Chapter 45: Generous Rewards for Skill Upgrades, Detection of an Evil God's Curse...

Zhou Fangdong forced himself to stop staring at the reward pop-ups, closing them all with his strong willpower. Then, he said to Hong Zhong in a calm and expressionless tone, "I have something to do, so I'll go back first. You can pack your luggage in your room at your leisure."

Without waiting for Hong Zhong's reaction, X promptly teleported back to his room.

Hong Zhong had just raised his hand and hadn't even uttered a word of farewell when the landlord's figure vanished into thin air from the room.

His outstretched hand took a detour, and he scratched his head awkwardly.

Oh well, there's no rush. Anyway, I've already moved in, and I'll run into that landlord again sometime.

As soon as he returned to his room, Zhou Fangdong eagerly opened all the main quest reward pop-ups.

[Main Quest Reward: ① All upgradable skills will be upgraded by one level]

[The host has been detected to possess both the [Warm Mind Reading] and the passive skill [Plucking Feathers from a Passing Goose], and the two skills have a very high synergy. Merge and upgrade them.]

[Warm Mind Reading] + [Plucking Feathers from a Passing Goose] — [Advanced Skill: Soul Extraction]

Soul Absorption

Skill Description: After using this skill, you can read the memories of a ghost simply by looking at it, without touching it.

This skill comes with a powerful deterrent buff. During the memory reading process, ghosts that have completely submitted to you will voluntarily offer varying amounts of ghost coins in order to avoid being killed by you.

(Note: This skill will be ineffective against special ghosts of excessively high level or those that are irrational.)

Looking at the upgraded skill description, Zhou Fangdong suddenly felt a bit emotional.

Is there any skill in this world more perfect than this...?

No more Ghost Coins needed! After all, the Liwan Apartments may not have much else, but they have a ton of ghosts. When you're short on Ghost Coins, just grab a few ghosts and take a look – it couldn't be more convenient.

Zhou Fangdong continued to review the descriptions of other skill upgrades.

Skill 3 [Eyes That See Through Truth] has been upgraded to [Advanced Skill - Ghost Eye]

【Ghost Eyes】

Skill Description: Using this skill, you can not only see what ghosts looked like in their previous lives, but also see abnormal supernatural fluctuations and predict the movement of low-level ghosts.

The [Ghost Eye] skill comes with a deterrent buff. When used, low-level ghosts cannot look directly into your eyes, and even high-level ghosts dare not stare at you for long.

Using this skill on humans will display a favorability rating. Humans with weak wills may temporarily lose consciousness under the influence of this skill, becoming obedient puppets.

Zhou Fangdong really liked the upgraded Ghost Eye skill more and more.

I never expected that what was originally the most useless skill would become so useful after the upgrade.

After closing the [Ghost Eye] skill description pop-up, Zhou Fangdong mentally prepared himself and mustered the courage to activate the attack skill he least wanted to see.

The eerie shrine has been upgraded to a half-body shrine.

[Half-body shrine]

Skill Description: It is you, and you are it. You were once inseparable, and one day you will become one again.

Instructions: If the summoned shrine is dilapidated, offer four sticks of incense; if the summoned shrine is brand new, offer three sticks of incense.

This is the third upgrade of this skill. Zhou Fangdong remembers that the first skill he drew was [Strange Shrine]. When he used this skill, he needed to burn three sticks of incense.

Seeing the change in the amount of incense, Zhou Fangdong thought of something and asked:

"System, in my previous world, there was a saying about offering incense: three for gods and four for ghosts... When offering incense to gods, you should offer three sticks of incense, and when commemorating the deceased, you should offer four sticks of incense."

"Does this mean that this skill has two states, one without side effects and one with side effects? If I summon a brand new shrine, I won't eat demons, but if I summon a dilapidated shrine, I will eat demons?"

[The host can understand it this way. Although the [brand new shrine] exists for a shorter period than the [dilapidated shrine], it has no side effects when used and will not cause any dementia debuff.]

Zhou Fangdong sighed softly, "I see."

No wonder the system suggested he continue upgrading. As the skill level increases, its side effects should decrease until they disappear completely.

That will be a perfect attack skill.

However, he only has two skill points, not enough to level up this skill again... In the meantime, if there is a moment when he really needs to use this skill, he can only pray to draw a brand new shrine.

A 50% probability is not bad, not too low.

Zhou Fangdong glanced at the unlocked skills on his character attribute panel; currently, only the [Supporter] skill had not been upgraded.

[Supporter] is a bloodline skill, so it's normal that it can't be upgraded. This is because the skill consumes a fixed half of the user's health bar; to enhance the skill's effect, the user needs to add points to their own health bar.

Zhou Fangdong closed the skill upgrade interfaces and continued to check the remaining task rewards.

The second reward for the main quest is a jar of kerosene lamp oil, which is equivalent to the system giving him 30,000 ghost coins for free.

When did this system, which used to be a heartless and unscrupulous businessman, become so generous?

Could it be because he has corrupted two main god instances in the past two days? Did he steal power from the main god to replenish the system's energy consumption?

Recalling the few small fireworks the system gave him after he successfully invaded the dungeon, Zhou Fangdong secretly made up his mind.

I need to work even harder to fleece the main god from now on.

The Erosion God Dungeon System can replenish system energy. The more system energy there is, the richer the rewards become. The more rewards he gets, the stronger he becomes. The stronger he becomes, the faster he can erode the God Dungeon—a perfect positive cycle, awesome!

As a reward for the main quest, he received a landlord-exclusive item that could be socketed.

③【Jewelry: A blood-stained pendant (damaged)】

(Landlord's exclusive item, cannot be sold)

Item effect: Stabilizes mental state, and increases mental state by 25% when worn.

Zhou Fangdong's current [Landlord's Clothes] has a total of four item slots, of which only two are currently in use: one for the [kerosene lamp] and the other for the [Landlord's Key].

Without much thought, he placed the pendant directly into the empty prop slot.

Unlike other landlord-exclusive items, this prop doesn't have any inlay bonuses; it seems to be just an ordinary prop.

After the inlay was successfully completed, an oval brass pendant appeared out of thin air on Zhou Fangdong's neck.

This oval pendant is the kind that opens to reveal a photo inside, but it now has bloodstains on its surface, right at the clasp, which has rusted and prevents it from being opened to see the photo inside.

Zhou Fangdong played with the pendant, finding it increasingly familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had seen it before.

...If I can't remember, I'll stop thinking about it and move on to looking at the other rewards.

The fourth reward for the main quest is also an item called [The Peddler's Purchase Order].

Zhou Fangdong took it out and found it to be a worn-out notebook with yellowed pages.

He checked the prop description.

[The Peddler's Purchase Order]

Prop Instructions: Tear a piece of paper from the notebook, write down the items you want to consign at the Ghost Market, and the peddler will appear. You can ask him to help transport the goods to the Ghost Market.

Note 1: This prop was made from the bills the peddler owed in his apartment, so that the peddler would not have to pay extra ghost coins when transporting goods.

Note 2: Once you've used up all the pages in this book, you will no longer be able to summon the peddler at will.

This item is also very useful; it's like having a free errand boy help him sell things, saving him from wasting exploration attempts by teleporting to the Ghost Market.

After adding the [Peddler's Purchase Order] to his inventory, Zhou Fangdong wanted to check the other rewards, but found that the pop-ups were not main quest rewards.

Ah... that's all?

It seems that the pop-up windows that just appeared weren't all rewards from the main quest; there should also be interfaces showing his skill upgrades, which is why there seemed to be so many.

Sigh, I can't be too greedy. The rewards for this main quest are already quite generous.

Zhou Fangdong glanced at the pop-up window behind him. It was the reward for completing side quest 7 after successfully renting out room 106. He received 300 Ghost Coins, 1000 experience points, and a random skill point.

He now has three more skill points, and he needs another thousand experience points to level up.

"System, can I use my three skill points to upgrade the [Half-Body Shrine]?"

[The host does not have enough skill points. Upgrading this skill will require fifteen skill points.]

So many... Looks like I'll have to save them up for a while.

*

While Zhou Fangdong was happily checking his rewards, Miao Zheng and Xiao Xiaoyu had already taken the ghost bus to the bus stop near Penghu Home.

Penghu Garden is an old residential area. Before the paranormal events occurred, it was inhabited by many elderly people.

In the immediate period following the paranormal events, some people foresaw the future rental market and purchased a number of old, dilapidated apartments in the neighborhood. Once rental prices in the city center rose, they rented them out at high prices.

The neighborhood has transformed from a dilapidated and deserted old community into a resident area for affluent middle-class individuals and high-paid white-collar workers.

After Miao Zheng accompanied Xiao Xiaoyu to Unit 2 of Penghu Garden, he discovered that her parents had moved away, and her original home had been sold before the paranormal events broke out. Now, other people were renting it.

Just as the two women knocked on the door, a strange man came out of Xiao Xiaoyu's house.

Under the man's strange gaze, Miao Zheng made an excuse that they had gone to the wrong place and led Xiao Xiaoyu back to the stairwell.

Seeing Xiao Xiaoyu standing on the steps with a dejected expression, Miao Zheng gently comforted her, "Your parents may have chosen to sell the house because they were looking for you. After all, they can't work while searching for their lost child, and it takes a lot of money... Let's search around the neighborhood some more. Maybe we can find some missing person posters left by your parents. They might have their current contact information on them."

On the way here, Xiao Xiaoyu told Miao Zheng about her general experiences.

Miao Zheng learned that she was taken away from this world by the Main God System ten years ago, and has been struggling to survive in various supernatural dungeons ever since.

She never expected that besides all sorts of ghosts and monsters running rampant in this world, there would actually be such a bizarre God System that acted like a human trafficker. Even such a young child was being exploited by that system like cattle and horses. It was truly despicable.

“It’s alright. I anticipated this possibility before I came… but I just couldn’t accept it without coming here in person,” Xiao Xiaoyu said softly. “I wasn’t looking down because I was sad, but because I saw something.”

Xiao Xiaoyu pointed downwards: "Although my eyes can't see normally, I can see some unusual supernatural fluctuations. I saw this supernatural power on the floors below; it wasn't aggressive, more like some kind of connection..."

She paused, then asked again, "What floor are we on now?"

Xiao Xiaoyu's former home was on the eighth floor. This old building did not have an elevator. After leaving that apartment, the two returned to the stairwell and slowly walked down the stairs.

Miao Zheng glanced at the floor number above the stair landing and replied, "We're on the sixth floor."

"Let's go check the fifth floor. There are only two households per floor in each building in this community, so it's easy to rule them out."

Miao Zheng nodded.

Since I'm just killing time anyway, I might as well walk around with this little girl. Besides, she said that this supernatural power isn't offensive, so there's no danger in looking at it.

Despite thinking this way, Miao Zheng still took out the exorcism talisman that the landlord had given her and held it in her hand.

The two arrived at the fifth floor. Xiao Xiaoyu looked at the entrance doors on both sides and finally chose the one on the west side.

Miao Zheng stepped forward and knocked on the door.

A long-haired girl in pajamas walked out of the door. She was yawning, and had heavy dark circles under her eyes. She looked listless and as if she hadn't slept well.

She looked at Miao Zheng, then at Xiao Xiaoyu, and asked with a puzzled expression, "Hello? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Before Miao Zheng could speak, Xiao Xiaoyu interjected, "Have you encountered any strange people lately?" As she spoke, she pointed towards the bedroom, "Over there, where your pillow should be, did you put something there?"

Zhu Di was stunned for a moment, staring in shock at the blind little girl in front of him.

What happened today? This morning I met a master in a melon-shaped hat who immediately saw that she was being troubled by nightmares and even gave her a calming talisman.

At noon, a strange little girl appeared. The two had never seen her before, but she could accurately point out the direction of the bedroom and even say that there was a talisman under their pillow... This is too amazing!

Wait, something's not right... something seems off.

Zhu Di suddenly seemed to remember something, and his expression changed.

Could these two be in cahoots with that melon-hat master?

Perhaps that melon-hat master really had some skills, but he probably also really wanted to swindle money, so he pretended not to care about money and said he would help her for free. In reality, after leaving, he immediately sent two accomplices to come and pretend to be a ghost to deceive her.

One plays the good cop, the other the bad cop; it's the same old routine.

Zhu Di, with an attitude of "I'm just watching your show," sneered and said, "Are you going to tell me next that the talisman under my pillow has some kind of curse effect, that it will make my body sick or something, and then try to sell me some new talisman to break the curse?"

“We don’t sell talismans…” Xiao Xiaoyu looked troubled, as if she didn’t know how to gain the trust of the girl in front of her.

“We’re not scammers.” Miao Zheng took out his phone, opened his video account homepage, and showed it to Zhu Di.

"I'm a paranormal streamer. My account is certified by the Anomaly Monitoring Bureau. I specialize in investigating paranormal locations or recording abnormal paranormal fluctuations and reporting them to the Bureau. When we passed by your house, we noticed some unusual paranormal energy in your home, which is why we came to bother you."

Zhu Di stared wide-eyed at the video homepage with the nickname "[A Zheng, are you serious?]".

She completely changed her distrustful look and excitedly grabbed Miao Zheng's hand: "You're A-Zheng! I'm your fan! I especially love the first-person perspective haunted house adventure videos on your account, and the female ghost sister live stream you recently created is really interesting! I never expected to meet you in real life—can we take a picture together?"

Upon hearing that the girl was a fan of his and wanted to take a photo with him, Miao Zheng was overjoyed and repeatedly said, "Sure, sure, of course! Taking photos is no problem at all, you can take as many as you want! How about an autographed photo?"

After saying that, the two hugged each other very affectionately. Miao Zheng put his arm around Zhu Di's shoulder, took many photos of them together with Zhu Di's phone, and even took a photo with his Polaroid camera, wrote an autograph on it, and gave it to her.

Zhu Di excitedly accepted it, and the two hugged each other again.

Xiao Xiaoyu silently took a few steps back, leaving the doorway space for the two people who were in a state of high excitement.

Because she had never been exposed to the internet before leaving this world, Xiao Xiaoyu couldn't quite understand this behavior that was beyond her comprehension—she had only watched a video account, so how did that girl go from being on guard to being excited as if she had seen a long-lost friend?

Could it be that Miao Zheng's phone is actually a prop that can quickly increase favorability?

After the fan meeting, when Miao Zheng asked to see the talisman under his pillow, Zhu Di agreed without hesitation.

She jogged back to her bedroom, took out the talisman that the melon-hat master had given her that morning, and handed it to Miao Zheng.

Miao Zheng glanced at the triangular talisman, saw nothing wrong with it, and handed it back to Xiao Xiaoyu.

Xiao Xiaoyu took the talisman and breathed a sigh of relief.

Regardless of the method used, they achieved their goal of visiting the door.

She held the talisman and carefully observed it for a moment with her Yin-Yang Eyes, finally confirming her suspicions.

This talisman is indeed problematic; it must be some kind of cursed item.

The supernatural power extending from above connects to an unknown, mysterious entity. This unknown entity may very well use the talisman to acquire the girl's memories, control her actions, or even use the talisman to possess her body.

Fortunately, they arrived in time, and the girl didn't have much contact with the talisman. After removing the talisman, the girl should be safe from further danger.

Xiao Xiaoyu nodded to Miao Zheng, implying that there was indeed something wrong with the talisman.

Seeing this, Miao Zheng said directly to Zhu Di, "This talisman is a bit strange and may harm you. We need to retrieve it."

Upon hearing Miao Zheng say that there was something wrong with the talisman, Zhu Di felt a wave of fear wash over him.

Miao Zheng is a paranormal anchor certified by the Supervision Bureau. If she says there's a problem, it must be a paranormal problem that ordinary people can't solve.

Sure enough, what's free is often the most expensive. That melon-hat master wasn't trying to swindle her money; he wanted her dead.

"No problem, just take it if you need it." Zhu Di thanked them repeatedly. "Luckily you found it in time. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I had stayed with this thing for a long time."

*

After reviewing the main quest rewards, Zhou Fangdong wanted to check out the newly unlocked Hong Zhong tenant profile and the reward for achieving 100% favorability with Zhang Zhiwu.

But at that moment, three pop-up windows suddenly appeared in the special tenant watchlist.

[WARNING! High Risk Warning! Tenants in rooms 105 and 109 have been detected to have come into contact with a cursed item carrying the aura of an evil god! They may be contaminated!]

[WARNING! Immediately teleport these two tenants to Izumo Temple to retrieve the cursed items! Cleanse them of the evil god's mark!]

[These two tenants are prohibited from entering Liwan Apartments until the purification process is complete! These two tenants are prohibited from entering Liwan Apartments!!]

The pop-up window's text was a glaringly red, exuding an aura of danger.

This was the first time Zhou Fangdong had ever seen a pop-up window filled with red text. Startled, he immediately stood up and frantically called out to the system in his mind:

"System! What's going on? How do I teleport those two to Izumo-kan? Can tenants also be teleported directly?"