Chapter 46

[Detected that the host has unlocked the Apartment Surroundings Beautification function. The Ghost Bus can now transport tenants directly to surrounding facilities.]

[Current Ghost Bus transport locations: [Chuyun Temple], [Guijia Furniture Store]. Enable Ghost Bus transport function?]

“Enable.”

Miao Zheng was carrying Xiao Xiaoyu out of the apartment building when a phone ringtone suddenly sounded from her person.

It wasn’t the heavy metal rock music she had set, but the most basic, generic electronic ringtone.

Startled to hear an unfamiliar ringtone coming from her own body, Miao Zheng paused. Realizing what it was a moment later, she pulled her phone from her pocket.

The screen displayed [Landlord Boss]. The incoming number was unknown.

She hurried to press answer.

This unknown number had appeared out of thin air in her contacts yesterday after her phone was modified by the landlord. To prevent herself from hanging up on a numberless call as spam, she had specifically added that contact name.

As soon as the call connected, that reassuringly cold voice came through the line:

“Miao Zheng, take Xiao Xiaoyu to the nearest bus stop as fast as possible. Wait for the Ghost Bus. Do not make contact with anyone on the way.”

Hearing the command, Miao Zheng didn’t ask why. she immediately started jogging toward the bus stop near Penghu Gardens.

It was during working hours, so they were the only two people at the station.

Just as they arrived at the stop, a bus came wobbling down the road and pulled up in front of them.

Looking at the vehicle, Miao Zheng rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

The bus before them was incredibly dilapidated, looking as if it had just been dragged from the scene of a horrific accident.

The doors rattled precariously as the vehicle moved, the body was severely deformed, the windows were shattered into spiderweb patterns, and the paint was almost entirely stained red with blood… It was a miracle the thing could still move.

“Get on,” the landlord’s voice came through the phone again.

Hearing the instruction, Miao Zheng no longer hesitated. She carried Xiao Xiaoyu onto the eerie bus.

Though she knew this was likely another form of the Ghost Bus, Miao Zheng was still shocked by the chaotic state of the interior once she stepped inside.

Like the exterior, the inside was covered in blood.

The partition around the driver’s seat had vanished, revealing a rotting corpse on the seat that had seemingly fused with the upholstery.

The corpse’s head hung low. Even in death, its hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.

The flesh on its face hadn’t completely rotted away; occasionally, bits of gore would slough off its face, land on the steering wheel, and slide down to the floor.

Dark red blood and the murky fluids of decomposition dripped constantly onto the floor. The sound of the liquid hitting the ground was like the “tick-tock” of a clock’s second hand.

Aside from the splashed blood, dozens of mannequins were scattered across the floor. These mannequins had no faces; their heads were smooth and featureless, as if they were unfinished. They lay like dismembered corpses, limbs and torsos and heads separated and strewn randomly across the floor.

As Miao Zheng surveyed the mannequins on the ground, the landlord’s voice spoke again from the phone, which was still connected:

“Do not touch the mannequins on the floor. Go to the back row and find the passengers with yellow talismans stuck to their faces.”

Carrying Xiao Xiaoyu, Miao Zheng carefully maneuvered around the mannequin limbs and reached the back of the bus.

A row of people with yellow talismans stuck to their faces sat in the very last row of seats.

These stiff-bodied passengers looked as if they had just been dug out of the earth. They wore clothes of indiscernible color, and their exposed skin was a localized, eerie blue-black.

“Now, you and Xiao Xiaoyu each pick a passenger with a yellow talisman and hold their hand.”

Because Miao Zheng had the speakerphone on, Xiao Xiaoyu also heard the instructions.

The two exchanged a look but ultimately chose to obey Zhou Fangdong.

If it weren’t for the landlord’s request, they would never have touched these passengers who clearly looked wrong in every way.

Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu each selected a passenger with a yellow talisman and gingerly grasped their stiff hands.

The passengers’ hands were not only unnaturally cold, but the backs of their hands were covered in black fuzz. Their fingernails were sharp, their edges comparable to freshly sharpened blades.

The moment their hands fully locked with the passengers’, the world seemed to spin. The scenery before them distorted rapidly, and they felt as if they had been shoved into a tumble dryer.

Fortunately, this dizzying sensation only lasted a few seconds. Just as the urge to vomit hit her stomach, Miao Zheng found herself transferred into a small courtyard.

The Ghost Bus was gone, and the passengers with yellow talismans had vanished. Everything that had just happened felt like a hallucination.

The square courtyard was small. Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu had appeared at the entrance, allowing them to see the entire place at a glance.

It seemed to be a small Taoist temple. Facing them was the main hall with grey walls and green tiles. Beside the hall stood a thick, ancient tree.

On the ground covered by the tree’s shade, several divine statues with red cloths over their heads surrounded the trunk like sentinels. In front of these statues stood an old Taoist priest¹ with a yellow talisman on his face, and… the landlord, holding his phone.

The landlord stood under the tree. The dappled light and shadows filtering through the leaves swayed gently with the breeze, dancing silently across his body and face. It gave his already pale skin a strange, translucent quality… He looked like a phantom that didn’t belong to this world, liable to dissipate at any moment as the light shifted.

In stark contrast to that slightly surreal, divine atmosphere was his expression.

His pitch-black, lightless eyes held a suppressed rage. His face was as grim as still water, his thin lips were pressed tight, and his jawline was as taut as a drawn bowstring, radiating an indescribable, chilling coldness.

The dancing light and shadows were like scattered gold dust. Against this backdrop, he looked like a vengeful deity who had been forcibly stripped of his golden lacquer, revealing a cold, true form as he descended upon the world.

Miao Zheng took a small step back in fear.

This was the first time she had seen such obvious emotional fluctuation on the landlord’s face… Was… was he angry?

Miao Zheng’s brain began to race through everything she had done today like a revolving lantern, trying to find the point that had made the landlord so furious.

…She hadn’t caused any trouble lately. Was it because she bought a person at the Delicious Slaughterhouse?

Seeing Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu appear safely in Chuyun Temple, Zhou Fangdong breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

He had been scared to death. Thank god they were okay. Those bright red system pop-ups had made him think he was about to lose two tenants at once.

If these two tenants died, the side quest rewards would surely be revoked, and the main quest rewards might vanish along with them. That would truly be returning to poverty overnight.

He couldn’t handle that kind of emotional roller coaster.

Compared to Miao Zheng’s fear, the blind Xiao Xiaoyu seemed to have realized something. She habitually looked toward the triangular talisman in her hand.

Her vision was pitch black.

The moment they were transported to the temple, the very instant that terrifying bloody light representing the landlord appeared, she had reflexively shut off her Yin-Yang Eyes.

Xiao Xiaoyu said to Miao Zheng, “Miao Zheng, let’s go over quickly. The landlord had us come here probably because of this talisman.”

Miao Zheng snapped out of it and hurriedly carried Xiao Xiaoyu into the shade of the tree.

Xiao Xiaoyu handed the triangularly folded talisman to Zhou Fangdong, but he didn’t take it. Instead, he turned his head slightly to look at Zhang Zhiwu.

Seeing this, the Zombie Taoist Master standing beside him stepped forward and picked up the triangular talisman with fingers as black and withered as dead branches.

Zhou Fangdong asked, “Taoist Master, how is it? Can it be purified?”

He hadn’t touched the talisman because the system had already warned him before Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu arrived, telling him not to come into contact with unpurified talismans.

“I can. It’s no problem,” Zhang Zhiwu said as he peeled a yellow talisman from his own face and wrapped it around the outside of the triangular one.

The moment it was wrapped, the yellow talisman ignited without fire.

Although the outer yellow talisman burned away, the triangular talisman inside remained intact. Only a cloud of black mist rose from it, vanishing along with the flames and the yellow paper.

“Little friend, it is clean now.” Zhang Zhiwu handed the triangular talisman to Zhou Fangdong.

Zhou Fangdong put it into his Inventory and then looked at Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu. “Where did you get this talisman?”

Miao Zheng recounted everything that had just happened.

Zhou Fangdong’s brow furrowed. “Did that girl tell you what the person who gave her the talisman looked like?”

Miao Zheng shook her head. “She said she couldn’t remember. Even though she only received it this morning, she can’t recall the person’s face. She only remembers it was a middle-aged man with a pleasant voice, wearing a black skullcap and a gray mandarin jacket². His appearance was extremely ordinary.”

Hearing this description, something seemed to click for Zhou Fangdong.

A middle-aged man in a skullcap… unable to recall his face…

A flash of inspiration struck him. Zhou Fangdong suddenly remembered seeing a similar person when he had viewed the memories of the Wedding Dress Ghost from Room 104.

The master the Wedding Dress Ghost had sought out in life looked exactly like that. He had taken twenty years of her lifespan and luck, placing a curse on her and her sister that forced them to live and die by each other’s hands.

Zhou Fangdong suspected that the man hadn’t just taken twenty years of her life; otherwise, the Wedding Dress Ghost couldn’t have died so quickly, and on her wedding day no less.

Just as he thought this, a system notification popped up:

[Ding—Detected that the Host has encountered a Sigu Society cultist, possesses an ancient tome for summoning the Evil God of the Sigu Society, and holds a talisman crafted by the Evil God. Main Quest 2 is now active.]

[Main Quest 2: Locate the Evil God of the Sigu Society, banish the Evil God from this world, destroy all Sigu Society strongholds in Linjiang City, and kill all cultists.]

[Rewards for Main Quest 2 will be announced later.]

Seeing this main quest, Zhou Fangdong frowned slightly.

So, the Evil God that had triggered the system’s alarm was the one worshipped by the Sigu Society?

The deaths of the sisters—the Long-tongued Ghost and the Wedding Dress Ghost—were also related to the Sigu Society.

These cultists really deserved to die. Just how many people had they killed by now?

However, what surprised Zhou Fangdong was that destroying the Sigu Society and banishing the Evil God was actually a main quest.

He had thought the system’s main quests were all about renting out every room on every floor.

After all, his was a real estate management system. Filling the rooms of Liwan Apartments should have been the primary objective. He hadn’t expected that eliminating the Sigu Society would be so important to the system.

But relying on himself to hunt down cultists every night would be slow and difficult to clear out completely.

He decided to tell Hong Zhong about the cult once he got back; he hadn’t resigned yet, after all. Relaying the information about the cult to the Bureau of Paranormal Oversight through Hong Zhong and letting them help with the cleanup would be much more efficient.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Fangdong said to Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu, “I have an idea of who did this. First, let the Taoist Master purify you.”

At his words, Zhang Zhiwu gently shook the Three Purities Bell³ in his hand. The bell emitted a pleasant, clear ring that lingered and echoed throughout the small courtyard.

Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu felt as if an invisible rope had been coiled around them. As the ringing faded, the rope detached, taking something away from their bodies with it.

Zhang Zhiwu circled around Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu and spoke again. “To be safe, let these two stay at Chuyun Temple for the night.”

As he spoke, Zhang Qingyang walked over quickly and led Xiao Xiaoyu and Miao Zheng toward the main hall.

The adults in the main hall of Chuyun Temple were all male. Zhang Qingyang had to find a way to partition a space for them on the communal sleeping platform based on their size.

Zhou Fangdong had no objections. Having them stay at the temple for observation was indeed safer, and the nights at Chuyun Temple weren’t as fraught with danger as the apartments.

Chuyun Temple was a peripheral facility of the apartments. Even if there was no room to sleep in the hall, they wouldn’t encounter any danger sleeping in the courtyard for a night.

Zhou Fangdong’s silence led Zhang Zhiwu to believe he was worried about the two tenants, so he added, “Rest assured, little friend. Although I leave the temple at night, my disciple will not return to the apartments today. He will stay here to watch over them.”

Hearing this, Zhou Fangdong remembered something and asked, “Taoist Master, you return to the apartments every day… I’ve noticed you leave your room every night. What do you do when you go out after dark?”

Zhang Zhiwu paused, seemingly not expecting Zhou Fangdong to have noticed.

But he quickly realized something and shook his head with a smile. “I finally understand why you became the master of Liwan Apartments, little friend. Your strength is truly unfathomable; nothing escapes your perception.”

“This was a rule I set for myself before I died,” Zhang Zhiwu said, lightly touching the purple talisman stuck to his forehead.

“When I was still alive, the Yin Energy in the apartments was extremely chaotic, and the building’s power hadn’t fully awakened. It couldn’t completely contain the ghosts inside. To prevent those with high danger ratings from leaving the apartments to harm people, I wandered between the front and back buildings, slaying the fierce ghosts that escaped. Eventually, I died of exhaustion.”

“At the time, I didn’t know that Liwan Apartments would eventually be able to trap ghosts completely. So, before I died and prepared for my zombification, I drew another talisman for myself…”

At this point, Zhang Zhiwu’s tone shifted. “In these apartments, aside from the ghosts in the rooms, the more powerful a ghost is, the less rational it becomes. Their desire to attack is strong, as is their malice toward humans. These mindless ghosts are extremely sensitive to the transition between day and night; some only move at night and remain completely dormant during the day.”

“Therefore, at night, I completely release my seal. I kill any ghost causing trouble in the hallways indiscriminately and stand guard at the apartment entrance to forbid any ghost from leaving.”

“In that state, I have no reason…” Zhang Zhiwu gave a bitter smile. “Before I died, I thought I would remain in that crazed state forever until I had killed every ghost in the building. But now, I can actually maintain my sanity during the day and see my young disciple again… This is truly thanks to you, little friend. You are the one who awakened my consciousness.”

Zhou Fangdong finally understood why Zhang Qingyang’s entry in the Tenant Illustrated Guide specifically noted that he shouldn’t go out with Zhang Zhiwu at night.

However, there weren’t any ghosts with particularly strong killing intent in the first-floor hallways right now, were there? What was the Zombie Taoist Master killing every night?

Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong simply asked.

Zhang Zhiwu stroked his beard and said, “Though I don’t remember what happens at night, based on my past experience in the apartments, it’s very likely that some ghosts from the higher floors take the elevator down at night.”

“After all, the Yin Energy in the first-floor corridor is becoming increasingly calm, almost rivaling the rooms upstairs. This holds a fatal attraction for those ghosts who have become incredibly violent by absorbing chaotic Yin Energy.”

“If left unchecked, they are very likely to destroy the environment on the first floor that has finally stabilized. They might even kill the tenants to seize the rooms here.”

Seeing Zhou Fangdong’s heavy expression, Zhang Zhiwu consoled him, “Although this old man has no memory of the night, I can sense an unknown power protecting the human tenants inside their rooms during the night. Rest assured, little friend, as long as the tenants do not step out, they will be safe.”

Zhou Fangdong asked again, “Then will these ghosts from the higher floors come down via the stairs?”

Zhang Zhiwu shook his head. “No. The stairs in the apartment are alive. They actively filter which ghosts can pass through which floors. Once closed, all inter-floor communication is strictly forbidden.”

“Furthermore, once the stairs open at night, they wander around and do not stay in one place. If they encounter a ghost they cannot defeat, they will continuously extend themselves, trapping the ghost on the steps until they send them back during the day.”

Zhou Fangdong breathed a small sigh of relief.

What intelligent stairs.

He suspected that when the system mentioned the stairs were in an injured state, it was likely because they had been beaten up by a ghost on some floor… How pitiful. When he had time, he would have to catch a few more cultists to reward them properly.

“By the way, little friend,” Zhang Zhiwu suddenly said, “would you like to head out with this old man tonight for a stroll? With your strength, you should be able to easily suppress my nighttime self. If you have any further questions then, you can explore for yourself.”

Zhou Fangdong refused decisively. “No, I have other things to do at night. I don’t have time to wander the apartment for now.”

He would have to be insane to go out at night.

Wandering the apartment at night now meant he might not only encounter ghosts coming down from the elevator, but also the crazed, irrational, murderous version of the Zombie Taoist Master. The danger level would double instantly. Was he looking for a death wish?

He would wait until he pulled a useful offensive skill or until he fully leveled up the Half-Body Shrine before considering it.

By the time Zhou Fangdong returned to the apartment, it was already afternoon. He first went to the second floor to check on the cleaning progress.

The three Cleaners—Qian Duolai, Ming Duolai, and Quan Duolai—were still working diligently, collecting the flesh and blood from the corridor.

After nearly half a day of labor, a small section of the hallway on the second floor had been cleared.

From this cleared section, it appeared the layout of the second floor was similar to the first. The corridor by the stairwell had no doors or windows; it was merely a passage for the stairs.

Further ahead was a corner, and beyond that corner should be the elevator. According to the first-floor layout, following the path past the elevator and turning another corner should lead to the corridor where the second-floor rooms were located.

Judging by the cleaning speed of the three ghosts, they should reach the corner by tomorrow… He would come back to check then.

Zhou Fangdong checked the rental interface and saw that Hong Zhong was still in his room, so he teleported directly to Room 106.

He intended to talk to Hong Zhong about the Sigu Society.

Hong Zhong had actually gone out once already, bringing back some changes of clothes and toiletries, and was currently tidying up his things in the room.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he often heard faint cat meows in this room, and occasionally the “patter-patter” sound of a cat parkouring across the floor.

It was probably just noise made by the ghost in the room…

Having spent a long time on the front lines of handling supernatural incidents, Hong Zhong wasn’t particularly surprised by these abnormalities.

From the Tenant Rules, he had vaguely realized that renting a room in Liwan Apartments likely meant cohabiting with a ghost. The Tenant Rules were more like a survival guide for living with a ghost; as long as one followed them strictly, they wouldn’t be attacked.

When Hong Zhong closed the wardrobe and turned around, he found the elusive landlord had appeared in the room once again.

Before he could speak, the landlord asked, “Hong Zhong, does your Paranormal Affairs Department know about the cult known as the Sigu Society?”

Hong Zhong froze, then nodded with a serious expression. “We do. The members of this cult are all S-rank wanted targets of our Bureau. Once identified, we are authorized to kill them on sight—no need to leave survivors.”

“Because these cultists not only control ghosts to commit evil, but also kill ordinary people to use as ritual materials… Though they are human, their destructive power is even more terrifying than ghosts. When we find these cultists and ghosts in the same place, we prioritize killing the cultists.”

As he spoke, Hong Zhong had a faint suspicion. Given this landlord’s terrifying, omniscient strength, he surely already knew the doubts in Hong Zhong’s heart.

So, for the landlord to suddenly mention the Sigu Society at this time—was it because the child disappearance cases in the city center were related to them? Was that strange Peddler also a ghost controlled by the Sigu Society?

Just as he thought this, the landlord spoke again: “I have the locations of some high-frequency activity areas for Sigu Society members. You can report them to the Bureau and have them send people to clear them out.”

Hong Zhong was shocked, the joy on his face impossible to hide.

He never expected that just after moving into Liwan Apartments, the landlord would give him such a massive gift!

“Alright, no problem at all! Our Bureau can send people there tonight!” At this point, Hong Zhong paused and asked cautiously, “Since you’ve given us such important intelligence, is there anything you need us to do for you?”

Zhou Fangdong pondered for a moment. “If you catch any cultists alive, save a few for me and bring them to the apartment.”

He wanted to use these cultists to feed the stairs. He wasn’t sure how many it would take to heal its injuries.

Hong Zhong’s Adam’s apple bobbed as the initial joy dissipated significantly.

That sentence made him realize exactly what kind of dangerous entity he was dealing with… The landlord wanted those cultists—could it be to eat them?

He had to make sure they caught plenty of them alive. Satisfying this mysterious landlord with cultists was far better than having the landlord go out and catch innocent people to eat.

“By the way, Mr. Landlord,” Hong Zhong hesitated for a moment before finally plucking up the courage to ask, “Do you know of a ghost that looks like a Peddler? The recent child disappearances in the city center are related to this Peddler. If possible…”

As he reached this point, Hong Zhong felt a bit embarrassed, his voice growing smaller… He hadn’t done anything yet, but he kept asking the landlord for information. It felt a bit too greedy.

The Peddler?

Hearing Hong Zhong mention this, Zhou Fangdong pulled a worn-out notebook from his Inventory.

“If you want to see him, I can call him over right now. If you have questions, you can ask him directly.”

Translator’s Notes