Chapter 23

He hadn’t expected the apartment’s service stairs to have a control key, let alone that the key would be a spirit tablet¹.

Zhou Fangdong wiped the dust off the tablet and turned it over.

He then discovered that the name written on this Red Sandalwood Spirit Tablet was actually his own.

This was a bit ominous; he wasn’t even dead yet, so why had someone already set up a tablet for him?

Right, the system had mentioned that this tablet had some sort of hidden function, and Miao Zheng had discovered an important clue last night…

Zhou Fangdong looked toward Miao Zheng.

Miao Zheng was in a very bad state. Due to excessive blood loss, her lips were pale and cracked, but her cheeks flushed with a sickly radiance. It seemed the inflammation in her wounds had caused a fever.

Now was not the time to study the spirit tablet; he had to get Miao Zheng back to her room for treatment as soon as possible.

Although he had the bandages prepared for Duan Wenyu in his inventory, he didn’t have any painkillers on him.

If he used the bandages directly on the wound in Miao Zheng’s palm, Zhou Fangdong feared the key might end up permanently fused to her hand. If he chose to pull the key out… pulling it out without painkillers would be a form of modern torture.

Tossing the Red Sandalwood Spirit Tablet into his inventory, Zhou Fangdong led Miao Zheng downstairs.

Once Zhou Fangdong obtained the tablet, the eerie white mist in the surroundings dissipated completely. The stairs returned to being ordinary stairs; from their current position, they could even see the first-floor corridor.

Perhaps because her body had been trapped in the steps for too long, Miao Zheng’s gait was stiff. Her steps were weak and unsteady, looking as though she might stumble and tumble down the stairs at any second.

Even in this state, she stubbornly leaned against the wall to walk on her own, unwilling to trouble Zhou Fangdong or let him support her.

Fortunately, Miao Zheng’s 80 Favorability had unlocked a medical kit. Otherwise, given the distance between Liwan Apartments and the city center, she certainly wouldn’t have lasted until they reached a hospital in her current condition.

In truth, if Zhou Fangdong left Miao Zheng in the corridor and teleported back to his room to grab the medicine before returning, she would receive treatment much faster.

However, Zhou Fangdong was afraid that without his company, Miao Zheng might suddenly vanish again… He no longer dared to let her stay alone in the stairwells or corridors.

Only by returning her to Room 109, where the Dismemberment Ghost could watch over her, could he truly feel at ease.

As Zhou Fangdong led Miao Zheng into the first-floor corridor, the Long-tongued Ghost, which had been crawling beside him, suddenly made a turn. It twisted its deformed body at a bizarre angle to block his path.

The Wedding Dress Ghost appeared out of nowhere as well, standing beside the Long-tongued Ghost as if it had grown out of the shadows.

This time, the two ghosts were surprisingly harmonious and didn’t fight. Instead, they reached out their hands toward Zhou Fangdong in a synchronized motion.

Seeing them blocking the way, Zhou Fangdong knew these two ghosts were demanding the final payment for those three sticks of Offering Incense.

Zhou Fangdong looked at the suddenly appearing Wedding Dress Ghost with a hint of speechlessness.

It was normal for the Long-tongued Ghost to ask for the final payment; after all, it had actually done the work and led him to Miao Zheng.

But what was this Wedding Dress Ghost doing joining the fun? Getting three sticks of Offering Incense for doing absolutely nothing wasn’t enough? It wanted a final payment too? This was getting a bit out of hand—did it think he was a pushover?

Zhou Fangdong took out three sticks of Offering Incense and handed them to the Long-tongued Ghost. When he faced the Wedding Dress Ghost, he expressionlessly pulled out the Kerosene Lamp.

Though he didn’t light it, his stance was clear.

The scarlet corners of the mouth beneath the Wedding Dress Ghost’s veil, which had been curled upward, suddenly slumped. Its withered hands gripped the human faces sewn onto its wedding dress, pinching them until they were wrinkled. It actually looked somewhat aggrieved.

After a moment of silence, the Wedding Dress Ghost’s voluminous skirt gradually merged with the shadows, appearing like a pool of dark red blood. Its tall figure was like a block of snow melting into water, quickly sinking into the bloodstain and vanishing from the corridor.

Seeing the Wedding Dress Ghost suffer a setback, the Long-tongued Ghost seemed particularly happy, its mouth stretching even wider. Clutching the Offering Incense given by Zhou Fangdong, it chose a direction opposite to where the Wedding Dress Ghost had vanished and crawled away along the wall.

Seeing the two ghosts leave, Zhou Fangdong breathed a small sigh of relief. He put away the Kerosene Lamp and continued leading Miao Zheng toward Room 109.

However, just as the two of them stepped out of the stairwell and into the apartment’s entrance hall, Miao Zheng suddenly stumbled and fell face-forward toward the ground.

At that exact moment, countless pale ghost hands suddenly rose from the floor. These blue-white hands were covered in purple-red cadaveric spots, with clots of dark blood congealed at the fingertips, looking like white vines that had long since rotted and turned black.

Along with the appearance of the ghost hands, a thick, pitch-black resentment surged forth like a flood, instantly swallowing all light in the entrance hall.

Within this dark fog, the dense cluster of pale ghost hands wove together at extreme speed into a massive white net. Carrying the cold aura of death, they quickly wrapped around the falling Miao Zheng and pulled her directly into the floor.

In the blink of an eye, the ghost hands, the black mist, and Miao Zheng had all disappeared. They vanished as quickly as a popped bubble.

Zhou Fangdong’s hand was still held out in a gesture to catch her; he hadn’t even reacted to what had just happened.

How did a ghost in the apartment dare to snatch someone right in front of him? Was it because Miao Zheng’s actions last night had triggered some kind of anomaly?

Just as this thought surfaced, a pop-up suddenly appeared from the system’s special tenant watch list:

[Room 109 Tenant, Miao Zheng, has entered Room 109.]

Looking at the pop-up, Zhou Fangdong realized something belatedly.

Those ghost hands that snatched Miao Zheng just now… could they have belonged to the Dismemberment Ghost from Room 109?

He really hadn’t expected the ghosts inside the apartment rooms to be able to come out.

However, he felt that the Dismemberment Ghost’s state after leaving the room was a bit off…

Its power seemed to have increased significantly, and it was no longer confined to the plastic bags. It was as if it had gained a berserk buff after breaking its seal.

Though he was curious about why this change had occurred, Zhou Fangdong didn’t dwell on it. In any case, as long as his tenant was safe, nothing else mattered.

Zhou Fangdong opened the rental interface and confirmed that Miao Zheng had indeed returned to Room 109 before teleporting directly back to his own room.

Finding the medical kit on the table, he took out painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and fever reducers, then teleported to Room 109 without a moment’s delay.

Miao Zheng was already lying on the bed. Though she looked very weak, she had remained conscious throughout.

Seeing Zhou Fangdong arrive, she started to sit up, only to be pressed back onto the bed by a ghost hand reaching out from a black plastic bag.

Seeing this, Zhou Fangdong quickly said, “No need to get up. I’ll apply the medicine first.”

He administered the painkillers to Miao Zheng and then pulled the Room 109 key directly out of her palm.

The medicines in the basic medical kit took effect instantly on tenants and had three uses each.

After pulling out the key, Zhou Fangdong took the bandages intended for Duan Wenyu from his inventory and wrapped them around her hand.

The bandages took effect immediately, and the wound on Miao Zheng’s hand vanished instantly.

Miao Zheng looked at her right hand in shock, opening and closing her fist repeatedly—there was no wound, no pain, and her finger dexterity was exactly the same as before.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Zhou Fangdong. Just as she was about to speak, she was interrupted by him: “No need for words of gratitude. Just don’t leave your room at night anymore.”

Miao Zheng’s gaze was firm as she nodded earnestly. “I’ll listen to everything you say, Boss Landlord. I promise I won’t take any more risks.”

[Ding—Detected Tenant Favorability has reached 100. Tenant personality traits have changed.]

[Trait: Optimistic personality, loves adventure, but will unconditionally obey the landlord’s requirements and will not easily seek death. Strong pressure resistance, not easily frightened. Unless evicted, she will never terminate her lease.]

Seeing this altered trait, Zhou Fangdong breathed a sigh of relief.

He hadn’t expected that reaching maximum Favorability could actually change a tenant’s traits; this was fantastic. Otherwise, if he had to follow a troublemaker around every day cleaning up their messes, he would rather lose money and terminate the Tenant Contract.

After finishing the administration of fever reducers and anti-inflammatory medicine to Miao Zheng and seeing her condition improve slightly, Zhou Fangdong asked, “Tell me everything you experienced last night. Try not to leave anything out.”

Miao Zheng’s expression turned serious. She leaned against the headboard and began to recount her ordeal from the previous night.

After listening to her narrative, Zhou Fangdong fell into deep thought.

…An apartment that became brightly lit at night, disappearing doors, a corridor that one couldn’t escape no matter how fast they ran, and stairs that appeared out of nowhere—it felt like there were no clues related to the spirit tablet at all.

“Is that all?” Zhou Fangdong confirmed.

Miao Zheng nodded heavily. “That’s it. I’m certain.”

Since he couldn’t deduce any important clues just from Miao Zheng’s verbal account, he would have to go to the scene and see for himself.

Zhou Fangdong prepared to head out and investigate personally tonight.

The item description for the Kerosene Lamp was [Allows walking within the apartment at night]. With the Kerosene Lamp in hand, he shouldn’t encounter any danger. Moreover, even if he did run into trouble, he still had his teleportation skill; at worst, he could just teleport straight back to his room.

Having made his decision, Zhou Fangdong took a Low-level Ghost Repelling Talisman from his Inventory and handed it to Miao Zheng. He explained the item’s effects and told her to use it to save her life if she encountered danger again.

Just as Zhou Fangdong was preparing to leave Room 109, a pop-up from the Special Tenant Watchlist appeared again:

[Room 101 Tenant Zhao Dawei has entered the apartment.]

It was nearly five in the afternoon; Zhao Dawei should be back from work.

Perfect timing. He might as well hand over the Ghost Repelling Talisman and the Peace Talisman to him while he was at it.

Zhou Fangdong opened the rental interface again and chose to teleport to Room 101.

When Zhao Dawei opened his front door, the first thing he saw was Zhou Fangdong standing in the darkness, looking as pale as a male ghost.

Even after being tempered by those ghostly entities in the furniture store for a whole day, Zhao Dawei still nearly screamed in terror.

“Land… Landlord?” After recognizing that this ‘male ghost’ was Zhou Fangdong, Zhao Dawei finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Sir, is there something you need in my room?”

Zhou Fangdong nodded and handed both the rechargeable item [Low-level Talisman: Peace Talisman] and the Ghost Repelling Talisman to Zhao Dawei.

Once taken out of the Inventory, the Peace Talisman was a yellow paper talisman folded into a triangle and threaded with a red string.

Zhou Fangdong explained the functions of the Peace Talisman and the Ghost Repelling Talisman to Zhao Dawei.

After listening, Zhao Dawei was moved to tears. “Thank you, Landlord. I will cherish these talismans you’ve given me.”

Where else could one find a landlord who cared so much about his tenants? Being a tenant at Liwan Apartments was truly the greatest stroke of luck in his life.

With things settled on Zhao Dawei’s end, Zhou Fangdong opened the rental interface again to glance at Room 102.

In Room 102, the pixel sprite representing Duan Wenyu was still lying in bed, with ‘Z…Z…Z…’ symbols floating above his head.

Still sleeping. He was likely exhausted, so he would give Duan Wenyu his Ghost Repelling Talisman tomorrow instead.

For the sake of these tenants’ lives, Zhou Fangdong felt he was truly worrying himself to death.

He didn’t know what he would do when the number of tenants increased in the future; even with just three tenants now, he felt a bit overwhelmed.

Sigh… In the future, when renting out rooms, he should try to choose honest and easy-to-manage tenants. He didn’t require them to have the ability to fight ghosts, but at the very least, they had to be obedient and not be troublemakers.

After returning to his own room, Zhou Fangdong opened the Favorability interface to check the item unlocked by Miao Zheng reaching 100 Favorability.

[Low-level Supernatural Item: Old Camera]

[Item Description: When photographing a ghost, it can briefly trap them within the camera. The stronger the ghost, the shorter the duration of imprisonment. Useless against ghosts of Grade A or higher.]

It was another item that wasn’t very useful to him, but would be of great use to a tenant.

Zhou Fangdong put the camera into his Inventory, planning to give it to Miao Zheng tomorrow.

Time passed quickly, and night fell.

This was the first time Zhou Fangdong had left his room at night. To prevent any accidents, he lit the Kerosene Lamp once more.

Before opening the door, he thought for a moment and also took the Red Sandalwood Spirit Tablet out of his Inventory.

Since the system said this spirit tablet had other uses and was related to Miao Zheng’s experience last night, he would retrace Miao Zheng’s path and see if there were any changes to the tablet.

With that thought, Zhou Fangdong stepped out of his room.

Then, he was stunned by the scene before his eyes.

Although he had heard Miao Zheng describe how luxurious and magnificent Liwan Apartments became at night during the afternoon, seeing it with his own eyes still shocked him.

How was this a dilapidated, old, abandoned apartment? It was clearly a five-star hotel!

If he had inherited an apartment like this in the first place, he wouldn’t have had to worry about how to rent it out at all.

With the Kerosene Lamp in one hand and the spirit tablet in the other, Zhou Fangdong walked along the red carpet in the center of the corridor.

With every step, his feet sank into the plush carpet, so comfortable it felt like walking on clouds.

Zhou Fangdong walked from the end of the corridor all the way to Room 101. Along the way, he didn’t encounter the endless hallway Miao Zheng had described.

Was it because he was carrying the Kerosene Lamp?

Looking at the brand-new door of Room 101, Zhou Fangdong suddenly felt an impulse to push it open and look inside.

If he pushed the door open now, would he still see Zhao Dawei living inside?

Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong tried to open the tenant interface to see what Zhao Dawei’s pixel sprite was doing.

However, the system did not respond.

The system interface existed, but no matter how he operated it, there was no reaction.

This feeling of non-responsiveness was exactly the same as when he was performing a Roleplay Task.

The originally confident Zhou Fangdong suddenly felt a bit panicked.

At that moment, perhaps because he was too close to the door of Room 101, the bud-shaped wall lamps on either side of the door suddenly flickered.

As the wall lamps flickered, the Red Sandalwood Spirit Tablet in Zhou Fangdong’s hand also began to vibrate in sync with the frequency of the lights.

He looked down and found that the patterns on the spirit tablet had changed.

—Below his name, a small, ancient oil lamp pattern had emerged.

That oil lamp pattern didn’t look like the Kerosene Lamp; it looked more like the kind of oil lamp used in ancient times—the sort where a small dish was filled with oil, a cotton wick was placed inside, and the wick was lit with a flame.

Zhou Fangdong frowned slightly, looking at the spirit tablet in his hand and then at the flickering wall lamps.

…Did the spirit tablet mean there was something wrong with this wall lamp?

Because the Kerosene Lamp was always in his hand, Zhou Fangdong’s actions became quite bold.

He reached out and directly unscrewed one of the wall lamps.

After removing the bud-shaped cover, Zhou Fangdong was surprised to find that there wasn’t a lightbulb inside, but rather a simple, ancient-looking oil lamp—the oil lamp inside the wall lamp was identical to the pattern on the Red Sandalwood Spirit Tablet.

He never would have imagined that such a modern lightbulb could contain something so retro inside.

As he watched, a thought seemed to strike Zhou Fangdong. He reached out and removed the ancient oil lamp directly from the wall sconce’s base.

The oil in the lamp’s dish was a murky yellowish-brown, filled with floating, flocculent sediment.

A wave of immense surprise washed over him, causing Zhou Fangdong’s hand to tremble as he held the lamp.

The oil in this ancient dish was exactly the same as the fuel used in his own kerosene lamp!

The moment he realized this, the oil in the dish began to move on its own.

The dark yellow, murky grease in the dish acted like iron filings drawn to a magnet. It floated up, passed right through the glass chimney of his kerosene lamp, and flowed directly into the fuel reservoir.

The fuel level in the kerosene lamp rose significantly, visible to the naked eye.

Zhou Fangdong was ecstatic.

Good heavens, this Red Sandalwood Spirit Tablet wasn’t some unlucky omen at all; it was a wooden radar with his name on it, specifically designed to detect lamp oil.

Once all the oil had entered the kerosene lamp, the ancient lamp in Zhou Fangdong’s hand went out.

He placed the extinguished lamp back onto the base and replaced the bud-shaped glass shade.

Because of Zhou Fangdong’s action of replenishing his fuel, one of the two wall lamps flanking the door to Room 101 was now dark.

The moment the lamp went out, an ominous shadow draped itself over Room 101. Even though the ceiling lights in the hallway were still on, a strange shadow appeared on the door of Room 101.

This eerie shadow split the door of Room 101 perfectly down the middle; one side was bright, while the other was pitch black, as if an axe had cleaved the door in two.

Looking at the door, Zhou Fangdong felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

To prevent any accidents, he didn’t dare touch the still-lit wall lamp on the other side of Room 101.

With a few theories forming in his mind, Zhou Fangdong held the spirit tablet with a grim expression and walked toward the door of Room 102.

It was exactly as he suspected. As he approached the door of Room 102, the wall lamps on either side began to flicker. Simultaneously, the Red Sandalwood Spirit Tablet began to vibrate at the same frequency.

Zhou Fangdong’s expression grew more solemn as he walked to the door of Room 103.

This time, however, neither the wall lamps nor the spirit tablet reacted.

He continued walking back this way until he reached the door of Room 109, where the wall lamps and the spirit tablet reacted once again.

It was just as he thought: the bud-shaped wall lamps that could replenish his oil only existed on either side of doors belonging to rooms with tenants.

At the moment, Zhou Fangdong didn’t know if the ancient lamps would relight themselves after the oil was taken.

To avoid over-harvesting and to prevent any mishaps from befalling his tenants once the oil was gone, Zhou Fangdong stopped touching the wall lamps.

After all, the kerosene lamp wasn’t an absolute necessity for him right now, and he had plenty of fuel. Having found a way to replenish his oil, tonight’s harvest was already significant.

Despite finding such an important clue, Zhou Fangdong was in no hurry to return to his room.

Carrying the kerosene lamp, he walked all the way to the apartment’s entrance foyer.

The luxurious decorations in the foyer made the apartment look more like a high-end hotel, especially the glittering, magnificent crystal chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. Every rhinestone on the chandelier reflected a kaleidoscope of light, making the entire foyer look like a fairyland.

The elevator doors had also changed. They were no longer the rickety, dented, and dilapidated metal doors seen during the day.

Now, the elevator doors were covered in gold leaf printed with intricate patterns. The patterns used the seam where the doors met as a centerline and were perfectly symmetrical on both sides. At first glance, the elevator doors looked like a giant yellow talisman.

The place Zhou Fangdong wanted to go was the staircase to the left of the elevator that led to the second floor. He wanted to try using the spirit tablet to manipulate those stairs.

Therefore, he didn’t linger in front of the elevator but headed toward the corridor where the stairs were located.

However, to Zhou Fangdong’s surprise, just as he reached the elevator, the floor display screen suddenly changed.

The numbers on the screen flickered rapidly, jumping from 18 to 1 in an instant.

Immediately after, the indicator light above the elevator doors let out a crisp “ding,” and the glittering golden doors slowly began to slide open.

The moment the indicator chimed, the kerosene lamp in Zhou Fangdong’s hand suddenly flared with an intense light. This sudden flare-up instantly consumed all the oil he had just replenished.

Yet, even this only caused the opening elevator doors to pause for a fraction of a second; it failed to stop them from opening.

The interior of the elevator, despite its magnificent and luxurious exterior, didn’t even have a light. It was a void of darkness so deep that even Zhou Fangdong, with the help of his Dark Vision buff, couldn’t see what was inside.

As the elevator doors opened, Zhou Fangdong felt a soul-deep dread surge through his body like an electric current.

…It was exactly like that feeling on the highway, watching a heavy truck get closer and closer while being completely powerless to stop it.

In truth, the moment he realized he couldn’t see through the darkness inside the elevator, Zhou Fangdong knew something was wrong.

The system had been very clear: the [Dark Vision] talent allowed him to see easily in the dark.

Since he couldn’t see into the elevator, it meant that what was inside wasn’t just darkness, but a physical entity—a massive, terrifying monster that occupied the entire elevator, making it impossible to see its full form at a glance.

Almost by reflex, after the kerosene lamp flared out, Zhou Fangdong immediately activated his [Return] skill, attempting to teleport directly back to his room.

However, something even more desperate happened…

The teleportation skill failed. Zhou Fangdong remained standing exactly where he was.

The elevator doors opened wider and wider, and the thing inside seemed ready to squeeze its way out at any moment.

Translator’s Notes