Chapter 61 The Special Tenant of the Bone Society Who Likes to Deliver Takeout: The Ghostly Theft of Pictures...
Kerosene lamp oil manufacturing base...
There are 13 kilograms of lamp oil left...
Thirteen corpses...
Zhou Fangdong's mind was in a mess, and he subconsciously took out a kerosene lamp.
He held the old kerosene lamp in both hands, looking through the gray glass shade at the murky, black oil filled with fluffy particles; his vision blurred.
"The kerosene lamp oil... was refined from my corpse? Is this my corpse oil?"
"But how could I possibly have so many corpses?"
“I did die once, yes, I was hit by a truck, but I was brought back to life by the system. Even though the system secretly reused my corpse, none of the bodies in these ice coffins look like they were run over by a car…”
"Or has the body that was hit by the car turned into lamp oil? Is this how I got the lamp oil as a reward for main quest 1?"
"Ha, the oil extracted from my corpse is actually worth 30,000 ghost coins. I'm quite valuable."
“What am I proud of? It’s not about whether it’s worth anything… First of all, I only died once, so it’s impossible for me to have this many corpses.”
"Besides, I've only been in this world for a short time, maybe eight days at most. This basement is clearly where the Bone Inheritance Society used to perform resurrection rituals. Could I possibly travel through time and die here prematurely, leaving behind more than ten corpses? What the hell—System, System, say something! Why are you acting so unintelligent now?!"
[Host's mental state bar is rapidly decreasing. Please remain calm.]
How can you expect me to calm down??
Zhou Fangdong is really on the verge of a breakdown.
He could calmly accept dancing cheek-to-cheek with a rotting corpse.
But now, thirteen gruesome corpses suddenly appear, each still bearing his face, as if telling him, 'You've already died more than ten times, brother. On the surface, there are only these few corpses, but secretly, your bodies are probably piled up like a mountain. If you die a few more times, your corpses could circle the earth hand in hand…'
"System, this isn't the first time I've been resurrected, is it? Have I reloaded my save file several times?"
But after dying so many times, is he still the same person? Does having Zhou Fangdong's memories mean he is Zhou Fangdong?
This doesn't mean that anyone can become him as long as they have the memories...
It's still that philosophical question—how do I prove that I am who I am?
[Host, you have never died before. You were indeed resurrected by the system's power eight days ago.]
The system will only bind to a single host; no one can replace it, and no second host will appear.
These corpses are merely an additional effect of the skill. Once the skill is fully upgraded, the host will understand everything.
"Wait until your skills are maxed out." Zhou Fangdong repeated softly.
The brass pendant around his neck flickered, and he suddenly calmed down, falling into an eerie calm.
"Is it a side effect of that [Half-Body Shrine]? System, you only suggested that I max out this skill... It turns out that the side effect of this skill not only makes me eat ghosts, but also produces corpses that generate lamp oil."
"Since you say I have never died, then these corpses just have faces that look like mine, but they are not actually me, right?"
The system doesn't understand what the host is saying.
"I understand. It was the same last time. The system won't reveal the skill's effects before the skill is upgraded."
Zhou Fangdong immediately perked up.
"Then let nature take its course. Everything will be clear once the skills are maxed out."
He currently has 5 skill points, and he needs 10 more to level up... After renting out the remaining rooms on the second floor, he can complete four more role-playing tasks, or rent out four more rooms on the third floor to successfully level up.
Ever since he saw the corpses in the basement, Zhou Fangdong's biggest fear has been that he is a fake.
He couldn't accept that he had died many times, nor could he accept that the memories in his mind, everything he had experienced, and even his preferences might have been altered and re-instilled by someone else.
...If everything is fake, then it's meaningless.
Zhou Fangdong opened his character attribute panel and glanced at it. His spirit bar had dropped by about a quarter, but it was slowly increasing and could recover quickly even without using ghost coins.
He exhaled softly and walked to the ice coffin closest to him.
In the coffin, his head and neck were severed, as if his neck had been cut off by a very sharp blade, and he died with his eyes wide open.
Zhou Fangdong subconsciously touched his neck.
Although he had calmed down considerably, seeing a corpse that looked exactly like himself still felt a bit strange.
This feeling is like looking in a mirror and finding that you have suddenly died, making you wonder if you are still alive.
And there's something else that puzzled Zhou Fangdong...
Is the lamp oil in the two lamps outside the apartment tenants' doors at night also corpse oil?
Before he discovered the basement, the system probably couldn't refine oil from corpses... so there might be other ways to produce lamp oil, either the apartment itself produces it, or the system secretly borrows resources from others to supplement its supplies.
I don't know if the lamp oil outside Room 101 has been replenished yet, but Zhao Dawei hasn't had any bad luck lately, so there shouldn't be any major problems.
Zhou Fangdong opened the newly unlocked lamp oil production interface.
The lamp oil production interface is a pixel-perfect plan view of this basement from above, just like the rental preview interface. No matter where you are, clicking the screen will take you directly to the basement.
That strange alchemical apparatus, consisting of a large iron pot and many flasks, was used to refine lamp oil, but it was unusable because there were no workers to make lamp oil at the moment.
The number of remaining raw materials is displayed in the top left corner of the page: 13
There is a sub-interface called "[Lamp Oil Worker Production]" in the upper right corner.
[Lamp Oil Worker Crafting] Upon opening, a rudimentary crafting system appears.
The crafting system details state that to create a worker who boils lamp oil, one needs a [corpse from the back of the apartment building], a [worker's uniform made by a ghost tailor], and a pair of [silversmith's shackles].
At the very top, there's another necessary condition: you need to unlock a ghost tenant's profile... all you know is that it's a ghost tenant, but you don't know its specific name.
The corpse in the back building of the apartment is easy to find. The ghost tailor and silversmith seem to be from the ghost market, so you can go and take a look around the ghost market.
However, the prerequisite for creating a lamp oil worker is to unlock a ghost tenant.
Where is he supposed to find this ghost tenant whose name he doesn't even know...? Is he really going to resort to that shady lottery skill?
Zhou Fangdong does have a lottery ticket that guarantees he'll get a ghost tenant, but he's confident in his luck—he definitely won't get it.
Among the countless ghost tenants in the back building of the apartment, even if he could draw one as a guaranteed prize, it certainly wouldn't be the one he needed right now.
Although it's impossible to make lamp oil workers right now, Zhou Fangdong isn't too anxious about it; he's not in a hurry to refine lamp oil.
His upgraded skills are all very useful, and he doesn't plan to go out and wander around the apartment at night, so he doesn't need the kerosene lamp for the time being.
Moreover, even if he really needed to, the remaining oil in his kerosene lamp could burn for eight hours, and he also had a brand new, unused jar of oil on hand, so he wasn't in a rush to make oil at the moment.
What Zhou Fangdong is most curious about now is who the person who left the notes at the entrance to the mahjong room and the basement is.
He was like a legendary investigator, leaving notes and clues in various key places.
I don't know if this person is still alive. If we can find him, we might be able to get a lot of information about the Heirs of the Bone Society from him.
Before turning off the lamp oil production interface, Zhou Fangdong noticed something was off about the basement floor plan on the panel... There seemed to be a red glow coming from the entrance.
He dragged the floor plan and discovered that the red light emanating from the main entrance door was the source of the glow.
After clicking, the door displays "Change basement access method" and "Completely seal the basement entrance".
"System, after completely sealing off the basement entrance, can I still teleport to the basement through the system panel?"
[Yes, but after completely sealing off the basement entrance, there will be a one-month cooldown period before reopening it.]
Zhou Fangdong pondered for a moment, but ultimately decided against sealing off the basement entrance.
This is safer and doesn't affect his comings and goings. But if he unlocks the ghost tenant later and can make the lamp oil worker, he'll need to move the corpse into the basement... and the corpse needs to come in through the entrance.
Let's wait until the lamp oil workers have finished making most of it before sealing it off completely.
Zhou Fangdong selected "Change the method to enter the basement".
First, he reset the positions of the bricks on the door that needed to be pressed. To prevent himself from forgetting, he thought for a moment and then set up a few security questions.
This will prevent people who previously knew how to enter the basement from getting in.
Perhaps due to the extreme emotional fluctuations and the excessive depletion of his mental energy in a short period of time, Zhou Fangdong felt a bit tired. After dealing with the matters in the basement, he teleported directly back to his room.
Back in his room, he opened the newly unlocked tenant profile and took a look.
[Special Tenant - The Thief]
He steals from people and ghosts alike; there's nothing he won't steal, and nothing he can't steal.
Illustrated description: Born half-demon. After his parasitic younger brother died, his corpse and soul continued to parasitize him. Because of his brother's existence, he has two human hands and two demonic hands, so getting whatever he wants is just a matter of course, and stealing gradually developed from a hobby into a profession.
Characteristics: Smooth, charming, and with high emotional intelligence; a legitimate businessman who enjoys sourcing goods at virtually no cost; currently the exclusive supplier for a paper craft shop. Dreams include living in Liwan Apartments and owning a shop in the ghost market; half of that dream has already come true.
Encyclopedia Unlock Reward: [Strange Item - Severed Hand of Unknown Origin]
A severed hand?
Upon seeing the prop, Zhou Fangdong paused for a moment and checked its description.
[Strange Item - A Severed Hand of Unknown Origin]
Prop Description: When Hou San first came to the apartment, his younger brother stole a strange severed hand for him from somewhere. Because he was afraid that stealing something on their first meeting would lower the landlord's opinion of him, Hou San didn't mention it. The second time he came to the apartment, he secretly threw the severed hand near the back building.
(Note: This might be an important item. You can try keeping it; it might come in handy sometime.)
Zhou Fangdong breathed a sigh of relief.
He was terrified; he thought the unscrupulous system had chopped off Hou San's hand as a reward...
After receiving the prop, Zhou Fangdong was mentally prepared that it might be a severed hand from a rotting corpse or a mummy, but he did not expect that this strange severed hand would look like a high-tech product.
This is a left hand. Although there is skin and flesh on the surface, it is not completely covered. Through the missing parts, you can see that the blood vessels and muscle tissue inside are all made of precision mechanical parts. It has a kind of beauty of 'flesh and blood are weak, and machinery is soaring', which looks particularly cool.
Zhou Fangdong treated it as a decorative item and placed it on the bookshelf above the table.
As he laid out the severed hand, he noticed the giant blade that he had casually tossed on the ground.
Two pieces of Ganoderma lucidum seeds were also strung on the hook at the end of the giant blade.
I need to go to the ghost market again tonight to give the meat Ganoderma lucidum seeds to the butcher.
Although the knife given by the butcher requires purchasing Ghost Coins to use, its effectiveness is truly unparalleled.
Moreover, he doesn't know what use this fleshy Ganoderma seed would have if he kept it, so he might as well give it to someone to do them a favor and improve their relationship.
When you go to the ghost market, you can also check out where the ghost tailor who makes lamp oil worker uniforms is, and the silversmith who makes shackles.
Prepare the materials needed by the workers to synthesize lamp oil first, just in case.
*
After receiving the talisman from Zhou Fangdong, Miao Zheng at Chuyun Temple has been unable to sleep.
Duan Wenyu, who had been persuaded by her to come to the Taoist temple for a vacation, also looked somber.
There's a feeling that a storm is brewing...
Just then, Miao Zheng's phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw that it was Zhu Di calling her.
After taking the talisman from Zhu Di's house last time, the two exchanged contact information to prevent Zhu Di from encountering danger again.
After the call connected, Zhu Di's voice, trembling with tears, came from the other end of the phone: "Sister Zheng... I... I think I'm being targeted by someone again. My boyfriend and my best friend's boyfriend both disappeared yesterday."
Hearing her say that, Miao Zheng frowned slightly: "How can you be sure their disappearance will affect you?"
Zhu Di calmed herself down and told Miao Zheng about the nightmare she had a few days ago.
She, her best friend, and their missing boyfriend had a strange dream together. In the dream, they were in a strange town, sitting motionless in the audience, watching six bald men perform on stage.
The reason she accepted the talisman from the middle-aged man in the melon-shaped hat was because she was suffering from this nightmare at the time.
Zhu Di suspected that she might have been the first target, but since Miao Zheng took away her talisman, the person behind it failed and turned their attention to their boyfriends.
She suspected that if things continued like this, she and her best friend would suffer again sooner or later.
Miao Zheng sighed: "But there is no actual evidence to prove that your boyfriend's disappearance is related to this strange dream, nor is there any evidence to prove that your boyfriend disappeared due to a paranormal event and is in danger, so we will not report it to the Supervision Bureau—that's what the police station said, right?"
“Yes! They said my boyfriend has been missing for less than 24 hours, and they told me to wait a little longer, but I really can’t wait any longer! Someone wants to harm me, and I have a feeling it must be related to that strange dream! I really have no other choice, so I called you… Sister Zheng, you’re the only person I know who can solve paranormal cases.” Zhu Di couldn’t help but cry again as she finished speaking.
"Calm down first. Crying is the least useful thing to do right now," Miao Zheng said, trying to stop him. "Tell me what your boyfriend did before he disappeared, and where he went before he disappeared. I'll ask someone I know at the Supervision Bureau to check it out."
"At, at Penghu Department Store..." Zhu Di choked up. "My best friend Su Wan's birthday was yesterday, and the four of us had arranged to have a party at her house. The last time my boyfriend contacted me was yesterday afternoon. He said they went to Penghu Department Store to buy snacks and a cake, and he even sent me a video saying they would be there in half an hour. But we waited until evening, and Penghu Department Store was already closed, and they still didn't show up."
"Okay, I understand."
After a pause, Miao Zheng instructed, "Don't worry too much. As long as you don't go out, you should be fine. Most of the ghosts roaming the city are around Rank D. These weak ghosts can only possess humans and harm them by influencing their emotions. Stay at home, lock the doors and windows. Don't order takeout, and don't let anyone in, whether they are strangers or acquaintances. Wear earplugs and an eye mask, lie in bed, and don't pay attention to anything that happens."
Zhu Di responded with a muffled sound.
After hanging up the phone, Miao Zheng decided to tell the landlord about it before reporting to Hong Zhong.
The six bald men Zhu Di mentioned reminded her of the two cult members, a man and a woman, who had persecuted Zhao Dawei in the apartment.
These two cult members also had their heads completely shaved, and they wore human skin hats that resembled melon rinds on their heads.
She suspected that the middle-aged man in the melon-shaped hat who gave Zhu Di the talisman was very likely in cahoots with them.
Given the ruthlessness of these inhuman cult members, if they don't kill someone once, they will definitely do it again. They certainly won't stop easily... Just as Zhu Di guessed, she must indeed be being targeted.
After receiving the talisman from Zhu Di the day before yesterday, the landlord became particularly serious and angry, and even made them stay at the Taoist temple for one night, indicating that the talisman was very dangerous.
Being targeted by such a dangerous cult member, Zhu Di is indeed in great danger.
*
Inside an ordinary residential building in the city center.
A middle-aged man in a melon-shaped hat sat in an armchair, holding a teacup. He took a sip of tea and asked casually, "What did you find in the soul search? What did those two men see in the tourist town instance?"
Before him lay two corpses, their heads mangled and bloodied. Hearing the middle-aged man's question, the man beside the corpses, holding a sharp awl, replied respectfully:
"The tourist town instance has indeed undergone a mutation. It seems to have broken free from the control of the main god and been transformed by some powerful ghost."
"But because of the perspective, we can't see what kind of ghost is the culprit that caused the main god instance to change. We still need to capture the other two girls and search their souls as well."
The middle-aged man nodded.
The last time I tried to extract her memories by casting a spell on her, I failed.
Originally, out of consideration for the Bureau of Supervision, and having already learned that it was the Infinite Flow player who took the talisman, and that the deaths of the followers were related to the anomaly in the Main God instance, he didn't want to cause too much trouble, so he let the little bug go.
But in the past two days, those mad dogs from the Supervision Bureau somehow obtained intelligence and information about their strongholds, and began a frenzied attack on the Bone Inheritance Society. They not only disrupted many rituals, but also arrested many members and believers.
Recently, the Heirs of the Bone Society has suffered heavy losses due to being targeted by both the Bureau of Surveillance and the Main God. Not only was the head of the Medicine Charity Hall killed by the Bureau of Surveillance, but all the boys and girls were also rescued, forcing the Flesh Spirit Mushroom Project to be suspended. Furthermore, the Main God stole an important medicinal ingredient, as well as the precious core of the Evil God's clone.
So the middle-aged man in the melon-shaped hat stopped trying to hide it. The supervisory bureau couldn't do anything about it right now, and the divine consciousness hadn't been completely restored, so they couldn't drive away the main god... But couldn't their heirs kill a few ordinary people?
Originally, the intention was simply to capture them to vent anger, since all four had karmic connections to the deaths of their followers.
But unexpectedly, after searching the souls of the two men, it was discovered that the reason they were connected to the deceased cult members was because the four of them entered the main god instance and came out unharmed... The main god is not so merciful as to let go of four reserve players.
It seems there's some hidden force targeting them through the power of the main god.
Just as he was thinking this, the sound of a door being pushed open suddenly interrupted his train of thought.
A handsome, bald man walked in hurriedly from outside the door.
He looked to be only about twenty years old, but his eyes were unusually tired and weary, like those of a centenarian, which was completely inconsistent with his young and handsome appearance.
As he passed the two mangled corpses, the handsome bald man paused, his brows suddenly furrowing.
The sorcery of extracting the soul involves cutting and reassembling the soul into a projector-like structure, looping the memories one wishes to view. Before the soul completely dissipates, anyone who understands this sorcery can see these replayed memory fragments.
As a high-ranking member of the Bone Inheritance Association, the handsome bald man could naturally see it easily.
As he listened to the familiar singing voice from the fragments of his memory, his expression turned even more grim.
The handsome bald man cupped his hands in greeting to the middle-aged man sitting in the chair: "High Priest, I know why the main god instance of the tourist town mutated... Do you remember that actor who helped me deal with things during the Republic of China era?"
The middle-aged man in the melon-shaped hat paused in his tea-drinking motion, raising an eyebrow: "That actor whose birth chart is entirely Yin?"
The handsome bald man nodded: "Yes, when the head of the Punishment Hall was developing followers in the Liwan Apartment, he died unexpectedly. Before we could retrieve the props in his possession, the apartment underwent a strange change... The actor's human skin was among those props."
"When I came back from the ghost market just now, I saw a shop selling cursed items that used to belong to the Bone Inheritance Society. These cursed items were left in the Liwan Apartment by the former head of the Punishment Hall."
"So you suspect..."
“That’s right! I suspect the anomaly in the main god instance of the tourist town is because of that actor! That actor has broken free from the seal and escaped from the apartment! You know about my entanglement with that actor; he’s targeting the Heirs of the Bone Society because of me.”
Having said that, he pointed to the two wisps of soul that had not yet dissipated beside him, "This is the evidence! I know the opera singing in these two people's memories all too well; it's that actor who has come back to find me!"
The middle-aged man in the melon-shaped hat looked enlightened.
It turns out that there wasn't a hidden force targeting the Bone Inheritance Society through the hand of the main god, but rather a vengeful ghost that the Bone Inheritance Society had sealed away before, which escaped to seek revenge and caused this misunderstanding by mistake.
However, the main god is no good either. Even if it wasn't responsible for the tourist town incident, it can't escape involvement in the events of the meat spirit mushroom and the abandoned hospital... Taking advantage of the fact that the Heir Bone Society was overwhelmed with the meat spirit mushroom issue, it seized the opportunity to descend into the instance and steal the precious clone core.
That damned supreme god, it has definitely been planning this for a long time. It wants to destroy the Heirs Society and then take over the world for itself.
The middle-aged man in the melon-shaped hat looked grim at the thought of the scheming god.
Seeing the handsome bald man's anxious expression, he sneered, "Look at you, so pathetic. A mere ghost has scared you like this..."
“If we can seal him once, we can seal him a second time.” The middle-aged man stood up from his chair. “Take some men and go to the ghost market tonight. Since that actor chose to sell the things in his apartment in the ghost market, he will definitely go there again.”
"I'll give you another four thousand ghost coins to rent a shop. If you run into that actor tonight, reseal him. If you don't, set a trap for him in the ghost market."
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