Chapter 61

Kerosene Lamp Oil Production Base…

Remaining Lamp Oil raw materials: 13…

Thirteen corpses…

Zhou Fangdong’s mind was a chaotic mess. Subconsciously, he pulled out the kerosene lamp.

He held the battered lamp in both hands. Peering through the grimy glass cover at the murky, blackened oil filled with floating flocculent matter, his vision went slightly dark.

“The Kerosene Lamp oil… is refined from my corpses? This is my corpse oil?”

“But how could I possibly have so many corpses?”

“I did die once, yes. I was hit by a truck, but then I was resurrected by the system. Even if the system secretly recycled my corpse, none of these bodies in the ice coffins look like they were run over by a vehicle…”

“Or rather, has the body from the accident already been turned into oil? Is that where the oil from the Main Quest 1 reward came from?”

“Ha, the oil squeezed out of my corpse is actually worth thirty thousand Ghost Coins. I’m quite valuable, aren’t I?”

“What am I being proud of? It’s not a matter of value right now… First of all, I only died once. It’s impossible to have this many bodies.”

“And I haven’t been in this world for long—eight days at most. This basement is clearly where the Sigu Society used to perform resurrection rituals. Could I have traveled through time to die here in advance and leave behind over a dozen corpses? What the hell—System! System, say something! Why aren’t you being ‘intelligent’ at a time like this?!”

[Detected that the host’s Spirit Bar is dropping rapidly. Please remain calm.]

“How do you expect me to stay calm?!”

Zhou Fangdong was truly on the verge of a breakdown.

If he were asked to slow-dance cheek-to-cheek with a rotting cadaver, he could calmly accept it.

But the current situation involved thirteen corpses that had died horrific deaths suddenly popping up, each one wearing his face, as if telling him: ‘You’ve already died over a dozen times, brother. On the surface, there are only these few bodies, but behind the scenes, your corpses might be piled up like a mountain. Die a few more times and your bodies could hold hands and circle the Earth…’

“System, this actually isn’t the first time I’ve been resurrected, is it? Have I reloaded my save several times?”

But after dying so many times, was he still the original him? Did having Zhou Fangdong’s memories make him Zhou Fangdong?

Didn’t this mean that as long as someone possessed those memories, anyone could become him…

It was that old philosophical question—how do I prove that I am me?

[Host, you have never died prior to this. You were indeed resurrected by the system’s power eight days ago.]

[The system only binds to the host. No one can replace you; there will not be a second host.]

[These corpses are merely an additional effect of a skill. Once the skill is maxed out, the host will understand everything.]

“Once… the… skill… is… maxed… out,” Zhou Fangdong repeated softly.

The brass pendant around his neck flickered. He suddenly went quiet, falling into a state of eerie composure.

“It’s a side effect of the [Half-Body Shrine], isn’t it? System, you only ever suggested that I max out this specific skill… It turns out the side effect doesn’t just make me eat ghosts, it also produces corpses for manufacturing Lamp Oil.”

“Since you say I’ve never died, then these corpses just happen to have faces that look like mine, but they aren’t actually me, right?”

[The system does not know what the host is talking about.]

“I get it. It was like this last time; the system won’t reveal skill effects until the skill is upgraded.”

Zhou Fangdong perked up instantly.

“Then I’ll just let nature take its course. Everything will be clear once the skill is maxed out anyway.”

He currently had 5 Skill Points and needed 10 more to reach the next level… After renting out the remaining rooms on the second floor and completing four more Roleplay Tasks, or renting out four rooms on the third floor, he would be able to upgrade successfully.

Ever since seeing those corpses in the basement, what Zhou Fangdong feared most was the idea that he was a ‘fake.’

He couldn’t accept that he had already died many times, nor could he accept that the memories in his head, the things he had experienced, or even his preferences might have been altered and then re-implanted by someone else.

…If everything was fake, then nothing had any meaning.

Zhou Fangdong clicked open his character attribute panel and took a look. His Spirit Bar had dropped by about a quarter, but it was slowly increasing. It would recover quickly even without spending Ghost Coins.

He let out a soft breath and walked toward the ice coffin nearest to him.

In this coffin, his corpse was depicted with the head and neck separated. The neck looked as if it had been severed by an extremely sharp blade. He had died with his eyes wide open.

Zhou Fangdong subconsciously touched his own neck.

Although he had calmed down considerably, seeing a corpse that looked exactly like him was still a bit unsettling.

It felt like looking into a mirror only to find that your reflection had suddenly dropped dead, making you wonder if you were still alive yourself.

And there was one more thing that confused Zhou Fangdong…

Was the oil in the two lamps outside the tenants’ doors at night also corpse oil?

Before he discovered the basement, the system shouldn’t have been able to refine oil from corpses… So there might be other ways to produce Lamp Oil. Either the apartment produced it itself, or the system was secretly shearing someone else’s wool¹ to replenish supplies.

He didn’t know if the oil for the lamp outside Room 101 had been refilled yet, but Zhao Dawei hadn’t run into any bad luck lately, so it probably wasn’t a major issue.

Zhou Fangdong opened the newly unlocked Lamp Oil production interface.

The production interface was a top-down pixelated map of the basement. Like the rental preview interface, he could click the screen to teleport directly to the basement regardless of where he was.

That strange alchemy tool—a combination of a large iron pot and many flasks—was the equipment for refining Lamp Oil. Because there was currently no Lamp Oil Worker to brew it, it was in an unusable state.

In the top left corner of the page was the number of remaining raw materials: 13.

In the top right corner was a sub-interface: [Lamp Oil Worker Production].

When [Lamp Oil Worker Production] was opened, a crude crafting system appeared.

The synthesis system details stated that creating a Lamp Oil Worker required one [Corpse from the Apartment Rear Building], one set of [Worker’s Uniform made by the Ghost Tailor], and one pair of [Shackles made by the Silversmith].

At the very top, there was another mandatory requirement: he needed to unlock a specific Ghost Tenant in the illustrated guide… The system only indicated it was a Ghost Tenant, without providing a specific name.

A corpse from the Apartment Rear Building would be easy to find, and the Ghost Tailor and Silversmith sounded like they belonged to the Ghost Market, so he could take a look around there.

However, the prerequisite for creating the Lamp Oil Worker was unlocking that specific Ghost Tenant.

Where was he supposed to find a Ghost Tenant whose name he didn’t even know? Was he really expected to resort to that scammy lottery skill?

Zhou Fangdong did indeed have a lottery ticket in his possession that guaranteed a Ghost Tenant, but he had great confidence in his own luck—he was certain he wouldn’t pull the one he needed.

In the vast prize pool of countless Ghost Tenants from the Apartment Rear Building, even if the guarantee gave him one, it definitely wouldn’t be the one he required right now.

Although he couldn’t create a Lamp Oil Worker yet, Zhou Fangdong wasn’t overly anxious about it. He wasn’t in a hurry to refine lamp oil.

His upgraded skills were all very effective, and he didn’t plan on wandering the apartments at night, so he had no immediate need for the kerosene lamp.

Besides, even if he did need it, the remaining oil in his kerosene lamp could burn for eight more hours, and he had a completely fresh, unused can of lamp oil on hand. Thus, the matter of manufacturing lamp oil wasn’t particularly pressing.

What Zhou Fangdong was more curious about was the identity of the person who had left the notes at the Mahjong Room and the basement entrance.

It was like a legendary investigator, leaving trails of clues in key locations.

He didn’t know if this person was still alive. If he could find them, he might be able to gather a significant amount of intelligence regarding the Sigu Society.

Before closing the lamp oil production interface, Zhou Fangdong noticed something slightly off about the basement floor plan on the panel… There seemed to be a faint red glow near the entrance.

He dragged the floor plan across the screen and discovered that the source of the red light was the main entrance door.

Upon clicking it, the door displayed options to [Change Basement Entry Method] and [Permanently Seal Basement Entrance].

“System, if I permanently seal the basement entrance, can I still teleport to the basement through the system panel?”

[Yes. However, once the basement entrance is permanently sealed, reopening it will require a one-month cooldown period.]

Zhou Fangdong pondered for a moment before ultimately deciding against sealing the basement entrance.

While it would be safer and wouldn’t hinder his own movements, if he eventually unlocked that Ghost Tenant and could produce Lamp Oil Workers, he would need to move corpses into the basement… and corpses had to come through the entrance.

He would wait until he had produced enough Lamp Oil Workers before sealing it off completely.

Zhou Fangdong selected [Change Basement Entry Method].

First, he reset the positions of the bricks that needed to be pressed on the door. To prevent himself from forgetting, he thought about it and set up a few security questions as well.

This would prevent anyone who previously knew the entry method from getting in.

Perhaps due to the recent emotional roller coaster combined with the heavy depletion of his Spirit Bar in a short time, Zhou Fangdong felt quite exhausted. After handling the basement affairs, he teleported directly back to his room.

Back in his room, he opened the newly unlocked Tenant Illustrated Guide to take a look.

[Special Tenant: Ghost Thief]

—He steals from men, he steals from ghosts; there is nothing he won’t steal, and nothing he can’t steal.

Guide Description: A natural half-ghost. After his parasitic twin brother died, the corpse and soul remained parasitic upon his body. Because of his brother’s existence, he possesses two human hands and two ghost hands. Getting what he wants is just a matter of sleight of hand; stealing gradually evolved from a hobby into a profession.

Traits: Slick, silver-tongued, high emotional intelligence. He is a “respectable businessman” who enjoys acquiring stock at zero cost. He is currently the exclusive supplier for the Paper Effigy Shop. His dream is to live in Liwan Apartments and own a shop in the Ghost Market; half of that dream has already been realized.

Guide Unlock Reward: [Strange Item: Severed Hand of Unknown Origin]

A severed hand?

Seeing this item, Zhou Fangdong paused and checked the item description.

[Strange Item: Severed Hand of Unknown Origin]

Item Description: When Hou San first came to the apartments, his brother stole a strange severed hand from somewhere for him. Fearing that stealing during their first meeting would lower the Apartment Landlord’s Favorability, Hou San never mentioned it. During his second visit to the apartments, he quietly discarded the severed hand near the Apartment Rear Building.

(Note: This might be an important item. You should try to keep it; it might come in handy someday.)

Zhou Fangdong breathed a sigh of relief.

That gave him a scare; he thought the predatory system had chopped off Hou San’s hand to give as a reward…

After claiming the item, Zhou Fangdong had mentally prepared himself for a rotting corpse hand or a mummified hand, but he didn’t expect this strange severed hand to look like a product of high technology.

It was a left hand. Although there was flesh on the surface, it was incomplete. Through the gaps, one could see that the blood vessels and muscle tissues inside were entirely composed of precision mechanical parts. It possessed a “flesh is weak, the machine is immortal” aesthetic that looked exceptionally cool.

Zhou Fangdong treated it as an ornament and placed it on the bookshelf above his desk.

While placing the severed hand, he noticed the Great Blade he had casually tossed onto the floor.

Two pieces of Flesh Ganoderma seeds were still skewered on the hooks at the end of the blade.

He needed to visit the Ghost Market again tonight to give the Flesh Ganoderma seeds to the Butcher Shop Owner.

Although the blade the Butcher Shop Owner gave him required Ghost Coins to use, its effectiveness was beyond reproach.

Furthermore, he had no idea what use these Flesh Ganoderma seeds had in his hands; it was better to give them away as a favor to build up Favorability.

While at the Ghost Market, he could also look for the Ghost Tailor who made the worker uniforms and the Silversmith who made the shackles.

He would prepare the materials needed to synthesize the Lamp Oil Worker ahead of time—better safe than sorry.

At Chuyun Temple, Miao Zheng had been unable to sleep ever since she received the talisman from Zhou Fangdong.

Duan Wenyu, whom she had coaxed into coming to the temple for a “vacation,” also wore a heavy expression.

There was always a feeling that a storm was brewing…

Just then, Miao Zheng’s phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw that Zhu Di was calling.

After taking the talisman from Zhu Di’s home last time, the two had exchanged contact information to prevent Zhu Di from encountering further danger.

Once the call connected, Zhu Di’s voice came through the phone with a sob: “Sister Zheng… I, I think I’m being targeted by someone again. My boyfriend and my best friend’s boyfriend both disappeared yesterday.”

Hearing this, Miao Zheng frowned slightly. “How can you be sure their disappearance has anything to do with you?”

Zhu Di steadied her nerves and told Miao Zheng about the nightmare she had a few days ago.

She, her best friend, and their now-missing boyfriends had all shared a strange dream. They dreamt of a peculiar small town where they sat motionless in the audience, watching six bald men perform on a stage.

The reason she had originally accepted the talisman from the middle-aged man in a skullcap was because she was being plagued by this nightmare at the time.

Zhu Di suspected that she might have been the first target, but since her talisman was taken by Miao Zheng, the person behind the scenes failed to get to her and shifted their focus to their boyfriends instead.

She feared that if this continued, she and her best friend would eventually fall victim as well.

Miao Zheng sighed. “But there’s no physical evidence proving your boyfriend’s disappearance is related to this strange dream, nor is there evidence that he disappeared due to a supernatural event or is in immediate danger, so the Supervisory Bureau won’t take the report—that’s what the police station said, right?”

“Yes! They said my boyfriend hasn’t even been missing for twenty-four hours and told me to wait, but I really can’t wait! Someone wants to hurt me. I have a gut feeling it’s definitely related to that dream! I’m truly at my wit’s end, which is why I called you… Sister Zheng, you’re the only person I know who can handle supernatural events.” By the end, Zhu Di couldn’t help but start crying again.

“Calm down first. Crying is the most useless thing you can do right now,” Miao Zheng said, cutting her off. “Tell me what your boyfriend was doing before he disappeared and the places he went. I’ll ask an acquaintance at the Supervisory Bureau to look into it.”

“At… at the Penghu Department Store…” Zhu Di choked back a sob. “Yesterday was my best friend Su Wan’s birthday, and the four of us planned to have a party at her house. The last time I heard from my boyfriend was yesterday afternoon. He said they were going to the Penghu Department Store to buy snacks and a cake. He even sent me a video saying they’d be over in half an hour. But we waited until night, and even after the Penghu Department Store closed, they never showed up.”

“Alright, I understand.”

After a pause, Miao Zheng instructed: “Don’t worry too much. As long as you don’t go out, you should be fine. Most ghosts wandering the city center are around D-rank; these weak spirits can only possess humans and cause harm by influencing their emotions. Stay home and lock your doors and windows. Don’t order delivery, and don’t let anyone inside, whether they are strangers or acquaintances. Put in earplugs, wear an eye mask, lie in bed, and ignore whatever happens.”

Zhu Di gave a muffled response of agreement.

After hanging up, Miao Zheng decided to speak with the Landlord about this before reporting it to Hong Zhong.

The six bald men mentioned by Zhu Di reminded her of the two cultists—a man and a woman—who had once persecuted Zhao Dawei in the apartment.

Those two cultists also had completely shaved heads and wore Human Skin Hats that looked like skullcaps.

She suspected that the middle-aged man in a skullcap who gave Zhu Di the talisman was very likely part of the same group.

Given the ruthlessness of these inhumane cultists, if they failed to kill someone once, there would definitely be a second time. They certainly wouldn’t give up easily… Just as Zhu Di guessed, she was indeed being targeted.

After receiving the talisman from Zhu Di the day before yesterday, the Landlord had appeared particularly serious and angry, even making them stay at the Taoist temple for a night, which indicated that the talisman was extremely dangerous.

Being targeted by such dangerous cultists meant Zhu Di was indeed in great peril.

Inside an ordinary residential building in the city center.

The middle-aged man in a skullcap sat in an armchair holding a teacup. He took a sip and asked nonchalantly, “What did the Soul Search reveal? What did those two men see in the Tourist Town instance?”

Before him lay two corpses, their heads mangled and bloody. Hearing the middle-aged man’s question, a person standing by the bodies holding a sharp awl replied respectfully:

“The Tourist Town instance has indeed undergone an anomaly. It seems to have broken free from the Main God’s control and has been remodeled by some powerful ghost.”

“However, due to the perspective, we cannot see what kind of ghost was the perpetrator behind the Main God Instance anomaly. We still need to capture the other two girls and extract their souls for investigation as well.”

The middle-aged man nodded.

Last time, the attempt to extract that girl’s memories using the talisman had failed.

Originally, out of consideration for the Supervisory Bureau, and having learned that an Infinite Flow Player had taken the talisman and that the deaths of the cult members were related to the Main God Instance anomaly, he hadn’t wanted to cause too much trouble and had let the little insect go.

But over the past two days, those mad dogs from the Supervisory Bureau had somehow obtained intelligence regarding their strongholds and began a frantic assault on the Sigu Society. They had not only disrupted many rituals but also captured many cult members and believers.

Being targeted by both the Supervisory Bureau and the Main God recently had caused the Sigu Society to suffer heavy losses. Not only was the Hall Master of Yaoshan Hall killed by the Supervisory Bureau, the young boys and girls rescued, and the Flesh Ganoderma plan forced to a halt, but the Main God had also snatched away an important medicinal primer along with a precious Evil God Avatar Core.

Thus, the middle-aged man in the skullcap no longer wanted to hide. They couldn’t strike at the Supervisory Bureau for now, and they couldn’t drive away the Main God until the divine consciousness fully awakened… but could their Sigu Society not even kill a few ordinary people?

Originally, he only wanted to capture them to vent his anger, as all four of them were connected to the Karma Lines of the dead cult members.

But he hadn’t expected that after searching the souls of these two men, he would discover that the reason they were linked to the dead cultists was that the four of them had entered a Main God Instance and come out unscathed… The Main God was not so merciful as to let four prospective players go.

It seemed there was some other force hiding in the shadows, using the Main God’s hand to target them.

Just as this thought occurred to him, the sudden sound of a door opening interrupted his train of thought.

A handsome, dashing bald man walked through the door with hurried steps.

He looked to be only about twenty years old, but his eyes were exceptionally weary and weathered, like those of a centenarian—completely at odds with his young, handsome appearance.

As he passed the two mangled corpses, the handsome bald man paused, his brow suddenly furrowing.

The Soul-Extraction Sorcery involved cutting and reorganizing a soul into something akin to a film reel, looping the memory fragments one wished to view. Until the soul had completely dissipated, anyone who understood this dark art could see the memory segments being played back.

As a high-ranking member of the Sigu Society, the handsome bald man could naturally see them with ease.

His expression darkened further as he listened to the familiar operatic singing echoing from the memory fragments.

The handsome bald man cupped his hands toward the middle-aged man in the chair. “High Priest, I know why the Tourist Town Main God Instance mutated… Do you remember that opera singer I had you deal with back during the Republican era?”

The middle-aged man in the skullcap paused mid-sip of his tea and raised an eyebrow. “That singer with the pure Yin horoscope?”

The handsome bald man nodded. “Yes. Back when the Hall Master of the Discipline Hall was developing believers at the Liwan Apartments, he died unexpectedly. Before we could recover the cursed tools in his possession, the apartments underwent a mutation… That singer’s human skin was among those tools.”

“When I was returning from the Ghost Market just now, I saw a shop selling cursed tools that once belonged to the Sigu Society. These are the same cursed tools the Discipline Hall Master left behind in the Liwan Apartments.”

“So you suspect…”

“Exactly! I suspect the mutation in the Tourist Town Main God Instance is because of that singer! That singer has broken free from the seal and escaped the apartments! You know the history between me and that singer; he’s targeting the Sigu Society because of me.”

Having said that, he pointed a finger at the two wisps of soul that had yet to dissipate. “This is the proof! I know the operatic voice in their memories all too well. It’s that singer—he’s come back for me!”

A look of realization dawned on the middle-aged man in the skullcap.

So it wasn’t some hidden faction using the Main God to target the Sigu Society, but rather a powerful ghost the Sigu Society had previously sealed who had escaped to seek revenge, creating this misunderstanding by sheer coincidence.

However, the Main God was no saint either. Even if it hadn’t caused the incident in the Tourist Town, it was still implicated in the matters of the Flesh Ganoderma and the Abandoned Hospital… It had actually taken advantage of the Sigu Society’s preoccupation with the Flesh Ganoderma to descend into the instance and snatch away a precious avatar core.

Damn that Main God. It must have been planning this for a long time; it wanted to crush the Sigu Society and claim this world for itself.

At the thought of the Main God scheming in the shadows, the middle-aged man’s face also turned grim.

Seeing the handsome bald man’s anxious state, he let out a cold sneer. “Look at you, acting so pathetic. Scared witless by a mere ghost…”

“If we could seal him once, we can seal him a second time.” The middle-aged man stood up from his chair. “Take some men and make a trip to the Ghost Market tonight. Since that singer chose to sell items from the apartments there, he will surely return.”

“I’ll grant you an allowance of four thousand Ghost Coins to rent a shop. If you encounter that singer tonight, seal him immediately. If not, set a trap for him in the Ghost Market.”

Translator’s Notes