Chapter 142 Achievement System Unlocked: Garden Decoration Riot, the Real...
The young man used the supernatural props he had.
This is one of the few remaining items in the church's inventory.
Since the accident at the Evil God Doppelganger Factory, all the supernatural items have disappeared. In addition, all the supernatural items in the Mirror World warehouse have also disappeared, which has made matters worse for the Bone Society, which is already a major consumer of items.
Because of limited stock, they dared not squander resources as recklessly as before, so the tools given to these cannon fodder who were scouting the Liwan Apartments were all useless and had strong side effects.
Take this supernatural prop in the young man's hand, for example.
This is a supernatural prop that resembles a crystal ball, and its effect is to allow the user to unconditionally pass through all obstacles and barriers.
The trade-off is reduced burn-in life. The burn-in life depends on the effectiveness of the barriers it must penetrate.
Of course, this cost is not immediately apparent.
The young man confidently used the crystal ball, and then, as if it had no physical form, he passed directly through the fence and into the apartment garden.
The young man thought he was the leader of the group, but in reality, the others treated him as a pebble to test the waters.
Seeing that he experienced no side effects after using the supernatural items and even successfully passed through the fence, the other bald men felt relieved and followed suit, using their own supernatural items to invade the apartment garden.
Since they entered the garden from near the fence, the group of five immediately noticed the three uniquely shaped flower beds placed against the fence.
—Those were actually three bright red coffins, with clusters of succulent plants growing inside, resembling human hands.
I don't know if it's just the imagination of young people, but it always seemed like the succulents shaped like human hands had grown a lot bigger the moment they entered the garden.
Further ahead is a circular flower bed.
The flowers in the flower bed all look normal, but I always feel like the dahlias in the four corners of the flower bed are moving on their own.
Whenever the young man looked at the flower bed, the dahlias would turn their backs to him. As they walked past the flower bed, the young man would vaguely glimpse out of the corner of his eye that a few clusters of dahlias had turned their heads, and it seemed as if there was an eyeball rolling around in the center of the flower.
When he turned his head sharply, he found that the dahlia was still facing away from him.
The young man with hair originally wanted to go around to the other side of the flower bed to take a closer look at the dahlias.
However, a bald man's exclamation distracted him: "Ghost props! Look, there are so many ghost props on that bench over there!"
The young man looked in the direction the bald man was pointing and found that there were indeed many supernatural props on a bench next to a field not far from them.
...The people at Liwan Apartments are too arrogant. They just throw the supernatural props on the bench like trash, and no one cares.
At this moment, another bald man said, "Wait, this looks like a prop from our church! I used to work in the warehouse and saw similar props. They're exactly the same, even the aura they emit is very similar."
To verify their suspicions, the two people quickly walked to the edge of the field and picked up the supernatural props from the bench.
However, the young people, due to some bad premonitions, did not go with them.
He always felt there was something strange about this garden.
By the way, is the water in a normal fountain red?
When they first came in, the fountain water was pink, right? Why does it seem like the color has deepened a bit?
Moreover, the fountain water contained a lot of black hair, as if it hadn't been cleaned in a long time, which was quite filthy.
There are also two other fountains with statues of a little boy and a little girl. I always feel that these two little boy statues, like the dahlias in the flower bed, are also secretly observing them.
But that's not the point.
The young man looked at the two bald men who walked to the bench with some concern.
...Is that scarecrow stuck in the field next to them a dried-up corpse tied to a stick?
He swore he wasn't mistaken; the horrific mummified corpse definitely moved after the two men picked up the supernatural props from the bench.
The mummified corpse was originally tied to a cross-shaped wooden stick, but now both of its hands are down and hanging naturally at its sides.
The young man, considering himself the leader of the group, and with a sense of responsibility, shouted, "Come back quickly! Put down your props! Something's wrong with that scarecrow in the field!"
The two bald men also noticed the strange phenomenon, but they still held onto their supernatural artifacts tightly, reluctant to let go.
For members at the grassroots level like them, there is basically no chance to come into contact with supernatural items, and when they encounter danger on missions, they all risk their lives.
Having a supernatural item for protection is like having an extra chance to survive—what they're taking isn't just an item, but another life of their own; who would be willing to give that up?
After hesitating for a moment, the two of them each took one of the supernatural props back and put the rest back on the bench.
Fortunately, the scarecrow didn't make any more moves, which relieved everyone, while also making them a little envious of the two guys who had obtained the supernatural item.
It's true what they say, fortune favors the bold. I should have gone over there too.
But the scarecrow has already been triggered... That scarecrow in the field must be some kind of protective item. If I go to get it, I'll probably be chased by the scarecrow.
After the two returned, the young man recounted the unusual things he had discovered in the garden.
After he finished speaking, the other four people looked at each other in bewilderment.
"What are you talking about? All the decorations in the garden are normal. What statue of a weeping lady with bloody tears, what statues of dahlias staring at you, and what statues of little boys and girls? We didn't see any of those. The fountain water is just ordinary water, where is the red water or hair?"
"That's right, only that scarecrow is acting strangely. We just noticed that its posture changed, but the flower bed and fountain are perfectly fine. Don't make a mountain out of a molehill."
The young man asked, somewhat puzzled, "What you're seeing is a scarecrow, not a mummified corpse?"
"It's just an ordinary moving scarecrow, there's no mummified corpse at all. You must be seeing things."
Hearing them say that, the young man began to doubt his own eyes.
He had heard that ghosts and monsters could create illusions. Could what he was seeing be something the ghosts and monsters were doing to scare him and make him leave?
Seeing this, the young man didn't dare to say anything more.
A bald man said, “What should we do next? I remember that the front building of Liwan Apartments used to be inhabited by living people, while the back building was full of corpses… In this situation, there must be more ghosts in the back building than in the front building. Let’s go check out the front building first.”
"Yes, if I were a tenant, knowing that the apartment was haunted, I would definitely go to live in a place with fewer ghosts."
Upon hearing the mention of arresting the tenants, the young man immediately forgot his doubts and became excited: "That's right, let's not linger in the garden any longer, let's go to the front building and arrest the tenants! This apartment isn't as scary as we thought, there's not a single ghost in sight, it's all been exaggerated."
Even if there are ghosts, they are just small ghosts that create illusions. The young man who has seen many grand scenes with the priest does not take these weak ghosts seriously at all.
They had just started talking about the tenants when a chubby figure squeezed out from the narrow doorway of the front building.
The one-person-wide tunnel leading to the apartment garden was just right for other tenants, but it was a bit of a struggle for someone of Zhao Dawei's size.
Turning to the side wasn't an option either, because of his beer belly, Zhao Dawei's profile was wider than his front. Therefore, he could only try to pull his arms in and adjust his posture to move forward.
When he finally arrived at the apartment garden and was about to enjoy his breakfast, he was shocked to find five strangers standing there.
One young man with hair, four bald men.
Upon seeing that familiar bald head, Zhao Dawei was immediately horrified.
He has a phobia of baldness; on his last vacation, he was almost killed by two bald cult members!
Seeing this, he didn't have time to think about why there were cultists in the apartment garden. Without hesitation, he dropped the food and clothes in his hands, turned around and ran.
However, misfortune struck again when he got stuck at the tunnel entrance.
...Because he was in such a hurry, he forgot to adjust his posture.
At this moment, the cult members reacted and rushed to Zhao Dawei's side, grabbing him.
The young man with hair laughed triumphantly: "Hahaha, we've caught a tenant, haven't we? It's not that hard. We can kill all the residents in the apartment! Then everyone can get the corpses and receive the reward. There's no need for everyone to fight for the title of priest."
He had his own agenda. He was determined to get the priest position. It would be perfectly reasonable for him to capture more tenants so that the other four could collect the tenants' corpses and claim other rewards, while he, as the leader, would obtain the priest title.
The other four might be grateful for his suggestion to "catch more tenants," which would allow him to develop his own small group and gain more support.
His shallow thoughts were immediately seen through by the other four seasoned veterans.
...What's the difference between this young man's actions and 'making others do the work and then using the wages they earn as a reward'?
The four of them rolled their eyes silently to themselves, without saying anything more.
Zhao Dawei cried when he was caught by cult members again.
How could he encounter danger even without going out? Is he some kind of innate divine body that clashes with taking a vacation? Does he always run into bad luck when he takes a vacation?
If he manages to escape this time, Zhao Dawei vows he'll never take another vacation... He'll work hard, even if the furniture store manager isn't there. Others work hard to earn money; he's working hard to save his life.
These cult members tied Zhao Dawei up but didn't kill him immediately.
They had some common sense and decided to try to get more information about Liwan Apartments from Zhao Dawei, the tenant.
However, just as the cultists finished tying up Zhao Dawei, they suddenly noticed that the middle-aged man's face had become even paler.
His eyes were wide open, staring intently behind them, his lips trembling as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.
The young man let out a disdainful sneer: "Uncle, that's an outdated trick. Are you planning to say there's something behind us to distract us so you can escape?"
Hearing what the young man said, the fear on Zhao Dawei's face lessened considerably. When he looked at them again, his eyes were full of pity, as if he were looking at dead people.
Now, those cult members finally realized something was wrong.
The three men were still looking at Zhao Dawei, while the other two slowly turned their heads away.
Behind them stood a tall, slender figure.
It was a mummified corpse, its head tightly wrapped in a sack, the mouth area split open, revealing shriveled lips and jagged, beast-like sharp teeth.
It seemed to have caught the scent of living people, and its neck, bound by hemp rope, emitted a 'hoarse' panting sound.
The mummified corpse, which was originally the height of an ordinary person, had now been stretched to over three meters tall, its body and limbs becoming disproportionately long and thin. The tattered sack covering its body had been torn apart by the rapidly elongating form, revealing its deformed body covered in dark red, rotting flesh.
The moment they saw the monster's appearance, before the two cultists could even utter a cry of alarm, the mummified corpse pounced on them.
The five fingers, like dried-up branches, gripped the face of a cultist tightly, the long, sharp nails digging into his skull like blades, crushing the cultist's head.
At the same time, its mouth suddenly opened wide, its jaw almost dislocated, and its mouthful of sharp teeth bit into the head of another cultist.
The mummified corpse killed two cultists in an instant, and the three others were unaware of what was happening when their warm blood splattered behind them.
But the other two bald men quickly realized what was happening. As members of the Bones Society, they had witnessed many ghosts and supernatural events over the years and had developed some experience in dealing with them.
...Those two died because they turned back, so they absolutely must not turn back.
At this point, he couldn't care less about killing the tenants; saving his own life was the priority.
The two bald men immediately split up and fled towards the fences on either side—they weren't carrying any powerful offensive supernatural gadgets, mostly just things for relaying information or scouting. They decided to leave this dangerous garden first and then make further plans.
The mummified corpse didn't chase after them. Instead, it retrieved the supernatural artifacts from the bodies of the two dead men. After devouring the corpses, it leisurely returned to the field and transformed back into a scarecrow.
Hearing the chewing sounds behind him and seeing his two companions who had already run away, the young man's body trembled involuntarily. Like a headless fly, he screamed and randomly chose a direction to flee.
However, these cult members had no chance of escape; from the moment they stepped into the garden, they were already sentenced to death.
Zhao Dawei witnessed firsthand how the scarecrow in the field jumped down from the wooden stick and walked behind these cult members.
He had heard Miao Zheng say that the landscaping in these apartment gardens was built by the landlord, so he was only startled by the strange changes in the scarecrow's body at first. After regaining his senses, he felt only that he had been saved.
Since it was the landlord who made it, it definitely won't harm the tenants.
Looking at the fleeing cult members, who were still tied up, Zhao Dawei was no longer worried. Instead, he felt a sense of relief.
These damn cultists are finished.
Below the fence on each side of the garden stood three mahogany coffins, the succulent plants inside having grown into scarlet ghostly hands. These ghostly hands clung to the railings, and upon sensing someone approaching, they all sprang into action, reaching out to grab at the person.
The two cult members braked suddenly and nimbly retreated.
Although they escaped the grasp of the scarlet ghost hand inside the coffin, they didn't notice that the fountain behind them had also changed.
Strands of black hair spilled from the fountain pool beneath the statue of the Weeping Lady, dragging a cultist into the fountain.
Upon contact with the reddish liquid in the fountain, the cultists' skin began to corrode and dissolve rapidly, as if it had come into contact with sulfuric acid. They were eventually dissolved into a pool of blood, their bodies becoming part of the fountain's flow.
Even after his death, his spirit could not escape; amidst the faint, indistinct weeping sounds, it merged into the marble pillar beneath the statue of the Weeping Lady.
From among the demon reliefs atop the stone pillar, a human-shaped relief slowly emerged. But soon, all the demon reliefs came to life, devouring the human relief completely.
On the other side, after witnessing this horrific scene, the cultist quickly moved away from the fountain.
But he didn't realize that his action brought him closer to the seemingly ordinary circular flower bed.
In the four corners of the circular flower bed, the dahlias with eyes in their stamens stirred and, no longer hiding themselves, sprang up directly from the ground.
Emerging from the flowerbed was a gigantic monster resembling an anglerfish. Its dark brown, soil-like skin was covered with various flowers, and dahlias with eyes were positioned atop its head, attracting prey and observing the surroundings.
The giant mouth, which occupied most of the anglerfish's head, suddenly opened, revealing three rows of serrated teeth like meat grinder blades, and bit off the upper half of the cultist's body in one gulp.
On the other side, the anglerfish monster, which was a step behind, quickly leaned forward and devoured the cultist's lower body.
The other two, having failed to get any food, shook their heads in frustration and retreated back into the flowerbed.
...A circular flower bed was suddenly sprung with four enormous anglerfish monsters, far too many for one cultist to share.
After witnessing the horrific scenes unfolding in the garden, the young man, who had already fled to the back entrance of the apartment building, was filled with despair.
—What he just saw wasn't a hallucination; he was the only one who noticed the strange thing about the garden!
However, it's too late to say anything now.
The young man dared not linger in the garden any longer and wanted to hide in the back building.
However, as he turned around, he suddenly saw a thin junior high school boy walking out of the back building.
The middle school student, seeing the young man, asked curiously, "Big brother? What are you doing?"
Apart from his pale skin, this junior high school student looked like a normal human being.
Seeing that it was just an ordinary middle school student, the young man breathed a sigh of relief and said in a slightly trembling voice, "I... I'm a new tenant. Little brother, could you take me to a safe place?"
The middle school student didn't answer, but tilted his head as if listening to someone.
After a moment of silence, the smile on his face suddenly widened: "So, big brother, you're a member of the Bone Inheritance Society..."
The little boy maintained his gentle and polite smile, but his skin gradually turned black, peeled, and carbonized until he became a charred corpse.
Immediately afterward, a loud explosion rang out in the garden. In the open space in front of the back building, where the young man had been standing, a large crater appeared. The young man who had just been speaking had turned into a clump of black ash in the crater, leaving no trace of his body.
"I hate those scum of the Bone Inheritance Society the most, you all deserve to die."
"Hey, Xiaodi!" Just then, a girl came running out from the front building carrying a shovel and a broom. "Quan Wuming and the others worked so hard to fill in that ditch in the garden, how did you create another big hole? If the landlord sees this, won't he scold you?"
"Oh my god, I've messed up!" Xiao Di panicked, circling the giant pit helplessly. "Sis, what should we do?"
"Luckily you didn't blow up the fountain or the flower bed. If you had, I wouldn't know how to fix it. Quick, before the landlord notices, fill the hole back in with soil!"
"No soil, no soil, what are we going to do, sister—I blew all the soil away!" Xiao Di's voice was trembling with tears.
Just then, a reliable adult woman's voice suddenly rang out: "Are you looking to renovate the apartment garden? I can help."
The siblings turned around and saw a woman wearing a straw hat and overalls, who looked like a gardener, also appearing in the garden.
Behind her followed He Yansheng, his cheeks bulging and his mouth full of food.
After hearing the loud noise coming from the garden, He Yansheng thought that the supernatural artifact he had grown had exploded, and he was so frightened that he ran downstairs without even finishing his meal.
“I have a way with soil.” With that, the gardener used a gardener’s spade to cut open her own body. At first, blood flowed out of her body, but in the end, it all turned into handfuls of fertile soil mixed with plant seeds.
Xiao Di and her brother both breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's great, thank you so much."
Using her cleaning skills, A-Jie conjured up many shovels, and then the group started working in the garden. Even He Yansheng was given a shovel to help shovel soil.
Looking at the people busily working in the garden, Zhao Dawei, still bound by ropes, weakly spoke up: "Um, could someone help me untie these ropes? I think I can still be saved..."
*
While the tenants were dismantling the apartment, Zhou Fangdong, who was using the [Shadow Soul Contract] to lead eight ghosts around, opened more than thirty doors in a row and finally found his way back to the apartment in this strange space.
The [Tianmu] identification function is really useful.
Zhou Fangdong had never been to the space these teleportation points led to, so he could not identify the specific locations they teleported to.
But identifying the one among these teleportation points that possessed the apartment's power fluctuations was as easy as breathing.
The location of the teleportation point back to the apartment is a bit odd, making it a little difficult to step on.
I have no idea who designed this ridiculous teleportation point... Who would be so kind as to design a teleportation point inside a toilet?
No wonder he couldn't find it after searching for so long.
Looking at his ghost tenants, Zhou Fangdong sighed silently and carried them on his back, stuffing them one by one into the toilet.
After confirming that nothing was missed, Zhou Fangdong sighed and, steeling himself, jumped in.
Zhou Fangdong and the ghosts appeared in front of the elevator in the back building. The eight Taoist ghosts were already showing signs of regaining their sanity.
Before they could think, a vast expanse of black shadows spread out from Zhou Fangdong's feet, obscuring the figures of all the ghosts.
The contract has been successfully signed, and the ghost tenant project is complete.
Zhou Fangdong wiped away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead.
Great, a smooth landing, and the ghost tenant is finally ours.
[Congratulations, host, on successfully creating eight ghost tenants!]
[Detection indicates that the rooms on the first floor of the back building have been emptied, and eight ghost tenants have automatically moved into the eight empty rooms in the back building.]
[The ghost tenant has successfully checked in and received 16,000 Ghost Coins]
These ghost tenants will pay 2000 ghost coins as rent each month.
[Detection indicates that all members of Izumo Temple have become apartment tenants; the tenant achievement "[A Family of Loyal Martyrs]" has been unlocked.]
The achievement system has been unlocked.
[The host has been detected to have actively created nine ghost tenants, unlocking the landlord achievement: [I want them all]]
[Host account balance detected to exceed 150,000 Ghost Coins, achievement title unlocked: [Pixiu]]
[Apartment renovation value detected to exceed 2,000, unlocking landlord achievement: [Renovation Expert]]
[Detected...]
[There are more unlocked achievements and achievement titles in the achievement system. Wearing different titles will grant different bonuses. Please claim your rewards in time.]
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