Chapter 95 The Source of the Anomaly on the Third Floor: The Ghostly Realm of Room 301...
Zhou Fangdong was mentally prepared that the ghosts in the third-floor rooms might be particularly troublesome, but he didn't expect that after pushing open the door to room 301, there wasn't even a room inside.
Just a door separates them; outside is an apartment corridor, while inside is a desolate wilderness.
The door to room 301 is like a magic door; once opened, you're outside.
In front of him were waist-high weeds and dense bushes, and a hot wind mixed with the smell of gasoline and blood blew in from inside the door.
Zhou Fangdong could see a highway not far away, with the wreckage of two cars lying on the road, and thick smoke rising from the point of impact.
This is outrageous. This is no longer about cleaning the room. Is he supposed to build a house right next to a highway in the middle of nowhere?
Could this scene be some kind of hallucination created by ghosts or monsters...?
Zhou Fangdong activated the [Heavenly Eye] skill, closed the door to room 301, and then opened it again.
However, even after he used his skill, the scene in the room he saw remained the same desolate outdoor landscape, unchanged.
"System, is this room 301?"
【Yes】
Zhou Fangdong frowned and decided to go in and take a look first.
Regardless of what's going on outside, once we find the ghost in room 301, everything will become clear.
As soon as he stepped into room 301, the main quest and side quest panels popped up simultaneously:
[Beep—Host detected arriving at the third-floor room. Main quest 5 initiated.]
[Main Mission 5: Clean up all the rooms on the third floor to make them available for rent and find tenants to move in.]
[Task Rewards: Not displayed at this time]
Side Quest 15: Clean and rent out Room 301
① Find the ghost hidden in the room
② Eliminate the ghostly aura in the room and help the ghosts break free from their cycle of obsession.
③ Clean the room and tidy up the house.
④ Discard the damaged furniture and buy new furniture.
⑤ Figure out the patterns of ghosts and monsters killing people, draft a rental agreement, and find tenants to move in.
[Side Quest Rewards: 800 Ghost Coins, 2000 Experience Points, 1 Random Skill Point]
Zhou Fangdong's expression gradually turned serious as he looked at the side quest.
The side quest to clean the room has changed—help the ghost break free from its cycle of obsession and eliminate the ghost domain in the room. The outdoor scene in room 301 is a ghost domain created by the ghost in the room.
Judging from the mission description, this ghost realm was created by the obsession of ghosts and monsters...
Zhou Fangdong did not clean room 301 immediately, but instead left.
He planned to go find Quan Wuming and the other five cleaners to ask about the Ghost Realm on the third floor.
The Ghost Realm was created by the obsessions of ghosts and monsters; it was merely a guess he made after reading the mission text, and he couldn't be sure whether the ghosts and monsters were actually hiding within it.
If the entire ghost realm is the embodiment of this ghost, then entering the room is equivalent to entering the ghost's body, making it impossible to find the ghost no matter what.
We need to first determine what this ghost realm is before deciding on a course of action and continuing the cleanup work; otherwise, it's just a waste of time.
The reason for asking the five cleaners was that when Zhou Fangdong first unlocked the second floor, two of the cleaners came down from the third floor.
When he asked Mingwuqian to open the hidden room on the second floor, Mingwuqian was also slacking off on the third floor.
The cleaning staff who frequently go up to the third floor must know what's going on there and what the ghostly realm in the room is all about.
Coincidentally, just as Zhou Fangdong reached the top of the stairs, he saw a dog cautiously peeking its head out from the corner of the stairs below.
The man looked up and his eyes met Zhou Fangdong's.
The atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.
After a moment of silence, the man downstairs grinned sheepishly: "Hehe, what a coincidence, Mr. Landlord, you're also taking a stroll on the third floor?"
Judging from today's cleaning staff duty roster, this person should be Quan Wuming.
Because he wanted to ask him about the Ghost Realm, Zhou Fangdong pretended not to have seen him slacking off during work and casually asked, "Do you know anything about the Ghost Realm in the room on the third floor?"
Quan Wuming thought he was being reprimanded, so he obediently lowered his head and admitted his mistake, "I'm sorry, I was wrong, I will never come to the third floor to steal food again."
Zhou Fangdong patiently explained, "I didn't mean to blame you. I was preparing to clean the rooms on the third floor and wanted to ask how much you know about the ghost realm in the rooms. Also, why are there no other ghosts in the third-floor corridor?"
Quan Wuming scratched his head. “Because they were all eaten. The ghosts in the third-floor rooms are terrifying. Their ghost domains will spread out of the rooms from time to time, often devouring the ghosts in the corridor, and spewing out some digested pure yin energy or corpse fragments from time to time... Then we occasionally go up to the third floor to pick up some scraps to eat as snacks.”
Zhou Fangdong fell silent. No wonder there were no ghosts wandering on the third floor; they'd all been eaten by the ghosts in the rooms…
Quan Wuming continued, "The ghost realm is actually the manifestation of the obsessions of ghosts and monsters. The ghosts on the second floor and the first floor also have ghost realms, but they don't release them as recklessly as the ghosts in the third-floor room."
"The ghosts in the third-floor rooms have relatively low sanity... I heard about this from other ghosts. Apparently, shortly after the apartment was sealed off, a strange person suddenly appeared on the third floor. That person did something and almost caused the apartment to collapse. To prevent the damage to other floors, the apartment forcibly injected a lot of yin energy into the third-floor rooms, quickly increasing the power of all the ghosts on the third floor, allowing them to build a protective barrier, which is why the other floors were not affected."
"While this operation temporarily increased the strength of the ghosts on the third floor, it also destroyed their sanity. These ghosts that occupied the room were already the best of all the ghosts on the third floor, and they were very powerful. After that incident, their ghost domain began to go out of control."
"Furthermore, because the ghost domain is out of control, they have devoured too many ghosts outside the corridor, and have been indirectly contaminated by the restless yin energy outside the room, so they have gone even crazier and have kept the ghost domain open... Mr. Landlord, you saw it when you were cleaning the room just now, right? The fully released ghost domain will change the structure of the room and turn it into the scene they are obsessed with."
Zhou Fangdong nodded.
It seems he guessed correctly; the Ghost Domain is indeed a type of ghost skill, generated by their obsessions... But who is that guy causing trouble on the third floor?
Quan Wuming died because of the Sigu Society. If the incident on the third floor was done by those bald guys from the Sigu Society, he would definitely have said it outright.
Besides the Bone Inheritance Society, who else was causing trouble in the apartment? And after the apartment was sealed off...?
The guy who caused trouble on the third floor was the source of the anomalies on the third floor. Now that guy has packed up and left, leaving him to clean up his mess.
Zhou Fangdong sighed and asked again, "You often come to the third floor, aren't you afraid of being swept away by the ghost realm?"
He couldn't quite understand Quan Wuming and his team's actions. The cleaners at Liwan Apartments were paid; surely they wouldn't risk their lives to scavenge for food on the third floor?
Hearing Zhou Fangdong ask this question, Quan Wuming puffed out his chest with some pride and took out a small tag from his chest: "We are all apartment cleaners personally hired by you, Mr. Landlord, and we have proper work permits. Although the ghosts in the rooms on the third floor are very domineering, they don't dare to mess with us."
So that's how it is. Now Zhou Fangdong finally understands why they always like to go up to the third floor to relax—they can rest and have some snacks, which is very pleasant.
But we can't let this guy have it so easy today. He, the landlord, is working hard to clean the room, while the cleaner is happily slacking off. It's really annoying.
Zhou Fangdong instructed Quan Wuming, "You continue with your work. In a couple of days, I will include the third floor in your work area as well. We will need to hire two more cleaners then. During this time, the five of you can discuss which two ghosts you would like to work with you. I will give priority to the ghosts you recommend."
"Okay, Mr. Landlord."
After watching Quan Wuming leave, Zhou Fangdong returned to the door of room 301.
Only by eliminating the ghostly domain in the room can the room be cleansed. Ghostly domains are formed by the obsessions of ghosts in the room, and that ghost is very likely a person or an object in the ghostly domain.
First, we need to find where the ghost is.
Zhou Fangdong maintained the [Heavenly Eye] skill.
Because the Ghost Realm is entirely formed by the power of ghosts and monsters, and all of it is filled with the same flow of Yin energy, it is very difficult to find a single drop of water in a vast ocean.
Although it is difficult to find the source of the Yin energy, as long as the general situation of the ghost realm is understood and the cause and effect are sorted out, the source of the Yin energy can be found by following the cause and effect line, which is the ghost that created this ghost realm.
Zhou Fangdong entered room 301 again.
He waded through waist-high weeds and reached the edge of the road.
The two vehicles involved in the accident on the highway were a large black SUV. The front of the SUV was dented, but the windshield was intact, and it was clear that no one was inside.
The white sedan that collided with it was completely wrecked—the hood was lifted off, the windshield was shattered, covered with spiderweb-like cracks and bloodstains, and the driver's seat was deeply dented.
Not only that, thick smoke was billowing from the engine of the white sedan, and faint flames were slowly emerging from the twisted front of the car, trying to ignite the entire body.
Zhou Fangdong smelled a pungent odor of gasoline; if left unchecked, it was only a matter of time before the two cars burst into flames.
Is the ghost in room 301 haunted by the fact that it was trapped in the car after the accident and couldn't escape?
The driver's side of the white sedan was badly damaged, making it difficult to open the door from the driver's side. Zhou Fangdong went around to the passenger side and looked inside the car through the window.
A man, his body mangled and bloodied, was sitting in the driver's seat. Half of his body was wedged into the dented front of the car, and glass shards were embedded in his neck. The blood flowing from his body had completely stained the seat red, and he looked beyond saving.
The passenger seat was occupied by a woman who had passed out. She appeared to have lost too much blood, had a head injury, and had many shards of glass embedded in her body.
There was a little girl, about five or six years old, in the back seat of the car. Because she was wearing two seat belts and was sitting in the middle, she did not have any obvious external injuries and appeared to have just fainted temporarily due to the impact.
Judging from the group photo posted in the car, the three of them should be a family of three.
The family of three inside the car, like the surrounding car accident scene, were all formed from yin energy, not ghosts or monsters.
Zhou Fangdong pulled open the passenger door and tried to drag the woman out.
However, his action triggered a chain reaction, and flames suddenly erupted from the woman in the passenger seat, spreading rapidly throughout the entire scene.
The woman turned into a charred corpse, the surrounding scene rapidly collapsed, the scene reset, and Zhou Fangdong reappeared at the edge of the road.
Can't we touch the injured person inside the car?
Zhou Fangdong sighed and decided to do nothing this time, but first observe the scene of this ghost realm and see what would happen if he didn't intervene.
Just a few minutes later, a man emerged from the bushes on the opposite side. He was wearing a sun hat and sunglasses, a sun-protective mask, and carrying a fishing rod and tackle box. He looked like a fisherman who could be found anywhere along the riverbank.
He clearly noticed the horrific scene of the car accident, immediately put down his tools, rushed to the car, and dragged the woman and little girl out of the vehicle.
After the man rescued the woman and the little girl, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed, jumping from a desolate suburb into an apartment room.
Looking at the familiar house layout, Zhou Fangdong paused for a moment and subconsciously looked out the window.
Outside the window is a familiar garden, and you can vaguely see the back building... The ghost realm has not disappeared; is this Room 301 from the ghost's memory?
It seems the car accident occurred near the Liwan Apartments. After the accident, the woman was taken to the apartment by the man.
But to Zhou Fangdong's surprise, even though he didn't interfere with the scenes in the ghost realm, the plot still took a sharp turn for the worse.
The woman lying on the bed suddenly transformed into a vengeful ghost engulfed in flames, instantly killing the man who was bandaging her.
The scene changed again, and Zhou Fangdong reappeared in front of the highway.
Zhou Fangdong was somewhat puzzled.
The woman is most likely the ghost in room 301, and this ghostly realm is probably her obsession.
But wasn't the man the one who saved the mother and daughter's lives? Why did she suddenly turn into a demon and kill him?
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