Chapter 64

When the hoe collided with that curly head, it actually produced the sound of clashing metal.

It wasn’t a figure of speech; it felt as if he had truly struck metal, the vibration leaving Zhou Fangdong’s wrists numb.

Zhou Fangdong was stunned, and the person he had hit was equally dazed.

The metallic ring continued to echo through the corridor. After a moment of silence, the fellow who had taken a hoe to the head suddenly twisted his neck a full one hundred and eighty degrees.

Ignoring the eerie rotation of his head, if one judged solely by his appearance, this corpse-moving ghost looked like a young man in his twenties. He had the typical image of a nerd who excelled at studying but lacked basic life skills, with eyes as clear as a newborn infant’s—the look of someone who had never experienced the harsh beatings of society.

He stared at Zhou Fangdong in confusion for a moment before asking doubtfully, “Hello. Excuse me, but why did you hit me?”

Being asked this, Zhou Fangdong felt an inexplicable surge of guilt. Like a child caught doing something wrong, he tried to hide the hand holding the hoe behind his back.

…This ghost, who spent his free time moving corpses to the front building, was different from what he had imagined. He was actually quite polite.

Seeing that Zhou Fangdong hadn’t responded, the curly-haired ghost continued, “If there’s nothing else, could you please release me? I still need to control the corpses. This talisman of yours has made it so my body can’t move.”

Hearing this, Zhou Fangdong snapped out of it.

…What was he feeling guilty for? This corpse-moving ghost was the one in the wrong.

Zhou Fangdong cleared his throat and said with a stern face, “What are you doing with these corpses? Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me by making these bodies run to the front building?”

Something even more unexpected occurred.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

…This curly-haired guy was actually apologizing to him??

“I was just in a hurry,” the curly-haired ghost explained. “I’m left-handed. Yesterday, while I was dismantling and cleaning my left hand, a Ghost Thief from the front building ran over and stole it. Without that hand, I can’t perform any of my subsequent research… You know, for a researcher, time is life. Although I’m already dead and have plenty of time, I still want to find it as soon as possible.”

“After all, compared to other ghosts, I’m really weak. I don’t have much resentment or any deep obsessions. The only reason I could return to life and possess this current body is because I found a loophole. That’s why I don’t dare go to the front building myself. I can only control these corpses to go there and help me look for my left hand, because I’m afraid that if too much time passes, my hand will be eaten by the ghosts in the front building.”

Zhou Fangdong suddenly fell silent.

That left hand the curly-haired guy was talking about… it couldn’t be the one sitting on his bookshelf as an ornament, could it?

Was this the unlucky ghost who had his hand stolen by Hou San yesterday?

What a mess…

Zhou Fangdong let out a weary sigh. “Stop messing with these corpses, and don’t control them to go to the front building anymore. I’ll get your left hand back for you.”

The curly-haired ghost said gratefully, “Thank you. I’m truly sorry for the trouble.”

Zhou Fangdong teleported directly back to his room and picked up the left hand from the bookshelf.

When he returned to the Apartment Rear Building, the curly-haired ghost was still sitting in the corridor due to the binding effect of the Evil-Suppressing Talisman, but his head had already rotated back to face the front of his body.

To prevent the head from falling off while spinning around, Zhou Fangdong walked around and stood in front of him.

Once he saw the ghost from the front, Zhou Fangdong suddenly felt that something was off.

This clothing…

From the back, it had only looked somewhat familiar, but from the front, Zhou Fangdong recognized it instantly—wasn’t this the uniform of a Supervisory Bureau investigator?

The clothes on this curly-haired guy were very similar to the uniforms of the four investigators who had recently moved into Room 201 and the one worn by Hong Zhong. Although the details differed, the color and style were nearly identical.

Zhou Fangdong peeled the Evil-Suppressing Talisman off the ghost and handed him the left hand.

Watching the curly-haired ghost skillfully reattach the severed hand now that he was free, Zhou Fangdong asked curiously, “Were you an investigator for the Supervisory Bureau when you were alive?”

The ghost’s movements paused. He looked up, his expression tinged with nostalgia. “Supervisory Bureau… investigator… how nostalgic. I haven’t heard those two terms in a long time.”

At this point, he gave a bitter smile. “My name is Ke Yan. I wasn’t exactly a proper investigator, just an ordinary researcher within the Supervisory Bureau. If I’m not mistaken, the arrest warrant with my name on it should still be active in the Supervisory Bureau’s system.”

He seemed to have gone a long time without speaking to anyone, and his desire to talk was particularly strong. Once he started, he couldn’t stop:

“It’s because I committed a very serious mistake. As a researcher tasked with analyzing and neutralizing supernatural items, I became overly obsessed with supernatural power. I stole from my own workplace, taking a sealed supernatural object from the Supervisory Bureau.”

“That supernatural item was a cursed object an investigator had confiscated from the Sigu Society—a set of Human-Skin Shadow Puppets.”

As Ke Yan spoke, he adjusted the thin, dark shadows at his feet that looked like hunched-over little old men.

“This supernatural item can control humans or ghosts, and it can even control oneself… It can completely reshape your body. It can turn a frail nerd into a physically powerful investigator, and it can change your appearance. The only price is the consumption of one’s own lifespan.”

Hearing this, Zhou Fangdong suddenly thought of something. He pulled several crumpled slips of paper from his Inventory and held them out to Ke Yan.

“Were these notes left in the apartment by you?”

These were the notes Zhou Fangdong had found in the Mahjong Room and under the basement door—the ones containing information about the Flesh Ganoderma, the Medicine Pot, and mentions of resurrection. That intelligence had been a huge help to him.

“Yes. At the time, I heard from those investigators that the Sigu Society was researching something regarding resurrection. So, I stole the Human-Skin Shadow Puppets, used them to change my physical appearance, and went undercover in the Liwan Apartments to begin investigating the Sigu Society.”

“—Because I am also very interested in the idea of erasing the boundary between life and death and bringing humans back to life.”

“Back then, although there were some supernatural incidents, the Supervisory Bureau was able to handle them in time. Furthermore, since the Liwan Apartments hadn’t undergone its mutation yet, the supernatural events hadn’t fully erupted. Most ordinary people didn’t even know ghosts existed in this world. But as a researcher of supernatural items, I had already guessed how dark the future of this world would be.”

“Ghosts running rampant and humans coexisting with spirits is an inevitable trend. The world will soon fall into chaos… just like the things that have already happened here in the Liwan Apartments.”

“I once accompanied investigators to handle cases in this building. The Liwan Apartments is like a massive vortex; it can stir up all the negative emotions of the people living here, making the tenants increasingly paranoid and irritable until they lose the ability to think rationally. After they die, they turn into ghosts trapped in this building, and the apartment continues to attract all sorts of other spirits…”

“This apartment is like a miniature of a dark future world. The living harm one another, ghosts prey on the living, and ghosts devour each other. The fighting is endless, the killing is endless, and humanity will eventually vanish entirely.”

“At the time, I felt that the only way to eliminate the chaos was to eliminate the boundary between life and death.”

Having said this, Ke Yan touched his reattached left hand.

“What is a human? And what is a ghost? Is the only difference between a human and a ghost a physical body? If a human can be resurrected after death, is that resurrected person a human or a ghost? If a ghost can possess a body, is it a ghost or a human?”

“If everyone could be resurrected after death, or if everyone could possess a human body after becoming a ghost, then in the future world, wouldn’t everyone be able to coexist in peace?”

“So, after returning to the Supervisory Bureau, I made a decision. I would take the Human-Skin Shadow Puppet and personally approach the Sigu Society to investigate their resurrection ritual.”

“I investigated their so-called Blessed Medicine Pot that could bring back the dead, researched the Flesh Ganoderma that was rumored to be able to revive the dead and regrow flesh on bone, visited the basements where they resurrected corpses, and even made a trip to the Ghost Market to see those paper effigies that could move on their own.”

“After making sufficient preparations and conducting my research, I wanted to put it into practice.”

“But I couldn’t be like those cultists, experimenting on living people without any psychological burden. So I thought about it and decided that if that was the case, I might as well just experiment on myself.”

“I dismantled and reassembled the Human-Skin Shadow Puppet, using it as the skin for my future resurrected body. I stole some mutated Flesh Ganoderma from the second floor to serve as part of the flesh and blood for my future body, and I secretly learned some of the core runes of the Sigu Society’s resurrection ritual. Finally, using metal parts as a foundation, I manufactured a body that could bring someone back from the dead.”

“I had great confidence in my research. This plan had about a seventy percent chance of success, allowing me to break through the boundary of life and death and complete my resurrection. Moreover, I was already certain by then that people who died in this apartment would become ghosts within it. Therefore, even if I failed to resurrect, I could continue researching other paths to resurrection after becoming a ghost.”

“And so, I committed suicide.”

At this point, he suddenly let out a long sigh.

“Although I successfully resurrected in this body, it seems I was wrong. The resurrected ‘me’ has no combat power. It’s as if I simply transferred from a human body to a body composed of supernatural items, becoming a living robot… If a resurrected human doesn’t have the ability to contend with ghosts, then this resurrection is still a failure. Furthermore, while my resurrection method has a high success rate, the materials consumed are very hard to find and cannot be mass-produced.”

“Thinking about it now, the reason I was able to return to life through this body is very likely because I used the Human-Skin Shadow Puppet while I was alive. That supernatural item bound my soul to this body.”

“This situation is too difficult to replicate. I can’t find a second cursed item like the shadow puppet.”

“So, after my resurrection, I moved into the Apartment Rear Building and used the corpses here for research… mainly focusing on modifying the corpses first, then capturing weak ghosts to place upon them to see if I can make these corpses come back to life and become a new kind of human that has broken through the limits of death.”

“Of course, this research isn’t very successful yet. I can only place the ghosts on the corpses’ necks; I can’t stuff them inside the bodies.”

After hearing Ke Yan finish his story, Zhou Fangdong asked somewhat hesitantly, “So now… you’re using this hallway in the rear building as your research base?”

This was far too crude. The hallway was so narrow, and there was a constant risk of being disturbed by passing ghosts. How did he complete his research?

“Ah, no, not at all.” As he spoke, Ke Yan beckoned to the dark shadows at his feet. Those gaunt shadows rapidly shrank, turning into small paper figures cut from black paper that merged into his hand.

Then, he moved the corpse in front of him aside, felt around on the floor for a moment, and suddenly flipped open a hatch.

“My research base is here. The ghosts in the Apartment Rear Building are too fierce, and they’ve taken over all the rooms. I searched for a long time before I found this hidden space. Although ghosts occasionally come in to harass me, I’m quite satisfied.”

Zhou Fangdong looked inside the open door and found that Ke Yan had transformed this hidden room into a space resembling a morgue, except the iron beds were all empty, without a single corpse.

Noticing Zhou Fangdong’s gaze, Ke Yan said somewhat sheepishly, “I used up all the corpses last night, so I came up today to look for more.”

“You’re so strong. I can’t believe you managed to clear out all the corpses I created in such a short time last night…” At this point, Ke Yan seemed to just remember something and asked with some confusion, “By the way, who are you? Are you a human or a ghost? This is the first time I’ve seen a rational being like you in the apartment.”

Zhou Fangdong felt somewhat helpless.

He was only asking who he was now… This person seemed to be very sharp regarding things he was interested in, but incredibly dull in every other aspect.

“I am the landlord of Liwan Apartments. Both buildings of the complex now belong to me.”

Hearing this, Ke Yan scratched his messy curls. His first reaction was actually: “Then if I live here, do I need to pay you rent?”

As soon as he spoke, a system notification popped up:

[Ghost Tenant: The Resurrected Researcher wishes to become a tenant of Liwan Apartments. Do you wish to sign a rental contract with him?]

Zhou Fangdong noticed the system’s designation for him.

He was actually a Ghost Tenant, in the same state as Mu Yuechan and the Zombie Taoist Master—a ghostly entity possessing a physical body. In a sense, it seemed he had already succeeded.

Zhou Fangdong didn’t agree immediately. Instead, he asked the system in his mind, “I don’t have any vacant rooms right now. Can I still sign a rental contract with him?”

[Yes. It has been detected that this tenant has cleaned out a hidden room on his own. You may sign the rental contract directly.]

[Rooms in both the Apartment Front Building and Apartment Rear Building are available for rent.]

“Fine, sign it.”

[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining a third Ghost Tenant.]

[Strange Tenant: The Resurrected Researcher has successfully moved into the hidden room on the first floor of the Apartment Rear Building.]

[Tenant Illustrated Guide [Strange Tenant: The Resurrected Researcher] has been unlocked. Host, please claim your guide rewards promptly.]

[Special Ghost Tenant Residency Reward: 1,000 Ghost Coins (Monthly).]

It seemed that compared to the other two Ghost Tenants, Ke Yan’s strength was indeed much weaker; even the monthly rent provided was cut in half.

“Huh?” Ke Yan suddenly let out a cry of surprise. “Something feels a bit different…” He looked at his hands. “Is it my imagination? Why do I feel like my power has increased a bit?”

As he spoke, he tried waving his hand toward a corpse lying nearby. Several black lines extended from his fingertips, and the corpse actually began to move on its own.

“I really did get stronger…” He seemed to realize something. His head spun 180 degrees again, his gaze burning as he looked at Zhou Fangdong.

“I can sense that I’ve formed some kind of connection with the apartment. Mr. Landlord, was that something you just did?”

“Yes. You are now a tenant of this apartment,” Zhou Fangdong confirmed his suspicion.

“Wonderful! Now my research can progress even further!” Ke Yan looked exceptionally excited. “Mr. Landlord, please excuse me. I’m going to the other corridor to catch some higher-level ghosts and see if they can successfully fuse with the corpses.”

Without waiting for Zhou Fangdong’s response, and without even turning his head back, he ran straight toward the other stairwell.

He’s certainly driven…

After watching Ke Yan leave, Zhou Fangdong also departed from the Rear Building.

When he returned to the Apartment Front Building, Zhou Fangdong found that the scattered body parts near the elevator had already been cleaned up.

He first opened the system panel to check on the status of his tenants.

Hong Zhong and the four investigators from Room 201 had already left the apartment for work. The other residents were quietly staying in their rooms—some were washing up, some were cooking, some were meditating, and some were currently killing…

Room 103 looked a bit bloody even in pixel art style. The bald man thrown to Mu Yuechan last night was surprisingly still clinging to life after a whole night. It seemed Mu Yuechan didn’t intend to let him die too easily.

After confirming all his tenants were safe, Zhou Fangdong walked up to the second floor and prepared to clean the next room.

The next unit slated for rental was Room 204.

Pushing open the door to Room 204, a scent of pine mixed with the pungent smell of gasoline wafted out.

The moment the door swung fully open, Zhou Fangdong froze in his tracks.

Directly facing the door was a window.

A normal window that wasn’t boarded up with planks, through which one could see the outside world and feel the natural light.

That sense of redemption from opening a door to face the morning sun made Zhou Fangdong, who had been in a dim environment for so long, feel as if he had traveled to another world.

To find a window that wasn’t boarded up was an incredibly rare occurrence in Liwan Apartments.

Zhou Fangdong closed the door to Room 204 and opened it again.

The window was still there, as was the sunlight spilling in from outside.

The future tenant of Room 204 would be lucky; this room had the best lighting in the entire Liwan Apartments.

As Zhou Fangdong stepped into the room, new side quest information popped up on the system panel:

[Side Quest 10: Clean and Rent Out Room 204]

1. Clear the room and perform cleaning.

2. Discard damaged furniture and purchase new furniture.

3. Find the ghost hidden in the room and figure out the ghost’s Killing Pattern.

4. Draft a rental contract and find a tenant to move in.

[Side Quest Rewards: 500 Ghost Coins, 2,000 Experience Points, Random Skill Point x1]

Dismissing the task window, Zhou Fangdong began to search the room.

The layout of Room 204 was very open. The previous owner had knocked down the wall of the second bedroom, connecting it to the living room and leaving only the master bedroom.

The last tenant to live in this room must have been a painter. The walls of Room 204 were covered in various oil paintings, mostly landscapes.

There was very little furniture in the room; aside from painting supplies, there was basically nothing else. In the center of the well-lit living room stood only an easel and a chair. On the easel sat an unfinished oil painting.

The oil paints on the palette had completely dried out. The floor was littered with empty paint tubes, frayed brushes, and various sizes of palette knives.

Though it looked a bit cluttered, under the bright light of the large window, the mess actually felt somewhat cozy. It looked like an ordinary artist’s room, showing no abnormalities whatsoever—it didn’t look like a haunted house at all.

Following the tropes of horror movies and games, Zhou Fangdong initially thought the ghost in this room would be hidden in the paintings on the walls or within the unfinished landscape on the easel.

But after scanning everything with his Ghost Pupils, he found that there was nothing wrong with any of the paintings.

To be precise, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the entire room.

He couldn’t see any abnormal supernatural fluctuations, and there was hardly even any Yin Energy present.

The fact that such a normal room existed within the Liwan Apartments was, in itself, utterly abnormal.

Zhou Fangdong let out a soft sigh.

The ghosts in the second-floor rooms were each better at hiding than the last; it was time to play hide-and-seek again. He had no idea where the ghost in this particular room was concealing itself.