, the most attention still went to those handsome men and beautiful women with superior looks… Over the years, the highest peak viewership in Miao Zheng’s stream was only four hundred people.

Although she had a fixed salary from the Bureau and didn’t worry about income, she always felt a sense of frustration simmering in her heart.

Why could everyone else get famous while she couldn’t? She truly wanted to experience the feeling of being asked for photos and signatures on the street.

To attract traffic, Miao Zheng began to venture deep into dangerous areas, broadcasting dangerous ghosts that others didn’t dare to cover. But because those ghosts were too bloody and terrifying, it backfired, and even fewer people watched her.

Though she lacked a connection with the general audience, Miao Zheng’s reckless, life-risking grit became famous within the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight. Most of her viewers were actually Bureau employees.

This was why Hong Zhong thought of Miao Zheng immediately.

Upon receiving Hong Zhong’s request, Miao Zheng didn’t say a word. She packed all her luggage at top speed and drove toward Liwan Apartments.

She was moving in today.

This was Liwan Apartments! The legendary haunted building! A ghost tower full of murder houses! A cursed place with over a hundred homicide cases!

Just the name “Liwan Apartments” felt like it could attract a massive audience.

Although Hong Zhong had warned her beforehand that there was no internet and she couldn’t livestream… those were minor issues. She could film the footage first and edit it later! She wanted to make a mockumentary, with the working title “Exploring the Ghost Tower.”

Fame was right in front of her. Miao Zheng could almost see the future where her stream hit number one on the homepage popularity charts.

As for Hong Zhong telling her over the phone to wait for him… waiting inside the ghost tower was still waiting, so there was no problem. She would scout the path first. Working with a superior involved too many restrictions—you can’t do this, you can’t do that. This time, she would take advantage of his absence to film as much viral material as possible.

If it wasn’t for the traffic, then none of it mattered! She had to seize this opportunity at the ghost tower to finally blow up!

Zhou Fangdong looked at the tenant information for the viewing appointment on the forum and fell into deep thought once more.

“System, does this Honest Flyer really have no pity mechanism? I just sent the post out and someone already wants to see the room. This promotional power is too strong.”

【The Honest Flyer has no pity mechanism. A tenant coming to view the room is entirely due to the Host’s hard work.】

Zhou Fangdong looked utterly bewildered.

“What hard work? I think I just clicked ‘send’ on a rental post…”

The system did not reply.

Estimating that the tenant should have arrived, Zhou Fangdong took the Kerosene Lamp to the apartment entrance to meet them.

The lamp oil could last for another nine hours… Sigh, the lamp oil in the System Mall was too expensive. He had to find another way to replenish it.

When Zhou Fangdong reached the apartment foyer, Miao Zheng’s car happened to pull up in front of the building.

An exceptionally tall woman stepped out of the car.

She looked to be about 180cm tall, with beautiful muscle definition on her arms. She had short hair and wore a sharp black tracksuit. A microphone was clipped to her collar, a camera was perched on her shoulder, a waist bag was slung across her hip, and she carried a heavy-looking equipment box on her back.

This tenant’s profession seemed to be a photographer.

What a coincidence. He wanted a female tenant and found one; Room 109 needed filming, and this tenant’s profession just happened to be a photographer.

Zhou Fangdong began to suspect the system was manipulating things behind the scenes… Then again, was the system really that kind? Could there be something wrong with this tenant?

The first thing Miao Zheng did after getting out of the car was pull out her camera. She decided to use a panoramic shot of the ghost tower as the cover for this video.

However, during the shoot, she suddenly saw a figure standing at the apartment entrance through her camera lens. Thinking she had encountered a ghost, Miao Zheng instinctively pressed the shutter.

With a video camera on one shoulder and her camera in hand, she stood outside the apartment clicking the shutter wildly, taking over sixty photos in just one minute.

After the shoot, Miao Zheng happily scrolled through the camera’s viewfinder, preparing to admire the photos she had just taken.

Just as she flipped back one photo, she froze.

In the photo, the scene she had just captured had completely changed. The person standing at the apartment entrance holding the kerosene lamp was gone, replaced by a blurry, blood-red shadow whose face was impossible to discern.

The scarlet shadow and the dim yellow light of the kerosene lamp intertwined, creating a bizarre overexposure in the photograph.

Surrounding this brilliant scarlet light, hideous and terrifying ghosts lurked in the shadows. They crawled on the ground, straining their hands toward the light as if trying to grab it, yet they seemed to recoil in fear, not daring to touch the glow. The ghosts in the shadows were piled layer upon layer, like demons in the depths of hell fighting over a single strand of spider silk that offered salvation…

It was nothing short of a portrait of hell.

The more Miao Zheng looked, the more excited she became.

There wasn’t a trace of fear toward the ghost building in her eyes, only a hunger for viral traffic.

This image was far more eye-catching than the cover of “Ghost Building”! Using this as a thumbnail would definitely attract more fans, wouldn’t it?

Zhou Fangdong watched helplessly as Miao Zheng fiddled with her photography equipment.

Why wasn’t this tenant coming in yet? Wasn’t she here to rent a room? Why was she just standing at the door taking pictures?

Just as Zhou Fangdong’s patience was about to run out, Miao Zheng finally retracted her camera with satisfaction and walked in, carrying her video gear.

Although she had already seen the person standing at the door through her lens, seeing him up close in reality still left Miao Zheng stunned by his overly exquisite features.

…She suddenly understood why those handsome and beautiful streamers found it so much easier to attract traffic.

Seeing that the tenant still had her camera on her shoulder with no intention of putting it down, Zhou Fangdong frowned slightly. “You can film, but please keep me out of the frame. If you can do that, we can continue the tour. If not, please leave.”

He had a bit of camera phobia. In his original world, after self-media became prevalent, the people Zhou Fangdong hated most were those “shop-exploring” bloggers.

You’d go out for a meal only to be filmed without your knowledge, and then those bloggers wouldn’t even blur your face, leaving a private citizen to be judged by the public. Even worse was encountering malicious editing, where they could turn white into black.

Hearing Zhou Fangdong say this, Miao Zheng snapped out of it and hurriedly moved her lens away.

While it was a pity she couldn’t film him, Miao Zheng was still thrilled to have close contact with this mysterious person in the ghost building.

“Are you the landlord who posted the rental ad? Are you a human or a ghost? You look quite human—can I touch you? Can I interview you about how you bought these two ghost buildings? I heard this place was cordoned off by the Paranormal Affairs Department long ago. Are you one of their people? How much did it cost to buy this place? What were you thinking when you decided to rent out rooms here? Aren’t you afraid of the ghosts inside? You…”

Zhou Fangdong felt a headache coming on from her rambling and cut her off. “I am the landlord. No touching, no interviews, and no comment on anything else. Stop talking and I’ll take you to see the room.”

Miao Zheng’s spirits remained high. Not discouraged in the slightest, she asked enthusiastically, “Are we going to Room 109?”

“Yes. The new furniture will be delivered in a while. You can check the layout first. If you’re interested in renting, you can sign the Tenant Contract.”

“I’d love to!” Miao Zheng nodded decisively.

Zhou Fangdong paused and looked back at Miao Zheng with a strange expression.

She hadn’t even seen Room 109 yet and she already agreed? What exactly was she here for? Was she really here to rent a room?

As if sensing Zhou Fangdong’s doubt, Miao Zheng said with a smile, “To be honest, I’m a supernatural streamer. I’m looking for a suitable place to film videos and do live broadcasts. I think Liwan Apartments fits my profession perfectly! I actually wanted to come here a long time ago, but my applications were always rejected by my boss. Fortunately, he finally agreed today. Then I happened to come across your rental post, Boss Landlord, so I packed my bags and came over.”

A look of realization dawned on Zhou Fangdong’s face. So she was a supernatural streamer. No wonder she was so bold.

“Fine. In that case, let’s go to Room 109 and sign the Rental Contract directly.”

If every tenant who came to see a room was like Miao Zheng, he wouldn’t have to rack his brains trying to figure out how to make them stay.

Once they arrived at Room 109, Zhou Fangdong handed the contract to Miao Zheng.

【Room 109 Residency Rules】

1. Room 109 is only for female tenants. Tenants are prohibited from bringing males into the room.

2. Do not open the windows. Do not open or discard the black plastic bags. Do not cover the stains on the walls. Do not touch the saw in the corner.

3. Please treat the black plastic bags on the floor as ordinary furniture. Do not ignore them, but do not stare at them for long periods.

4. You must use photography equipment to film the black plastic bags daily or start a live stream for them. Filming time must not be less than 3 hours.

5. The tenant of 109 must not cover their body with a blanket while sleeping. “Hiding” behavior is prohibited in Room 109.

6. The tenant must carry the key to Room 109 at all times. If the key is lost, the contract is considered automatically terminated.

7. If you discover an outside person or ghost invading your private space, do not panic. As long as you follow the above rules, the landlord will arrive immediately to resolve the issue for you.

8. A monthly rent of 30 yuan in cash must be paid. Any breach of this will result in the automatic termination of the contract.

After reading the contract, Miao Zheng seemed to remember something. She sucked in a breath as if she had a toothache. “I think I’ve seen news footage of this dismemberment case… Those black plastic bags couldn’t possibly contain body parts, could they? Are you asking me to live with a Dismemberment Ghost?”

Zhou Fangdong didn’t reply immediately. He was carefully weighing his words, trying to find a way to sugarcoat the living environment.

After all, the Tenant Contract for Room 109 was indeed quite harsh. Even though Miao Zheng was a supernatural streamer who sought out terrifying material for excitement, living with dismembered body parts might be a bit too much. A normal person shouldn’t be able to accept it.

But clearly, Miao Zheng was not a normal person.

She picked up the pen and signed her name on the tenant contract without a moment’s hesitation. “That is so cool! The Female Ghost Sister in Room 109 must be the socially anxious, possessive, slightly yandere type, right? That kind of gloomy, damp ghost lady archetype is super popular online, perfect for filming videos. Don’t you worry, Landlord Boss. I don’t have a single friend in real life, so I guarantee the Female Ghost Sister and I will be best friends forever.”

The speech Zhou Fangdong had just prepared died in his throat.

…Whatever, as long as she was happy.

Zhou Fangdong took the rental contract and the 30 Ghost Coins in cash from Miao Zheng, then handed her the key to Room 109. “This is your room key. Carrying it allows you to enter and exit the apartment freely. There is a copy of the rental contract on the table. If you forget any of the rules, you can go over there and check.”

“You must act according to the residence rules. Tenants who follow the rules are safe.”

Miao Zheng took the key and said with a grin, “OK, don’t worry. I’ll definitely follow them. There’s no one in this world more law-abiding than Miao Zheng, hehehe.”

Her laughter made Zhou Fangdong’s skin crawl.

…He had a feeling something wasn’t quite right. He would have to keep a close eye on this tenant in the future.

Once the tenant contract was successfully handed over, the familiar electronic voice of the system rang out:

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing Side Quest 1: Clean and Rent Out Room 109】

【Tenant Illustrated Guide has been unlocked】

【Tenant Illustrated Guide: [Low-level Tenant: Paranormal Streamer Desperate for Fame] has been lit up】

【Please open the Illustrated Guide in the system interface to claim your rewards promptly】

【Side Quest 1 Completion Rewards: 300 Ghost Coins, 1,000 Experience Points, Random Skill Point x1】

【Ding! Detected that the host’s Experience Points are sufficient for a level up. Character Level has increased. Character Exclusive Skill has been unlocked】

【Please check the Character Level page promptly to view the unlocked skill】

Translator’s Notes

• gloomy, damp ghost lady: The source uses ‘yinshi’ (阴湿), a popular internet slang term in Chinese ‘danmei’ and horror subcultures. It literally means ‘shady and damp,’ but it describes a specific aesthetic or character archetype: someone who is brooding, obsessive, socially withdrawn, and perhaps slightly ‘creepy’ in an alluring or pitiable way.

• yandere: The source uses the term ‘bingjiao’ (病娇), the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese ‘yandere.’ It describes a character who is so obsessively in love that they become mentally unstable, often leading to violence or extreme possessiveness. This reflects the streamer’s familiarity with internet subcultures and tropes.

• spider silk: This is an allusion to the short story ‘The Spider’s Thread’ by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. In the story, the Buddha offers a single thread of spider silk to a sinner in hell as a chance for salvation, but it snaps when others try to climb it. The imagery emphasizes the desperation of the ghosts and the ‘holy’ or ‘savior’ quality of the light the protagonist carries.