Chapter 123 Room 303: The perfect matching mechanism for tenants, here comes...

The free way to attract tenants is naturally through the inspection bureau.

The system has already said that the publicity power of the Supervision Bureau can be used to help promote the apartment online store, so he can naturally also use the power of the Supervision Bureau to help find suitable tenants.

I just don't know if any artists would be willing to live in Liwan Apartments.

Zhou Fangdong temporarily left room 303 and then sent a message to Hong Zhong, telling him about the ghost's request in the room.

Hong Zhong replied instantly: "[Landlord, we happen to be holding an artist here. Would you like to take him in?]"

Zhou Fangdong was a little surprised.

What a coincidence! There happens to be one in the Inspection Bureau. If all goes well, room 303 can be rented out today.

However, why would the supervisory bureau arrest an artist?

Before Zhou Fangdong could ask, Hong Zhong explained: "[That artist who makes sculptures has been raising and summoning ghosts without permission, which is a serious violation of public safety. He was originally being held in the special patient isolation ward on the fifth floor of Liwan Hospital, but because of his special condition, it requires a lot of manpower and resources to guard him. If the landlord is willing to take over, that would be great.]"

Zhou Fangdong replied directly to Hong Zhong, telling him to bring the man to the apartment.

Raising ghosts or attracting ghosts is not a big problem. The Liwan Apartment has no shortage of ghosts. They can raise as many as they want, as long as they don't bring them into the room. Moreover, no matter how many ghosts they attract, the apartment can afford to support them.

Before the new tenant arrived, Zhou Fangdong used a fully automatic cleaning tool on room 303, then ordered a batch of furniture from Guijia Furniture Store before returning to his own room to start writing the rules for renting room 303.

*

When Li Ou saw the investigator enter the ward and learned that he was there to let her out, she thought she was hallucinating.

He never expected that after being arrested by the supervisory bureau, he would actually be released one day.

Li Ou is a doll maker. The year he graduated from the sculpture department, he opened his own studio with the help of his family. His main work is designing ball-jointed dolls, also known as BJD dolls.

However, since the nationwide outbreak of paranormal events brought them into the public eye, no one has been willing to buy these dolls that are extremely similar to real people and almost scaled down.

Li Ou's studio was unable to make ends meet, and she eventually lost her job completely.

However, misfortune struck again. Not long after, his parents, who had always supported his work, and his newlywed wife all died in a supernatural incident.

When he was in unbearable pain and wanted to commit suicide, he suddenly lost control of his body—he discovered that the souls of his deceased parents and wife were inside him.

After realizing this, Li Ou stopped trying to kill himself. He sold all his properties, distanced himself from people, and moved with his belongings to a self-built house with a yard in the suburbs.

They continued to live together as before, but to ordinary people, Li Ou was just a schizophrenic madman.

With the protection of her family, Li Ou survived safely in a detached house in the suburbs, surrounded by ghosts and monsters.

Later, he discovered that the dolls he made could temporarily contain ghosts, but for some reason, the souls of his relatives could not leave his body and merge with the dolls.

So Li Ou began to study and make dolls day and night, wanting to create a doll that could contain the souls of his loved ones.

Li Ou didn't mind if the failed doll was taken by other ghosts, because those ghosts who temporarily possessed bodies would bring him some supplies needed for human life from other places, which was a win-win situation.

With fewer and fewer people living in the suburbs, daily necessities became a problem. But since these ghosts delivering supplies appeared, Li Ou no longer needed to worry about these things, and he could concentrate more on making dolls.

The dolls that could contain the souls of his loved ones were never made. Unknown ghosts came one after another, and all the failed dolls he had made were taken away by them.

After an unknown amount of time, the creatures that returned to his cabin were no longer ghosts searching for his body, but rather fully armed investigators from the Bureau of Surveillance.

...Then Li Ou was arrested and detained by the supervisory bureau for violating public order.

The ghost that had taken the dolls from the city had caused quite a commotion.

After possessing doll bodies, those ghosts found that their humanity overcame their ghostly nature, and they began to search for families and try to integrate into human life.

Although these dolls won't harm humans, they can still be terrifying to ordinary people.

In an era rife with paranormal events, a persistent ghost doll follows you, appearing out of nowhere at your bedside or doorway, lying beside your pillow at night and staring at you as you sleep. Even if you throw it away or burn it, it will reappear, relentlessly haunting you. Anyone would suffer a mental breakdown.

After receiving a series of reports from citizens about being harassed by dolls, the supervisory bureau began to search for the source of these dolls and eventually found Li, who made ghost dolls in the suburbs.

However, since the ghosts possessing the dolls did not harm anyone, the worst thing they did was steal living supplies without paying and take them to the suburbs to raise the dolls.

In addition, these dolls need regular maintenance by Li Ou, otherwise they will become unusable by ghosts after a while.

Therefore, without causing a serious accident, Li Ou was simply placed in an isolation ward at Liwan Hospital.

However, even after being locked in the isolation ward, ghosts continued to come to the hospital looking for Li Ou, trying to get him to help repair his body.

This seriously endangers the safety of other patients.

Helpless, the supervisory bureau had to strengthen the security of the entire hospital floor and use a sealing device with somewhat strong side effects in Li Ou's ward. They also assigned two investigators to take turns monitoring Li Ou to prevent the sealing device from going out of control.

Over the past two years of supervising Li Ou, the Bureau of Supervision has spent a lot of manpower and resources. There were not many investigators to begin with, and having two investigators idle all the time was a huge waste. Therefore, when they saw that the landlord wanted an artist who could make sculptures, the action minister standing next to Hong Zhong immediately decided to hire Li Ou. They couldn't wait to get rid of this hot potato.

Li Ou followed the two investigators who had been guarding him downstairs in a daze. He watched as they handed him over to an investigator with dark skin and cat ears. This strange investigator then led him to a bus stop and onto a strange bus.

Because of Li Ou's special ability to attract ghosts, he could easily cause riots in the city. Hong Zhong didn't dare to drive him to the apartment himself, so taking the ghost bus was the best option.

Although he is not currently an apartment tenant, Hong Zhong is. With the guidance of a long-time tenant, even an ordinary person can board the ghost bus even if they don't intend to go to Liwan Apartment.

After stepping onto the bus, Li Ou froze, her body trembling involuntarily.

In his eyes, the scene inside the bus was constantly changing.

A moment later, the carriage was brand new and empty. The driver, a kind-looking man, sat silently in the driver's seat, his hands on the steering wheel, waiting for the passengers to be seated.

One moment it's a dilapidated carriage covered in blood, with mannequins scattered on the floor like dismembered corpses; countless IV drips hang from the ceiling, their tubing dangling like ropes, writhing like venomous snakes poised to pounce; and many stiff 'passengers' with yellow talismans covering their faces sit in the back, their eyes, obscured by the talismans, seeming to be staring at him.

In this dilapidated carriage, the kind-looking driver had become a severely decomposed corpse, his flesh stuck to the seat, dark red blood mixed with an unknown liquid dripping onto the floor. The only thing that remained unchanged was his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.

Although Li Ou often encountered ghosts while living in the suburbs, those ghosts who wanted bodies were all very polite and maintained a basic human form. This was the first time he had encountered such a bloody scene.

Li Ou was terrified. If it weren't for the strange investigator keeping him restrained, he would have run away immediately.

Where are they taking him? Is this bus some kind of bus that leads to hell?

Li Ou sat heavily in the car seat, with the investigator sitting right next to him. There was no way for him to escape.

He watched the scenery rushing past the window in despair. As the car gradually slowed down and the legendary haunted building came into view, Li Ou felt utterly hopeless.

...This damn bus's final stop was Liwan Apartments. This is practically hell.

Is the supervisory bureau going to lock him up in the Liwan Apartments? He only made a doll body for a ghost; his crime doesn't warrant such a punishment.

"Get off the bus."

Amidst the strange cat-eared investigator's urgent cries, Li Ou dragged his heavy steps, feeling as if he were going to his death, as he stepped off the bus.

As Li Ou stepped off the bus, she was surprised to find that another identical bus had stopped in front of the apartment. This time, two girls got off the bus... one was extremely thin, as if malnourished; the other had short hair, a scholarly air, and looked like an ordinary female college student.

The two girls, who looked completely ordinary, glanced at them, said nothing, and walked into the haunted building in front of them.

Li Ou was stunned.

Perhaps because it was getting dark, while he was filled with doubt and uncertainty, a series of identical buses stopped in front of the apartment building. Many ordinary people got off those buses and walked into the haunted building with natural expressions, as if they were going home from get off work.

There was a middle-aged man with a beer belly, flipping through orders and muttering about various medical equipment; there was a tall woman carrying heavy photography equipment, jogging into the apartment, and she even greeted the investigator beside him warmly; and there was a handsome long-haired man in a black tai chi uniform. He was slumped over, rubbing his wrists, his face smeared with ink, looking as dejected as if he had been punished by his teacher for not concentrating on practicing calligraphy by copying large characters hundreds of times.

The people who got off the last bus looked even more familiar. All five of them were wearing the uniforms of investigators from the Supervisory Bureau. When they saw the investigator next to Li Ou, they all respectfully called him "Captain Hong".

The youngest-looking one appeared to be a recent college graduate and excitedly said something like, "I finally passed my internship assessment."

As Li Ou watched all sorts of people enter this infamous haunted building, he suddenly relaxed, and all the fear in his heart disappeared.

...So there are so many people living in Liwan Apartments. It seems he's making a fuss over nothing. This weird bus is just a shuttle bus for apartment tenants to and from get off work.

During the two years he was imprisoned, the outside world may have changed a lot. It seems that humans have found a way to coexist with ghosts and monsters. Even the famous haunted building, Liwan Apartment, has people living there.

The strange investigator probably didn't bring him here to execute him; he might just be moving him to another place to live.

Li Ou breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that his expression had calmed down, Hong Zhong then said, "After becoming a tenant of Liwan Apartment, you can make dolls as you like. Remember to behave well when you meet the apartment landlord later." After saying that, he patted Li Ou on the shoulder encouragingly.

Hong Zhong lingered outside the apartment for a while to alleviate Li Ou's fear.

This is also around the time when the apartment tenants return. Seeing so many people living in the apartment, Li Ou will probably feel more at ease.

Hong Zhong preferred the doll maker to stay in the apartment more than the landlord. After all, this guy's physique was too special. Letting him out would be a disaster, keeping him under control would be a waste of resources, and getting rid of him directly wouldn't be a capital offense... In short, Liwan Apartment was more suitable for him.

Li Ou's eyes lit up after hearing Hong Zhong say that he could make dolls at will while living in the apartment.

He has gone from being afraid to looking forward to it.

Just as Zhou Fangdong finished writing the rental rules for room 303, the system notified him that there was a new tenant at the apartment entrance.

He was teleported directly to the first-floor lobby through the mural and saw Hong Zhong standing outside the door and the long-haired young man next to him.

The man was probably around thirty years old, wearing a hospital gown. His naturally curly hair looked like it hadn't been styled in a long time, hanging messily over his shoulders. His deep-set eyes and brows exuded a melancholic air. He wore three earrings on his left earlobe and had two cartilage piercings... He looked more like the lead singer of a visual kei band than an artist.

And this person...

Zhou Fangdong narrowed his eyes slightly. To prevent his perception from being wrong, he directly activated the [Heavenly Eye] skill.

That's right, this person is indeed a half-ghost.

Compared to Hou San, who was born with a half-ghost physique, he seemed more like Xiao Xiaoyu, who was later transformed by external forces.

This person's constitution is very special. In addition to his own soul, there are actually three independent souls in his body... not the kind of possession by ghosts, but rather a combination of four souls sharing one body.

Moreover, judging from the causal relationship, these three souls actually belong to his parents and wife... No wonder they were fighting with him for control of his body.

Stared at by those lifeless, dark eyes, Li Ou subconsciously lowered his head.

...This young man who appeared out of nowhere must be the landlord of Liwan Apartments. Although his appearance fits his aesthetic of making dolls, he is too scary, especially his eyes, which seem to be able to see through his soul.

Before leading Li Ou into the apartment, Zhou Fangdong asked, "Can you make statues?"

Li Ou nodded: "I'm a sculpture major, and my profession is doll maker. I can make both statues and dolls."

Zhou Fangdong was very satisfied.

That's perfect, it meets all the requirements, and the ghost in room 303 just happens to like dolls.

Zhou Fangdong took Li Ou to the third floor by elevator, while Hong Zhong went to the apartment garden to chat with the garbage station and help it adjust its night mode.

Before the two parted, Hong Zhong slipped Li Ou 30 yuan in cash to prevent him from being unable to sign the tenant contract due to lack of money.

Room 303 had been cleaned up. As soon as Zhou Fangdong pushed open the door, the child ghost appeared in front of them.

This is the first time that ghosts have appeared in the room so proactively before the tenant has even signed a lease.

The child ghost floated over, looked Li Ou up and down, and nodded: "This person looks a lot like me. I like him."

Zhou Fangdong felt he was wasting his brain cells writing the rental rules.

He handed the contract to Li Ou.

Li Ou had often dealt with ghosts and monsters when he lived in the suburbs, so when he learned that renting an apartment would require living with a ghost, he didn't hesitate and signed his name on the contract.

When Zhou Fangdong was about to give the room key to Li Ou, four separate keys for room 303 were found among the landlord's keys.

Zhou Fangdong was stunned when he saw the four keys appear.

...It's really surprising that one signature has rented four tenants. Did the system also determine that the souls of Li Ou's family members were tenants?

In a daze, Zhou Fangdong seemed to understand why the ghost in room 303 liked Li Ou—whether it wanted a male or female tenant, Li Ou could do so by switching the souls within its body.

And most importantly, they are a family, providing warmth and comfort to the ghost in room 303.

Although there is only one person and one ghost in the room, they perfectly form a happy family—grandparents, parents, and a child, a very perfect extended family.

Li Ou could provide whatever the little ghost in room 303 wanted, no wonder it liked him.

The tenant chosen by the Inspection Bureau was absolutely perfect.

After Zhou Fangdong handed the key to Li Ou and told him not to lose it, a system task pop-up appeared:

Side Quest 17 Completed. Rewards: 800 Ghost Coins, 2000 Experience Points, 1 Random Skill Point.

Experience points are automatically converted into attribute points; currently, you have 14 attribute points.

Zhou Fangdong closed the task panel and left room 303.

He checked the rental preview interface and found that most of his tenants had returned. He then prepared to teleport to each room to distribute supernatural items for self-defense to the ordinary tenants.

Just as he was about to send the message, a job posting for a cleaner suddenly popped up automatically.

An exclamation mark appeared on the "[Hiring]" half of the billboard, indicating that four ghosts wanted to apply for the cleaning job.

When they first went up to the third floor, Zhou Fangdong asked Quan Wuming and the others to help recommend new cleaners. He didn't expect that so many ghosts would apply for the job so quickly.

However, after clicking on the billboard and seeing the ghostly job applicants, Zhou Fangdong suddenly fell silent.

Although the system page is pixelated, you can still roughly see the appearance of these ghosts.

...Why did Quan Wuming and the others recommend these kinds of ghosts to him? Are they really capable of being cleaners?