Chapter 28

Zhou Fangdong stepped into Room 103 once again.

The room looked much tidier than it had yesterday. All the miscellaneous items had been packed away into boxes or bags, and the trash and broken furniture had been cleared out.

Once these boxes of clutter were moved out and a few pieces of furniture were ordered, a new tenant could move right in.

Not seeing the ghost of Room 103 for the moment, Zhou Fangdong thought it over and decided to simply move the entire collection out first.

He couldn’t tell which items were dangerous and which weren’t, and the automated storage tool hadn’t bothered to label the boxes or bags after it finished packing.

If he didn’t move everything out, screening them one by one would be too slow and difficult to identify. It would be bad if he accidentally left behind some clutter that could threaten a tenant’s life.

Zhou Fangdong first tried storing two boxes. To his surprise, these messy items only took up a single slot in his Inventory.

The slot was labeled: [Organized Collection from Room 103].

In that case, there was no reason to hesitate. Take it all—pack every last bit away.

Without a second thought, Zhou Fangdong tossed everything into his Inventory.

During the process, only one wooden box failed to be stored. Zhou Fangdong guessed that the Skin-Stitching Ghost might be hiding inside, so he left it alone for the time being and continued putting the rest of the clutter away.

After this packing spree, Room 103 had been completely transformed into a clean, bare shell of a room. Only that suspicious wooden box remained on the floor.

Just as Zhou Fangdong was preparing to open it, the cold, electronic voice of the system suddenly rang out:

[Ding—New tenant detected at the apartment entrance for a viewing. Host, please proceed to the apartment foyer immediately.]

Zhou Fangdong froze.

A tenant? What new tenant? He hadn’t agreed to let that couple come for a viewing yesterday.

Frowning deeply, Zhou Fangdong left Room 103 and headed toward the foyer.

In the hallway, he happened to run into Duan Wenyu, who had just returned.

Having spent a day and a night at the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight, Duan Wenyu looked somewhat haggard. The dark circles under his eyes were so heavy they almost eclipsed his dark complexion, yet his expression was unusually fervent.

Upon seeing Zhou Fangdong, Duan Wenyu grew even more excited. He walked quickly over and pressed a USB drive into Zhou Fangdong’s hand.

“Landlord, the Director of the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight asked me to give this to you. It contains case files related to Liwan Apartments exported from the Paranormal Affairs Department’s archives. He heard you were renting out rooms and said these might be useful for dealing with the ghosts in the building.”

Zhou Fangdong took it, thinking that the Director was surprisingly thoughtful.

Although he now possessed the Mind Reading skill and could easily learn the killing rules of ghosts—making these materials unnecessary for clearing rooms—these case files would be of immense help in completing his Roleplay Tasks.

Roleplay Tasks were a vital way for him to earn Experience Points and Skill Points.

Zhou Fangdong had originally intended to ask Hong Zhong to see if he could pay the janitor to get some files on past murders at Liwan Apartments. He hadn’t expected that before he could even say a word, Hong Zhong’s superior would take the initiative to deliver them.

Zhou Fangdong tossed the USB drive into his Inventory, planning to look through it once he was back in his room.

“Did the Director have a favor to ask in exchange for giving me these files?”

Duan Wenyu shook his head vigorously. “No. Thanks to my promotion of you, the Director has been completely awed by your power, Landlord. This is his offering to you.”

Zhou Fangdong was stunned.

What was Duan Wenyu talking about? What promotion? What offering? He couldn’t understand a word of it.

A sudden flash of insight hit him, and Zhou Fangdong realized something that made him break out in a cold sweat. “We have a normal landlord-tenant relationship. You aren’t allowed to start some kind of cult behind my back.”

Duan Wenyu gave a confident smile, his two rows of bright white teeth standing out vividly against his dark face. “Don’t worry, Landlord. I understand. We aren’t a cult.”

No, you don’t understand at all.

Zhou Fangdong felt a headache coming on.

What was wrong with his tenants? Why did they all seem to get some kind of fanaticism buff once their Favorability hit one hundred?

“You haven’t slept all night. Go back to your room and get some rest…” At this point, Zhou Fangdong remembered something and added, “Before you left yesterday, did you leave enough food under the bed in the Room 102 storage closet?”

Duan Wenyu looked moved. “I did. Thank you for your concern, Landlord. Rest assured, I will strictly follow the Tenant Rules.”

“That’s good then…” Zhou Fangdong sighed softly and patted Duan Wenyu on the shoulder. “Go on back. I have things to handle.”

He really needed to find this young man a job like Zhao Dawei’s. If he let this guy run wild, he was truly afraid he would become some kind of cult leader without even knowing it.

After watching Duan Wenyu return to his room, Zhou Fangdong arrived at the foyer. Through the glass doors of the apartment building, he saw a middle-aged couple standing outside.

Could these be the two who had requested a viewing under his rental post last night?

How exactly did they find their way here? Logically, if the landlord hadn’t approved the viewing application, a tenant shouldn’t be able to see the route to Liwan Apartments.

All the roads around Liwan Apartments were cordoned off; only the Ghost Bus could reach it successfully.

How did this couple know to take the Ghost Bus?

Zhou Fangdong’s brow furrowed. He was already feeling a bit irritable after finishing the roleplay game, and this only added to it.

He didn’t even know the killing rules for the ghost in Room 103 yet, and the Rental Contract hadn’t been finalized, but the tenants had arrived early. This feeling of his rhythm being disrupted was quite unpleasant.

However, the middle-aged couple looked quite kind. Both were carrying large snakeskin bags and were dressed simply but neatly. They looked like honest, hardworking ordinary people.

Fine. He would let them in first and then find some excuse to send them away.

As Zhou Fangdong spotted the couple, they also saw him appearing in the foyer.

Before they could do anything, the apartment doors suddenly swung open on their own, giving the couple a start.

The middle-aged man signaled for the woman to stay put while he slowly stepped inside.

Seeing that he didn’t encounter any danger, he let out a sigh of relief and waved to the woman, signaling her to come over.

The two of them approached Zhou Fangdong with identical, fawning smiles.

The woman spoke first. “You must be the Landlord who posted the ad? Landlord, we’re so sorry for dropping by unannounced. We didn’t mean to disturb you. But we really need to rent a place in Liwan Apartments…” At this point, she rubbed her palms together bashfully. “We’ve run into some trouble and can’t afford a place in the city for the time being.”

“Yes, yes,” the man chimed in repeatedly. “Your rent is the only one low enough. We wouldn’t have come if we weren’t at the end of our rope.”

Seeing that Zhou Fangdong remained silent, the woman seemed to think of something and continued to explain, “We were waiting at the bus stop this morning, intending to ask in the post if you’d let us see the place today. But while we were looking at our phones, we accidentally boarded a bus, and somehow we ended up here at Liwan Apartments.”

The man nodded along fervently.

Zhou Fangdong watched the couple in silence, his gaze lingering on the woman’s wrist.

He didn’t believe a single word this couple said.

If one person got on the wrong bus, it might be understandable, but could two people really make the same mistake together?

One look at the Ghost Bus of Liwan Apartments was enough to tell it was different from any other bus. How did they have the nerve to sit there calmly after “boarding the wrong bus” and ride it all the way to Liwan Apartments?

Furthermore, the most important point was the woman’s wrist.

It was summer, and everyone was wearing short sleeves. The woman wore a watch with a wide strap. When she was rubbing her hands just now, Zhou Fangdong noticed a tattooed symbol on the skin beneath her watch.

Thanks to the buff from [Dark Vision], Zhou Fangdong’s eyesight was exceptionally keen. Even in that briefest of moments, he saw the symbol clearly.

It was a distorted, oval-shaped question mark rune—the exact same symbol he had seen on the belly of that dead bald man in Room 103 during last night’s Roleplay Task.

This couple was connected to the psychopathic serial killer who used to rent Room 103; they were very likely members of the same organization.

Zhou Fangdong was already irritable because he had been killed by a bunch of lunatics and psychos during his Roleplay Task. Now, seeing people suspected of being those psychos’ companions appearing before him, his frustration instantly doubled.

Zhou Fangdong suspected that because he had posted about renting out Room 103 of Liwan Apartments, these two had sought him out—were they looking for something in Room 103?

Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong said tentatively, “It really is a bad coincidence that you came today. I didn’t agree to your viewing appointment last night because Room 103 hasn’t been tidied up yet, and the furniture hasn’t been ordered. It’s not ready to be officially rented out.”

He paused here, watching the couple’s expressions shift instantly, and sneered inwardly. “However, Room 105 has been cleaned. Would you like to rent Room 105 instead? The rent is the same.”

“It’s fine.” The middle-aged man was the most impatient and spoke up first. “It doesn’t matter if Room 103 isn’t tidied up; we can help clean it. We aren’t picky about furniture either. Mr. Landlord, just rent Room 103 to us.”

Hearing him say this, Zhou Fangdong knew exactly what was going on.

He hadn’t guessed wrong; this couple specifically wanted to rent Room 103. These two definitely had problems. They hadn’t come to Liwan Apartments to rent a room, but to find something left behind by the previous tenant of 103.

However, everything in Room 103 had already been moved into his Inventory. There were no items left, though there was one ghost… He would see what they planned to do.

“Alright then. I’ll take you to Room 103. Follow me.”

Zhou Fangdong led the middle-aged couple to Room 103.

The couple, who had been wearing gentle smiles, found their expressions freezing on their faces the moment they saw the empty, impeccably clean, and brand-new Room 103.

Where were the things? Where did everything in Room 103 go?

The middle-aged couple’s gaze shifted downward, finally settling on the lone survivor on the floor.

As long as there was one box left, it would do. Hopefully, what they were looking for was inside.

A forced smile tugged at the corners of the middle-aged man’s mouth as he pulled thirty yuan from his trouser pocket and handed it to Zhou Fangdong. “Mr. Landlord, we are very satisfied with this room. We’ll stay here starting today. This is this month’s rent.”

They weren’t aware that renting at Liwan Apartments now required a Rental Contract. Because it was still early and they were escorted by Zhou Fangdong, they hadn’t encountered any ghosts on the way from the entrance to Room 103. Consequently, they didn’t take the legends of Liwan Apartments seriously.

Besides, even seeing a ghost wouldn’t scare them off. They didn’t plan on staying long; they would leave as soon as they found what they were looking for.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t bother to remind the couple. He took the money and left, perfectly playing the role of a black-hearted landlord who had happened upon the deed to Liwan Apartments and would use any means necessary to rent out a haunted house.

After returning to his room, Zhou Fangdong opened the rental interface and used the room preview to observe the couple’s movements.

Once they saw Zhou Fangdong leave, the middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief and slammed the door of Room 103 shut.

He looked at the only remaining box in the room and complained, “I don’t know how that wet-behind-the-ears kid got the deed to Liwan Apartments. He probably sold everything in this room. The things the higher-up left in the room before he died are probably gone too. Damn it.”

“Stop complaining. Can’t you hide your business for once? You wear your emotions right on your face.” The woman’s face was grim. Against her slightly distorted expression, her originally kind, round face now looked exceptionally ruthless.

“That kid probably noticed something. We need to move fast and finish what we came for before he senses anything is wrong.”

“Don’t worry, Big Sis. If he really dares to get in the way, at worst, we’ll just butcher him.” The man made a cutting motion across his throat.

The woman rolled her eyes at him. “Save the tough talk. Come over here and help me move the box.”

Together, they moved the box from the center of the floor to a position against the wall.

The box was an old-fashioned flip-top redwood chest, unlocked. After placing it against the wall, the man opened his burlap sack and took out two strange hats.

The hats were odd-looking, resembling the skullcaps¹ that hugged the scalp during the Qing Dynasty. The fabric was very thin with no other decorations, colored a strange light brown. The material looked tight, embroidered with dense, tiny runes in black thread.

Seeing the man take out these hats, the woman reached up and yanked her hair off—she was bald, and what she had been wearing was a wig.

She probably wasn’t naturally bald, as there were clear signs of shaving on her scalp.

She took a hat from the man and placed it on her head. The hat fit her head perfectly, looking like a second layer of skin.

Seeing the woman had her hat on, the man also yanked off his wig and put on his skullcap.

Once everything was ready, the two exchanged a look, took a deep breath, and opened the box together with solemn expressions.

Upon discovering that the box contained a White Opera Costume, both of them instinctively took a step back in unison.

They stood in silent confrontation with the opera costume in the box. Seeing that it remained unchanged, they finally approached cautiously.

The woman gave the man a look. The man gritted his teeth and reached out to lift the opera costume.

Sensing that the texture of the costume felt wrong, the man frowned deeply. He skillfully unbuttoned the front of the costume and checked the lining.

“It’s not here, Big Sis. That human skin isn’t inside this costume.” The man shook the costume, unfolding it completely to show the woman.

“If it’s not there, keep looking. Why are you still holding it?” The woman snatched the costume away and tossed it aside.

The two began to rummage through the box again.

In a blind spot of their vision, a piece of human skin slid down from the ceiling along the wall like a swimming fish. With a gentle and swift motion, it slipped into the White Opera Costume they had thrown aside.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t notice the anomaly with the costume in Room 103. In fact, just as he saw the man in Room 103 take out the hats, he heard a system warning:

[Warning! A dispute has broken out among the convenience store employees! Room 101 tenant Zhao Dawei and Room 109 tenant Miao Zheng are involved! Please proceed to handle this immediately, Host!]

Hearing this warning, Zhou Fangdong was so startled that he stopped caring about what the couple in Room 103 was doing. He hurriedly switched the rental interface to Room 104, grabbed his Kerosene Lamp, and teleported directly to the convenience store.

His two employees were certainly a handful. The convenience store had only been open for a single day, and they were already getting into a brawl.

When Zhou Fangdong arrived at the convenience store, the interior was a total wreck. The Long-tongued Ghost and the Wedding Dress Ghost were tangled together in a fight—literally tangled. The Long-tongued Ghost had used both her tongue and her entire body to wrap around the Wedding Dress Ghost, almost merging with her. At first glance, it looked as if the Wedding Dress Ghost had wrapped a thick red quilt over her bridal gown.

Meanwhile, Zhao Dawei was huddled under a collapsed shelf, trembling violently, while Miao Zheng sat crouched beside him, her face pale as she clutched her head.

To separate the two ghosts as quickly as possible, Zhou Fangdong immediately lit the Kerosene Lamp.

The moment the Kerosene Lamp flickered to life, despite its dim, warm yellow glow, the two brawling ghosts reacted as if they were facing blinding sunlight. They let out simultaneous shrieks and instantly broke apart, scurrying away to hide in the shadows of opposite corners.

Seeing them separated, Zhou Fangdong breathed a sigh of relief. He put away the Kerosene Lamp and walked over to Zhao Dawei and Miao Zheng.

“What exactly happened here?”

Zhao Dawei seemed scared out of his wits. His face was deathly pale, his lips were bloodless, and he was shaking too hard to speak. Looking at his disheveled hair and the scratches on his cheeks, he was likely the culprit who had triggered the fight between the Long-tongued Ghost and the Wedding Dress Ghost.

Seeing his state, Miao Zheng took the initiative to speak for him. “Landlord Boss, I swear we didn’t do anything. Today is Zhao Dawei’s day off, and I ran into him when I was heading out this morning, so I invited him to come to the convenience store to buy some food. From the moment we walked in until now, we haven’t violated a single one of the Convenience Store Rules.”

As she finished, Zhao Dawei nodded emphatically, his voice trembling. “Th-that’s right.”

Zhou Fangdong furrowed his brows.

Both Zhao Dawei and Miao Zheng had a Favorability of one hundred; they would never lie to him.

If they hadn’t violated the Convenience Store Rules, then how did his two employees end up fighting?

“Tell me everything that happened from the moment you woke up this morning. Don’t leave anything out.”

Zhao Dawei calmed down slightly. Zhou Fangdong’s presence was like an anchor to him; even if the man did nothing, just standing there provided a sense of security.

Taking a deep breath, Zhao Dawei tried to keep his voice steady as he began to recount his morning.

Even though he didn’t have to work today, he had woken up early and waited outside Room 101 for other tenants. He didn’t quite have the courage to enter the convenience store alone and wanted to find someone to go in with him.

That was when he ran into Miao Zheng, who was just about to head out.

Miao Zheng had a habit of exercising. After resting in bed for the past two days, she felt like her bones were starting to rust, so she had gotten up early for a morning run around the Liwan Apartments.

The moment she stepped out, she encountered Zhao Dawei waiting by the door of 101.

At Miao Zheng’s invitation, Zhao Dawei felt that he probably should get some exercise too, so he went out and ran a few laps with her.

When they returned, they went straight to the 104 Convenience Store.

Just as they finished picking out their items and reached the checkout counter for the Long-tongued Ghost to ring them up, the Wedding Dress Ghost suddenly appeared. For some unknown reason, she had been hiding in Zhao Dawei’s shadow.

The moment Zhao Dawei placed the food on the counter, the Wedding Dress Ghost lunged out from his shadow. Seeing her appear, the Long-tongued Ghost was instantly provoked, and the two ghosts began fighting for no apparent reason.

Zhou Fangdong’s brow creased slightly as he asked further, “Did you encounter anything while exercising, or did you pick anything up and bring it back?”

Zhao Dawei scratched his head, looking utterly confused. “No…”

“Ah!” Miao Zheng suddenly remembered something and slapped her forehead. “Uncle, I remember you stepped on something while we were running and almost tripped?”

Zhao Dawei thought for a moment and said hesitantly, “It seemed like a brick… no, the color was similar, but it didn’t feel like a brick when I stepped on it. It was probably a paper packet with something inside? I think it was a red or light-red paper packet.”

At the time, his stamina was nearly depleted, so he hadn’t paid much attention. His mind had been entirely focused on the fact that he could rest once he finished the run.

Zhou Fangdong sighed.

He knew what was going on. Zhao Dawei must have stepped on one of the red envelopes² the Wedding Dress Ghost had previously scattered around the Liwan Apartments.

The Wedding Dress Ghost’s previous killing rule was to kill anyone who touched those red envelopes containing ‘life-buying money.’ Therefore, even if Zhao Dawei hadn’t violated the convenience store rules, she would still hide in his shadow because of that instinctual rule.

He couldn’t really blame her. After all, most ghosts were controlled by their obsessions and acted on instinct after death; those with true reason were the minority. Those wedding red envelopes were the Wedding Dress Ghost’s obsession from when she was alive.

Still, Zhou Fangdong felt a lingering sense of dread.

If the Long-tongued Ghost hadn’t been guarding the checkout counter at the entrance, and if these two ghosts didn’t start fighting the moment they saw each other… if the Wedding Dress Ghost had followed Zhao Dawei out of the convenience store, he wasn’t sure if the Room 101 key alone would have been enough to protect him.

“I know what happened. It wasn’t your fault,” Zhou Fangdong comforted them. “You two head back for now. The convenience store is closing for the day. I’ll handle this properly and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Wedding Dress Ghost had likely scattered many similar red envelopes around the Liwan Apartments. For the safety of his tenants, he had to find a way to make her take them all back.

When he left the convenience store, Zhao Dawei’s legs were still a bit weak.

Although there were many ghosts in the apartments, he never expected to be attacked inside the building after becoming a tenant. When he had turned around and saw a three-meter-tall Wedding Dress Ghost crawling out of his own shadow, he had been scared stiff.

Fortunately, the Long-tongued Ghost at the counter had charged forward the moment the other appeared. He had only been grazed by the falling shelf, and with the Landlord arriving just in time, he had escaped without further harm.

It was all the fault of exercising. He decided then and there: no more exercise. So what if he had a beer belly? His life was more important.

As Zhao Dawei reached the door of Room 101 and pulled out his key, he suddenly heard a woman’s gentle voice calling him. “Hello, are you the tenant of Room 101?”

Zhao Dawei turned around to see a plainly dressed, kind-looking middle-aged woman standing nearby.

She looked to be about his age, with a very friendly round face and dimples when she smiled. Her hair was neatly tied up, and she looked tidy and dignified.

Zhao Dawei instinctively straightened his messy shirt and wiped away the blood seeping from the scratch on his face. “Yes, I’m the tenant of Room 101. And you are—?” he replied nervously.

“I just moved in this morning. I’m in Room 103.” The woman maintained her warm smile. “You’re the first neighbor I’ve met. Would you like to come into my place for a bit? We can chat and get to know each other.”

Zhao Dawei looked conflicted. He actually wanted to go back to his room and rest. Between the run and the incident at the convenience store, his legs were so sore he could barely walk.

He gave the woman an apologetic smile. “I have some things to do today. How about we chat another time?”

To Zhao Dawei’s surprise, even after he declined, the middle-aged woman didn’t give up. Instead, she walked quickly to his side and hooked her arm through his. “Just for a little while. We’ll just chat; it won’t take much of your time.”

Zhao Dawei stumbled as she jerked him forward.

He looked down in shock at the middle-aged woman, who stood a full head shorter than him, and tried to wrench his arm back. To his surprise, her hand was like a pair of iron pliers; no matter how hard he pulled, she gripped his arm so tightly it didn’t budge an inch.

Sensing that things were taking a turn for the worse, Zhao Dawei began to struggle desperately.

Yet the woman remained completely unfazed by his thrashing. As if dragging a sack of flour, she hauled Zhao Dawei toward Room 103 by sheer brute force.

Translator’s Notes