Chapter 28 The Strange Tenant (Bonus Chapter for 2000 Nutrient Solutions) 103...
Zhou Fangdong entered room 103 again.
Room 103 looked much tidier than yesterday. All the clutter had been put into boxes or bags, and the trash and broken furniture had been removed.
After clearing away the boxes and cages filled with miscellaneous items from the floor, and ordering a few pieces of furniture, the new tenants can move in immediately.
Having not yet seen the ghost in room 103, Zhou Fangdong thought for a moment and decided to move all the artifacts in room 103 away first.
He couldn't tell which ones were dangerous and which ones weren't, and the fully automatic storage tools didn't label the boxes and bags after they finished packing.
If we don't move everything out, it's too slow to sort through everything one by one, and it's difficult to identify anything. It would be bad if we missed any items that might endanger the lives of the tenants.
Zhou Fangdong first tried to store two boxes, and to his surprise, these messy things only took up one inventory slot.
This inventory slot displays "[Organized Collection of Room 103]".
Since that's the case, what are we waiting for? Take it all, pack it all up and take it all!
Zhou Fangdong threw all of these items into his inventory without hesitation.
During this time, only one wooden box failed to be added to the inventory. Zhou Fangdong guessed that the human-skin ghost might be hiding in this box, so he ignored it for the time being and continued to add other miscellaneous items to the inventory.
After this packing, room 103 was completely transformed into a clean, unfinished room, with only the suspicious wooden box remaining on the floor.
Just as Zhou Fangdong was about to turn it on, the system's cold electronic voice suddenly sounded:
[Beep—A new tenant has been detected viewing the apartment. Please proceed to the apartment entrance as soon as possible.]
Zhou Fangdong was stunned.
Tenants? What new tenants? He didn't agree to let that couple come to view the apartment yesterday either.
Zhou Fangdong frowned, left room 103, and walked towards the apartment entrance.
In the corridor, he ran into Duan Wenyu, who had just returned.
Duan Wenyu, who spent a day and a night at the Supervision Bureau yesterday, looked somewhat haggard, with dark circles under his eyes so heavy they overshadowed his dark complexion, but his expression was unusually excited.
Upon seeing Zhou Fangdong, Duan Wenyu seemed even more excited. He quickly walked up to Zhou Fangdong and handed him a USB drive.
"Landlord, this is what the director of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau asked me to give you. These are all case files related to Liwan Apartments, extracted from the Anomaly Investigation Department's archives. He heard you were going to rent out the house and said these should be useful for dealing with the ghosts in the room."
Zhou Fangdong accepted it, thinking to himself that the director of the Abnormal Supervision Bureau was quite considerate.
Although he now possesses the ability to read minds and can easily obtain the murder patterns of ghosts and monsters, he no longer needs this information when cleaning the room. However, these case files play a significant role in helping him complete his role-playing mission.
Playing quests is an important way for him to gain experience points and skill points.
Zhou Fangdong had originally intended to ask Hong Zhong to help him see if he could buy some case files of murders that had occurred in the past at Liwan Apartment from the cleaner. Unexpectedly, without him having to say anything, Hong Zhong's superior actually delivered them to him on his own initiative.
Zhou Fangdong tossed the USB drive into his inventory, intending to go back to his room to examine it more closely.
"Did the bureau chief ask you to give me this file because he needs my help with something?"
Duan Wenyu shook his head vigorously. "No, in my propaganda, the director has been completely convinced of your power, Mr. Landlord. This is his offering to you."
Zhou Fangdong was stunned.
What is Duan Wenyu talking about? What propaganda? What offerings? Why can't he understand?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Zhou Fangdong's mind, and he seemed to realize something, breaking out in a cold sweat: "We're just a normal landlord and tenant relationship, you can't do anything like this behind my back."
Duan Wenyu smiled confidently, his two rows of gleaming white teeth standing out against his dark face: "Don't worry, Mr. Landlord, I understand. We're not a cult."
No, you don't understand.
Zhou Fangdong felt a bit of a headache.
What's wrong with his tenants? After their favorability rating reached 100%, they all seemed to have been given some kind of fanaticism buff.
“You haven’t slept all night, go back to your room and get some rest…” At this point, Zhou Fangdong suddenly remembered something and asked again, “Did you put enough food under the bed in the storage room of room 102 before you left yesterday?”
Duan Wenyu was deeply moved: "Yes, thank you for your concern, Mr. Landlord. Don't worry, I will strictly abide by the tenant rules."
"That's good..." Zhou Fangdong sighed softly and patted Duan Wenyu on the shoulder. "Go back now, I still have things to take care of."
This young man needs to be found a job like Zhao Dawei's. If we let him run wild, he's afraid he might unknowingly become some kind of cult leader.
After watching Duan Wenyu return to his room, Zhou Fangdong went to the apartment entrance. Through the glass door, he saw a middle-aged couple standing outside.
Could these two be the middle-aged couple who booked a viewing last night under his rental post...?
How did they find us? Logically, if the landlord hasn't approved the viewing request, the tenant shouldn't be able to see how to get to Liwan Apartments.
All the roads around Liwan Apartments were blocked off, and only the ghost bus could get there smoothly.
How did this couple know they had to take the ghost bus?
Zhou Fangdong frowned. He was already in a bad mood after the role-playing game ended, and now he was even more agitated.
He still didn't know the killing patterns of the ghost in room 103, and the rental contract hadn't been finalized yet, but the tenant had already arrived. This feeling of having his rhythm disrupted was really unpleasant.
However, the middle-aged couple looked quite kind. They were both carrying large snakeskin bags, dressed simply and neatly, and appeared to be honest and ordinary people.
Forget it, let them in first, then we'll just find some excuse to send them away.
When Zhou Fangdong saw the middle-aged couple, the couple also saw Zhou Fangdong appearing in the apartment entrance.
Before they could do anything, the apartment door suddenly opened by itself, startling the couple.
The middle-aged man gestured for the woman to stay where she was, and then he slowly walked into the apartment.
Seeing that he hadn't encountered any danger, he breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and waved to the woman, indicating that she could come over.
The two men, with identical fawning smiles on their faces, approached Zhou Fangdong.
The woman spoke first: "You must be the landlord who posted the ad, right? Landlord, I'm so sorry to bother you with this sudden visit. But we really need to rent a place in Liwan Apartments..." She rubbed her hands together shyly as she said this, "We've encountered some difficulties and can't afford to rent a place in the city for the time being."
“Yes, yes,” the man echoed, “Your rent is relatively low, we wouldn’t have come here if we weren’t desperate.”
Seeing that Zhou Fangdong remained silent, the woman seemed to have thought of something and continued to explain, "This morning we were waiting for the bus at the bus stop. We were going to ask you again in that rental post if we could view the apartment today. But when we were looking at our phones, we mistakenly boarded a bus and somehow ended up at Liwan Apartments."
The man nodded repeatedly.
Zhou Fangdong remained silent as he watched the couple, his gaze lingering on the woman's wrist.
He didn't believe a single word the couple said.
It's understandable if one person gets on the wrong bus, but would two people together also get on the wrong bus?
The bus to Liwan Apartment is clearly different from other buses. How could they dare to sit comfortably on the wrong bus all the way to Liwan Apartment?
And most importantly, it's this woman's wrist.
It's summer, and everyone's wearing short sleeves. The woman is wearing a watch with a wide strap. Just now, when she was rubbing her hands together, Zhou Fangdong noticed a tattoo symbol on her wrist beneath the watch.
Thanks to the [Dark Vision] buff, Zhou Fangdong's eyesight was exceptionally good; even for a very brief moment, he was able to clearly see the shape of the symbol.
—It was a deformed oval question mark symbol, exactly the same as the one he had seen on the stomach of that bald guy in room 103 during his role-playing mission last night.
This couple has connections with the psychopathic killer who used to rent room 103, and it's very likely they are part of the same organization as those people.
Zhou Fangdong was already annoyed because he was killed by a group of crazy, deranged killers during his role-playing mission. Now, seeing this person who seemed to be one of those deranged companions in front of him, his annoyance instantly doubled.
Zhou Fangdong suspected that the two men had come looking for him because he had mentioned in his post that he wanted to rent out room 103 of the Liwan Apartment. Did they want to find something in room 103?
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong tentatively said, "Your timing today is indeed unfortunate. I did not agree to your room viewing appointment last night because room 103 has not been cleaned up yet, and the furniture has not been ordered, so it cannot be officially rented out."
He paused, watching the couple's expressions change instantly, and sneered inwardly: "But room 105 has been cleaned. Can I rent room 105 to you? The rent is the same."
“It’s alright.” The middle-aged man, who was the most impatient, jumped out first. “It’s okay if room 103 isn’t finished being cleaned. We can help clean it. We’re not picky about the furniture. Mr. Landlord, you can just rent room 103 to us.”
Hearing this, Zhou Fangdong understood.
He was right; the couple did want to rent room 103. There was definitely something fishy about them; they weren't there to rent a room at Liwan Apartments, but rather to find things left behind by the previous tenants of room 103.
However, he has now put everything in room 103 into his inventory. There are no items left, but there is a ghost... Let's see what they want to do.
"Alright then, I'll take you to room 103. Follow me."
Zhou Fangdong led the middle-aged couple to room 103.
The couple, who had been wearing gentle smiles, froze on their faces when they saw the brand-new, empty, and spotless 103 room.
Where are the things? Where did everything go in room 103?
The middle-aged couple lowered their gaze, finally fixing it on the only remaining child on the floor.
One more box will do; hopefully, what I'm looking for is in the box.
The middle-aged man forced a smile, took out thirty yuan from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Fangdong: "Landlord, we are very satisfied with this room. We will stay here tonight. This is the rent for this month."
They were unaware that a rental contract was required to stay at the Liwan Apartments. Since it was still early and Zhou Fangdong was escorting them, they hadn't seen any ghosts on their way from the entrance to room 103, so they didn't take the legends of the Liwan Apartments seriously.
Moreover, even seeing ghosts wouldn't scare them away; they don't plan to stay long and will leave once they find what they're looking for.
Zhou Fangdong didn't warn the middle-aged couple. He took the money and left, perfectly playing the role of a heartless landlord who happened to acquire the property rights of Liwan Apartment and would stop at nothing to rent out the haunted house.
Back in his room, Zhou Fangdong immediately opened the rental page and used the room preview to observe the couple's movements.
*
After seeing Zhou Fangdong leave, the middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief and slammed the door to room 103 shut.
He looked at the only remaining box in the room and complained, "I don't know how that kid who hasn't even grown up yet got the property rights to the Liwan Apartments. He probably sold everything in this room. The things the high-ranking official left in the room before he died are probably gone too. Damn it."
"Stop complaining. Can you please stop being so unable to hide your feelings? Every emotion is written on your face." The woman's face was gloomy, and her normally kind round face now appeared unusually ruthless against the backdrop of her slightly distorted expression.
"That kid probably figured something out. We need to act quickly and get things done before he notices anything amiss."
"Don't worry, sister. If he really dares to get in our way, we'll just kill him." The man gestured with his hand across his neck.
The woman rolled her eyes at him. "Stop showing off with your words and come help me move the boxes."
The two of them worked together to move the box from the center of the ground to a position against the wall.
The box was an old-fashioned mahogany box with a flip-top, and it wasn't locked. After placing it against the wall, the man opened his snakeskin bag and took out two strange hats.
The hat has a rather strange shape, resembling a melon-shaped hat worn close to the scalp during the Qing Dynasty. The hat is made of thin fabric with no other decorations, and its color is an odd light brown. The material looks somewhat tight, and it is covered with densely packed black runes.
When the man took out the two hats, the woman pulled out her hair—she was bald and was wearing a wig.
The woman was probably not born bald; there were obvious signs of shaving on her scalp.
She took a hat from the man and put it on. The hat fit her head perfectly, like a second scalp.
Seeing that the woman had put on her hat, the man also took off his wig and put on a melon-shaped hat.
After everything was ready, the two looked at each other, took a deep breath, and solemnly opened the box together.
Upon discovering that the box contained a white theatrical costume, the two instinctively took a step back in unison.
The two of them stood silently facing the costumes in the box, and seeing that they remained unchanged, they cautiously approached.
The woman winked at the man, who gritted his teeth and reached out to pick up the costume.
Noticing that the costume felt off, the man frowned and skillfully unbuttoned the front of the costume to examine the lining.
"No, sister, the human skin isn't inside this costume." The man shook the costume, fully unfolding it to show the woman.
"If you don't find it, keep looking. What are you carrying it for?" The woman snatched the costume away and tossed it aside.
The two continued rummaging through the box.
In their blind spots, a human skin slid down the wall from the ceiling like a fish, gently and quickly disappearing into the white costume they had tossed aside.
*
Zhou Fangdong didn't notice the unusual change in the costume in room 103. In fact, he had just heard the system warning when he saw the man in room 103 take out his hat:
[Warning! A dispute has broken out among convenience store employees! Room 101 tenant Zhao Dawei and Room 109 tenant Miao Zheng have been caught in the crossfire! Host, please go and handle the situation as soon as possible!]
Upon hearing this warning, Zhou Fangdong was so frightened that he didn't care what the couple in room 103 wanted to do. He quickly switched the rental interface to room 104, grabbed a kerosene lamp, and teleported directly to the convenience store.
His two employees are really too much of a handful; how come they're already fighting after only one day of the convenience store opening?
When Zhou Fangdong appeared at the convenience store, the store was in a mess. The Long Tongue Ghost and the Wedding Dress Ghost were fighting each other, physically fighting each other—the Long Tongue Ghost had wrapped its tongue and body around the Wedding Dress Ghost, almost becoming one with it. At first glance, the Wedding Dress Ghost looked like it had wrapped a red blanket over its wedding dress.
Zhao Dawei huddled under the overturned shelf, trembling, while Miao Zheng, pale-faced, crouched beside him with her hands covering her head.
In order to separate the two ghosts as soon as possible, Zhou Fangdong lit the kerosene lamp.
The moment the kerosene lamp lit up, its dim, warm yellow light seemed to pierce the sunlight, causing the two fighting ghosts to scream in unison. They instantly separated and fled to the shadows in opposite directions.
Seeing that they had separated, Zhou Fangdong breathed a sigh of relief, put away the kerosene lamp, and went to Zhao Dawei and Miao Zheng.
"what is going on?"
Zhao Dawei seemed terrified; his face was deathly pale, his lips bloodless, and he trembled, unable to speak. Judging from his disheveled appearance—his hair was disheveled, and his cheeks were injured—he was likely the culprit who had instigated the fight between the Long-Tongued Ghost and the Wedding Dress Ghost.
Seeing his expression, Miao Zheng spoke up for him, "Landlord, I swear we really didn't do anything. Zhao Dawei is off work today, and I ran into him when I went out this morning, so I asked him to come to the convenience store to buy something to eat. From the moment we entered until now, we haven't violated any of the convenience store's rules."
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhao Dawei nodded emphatically and said in a trembling voice, "No, that's right."
Zhou Fangdong frowned.
Zhao Dawei and Miao Zheng both have a 100% favorability rating, so they would never lie to him.
If there was no violation of convenience store rules, how did his two employees start fighting?
"Tell me everything that has happened to you since you woke up this morning, without hiding anything."
Zhao Dawei calmed down a bit. Zhou Fangdong's appearance was like a stabilizing force to him; even if Zhou Fangdong didn't do anything, just his presence made him feel at ease.
Zhao Dawei took a deep breath, tried to keep his voice steady, and began to recount his experiences that morning.
Although he didn't have to go to work today, he still got up very early and waited outside room 101 for the other tenants. Zhao Dawei was too scared to go into the convenience store alone, so he wanted to find a tenant to go in with him to buy things.
Just then, he ran into Miao Zheng, who was about to leave.
Miao Zheng has a habit of exercising. She felt like her bones were going to rust from lying in bed for the past two days, so she got up early today to go out for a morning exercise and run a few laps around the Liwan Apartment.
As she stepped outside, she ran into Zhao Dawei, who was squatting at the entrance of Taipei 101.
At Miao Zheng's invitation, Zhao Dawei felt he should also get some exercise, so he went out and ran a few laps with her.
After returning, the two went directly to the 104 convenience store.
Just as the two finished getting their food and arrived at the cashier to have the long-tongued ghost enter the order, the wedding dress ghost suddenly appeared—for some unknown reason, the wedding dress ghost had hidden in Zhao Dawei's shadow.
Just as Zhao Dawei placed the food on the cashier's counter, the wedding dress ghost darted out from his shadow. The long-tongued ghost was enraged by the appearance of the wedding dress ghost, and then the two ghosts inexplicably started fighting.
Zhou Fangdong frowned slightly and continued to ask, "Did you encounter anything or pick up anything during your morning exercise?"
Zhao Dawei scratched his head, looking completely bewildered: "No..."
"Ah!" Miao Zheng suddenly remembered something and slapped his forehead. "Uncle, I remember you almost tripped over something while you were running?"
Zhao Dawei pondered for a moment, then said hesitantly, "It looks like a brick... no, although the color is similar, it doesn't feel like a brick when you step on it. It should be a paper package containing something, right? It looks like a red or light red paper package."
He was almost exhausted at the time and didn't pay much attention to this matter. All he could think about was that he could rest after finishing this run.
Zhou Fangdong sighed.
He knew what had happened; Zhao Dawei must have stepped on the red envelopes that the "Wedding Dress Ghost" had scattered around the Liwan Apartment.
The Wedding Dress Ghost's previous killing pattern was to kill everyone who touched the red envelope containing the 'life-saving money'. So even if Zhao Dawei didn't violate the convenience store's rules, it would still hide in Zhao Dawei's shadow because of this pattern.
This can't be blamed on it. After all, ghosts are controlled by their obsessions after death and act on instinct. Only a few are rational. And this wedding red envelope is the obsession of the wedding dress ghost in its previous life.
However, Zhou Fangdong still felt a lingering fear.
If it weren't for the long-tongued ghost guarding the cashier at the convenience store entrance, or if these two ghosts didn't fight every time they met... if the wedding dress ghost had followed Zhao Dawei out of the convenience store, I don't know if the key to room 101 alone would have been enough to protect him.
"I know what happened. It's not your fault," Zhou Fangdong comforted her. "You should go back first. The convenience store will be closed for today. I will handle this properly and make sure this never happens again."
The ghost in the wedding dress must have scattered a lot of similar red envelopes around the Liwan Apartments before. For the safety of its tenants, it needs to find a way to make it take all those red envelopes back.
When Zhao Dawei left the convenience store, his legs were still a little weak.
Although there were many ghosts in the apartment, he never expected to be attacked in the apartment since he became a tenant... When he turned around and found a three-meter-tall ghost in a wedding dress emerging from his shadow, he was dumbfounded.
Fortunately, the long-tongued ghost at the cashier rushed up just as the wedding dress ghost appeared, and he was only grazed by the fallen shelf. In addition, the landlord arrived in time right after the incident, so he escaped unharmed.
It's all the fault of exercising. I've decided I'm never exercising again. So what if I have a beer belly? My life is the most important thing.
Zhao Dawei walked to the door of room 101, and just as he took out his key to open the door, he suddenly heard a woman with a gentle voice calling him: "Hello, are you the tenant of room 101?"
Zhao Dawei turned around and saw a middle-aged woman with simple clothes and a kind smile standing not far away.
The woman looked to be about his age, with a round face that looked very friendly. She had dimples when she smiled, and her hair was neatly tied up. She looked tidy and elegant.
Zhao Dawei subconsciously tugged at his slightly disheveled shirt, wiped the blood seeping from the cuts on his face, and replied somewhat nervously, "Yes, I am the tenant of room 101. May I ask who you are—"
"I just moved in this morning, and I live in room 103." The woman still had that friendly smile. "You're the first neighbor I've met. Would you like to come in and sit for a while? Let's chat and get to know each other."
Zhao Dawei looked somewhat troubled. He actually wanted to go back to his room to rest; he had just finished running when the convenience store incident happened, and now his legs were so sore that he could barely walk.
He smiled apologetically at the woman: "I have something to do today, how about we talk later?"
But to Zhao Dawei's surprise, even though he refused the woman's invitation, the middle-aged woman did not give up. Instead, she quickly walked to his side and took his arm: "Just sit for a while and chat. It won't take up much of your time."
Zhao Dawei was pulled so hard that he stumbled.
He stared in shock at the middle-aged woman, who was a head shorter than him, and tried to pull his arm back. Unexpectedly, the woman's hand was like an iron clamp; no matter how hard he tried, his arm remained firmly gripped, unmoving.
Zhao Dawei sensed something was wrong and began to struggle desperately.
However, the woman was completely unaffected by his struggles. She dragged Zhao Dawei towards room 103 as if he were a sack.
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