Chapter 49

Zhou Fangdong looked at the furniture procurement app on his phone, pondered for a moment, and called out to the system in his mind: “System, can the furniture in the first-floor rooms be changed?”

[The rooms on the first floor have all been rented out. If the room decorations are altered on a large scale, it may lead to a reset of the first-floor side quests, the tenant contracts, and the main quest.]

“Fine, pretend I didn’t ask.”

He had originally thought about moving the furniture that didn’t contain ghosts from the first floor to the second floor, and then ordering a new batch of furniture for the first-floor rooms…

Wait…

Zhou Fangdong suddenly thought of something. He quickly opened his phone’s communication interface and called the Furniture Store Manager again.

The Manager’s slightly confused voice came through the phone: “Mr. Landlord? Do you have any further instructions?”

Zhou Fangdong asked: “If the newly ordered furniture arrives at the apartment, can I have the furniture ghosts come out of the furniture, leave the ghosts on the first floor, and then I find a way to move the ghost-free furniture to the second floor… would that work?”

The Manager replied apologetically: “I’m sorry, Mr. Landlord, but that is impossible. The ghosts I stuff into the furniture and the furniture itself are like a person’s soul and body; there is a miniature contract between them. Once they arrive at the apartment, before the contract is severed, the furniture ghosts can move freely but cannot stray too far from the furniture.”

Before Zhou Fangdong could speak again, the Manager added, as if he already knew what he wanted to ask:

“The reason ghosts can separate from furniture after entering an apartment room is that once the furniture enters a room, it becomes the property of that room’s ghost. The room ghost’s expulsion severs the connection between the furniture and the furniture ghost.”

Zhou Fangdong quickly caught onto a new point: “Then I’ll just stuff all the furniture ordered for the second floor into the first-floor rooms first. I’ll let the ghosts in those rooms kick out the ghosts inside the furniture, and then they can stay on the first floor.”

Hearing this Mr. Landlord so persistently trying to send his children to their deaths, the Furniture Store Manager’s voice sounded somewhat melancholy, and he let out a soft sigh:

“Mr. Landlord, the rooms on the first floor are already decorated and rented out. The rooms aren’t lacking furniture, so the children have no reason to enter them. In this situation, if you force newly ordered furniture into a first-floor room, it won’t be as simple as being kicked out… The ghosts in the apartment rooms are very sensitive to such invasions by outside supernatural entities; they would choose to directly kill the ghosts inside the furniture.”

“Alright, I understand.” Zhou Fangdong hung up the phone listlessly.

Sigh, it seemed that until the Yin Energy on the second floor stabilized, it was completely impossible to buy furniture from the Guijia Furniture Store.

Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong suddenly frowned.

…Wait, he was the buyer. Could he really not buy furniture even with money? Since the Guijia Furniture Store refused to sell to him, he would just find another furniture store.

Linjiang City wasn’t home to only the Guijia Furniture Store.

He had so many human tenants now; even if each person bought one piece of furniture back, they could piece together enough for the second-floor rooms.

To prevent spending money on furniture he couldn’t use, Zhou Fangdong first confirmed with the system: “System, can I use ordinary furniture to decorate the rooms?”

[Ordinary furniture will be corroded by Yin Energy and cannot remain within the Liwan Apartments for long. If furniture is destroyed, the room will need to be redecorated and re-rented. Please endeavor to procure Spiritual Furniture.]

Spiritual Furniture… Aside from the Guijia Furniture Store, where else was he supposed to find Spiritual Furniture…

Zhou Fangdong rubbed his hair in despair.

The Yin Energy on the second floor was unstable, so furniture couldn’t be brought in, which meant the rooms couldn’t be rented. Because the rooms couldn’t be rented, the Yin Energy on the second floor couldn’t stabilize, so furniture couldn’t be brought in… This was a nightmare, a painfully familiar death loop.

So, if he couldn’t find other Spiritual Furniture, his only option was to find a way to stabilize the second floor’s Yin Energy first?

Speaking of which, why exactly was the Yin Energy in the second-floor corridor so chaotic?

The difference between the second floor and the first floor was that flesh and blood. Was it caused by that automatically growing flesh? Or was it something else…

If he found the other five Cleaners and completely suppressed the flesh, would that stabilize the Yin Energy in the second-floor corridor?

But he had absolutely no clues regarding the other two Cleaners.

Sigh, this feeling of being stuck on a level was so annoying. If he focused on finding the Cleaners, the matter of renting out the second-floor rooms would be delayed again.

If only he could find Spiritual Furniture somewhere else.

Zhou Fangdong irritably scrolled through the system panel. When he swiped to the exploration interface and saw the [Ghost Market] location on the map, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him.

Right! When he went to the Ghost Market last night, he had seen someone selling toilets at a stall!

“System, is the furniture sold at the Ghost Market stalls considered Spiritual Furniture?”

[It is Spiritual Furniture, but purchasing items at the Ghost Market requires payment in Ghost Coins.]

Hearing this response, Zhou Fangdong’s expression twisted for a moment.

He actually had to spend Ghost Coins to decorate the rooms… it hurt a bit.

The money he spent at the Guijia Furniture Store came from the nine-figure balance in his bank account; after buying furniture, he couldn’t even see a change in the balance.

But he only had 8,390 Ghost Coins. Spending too many Ghost Coins to complete a side quest worth only five hundred Ghost Coins felt truly galling.

…Therefore, it was time to use his skills to farm some Ghost Coins.

Zhou Fangdong looked up, his eyes burning as he stared at his room door.

Because he had been using his teleportation skill to move around the apartment lately, he rarely walked out through the door. So, when Zhou Fangdong opened the door, a familiar pendulum-like head dangled down.

That twisted body stuck right in the doorframe, that faceless, bloody head… wasn’t this the Jumping Ghost he had encountered the first time he left his room?

Seeing Zhou Fangdong emerge from the room, the Jumping Ghost seemed startled as well, its eyeballs falling out of their sockets again.

Just as Zhou Fangdong was about to use his [Soul Siphon] skill on the Jumping Ghost, he suddenly hesitated.

Was it really a good idea to just rob the ghosts in his apartment like this?

A rabbit shouldn’t eat the grass around its own burrow¹. If he ever desperately needed Ghost Coins but the ghosts in the building were all terrified of being robbed by him and avoided him on sight, that would be bad.

Besides, he seemed to have another farming spot for Ghost Coins…

I choose you, cultists of the Sigu Society!

Today, he would catch some cultists to sell at the Ghost Market. That Shrouded Shop Owner paid three hundred Ghost Coins for a single skin. After selling the cultists, he could leave the Shrouded Shop and browse other stalls and shops to see if he could find any furniture other than toilets.

When Hong Zhong returned to the apartment this afternoon, maybe he could bring back a few cultists.

If that wasn’t enough, he would go out again tonight, pick a location closer to the Ghost Market, and walk there on his own two legs after catching the cultists.

With a general plan in mind, the gloom between Zhou Fangdong’s brows vanished.

With the Spiritual Furniture issue settled, it was time to consider the tenant problem.

The Sickness Ghost in Room 201 appeared irregularly. Unless one stayed awake indefinitely, it was certain death if they couldn’t drink the medicine immediately after being infected.

Recalling the layout of Room 201, Zhou Fangdong called out to the system: “System, what is the maximum number of tenants Room 201 can accommodate?”

[Detecting Room 201 area as 134 square meters. It can accommodate a family of three.]

“Can it be a ‘family of three’ with no blood relation?” Zhou Fangdong wanted to rent Room 201 to multiple tenants. With more tenants, they could take turns keeping watch. As long as one person remained awake while the others slept, they could immediately identify where the Sickness Ghost had spawned.

[Yes. There are no requirements regarding blood relations between family members, nor are there any gender requirements.]

[However, the host must take note of one thing: if a room is rented to multiple tenants, and one tenant triggers a ghost’s killing condition, all other tenants in the room will be implicated and killed.]

That made it a bit difficult to find candidates. Therefore, the tenants of Room 201 had to be exceptionally rigorous, experienced in handling supernatural events, and people who trusted and knew each other… Thinking of this, Hong Zhong’s face suddenly flashed through Zhou Fangdong’s mind.

Speaking of which, did the Paranormal Affairs Department need staff dormitories?

According to Duan Wenyu, those investigators were highly disciplined, followed orders to the letter, and were very accustomed to dealing with supernatural entities. They were particularly experienced in handling sudden supernatural incidents.

Duan Wenyu had also mentioned that the Paranormal Affairs Department possessed instruments capable of detecting supernatural fluctuations. If those investigators moved in, he wouldn’t even need to buy items for the tenants to detect the Sickness Ghost’s appearance, as they would bring their own equipment.

The more Zhou Fangdong thought about it, the more suitable it seemed. He opened the rental preview interface and checked Hong Zhong’s location.

Hong Zhong was not in his room currently.

Zhou Fangdong then opened the [Linjiang City Map] and found that the small red dot representing Hong Zhong was located in a villa district called ‘Peach Blossom Spring’ in the Jinxi District.

He was likely working. It was already noon, and of all his human tenants, only Duan Wenyu was in his room.

Duan Wenyu’s pixel avatar was currently chopping vegetables in Room 102, presumably preparing lunch.

Hong Zhong’s phone hadn’t been modified, so Zhou Fangdong couldn’t contact him directly. However, Duan Wenyu was an intern investigator for the Paranormal Affairs Department. He could ask Duan Wenyu to help contact Hong Zhong to ask if the department’s employees needed housing. While he was at it, he could also ask Hong Zhong to bring back more cultists when he returned to the apartments tonight.

With that thought, Zhou Fangdong teleported directly into Room 102.

After Duan Wenyu returned to the southern suburbs yesterday, he had successfully found his car and equipment.

Yesterday morning, he had been sucked into the Main God’s Supernatural Instance before he could even pull out his car keys. The car door had been left wide open, making the equipment on the seats visible at a glance.

Fortunately, there wasn’t much human activity in the suburbs of Linjiang City. Otherwise, if this equipment were lost, he wouldn’t be able to afford the compensation even if he sold himself.

After all, he was just a lowly intern investigator and couldn’t file a loss report for equipment damaged or lost during a mission to have the logistics department reimburse him.

Duan Wenyu sighed softly, his chopping motions slowing down significantly.

After returning to the Paranormal Affairs Department yesterday, his superior hadn’t said much about his accidental involvement in the Main God’s instance. He was simply given three days off to rest well.

It was a bit anxiety-inducing; his superior’s silence made him feel worse than if he had been scolded.

He didn’t know if choosing this job, which was completely unrelated to his major, was the right or wrong decision… He just hoped he could successfully pass his internship.

Just then, Duan Wenyu suddenly noticed a slight noise in the room.

Subconsciously looking back, he found the landlord standing behind him at some unknown moment.

Duan Wenyu hurriedly put down his work. “Mr. Landlord? Do you need something from me?”

Zhou Fangdong nodded and told Duan Wenyu about his intention to rent out Room 201, asking him to help contact the Paranormal Affairs Department to see if they needed staff dormitories.

At this point, he paused and added, “It is a room that can heal any injury or illness.”

This condition should be very attractive to investigators who frequently dealt with supernatural events, right? Whether he could save some Ghost Coins depended on this.

Duan Wenyu obediently agreed to the task.

After leaving Room 102, Zhou Fangdong prepared to find the remaining two Cleaners.

Although the furniture problem in Room 201 could likely be solved through the Ghost Market, it didn’t mean he could relax just yet.

After all, there would eventually come a day when all the cultists were caught. He had to plan ahead and find a way to deal with the Yin Energy on the second floor before the Sigu Society’s Ghost Coin refresh points disappeared.

…Otherwise, he would have to spend his own Ghost Coins to purchase Spiritual Furniture.

Zhou Fangdong stood at the apartment entrance for a moment, thinking, then walked toward the Liwan Apartments activity room.

The only place on the first floor he hadn’t checked thoroughly was the activity room.

When he had visited the activity room not long ago, he had only wandered around the Reading Area. He hadn’t opened the doors to the partitioned areas, such as the billiard room or the Mahjong Room, to search them carefully.

What if the remaining two Cleaners were a bit dim-witted and had accidentally locked themselves in those small rooms while cleaning?

When Zhou Fangdong entered the activity room again, the little ghosts were still playing inside.

From the state of the red chair ghosts, it was clear that the furniture store owner wasn’t intentionally making things difficult for him.

Although these little ghosts were like puppies about to tear up a house, running around joyfully, the chairs never left their sides. They were either being held up or carried in their hands.

Zhou Fangdong bypassed the little ghosts scurrying all over the room and began checking the closed rooms one by one.

Board game room, no problem. Billiard room, no problem. Mahjong Room…??

Zhou Fangdong’s hand paused as he opened the door. He closed it and opened it again, but the scene inside the Mahjong Room remained unchanged.

Was this a place to play mahjong?

If the words ‘Mahjong Room’ weren’t written on the door, he would have thought it was some kind of dissection room… Were they planning to play mahjong using internal organs?

The Mahjong Room was about ten square meters. A dissection table stained red with blood occupied half the room’s area.

Above the dissection table, black gauze curtains resembling mosquito nets hung down, completely shrouding the bloody iron bed. Against the wall stood many wooden cabinets, filled with numerous drawers like those used for herbs in a traditional medicine shop. Faint traces of dried dark-red blood were visible in the cracks of the drawers.

Recalling the ancient book recording the Evil God summoning ritual he had found in the Reading Area, Zhou Fangdong suspected that this Mahjong Room was likely another place where the Sigu Society performed sacrificial rituals.

This group of cultists was like a pack of burrowing rats. If the supernatural incidents hadn’t broken out in Liwan Apartments, he felt the entire building would have eventually been transformed into their property.

After circling around and opening all the closed doors in the activity room to check them, he found no trapped Cleaners. Zhou Fangdong then returned to the Mahjong Room.

Since destroying the cult was also one of his main tasks, he thought he might find some clues related to them here. Zhou Fangdong began to search the Mahjong Room meticulously.

Aside from the dried blood, the room was very clean. There were no corpse remains, nor were there papers and photos scattered all over the floor like in the Reading Area.

Zhou Fangdong pulled out every single drawer in the cabinets, but they were all empty.

Just as Zhou Fangdong closed the last drawer, he suddenly noticed a scrap of paper in the gap between the cabinet and the floor.

Thanks to the [Dark Vision] talent bonus, Zhou Fangdong’s eyesight was excellent. Even without the lights on, he could see things hidden in the darkness.

He crouched down and pulled the paper out from the gap.

It appeared to be a piece of paper torn in half. The handwriting on it was very messy, as if written in a great hurry.

From the scribbled handwriting, he could roughly make out that the content seemed to be about a Medicine Pot. Something about believers praying for the Medicine Pot’s blessing, begging the deity for medicine to bring a wife back to life, and so on…

Seeing the mention of the Medicine Pot on this paper, Zhou Fangdong’s heart skipped a beat.

He remembered that in the pre-death memories of the Sickness Ghost from Room 201, the person who had given him the Medicine Pot was that bald cultist from Room 103.

Furthermore, the Sickness Ghost’s death was highly suspicious—why had the Medicine Pot suddenly produced enough ingredients for five bowls of medicine that day?

Could the Sigu Society actually control whether the Medicine Pot cured or killed?

The issue with this Medicine Pot concerned the life and safety of the tenant in Room 201; he had to get to the bottom of it.

“Where did the other half of this paper go? I wonder if there’s more in these cracks…” Zhou Fangdong muttered as he leaned down, almost pressing his chest to the floor, to peer into the gap behind the cabinet.

Then, he locked eyes with a pale, ghastly face inside the crevice.

Zhou Fangdong stared silently at the face for a long time. The Crevice Ghost seemed to grow a bit embarrassed under his gaze, shrinking further into the gap as it spoke: “I… I know… where the other half of that paper is…”

Zhou Fangdong let out a long sigh in his heart.

He had been right in the middle of investigating a clue when this sudden fright nearly made him forget what he was doing.

…Damn it, this Crevice Ghost was far too elusive. This kind of low-level jump scare would be torn apart by players if it appeared in a horror game.

Despite silently complaining about the Crevice Ghost, Zhou Fangdong pulled a stick of Offering Incense from his Inventory and handed it over.

After receiving the incense, the Crevice Ghost vanished for an instant. When it reappeared, it held half a sheet of paper in its hand.

Zhou Fangdong took the paper and found that it fit perfectly with the piece he already held.

As he read the contents of the paper, Zhou Fangdong’s brow furrowed deeply.

It stated that the Sigu Society possessed a miraculous Medicine Pot capable of bringing the dead back to life, and only followers with high contributions could be granted its medicine.

There were two Medicine Pots in total: one for curing illness and one for resurrection.

The pot for resurrection was the primary body, while the one for curing illness was a sub-entity derived from the primary.

Whenever the sub-entity pot sensed the presence of a disease, it would bestow medicine to cure it, but the person who drank the medicine would become bound to the pot.

When the primary pot bestowed the medicine of resurrection, the sub-entity pot would need to devour the life of the person bound to it.

The cause of the Sickness Ghost’s death in Room 201 was very likely because someone was praying for the medicine of resurrection.

After the Sickness Ghost died, his soul had likely remained bound to the pot. The members of the Sigu Society couldn’t take the sub-entity pot away, so they left it in Room 201.

Alternatively, it was possible that shortly after the Sickness Ghost died, the bald man in Room 103 also passed away. Because the bald man’s death was so sudden, the other cultists didn’t know the location of the sub-entity pot, so it wasn’t recovered…

Regardless, the primary pot was currently out there in someone else’s hands—most likely the Sigu Society’s. As long as his tenant in Room 201 had drunk that medicine, his life could be forfeit at any moment.

This was no longer just a matter of finding the Cleaners. He had to find a way to locate the primary pot; otherwise, he would have to clear out the ghost in Room 201. He couldn’t allow such a dangerous existence to remain in his apartment.

Zhou Fangdong returned to Room 201. When he pushed the door open, he happened to catch the Sickness Ghost inside eating an intruder ghost that had wandered into the room.

It wasn’t until he saw the Sickness Ghost devouring another ghost that Zhou Fangdong realized the plague carried by the Sickness Ghost could infect not only humans but other ghosts as well.

Since ghosts couldn’t drink the medicine from the pot, catching the Sickness Ghost’s plague was a death sentence.

Noticing Zhou Fangdong’s sudden appearance, the Sickness Ghost, who was currently merging with the intruder ghost, paused. It tore off a ghost arm that hadn’t fully integrated yet and offered it to Zhou Fangdong.

Zhou Fangdong waved his hand. “Thanks, but you go ahead. I don’t eat that.”

The Sickness Ghost nodded with a melancholy expression and continued devouring the remains of the intruder ghost.

Zhou Fangdong stood before the kitchen stove, staring expressionlessly at the Medicine Pot.

How could he use this pot to find the primary body?

He wondered if the System Mall had any similar items that could trace a sub-entity back to its source…

If he couldn’t find a way, he would have no choice but to clear both the pot and the Sickness Ghost out. He couldn’t gamble with the lives of his tenants.

The Sickness Ghost, having just finished its meal, suddenly shivered. It cast a cautious glance at Zhou Fangdong, who was blocking its path back to its spot, and silently shuffled a bit further away.

“Captain Hong, I’ve found a strange medicine pot here! It has abnormal spiritual fluctuations!” Zhou Wu, who was searching the bedroom, suddenly shouted.

“Don’t touch it with your hands. Use the equipment to bring it over,” Hong Zhong said, walking over quickly.

Hong Zhong was currently leading a team to search a villa district called “Peach Blossom Spring” in Jinxi District.

After successfully finding the missing children at Jinxi Plaza around one in the morning, he hadn’t slept, bringing his men directly to this villa district.

Shortly after the children were rescued, Li Zhe had woken up in the hospital.

Upon waking, Li Zhe immediately contacted Hong Zhong to inform him that his pursuit of the Peddler had led him to the Peach Blossom Spring villa district.

When Li Zhe had sneaked into the villa back then, he had vaguely heard people inside mentioning things like the Ghost Market and the Peddler. Hearing this information, his sense of foreboding had intensified, so he had intended to send the intel back to the Paranormal Affairs Department first.

But to Li Zhe’s surprise, just as he finished typing the words “Ghost Market,” his vision suddenly went black. Before his consciousness faded completely, he forced himself to hit send.

He knew nothing of what happened after that… Li Zhe had no idea how he had ended up in the southern suburbs.

Having obtained this crucial clue from Li Zhe, Hong Zhong immediately led his team to search the villa district without pause.

As it turned out, the cultists were incredibly shrewd. By the time they arrived, the villa was already empty.

Hong Zhong and his team didn’t find the cultist who controlled the Peddler to kidnap children; they only found some supernatural items in the rooms that hadn’t been taken away in time.

Entering the bedroom, Hong Zhong saw the clay Medicine Pot.

Zhou Wu was operating a mechanical arm to place the pot into a box designed to isolate supernatural power.

Without using detection tools, the pot looked entirely unremarkable on the surface—it was simply too ordinary.

He would wait until they got back to the Bureau and let the Detection Department study it.

Hong Zhong ordered, “Seal that pot. Go search the other rooms thoroughly. Make sure every supernatural item in this villa is brought back.”

“Yes, sir!”

Just as Hong Zhong was about to leave the bedroom, a sudden chill ran down his spine.

Having spent years walking the line between life and death, Hong Zhong trusted his instincts implicitly. Without any hesitation, he lunged forward, quickly vacating his previous position.

At that exact moment, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye: a dark shadow had appeared out of thin air on the floor by the bedroom door.

The shadow completely defied the laws of light, as if an invisible person were standing in the doorway, casting a shadow into the room.

Simultaneously, Hong Zhong noticed the light in the bedroom beginning to dim—vast patches of shadow, appearing from nowhere, spread across the floor, walls, and ceiling like a massive black bag rapidly cinching shut.

Hong Zhong immediately slammed the Level 1 Supernatural Alarm button on his person, then grabbed Zhou Wu and ran toward the bedroom window—it was currently the only spot not yet touched by the black shadows!

He didn’t know what the consequences of being trapped by these shadows would be. He couldn’t afford to get bogged down in a fight with an unknown ghost in this room; the priority was to leave this space immediately.

But to Hong Zhong’s surprise, the window—the only place without shadows—seemed to be a trap left intentionally.

When Hong Zhong and Zhou Wu’s shadows were cast upon the glass, their reflections began to slowly turn black, eventually transforming into a mass of pitch-black void.

There was no turning back now… Hong Zhong decisively raised his gun and fired.

An even more unexpected scene unfolded: the bullets, designed to dispel supernatural forces, had absolutely no effect on the dark shadow!

The shadows multiplied, swallowing everything in the room like a rising tide of darkness. Hong Zhong and Zhou Wu were like two drops of clear water falling into a vat of ink, on the verge of being completely consumed.

At that critical moment, the key to Room 106 hanging around Hong Zhong’s neck suddenly flickered, and a shrill, piercing cat’s meow echoed through the bedroom.

The closing shadows faltered and slowly came to a halt.

Another meow rang out, and Hong Zhong felt the key against his chest grow increasingly hot.

As if fearing something, the vast expanse of shadows actually retreated toward the doorway, coalescing back into a human-shaped silhouette.

Coming to his senses, Hong Zhong looked down at the door key on his chest with a mix of shock and suspicion.

The key had somehow slipped out from beneath his clothes and was now emitting a faint, shimmering light.

…The key to the Liwan Apartments.

His status as a tenant of the Liwan Apartments had actually allowed him to escape a supernatural incident so easily!

Hong Zhong felt a sense of daze wash over him.

Only now did he truly realize the immense importance of being a tenant of the Liwan Apartments.

Watching the shadow slither away, Hong Zhong gritted his teeth and gave chase. “Zhou Wu, get out through the window first! I’m going after that shadow!”

Zhou Wu didn’t question him for a second. The moment Hong Zhong gave the order, he smashed the window and leaped out.

With the protection of the apartment key, Hong Zhong’s actions became bolder. He no longer feared that pursuing the shadow might lead him into an even more dangerous situation.

This shadow was likely a trap left in the room by the cultists. By following it, he would undoubtedly find the cultists who were controlling the peddler to kidnap children!

Translator’s Notes