Chapter 64 The Third Ghost Tenant (Bonus Chapter at 20,000 words) A strange tenant...
When the hoe collided with the curly-haired head, it produced a metallic clang.
It wasn't just a description; it felt like he had actually hit metal, causing Zhou Fangdong's wrist to go numb.
Zhou Fangdong was stunned, and so was the person he had hit.
The sound of metal clanging still echoed in the corridor. After a moment of silence, the guy who had been hit by the hoe suddenly turned his head 180 degrees.
If you ignore the eerie head-turning motion and just look at his appearance, this ghost carrying the corpse looks like a young man in his twenties, the typical bookworm who only knows how to study and has no self-care ability. His eyes are as clear as a newborn baby's, and he clearly hasn't experienced the harsh realities of society.
He stared at Zhou Fangdong for a moment, bewildered, and asked in confusion, "Hello, why did you hit me?"
When asked this question, Zhou Fangdong felt inexplicably guilty and hid the hand holding the hoe behind his back as if he had done something wrong.
...This ghost, who was idly carrying corpses to the building in front, was different from what he had imagined; it was actually quite polite.
Seeing that Zhou Fangdong still didn't react, the curly-haired boy continued, "If there's nothing else, could you please let me go? I still need to control the corpse, and this talisman you've given me has made me unable to move."
Hearing him say that, Zhou Fangdong came to his senses.
...What was he feeling guilty about? The one who did wrong was this ghost who moved the corpse.
Zhou Fangdong coughed lightly and said with a stern face, "What are you doing with these corpses? Do you know that the corpses you've put in the front building are causing me a lot of trouble?"
What Zhou Fangdong didn't expect happened next.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
...This curly-haired guy is actually apologizing to him??
“I was just too anxious,” Curly explained. “I’m left-handed, and yesterday when I was disassembling and cleaning my left hand, a ghost ran over from the building in front and stole it. Without this hand, I can’t do any of my research… You know, time is life for researchers. Even though I’m dead and have plenty of time, I still want to get it back as soon as possible.”
"After all, I am really weak compared to other ghosts. I have no resentment or obsession. The fact that I was able to come back to life and have this body is entirely due to taking advantage of a loophole. So I dare not go to the front building. I can only control these corpses to go to the front to help me find my left hand, because I am afraid that if I wait too long, my hand will be eaten by the ghost in the front building."
Zhou Fangdong suddenly fell silent.
Could the left hand that curly-haired guy was talking about be the one that's on his bookshelf as a decoration?
Is he the unlucky guy whose hand was stolen by Hou San yesterday?
What kind of mess is this...?
Zhou Fangdong sighed helplessly: "Stop messing with these corpses, and stop trying to move them to the front building. I'll help you get your left hand back."
The curly-haired boy said gratefully, "Thank you so much. I'm really sorry to have troubled you."
Zhou Fangdong teleported back to his room and picked up the left hand from the bookshelf.
When he returned to the back building of the apartment, the curly-haired man was still sitting in the corridor due to the restraining effect of the talisman, but his head had already turned back to face his body.
To prevent his head from turning around and falling off again, Zhou Fangdong went around him and stood in front of him.
Upon seeing his face, Zhou Fangdong suddenly felt that something was amiss.
His clothes...
From the back, it only looked somewhat familiar, but from the front, Zhou Fangdong immediately recognized it—wasn't this the uniform of an investigator from the Supervisory Bureau?
The clothes worn by the curly-haired man are very similar to those of the four investigators who recently moved into room 201 and Hong Zhong. Although there are some differences in the details, the colors and styles are almost identical.
Zhou Fangdong tore the talisman off his body and handed him his left hand.
Watching Curly-haired, now free, skillfully reattach his severed hand, Zhou Fangdong asked with some curiosity, "Were you an investigator for the Supervisory Bureau before you died?"
Curly paused in his installation, looked up, and said with a touch of melancholy, "The Supervisory Bureau... investigators... I really miss those days. I haven't heard those two words in so long."
At this point, he gave a wry smile: "My name is Ke Yan. I'm not a proper investigator, just an ordinary researcher in the Supervision Bureau. If I'm not mistaken, the arrest warrant with my name on it should still be hanging in the Supervision Bureau system and hasn't been removed."
He seemed to have not spoken to anyone in a long time, and his desire to confide was particularly strong; once he started talking, he couldn't stop.
"Because I made a very serious mistake—as a researcher studying how to crack paranormal artifacts, I became overly obsessed with the power of the supernatural and stole a sealed paranormal item from the Bureau of Investigation."
"That supernatural prop was a cursed item that an investigator confiscated from the Bone Inheritance Society—a set of shadow puppets made of human skin."
As Ke Yan spoke, he fiddled with the thin, dark figures at his feet that looked like little old men, their bodies hunched over.
"This supernatural artifact can control people or ghosts, and it can also control yourself... It can completely reshape your body, turning a frail nerd into a powerful investigator, and it can also change your appearance, the only price being the consumption of some of your own lifespan."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Fangdong suddenly remembered something, took out a few crumpled pieces of paper from his inventory, and handed them to Ke Yan.
Did you leave all these notes in your apartment?
These notes were the ones Zhou Fangdong found in the mahjong room and under the basement door. They contained information about the meat Ganoderma, the medicine pot, and some words about reviving the body. This information had helped him a lot.
"Yes, I heard from those investigators that the Bone Inheritance Society was researching something about the dead coming back to life. So I stole a human skin puppet, used it to change my physical appearance, and infiltrated the Liwan Apartments to start investigating the Bone Inheritance Society."
"—Because I am also very interested in eliminating the boundary between life and death and bringing humans back to life."
"Although there were some paranormal events at that time, the Bureau of Supervision was able to handle them in time. In addition, there were no abnormalities in the Liwan Apartment, so the paranormal events did not fully erupt. Most ordinary people did not even know that ghosts existed in this world. But as a researcher who studies paranormal props, I had already guessed how dark the future of this world would be."
"Ghosts and monsters are rampant, and it is inevitable that humans and ghosts will coexist. The world will soon fall into chaos... just like what has already happened at the Liwan Apartments."
“I once worked with investigators on cases that occurred in the apartment building. The Liwan Apartment is like a giant vortex; it stirs up all the negative emotions of the people living there, making the tenants increasingly paranoid and irritable, and causing them to lose their ability to think normally. After the tenants die, they become ghosts trapped in this apartment building, which continues to attract all sorts of ghosts and monsters…”
"This apartment building is like a miniature dark future world, where the living harm each other, ghosts harm the living, and ghosts devour each other. The struggle and killing will never end, and humanity will be completely wiped out."
"At that time, I felt that the only way to eliminate chaos was to eliminate the boundary between life and death."
At this point, Ke Yan touched her newly reattached left hand:
"What is a human? What is a ghost? Is the only difference between a human and a ghost a body? If a person can come back to life after death, is that person a human or a ghost? If a ghost can have a body, is it a ghost or a human?"
"If everyone could be resurrected after death, or if everyone could have a human body after becoming a ghost, wouldn't everyone be able to live together peacefully in the future?"
"So after returning to the Bureau of Supervision, I made a decision: I would take that human puppet show with me and personally approach the Bone Society to investigate their ritual of resurrection."
“I investigated their so-called 'blessing medicine pot' that can bring the dead back to life, investigated the legendary 'flesh-retaining fungus' that can revive the dead and heal the bones, visited their basement where they bring corpses back to life, and even went to the ghost market to see those paper figures that can move on their own.”
"After making sufficient preparations and conducting research, I want to put it into practice."
“But I can’t experiment on living people without any psychological burden like those cult members, so I thought, if that’s the case, then I might as well experiment on myself.”
"I disassembled and reassembled the human skin shadow puppet, using it as the skin of my future resurrected body. I stole some mutated flesh Ganoderma from the second floor to use as part of my future body's flesh and blood. I also secretly learned some of the core runes of the Bone Inheritance Society's resurrection ritual. Finally, using metal parts as a base, I created a body that can bring people back to life."
“I was very confident in my research. This plan had about a 70% chance of success, allowing me to break through the boundary between life and death and achieve resurrection. Moreover, at that time, I was already certain that the people who died in this apartment building would become ghosts in the apartment. Therefore, even if I could not be resurrected, I could continue to research other paths to resurrection after becoming a ghost.”
"So I committed suicide."
At this point, he suddenly let out a long sigh:
"Although I successfully revived in this body, I seem to have made a mistake. I, who was resurrected, have no offensive power. It seems that I have just transferred from a human body to a body made of supernatural artifacts, and become a living robot... A resurrected human has no ability to fight against ghosts and monsters, so this revival is still a failure. Moreover, although my revival method has a high success rate, the materials required are very difficult to find and cannot be mass-produced."
"Now that I think about it, the reason I was able to come back to life through this body is probably because I used a human skin shadow puppet show in my previous life. This supernatural prop connected my soul with this body."
"This situation is too difficult to replicate; I can't find another cursed prop like the one used in shadow puppetry."
"So after being brought back to life, I moved into the back building of the apartment building and used the corpses there for research... My main goal was to modify the corpses first, and then capture some weak ghosts and monsters to put on the corpses to see if I could bring these corpses back to life and make them new humans who had broken through the boundaries of death."
"Of course, this research is not very successful yet. I can only place these ghosts on the necks of corpses, not stuff them inside the corpses."
After listening to Ke Yan recount his experience, Zhou Fangdong asked hesitantly, "So now... you're going to use this back building corridor as your research base?"
This is too rudimentary, and the corridor is so narrow, with the constant possibility of being disturbed by passing ghosts. How did he manage to complete his research?
"Ah, no, not at all." Ke Yan waved to the dark figures at his feet, and the thin, dark figures quickly shrank, turning into small paper figures cut from black paper and merging into his hand.
Then he moved the corpse in front of him, groped around on the floor, and suddenly opened a door.
“My research base is here. The ghosts in the back building of the apartment are too fierce, and they have taken over all the rooms. I searched for a long time before I found this hidden space. Although ghosts and monsters occasionally come in to bother me, I am already very satisfied.”
Looking through the open door, Zhou Fangdong discovered that the hidden room had been transformed by Ke Yan into a space similar to a morgue, except that the iron beds were all empty, without a single corpse.
Noticing Zhou Fangdong's gaze, Ke Yan said somewhat embarrassedly, "I used up all the corpses last night, so I came up here today to look for other corpses."
"You're amazing. You managed to clean up all the corpses I created in such a short time last night..." Ke Yan seemed to just remember something and asked in confusion, "By the way, who are you? Are you a human or a ghost? This is the first time I've seen a rational being like you in the apartment."
Zhou Fangdong felt somewhat helpless.
It's surprising that you're only asking who he is now... This person seems to be very perceptive only in things that interest him, and quite slow in other areas.
“I am the landlord of Liwan Apartments, and I now own both buildings of Liwan Apartments.”
Hearing him say that, Ke Yan scratched her curly hair, and her first reaction was: "So, if I live here, do I need to pay you rent?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a system pop-up window suddenly appeared:
[A ghost tenant—a researcher who has seemingly returned from the dead—wants to become a tenant at Liwan Apartments. Should we sign a lease with him?]
Zhou Fangdong noticed the way the system addressed him.
It turns out he's a ghost tenant, in the same state as Mu Yuechan and the zombie Taoist priest—a ghost with a physical form… In a sense, it seems he's already succeeded.
Zhou Fangdong did not immediately agree, but instead asked the system in his mind, "I don't have any spare rooms right now, can I still sign a rental agreement with him?"
[Yes, we have detected that the tenant has cleaned out a hidden room on their own. We can sign a rental agreement directly.]
Rooms in both the front and back buildings of the apartment complex are available for rent.
"Okay, let's sign it."
[Congratulations, host, on acquiring your third ghost tenant.]
[A strange tenant—a researcher who has miraculously returned from the dead—successfully moves into a hidden room on the first floor of the back building of the apartment building.]
[The tenant profile [Strange Tenant - The Resurrected Researcher] has been unlocked. Please claim your profile reward in time.]
[Special Ghost Guest Residency Bonus: 1000 Ghost Coins (per month)]
It seems that compared to the other two ghost tenants, Ke Yan is indeed much weaker, even cutting the monthly rent in half.
"Huh?" Ke Yan suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "It seems a little different..." He looked at his hands, "Is it just my imagination? I feel like my strength has increased."
As he spoke, he tried to beckon to the corpse lying next to him. Several black lines extended from his fingertips, and then the corpse actually started to move on its own.
“He really has become stronger…” He seemed to realize something, and his head rotated 180 degrees again, his gaze burning as he looked at Zhou Fangdong.
"I can sense some kind of connection between myself and the apartment, Mr. Landlord. Was that what you just did?"
"Yes, you are now a tenant in the apartment." Zhou Fangdong confirmed his guess.
"Great! Now my research can go even further!" Ke Yan looked extremely excited. "Landlord, please excuse me. I'm going to go to another corridor to catch a more advanced ghost and see if it can successfully merge with the corpse."
After saying that, without waiting for Zhou Fangdong's response, he didn't even turn his head and ran directly into another stairwell.
They're really motivated...
After watching Ke Yan leave, Zhou Fangdong also left the back building.
When Zhou Fangdong returned to the front building of the apartment, he found that the scattered body parts next to the elevator had all been cleaned up.
He first opened the system panel to check the status of the tenants.
Hong Zhong and the four investigators from room 201 have already left the apartment to go to work. The other residents are all quietly staying in their rooms; some are washing up, some are cooking, some are meditating, and some are even committing murder...
Even with its pixelated style, room 103 now looks a bit gory. The bald guy who was dumped on Mu Yuechan last night is still alive after a night's rest. It seems Mu Yuechan doesn't intend to let him die too easily.
After confirming that all his tenants were safe, Zhou Fangdong went upstairs to the second floor and began preparing to tidy up the next room.
The next room to be rented out is room 204.
Pushing open the door to room 204, a strong smell of pine mixed with the pungent smell of gasoline wafted out.
The moment the door was fully opened, Zhou Fangdong froze on the spot.
Directly opposite the door was a window.
A normal window that is not boarded up, allows you to see outside through the glass, and lets in natural light.
The sense of salvation from opening the door to the morning sunlight made Zhou Fangdong, who had long been in a dimly lit environment, feel as if he had traveled through time.
It's incredibly rare to find a window that wasn't boarded up.
Zhou Fangdong closed the door to room 204, then opened it again briefly.
The window is still there, and the sunlight streaming in from it is still there.
Tenants who rent room 204 are in luck; this room has the best natural light in the entire Liwan Apartment complex.
As Zhou Fangdong entered the room, a new side quest message popped up on the system panel:
Side Quest 10: Clean and rent out Room 204
① Clean the room and tidy up the house.
② Discard the damaged furniture and buy new furniture.
③ Find the ghost hidden in the room and figure out the ghost's killing pattern.
④ Draft a rental agreement and find tenants to move in.
Side Quest Rewards: 500 Ghost Coins, 2000 Experience Points, 1 Random Skill Point
Zhou Fangdong casually closed the task pop-up and began searching the room.
Room 204 has a very spacious layout. The previous owner knocked down the wall of the secondary bedroom, connecting the secondary bedroom and the living room, leaving only the master bedroom.
The last tenant to rent this room was probably a painter; the walls of room 204 are covered with various oil paintings, mostly landscapes.
The room was sparsely furnished, with virtually nothing besides art supplies. In the center of the well-lit living room sat only an easel, a chair, and an unfinished oil painting on the easel.
The oil paint on the palette had completely dried out, and the floor was covered with empty paint tubes, frayed brushes, and scrapers of various sizes.
Although it looks a bit messy, the good lighting from the large windows actually makes the mess feel cozy, like an ordinary painter's room, without any strangeness, and not at all like a haunted house.
Following the conventions of horror movies and games, Zhou Fangdong originally thought that the ghost in this room was hiding in the paintings hanging on the walls, or in the unfinished landscape painting on the easel.
But after examining the paintings thoroughly with [Ghost Eye], he found that there was nothing wrong with them.
To be precise, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the entire room.
There were no unusual or supernatural fluctuations, and even very little yin energy.
It's really abnormal for a normal room to appear in the Liwan Apartments.
Zhou Fangdong sighed softly.
The ghosts in the second-floor rooms are all incredibly good at hiding; they're about to start playing hide-and-seek again. I wonder where all the ghosts in this room are hiding.
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