Chapter 41

Zhou Fangdong stared at the reward pop-ups again, unable to believe his eyes.

He had actually gained a tenant for free, and Duan Wenyu had brought her back from the instance for him…

It was truly touching. Other people’s “Travel Frog¹” only brought back souvenirs and photos, but his “frog” had gone out and brought back a living person.

Furthermore, she was a tenant who didn’t require him to draft Tenant Rules.

Now, only Room 106 remained vacant on the first floor. He only needed to find the Cat Ghost in Room 106 and draft the Tenant Rules for Hong Zhong to move in, and he would complete Main Quest 1.

He felt a sudden surge of excitement. After all this time, he was finally about to complete a main quest. He was curious to see what the rewards would be.

Zhou Fangdong swiped the system interface to continue checking the other rewards for successfully eroding the instance.

[Completely destroyed a Main God B-Rank instance. Reward: 2,000 Ghost Coins.]

The reward was actually higher than using a Ghost Tenant to erode an instance—a full thousand Ghost Coins more.

However, using a Ghost Tenant to erode an instance granted a surrounding facility for the apartment…

Zhou Fangdong rubbed his chin.

He felt that Ghost Coins were more useful at this stage. After all, the surrounding facilities seemed more like places for tenants to take walks and didn’t have much other value. Moreover, for every additional facility, he would need to assign a Ghost Tenant to work there, and he didn’t have that many Ghost Tenants to spare right now.

In the future, if he could destroy an instance directly, he would. It was more profitable that way.

He now had a total of 7,930 Ghost Coins. Aside from that lamp oil which cost thirty thousand Ghost Coins a jar, he could buy most items in the System Mall without worrying about the price.

Zhou Fangdong continued swiping through the reward pop-ups.

[System energy sufficient. Detected [Zombie Taoist Master · Zhang Zhiwu] has successfully moved in. Apartment Rear Building lottery function unlocked.]

[Reward: One Guaranteed Lottery Ticket (Guaranteed to draw one Ghost Tenant).]

[Red Highlight Warning: Ghost Tenants and items produced by the Rear Building are extremely uncontrollable. Please ensure you have sufficiently powerful means of suppression before drawing.]

Zhou Fangdong raised an eyebrow.

What kind of reward was this? A lottery to draw ghosts from the Liwan Apartments Rear Building for fun?

How desperate would he have to be to use this function? Was he worried there weren’t enough ghosts in the building already?

Zhou Fangdong didn’t even have the interest to open the lottery interface. He closed the reward pop-ups and opened the Tenant Illustrated Guide.

He had unlocked another special tenant this time, so the guide reward should yield an item.

[Special Tenant: Infinite Flow Player Hunted by the Main God]

Guide Description: A young girl who worked for the Main God for ten years, traveling through various supernatural instances, never giving up on finding her way home. Fortunately, she has finally returned to her own world. Unfortunately, her departure caught the Main God’s attention, and the Main God System will prioritize hunting down this player who escaped its grasp.

Traits: Stubborn, bold yet meticulous, likes to gamble with her life, ruthless to others and even more so to herself. Habitually thinks of everything from the worst possible angle. To remain in this world, she will never terminate her lease.

Note 1: Try not to let this tenant fall into fatal danger, or she will choose to perish along with the enemy.

Note 2: This tenant’s [Yin-Yang Eyes²] can see the hidden side of the apartment. The host might want to take her along when investigating the apartment.

Note 3: Due to the trait of being hunted by the Main God, it is easier to trigger Main God instances when other tenants go out with her. If there is a need for Instance Erosion, other tenants can take her with them.

Zhou Fangdong’s gaze fell on the sentence in Note 2: “can see the hidden side of the apartment.”

Did Liwan Apartments have hidden spaces?

After eroding the [Yin-Yang Town] instance, the system had given him a [Liwan Apartment Activity Room Key]… Did the hidden side of the apartment refer to these hidden rooms?

After he finished clearing Room 106 later, he could try taking this tenant named Xiao Xiaoyu for a walk around the apartment.

Zhou Fangdong continued checking the guide unlock rewards.

Special Tenant Illustrated Guide Unlock Reward: [Cursed Item · Life-Gambling Dice]

[Cursed Item · Life-Gambling Dice]

Item Description: A die made from a gambling ghost. After setting conditions in advance, it can be used to gamble one’s life against a ghost. The lifespan won from the ghost can be used to repay Yin debts³ or create Scapegoat Dolls. If you lose… you will become the second Life-Gambling Die.

Yet another item with a massive cost that was useless to him.

Zhou Fangdong wasn’t sure what “repaying Yin debts” meant for now, but those Scapegoat Dolls were sold in the System Mall. They were a newly unlocked item costing 500 Ghost Coins each. If he needed one, he could just buy it from the mall; there was no need to use these dice to gamble against a ghost.

Zhou Fangdong remembered the last cursed item was the Human Skin Mask unlocked at 80 Favorability with Mu Yuechan… After a moment’s thought, he withdrew both items. To avoid taking up slots in his Inventory, he casually tossed them onto the table.

The desk in his room was truly a mess now, piled with all sorts of things. There were ordinary items unlocked at 80 Favorability from tenants like Zhao Dawei and Miao Zheng, the two large bags of incense, candles, and spirit money Duan Wenyu had bought for him, as well as miscellaneous books and items he couldn’t use for the time being…

Looking at the clutter, Zhou Fangdong scratched his head.

He was honestly too lazy to tidy up. He wondered if he should find a new room and designate it as part of the Landlord Domain so he would have more space for his junk… This room of his was only fifty square meters; it really was a bit small.

He would go up to the second floor to take a look after completing Main Quest 1 to see if there was a spare room he could claim for himself.

After reviewing his rewards, Zhou Fangdong teleported directly to Room 102.

Inside Room 102, Duan Wenyu had his shirt off and was standing before the bathroom mirror, staring at his stomach while questioning his entire existence.

He truly couldn’t understand why that terrifying thing had crawled out of his abdomen.

When Zhou Fangdong teleported into the room, Duan Wenyu was still gesturing at his belly in front of the mirror.

“What’s wrong? Is your stomach injured?” Zhou Fangdong asked. “Do you feel unwell anywhere after coming out of the instance?”

“Ah, no,” Duan Wenyu said, looking a bit embarrassed. “Thank you, Mr. Landlord. I’ve troubled you to save me again.”

At this point, he paused and asked hesitantly, “Um, Mr. Landlord, that thing that crawled out of my stomach in the instance was…”

Zhou Fangdong replied nonchalantly, “Don’t worry about it. That’s the ghost in your room. I only let it out when you’re in danger.”

So that was it. It seemed the Landlord had controlled the ghost in his room to save him.

Duan Wenyu let out a soft sigh.

Although he had vaguely guessed there was a ghost in the room when he saw the rental contract, he still felt a bit of trepidation now that he had confirmation from the Landlord’s mouth.

Whatever, he would take it slow; he would adapt eventually.

“By the way, Mr. Landlord, I remember I brought a young girl back from that instance. Is she okay?”

Just now in the funeral parlor, while Duan Wenyu was wondering how to get out, he had felt the Room 102 key hanging around his neck grow warm.

His first reaction then had been to grab Xiao Xiaoyu’s arm.

Then, just as he had sensed, the scene before him began to blur and fly past. By the time the image solidified, he was already back in Room 102.

However, Xiao Xiaoyu, whom he had been holding onto, had not appeared in the room with him.

Zhou Fangdong said, “She’s in Room 105. She’s a tenant of Room 105 now. Do you want to go see her with me?”

“Yes!” Duan Wenyu hurriedly dressed himself, taking the gold bar and the longevity lock Xiao Xiaoyu had given him out of his breast pocket… Now that she was back, it was better for her to hand these things over to her family herself.

Duan Wenyu’s blind trust in the Landlord meant he hadn’t considered for a moment the possibility that Xiao Xiaoyu might be unable to escape the Main God System.

In his heart, the Landlord was omnipotent. A mere Main God was nothing to be feared.

Inside Room 105, Xiao Xiaoyu stood dazed in the center of the room.

She hadn’t quite processed everything yet, unable to believe she had left the supernatural instance created by the Main God so easily.

She tried calling out to the Points System in her mind, but the system didn’t respond instantly as it used to. It was as if… as if it had simply vanished!

Xiao Xiaoyu’s heart thudded against her ribs.

She could hardly believe the wish she had held for so long had finally come true.

Was that newcomer who stumbled into the instance really that strong? Not only could he control a Ghost Infant to destroy a B-rank instance, but he could even help her break free from the Main God…

Xiao Xiaoyu suddenly felt like crying.

Though she didn’t know where she was, at the very least she had stayed in this world. Perhaps she could even find her parents now.

She tried taking a few steps forward, wanting to scout her current surroundings.

The sensation of her left leg hitting the floor told her that the leg she had chopped off had already grown back. She could chop it off again to use the Soul-Tripping Lock.

This allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief.

Even though the Points System had disappeared, the skills she had exchanged for with points from the Main God hadn’t vanished. Her Yin-Yang Eyes and the Soul-Tripping Lock on her leg were still functional.

While Xiao Xiaoyu’s Yin-Yang Eyes had robbed her of normal vision, they granted her the ability to see ghosts and the flow of Yin Energy.

In her vision, her current environment was pitch black—she had never seen Yin Energy so thick and dense. Even a B+ rank instance didn’t possess Yin Energy of this magnitude.

For a moment, she felt like there was nowhere safe to step… she didn’t know where that newcomer had brought her.

A place inhabited by someone who could raise such a terrifying Ghost Infant must be horrifying itself.

Just as the thought occurred to her, Xiao Xiaoyu noticed a ghost suddenly appear in her field of vision.

The ghost was eviscerated, its chest cavity wide open, its internal organs nowhere to be found. Judging by its build, it must have been an adult male in life, wearing a white lab coat stained red with blood.

The ghost seemed to notice Xiao Xiaoyu’s gaze and slowly raised its head.

The upper half of its face was relatively intact, but its jaw had been forcibly torn away, leaving only the upper row of teeth. Its tongue lolled against its neck.

Human and ghost stared at each other for a moment. Just as Xiao Xiaoyu’s nerves were stretched to the breaking point and she was about to hack off her leg to pull out the Soul-Tripping Lock, the ghost seemed to confirm something and nodded to her.

The Eviscerated Ghost raised its right hand and pointed in a direction.

Compared to the calm, dense Yin Energy surrounding them, the Yin Energy in that direction was somewhat restless and took the shape of a door… Was that the exit? Was this ghost showing her the way?

Before Xiao Xiaoyu could figure out what the ghost meant, the sound of a door opening rang out, and she saw the door move.

A familiar figure wrapped in Yin Energy walked in from outside—it should be the newcomer who raised the Ghost Infant.

And standing next to him was…

Xiao Xiaoyu’s entire body jolted, and she instinctively recoiled several steps.

In her vision, which was dominated by thick, black Yin Energy, a sudden surge of blinding crimson flooded in from the direction of the door.

The blood-color instantly eroded everything around it. She felt like a mere speck of insignificant dust, forced to watch helplessly as she was completely swallowed by this boundless, churning, roaring sea of blood, with no room for resistance.

The Eviscerated Ghost in the room was completely submerged in this crimson, and countless spectral phantoms appeared within the sea of blood. They held aloft a massive shrine, bobbing and sinking in the blood sea like silt caught in a current… docile, numb, and completely submissive to this crimson hue, carried forward by the surging blood.

Not only that, but even more terrifying spectral phantoms appeared one after another, attempting to merge into this sea of blood to help carry the shrine.

After looking for only a brief moment, Xiao Xiaoyu felt an agonizing sting in her eyeballs, and warm liquid seemed to slide from the corners of her eyes. Her eardrums began to throb with pain; it was as if that boundless blood-red was boring into her brain through her eyes, creating a thundering roar of rushing blood in her mind.

Xiao Xiaoyu’s body began to tremble uncontrollably.

So terrifying. What is this? What on earth is this??

Fear originating from the depths of her soul forced her to deactivate her [Yin-Yang Eyes], and her vision returned to darkness.

Since obtaining the [Yin-Yang Eyes] skill, this was the first time Xiao Xiaoyu had ever proactively deactivated it.

The darkness she once loathed now provided her with an unparalleled sense of security.

Xiao Xiaoyu hugged her knees and curled into a ball.

She would rather be a blind person who could see nothing for the rest of her life than face that terrifying crimson again.

It was quite literally a boundless hell.

After Zhou Fangdong led Duan Wenyu into Room 105, he found his new tenant standing dazed in the middle of the room.

Seemingly hearing the door open, the young girl in the room looked over with hollow, unfocused eyes.

Immediately afterward, as if she had seen something utterly horrifying, she recoiled several steps. Then she stumbled to the floor, hugging her knees and shrinking into a tiny ball, shivering in the corner.

Duan Wenyu was stunned by her reaction and looked around in confusion.

They hadn’t brought any ghostly objects with them. Why was Xiao Xiaoyu’s reaction even more extreme than when she saw the Ghost Infant on him… What exactly did she see?

Zhou Fangdong also felt it was a bit strange.

This tenant of his had the personality traits ‘Bold and Meticulous,’ and she was an Infinite Flow Player who had survived many instances. What could possibly scare her into this state?

“Xiao Xiaoyu?” Duan Wenyu tried calling out. “Don’t be afraid. We’ve already left the instance. You’re safe now; the Main God won’t control you anymore.”

Hearing Duan Wenyu’s voice, Xiao Xiaoyu froze for a moment. Then she took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart and forcing herself to pull away from her terror.

However, she still didn’t dare activate her [Yin-Yang Eyes]. She just subconsciously looked toward the direction of the voice and asked, “Where am I? Who is that next to you?”

Duan Wenyu said softly, “You’re in the Liwan Apartments. Don’t worry, you are absolutely safe in the apartments. The Main God can’t hurt you, and ghosts won’t hurt you either. The person next to me is the Landlord of the apartments. He’s the one who saved us… That Ghost Infant is controlled by the Landlord. It’s because of him that we were rescued.”

No wonder. So this was the true master of that Ghost Infant.

Only a terrifying existence like this could snatch her away from the hands of the Main God.

Duan Wenyu helped Xiao Xiaoyu up and led her to sit on the bed. Then he placed a bag of food from the convenience store on her nightstand.

“You must be exhausted. Get some rest first. I’ve put some food on your nightstand; eat when you’re hungry. I’ll go out and buy a phone for you later. It’ll be easier to contact the other tenants or the Landlord that way.”

Xiao Xiaoyu nodded silently.

Zhou Fangdong took the key to Room 105 out of the [Landlord’s Key] and handed it to Xiao Xiaoyu. “You are now a tenant of Liwan Apartments. This is your room key; keep it safe. Carrying the key with you allows you to enter and exit the apartments freely and protects you from attacks by the ghosts in the building. If the key is lost, the rental contract is considered automatically terminated.”

Xiao Xiaoyu obediently reached out and took it.

She didn’t dare question how she had become a tenant of Liwan Apartments, nor did she dare ask what purpose this landlord had in making her one.

She simply accepted the key in silence.

In the face of absolute power, the weak have no right to question.

After taking the key, Xiao Xiaoyu’s finger lightly brushed over the numbers engraved on it—Room 105?

From the landlord’s words, she could gather that although she was now a tenant of this apartment building, she was free to come and go as she pleased; he would not restrict her freedom.

Moreover, since wearing the key granted immunity from attacks by the ghosts within the building, perhaps the ghosts outside would also be deterred from laying a hand on her because of its presence.

Not only was her freedom of movement preserved and her safety guaranteed, but most importantly, this landlord had stripped the Points System from her body, allowing her to successfully escape the clutches of the Main God.

Xiao Xiaoyu’s heart gradually began to settle.

For now, the status of a tenant brought her nothing but benefits.

The landlord was terrifying, but he was far better than the Main God. She would much rather submit to a powerhouse like him.

Seeing that Xiao Xiaoyu’s emotions had stabilized significantly, Duan Wenyu also breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ve placed your longevity lock and the gold bars by your pillow. Once you’ve rested, you can go home and check on things yourself… Of course, I can accompany you at any time.”

Xiao Xiaoyu gave him a small smile. “You take the gold bars. Consider it thanks for getting me out of that dungeon.”

“But that’s too valuable…” Duan Wenyu started to protest, but Xiao Xiaoyu interrupted him, attempting to shove the gold bars back into his hands. “To me, what you’ve done is worth far more than gold. You have no idea what I’ve sacrificed over the years to get away from the Main God…”

Unfortunately, Xiao Xiaoyu was currently completely blind, and Duan Wenyu nimbly avoided her hands.

He then quickly changed the subject, slapping his forehead as if he had just remembered something. “Crap, I have to head out again. The equipment the Bureau gave me and the car they let me drive are still over in the southern suburbs. That equipment is expensive; I have to go get it back. I’ll stop chatting now, you get some rest!”

With that, he jogged out of Room 105.

“I also have things to attend to, so I won’t stay here with you. Rest well today,” Zhou Fangdong said. He then casually added Xiao Xiaoyu to his special tenant watch list. “If anything happens, just step in and out of Room 105 a few times in a row, and I’ll come immediately.”

Hearing this, Xiao Xiaoyu was stunned.

This landlord was gentler than she had imagined, almost like an ordinary living person. It made her start to doubt whether the sea of blood she had seen earlier was some kind of hallucination.

However, she still didn’t dare open her Yin-Yang Eyes in front of him.

Hearing the footsteps fade away followed by the sound of doors closing, Xiao Xiaoyu let out a long breath and collapsed heavily onto the bed.

Well, regardless of the circumstances, she was finally free! She didn’t want to see that damned Main God ever again for the rest of her life!

After leaving Room 105, Zhou Fangdong went straight to the neighboring Room 106.

Over an hour had passed since Duan Wenyu’s incident and his return to the apartments with Xiao Xiaoyu.

Zhang Qingyang had recited the Supreme Chapter of the Cat Spirit for House Protection more than ten times in Room 106 before the grease in the room finally receded. After finishing his task, he had taken the Ghost Bus back to Chuyun Temple.

Because Zhang Zhiwu could teleport back to Chuyun Temple at any time, he was still lingering in Room 106.

He stood with his hands behind his back, surveying the room. He held four prepared talismans in his hand, seemingly waiting for Zhou Fangdong’s return.

The moment Zhou Fangdong reached the doorway of Room 106, Zhang Zhiwu sensed him and turned his head.

As he turned, the purple talisman on his forehead fluttered slightly, revealing the layers of yellow talismans plastered over the upper half of his face.

Zhou Fangdong wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but even though it had only been an hour, the talismans on the Zombie Taoist Master’s face seemed much more vibrant, lacking the tattered, frayed edges they had before.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t dwell on such minor details and continued asking the Taoist the question they hadn’t finished earlier: “Taoist Master, how do I find the Cat Ghost in this room?”

Zhang Zhiwu slowly stroked his beard, first handing over the four talismans, then saying in a low voice, “To find a Cat Ghost, one must find the ‘Seed Core,’ which is the heart of the Cat Ghost’s resentment… Young friend, do you know where the tenant who died with those cats finally fell?”

Zhou Fangdong put the talismans into his Inventory and pointed at the doorway of Room 106. “Right here.”

Zhang Zhiwu nodded. He leaned down slightly, rolled up his sleeves, and curled his withered, pitch-black fingers to lightly tap the floor of the room.

Following the sound of his tapping, one palm-sized, misty black kitten after another scurried out from beneath the floorboards. They seemed startled, beginning to bolt in all directions around the room.

After about twenty of them had emerged, another massive black cat—the size of a small leopard with eyes glowing a shimmering green—crawled out from underground.

Wisps of black mist drifted off its body like bristling fur. It paced around Zhou Fangdong and Zhang Zhiwu, its eyes filled with wariness.

“So this is the Cat Ghost of this room…” Zhou Fangdong sighed and asked again, “Taoist Master, is this Cat Ghost pure resentment, or is it a fusion of spirits? Is there a human soul inside it?”

Zhang Zhiwu shook his head. “No, this Cat Ghost is purely made of resentment.”

“The soul of the tenant who died in this room likely found peace after killing the murderer who caused her death.” At this point, Zhang Zhiwu let out a heavy sigh. “Finding peace is good, very good. It is fortunate she wasn’t trapped in this building, otherwise…”

Without waiting for Zhou Fangdong to ask, Zhang Zhiwu changed the subject, seemingly unwilling to say more on the matter. “In short, what remains here is only the resentment of those kittens. These cats lack human reasoning; they don’t understand their current state or what happened. Their minds are stuck on the obsession of ‘protecting this house and keeping bad people out.’ Therefore, they will kill every tenant who moves in.”

Zhou Fangdong gasped and quickly followed up, “They’ll kill every tenant? Is there really no room for peaceful coexistence?”

If that was the case, it was bad news. If the Cat Ghost wouldn’t let anyone live there, Room 106 couldn’t be rented out, and his main quest would remain unfinished.

That would mean he’d have to clear out these kittens and find another ghost to move into Room 106… To be honest, he didn’t really want to do that.

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Translator’s Notes