Chapter 170: The True Form Shrine is activated in the Realm Temple, and fragments of past memories flash back...

Just as Zhou Fangdong was preparing to renovate the Supervision Bureau, he suddenly received a message from the bureau chief on his phone.

He checked and found that the results of the investigation into the location of the vengeful spirit's seal, which he had asked the Bureau of Supervision to investigate yesterday, had been obtained.

I asked the supervisory bureau to help with the investigation yesterday afternoon, and the results came out this morning.

They checked all the locations in such a short time; those investigators probably didn't sleep all night. They're so responsible.

However, there are quite a lot of words in this message, making it a bit overwhelming.

This is where a universal system comes in.

"System, create a small map for me based on the cultists' records, and then import this information from my phone."

Okay, the minimap has been placed in the [Ghost Tracks Map], you can switch modes to view it.

"He who takes a man's money is bound to do his bidding." The system, which had just obtained a fragment of the origin of the outer world from Zhou Fangdong, didn't even ask any questions when faced with Zhou Fangdong's lazy request; it simply created the map directly.

With a map, it looks much clearer.

Some locations where the vengeful spirits had been sealed by the Bone Descendants Association with unsealing devices were successfully removed by investigators from the Bureau of Surveillance because the unsealing time had not yet arrived.

However, some locations were already on the verge of breaking due to the approaching activation time of the device; any external interference would immediately cause them to collapse. Therefore, the Surveillance Bureau simply marked these locations without intervening.

The remaining ghosts are those that have already broken free of their seals, mostly located in the northern and western suburbs. Because these two areas are the furthest from the Liwan Apartments, the cultists acted without restraint, making them the hardest-hit areas for ghosts to break free of their seals.

These unsealed vengeful spirits may still be lingering in the suburbs of X, or they may be slowly infiltrating the city.

Seeing this, Zhou Fangdong frowned.

We must activate the shrines as soon as possible. Currently, it seems that at least ten shrines are needed to protect us from these evil spirits.

My current Ghost Coin balance is 480,000 Ghost Coins, and a single temple requires 50,000 Ghost Coins...

He still has one free spot to activate a temple. In the northern suburbs, the Izumo Temple can also be upgraded to a temple. There are 8 temples left to activate, so it only costs 400,000.

Earning money quickly, spending it quickly, all because the apartment's reputation value is too low.

After activating these temples, there will be no money left, so the Bureau of Inspection cannot be renovated now. If he spends all the remaining 80,000 Ghost Coins, he will feel very insecure.

...Sigh, his enthusiasm for renovations has been interrupted twice in a row. It's so frustrating. He's not really interested in renovating the inspection bureau anymore.

It can only be said that the Supervision Bureau was unlucky; it had nothing to do with his renovation.

"System, how many days can those 15 Infinite Flow players be kept in the bag at most?"

The player inside the bag will remain in a sleeping state indefinitely, with no time limit.

Since that's the case, there's no rush to build training facilities at the Supervision Bureau. Let these players get some rest first.

Zhou Fangdong accessed the facilities around the apartment and clicked on the Chuyun Temple.

He spent a thousand ghost coins to upgrade the Izumo Temple, and then upgraded the zombie Taoist priest to the Lord of the Realm.

[[Zombie Taoist Priest Zhang Zhiwu] has successfully advanced to [Lord God Zhang Zhiwu], greatly increasing his strength! This tenant will no longer be restricted by day or night and can move freely!]

[The shelter mode will be automatically activated. Izumo Temple will accept incense offerings from surrounding believers. The more incense offerings are collected, the faster the strength of the local deity will increase. The host can relocate some residents to the vicinity of Izumo Temple to increase the incense offering collection speed.]

"Hey, this is a haunted house management game, not a city building game. If I had the ability to relocate residents, I wouldn't have had to worry about tenants before," Zhou Fangdong casually complained, then asked, "Incense points can increase the strength of the Realm Lord... If I exchange the incense points of the Realm Temple for reputation, will the strength of the Realm Lord decrease?"

Converting incense points into reputation will not affect the Lord God.

Zhou Fangdong was finally relieved.

The next step is to activate the other temples.

Based on the locations where these vengeful spirits were unsealed, Zhou Fangdong lit up nine temples in succession.

Last night, in the first main god instance, he obtained 9 statues that could house Nightmare clones. After Zhou Fangdong created his Nightmare clones, he immediately placed all 9 statues into the newly activated realm temples.

After doing all this, he opened the rental preview interface and looked at rooms 303 and 304.

In room 303, the statue Li Ou had made was finished. His pixelated figure was fast asleep on the living room floor, still wearing his paint-splattered work clothes. The doll possessed by the child ghost had crawled into his clothes like a little kangaroo, lying on his stomach, with only its head peeking out from the buttons on its abdomen, also asleep.

In room 304, the ghost tenant, Grandpa Chen, was still in the room. He had already gotten up and was filling his thermos with tea in the kitchen.

Seeing this, Zhou Fangdong teleported to room 304.

He told Grandpa Chen the location of the newly activated temples and asked him to contact the masters in these nine temples so that they could take up their posts as soon as possible.

After giving his instructions, he left room 304, went to room 303 to retrieve the statue, and placed the idol in Grandpa Chen's temple... The nightmare clone in this temple finally had a place to stay, and the only side effect of losing mental points was gone. Zhou Fangdong felt relieved.

Afterwards, more temples will definitely need to be activated, and more statues will be needed. Zhou Fangdong plans to take advantage of his free time to go to the Delicious Slaughterhouse and discuss with the factory manager about increasing the production line.

Before teleporting, he returned to his room and placed the bag containing the player on the bedroom table.

This cloth bag cannot be put into the inventory. After dealing with the Delicious Slaughterhouse, he still needs to deal with those unsealed vengeful ghosts. For the safety of these players, he should not carry it with him.

Just as Zhou Fangdong put the cloth bag down, the system's electronic voice suddenly sounded:

[The evil god's true form has been successfully digested; reward: 150,000 Ghost Coins]

The body's repair progress has been restored and increased to 95%.

[World protection repair progress has been unlocked, currently at 50% repair status]

Zhou Fangdong stood frozen in place.

What interrupted his actions was not the sudden electronic voice of the system, but the excruciating pain that simultaneously struck his brain and body.

Despite the fact that his body repair progress had improved, he felt as if his body was being torn apart little by little.

Along with the physical pain came fragments of memories flashing back.

He saw himself jumping off a high platform, his body disintegrating as he fell, his soul entering the cycle of reincarnation and becoming a baby born in a coffin.

He saw his loved ones, who had been with him throughout his long childhood, grow old rapidly in his eyes. Before he had even grown up, they had already left him.

When he grew up, all his family members were left were a serious-looking, white-haired old scholar and a rebellious, green-haired young man.

He saw his fragmented childhood reflected in the old scholar. Beside him, he was a self-disciplined, polite, and stern little adult. Beside him, he was a complete brat... setting off firecrackers to make poop, getting his head stuck in a chair, skipping school to play video games, licking railings in winter, eating light bulb candy, and being dragged back by the old scholar when he was about to shave and dye his hair with the young man.

He saw himself being sent to the Ghost Market, where he began to serve as a living underworld messenger, wandering the realm of the dead.

After the old scholar passed away, the young man also passed away. He went to collect their souls and personally sent them to the underworld.

He saw the ancient gods die of old age, the world's defenses collapse, and the underworld close.

He saw himself jump into a huge crevice, saw his body merge into a river of blood, and clearly felt every inch of his flesh and blood slowly dissolving.

His body and soul were torn to pieces by the Blood River Demon, but he was still alive—he became the Blood River itself, and the pain that permeated his flesh and soul was like the ever-surging Blood River, never ceasing.

The more memories he recalled, the more intense the pain became. The feeling of every piece of his flesh and every fragment of his soul being devoured was like being in an endless hell...

Crimson crimson gradually filled Zhou Fangdong's eyes. Before he knew it, he was kneeling on the ground, his fingers gripping the ground tightly, his nails split open, his fingertips bloody and mangled, leaving bloody scratches on the ground.

A strong sense of self-destruction arose in my heart.

Although death could not end the pain, he desperately wanted to destroy something to vent his frustration...

The first thing I want to destroy is the brain and consciousness; staying conscious under these conditions is too painful.

The system seemed oblivious to his current state, and its emotionless electronic voice continued to play:

[Successfully digested fragments of the outer world's origin]

[Body repair progress 99%]

[Body repair progress has reached the target; the [Half-Body Shrine] skill has automatically upgraded to [True Form Shrine]]

After a brief pause, the system's electronic voice suddenly rose in pitch:

Now I can answer your question from before... Everything we've done has meaning. The world is getting better, the world can still be saved, and this game will end soon!

Soon, we will both regain our freedom.

As he listened to the system's voice, Zhou Fangdong recalled the scene from not long ago... After he devoured the evil god, he lay on the river of blood and snapped his own neck.

...He really wants to break his own neck right now.

Zhou Fangdong knelt on the ground, the huge shrine several meters high pressing down on him like a mountain.

At this moment, the clarity in his eyes was gradually replaced by ferocity and murderous intent.

Reason and madness battled in his mind. Zhou Fangdong endured the excruciating pain in his body and brain and weakly complained, "If I could meet you right now, I really want to punch you twice. The worst thing you can do in a game is to open champagne halfway through, don't set a flag for me... And are you an artificial idiot? Can't you see that I've already become like this? Hurry up and help me suppress all my memories."

Sorry, I got a little too excited just now.

A chill ran through my mind, and all the fragments of memory that had just flashed back vanished.

As the memories were suppressed once again, the pain in my body was also completely blocked out.

Zhou Fangdong let out a long sigh of relief and lay down on the ground in a starfish position.

After a while, he opened his eyes again, and the crimson in his eyes had completely disappeared, restoring his previous clear, foolish, and carefree state.

Zhou Fangdong rubbed his temples, feeling groggy as if he had stayed up all night.

These familiar fragments of memory... I guess something's wrong with my body again... Oh well, I'm used to it.

He recalled what he had just done... it seemed he was trying to activate the Mirror Temple. Zhou Fangdong opened the City God page and glanced at the Mirror Temple's status.

The temple has been fully activated, and all the money has been spent.

The temple statue... Oh right, he was just trying to install the statue production line at the Delicious Slaughterhouse.

To prevent any omissions, Zhou Fangdong skillfully opened the historical dialogue with the system.

World protection repair progress, body repair progress, skill upgrades... The [Half-Body Shrine] actually upgraded automatically?

Zhou Fangdong opened the mission attribute panel and checked the description of the upgraded skill.

[The Shrine of the True Image]

—Located in the central region, bearing the imperial decree of the Northern Yin, he travels in conjunction with the Five Emperors, overseeing the underworld, and his divine might shakes even the ghost capital.

Skill Description:

Weighing the three realms, judging the nine netherworlds. Rewarding good and punishing evil, impartial and unbiased. Overseeing the fortunes and misfortunes of all beings, judging the reincarnation of all ghosts.

The upgraded [Half-Body Shrine] looks very powerful, but the skill description doesn't mention whether you'll lose consciousness again after using it, nor does it mention whether you still need to use incense offerings.

Having learned from his first experience using the [Strange Shrine], Zhou Fangdong asked directly, "System, does this skill have any side effects?"

[Without any side effects, this skill has been upgraded to the highest level and is the most perfect attack skill. The higher your reputation with Liwan Apartments, the stronger the skill's effect.]

Before Zhou Fangdong could even feel happy, the system abruptly changed its tone:

However, when using the [True Form Shrine], the system will be unable to help the host block memories, so please use it with caution.

Hearing the system say this, Zhou Fangdong was stunned for a moment.

...So, by using this skill, he can regain his past memories?

It seems that restoring his memories won't do him much good now, otherwise the system wouldn't have said 'use with caution'.

Currently, unless facing the main god head-on, there's no other place where such powerful attack skills are needed; the devouring abilities of [Judgment] and [Shadow Soul Contract] are perfectly adequate.

Zhou Fangdong turned off the character attribute panel and staggered to his feet.

He planned to go to the Delicious Slaughterhouse first, and then deal with the unsealed vengeful ghosts left behind by the Bone Descendants Society.

It's time to start grinding tasks again. I suddenly feel so tired, I just want to lie around all day like a couch potato.