Chapter 62

After Zhou Fangdong finished collecting the rewards for unlocking the new entries in the Tenant Illustrated Guide, he originally intended to lie down and rest for a while. However, not long after he hit the bed, the renovation purification device in the corridor suddenly triggered an alarm—

Another corpse had appeared on the first floor.

By the time he reached the location where the body had appeared, Quan Wuming had already swallowed half of it. It looked like he intended to store it inside his body first before dumping it at the garbage station.

“Did you see which ghost brought the body over?”

Hearing Zhou Fangdong’s inquiry, Quan Wuming shook his head blankly. “I’ve never encountered that ghost. When I rushed over, there was only a living corpse wandering around the first floor.”

Dumping a body and running… How strange. What was wrong with that ghost from the apartment rear building? Why did it insist on throwing bodies into the front building?

Zhou Fangdong asked again, “Since you’ve never actually met that ghost, how can you be sure a ghost is controlling the corpse to come to the front building, rather than the corpse moving on its own?”

“I can sense a special Yin energy on this body. This corpse is definitely being manipulated by a ghost; it didn’t wake up by itself.”

Seeing this, Zhou Fangdong stopped questioning him and instructed, “In the future, if you see any more corpses running over from the rear building, don’t put them in the garbage station anymore. Tie their hands and feet and lock them in the Mahjong Room of the apartment activity center.”

Zhou Fangdong planned to hoard a few more corpses and then move them all to the basement at once to turn them into Lamp Oil Workers.

Hearing this strange request, Quan Wuming didn’t question it at all. He obediently complied, and after swallowing the corpse completely, he headed toward the activity center.

Watching Quan Wuming walk away, Zhou Fangdong stepped directly into the narrow elevator door.

He decided not to return to his room before dark. He would stand guard in front of this tunnel between the front and rear buildings of the apartment to see when that ghost would throw another body over.

…Speaking of which, the only passage from the rear building to the front building should be this narrow tunnel next to the elevator, right?

That should be correct. After all, when he first encountered the Zombie Taoist Master, the man had been guarding the end of this narrow tunnel.

During his life, that Taoist Master had wandered between the front and rear buildings killing ghosts. After death, what he guarded should naturally be the only passage between the two.

Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong felt at ease and walked to the end of the tunnel to wait for his prey.

The set of [Landlord’s Clothes] he was wearing had a talent effect called [Hidden in Darkness]. When he remained motionless for more than three minutes, he would blend into the shadows, making it impossible for both humans and ghosts to detect him.

About half an hour passed. Just as Zhou Fangdong was boredly counting the bricks on the abandoned fountain in the garden, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure moving on the opposite side out of the corner of his eye.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t move, staring expressionlessly toward where the figure had appeared.

From his position, although the view was obscured by various flower beds and the fountain, he could still vaguely see the main entrance of the rear building.

A corpse—just like the previous ones, with a withered face and drenched in fresh blood as if it had just died—appeared at the entrance of the rear building.

However, this corpse wasn’t the focus. The focus was the shadow riding on its neck—a hunched black shadow in the image of a gaunt old man was perched on the corpse’s shoulders.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t hesitate for a second and directly used [Death Realm Invasion] on the black shadow and the corpse.

A dark red crack appeared out of thin air in the apartment garden, like a crimson demon’s eye suddenly opening in the void.

Even though it was noon, the sky darkened instantly.

The open space between the front and rear buildings was shrouded in an ominous aura. Restless, rolling black mist, like ink dropped into clear water, surged out of the crack and spread rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The black mist transformed into countless hands, frantically grabbing everything in their path: the abandoned flower beds, the fountain, the tiles and rubble on the ground, the soil, the corpse that had just stepped out of the rear building, and the black shadow on its head.

From the exit of the front building’s tunnel to the entrance of the rear building, a trench appeared in the garden space between the two buildings… a trench that looked as if it had been dug by countless human hands.

Zhou Fangdong hadn’t expected the skill to have such an effect.

…It felt like he had fired a laser cannon; it was almost like he had accidentally wandered onto the set of a Gundam movie.

No wonder the system wouldn’t let him use it inside the apartment. The side effect of using this skill wasn’t just causing a disturbance in Yin energy, was it?

Unsure, Zhou Fangdong clicked on the skill description for [Death Realm Invasion] and looked again.

That’s right, it indeed said it opens a rift to banish ghosts to the Death Realm.

Is this called banishment? They were practically blasted into dust…

Fortunately, the newly repaired garbage station was at the far iron railing of the garden and hadn’t been caught in the skill’s wake.

Whatever, as long as the ghost was dealt with. If there was an extra trench in the garden, so be it. This place was already so dilapidated; a bit more damage wouldn’t hurt.

Although the rift from the Death Realm Invasion had vanished, the sky over this part of the garden remained dark and gloomy.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t linger. He followed the tunnel back to the first floor.

Just as he stepped out of the tunnel, he received a call from Miao Zheng.

He learned from Miao Zheng that the girl who had given him the talisman tainted with the Evil God’s aura might have been targeted by the Sigu Society.

Upon hearing Miao Zheng mention the strange dream the girl had, Zhou Fangdong realized that she was actually one of the four reserve players who had been pulled into Yin-Yang Town by the Main God back then.

And it seemed the Sigu Society had already captured two of the boys.

Hearing this, Zhou Fangdong’s expression turned serious.

It was currently uncertain whether the Sigu Society could trace the apartment through these four people.

The apartment was currently in its development stage and had many ordinary human tenants. If those cultists chose to disregard everything and fight him to the death, Zhou Fangdong really couldn’t compete with those lunatics… Having worked so hard to develop the apartment to this point, he had far too much to lose.

…The Sigu Society had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Over the phone, Zhou Fangdong told Miao Zheng to inform Hong Zhong and ask the Supervisory Bureau to put the remaining two girls under protection.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Fangdong began to browse through the Evil God Disguise Interface.

He planned to perform an Oracle Impersonation. While protecting the remaining two girls, he had to divert the Sigu Society’s attention onto someone else.

Who would be the best scapegoat…

The Main God, then.

He wasn’t sure if the Sigu Society knew of the Main God’s existence, so he had to find a way to hint at it in the oracle.

Even if modifying an oracle cost a thousand Ghost Coins, it was money that had to be spent. The situation was critical; now was not the time to be stingy with Ghost Coins.

Zhou Fangdong opened the Evil God Disguise Interface and looked through the blue light spots representing rituals that had not yet been responded to by the Evil God.

Unfortunately, none of these rituals were related to the Evil God Avatar Core. He could only randomly select one from the light spots located closer to the city.

According to Zhou Fangdong’s reasoning, the light spots hidden within the city should be more core strongholds.

Because the city center was always under strict patrol and monitoring by the Supervisory Bureau, setting up a stronghold there was not only inconvenient for movement, but the cost of hiding it would certainly be much higher than in the suburbs.

Yet, despite this, they maintained these strongholds in the urban area, meaning these locations must serve some vital purpose.

After modifying the oracle, he might as well inform the Supervisory Bureau about the locations of these light spots. It would correspond with the locations he provided last time and should lead to the capture of more cultists… Even if they weren’t caught, disrupting their arrangements and rituals would be beneficial.

As for the rituals that had already been responded to by the Evil God—the red dots on the map—although Zhou Fangdong couldn’t respond to them, he could still view the contents of the rituals.

Clicking on those red dots generated a short pixel animation, allowing him to view the oracles left by the Evil God or the process of the cultists’ blessing prayers.

After watching a few animations, Zhou Fangdong chose a Blessing Ritual light spot that was the least likely to go wrong.

In these Blessing Rituals, most of the time no oracle was left; sometimes, the Evil God would even take the offerings without granting a blessing. The cultists were used to this, simply assuming the ritual failed because their offerings were insufficient.

An oracle shouldn’t say too much—the more said, the more likely a mistake. He would just leave two words: “Main God.”

The offerings for this Blessing Ritual were several corpses, so Zhou Fangdong only modified the oracle and didn’t touch the items.

After finishing all this, Zhou Fangdong stayed in the apartment’s entrance hall until dark. During this time, no more corpses appeared.

The corpse and the dark shadow he had just shattered with [Death Realm Invasion] might truly have been the culprits responsible for moving the bodies to the front building.

Feeling relieved, Zhou Fangdong returned to his room. Once night had completely fallen, he gripped the giant blade and used the Possession Feature with Mu Yuechan’s body to teleport to the Ghost Market.

The Ghost Market remained in its same eerie state, where day and night were indistinguishable.

Zhou Fangdong walked toward the butcher shop with practiced ease. Before he even reached the door, the exceptionally burly Butcher Shop Owner actually came out to greet him.

His heavy footsteps landed on the ground, making the earth seem to vibrate with every stride.

“I really didn’t expect you to actually bring back the Flesh Ganoderma seeds for me.” The Butcher Shop Owner’s deep voice rose significantly in pitch.

Zhou Fangdong said, “Let’s go inside to talk. I have some Flesh Ganoderma fragments to give you as well.”

The Butcher Shop Owner hurriedly ushered him inside.

When Zhou Fangdong took the Flesh Ganoderma fragments collected from the second floor out of his Inventory, the Butcher Shop Owner’s breathing became ragged.

After a long silence, the Butcher Shop Owner said in a muffled voice, “Little brother, you might look all flashy and fancy, but you’re a truly honest man who gets things done right. I won’t cheat you; for these fragments plus the seeds, I’ll give you a thousand Ghost Coins.”

With that, he took out a small cloth bag and handed it to Zhou Fangdong.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t refuse and accepted it gracefully. As soon as the bag touched his hand, a wave of Yin Energy escaped from it and melted into his body.

[Congratulations, Host has obtained 1,000 Ghost Coins.]

After leaving the butcher shop, Zhou Fangdong originally intended to check out the silversmith shop next door, but he didn’t expect to run into a group of people just as he stepped out.

Before Zhou Fangdong could clearly see their faces, an uncontrollable surge of rage suddenly erupted from his heart.

The surging fury seemed to turn physical, like red-hot needles constantly darting through his limbs and bones… Zhou Fangdong felt his body trembling uncontrollably.

The sky-shattering hatred and killing intent made him feel dizzy. Under the influence of this extreme emotion, Zhou Fangdong almost couldn’t stop himself from wanting to thrust his hand into the chest of the person opposite him, tear open his flesh, rip out his heart, and use his gushing hot blood to extinguish the boundless fire that was nearly scorching his soul.

“Yuechan, long time no see,” the handsome, bald man leading the group spoke.

Though his voice was gentle, his tone was filled with the utmost mockery.

“I really didn’t expect that after all these years, you would become so hideous. It’s truly hard to look at.”

Zhou Fangdong had already guessed who this person was from the emotions generated by Mu Yuechan’s body.

Combined with their signature bald appearance…

They were people from the Sigu Society.

The leader was the very cult leader who had once flayed Mu Yuechan’s skin.

They must all be high-level or core members, because they all wore Human Skin Hats embroidered with runes.

There seemed to be some kind of restriction within the Ghost Market; even a ghost as powerful as Mu Yuechan could not fully release his resentment.

But the body, driven by hatred, didn’t want to use resentment to simply erase these cultists. It only wanted to use the most primitive and basic means to tear the man before him to shreds.

As the cultists pulled out purple talismans, intending to set up some kind of formation, Zhou Fangdong directly raised the giant blade in his hand.

Because this great sword could not be stored in the Inventory, Zhou Fangdong had been carrying it while using Mu Yuechan’s body to enter the Ghost Market.

In his desire to kill the cultists, he subconsciously used the sword.

To his surprise, the sword that required Ghost Coin top-ups when used by Zhou Fangdong himself actually moved instantly in Mu Yuechan’s hands. Not only did it cost no money, it required no effort at all.

The blade was instantly stained red. The massive blade, trailing its heavy chain, moved like a flowing water sleeve. With a single wave of his hand, it decapitated three cultists.

Under Zhou Fangdong’s deliberate control, the blade avoided the bald man leading the group.

He wanted to bring this man back to the apartment and leave him for Mu Yuechan to deal with personally.

The battle on the street had ignited in an instant, and the shops on both sides were all watching the drama unfold.

Faced with such a blatant violation of the Ghost Market’s rules, not a single shop owner stepped out to stop it.

In front of the coffin shop, a pitch-black figure with an indistinguishable face appeared. In a voice as weathered and raspy as a saw cutting wood, it asked, “Not going to do anything?”

The tall, elderly woman from the Shrouded Shop next door also walked to her entrance, replying nonchalantly, “This old woman is getting on in years, my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. I didn’t see a thing… It’s just a pity about those human skins. That little brat’s hands are too heavy; he used such strong Yin Energy to drive that blade. Once the head is severed, the clothes made from them won’t be sturdy. I won’t accept skins like that.”

The owners of the shops across the street also emerged, whispering at their doorways.

“The Sigu Society must be insane. Back during the apartment’s chaotic period, this group was always causing trouble there. Now that the apartment has recovered and the seals are lifted, they actually dare to provoke it. They’re truly tired of living.”

“They can’t even beat a single ghost from the apartment, yet they want to pick a fight with the building itself.”

“Should we ban members of the Sigu Society from entering the Ghost Market?”

“A direct ban would be too obvious. Even though we favor the apartment, we can’t be too blatant about it. If the rules of the Ghost Market are broken, no customers will dare to come in the future.”

“Let’s just pretend we didn’t see anything. It’s dark; it’s time for this old man to sleep.”

“Has it ever been light in the Ghost Market…?”

The handsome bald man never expected that Mu Yuechan would become even more brutal than before.

These core members, wearing Human Skin Hats that could grant immunity to ghost attacks, were like unweaned infants before Mu Yuechan. Before they even had a chance to use the cursed items in their hands, they had all been decapitated in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the headless corpses surrounding him, the bald man collapsed onto the ground.

Although the blade hadn’t sliced his neck, the flying chain had been battering his face before finally coiling around his throat.

The hook at the end pierced into his collarbone. Zhou Fangdong held the front end of the chain in his hand, pointing the massive blade directly at the man’s heart.

The bald man had lost all of his initial arrogance. He knelt in the pool of blood, tears streaming down his bruised and swollen “handsome” face, mixing with the blood from his nose.

He looked like a slug crawling out of a mud pit, his face covered in snot and tears as he pleaded submissively:

“Yuechan… for the sake of what we once had, let me go. I truly loved you…”

It was as if his spine had been removed; he pleaded incessantly, his entire body limp like a pile of mud draped in human skin.

“Right, I have… I have four thousand Ghost Coins here… as long as you’re willing to let me go… I know this isn’t enough to make up for your suffering over the years, but I can… I can be with you again. After going through all this, let’s live a good life together from now on, okay?”

Without a word, Zhou Fangdong expressionlessly took the cloth bag from him.

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining 4,000 Ghost Coins.]

After taking the Ghost Coins, Zhou Fangdong still had no intention of letting him go. Instead, the chains wrapped around the man tightened.

Zhou Fangdong called out to the system in his mind: “System, can I transport a living being back to the apartment?”

At this point, he no longer had any desire to browse the Ghost Market further. He only wanted to return to the apartment as quickly as possible.

[Yes. Before teleporting, the host must first wrap every part of the living being’s body with the Yin Energy of a Ghost Tenant. Otherwise, there is a risk of parts being lost during transmission.]

Zhou Fangdong nodded.

The bloody resentment emanating from the white-clad actor slowly coiled around the bald man. The expression on the man’s face grew increasingly desperate until finally, both of them vanished from the Ghost Market together.

The Ghost Market fell silent for a moment. Eventually, the Shrouded Shop Owner was the first to step out of her shop to help clear away the decapitated corpses on the stone road.

Several small paper effigies holding mops and rags flew out from the Paper Effigy Shop, following the Shrouded Shop Owner to clean the bloodstains from the ground.

The Ghost Market soon returned to its usual tidy state.

After delivering the bald man to Room 103, Zhou Fangdong teleported directly back to his own room.

Not long after, a system pop-up appeared before his eyes:

[Ghost Tenant, Republican Era Dan · Mu Yuechan, Favorability has reached 100.]

[Please claim your Favorability reward in a timely manner.]

Zhou Fangdong was in no mood to claim it yet.

With a deep frown, he opened the public area beautification interface and looked at the floor plan of the first-floor corridor.

In the pixelated floor plan of the beautifully decorated apartment corridor at night, many corpses were lying scattered across the floor.

He had been in a hurry to return to the apartment for two reasons. One was to prevent any further complications and deliver the bald man to Mu Yuechan quickly. The other was because while he was unilaterally slaughtering those cultists, the apartment’s decoration Purification Device had been constantly flashing warnings at him.

…More corpses had invaded the front building from the rear building.

However, because the “Slaughter Version” Daoist Priest was wandering the apartment corridors at night, the corpses were hacked into pieces almost as soon as they appeared.

But unlike during the day, the frequency of these corpses appearing at night was like a zombie siege. If the Daoist Priest hadn’t been there, Zhou Fangdong suspected these things would have occupied the entire first-floor corridor.

Hadn’t he already used [Death Realm Invasion] to clear out the ghost controlling the corpses?

Why were there still ghosts moving corpses from the rear building to the front building at night?