Chapter 79: The Things in the Elevator - Evil God's Resurrection Ritual Information, Skills...
After buying a mid-range fully automatic cleaning tool, Zhou Fangdong glanced at his Ghost Coin balance.
Although he recently bought a lot of props, he also made a lot of money from ghosts. After adding and subtracting, he still had 15,980 ghost coins left.
After cleaning room 206, Zhou Fangdong ordered a batch of furniture from Guijia Furniture Store and then called Hong Zhong.
Zhao Dawei is off today and needs Hong Zhong's help to move some furniture. The missing persons case in the city center has been solved, so he should be able to spare some time.
When Hong Zhong received Zhou Fangdong's call, he had already arrived near Luyuan Station and was helping to check the physical condition of the citizens who had come out of the Main God instance.
Upon learning that Zhou Fangdong had asked him to help transport the furniture, he readily agreed.
After all, it was thanks to the landlord of Liwan Apartments that the matter was resolved so quickly and without any casualties.
Since transporting the furniture wasn't too urgent and could be done in an hour, Hong Zhongxian and Li Zhe took the survivors to the supervisory bureau to give statements.
Because he was an apartment tenant, Zhao Dawei did not return to the inspection bureau with the survivors. After leaving the mirror world, he dared not linger outside and took the ghost bus directly back to his apartment.
When Hong Zhong arrived at the Supervision Bureau, he happened to run into Miao Zheng.
Miao Zheng came to the Supervision Bureau to visit Zhu Di and Su Wan. After learning the location of their hospital rooms from Hong Zhong, she went to the Supervision Bureau's hospital with the medical staff who were receiving survivors.
The hospital affiliated with the Inspection Bureau is a separate isolation area located near the Bureau and is not open to the public. People who have experienced paranormal events or are suspected of being infected by paranormal phenomena undergo examinations and are isolated for treatment here.
Although these ordinary people who came out of the Mirror World God instance did not have any obvious external injuries or contamination, they still needed to be observed in the hospital for a few days.
Zhu Di and Su Wan's wards were in the mild observation area on the third floor. After registering their information on the first floor, Miao Zheng came to their wards.
Yesterday, Miao Zheng was busy assisting Li Zhe and his team in writing the case report for Penghu Homeland and didn't have time to visit the two women. Although she heard from other investigators that the two were alright, she was still a little worried, so she came to check on them today.
When Miao Zheng opened the ward door and saw the condition of the two girls, he was shocked.
Both of them were in very poor condition, with pale faces, red and swollen eyes, and extremely haggard expressions.
Although they were not physically injured, their mental state looked very worrying. If they were released from the hospital now, given their mental state, they would almost certainly be possessed by ghosts.
Later, during a conversation with the two girls, Miao Zheng learned that their boyfriends had both been confirmed dead... They were all killed by cult members of the Bone Inheritance Society.
Yesterday, when the chief of the Investigation Division led a team to clear out a cult stronghold near Penghu Home, they discovered the body of Su Wan's boyfriend in a private residence.
Zhu Di's boyfriend's body was resurrected by the Bone Inheritance Society through some method. The consciousness of a cultist possessed Zhu Di's boyfriend's body and attempted to use his identity to infiltrate the Supervisory Bureau Hospital.
Fortunately, hospital staff noticed the anomaly in time and prevented him from succeeding. Ultimately, Zhu Di's boyfriend reverted to a corpse, collapsing in the isolation room. Subsequent DNA testing confirmed his identity.
Moreover, because the two corpses had been controlled by cultists, in order to prevent any accidents, Zhu Di and Su Wan could only look at their boyfriends' bodies from a distance through the glass before the bodies were taken away by the supervisory bureau for disposal.
Miao Zheng had never been in a relationship, but she had experienced the death of a close relative, so she could understand how the two girls felt at this moment.
To distract them, she didn't ask any more questions about the matter, but instead brought up the topic of moving.
Before the Penghu Home incident, Miao Zheng had suggested to Judy whether she should move to Liwan Apartment.
Since she wasn't in dire straits at the time, and the reputation of the haunted building at Liwan Apartments was so well-known, Judy said she wanted to consider it.
Now, after experiencing a terrifying paranormal event and the unexpected death of her boyfriend, Zhu Di and Su Wan both realized the seriousness of the problem under the threat of those cultists.
Therefore, upon hearing Miao Zheng's suggestion, Zhu Di and Su Wan agreed almost without hesitation, saying that they would move to Liwan Apartment immediately after being discharged from the hospital.
After confirming the two men's thoughts, Miao Zheng sent a text message to Zhou Fangdong, mentioning the matter.
When Zhou Fangdong received Miao Zheng's text message, he had just hung up the phone with Hong Zhong and was preparing to post room 206 for rent on a rental app.
Miao Zheng's text message mentioned the two girls who were being targeted by the Heirs of the Bone Society...
It would indeed be safer for them to live in the apartment. With the status of apartment tenants, these two would be able to protect themselves from the threat of ghosts. After putting them on the special tenant watch list, there would be no need to worry about them being taken away by the Bone Society without his knowledge.
Moreover, the ghost in room 206 is very gentle, and even ordinary people can live safely in this room.
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong exited the rental app and sent a text message to Miao Zheng.
He planned to reserve room 206 for Zhu Di and Su Wan; they could move in anytime they wanted.
After no longer needing to worry about the tenant situation in room 206, Zhou Fangdong opened the rental preview interface to check on Yin Xi's situation in room 205.
Yin Xi slept all morning and has now gotten up. She is sitting at the dining table eating with the ghost grandma.
Zhou Fangdong and others entered room 205 after Yin Xi finished eating.
After resting for half a day, Yin Xi's complexion had improved a lot and was no longer as pale as when they first met.
"The exact location of the Evil God's Revival Ceremony..." Upon hearing Zhou Fangdong's question, Yin Xi repeated the question to himself, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Yin Xi had indeed heard the cultists who extracted her blood mention this matter.
She had already been moved to that abandoned amusement park. At that time, Yin Xi was no longer of much use to the cultists and was about to be destroyed, so the cultists did not hide anything from her when they talked about things.
"I don't really know the exact location of the Resurrection Ceremony. I've only heard those cultists mention that there seem to be many locations for this ceremony. To summon the evil god, these ceremonies need to be performed simultaneously... They plan to use Linjiang City as a sacrifice to awaken the evil god."
The entire city of Linjiang was sacrificed...
Linjiang City, a famous provincial capital in the south, has a resident population of nearly 20 million people... Sacrificing 20 million people to awaken the evil god, the members of the Bone-Slaying Society are all lunatics.
Zhou Fangdong continued, "What were the people from the Bone Inheritance Society originally planning to do with all those offerings at the abandoned amusement park in the northern suburbs?"
"It's to warm up for the evil god Fusu ritual in the north." Yin Xi answered quickly this time. "The Fusu ritual in the north is located near that abandoned amusement park. The Fusu ritual is very complicated. It needs a warm-up before it begins. You have to offer a whole blood sacrifice first."
She paused, then added, “The Bone Society has a total of ten blood sacrifices. We are imprisoned separately. Four of them, like me, have had their blood drawn by the cultists. There are five others I have never seen; they are probably reserves.”
In other words, there should be a total of five places where the Fusu ceremony took place.
One location has been confirmed to be in an area of the Mirror World, and another is near the North Suburbs Amusement Park.
Since the sacrifice was to the entire Linjiang City, Zhou Fangdong guessed that the other three locations should also be distributed according to their directions, in the east, south, and west.
The situation is a bit critical... We don't know how far the Bone Inheritance Society has progressed, or when they will begin the resurrection ceremony.
Moreover, the total of five locations is just Zhou Fangdong's guess; there may be more locations.
When I have time, I'll use the ritual search function on the [Evil God Disguise] interface to search through them one by one. Maybe I'll find a warm-up ritual similar to the abandoned amusement park, thus determining the location of the resurrection ritual.
At the same time, we must find the ritual that contains the core of the evil god's clone... We must find the last core as soon as possible and unlock the last skill in the evil god's disguise interface that is still grayed out.
The last skill is definitely important; it might just be able to stop the Resurrection Ritual.
After getting nothing out of Yin Xi, Zhou Fangdong left room 205.
He needed to prepare for what would happen that evening.
That evening, he planned to leave the room again to check the lamp oil in the wall lamps on both sides of the door of room 101.
If you leave your room at night and wander around the apartment corridor, not only will the system not respond, but the [Return] teleportation skill will also fail.
Although he now has many attack skills, a lot of items, and a Taoist priest who roams the streets at night to protect him, he is still a little worried.
That night, even a kerosene lamp couldn't stop things from coming down the elevator, which really left him with psychological trauma.
Zhou Fangdong arrived at the hidden room on the second floor and manipulated the giant slime to leave the second floor.
He planned to take this body with him when he went out that night.
When Zhou Fangdong took it out just now, he had already experienced the power of this slime. Given the density of ghosts in the Liwan Apartment, not a single ghost dared to show its face wherever this slime went. This slime body, formed from the avatar of an evil god, was no different from a second kerosene lamp.
Taking this bunch of bodyguards out and lighting the kerosene lamp should double the exorcism effect.
Since he couldn't teleport while carrying the slime's body, Zhou Fangdong took the stairs directly. When he arrived at the entrance hall on the first floor, he happened to run into Zhao Dawei, who was returning from taking the ghost bus.
Upon seeing Zhou Fangdong, Zhao Dawei felt an instant surge of security. He rushed over, about to say something, when he spotted the giant slime wriggling behind the landlord.
What a familiar body shape, what a familiar feeling of mental pollution...
It turned out that the green-haired guy wasn't lying to him; he really was a tenant at Liwan Apartments.
Should we say it's lucky he lives on the second floor?
Although the slime form was less polluting than the green-haired one, the sight of that black slime automatically conjured up that terrifying face in Zhao Dawei's mind—the mental pollution from the green-haired form seemed to have been deeply imprinted on Zhao Dawei's mind, becoming a psychological shadow he could never erase.
Zhao Dawei felt a lump in his throat. For the first time, he didn't greet his most respected landlord and rushed into room 101 at a speed that seemed disproportionate to his size.
Seeing Zhao Dawei run back to his room as if he had seen a ghost, Zhou Fangdong was puzzled.
This guy performed quite well in the mirror instance, he was very strong and could handle things on his own, so why did he become so fragile as soon as he returned to the apartment?
Looks like I still need to exercise...
Zhou Fangdong led the slime to the end of the corridor leading to the tenant's room on the first floor and made it stand against the wall as punishment.
Although this evil god's clone has now become his body, it is like other ghosts and monsters, unable to enter [the landlord's room].
Fortunately, the space at the end of the corridor is large enough that even if the slime, which has grown several sizes larger, stands here, it won't block the door to room 109.
After settling the slime's body in place, Zhou Fangdong stretched out his hand towards the wall at the end of the corridor.
A door appeared out of nowhere, and he opened it and went inside.
Back in his room, Zhou Fangdong opened the decoration interface for the public area beautification function, deciding to take advantage of this free time to improve the apartment's security.
Next, to stop the Bone Inheritance Society's resurrection ceremony, we will definitely have to confront those cult members of the Bone Inheritance Society head-on.
Although the ghost bus has the ability to screen passengers, it is inevitable that after learning that Liwan Apartments is targeting them, those cultists might use other methods to bypass the monitoring bureau and appear in the apartment to do crazy things that harm their tenants.
Zhou Fangdong looked at the decoration interface.
The higher the decoration value, the stronger the purification and detection capabilities.
The decoration interface also states: "When your decoration value reaches 200, new features will be unlocked."
Zhou Fangdong decided to upgrade to 200 first and see what he could unlock.
There's no need to look at renovations like [ceiling], [walls], and [floor] that require a lot of installation. He only has a little over 15,000 ghost coins right now, which isn't enough for him. He should use the small items in [decorations] to increase his renovation value first.
He has now installed a crystal chandelier in the first-floor entryway and six basic wall lamps in the first-floor hallway. The current renovation cost is 90.
The basic crystal chandelier costs 300 Ghost Coins and only increases the decoration value by 20, while the basic wall lamp, which costs 50 Ghost Coins, increases the decoration value by 10.
Zhou Fangdong then bought six more basic wall lamps and installed them in the second-floor hallway.
Only six can be installed on each corridor wall; that's the limit. Otherwise, he wanted to use these basic wall lamps to raise the decoration value to 200.
Fifty more renovation points are needed... Zhou Fangdong quickly browsed the [Decorations] interface, looking for any affordable little items.
A mural costs 200 Ghost Coins and increases the decoration value by 25... I'll buy it!
Zhou Fangdong bought two more murals, one hanging next to the elevator on the first floor and the other next to the elevator on the second floor.
[Beep - The decoration value of the public area has reached 200. Apartment garden beautification function unlocked]
Looking at the system pop-up, Zhou Fangdong was somewhat disappointed.
So the new feature is just garden decoration? He thought it would be some kind of protective function, like hiding apartments or putting a protective shield around them...
Zhou Fangdong opened the [Apartment Garden Beautification Feature] and took a look.
It has a similar interface to the public areas, the only difference being that it has a teleportation function. Clicking on the garden floor plan will teleport you directly to the apartment garden.
Thankfully, a teleportation function was unlocked, otherwise spending 700 ghost coins to upgrade the decoration value would have been a huge waste.
With the teleportation function, I can now teleport directly to the garden when I go to the garbage dump to collect ghost coins, without having to go through the tunnel anymore.
Zhou Fangdong closed the decoration interface, lay on the bed, closed his eyes to rest and adjust his mental state to prepare for the evening.
*
Night fell quickly, and Zhou Fangdong, carrying a kerosene lamp, mustered his courage and pushed open the door.
As soon as the door opened, he met the gaze of a gaunt figure that happened to be wandering to the end of the corridor.
Oh wow.
Before the zombie Taoist priest could make a move, Zhou Fangdong used the [Shadow Soul Contract].
As the skill took effect, his shadow instantly lengthened, merging with Zhang Zhiwu's shadow.
Zhang Zhiwu paused, lowered the sword he had just raised, and stopped his attack.
Zhou Fangdong breathed a sigh of relief.
That's terrifying! I never expected the Taoist priest to look like this at night.
The system interface corridor is pixelated, and just looking at the pixelated figures on the system panel, you can't tell at all how terrifying the Taoist priest is at night.
At night, Zhang Zhiwu had removed all the layers of yellow talismans that had covered the upper half of his face, leaving only the ends still attached, dangling like tassels, resembling a veil made from a yellow talisman. His gaunt face had bluish-purple skin that looked dried and shriveled, covered with twisted, winding black and red veins. His pair of completely white eyes, devoid of pupils, were like two pebbles stuck in their sockets, staring blankly ahead with a deathly white light devoid of any emotion.
The only thing that was no different from daytime was the purple talisman firmly affixed to his forehead.
Zhou Fangdong had Zhang Zhiwu walk on his right, and the slime stretched out its body to protect his front, back, and left sides.
Under comprehensive and thorough protection, Zhou Fangdong slowly made his way to the door of room 101.
The apartment at night was just as luxurious and clean as ever.
The wriggling black slime left a meandering trail of black mud on the red carpet.
Zhou Fangdong wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the atmosphere in the corridor became more and more oppressive as he got closer to room 101.
Upon arriving at Room 101, the flower bud-shaped wall lamps on either side of the door emit a soft and steady light.
Zhou Fangdong was somewhat surprised.
Surprisingly, the lights at the entrance of Room 101 weren't one on and one off, but both were on, although one of them was very dim.
Zhou Fangdong remembered that the dimly lit wall lamp was the one from which he had taken the lamp oil last time.
It turns out that the lamp oil in the wall lamps at the tenants' doors at night can be automatically produced over time.
If the basement hadn't been discovered, it would indeed have been a reliable source of lamp oil, though tenants would suffer a bad luck debuff after taking the oil.
Zhou Fangdong opened the dimly lit bud lampshade and took out the oil lamp... The small dish containing the lamp oil was already about a third full.
He generously shared some of the oil from the kerosene lamp he was carrying, filling the small dish with it.
Zhou Fangdong currently has plenty of lamp oil on hand. His kerosene lamp can still burn for eight hours, he has a brand new jar of lamp oil that he hasn't used, and he has 13 materials for making lamp oil in the basement. He wouldn't feel bad about giving them away.
Just as Zhou Fangdong put the oil lamp back on the lamp holder, he suddenly heard a chilling "ding".
Then came the sound of the elevator doors opening.
Zhou Fangdong was stunned.
Seriously? He can come down like that? He wasn't even near the elevator!
A dark shadow suddenly rushed towards Zhou Fangdong's direction.
Just then, the kerosene lamp in Zhou Fangdong's hand suddenly burst into flames. As the oil ignited, a soft 'crack' sound rang out. Unbeknownst to Zhou Fangdong, the brass pendant hanging around his neck, which was covered in blood rust, opened a crack.
As the kerosene lamp burned fiercely, its light suddenly expanded, passing through the slime in front of it and covering the thing rushing towards it.
At the same time, Zhou Fangdong almost reflexively manipulated the slime body, causing it to quickly compress into a ball and block in front of him.
The charging black shadow crashed solidly into the slime, but failed to penetrate it. Instead, it bounced off as if it had hit an air mattress.
Upon seeing this scene, Zhou Fangdong's heart, which had just been in his throat, instantly settled back into place.
Because the perspective was shared when controlling the slime's body, even through the black slime, Zhou Fangdong could clearly see the thing that came down the elevator and attacked him.
—It wasn't a ghost, but a doll.
It's the kind of plush mascot that amusement park employees wear to hand out balloons and flyers; it looks like a brown bear.
The teddy bear was about the height of a person, and Zhou Fangdong felt it was similar to the paper figures in the ghost market paper craft shops.
It doesn't look like a ghost; it's more like a living prop.
No wonder it wasn't affected by the kerosene lamp's dispersing effect...
Wasn't this the thing that almost killed him last time?
No, it shouldn't be the same thing.
The thing that almost killed him last time gave him a feeling of fear that came from the depths of his soul, like the feeling of helplessness and complete terror that ordinary people feel when faced with a natural disaster.
However, the thing in front of him didn't evoke that feeling at all. Apart from being startled by the sound of the elevator coming down at the beginning, which triggered his psychological trauma, Zhou Fangdong didn't feel any more fear.
As the bear struggled to stand up, Zhou Fangdong manipulated the slime's body to create a small gap in the middle, and then used [Soul Drain] on the suited bear.
During this time, the teddy bear remained within the light source of the kerosene lamp.
It must be because the repair progress has reached forty percent that the kerosene lamp in Zhou Fangdong's hand has been burning continuously. The light from the kerosene lamp is so bright that it almost overshadows the light from the ceiling light. He is carrying the kerosene lamp as if he is carrying a small sun.
The [Soul Drain] skill has taken effect; it seems this bear possesses reason.
But then, something even more unexpected happened to Zhou Fangdong—the mind-reading skill [Soul Absorption], originally used to rob people, suddenly gained offensive power. It truly lived up to the name of the skill, not only stealing a thousand ghost coins from the teddy bear but also stripping it of most of its body.
Zhou Fangdong watched helplessly as half of the bear's body turned into a cloud of black mist and merged into his own body.
He was a little bewildered as he looked at the broken teddy bear.
Wow... I'm actually this amazing?
Isn't this skill effect a bit overpowered? Is this still [Soul Drain]?
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