Chapter 56: Ghost Community
The trip to Genting Highlands Residences in the evening was confirmed by N.
Tu Lanxun didn't hesitate for too long. She had to go and save Tao Si anyway, and it wouldn't take much time to go back and forth.
Because Genting Highlands Residences is very close, it is less than one kilometer away from the convenience store.
She had never thought before that the haunted house was right outside her bedroom window. Now that she knew, she would never forget it when she went to bed. How wonderful!
The convenience store was still busy in the afternoon. The ghost customers had strong purchasing power. If it weren't for Tu Lanxun's strong advice not to overspend, many ghosts would even want to buy up the entire shelf.
Ghosts have indeed accumulated considerable wealth during their long lives of death, but Tu Lanxun believes that business requires sustainable development.
Running a convenience store business means endless scanning of codes, grilled sausages, oden, grilled sausages, sandwiches, and fried chicken legs.
Tu Lanxun was so busy that he couldn't turn around. It was only when Bai Chao and Bai Xiaoju took the initiative to help that the number of customers crowding in front of the cash register decreased a little.
And there is another disadvantage of selling things to ghosts. They have no day or night, and they even come more often at night.
A hanged man, dragging a long rope, stood in front of the cash register and smiled at her: "Boss, I'd like to ask how much the houses around here are selling for?"
Of course, Tu Lanxun didn't know that the surrounding houses belonged to other people. Even if there were any that didn't have owners, the property rights had been transferred to some loss-making buyer, and it had nothing to do with her.
The hanged man handed over a handful of gold ingots, which were scattered on the cashier's counter like melon seeds. He smiled politely and said, "This is a year's rent and deposit. Do you think I can live nearby?"
The ghosts queuing behind all thought this was a great idea and took out pieces of gold one by one, saying, "We'd like to rent houses around your area too!"
Great, they thought, this way they wouldn't have to travel far to buy something.
So some ghosts, fearing they wouldn't get a good spot, started throwing gold nuggets and grains onto the counter, "I choose first! I choose first!"
Tu Lanxun's scalp was cold with fear, and she hurriedly explained that none of the empty houses around belonged to her, but the ghosts kept coming, fearing that they would have no place to stay if they paid the rent late, and asked Tu Lanxun to take them to see the houses so that they could get to know them.
Seeing that he was about to become a criminal who illegally occupied a private house and no one would hold him accountable, Tu Lanxun quickly called a halt and asked them to take back their gold. There was deep reluctance in the ghosts' eyes.
A ghost shouted: "You are the only one in this place, you are the only owner here!"
Tu Lanxun took a deep breath and realized that a special community would soon be established here, built around the convenience store, where ghosts would live and socialize.
The significance of this is not only that convenience stores will have good business, but also that wherever there are people (dead people are also people), there is society. The first priority of social animals is that everyone cannot fight, let alone kill each other.
Therefore, a kind of public rules, written or unwritten, is necessary.
It would be better to make it clear now while they are still obedient to her, rather than waiting for the first wild local tyrant to appear.
Tu Lanxun looked into the store and saw that no one could help him, so he cleared his throat and said, "You can live here, but you have to accept three rules."
All the ghosts looked at Tu Lanxun.
She said: "First, try to choose a house that doesn't have a homeowner. If there is one, don't destroy the owner's decoration."
The ghosts nodded.
Tu Lanxun added, "Secondly, everyone living here is a friend. We should understand each other and abide by the rules. We shouldn't intentionally harm other people or ghosts, and we shouldn't cheat each other in transactions. We should have a unified register and address... and register it with me."
The ghosts nodded again, waiting for her to say the last sentence.
Tu Lanxun suddenly discovered an advantage. The ghosts coming to the store now have one thing in common: they are all thinking about eating and have their own social circles. Otherwise, they would not be the first ghosts to hear the news about the convenience store.
Ghosts with a social circle are not too antisocial and are generally normal people who live honest lives.
As long as a group of honest people lay the foundation for this place and form a normal and friendly community life atmosphere, any external troublemakers can be easily suppressed by everyone.
Some ghosts asked: "Boss, what about the third rule?"
Tu Lanxun hadn't actually thought of the third rule yet; she had just given it a rough number. But in order not to appear weak, she thought for a moment and continued, "The third is, try not to appear in front of the living, and don't interfere with their lives."
In fact, it was as good as saying nothing, but at least she had three of them, which made her seem somewhat authoritative. The ghosts nodded in conviction, still holding their gold and waiting to hand it over to Tu Lanxun.
Tu Lanxun said: "Please keep this money. If they live in a house that already has an owner, perhaps when they are willing to take back the property rights, this money should belong to them."
Everyone knew that day would never come. The ghosts, carrying their purchases, excitedly set out to "view the house." They nominated Liu Maosheng, who seemed to have the best relationship with Tu Lanxun, to go with them to register. Bai Chao and the expedition team also came to help.
It is called registration, but in order not to infringe on the privacy of the ghosts, only two types of information need to be filled in. One is the specific address accurate to the house number, which must be remembered; the other is the name, which can be the ghosts' real name or a pseudonym they often use.
After sending away a large number of ghost customers, Tu Lanxun felt like he was the director of a wild neighborhood committee.
#
After dinner, time quickly came to 11 o'clock in the evening. The shop was handed over to the computer ghost, and Tu Lanxun and N set off.
It's a clear night tonight, but the wind is very strong. The cool night wind blows the chill of late autumn into my sweater. Tu Lanxun didn't drive the silver-gray Jetta, and walked to Genting Highlands Residence with N.
The further he walked, the more eerie the air felt. Every rustling of leaves sounded like footsteps behind him. Even though the store had served dozens of ghost customers, when he walked into a deserted place, Tu Lanxun was still afraid of ghosts.
The outer outline of Yunding Mingju was quickly embedded in the night sky, and the blue-painted Xun blinked. Although the street lamps on both sides were abandoned and no longer maintained, they were all in working condition due to their short years. However, there was one lamp that was not a warm yellow, but pale, illuminating the road not far away.
There happened to be a trash can there, and from a distance it looked like someone was squatting there.
Tu Lanxun couldn't help but say, "Could it be that the frightened driver really saw a road-blocking ghost?" She was always on guard against something suddenly jumping out of the bushes.
N's attitude didn't seem joking. He said seriously, "He must have really seen a ghost. Someone died here before."
A place where someone has died and a place where ghosts simply wander around are two completely different concepts.
The place where someone died will be haunted by deathly aura for a while. If the cause of death was very bad, it may last even longer.
Tu Lanxun thought of the murder case and couldn't help but back off, but they were already standing at the gate of Yunding Mingju Community. It was very dark inside. Tall buildings stood in the vast community, like giants returning from staring at each other from a distance. There were also green trees, which were living very well without anyone taking care of them. Each tree was like a furry head on a slender neck.
It was so dark that the flashlight could only illuminate the limited field of vision in front of me.
She didn't want to go in.
Tu Lanxun knew where this feeling of fear came from, because there were so many buildings inside, with tens of thousands of windows in total, but not a single light was on. When people saw this, the word "dead silence" would pop out from the most fearful crack in their hearts.
No one lives there, no living people. All the living people who once lived there have moved away, and those who have not moved away will stay there forever.
"There are no signposts here," she heard herself say. "Are we going to go from building to building to find the one that pesky lynx has designated?"
They walked a little further in, and to be honest, the flashlight didn't make Tu Lanxun feel better. Instead, it made her suspect that there were countless sneering things hidden in the darkness outside the flashlight, and she couldn't help but sweep the flashlight around.
Tu Lanxun thought, it would be great if N could glow. If his head was a big light bulb, she would install a super wick with tens of billions of lumens for him so that his light could illuminate the other end of the universe.
But soon, she found that she didn't need to look for that damn building, because after passing the obstruction of the first few buildings, she saw a window of a building behind her that was lit up, a small pale yellow star, like an artificial star.
Tu Lanxun and N walked over and found that there was indeed the letter A written on the door of the building. They successfully found Door A of Building A. The layout here was one apartment per floor, so they just had to walk in and take the elevator.
"That bronze lynx was quite thoughtful and turned on a light to wait for us." Tu Lanxun said, pressing the door closing button, and the metal door of the elevator car slowly closed.
As the cable slid and the elevator began to rise, N suddenly said, "Didn't you count the floors?"
Tu Lanxun was puzzled. "What are you counting? It's all pitch black down there, I can't even tell how many windows there are. Didn't Lynx say it was the fourteenth floor?"
N's gaze lingered on Tu Lanxun's face for two seconds, then returned to the steel door, where their blurry shadows were reflected. He said, "The light isn't on the fourteenth floor, it's on the twelfth."
Tu Lanxun: “Oh.”
oh? !
Wait, are there other people living in this empty community?
Or has a ghost customer moved in here?
Tu Lanxun's face was filled with horror. From above came N's indifferent yet concealing a hint of solemnity. Every word was as smooth as a silk ribbon on a wreath. He said, "Building A, Gate A, 12th floor. That's where the family of six who were once murdered lived."
This is also the reason why the entire Genting Mingju has become a legendary haunted building.
Tu Lanxun was stunned. Even if it was a ghost customer, no one would be willing to stay there. Not to mention whether ghosts were taboo about such things or not, it would be so crowded if they ran into those six people.
The elevator car was going up, and the numbers on the screen changed from 9 to 10, and then quickly to 11.
Tu Lanxun had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, when the number reached 12, it stopped moving.
It froze for longer than the normal interval between digital jumps, but Tu Lanxun felt that she was still rising. Could it be that the screen was broken? They had actually reached the 13th, 14th or even higher floors, she thought optimistically.
At this moment, the elevator car paused and the metal door slowly opened.
A dark and cold corridor appeared in front of Tu Lanxun, with a faint green escape sign flashing inside, but it was not enough to illuminate anything.
Fortunately, the light inside the elevator illuminated the small space in front.
It was a gloomy floor sign, with a black background and silver engraved words, reminiscent of something like a tombstone.
It says 12 on it.
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