Chapter 173 Making Lamp Oil Hand Cream The first floor's magnificent nighttime decor is truly...

[Host, calm down. You're already working. The last person to emerge from the incubation tank was a furniture store manager, and he acquired the skill [Carpentry]]

He's the furniture store manager...

Thinking of the exquisitely crafted furniture in his apartment, which was essentially free, Zhou Fangdong said nothing more.

He looked at the two Taoist priests standing in front of him again, silently prayed in his heart, and used his appraisal skill on them.

When Zhou Fangdong saw the first person's skill, his heart sank.

The first one, the one that uses a large sledgehammer for training, cultivates the skill of [demolition].

—[Demolition] Innate Talent: Proficient in operating various construction vehicles. When using this skill, it is not limited to buildings; it can be used to demolish anything, and the demolition casting time will be reduced by half.

When Zhou Fangdong looked at the second person, his palms were sweating with nervousness.

Thank goodness, it wasn't too bad; the second person unlocked the [Blacksmith] skill.

—[Blacksmith] Innate Talent: Forging Specialization. Possessing this skill allows you to work at the blacksmith shop in the Ghost Market. Using this skill at the blacksmith shop allows you to repair damaged equipment. The higher your skill proficiency, the higher the level of equipment you can repair.

Next, you can unlock the blacksmith shop.

Before that, Zhou Fangdong took another look at the combined technique of the two Taoist priests.

The exhilarating combo skill: [Demolition and Renovation Team], requires two players to use together. It allows for both demolition and reconstruction; a building can be moved to another location, or a building can be perfectly replicated.

Although this skill is of little use to him, he can lend these two people out if the director of the inspection bureau wants to do any urban planning in the future.

Moreover, there's a ghost tenant on the third floor who dreams of doing landscape design for the city—a gardener. These three together make a perfect construction team.

Zhou Fangdong asked the Taoist priest who had the [Blacksmith] skill to wait for him there, and then arranged for the one who knew demolition to go to Chuyun Temple to dismantle the timed talisman sealing the evil spirit with his fellow disciples.

Then he was teleported to the fourth floor and went to the hidden room on the fourth floor.

He picked out a few damaged items from under his desk and put the negative items in his inventory, planning to throw them into the ghost market auction when he went to the blacksmith shop later.

After making all the preparations, Zhou Fangdong led the ghost tenant with blacksmith skills to the hidden room on the second floor, preparing to go to the ghost market through the portal.

But to Zhou Fangdong's surprise, this seemingly calm and reliable Taoist priest, who appeared unperturbed in the face of trouble, turned deathly pale as soon as he arrived at the door of the hidden room on the second floor, especially after seeing him enter the hidden room. He stood motionless at the door, and even the way he looked at Zhou Fangdong was strange.

The two stood at the door for a while, until Zhou Fangdong finally spoke up and reminded them, "Daoist Master? What's wrong? Please come in."

The square-faced Taoist priest remained silent, simply taking off his Taoist robe and folding it neatly at the doorway. Then, dressed in a practical navy blue outfit and with an expression of someone about to be executed, he entered the slime farm.

Seeing his stiff, halting gait, Zhou Fangdong belatedly realized something and looked at the tiny slime pupae at his feet.

...I never expected the ghost tenants to react so strongly to the slime farm.

Zhou Fangdong casually kicked away the few slimes blocking his way, then led the Taoist priest through the portal to the Ghost Market.

The paper craft shop was as busy as ever, with many customers.

Moreover, after Zhou Fangdong discovered that his body repair progress had increased to 99%, he not only had more authority in the apartment, but his own skill effects also seemed to have improved significantly.

He merely glanced at the customers in the paper craft shop a few times, without using any appraisal skills, yet he was able to discern their appearances hidden beneath the faceless masks.

Among those rushing to buy the paper figures were several investigators who looked very familiar, including the head of the research department whom I had seen on the hospital rooftop the other day.

Zhou Fangdong paused for a moment, pretending not to see it, and led the Taoist priest out of the paper offering shop.

...I always felt like I underestimated the Bureau of Supervision. I never expected that these living, breathing people would have a reserve of ghost currency.

Zhou Fangdong put the Taoist priest in the blacksmith shop and went to the auction first.

The blacksmith shop is right next to the funeral clothes shop. Walk along the alley between the two shops, and you'll find the auction house.

Zhou Fangdong was stunned when he saw the mountain of flesh demons at the auction again.

Goodness, you've gained a lot of weight in just a few days. Looks like auctions are really lucrative; we can rip you off again.

Zhou Fangdong had just activated the Jingmiao Temple and was short of money.

After putting down the negative props, Zhou Fangdong directly used the [Judgment] skill on him and took half of the revenue.

The Flesh Mountain Ghost successfully lost weight, and Zhou Fangdong successfully obtained more than 70,000 Ghost Coins—a win-win situation.

Including this money, his remaining Ghost Coins were exactly 300,000.

The remaining 70,000 will be left at the auction and withdrawn when needed.

He hasn't collected the paper offering shop's recent sales figures, and he'll keep the more than 60,000 ghost coins in the shop for now.

Zhou Fangdong returned to the blacksmith shop, which had been unlocked.

Pushing open those two large iron doors, a wave of heat hits you.

Upon entering the blacksmith's shop, the first thing that catches the eye is a lava pool.

A massive forging furnace sat atop the lava, its interior burning not with roaring embers, but with churning magma. Occasionally, crimson ghost faces, like tiny sparks, would spew from within the furnace, twist and sway for a moment, before dissipating in the invisible heat.

Opposite the forge was a huge anvil, where the dutiful Taoist priest had already rolled up his sleeves, picked up a hammer, and was hammering the already formed iron block on the anvil.

Don't let this Taoist priest's seemingly otherworldly appearance fool you; his bulging biceps are no smaller than Hong Zhong's, and it looks like he could kill a bull with one punch.

The blacksmith shop was no different inside from the outside, with simple walls made of black stone, and various ironware and tools hanging on the black walls.

In the quenching water tank at the corner of the wall, a layer of oil film mixed with rust and grease floated, and the dark red rust looked just like congealed blood.

Add to that the twisted and menacing ironware on the walls, gleaming with a chilling light, and if you didn't know this was a blacksmith's shop, you'd think it was hell.

Zhou Fangdong was already starting to worry whether the blacksmith shop's design would attract customers.

He took the damaged equipment out of his inventory, placed it on the iron table next to him, and then checked the materials needed to make the lamp oil curing device.

To make the lamp oil curing device, you need 5 red iron ingots, a can of lamp oil, and 3 lumps of mature slime from the blacksmith.

Red iron ingots... Zhou Fangdong looked at the Taoist priest who was still forging iron and asked, "Taoist priest, what materials do you need to make red iron ingots?"

The Taoist priest stopped his hammering, wiped the sweat from his brow, and said in a deep voice, "We need red-clothed vengeful ghosts... According to the Bureau of Supervision, we need five A-level vengeful ghosts."

"Okay, just a moment, I'll go get it." Zhou Fangdong teleported back to his apartment.

When the ghosts in the apartment room released their ghost domain in the city to deal with those players, many wild ghosts were also swept into the ghost domain, which was equivalent to another large-scale purge of the city center.

We need to find a few ghosts with slow digestion to see if we can get a few out of their mouths. If we can't get them out, we'll have to go to the top floor of the apartment building.

After returning to the apartment and taking a walk around, Zhou Fangdong discovered that all the unfortunate kids in the apartment were reincarnated starving ghosts. It was as if someone had been fighting with them for them, leaving not a single ghost behind.

Helpless, Zhou Fangdong had no choice but to go to the 14th floor, pack up 5 A-grade ghosts, and return to the blacksmith shop.

Although it was the Taoist priest's first day on the job, his blacksmithing skills were quite proficient. He produced five red-hot iron ingots without making Zhou Fangdong wait for long.

Zhou Fangdong carefully put it away and returned to the basement of the apartment.

As soon as he arrived at the basement, he was taken aback by its brand-new decor.

Shadow Phantom was completely immersed in its art, and its works were everywhere in the basement—the ceiling was covered with a large net woven from human legs, the walls were also covered with nets woven from human legs, and even the ice coffins were covered with human legs.

For a moment, I thought I was seeing the second-floor corridor that was once occupied by the meat Ganoderma.

Now, even when Zhou Fangdong appears in the basement, Yingmei no longer pounces on him as enthusiastically as before. Instead, she keeps shaking the tattered rag doll in her hand like she's shaking a can of Coke.

The tattered rag doll seemed to have been completely drained, its eyes rolled back, and no matter how much the Shadow Demon shook it, it couldn't spit out a human leg.

Zhou Fangdong felt that the baby's separation anxiety had been cured by Yingmei, and it probably wouldn't want to collect or wear shoes anymore, so it wouldn't be able to produce human legs.

That's great. Yingmei gained happiness while playing with the doll, and the doll's separation anxiety was cured through their interaction with Yingmei. Everyone has a bright future.

Zhou Fangdong ruffled Yingmei's hair to make room for it and began making the lamp oil curing device.

After putting all the necessary materials into the production page, a black cylindrical iron barrel device, about the height of a person, appeared in front of Zhou Fangdong.

There is a movable gate in the middle of the iron drum, which is probably used for feeding materials, and below it is a discharge port.

The lamp oil hand cream requires 1/5 of a jar of lamp oil, 100 reputation points, and 1% of his health.

Thinking that he would gain a lot of reputation tomorrow, Zhou Fangdong gritted his teeth, took out 100 reputation points from selling lamp oil pendants, and used them to make lamp oil hand cream.

Let's make one first and see how it goes.

The lamp oil hand cream takes time to make; judging by the progress, it probably won't be finished until tomorrow.

Zhou Fangdong casually acquired a new batch of lamp oil pendants and put them up for sale online.

Just now, the inscription on the sandalwood memorial tablet has been completed, and the apartment can now freely switch between day and night modes.

After dealing with the trivial matters in the basement, Zhou Fangdong intended to take the memorial tablet to the 7th floor to continue repairing the collapsed area, but unexpectedly received a hint from the principal of the abandoned primary school—the first quiz of the ghost school had come to a perfect end.

Remembering what the system had said about how the little devils in the haunted school might drop blueprints after taking an exam, Zhou Fangdong opened the floor plan of the haunted school, found the exam classroom, and clicked to view it.

Today might be his lucky day; those little devils actually dropped a really useful blueprint for him—the blueprint for upgrading the Repairman.

This upgrade blueprint can improve the intelligence of the repair workers. After the upgrade, several workers can repair the collapsed area on one floor at the same time, without worrying about bugs.

Zhou Fangdong did not hesitate at all and directly used the blueprint to complete the upgrade.

The next step is to verify whether the upgraded workers are easy to use.

Zhou Fangdong took out a sandalwood memorial tablet and switched the apartment to nighttime mode.

Because he had just come up from the basement and was standing at the entrance of the activity room on the first floor.

As soon as day and night switched, he realized something was wrong.

The first floor was the first floor he renovated. At that time, he didn't have much money, so it was the lowest-end renovation, with very simple and monotonous white walls. The only slightly luxurious thing was the crystal chandelier in the first-floor lobby.

But once the apartment is turned into a dark setting, the original simple decor on the first floor completely changes.

The monotonous white ceiling has been transformed into a European-style ceiling with intricate floral reliefs, the white walls are covered with dark brown classic wallpaper with subtle tulip patterns, and the ordinary marble floor is now covered with a thick red carpet.

The round wall lamps on the corridor walls have been replaced with flower bud-shaped wall lamps, just like the ones in front of the tenants' rooms... Zhou Fangdong walked out of the corridor and came to the apartment lobby. He saw that the elevator doors were covered with gold leaf, and above the lobby, the ordinary crystal lamp had evolved into a super luxurious crystal chandelier.

This magnificent crystal chandelier resembles an inverted iceberg, with layers upon layers of sparkling rhinestones cascading down, forming a full nine layers of crystal tassels. The golden light emanating from the chandelier refracts wildly among the rhinestones, enveloping the entire first-floor lobby in a dazzling, dreamlike halo.

...It's so extravagant, really too extravagant, and so tacky. It's just like a hotel, not nearly as good as the art decor on the fifth floor.

"System, I forgot to ask, what's the deal with that opulent, hotel-style decor that appears on the first floor at night?"

[The host can think of it as a physical holographic projection. To stabilize the yin energy on the first floor and create a safe beginner area for the host, the system projected a renovation preview effect on the first floor, which will only be displayed at night.]

Zhou Fangdong stroked his chin, stared at the magnificent crystal chandelier above his head for a while, and reluctantly approved of the system's decoration amidst the dazzling halo: "System, since that's the case, let's skip the night preview and just fix the decoration. Do it like this day and night."

[Host, are you sure you want the first floor renovation fixed? This renovation...]

"Confirmed." Before the system could finish speaking, Zhou Fangdong interrupted, "System, even if your interior design aesthetics aren't as good as mine, you don't need to feel so inferior. The chandelier you chose is quite nice. If it weren't for the fact that the ceiling heights on other floors aren't as high as the first-floor lobby, I would have installed one on every floor as well."

The system was just asking a routine question; it wasn't a sign of inferiority.

[The system just said that fixing this star-rated hotel decor will cost 150,000 Ghost Coins. Are you sure you want to proceed with the renovation?]

"150,000?? System, are you robbing me? I only spent 140,000 when I renovated the fifth floor. And you secretly ate the points system and items in the storage space of those six players, didn't you? I haven't even calculated those for you, and you're treating me like a player instead. That's too ruthless."

"Forget it, if I'm going to spend money anyway, I'll just install it myself." With that, Zhou Fangdong stretched out his hand towards the wall next to him.

An emergency electronic voice sounded from the system:

[The exterior decoration of the first-floor star-rated hotel has been finalized. Please inspect it, host.]

Zhou Fangdong was speechless: "Tongzi, do you have to be so rebellious? Why are you always going against me?"

He had just selected a renovation style similar to the one on the fifth floor and only needed to tap to switch it, but the system's operation suddenly interrupted him, and he had to readjust it.

[The system has reconsidered; 150,000 Ghost Coins is indeed too expensive, and the first floor is the facade of the Liwan Apartments, so it's better not to be too artistic.]

Interrupted, Zhou Fangdong lost interest in the renovation and teleported directly to the seventh floor to test the upgraded repair workers.

The Night of a Hundred Demons is about to begin, and to be precise, there's only a day and a half left. I wonder what's going on with this dynamic event.

He needed to repair the collapsed areas inside the apartment before the incident began. It wouldn't be good if the main deity took advantage of the cracks in the collapse to launch a sneak attack on the apartment and sweep away all the ghosts inside.

Having experienced the evil god's buffet once was enough; he wouldn't let the main god steal his home again.