Chapter 55

When Zhou Fangdong returned to the second floor of the apartments, the five Cleaners were no longer in the corridor.

The fragments of the Flesh Ganoderma had been neatly gathered and stacked in a corner.

The bloodstains, dust, and grime on the floors and walls had completely vanished. Whether it was the main stairwell or the hallway leading to the tenant rooms, everything had been scrubbed clean.

Zhou Fangdong also noticed that the ghosts wandering the second-floor corridor had quieted down significantly. Although fights still broke out, it was far better than the initial bloody slaughterhouse atmosphere.

As expected, a large part of the instability in the second floor’s Yin Energy was due to that mutated Flesh Ganoderma. Now that it was gone and more rooms were being rented out, the corridor’s Yin Energy should eventually stabilize to match the first floor.

Zhou Fangdong stepped into Room 201.

The Sickness Ghost was still huddled inside the Medicine Pot, refusing to come out. Zhou Fangdong walked to the spacious living room and took out the cloth bag the furniture peddler had given him.

As he untied the bag and poured it out, miniature pieces of furniture tumbled onto the floor.

Upon hitting the ground, the furniture rapidly expanded to their normal sizes, piling up together.

The designs were indeed quite retro, but a quick glance showed no defects or damage; they were all sturdy. That furniture peddler was decent enough to give him quality goods.

However, this furniture was a bit difficult to move.

Although Zhou Fangdong’s current physical strength allowed him to move furniture easily, moving this much by himself was a waste of time. After all, it was enough furniture for a two-bedroom, two-living-room suite.

After a moment’s thought, Zhou Fangdong walked to the kitchen counter and lightly tapped on the Medicine Pot. “Are you home? Come out and help move some furniture.”

A coughing sound echoed as a figure emerged from the Medicine Pot, shifting from ethereal to solid.

The Sickness Ghost’s expression remained as melancholy as ever. It kept its head low, its pitch-black eyes not daring to look at Zhou Fangdong, wearing an expression of grievance and despair.

It looked like an indentured laborer¹ from the old era—no wages, no freedom. It hunched its back, hands behind its rear, sighing and coughing as it slowly shuffled toward the furniture.

The coughing grew more violent, and ghostly shadows began to emerge from most of the furniture pieces.

These external ghosts were quickly infected by the Sickness Ghost’s plague. Like controlled walking corpses, they numbly and mechanically placed the furniture in their proper positions.

Once the furniture was moved, the infected ghosts lined up and merged back into the Sickness Ghost one by one.

The Sickness Ghost needed time to digest ghosts it devoured from the apartment corridors, but swallowing the minor spirits attached to this furniture was as simple as a cough.

Once the task was finished, the Sickness Ghost cautiously looked up at Zhou Fangdong in the kitchen.

“Good work.” Zhou Fangdong stepped aside, clearing the path for the Sickness Ghost to return home.

Coughing, the Sickness Ghost disappeared back into the Medicine Pot.

Zhou Fangdong did another round of inspections through the rooms. After confirming everything was set up, he sent a message to Duan Wenyu, asking him to tell Hong Zhong that Room 201 was ready for occupancy and that Hong Zhong should select four team members to be the tenants.

After receiving Duan Wenyu’s reply, Zhou Fangdong put away his phone and headed toward Room 202.

However, it wasn’t ideal to always rely on Duan Wenyu to relay messages. He decided he should find some time to modify Hong Zhong’s phone as well to make communication more convenient.

When Zhou Fangdong reached the door of Room 202, he was surprised to find it wasn’t fully closed.

He quickly opened the rental interface to check. After confirming He Yansheng was still in the room, he stepped inside.

The entrance led straight into the living room. As soon as he entered, Zhou Fangdong heard a weak, emotional sigh.

“Ah… life really is but a dream. Who would have thought that after all those twists and turns, I’d end up back at the starting point?” He Yansheng was lying on the sofa, reaching out his hand toward a blood-soaked ghostly figure. “I must be dead, right? Otherwise, why would I be back at Liwan Apartments, seeing you again?”

The ghost in Room 202 was covered in bandages. The wrappings were almost entirely stained red with blood, and in the gaps where the bandages were loose, one could see horrific skin that looked as if it had been corroded by acid.

Though its face was obscured, the crimson eyes it turned toward He Yansheng were exceptionally tender. Seeing him reach out, the Bandage Ghost cooperatively placed its bloody hand in his.

Ghosts had no physical form. Although he was only touching a phantom shadow, He Yansheng’s pale face wore a smile of immense satisfaction and peace. “Holding your hand like this… it only ever happened in my dreams before.”

He Yansheng pulled back slightly, and the Bandage Ghost followed the motion as if truly being pulled, settling into his embrace.

The man and the ghost lay quietly on the sofa, huddled together. The atmosphere was so happy and sweet that it felt impossible for an outsider to intervene.

Zhou Fangdong hadn’t closed his rental interface yet. Looking at the system screen where the pixel man and pixel ghost were surrounded by pink bubbles and little pink flowers, he felt his presence was rather poorly timed.

“Ahem.” Zhou Fangdong gave a light cough. Although it felt wrong to interrupt, he had to give the key to Room 202 to He Yansheng.

He Yansheng let out a heavy sigh. “Ah… is it time already? Lord Reaper, could you let me stay with my wife a little longer?”

He had actually noticed Zhou Fangdong coming in long ago, but he had hoped to stall for time by pretending he hadn’t seen anything.

“I’m not a Reaper. I’m the landlord of Liwan Apartments. You’re still alive, and you’re now a tenant here,” Zhou Fangdong explained succinctly. “This is the key to Room 202. Keep it on you. If the key is lost, the rental contract is automatically terminated.”

After handing over the key, Zhou Fangdong explained the rules for going up and down the stairs. “Room 104 on the first floor is a convenience store. If you need food, you can get it there for free. You lived in Liwan Apartments before, so you should know where Room 104 is, right?”

He Yansheng nodded, his voice weak and listless. “I know. Are the apartments being rented out again? That’s good…”

He didn’t care why the apartments were being rented again, nor did he care how this landlord had appeared. He only wanted to lie here and stay with his wife.

Seeing that He Yansheng had absolutely no desire for conversation, Zhou Fangdong didn’t disturb him further and left the room.

He hadn’t expected the ghost in Room 202 to be He Yansheng’s wife… In that case, there was no need to worry about He Yansheng accidentally triggering the ghost’s killing conditions.

To be honest, looking at He Yansheng, even if his wife wanted to kill him, he would probably go to his death willingly.

Recalling He Yansheng’s entry in the manual and the note he had found under the cabinet in the Mahjong Room—’Wanted his wife to be resurrected, so he prayed to the Medicine Pot for the medicine of rebirth.’

The person mentioned in the note who wanted to resurrect his wife must have been He Yansheng.

Zhou Fangdong sighed softly.

Judging by the final result, this so-called resurrection was likely just a scam by the Sigu Society.

Perhaps drinking the medicine of rebirth really could bring someone back, but what kind of thing they became was another story entirely.

In a sense, He Yansheng was also one of the reasons for the Sickness Ghost’s death in Room 201.

Fortunately, the ghosts in the rooms didn’t leave easily, and the Sickness Ghost didn’t know the connection between the two Medicine Pots. Otherwise, if these two victims of the pots were brought together, there was no telling what might happen.

Zhou Fangdong arrived at the door of Room 203 and pushed it open.

He was immediately hit by a wave of damp, humid air mixed with the smell of mold.

Room 203 was also a large family unit, with the same layout as Rooms 201 and 202. However, the renovation style was very retro, possessing a 1980s aesthetic that looked exactly like the staff dormitories of an old state-owned factory.

The interior was excessively damp, as if the windows had been left open during a humid southern spring²; water droplets clung to every inch of the ceiling and walls.

In some places, the condensation on the ceiling was dense, while in others, there was none at all. These dry patches traced out several human silhouettes, resembling the white chalk outlines drawn around bodies at a crime scene.

Soaked by the moisture, large patches of wall paint had bubbled and peeled away.

The jagged edges of the peeling paint combined with the mold spots on the walls to form a series of human faces.

Those faces all appeared to be male, seemingly belonging to three different individuals. Their expressions were contorted into hideous masks of rage, as if caught in the middle of a violent argument.

As Zhou Fangdong observed the environment of Room 203, a side quest for renting out the room popped up:

[Side Quest 9: Clean and Rent Out Room 203]

① Clean the room and perform sanitation.

② Discard damaged furniture and purchase new furniture.

③ Find the ghost hidden in the room and determine the Killing Pattern.

④ Draft a Rental Contract and find a tenant to move in.

[Side Quest Rewards: 500 Ghost Coins, 2000 Experience Points, Random Skill Point x1]

Closing the task panel with a casual swipe, the now-experienced Zhou Fangdong immediately activated his [Ghost Pupils]. He began searching for the ghost by tracking the flow of Yin Energy.

The moldy faces on the walls… No.

The human-shaped water stains on the ceiling… Not those either.

Where else was there an abnormal paranormal fluctuation?

Zhou Fangdong narrowed his eyes slightly, carefully scrutinizing every corner of the room.

Something was off about the bathroom—it was too clean. The entire apartment was filled with chaotic Yin Energy, yet the bathroom was strangely stable. It felt like a blatant attempt to hide something.

Zhou Fangdong stepped into the bathroom.

Drawing from his experience watching horror movies, the first thing he did upon entering was twist the faucet handle.

The expected scene of blood gushing out or long hair flowing from the tap didn’t happen; the water that came out was perfectly normal and clear.

Zhou Fangdong tightened the faucet and began inspecting the bathroom’s condition.

The bathroom’s decor was just as retro as the rest of the unit. There was no separation between wet and dry areas; right next to the toilet sat an old-fashioned bathtub. It was the deep kind that required one to curl up their body just to sit inside.

If the tub was slippery, it would likely be very difficult to stand back up.

…Could the ghost in this room have died in this bathtub?

With that thought, Zhou Fangdong leaned over to look into the tub.

The bathtub was overgrown with moss. Much like the mold on the walls outside, the moss had grown into the shapes of human faces.

But he still didn’t see the ghost.

…It felt like he was playing hide-and-seek with the ghost of this room.

After his skills had leveled up, using mind-reading to search for clues was convenient, but finding the ghosts themselves had become harder.

The upgraded [Soul Siphon] carried a powerful Intimidation buff, as did his [Ghost Pupils]. Combined with the Intimidation bonus from the [Landlord’s Key]… the result was that the ghosts in every room no longer dared to show themselves. They were all hiding from him.

Zhou Fangdong sighed and set down the bathtub stopper. Just as he was about to stand up, he sensed something was wrong.

There was a showerhead above the tub, and its metal hose was tucked into the gap between the bathtub and the wall.

But wasn’t that metal hose a bit too long?

Zhou Fangdong’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed the metal hose and began pulling.

Like he was yanking a radish from the ground, he dragged a ghost out from the gap behind the bathtub. As he pulled it out, its waterlogged body quivered with a sickeningly elastic bounce.

The ghost of Room 203 was a male. Although his sodden appearance and bloated body made him look like a water ghost, his cause of death wasn’t drowning—it was the metal hose wrapped around his neck.

Unlike his pale, swollen body, his face—though also bloated—was a dark, purplish-black color, likely caused by blood being trapped in the head. Combined with the gruesome ligature mark on his neck… he had most likely been strangled to death by this very shower hose.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t waste time guessing; he used [Soul Siphon] directly on the ghost.

After casually plundering five hundred Ghost Coins, the ghost’s life experiences unfolded before Zhou Fangdong’s eyes.

This ghost had once been a tenant of Room 203, living there with his father, Liu Jianping, and his younger brother. Their family of three had moved in shortly after the Liwan Apartments were built, making them among the earliest tenants.

His mother had passed away from illness years ago. His father, Liu Jianping, was a laid-off worker from a state-owned factory who made a living selling grilled skewers at a stall near the apartments.

He and his brother were not related by blood. The brother was the orphaned son of his father’s coworker, adopted by Liu Jianping when the boy was ten years old.

The brother’s biological parents had worked in the same workshop as Liu Jianping. When a machine malfunctioned and spun out of control, they had pushed his father out of the way just in time. Liu Jianping survived, but the boy became an orphan.

Because the accident was deemed the result of the parents’ own operational error, causing significant losses to the factory, the compensation paid to the family was meager. Seeing no profit to be gained, none of the biological relatives were willing to take in the “burden.” Thus, Liu Jianping took the boy in to raise him.

Out of gratitude for saving his life, ever since the brother entered the home, Liu Jianping gave him the best of everything, often neglecting his own biological son in the process.

Though the older brother said nothing, resentment toward his younger brother had been festering for a long time.

The conflict finally reached a breaking point when both brothers reached marriageable age.

Because their family wasn’t well-off and both brothers only held vocational degrees³, they hadn’t moved out after graduation, continuing to live with their father in the Liwan Apartments.

The older brother worked as a plumber and electrician, while the younger brother chose to help Liu Jianping sell skewers.

“Helping” was a generous term. Having been spoiled for years, the younger brother couldn’t handle hard work. He claimed to be helping his father, but in reality, he was a loafer who spent his days wandering aimlessly around the market.

Liu Jianping saw it all, but he never scolded the younger son.

Later, the older brother started dating a girl. They were genuinely in love. When it came time to discuss marriage, local custom dictated that the groom’s family cover the costs of the wedding and the banquet. Even for the cheapest banquet, the older brother’s savings weren’t enough. He hoped his father could help front some of the money, promising to pay him back with the red envelope gifts received after the wedding.

To his surprise, when he brought this up to Liu Jianping, the old man just smoked his cigarette in silence. He didn’t say he would help, nor did he say he wouldn’t.

Just then, the younger brother returned home and immediately demanded that their father give him another two hundred thousand.

It was only during the ensuing confrontation that the older brother learned the truth: Liu Jianping had already emptied the family’s entire savings and even sold his newly purchased food cart to give all the money to the younger brother.

The younger brother had taken a liking to a girl during a blind date a few days prior. But with no education, poor looks, a bad personality, and the temperament of a giant infant, his only hope of getting married was to offer an exorbitant bride price.

Yet, even after the younger brother had drained the family dry, the girl still looked down on him. Unwilling to give up, the younger brother became obsessed, believing it was only because he hadn’t offered enough money. That was why he had rushed home to demand more from Liu Jianping.

Upon learning that his father had given every cent to his brother, the most violent argument in the history of the two siblings erupted, ending in a bitter fallout.

A few days later, the older brother still couldn’t swallow his resentment. Taking advantage of his father’s absence, he secretly tampered with the bathroom’s electrical wiring.

The younger brother had a habit of taking long baths. That night, while soaking in the tub, he was electrocuted by a leak from the water heater and died right there in the bathtub.

Looking at his brother’s corpse, the older brother felt no regret, only a sense of vindictive relief.

However, just as he was preparing to scrub away the traces of his sabotage, his father—who was supposed to be in the neighboring city at a gathering with coworkers—suddenly returned home.

When Liu Jianping saw the horrific scene in the bathroom, his blood pressure spiked with rage. Combined with the fact that the bathroom floor was still slick with water, he slipped and collapsed. His head slammed violently against the tiles, and he stopped breathing on the spot.

The older brother had originally thought he felt nothing, but as he dragged his brother’s body out of the tub and looked at the two corpses lying side-by-side on the bathroom floor, the weight of his actions finally crashed down on him.

Though he had always harbored resentment over his father’s blatant favoritism, he had never intended to kill him.

Realizing he had committed an irreversible atrocity, a tidal wave of remorse shattered his mind.

He wound the metal shower hose around his own neck and knelt in the drained bathtub. Maintaining that kneeling posture with his head bowed low, he strangled himself to death with the metal hose.

Even after death, he couldn’t break free from the obsession of his regret. He became a ghost, remaining forever trapped in Room 203.

After witnessing the life story of the ghost in Room 203, Zhou Fangdong felt a flicker of doubt.

If the ghost in Room 203 was a suicide, what were its killing conditions?

Furthermore, he wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but the ghost’s power felt incredibly weak. How exactly did it manage to claim this room for itself amidst the brutal spirits haunting the second-floor corridor? Did it truly possess the power to drive away outside ghosts?

Translator’s Notes