Chapter 138 The Truth Behind the First Death at the Gates of Hell, Finding the Key Ghost...
The elevator doors opened completely, and Zhou Fangdong finally saw the full appearance of the alien projection.
It was a dark, solid mass that filled the entire elevator car, completely blocking out the already limited light inside.
Its body material appears to be more translucent than the evil god's clone—the evil god's clone is more like a bubbly, gelatinous substance resembling sludge, while this one is a large, thick, and bouncy lump of jelly.
Upon discovering that Zhou Fangdong was standing outside the door, the jelly-like creature trembled violently and then began frantically banging against the floor number panel inside the elevator, seemingly trying to close the elevator door.
...Is it afraid?
Zhou Fangdong stretched out his foot to block the elevator door and directly used the [Judgment·Decision]'s devouring function on this guy.
Since you're already here, don't leave.
The skill took effect immediately, and the lump of jelly, having no chance to resist, suddenly disintegrated, turning into black mist that merged into Zhou Fangdong's body.
At the same time, a system notification pop-up also appears:
[Congratulations, host, you have received 10,000 Ghost Coins]
[Body repair progress 90.1%]
Not only can devouring the projection of an outer god grant you ghost coins, it can also increase your body's repair progress...
Zhou Fangdong quickly shifted his attention from the system pop-up to the memory fragments of the external god's projection.
This was his first time using this skill, and he wasn't very skilled at it. He forgot to block the memories before absorbing them.
Fortunately, the memory reading in [Judgment·Verdict] is a completely third-person God's-eye view, which is completely different from the forced first-person experience of memories in [Shadow Soul Contract].
Furthermore, the upgraded skill adds an editing function to the [Soul Absorption] memory reading function—allowing for fast forwarding or rewinding, actively selecting the memories one wants to view, or completely ignoring and blocking them out—so the memory fragments of this Outer God projection did not cause Zhou Fangdong much trouble.
He originally intended to block out the memories projected from the outer god, but he suddenly saw his own reflection in these memory fragments.
Most of the memory fragments projected by this outer god were either in the pitch-black void, scenes on various floors of the apartment, or various grotesque ghostly figures... The only complete human figure in these memory fragments was him, making him particularly noticeable.
Zhou Fangdong pulled out this memory fragment and looked at it carefully.
After reading it, he finally understood what had happened that night of the 'first encounter'.
After encountering the alien projection in front of the elevator, he did not die, nor was he directly teleported back to his room by the system's newbie protection; instead, his account was taken over.
To put it more academically, after his consciousness went into a deep sleep, his body was controlled by another consciousness... It seems that there was another personality inside his body.
In the Outer God's perspective from his memory, when the elevator doors opened, he, who had been standing in front of the elevator with a look of terror on his face, suddenly froze for a moment. Then, his eyes were quickly covered in crimson, and his expression turned into an unusually gloomy look.
Zhou Fangdong had never imagined that his face could show such a terrifying expression. The sinister expression, which suppressed his murderous intent, made him look like a bloodthirsty killer.
After his expression changed, the kerosene lamp in his hand that had been burning suddenly went out and he casually tossed it aside.
Then Zhou Fangdong saw this red-eyed, gloomy version of himself move his body a few times. After getting used to his body, the first thing he did was put his hand into his head.
He seemed to be searching for something, rummaging around in his head with his hand, then pulled his brain out and threw it on the ground. He stared at the tofu-like substance on the ground for a few seconds in silence, then decisively cut open his own abdomen.
He ignored the alien projection that was right in front of him, and the ghosts that poured out of the elevator with it. He was focused on self-harm, pulling out all his internal organs and throwing them to the ground.
The blood and bits of flesh that fell from his body seemed to multiply on their own, forming a river of blood on the apartment floor.
Under the pollution of the Blood River, the apartment scene on the first floor has also transformed from a magnificent star-rated hotel into a bloody hell woven from bones and internal organs.
In this memory fragment, when the elevator came out, not only was there an external god projection, but also many ghosts from the top floor came down with it.
The ghosts and monsters, who had been corrupted by the apartment's yin energy and left with only a bloodlust, had their eyes cleared considerably after seeing this bloody hell scene. They all turned around and rushed into the elevator as if they had seen a ghost.
However, they were unable to rush back to the elevator immediately, as they were momentarily blocked by the enormous alien projection following behind them.
In that brief moment of delay, the blood that covered the entire ground splattered onto them.
The figures of the dozen or so vengeful ghosts froze, their faces all transforming into Zhou Fangdong's likeness.
While Zhou Fangdong was concentrating on dissecting his own body, the ghosts and monsters were also experiencing all sorts of ways to die.
In the end, more than a dozen gruesome corpses bearing Zhou Fangdong's face fell to the ground amidst maniacal laughter.
Zhou Fangdong, who had no more internal organs to remove, finally stopped and looked up at the projection of the outer god.
The river of blood beneath his feet had risen to his ankles. The bits of flesh and entrails that had fallen from his body tumbled in the viscous blood, like tempting bait, attracting countless ghostly figures exuding a terrifying aura to emerge in the river of blood.
Just as he went mad and began to harm himself, the projection of that other god was desperately banging his body against the elevator floor number panel.
The moment those bloodthirsty, murderous eyes looked over, the poor Outer God projection finally bumped into the close button.
The elevator doors closed again, blocking the murderous gaze and the enormous, gaping, ferocious ghost that suddenly emerged from the river of blood and attacked the elevator.
After seeing this memory, Zhou Fangdong was stunned for a long time... He began to question the meaning of life.
—The roles of predator and prey have reversed, and the most terrifying presence in the apartment at night is actually myself?
Zhou Fangdong was very familiar with the giant, vengeful ghost head that emerged from the river of blood; it was the one that had suddenly jumped out during the day-night cycle and frightened him on the system panel.
Within the [Heavenly Eye] skill's field of vision, the giant ghost's head is now left at the elevator location on the first floor, having become the elevator itself.
And what changes occurred in the apartment when the Blood River appeared...
Zhou Fangdong finally understood. Under normal circumstances, the first floor of Liwan Apartment should have been a magnificent star-rated hotel at night. But after this incident, it turned into a hellish X-shaped place with entrails on the floor and human skin as curtains.
The ghosts that were tainted by his blood and turned into corpses were the thirteen corpses with his face that he saw in the ice coffin when he first entered the basement.
Thirteen ghostly figures rushed out of the elevator along with the Outer God projection, and there were also thirteen corpses in the ice coffin when the basement was first unlocked... So it's easy to deduce that the initial corpses in the ice coffin in the basement were created during this incident.
Although he didn't see how the system helped him clean up the mess from the memory fragments projected by the outer god, he could guess that the system must have teleported the ghost's corpse directly to the basement, just like when he first went up to the fifth floor.
...The system spent a lot of energy to repair his body, and the culprit who almost killed him was actually himself.
Is this the legendary 'I killed myself'?
Zhou Fangdong sighed.
In my memory, my gloomy and bloodthirsty appearance was no different from that of a vengeful ghost.
But after learning that another consciousness was sleeping in his body, Zhou Fangdong felt no panic, not even as much as when he first saw the corpse with his own face in the ice coffin.
Because he subconsciously believed that the bloodthirsty personality was also himself.
After reading this memory fragment, Zhou Fangdong vaguely guessed that this might be the reason for the 'incomplete revival' mentioned by the system.
That personality should be my ghost form... I just don't know why the first thing I did after becoming a ghost was to hurt myself.
He's able to maintain a normal human state now, probably because the system has been helping to suppress this vengeful ghost personality that's full of negative emotions and likes to self-harm.
After all, the system had helped suppress the complex memory fragments of the nightmare not long ago during the process of devouring it.
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong opened the brass pendant around his neck and glanced at the two photos on it that he had no recollection of.
Does this mean that the missing parts of my memory are also due to system suppression?
He truly couldn't recall the specific details of his death...
Zhou Fangdong began to carefully sort through all his memories, both before and after his death.
Strange, his memories from his previous life seem somewhat hazy; he can't recall them...
【Ahhh! Host! Good evening!! The sun is so round tonight!】
The sudden electronic voice from the system startled Zhou Fangdong.
The volume of the system's electronic voice was unusually loud this time, making his head buzz.
Zhou Fangdong rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, and said somewhat speechlessly, "System, is your program malfunctioning? There's no sun at night, and your shout almost sent me to my death."
I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time.
“Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again…” Zhou Fangdong sighed. “By the way, I just…”
[Congratulations, host, on successfully absorbing the outer god's spiritual projection! New system function unlocked!]
Still troubled by too many collapsed areas in high-rise buildings? Still frustrated by the tedious task of repairing cracks when you want to do other things at night? Having to prick your finger every time you repair a collapsed area is so uncomfortable! Now, a new feature is officially launched! For just 648… no, for just consuming your health bar! Use your health bar and Nightmare clones to create a collapsed area repair worker! From now on, you can completely free your hands at night!
Another barrage of electronic sounds, complete with rousing background music, completely diverted Zhou Fangdong's attention.
"Stop, stop, stop! System, why are you so excited tonight? Why are you using voice to introduce new features?"
The catchy, rhythmic electronic sound kept echoing in Zhou Fangdong's mind, making him feel as if he had stumbled into some kind of promotional sales mall.
"Give me a text pop-up for the new feature, so I can check it myself."
【OK】
The lamp oil worker creation page popped up automatically. In addition to lamp oil workers, finishing workers, and hospital corpse workers, a new repairman was added.
Zhou Fangdong quickly checked it.
Creating this repairman doesn't require a corpse; all you need is a Nightmare clone and 10% of its health.
"System, will my Nightmare clone deduct my mental points if it moves around in the apartment?"
No, you won't lose sanity points while active in Liwan Apartments and the Ghost Market.
Let's make one and see how it looks.
Zhou Fangdong used his health bar and Nightmare clone to create a repairman, and then placed it on the fifth floor.
He has already repaired more than half of the collapsed area on the fifth floor in the past two nights. If the repair workers are efficient, they should be able to finish repairing the entire collapsed area on the fifth floor tonight.
After doing all this, Zhou Fangdong stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the 10th floor.
When the elevator doors opened, the scene on the 10th floor was somewhat unexpected.
Besides the many collapsed areas, the corridor on the 10th floor was also crowded with ghosts.
The ghosts on the lower floors had similar routines to the human tenants, so Zhou Fangdong subconsciously assumed that the ghosts in the apartment rarely came out at night.
It seems that only the ghosts on the lower floors don't come out, while the higher floors are quite lively.
I remembered what the Taoist priest said: ghosts from high-rise buildings often come down in the elevator at night... Those on lower floors are probably afraid of being eaten by ghosts from higher floors, so they are used to not being active at night.
Now that it's safe to go out at night on lower floors, I guess it's become a habit.
Zhou Fangdong looked at the densely packed ghostly figures in front of him, feeling somewhat troubled.
Finding the key ghost among so many ghosts is a truly arduous task.
Moreover, it's impossible to tell who is suitable to be a ghost tenant.
Going to them one by one seems a bit troublesome...
Zhou Fangdong thought for a moment and then stepped out of the elevator.
Because he had the [Heavenly Eye] skill active, all the ghosts avoided him as if he were a plague, their ghostly shadows overlapping, creating a clearing for him.
Zhou Fangdong took out three sticks of incense from his inventory.
The moment the incense appeared, all the ghosts and monsters in the tenth-floor corridor looked toward where the incense was.
Zhou Fangdong held the incense sticks and waved them at the vengeful ghosts in the corridor, then casually stuffed the incense into the hand of the ghost closest to him.
The gazes of those vengeful spirits followed the movement of the incense offerings, all turning to the spirit closest to Zhou Fangdong.
Zhou Fangdong patted non-existent dust off his hands and stepped aside.
Let's fight! Only the strong can be his ghost tenants.
Seeing that Zhou Fangdong had moved away from the ghost, the ghosts on the 10th floor, whose bloodlust had been corrupted by the chaotic yin energy and the void power in the collapsed cracks, instantly rioted and began fighting around the ghost holding the incense offering.
Seeing this, Zhou Fangdong began patrolling the tenth floor. Every so often he would drop an incense stick as an offering, ensuring that the ghosts in every corner of the tenth floor remained in motion.
After searching the entire tenth floor's corridors and hallways, he finally found the ghost that looked a bit strange.
Unlike the other ghosts vying for incense offerings, this ghost appeared quiet and more human-like, lacking the ferocity of the others.
It appears to be an adult woman with unusually pale skin, a high ponytail, and wearing a somewhat familiar suit with a traditional Chinese robe draped over it.
Most importantly, it seemed to have reason, with clear eyes, standing quietly in the corner, indifferently watching the monsters fighting and devouring each other.
...This must be the key ghost that swallowed the key.
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong walked directly in front of the female ghost.
Before he could even ask a question, the female ghost looked at him and said, "Stranger, please wait. You seem to be quite skilled. May I bother you for a moment?"
Zhou Fangdong was stunned.
...The ghost that seems most rational is actually the most irrational.
This familiar dialogue template—is this female ghost a game NPC who gave out quests and has become a spirit?
The female ghost completely ignored Zhou Fangdong's response and continued as if reciting a template: "Our apartment is facing a huge crisis. Do you see the collapsing vortex behind me? This collapsed area is connected to an abnormal space."
“Brave adventurer, I urge you to venture into this space and vanquish the monster and its minions that dwell there. Afterward, I will reward you with [keys] as a token of my gratitude.”
After it finished speaking, it seemed to freeze, returning to its previous quiet state.
Zhou Fangdong glanced at the collapsed vortex on the wall behind it, then at the female ghost, pondered for a moment, and took out a kerosene lamp.
He had originally planned to test out the new function of the kerosene lamp tonight.
After the Slime Farm was unlocked, the kerosene lamps have been completely repaired. Now, you can directly enter the God Dungeon by holding a lit kerosene lamp.
Although the collapsed area mentioned by the female ghost is connected to some kind of 'abnormal space,' it should be no different from the main god's instance.
...However, to prevent any unexpected situations, let's use the Nightmare clone to go in and take a look first.
Zhou Fangdong created a Nightmare clone. He originally wanted to test whether the clone could directly invade without lighting the kerosene lamp.
But to my surprise, it actually succeeded.
Perhaps because nightmares have no physical form, the clone easily passed through the collapsing vortex and arrived at that 'abnormal space'.
Zhou Fangdong focused his consciousness on his clone and took a clear look at the situation in this space.
The sky in this space is blood red, devoid of sun, moon, and stars, and the ground is scorched earth.
He stood on a narrow dirt road, with a memorial archway in front of him.
The archway is made of bluestone and has three doorways, with the middle one being higher and the two on the sides lower.
Above the tallest archway is a plaque with three large characters: "Gate of Hell".
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