Chapter 161 Battle, awesome! The main body enters the collapsed area...
Looking at the current state of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, Zhou Fangdong felt something was very wrong... The Underworld was probably only barely maintaining the function of reincarnation, and all other functions had stopped working.
The City of the Wrongfully Dead is a very important facility in the underworld, but he did not see any ghost messengers or ghost soldiers.
Moreover, there wasn't even a single ghost inside; it was a completely empty city.
Zhou Fangdong did not immediately enter the City of the Unjustly Dead. Instead, he stood in front of the city gate and activated the [Heavenly Eye] skill to examine the thick black fog around him.
Just as he guessed, this mist was not ordinary yin energy; it was entirely composed of the shattered souls of the dead and their chaotic fragments of memory.
After the underworld closed, it no longer accepted the souls of the dead. The souls of the dead who had not yet reached the end of their lifespan and remained in the City of the Wrongfully Dead were transformed into the mist that exists today due to some kind of pollution.
In this situation, if it weren't Zhou Fangdong's nightmare clone that entered, but other ghost messengers or ghost soldiers, they would definitely be torn apart and assimilated into the thick fog, just like these wandering souls.
Zhou Fangdong sighed and controlled the dozen or so Nightmare clones to walk directly into the City of the Unjustly Dead.
Nightmare clones are not souls, nor do they have physical forms. They exist in a state between reality and illusion, projected onto reality like a mirage.
To be precise, they are aggregates of fragments of memories or dreams, and therefore, they are completely unaffected by the dense fog.
As long as there is one person in the world whose mind is active, the Nightmare will continue to exist. If the Nightmare hadn't been tricked by the Main God and its activities hadn't been restricted to the Main God's instance, Zhou Fangdong would never have been able to catch this ghost, and thus wouldn't have been able to obtain such a useful skill.
Upon entering the city, the fog thickened, completely obscuring the blood-red sky.
The city seemed to be shrouded in a huge dark cloud, with faint rumbling thunder echoing in the distance.
Zhou Fangdong instructed his Nightmare clones to split up and search for contamination in the city.
However, no anomalies were found.
Unlike the pollution in the Village of Evil Dogs, the pollution in the City of the Wrongfully Dead did not spontaneously emerge the moment the Nightmare clone entered.
That's strange...
Since we can't find it no matter how we look, could the pollution of the City of the Dead be this black fog that lingers in the city?
Just as Zhou Fangdong was about to try to control his Nightmare clone to devour the mist, the rumbling thunder sounded again.
Zhou Fangdong realized something, slowly raised his head, and looked upwards.
He used the [Heavenly Eye] skill again.
Besides the thick black fog, there was also a dark mass hanging over the city.
It looked like a giant black mushroom, or a decaying placenta. The rumbling sound was the sound of it contracting.
It is alive and breathing. With each contraction and relaxation, it expels large amounts of black mist.
Right in the center of the placenta hung a huge tumor-like object, like the fetus it was nurturing.
The tumor-like mass was as black as charcoal, covered with charred cracks like the walls of the City of the Dead... No, not cracks, but clearly the limbs of countless souls compressed, twisted and entangled together.
The placenta does not transport nutrients; instead, it extracts nutrients from the fetus.
With each breath and contraction, the tumor shrinks a little... It's only a matter of time before it's completely digested.
When Zhou Fangdong noticed the existence of this thing, the scene within the City of the Unjustly Dead also changed. Black tendrils hanging down from the placenta gradually took shape, taking root in the buildings and walls of the city like umbilical cords—the entire City of the Unjustly Dead was nourished by that placenta.
The placenta felt strangely familiar to Zhou Fangdong, almost like a spiritual projection of an outer god.
Is the pollution of the underworld entirely due to these external gods from the void?
Moreover, Zhou Fangdong could clearly sense that this black placenta was much more powerful than the multi-headed dog in the Evil Dog Village. If it were allowed to continue growing, it might become the next evil god of the Heirs of the Bone Society.
Just to be on the safe side, Zhou Fangdong created more than a dozen Nightmare clones and stuffed them all into the collapsing vortex.
After everyone gathered, all the Nightmare clones used the [Judgment - Verdict] devouring ability on the giant placenta above the City of the Dead.
The skill activated, but not fully.
The fog above the City of the Dead had thinned considerably, but the large placenta above remained unharmed, and the Nightmare clones had a mouthful of fragments of the souls of the dead.
Zhou Fangdong frowned, controlling his nightmare clones to continue devouring.
However, the surrounding fog seemed to have a protective mechanism. After sensing that the placenta was about to be exposed outside the fog, the fog around the City of the Dead also rushed into the city, obscuring the thing in the sky again.
This is going on and on, it's getting a bit tricky. It seems like the Nightmare clones alone aren't enough to completely eliminate this thing... There's too much fog in the city, we can't finish eating it all in one night.
Zhou Fangdong took out a kerosene lamp and looked at the collapsed vortex in front of him with some hesitation.
Although the kerosene lamp has now been repaired, and he can enter the collapsed area while carrying the lit kerosene lamp, getting in is easy, but getting out is difficult.
Whether it was entering the Evil Dog Village last time or entering the City of the Dead this time, once the Nightmare clone arrived in the Underworld area, there were no more collapses or cracks behind it, and it couldn't find its way back to the apartment at all.
Wait, it seems he doesn't need to find his way.
"System, after I enter the space opposite the collapsed area, can I use the [Return] skill to return to my apartment?"
If the collapsed area connects to the main god instance, the host can directly use the [Return] skill to return.
However, if the connection is to the underworld area, this skill cannot be used; you need to find the collapsed crevice to return to the apartment.
"Is it because the underworld is closed?"
Yes, currently neither the underworld officials of this world nor the projections of extraterrestrial gods from the void can freely enter and exit the underworld.
The reason why certain collapsed areas in the apartment can connect to the underworld is because the void power overflowing from the projection of the outer god that polluted the underworld resonated with the collapsed areas in the apartment.
...The pollution of the underworld was indeed due to the projection of an outer god.
It now appears that after the world's protective barriers disappeared, the main areas of collapse in this world are the Liwan Apartments and the Underworld.
The vengeful spirits in hell are drawn to the cracks on the roof of the Liwan Apartments, and the underworld closed its gates after discovering this.
After the Underworld was closed, the projections of the outer gods that had corrupted it were also trapped. Currently, the Underworld has trapped some of the outer god projections, while the rest are on the fifth floor and above of the apartment building.
No wonder the Evil Dog Village scene collapsed after the pollution of the underworld was eliminated... It seems that what collapsed was not the underworld itself, but the passage connecting to the underworld.
After dealing with that placenta, the area of the City of the Dead will most likely collapse like the Village of Evil Dogs. In the process, if he can't find his way back, he might be completely lost in the void. He can't risk his life.
Find your way back...
Zhou Fangdong remembered something, opened the tenant catalog, and turned to the page for [Ghost Tenant - Paper Craftsman].
Unlocking the Paper Craftsman's tenant profile rewards you with the [Cursed Item - White Paper Lantern].
The effect of this prop is: carrying a white paper lantern, no one can tell if you are human or ghost. The lantern's light can illuminate the path to haunted areas, and carrying the lantern allows you to visit all open haunted locations, shortening the required distance.
With so many ghosts in Liwan Apartments, it must be considered a paranormal location, right?
However, just to be on the safe side, Zhou Fangdong continued to call out to the system: "System, can I find my way back to the apartment with this white paper lantern?"
【Can】
After receiving confirmation from the system, Zhou Fangdong felt even more at ease.
Although using the white paper lantern will cause a one-day disorientation debuff, it's a minor issue; a bottle of [Curse Removal Potion] will remove all problems.
Zhou Fangdong took the white paper lantern and put it in his inventory. Then he was teleported to the second floor and arrived at the hidden room on the second floor.
He pulled his large machete, with a barbed chain at the end, from the wall of the slime farm.
The large, mushroom-shaped placenta in the City of the Wrongfully Dead reminded Zhou Fangdong of the meat-like Ganoderma lucidum. This large cleaver was effective against the meat-like Ganoderma lucidum, and it might also be very effective against the placenta.
The fact that he needs to recharge Ghost Coins to use the machete is a minor issue; he currently has a huge sum of 340,000 Ghost Coins, which is more than enough for him to spend.
After collecting the props, Zhou Fangdong, now ready, returned to the collapsing vortex on the 7th floor.
Before entering, he focused his consciousness on a Nightmare clone to confirm that there were no other changes in the City of the Dead except that the fog had thinned a bit. Then he lit a kerosene lamp and went inside.
The sensation of passing through the collapsing vortex was like piercing through a plastic film; my vision went black for a moment, and the next instant, a majestic city appeared before me.
The moment Zhou Fangdong arrived in this area, he suddenly felt a lightness all over his body, as if something that had been binding him had disappeared.
It felt like living in an environment with ten times the normal gravity and suddenly returning to a normal gravity environment... The body was completely relaxed, every pore on the body was emitting a comfortable sigh, and even the heavy machete in the hand seemed to have lost its weight.
Zhou Fangdong actually felt like he didn't want to go back to the apartment.
...If only I could stay here forever.
He sighed deeply, carrying a kerosene lamp in one hand and dragging a machete in the other, and walked into the City of the Unjustly Dead.
The moment his foot stepped through the city gate, all the black mist boiled over, and all the mist gathered together at an extremely fast speed, compressing into a giant hand that fiercely grabbed at Zhou Fangdong.
There was no fear in Zhou Fangdong's eyes. He directly dispelled all the nightmare clones around him, then picked up the kerosene lamp and turned it to the explosive mode.
The warm yellow flames were like the sun rising from hell, and the intense, blazing light instantly swept across the entire world.
The black mist emitted a shriek the moment it touched the lamp flame, and dissipated as if it had encountered a natural enemy.
Half of the City of the Dead was illuminated, and the decaying buildings and the charred and cracked black city walls were all coated with a sharp gold.
As the light shone, Zhou Fangdong flicked his right hand, and the menacing cleaver he had been holding floated into the air!
This time he didn't use ghost coins; the machete moved as freely as an extension of his limbs.
The moment the giant blade rose, it emitted a series of buzzing sounds, as if trembling with excitement. The remaining black mist in the city was pulled by an invisible force, surging wildly into the blade.
As it continued to absorb the mist, the blade gleamed with a chilling light, and the body of the blade began to turn pitch black. The already enormous blade instantly grew several times larger, transforming into a giant blade almost as tall as the city wall.
At the same time, the iron chain at the end of the knife rattled and slithered like a python, protecting Zhou Fangdong in the center.
The blade pointed directly at the enormous, constantly writhing and contracting placenta in the sky.
As the city's fog merged into the giant blade, crimson patterns began to appear on its surface, like the eyes of countless ferocious beasts ready to tear their prey apart.
Zhou Fangdong looked at the black placenta above the city and gently waved his hand.
The giant blade moved accordingly.
The blade flashed like black lightning, carrying the momentum to tear the sky apart, and slashed fiercely down at the black placenta that blotted out the sun!
The moment the blade touched the placenta, a deafening explosion erupted, and the entire City of the Dead trembled under the terrifying sound.
The mass of dark flesh and blood seemed to have been struck by divine punishment, its surface instantly cracking open with countless fissures. Thick black blood gushed out like a fountain, mixed with rotten internal organs and broken limbs of the dead, like a torrential downpour of black rain.
But under the light of the blazing kerosene lamp, the rainwater melted away in the air before it could even touch Zhou Fangdong.
Rumble—!!!
The severely damaged black placenta began to convulse and contract violently. It tried to dodge, but the blade was so fast that it gave it no chance to escape.
Wherever the blade passed, rotting flesh exploded like fireworks, black blood splattered, and fragments scattered, turning into ashes in the flash of the blade.
Zhou Fangdong only waved his hand once throughout the entire process.
He stood in the center of the chains, surrounded by blazing lights, gazing calmly at the sky, his eyes devoid of any emotion, as if watching a fireworks display that had nothing to do with him.
As the kerosene lamps gradually dimmed, the black placenta and thick fog that had enveloped the city also largely dissipated, revealing the blood-red sky belonging to the underworld.
Zhou Fangdong waved his hand again and put away the machete.
The moment the kerosene lamp went out completely, the entire City of the Dead began to tremble again, and the surrounding scenery began to spread like an ink painting.
Zhou Fangdong knew this was a sign that the pollution was being eliminated and the passage was about to be closed.
He quickly put away the kerosene lamp and took out a white paper lantern.
A faint blue light automatically illuminated the white paper, revealing a winding path.
At the end of this path lies a familiar collapsed vortex.
Although it looked far away, when Zhou Fangdong stepped onto the path, he found that it seemed to roll forward on its own like a conveyor belt. He only took a few steps before arriving at the collapsing vortex.
Zhou Fangdong walked straight in and successfully returned to his apartment before the scene of the City of the Wrongfully Dead completely dissipated.
Cool!
Even though the feeling of constraint returned after he got back to the apartment, Zhou Fangdong was still very happy.
That knife was so satisfying to use; I wish I could use a machete this well in my apartment.
Shortly after he returned to his apartment, the collapsing vortex behind the ghost messenger's projection disappeared. At the same time, the ghost messenger's appearance changed, from an ordinary face to a sickly appearance with skin as pale as paper.
He coughed twice and read aloud in a lifeless, emotionless tone: "Ah, remarkable hero! You really succeeded. No wonder you were chosen by the village chief. This is nothing short of a miracle! This is the reward I promised you. Please accept it."
[Congratulations, host, you have obtained the key to room 1603 on the 16th floor!]
After the key was given, the ghostly projection disappeared, just like last time.
After he disappeared, Zhou Fangdong took out a kerosene lamp that had run out of oil from his inventory and refilled it with a jar of oil.
There are also four jars of lamp oil.
He was very economical with his kerosene lamp. The lamp oil he had just used up in the City of the Dead was the amount that came with the lamp when it was first installed. This was the first time he had ever replenished the entire jar of lamp oil.
However, there are still 60 corpses in the basement, so even if we are a little extravagant, it doesn't really matter, there is plenty of lamp oil.
Speaking of corpses... Zhou Fangdong recalled the six ghosts he had eaten on the 15th floor.
Why not just turn those six ghosts into ghost tenants and decorate the garden? A family should be together all the time; it must be so lonely for just the six of them to stay in the hallway.
With that in mind, Zhou Fangdong took the elevator directly to the 15th floor.
Just as he captured three ghosts using [Shadow Soul Contract], a system notification suddenly sounded:
[Dynamic Event: Night Attack by a Hundred Demons (Countdown: 3 days)]
It's dawn! Time flies. It feels like I only found one key all night.
Zhou Fangdong thought that after he finished renovating the garden, he might be able to go to the 16th floor to take a look.
He was missing keys to only the 16th, 17th, and 18th floors.
Since obtaining the keys to these three floors was so difficult, the rooms on these floors must also be quite special.
There might be something important inside that's not suitable for a newbie like me to look at, which is why the system opened the door key.
Based on Zhou Fangdong's experience playing games, there must be some crucial clues in the rooms on these three floors, such as... information related to the identity of his partner.
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