Chapter 60

After leaving Room 202, Zhou Fangdong could still hear He Yansheng’s mutterings drifting around his ears like phantom whispers.

It was terrifying. This tenant of his was truly frightening once he spiraled into a negative mood.

Zhou Fangdong stood in the second-floor corridor, looking at the three doors before him.

The two ghosts and one human in these three rooms on the second floor could practically become sworn brothers—the Negative Trio.

Room 201’s Sickness Ghost was melancholic and frail; Room 202’s He Yansheng was passive and dejected; Room 203’s Puff Ghost was despairing and shut-in…

Right, since he was already on the second floor, he might as well check on the status of Room 203.

In any case, he didn’t have any pressing tasks related to the basement right now, so entering it wasn’t an immediate necessity. There was no rush; he would wait until He Yansheng was in a slightly better state before asking him more questions.

Upon entering Room 203, Zhou Fangdong discovered that compared to the initial state where the entire room was filled with steam, it was much better now. The misty, water-logged sensation from before had vanished.

In the bathroom, the Puff Ghost was still huddled in the gap beside the bathtub in its shut-in state. Its body, which had bloated several sizes larger, actually managed to squeeze into the crevice, looking like a giant wad of cotton—very conspicuous.

If it had looked like this back then, Zhou Fangdong certainly would have found its location immediately.

It seems it can now control the water vapor within a certain range for a long time… Zhou Fangdong pondered for a moment and decided not to use the cleaning tools to clear the room for now.

He would call Hou San over first and let the furniture peddler take a look to see if he could accept it.

After all, he wasn’t some black-hearted agent; he couldn’t hide the room’s flaws and force a lease on a tenant.

As for furniture and renovations, those could be ordered from the Guijia Furniture Store at any time.

Now that the sub-quest to repair the garbage station was complete and all functions of the renovation Purification Device in the corridor were unlocked, the Yin Energy on the second floor had become increasingly stable.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t even need to ask the Furniture Store Manager; he could feel it himself.

Not only had the restless ghosts quieted down significantly, but the temperature in the corridor was no longer as bone-chilling. It felt more and more like the first-floor corridor.

Once he rented out all the rooms on the second floor, the Yin Energy in the corridor would likely stabilize completely.

Since contacting that furniture peddler required burning yellow paper, and lighting fires inside the building wasn’t ideal, Zhou Fangdong returned to the garden between the two buildings. He found an open space and took out a stack of joss paper.

This yellow paper was found inside the two large bags of incense, candles, and ingots¹ that Duan Wenyu had bought for him earlier. Presumably, because he had bought so much, the funeral shop owner had thrown it in for free.

Following the contact information on the business card, Zhou Fangdong wrote Hou San’s name and his Ghost Market stall information on the yellow paper. Then, using the lighter provided by the funeral shop owner, he ignited the stack.

The yellow paper burned rapidly. Amidst the rising flames, the shadow of a paper sedan chair² grew larger and larger, as if formed from the paper ash drifting on the heat waves. It transformed from ethereal to solid, drawing closer and closer.

Zhou Fangdong stepped aside. He then watched as the paper sedan, carried by two small paper effigies, charged out of the heat waves like a speeding car and came to a sudden, jarring halt in the garden clearing.

Because the stop was so abrupt, a figure was thrown headfirst out of the sedan by the momentum. He rolled several times on the ground before landing flat on his face.

“Ow, ow, ow… my old back…” The man stood up tremulously, pointing a finger at the two small paper effigies carrying the sedan and scolding them: “One-star review! Are you trying to send your customer to an early grave by carrying the sedan like that? You need to work on your professional skills, or you’ll never be sold. You’ll be stuck guarding the door of the Paper Effigy Shop for the rest of your lives!”

“Tch.” The boy paper effigy curled his lip in disdain.

The girl paper effigy spat directly: “Pah! You’re hitching a ride for free and you still dare to be picky?”

Then, both paper effigies rolled their eyes at the man simultaneously and vanished along with the sedan.

The man brushed the dirt off his clothes, turned around with a smile, and cupped his hands toward Zhou Fangdong: “Hahaha, please excuse the display, Mr. Landlord. As soon as I saw you were contacting me, I rushed over as fast as I could.”

For a moment, Zhou Fangdong didn’t know what to say.

This furniture peddler’s entrance was certainly… unique.

Zhou Fangdong noticed that the two paper effigies from just now seemed to be the same ones from the entrance of the Paper Effigy Shop in the Ghost Market, so he asked curiously, “Do you have a connection with the owner of the Paper Effigy Shop? Do you run that shop?”

“Gosh! How could I have the ability to open a shop in the Ghost Market?” Hou San said with a laugh. “I’m just a supplier—Mr. Landlord, have you been to the Paper Effigy Shop?”

Zhou Fangdong nodded.

“Then you must have seen the paper effigies in the shop… Those things have no souls, they are neither ghost nor human, yet they can move. Quite miraculous, isn’t it?”

Hou San rolled up his sleeves, a hint of pride on his thin, withered face. “I have a pair of clever hands. Not only can I… stealthily get anything I want, but I can also collect intangible things, like the resentment and obsessions of ghosts, or various extreme negative emotions from humans… These things are excellent fuel to drive those paper effigies. That’s what I provide to the shop owner. Half the credit for those effigies being so lifelike goes to me.”

Seeing Zhou Fangdong’s expression turn slightly odd, Hou San quickly explained: “I’m a law-abiding citizen! I don’t just steal emotions from the living. Most of what I collect is the resentment dissipating from fierce ghosts… There are more ghosts than people in this world now anyway, and that resentment is just floating around. Might as well give it to me.”

Zhou Fangdong’s strange expression wasn’t because he minded the practice, but because he was thinking of the situation in Room 203.

The Puff Ghost, who was mired in regret and unable to pull itself out, had negative emotions practically overflowing from the room. Hou San, who needed negative emotions for his inventory, was a perfect match for that room.

“By the way, Mr. Landlord, why did you call me here?” Hou San rubbed his hands together, his face full of anticipation. “Is there a new room for rent?”

Zhou Fangdong nodded. “I’ll take you to see the room that’s up for lease. You can decide if you want to move in.”

Hou San said with absolute certainty, “There’s no need to think about it. As long as it’s a room in Liwan Apartments, I’m willing to stay!”

“Let’s take a look at the room first before we decide.”

Zhou Fangdong led Hou San to the second floor of the apartment building.

From the moment he stepped into the apartment, Hou San had been looking left and right, his face flushed with excitement. He looked like someone who had worked hard and saved for half a lifetime and was finally about to pay in full for his dream home.

Once they reached Room 203, the man became even more agitated. With tears in his eyes, he said, “Mr. Landlord, are you really going to rent such a wonderful place to me?”

If he moved in here, it would be equivalent to having a steady stream of raw materials to provide to the Paper Effigy Shop owner. He could earn Ghost Coins every day and would no longer need to set up a street stall to supplement his living.

He felt that after living in Liwan Apartments for a few months, he would soon save enough money to buy a shop. When that time came, he could become a big boss in the Ghost Market.

As expected, the most correct thing he had ever done in his life was striking up a conversation with that opera actress in the Ghost Market that night.

Zhou Fangdong confirmed, “Are you sure you want to rent this room?”

Hou San nodded vigorously. “Positive!”

As soon as he spoke, a system pop-up appeared before Zhou Fangdong’s eyes:

[Half-ghost tenants do not require Tenancy Rules. Tenant contract has been automatically signed.]

Zhou Fangdong took out the key to Room 203 and handed it to Hou San. “Keep this key safe. If the key is lost, the tenancy agreement will be considered automatically terminated.”

“You got it~ Don’t you worry.” Hou San took the key gleefully and pulled open the front of his loose suit jacket.

He wore no clothes under his suit. His chest was concave, and embedded within that hollow was a semi-purplish face.

Hou San stuffed the key into the mouth of that face and then straightened his clothes.

Zhou Fangdong had already been tempered by the ghosts of Liwan Apartments. No matter how grotesque the tenant was, his expression didn’t change in the slightest.

[Room 203 has been successfully rented. Congratulations to the Host for completing Side Quest 9.]

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

[New Tenant Illustrated Guide [Special Tenant · Ghost Thief] unlocked. Please claim rewards promptly.]

“By the way, I haven’t had time to clean Room 203 yet. How about you step out for a moment…” Zhou Fangdong originally intended to have Hou San leave so he could use the automatic cleaning tools to give the room a thorough scrub.

But to his surprise, Hou San waved his hands in refusal the moment he heard this. “How could I let you do such dirty, exhausting work? I can clean it myself. I have a stock of furniture and things too, so there’s no need for you to trouble yourself, Mr. Landlord.”

Since that was the case, it saved Zhou Fangdong the trouble. “Then I’ll head out first. Take your time cleaning up.”

Leaving Room 203, as he passed by Room 202, Zhou Fangdong suddenly noticed fresh blood seeping out from under the door crack.

He was startled, thinking something had happened to He Yansheng. Just as he was about to push the door open, he saw a white bandage drift out from under the door along with the blood. Two words were written crookedly on the bandage.

Zhou Fangdong first opened the rental preview interface. After confirming that He Yansheng was fine inside the room, he looked closely at what was written on the bandage.

Those two words looked like… ‘Suicide Note’?

This bandage extending from the door crack belonged to the Bandage Ghost in Room 202, didn’t it? It was asking him for the suicide note…

Zhou Fangdong remembered something and opened the lottery interface.

Among his unclaimed rewards, there was a cursed item—[Blood-Tear Suicide Note].

In addition to being able to indiscriminately attack both oneself and enemies, there was a note at the very bottom of the item description.

(Note: This is also an exclusive favorability item. Giving it to a specific person will increase the Favorability between a certain ghost and a certain person.)

…This ‘certain ghost’ and ‘certain person’ likely referred to the Bandage Ghost in Room 202 and He Yansheng.

Zhou Fangdong claimed the cursed item.

The cursed item was a folded piece of paper soaked with bloodstains.

The moment he placed the paper on the bandage, the bandage quickly wrapped around the suicide note and retracted into the room.

Then, another bandage stretched out from the door crack. This one looked relatively new and was not contaminated by blood. One could clearly see a familiar rune printed on it—it was the blood-colored rune drawn on the basement door.

Several spots on the rune seemed to have been heavily pressed by someone with blood-stained fingers. Zhou Fangdong understood its meaning and took the bandage back down to the basement.

Following the positions highlighted on the bandage, he pressed the bricks on the large door in front of him.

After pressing them all, the door rotated slowly, and a pale, deathly light poured out from within.

Zhou Fangdong squinted slightly. After adjusting to the piercing light, he stepped into the basement.

He had imagined that opening the basement door might reveal failed resurrection monsters of the Sigu Society, or perhaps rotting corpses, or a floor covered in skeletons. But he never imagined he would see the scene before his eyes…

The basement was very clean, much like a hospital morgue. There were no strange smells and no bloodstains.

A row of powered ice coffins was lined up against the wall. The cold-toned lights shone on the iron coffins, reflecting a discomforting, piercing chill.

Opposite the ice coffins stood a strange apparatus that looked like a medieval alchemy instrument.

On the left side of the instrument were many flasks that looked like they were for extraction or refining, set upon an iron table. Beneath the table were many glass tubes and switches arranged like a complex maze. On the right was a waist-high iron circular tub… or perhaps describing it as a large iron pot for boiling things was more appropriate.

However, none of these were the main point. The main point was the bodies lying inside the ice coffins.

Zhou Fangdong looked at those ice coffins in shock.

…The corpses lying inside those ice coffins all had his face.

In disbelief, he walked back and forth in front of the ice coffins several times, confirming that those corpses, which had died in horrific ways, were all him.

Thirteen corpses in total…

Zhou Fangdong froze, his mind a chaotic mess of static.

After a long silence, he began calling out frantically to the system in his mind:

“System??? What is going on?! This… how is it all…”

The only response was a cold, mechanical voice devoid of any emotion:

[Ding—Congratulations to the host for discovering the Kerosene Lamp Lamp Oil Production Base.]

[Lamp Oil production interface unlocked. Please create workers for refining Lamp Oil to begin production.]

[Current Lamp Oil raw materials remaining: 13. Host, please manage your resources wisely.]

Translator’s Notes