Chapter 93 Building a Courier Station: Farming, like cooking, is most vulnerable to unexpected events...
When Zhou Fangdong arrived at the activity room on the first floor, he did not immediately look for the second hidden room.
He stood in the hallway, stroking his chin as he looked at the clean, newly renovated corridor floor and the straight-lined ceiling. Something about it just didn't feel right.
After observing for a while, he finally realized where the incongruity came from—it was a problem with the wall.
The hallway floor tiles and ceiling have been repaired, but the walls are still the same as before... the paint is peeling off, and the walls are covered with graffiti and splattered dried blood.
The ceiling, walls, and floor used to be all dilapidated, but it looked harmonious. Now the ceiling and floor have been repaired, but the walls remain as they were, which looks very out of place.
Zhou Fangdong hesitated for a moment, but still opened the public area beautification interface to check how many ghost coins were needed to decorate the walls.
Five thousand ghost coins for one wall...
One corridor with two walls, four corridors in total across two floors...
Forty thousand ghost coins.
It's alright, it's just weird. You'll get used to it after a while.
As Zhou Fangdong was about to close the decoration interface, he suddenly noticed an exclamation mark on the decoration value.
The last time this happened was when the decoration value reached 200, unlocking the garden teleportation function.
Zhou Fangdong clicked on the exclamation mark and found that this time it said: "Renovation value reaches 1000, unlock new features."
His current renovation value is 900.
The combined cost of the ceiling and floor renovations for the two floors is only 700, which is really not worth it.
If the system doesn't provide any freebies, and Zhou Fangdong is left to renovate it himself, he might leave the building permanently in its war-damaged ruins style.
The renovation cost is still 100 short...
Zhou Fangdong opened the [decoration] again.
The cheapest option is the hallway ceiling light, a basic round model priced at 100 Ghost Coins, with a decoration value of 10.
It cost twice as much as the hallway wall lamp, but the renovation cost was the same. It's such a rip-off.
But there was no other way; both hallways were already filled with wall lights, so I had to buy this ceiling light instead.
A corridor can have a maximum of five units. After buying two corridors, you can raise the decoration value to 1000.
As soon as the ceiling light was installed, a pop-up window immediately appeared:
The apartment's common areas have a renovation value of 1000; elevator safety measures are in place on the first and second floors.
The elevators on the first and second floors are in normal use during the day.
Zhou Fangdong was a little disappointed to find that the new feature was elevator safety.
This skill is really rather useless.
The rooms on the second floor have all been cleaned up and rented out, so there's no need to move furniture or large items... Even if you really need to move furniture, there's no need to use the elevator, since the furniture ghosts are perfect movers, and they won't get tired walking up stairs.
The elevator safety feature is only useful for making it easier for second-floor tenants to go up and down the stairs, so they don't have to take a long detour anymore.
Zhou Fangdong sighed, stopped paying attention to the decoration interface, and began to feel around on the wall of the corridor for the door to another hidden room.
*
Zhu Di sat blankly on the sofa in the living room of room 206, unable to believe that she had so easily moved into Liwan Apartment.
Although the apartment hallway was somewhat dilapidated and haunted, the room itself was beautifully decorated with brand-new furniture, looking even better than the apartment she rented in Penghu.
Moreover, the rental process was much simpler than in the city center. She simply signed her name and received the room key; there was no record verification or asset verification.
[Record Review] This review covers records of paranormal events. Ordinary citizens who experience paranormal events will have a record left with the Bureau of Supervision, which can be accessed by logging onto the Bureau's official website.
In the city center, landlords will check whether tenants have experienced paranormal events before renting out their properties.
If a tenant has experienced more than two paranormal events, some landlords may believe that the tenant has a jinxed constitution that attracts ghosts and spirits. To prevent their property from being sealed off due to paranormal events, they generally won't rent to such a person.
Of course, the simple rental process at Liwan Apartment might also be because there are already many ghosts in the apartment, and the landlord simply doesn't care whether the tenant has a tendency to attract ghosts.
The rooms inside the Liwan Apartment were like two different worlds. Zhu Di felt utterly hopeless at the thought of having to go out and face those strange and terrifying ghosts in the corridor.
She and Su Wan's large luggage were still at the apartment entrance; they had only brought their backpacks with them when they viewed the apartment.
...Although I was very scared, I still had to go down, since I would be living here for a long time.
Moreover, with Su Wan by her side, Zhu Di felt that even if she were in a more dangerous situation, she would be able to overcome it.
It's just living with a ghost; you'll get used to it eventually in order to survive.
Zhu Di and Su Wan went down the stairs together and carried their luggage to the second floor as quickly as possible.
Like all abandoned buildings, this long-abandoned building has a clean corridor with no dust or garbage, but the building's infrastructure is dilapidated due to long-term lack of maintenance.
The corridor floor tiles were mostly cracked, exposing the cement base beneath. The wall plaster had peeled off, revealing various graffiti and dark red stains that appeared to be blood. The ceiling was also largely collapsed, exposing the concrete, steel bars, and various rusty metal pipes.
This building is like the corpse of a giant beast lying on the edge of the city, its exterior still standing stubbornly, but its interior has been devoured by time, leaving only a metal skeleton.
...However, this dilapidated state became a thing of the past in just a short moment.
The incident occurred just as Zhu Di and Su Wan pushed their luggage to the entrance of the second-floor corridor.
Because they had been looking down, they could clearly see, in the light of their phone flashlights, that the cracked floor tiles in the corridor had instantly transformed into a smooth, mirror-like marble floor.
The off-white tiles were interspersed with pale gray veins, and the reflection on the ground showed their frozen figures in shock.
The ground, which had been shattered into a spiderweb pattern, was silently wiped away.
The two girls realized what was happening and looked up in unison.
The ceiling, once filled with metal pipes, has disappeared, replaced by a perfectly straight, pure white plasterboard ceiling.
If it weren't for the fact that the walls were still covered in graffiti and the paint was peeling and chipped, Zhu Di and Su Wan would have both wondered if they had traveled through time.
The ghostly figures in the corridor that had once terrified them now served as anchors, giving them a sense of security.
As if noticing their gaze, softly lit ceiling lights appeared out of nowhere.
The lamps emitted a warm, soft yellow light, their round outlines resembling eyes awakening from slumber, responding to their observing gazes and silently meeting their eyes.
Zhu Di and Su Wan both shivered and quickly lowered their heads.
A figure simultaneously appeared in their minds.
What a terrifying power it is, to be able to so easily change the decor of an entire floor.
They felt as if they had stumbled into a divine game... God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The changes in scenery and the light in the sky were all within the control of that person's thoughts.
Fearing they might get caught up in some strange incident, the two didn't dare linger in the corridor and dragged their luggage back to their room.
*
After searching along the walls of the first-floor corridor for a while, Zhou Fangdong found the door to the hidden room near the stairwell.
This door is similar to the door of the apartment tenant's room, except that there is no room number on the door.
Upon opening the door, the first thing that catches the eye is a large pile of cardboard boxes.
This house has been abandoned for too long; the room is filled with the damp, musty smell and the stench of rotting cardboard boxes.
A dilapidated parcel shelf was piled crookedly in the corner, various cardboard boxes and parcel packaging bags were scattered everywhere, cobwebs hung from the ceiling, and a thick layer of dust covered the floor.
As Zhou Fangdong inspected the interior, the system's electronic beeping sounded:
[Beep - Host detected to have found a hidden room delivery station. Delivery station construction interface is now available. Access can be made through the public area beautification interface.]
Does the courier station have a separate design interface?
When Zhou Fangdong opened the decoration interface, he was puzzled to find that the interface for the courier station was covered with a layer of mosaic, making it completely unusable.
Before he could even ask what was going on with the system, the excited electronic voice of the system rang out again:
[Loss-leader sale! For just 500 Ghost Coins, you can get the qualification to decorate your courier station! Decorate to your heart's content, choose any color! You won't regret it, host, would you like to buy?]
Listening to the electronic voice that sounded like a clearance sale in a shopping mall, Zhou Fangdong was speechless.
"Tongzi, it's not easy for me to save up this money. You're like that cunning merchant who tries every trick in the book to get people to spend money, always making me spend ghost coins..."
Should we buy it?
"want."
They compromised so easily.
There's nothing I can do, the system gave me too much... I can decorate however I want.
The tenants' rooms are all cleaned by fully automated cleaning tools, and the furniture is all simple furniture from home improvement stores. The hallway decoration is too expensive, with a single lamp or painting costing two or three hundred ghost coins, completely ruining the fun of the decorating mini-game.
It's only 500 ghost coins, just the price to complete a side quest of renting a room on the second floor. I'll buy it!
However, after purchasing it, Zhou Fangdong discovered that the decoration of the courier station was completely different from what he had imagined.
"Give me my money back!! Why can I only use one color for the walls? The range of colors to choose from is too limited, no wonder it was so cheap—and why does it all require manual operation? System, do you think I'm too idle and want to give me something to do?"
[Discounted promotional activities, no returns or exchanges after purchase]
Zhou Fangdong was convinced.
He suspected that the decoration function of this courier station was an initial prototype before the system created the apartment corridor decoration interface. Many decoration operations were particularly troublesome, and even painting the walls white or changing the wallpaper required manual operation.
Moreover, it's not just about decorating; even cleaning up trash requires manually clicking on each room's floor plan in the decoration interface.
Sigh, since I've already bought it, I have no choice but to bite the bullet and continue with the renovations.
He, a respectable apartment landlord, was actually picking up trash by hand...
…And you know what, picking up trash is actually quite interesting.
As he swiped his finger across the decoration interface, he could clearly see an invisible force wiping away the dust, cobwebs, cardboard boxes, and garbage bags in this hidden room.
This real-time feedback is somewhat addictive, like a creator.
After cleaning up the trash on the ground, Zhou Fangdong chose a [country-style latex paint (light green)] and applied it to the four walls in strips, like using correction tape.
The mottled and moldy walls were instantly covered by a soft green, making the space feel much warmer and brighter.
There were also limited colors to choose from for the floor, so Zhou Fangdong opted for light pink, wear-resistant, and non-slip floor tiles.
The colors in the system interface are actually different from those in reality. The decoration interface shows a bright light pink color, but in reality it looks like a dull pink.
The floor tiles needed to be pieced together little by little, like a jigsaw puzzle, but Zhou Fangdong was too lazy to put them together again, so he just went with the gray-pink color.
Next, we need to buy a courier counter, a metal rack for placing packages, and also a curtain to cover the window that's been boarded up... We should buy Venetian blinds, since there are so many people coming and going at the courier station, and this material won't get dirty easily.
As Zhou Fangdong operated the device, all the components slowly emerged as if 3D printed.
After buying the major items, I still need to add some [decorative items].
The illuminated sign for the "Express Station" hanging outside the door, the lights inside, the express delivery computer, the barcode scanner, the printer, the electronic screen for scanning packages, and maybe a few potted plants to purify the air—it doesn't cost any money anyway… Why is there a plush teddy bear in the interior of the express station?
Zhou Fangdong also bought the bear.
He originally intended to put it on the counter, but he didn't expect the bear to be more than a person's height, and it was huge even when it was sitting on the ground.
And this bear looks so familiar.
It seems that the teddy bear rushed out of the elevator that night when he was adding lamp oil to room 101.
...Just looking at it feels dangerous, and it takes up too much space at the courier station, so I'll just throw it in the recycling section.
In just over ten minutes, the once dilapidated and abandoned room was completely transformed.
The metal shelves were neatly arranged, the counter was clean and tidy, and the words "Welcome to pick up your package" scrolled on the electronic screen.
Zhou Fangdong looked around with satisfaction.
At the same time, the system voice also sounded:
The Liwan Apartment Express Station has been completed and will be officially opened after the "ghost postman" and one express sorting worker are on duty.
We still need a package sorting worker...
Zhou Fangdong thought for a moment and decided to ask Xiao Xiaoyu if she would be willing to come and help.
This tenant is being hunted by the main god and can't easily go out. Staying in the apartment every day must be quite boring, so working at the delivery station allows him to chat with the ghost postman and the tenants who come to pick up and send packages.
Currently, there are only a dozen or so human tenants in the apartment, so the workload at the X courier station is not heavy.
When you go to see her, give her the [Life-or-Death Dice] as well.
Zhou Fangdong hadn't given it to her before because he was afraid that Xiao Xiaoyu would encounter danger when she used the dice to gamble with the ghost.
After all, Xiao Xiaoyu's tenant profile stated that this tenant is ruthless to others and even more ruthless to herself. If she is put in a dangerous situation, she will choose to perish together with her enemy.
...He feared that this die was the item that could cause Xiao Xiaoyu to perish together with the enemy. After all, the name 'gambling with one's life' was very misleading. What if Xiao Xiaoyu knew some usage methods that the system didn't? After all, this was originally her item.
But after watching Xiao Xiaoyu's mall adventure yesterday, Zhou Fangdong learned that she could see the flow of yin energy on the dice, and he was no longer worried about her risking her life by using the life-gambling dice... This item was controllable for her, and she would not fail as long as she did not intentionally seek death.
Zhou Fangdong opened the rental preview interface and took a look.
Then he discovered that Xiao Xiaoyu was not in the room.
Startled, he quickly opened the special tenant watchlist again to check Xiao Xiaoyu's movements... She actually went to the apartment garden?
Zhou Fangdong then opened the garden decoration interface.
To his surprise, there were actually three tenants in the garden.
In the garden planting area, three pixelated figures, two men and one woman, were gathered together.
—He Yansheng, a skinny pixelated character wearing glasses; Ke Yan, a pixelated character with curly hair; and Xiao Xiaoyu, a chibi character who is a head shorter than the other pixelated characters.
A hole had already been dug in the planting area. Two adult men carried something and threw it into the hole, while Xiao Xiaoyu stood by watching with a watering can in her hand.
Instead of researching ways to bring corpses back to life, the ghost tenant living in a hidden room in the back of the apartment building, Ke Yan, has gone off to farm in the garden...
However, Ke Yan's appearance is not the main point; the main point is the thing he and He Yansheng buried in the ground.
Although the pixelated interface was somewhat blurry, Zhou Fangdong could still discern that the two of them were carrying a human-shaped object.
...Is this a corpse? This is definitely a corpse, isn't it?
Zhou Fangdong is numb.
What are you two doing?! Even if you planted corpses in the ground, you wouldn't get any living people!
Or were these two planning to use the corpse as fertilizer?
This is hellish. Even though there are many corpses in the back building, there's no need to make such a fuss.
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