Chapter 49 A New Channel for Purchasing Furniture; Problems with the Medicine Jars; Hong Zhong Suffers…
Zhou Fangdong looked at the furniture purchasing app on his phone, pondered for a moment, and mentally called out to the system: "System, can the furniture in the first-floor rooms be changed?"
All rooms on the first floor are currently rented out. Large-scale renovations to the rooms may cause side quests, tenant contracts, and main quests on the first floor to be reset.
"Okay, forget I asked anything."
I was originally planning to move the furniture from the first-floor rooms that weren't haunted to the second floor, and then order a new batch of furniture for the first-floor rooms...
etc……
Zhou Fangdong suddenly remembered something, so he quickly opened his phone's communication interface and called the furniture store manager again.
The store manager's slightly puzzled voice came from the other end of the phone: "Landlord? Is there anything else you need me to instruct you on?"
Zhou Fangdong asked, "If the newly ordered furniture arrives at the apartment, and I let the furniture ghost come out of the furniture, leaving the ghost on the first floor, and then I figure out a way to move the furniture without the ghost to the second floor myself... would that work?"
The shop manager replied apologetically, "I'm sorry, Mr. Landlord, this is impossible. The ghosts I put into the furniture and the furniture they were in are like a person's soul and body; there is a miniature contract between them. After arriving at the apartment, before the contract is broken, the furniture ghosts can move freely, but they cannot stray too far from the furniture."
Before Zhou Fangdong could continue speaking, the store manager, as if already knowing what he wanted to ask, added:
"The reason why ghosts can separate from furniture after entering an apartment room is that once the furniture enters the room, it becomes the property of the room's ghost, and the room's ghost's expulsion severs the connection between the furniture and the furniture ghost."
Zhou Fangdong quickly grasped the new key point: "Then I'll just stuff all the furniture ordered for the second floor into the rooms on the first floor, and let the ghosts in the rooms drive all the ghosts out of the furniture first, so they can stay on the first floor."
Hearing the landlord's insistence on sending his children to their deaths, the furniture store manager's voice tinged with melancholy, and he let out a soft sigh:
"Landlord, the rooms on the first floor have already been renovated and rented out. The rooms are fully furnished, and there is no reason for the children to enter them. In this situation, if newly ordered furniture is brought into the first-floor rooms, it will not be as simple as just kicking out the furniture... The ghosts in the apartment rooms are very sensitive to this kind of external ghost intrusion and will choose to kill the ghosts in the furniture directly."
"Okay, I understand." Zhou Fangdong hung up the phone listlessly.
Sigh, it seems that until the yin energy on the second floor settles down, it will be completely impossible to buy furniture from the Guijia Furniture Store.
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong suddenly frowned.
...Wait a minute, he's the buyer, can't he buy furniture if he has the money? Since Guijia Furniture Store won't sell to him, he can go to other furniture stores.
It's not like Guijia Furniture Store is the only furniture store in Linjiang City.
With so many human tenants, even if each person bought one piece of furniture, he could still complete the furniture collection for the second-floor rooms.
To avoid spending money on furniture that he couldn't use, Zhou Fangdong first checked with the system: "System, can I use regular furniture to decorate the room?"
Ordinary furniture will be corroded by the yin energy and cannot remain in the Liwan Apartment for long. If the furniture is damaged, the room will need to be renovated and rented out. Please try to purchase supernatural furniture instead.
Ghostly furniture... Where else could he find ghostly furniture besides Home Furnishings stores?
Zhou Fangdong rubbed his hair in despair.
The yin energy on the second floor is unstable, so furniture can't be brought in, and the room can't be rented out. The room can't be rented out, the yin energy on the second floor can't be stable, and furniture can't be brought in... This is terrible, such a familiar vicious cycle.
So, since he couldn't find any other haunted furniture, he could only try to stabilize the yin energy on the second floor first.
Why is the yin energy in the second-floor corridor so chaotic?
The difference between the second floor and the first floor is the flesh and blood. Is it because of that automatically regenerating flesh and blood? Or is it because of something else...?
If we find five cleaners to completely suppress the flesh and blood, will the yin energy in the second-floor corridor be stabilized?
But he had absolutely no clue about the other two cleaners.
Ugh, this feeling of being stuck is so annoying. If I focus on finding a cleaner, the rental of the second-floor room will be delayed again.
If only we could find haunted furniture somewhere else.
Frustrated, Zhou Fangdong fumbled through the system panel. When he swiped to the map exploration interface and looked at the location of the [Ghost Market] on the map, a sudden idea flashed into his mind.
By the way, when he went to the ghost market last night, he saw people selling toilets at the ghost market stalls!
"System, is the furniture sold at the ghost market stalls ghost furniture?"
[It's haunted furniture, but you need to pay with ghost coins to buy things at the ghost market.]
Upon hearing this reply, Zhou Fangdong's expression twisted slightly for a moment.
It's actually costing me ghost money to renovate the room... that hurts a bit.
He spent his nine-figure savings from his bank account to buy furniture at the Guijia Furniture Store, and after buying the furniture, he couldn't even tell that his balance had changed.
However, he only had 8390 Ghost Coins on him, and it was really hard for him to spend too many Ghost Coins to complete a side quest worth 500 Ghost Coins.
...So, it's time to use skills to farm some ghost coins.
Zhou Fangdong raised his head, his gaze fixed intently on the door.
Because he had been using his teleportation skill to move around the entire apartment lately, he rarely went outside. So when Zhou Fangdong opened the door, a familiar pendulum-shaped head drooped down.
The twisted body stuck right in the door frame, the bloodied, indistinct head... wasn't this the ghost who jumped off the building that I encountered the first time I left the room?
When Zhou Fangdong came out of the door, the ghost that jumped off the building seemed to be startled, and its eyeballs popped out of their sockets again.
Just as Zhou Fangdong was about to use the [Soul Absorption] skill on the ghost who jumped off the building, he suddenly hesitated.
Isn't it a bit inappropriate for him to rob the ghost in the apartment like this?
A rabbit can't always eat the grass near its burrow. What if one day it desperately needs ghost money, but the ghosts in the building are all afraid of being robbed by him and will avoid him when they see him? That would be bad.
And it seems he has other ghost coin respawn points...
It's you I've chosen, you cultists of the Bones!
Today he's going to capture some cult members to sell at the ghost market. The funeral shop owner buys a piece of skin for 300 ghost coins. After selling the cult members, he can leave the funeral shop and browse other stalls and shops to see if he can find any furniture other than toilets.
When Hong Zhong returns to his apartment in the afternoon, he might bring back a few cult members.
If that's not enough, go out again at night and choose a spot close to the ghost market. After you've caught the cultists, walk to the ghost market.
Having grasped a general approach to the problem, Zhou Fangdong's gloomy expression vanished.
With the paranormal furniture issue resolved, it's time to consider the tenant problem.
The illness ghost in Room 201 appears irregularly. Unless you are constantly awake and restless, if you are infected by it and cannot take your medicine in time, you will surely die.
Recalling the layout of Room 201, Zhou Fangdong began to call out to the system: "System, what is the maximum number of tenants that can stay in Room 201?"
The apartment in room 201 has a floor area of 134 square meters and can accommodate a family of three.
"Could it be a family of three with no blood relation?" Zhou Fangdong wanted to rent room 201 to multiple tenants. With more tenants, they could take turns keeping watch at night. As long as one person was awake while resting, they could know the location of the sick ghost's respawn in time.
Yes, there are no requirements regarding blood relations within a family, nor are there any gender requirements.
However, the host should be aware of one thing: if the room is rented to multiple tenants, and one tenant triggers the ghost's murder condition, the other tenants will also be implicated and die.
That would be difficult to find. Therefore, the tenants of room 201 must all be extremely meticulous, have experience in handling paranormal events, and be people who trust and know each other... Thinking of this, Hong Zhong's face suddenly flashed through Zhou Fangdong's mind.
By the way, does the Investigation Department need staff dormitories?
According to Duan Wenyu, those investigators were all disciplined, obeyed orders, and were very accustomed to dealing with paranormal phenomena, and were particularly experienced in handling sudden paranormal events.
Duan Wenyu also said that the Paranormal Investigation Department has instruments that can detect paranormal fluctuations. If the investigators from the Paranormal Investigation Department move in, he won't even need to buy props for the tenants to detect the appearance of sick ghosts, because they will bring their own props.
Zhou Fangdong thought it over and felt it was a good fit. He opened the rental preview interface and checked Hong Zhong's location.
Hong Zhong is not in the room right now.
Zhou Fangdong then opened the [Linjiang City Map] and found that the small red dot representing Hong Zhong was located in a villa area called 'Peach Blossom Spring' in Jinxi District.
He must be working. It's already noon, and of all his human tenants, only Duan Wenyu is in the room.
Duan Wenyu's pixelated character is chopping vegetables in room 102, probably preparing lunch.
Hong Zhong's phone hadn't been modified, so he couldn't contact him. However, Duan Wenyu was an intern investigator in the Paranormal Investigation Department, so he could ask Duan Wenyu to help contact Hong Zhong and inquire if any of the department's employees needed housing. He could also ask Hong Zhong to bring back more cult members when he returned to his apartment that night.
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong teleported directly to room 102.
After returning to the southern suburbs yesterday, Duan Wenyu easily found his car and equipment.
Yesterday morning, he was swept into the supernatural dungeon of the main god before he even took his car keys out of the ignition. The car door was also wide open, and the equipment on the seat was clearly visible.
Fortunately, there are few people in the suburbs of Linjiang City, otherwise, if all the equipment in the car were stolen, he wouldn't be able to afford to pay for it even if he sold his car.
After all, he was just a junior intern investigator and couldn't include the damaged equipment in the mission loss report for reimbursement by the logistics department.
Duan Wenyu sighed softly, his movements as he chopped vegetables slowing down considerably.
After returning to the Investigation Department yesterday, his superiors didn't say much about his unexpected involvement in the God's instance; they simply gave him three days off to rest.
He's a little anxious. His boss's silence is making him feel worse than being scolded.
I don't know if choosing this job, which is completely unrelated to my major, was the right or wrong decision... I hope I can get through the internship smoothly.
Just then, Duan Wenyu suddenly noticed some strange noises in the room.
I instinctively turned around and found that the landlord had appeared behind me at some point.
Duan Wenyu quickly put down what he was doing: "Landlord? Is there something you need?"
Zhou Fangdong nodded and told Duan Wenyu about his plan to rent out room 201, asking him to help contact the Investigation Department to see if they needed staff dormitories.
He paused for a moment, then added, "It's a room that can heal any injury or illness."
These conditions should be very attractive to investigators who frequently deal with paranormal events, right? Whether or not we can save on ghost coins depends on this opportunity.
Duan Wenyu obediently agreed.
After leaving room 102, Zhou Fangdong prepared to go find the remaining two cleaners.
Although the furniture issue in room 201 might be resolved through the ghost market, that doesn't mean he can relax now.
After all, cultists will eventually be eradicated, so he had to plan ahead and find a way to deal with the eerie atmosphere on the second floor before the Ghost Coin refresh point of the Bone Inheritance Society disappeared.
...Otherwise, he would have to pay for the ghost money himself to buy the haunted furniture.
Zhou Fangdong stood at the entrance of the apartment, pondered for a moment, and then walked towards the activity room of Liwan Apartment.
The only place on the first floor of the apartment that wasn't thoroughly checked was the activity room.
Not long ago, when he went to the activity room, he only wandered around the reading area. He didn't open the doors to search the areas that were divided into separate rooms, such as the billiard room and the mahjong room.
What if the remaining two cleaners are a bit slow and get locked in one of those small rooms while cleaning the activity room?
When Zhou Fangdong walked into the activity room again, the kids were still playing inside.
Judging from the demeanor of those little devils in the red chairs, the furniture store owner was indeed not deliberately making things difficult for him.
Although these little devils were like puppies ready to wreak havoc, running around the room with abandon, the chairs never strayed too far from them; they were either holding them up or carrying them in their hands.
Zhou Fangdong bypassed the little devils running around the room and began to check the closed rooms one by one.
Board game room, no problem. Billiards room, no problem. Mahjong room...?
Zhou Fangdong paused as he opened the door, then closed and reopened it, but the scene inside the mahjong room remained unchanged.
Is this a place for playing mahjong?
If the door hadn't had the words "Mahjong Room" written on it, he would have thought it was some kind of dissection room... Were they planning to play mahjong with human organs?
The mahjong room was only about ten square meters, and a dissection table stained with blood took up half of the room.
Above the dissection table, a black gauze curtain, like a mosquito net, hung down, completely covering the bloody iron bed. Against the wall were many wooden cabinets, resembling those in a traditional Chinese medicine shop, with numerous drawers. Dried, dark red bloodstains were faintly visible in the gaps between the drawers.
Recalling the ancient book he found in the reading area that recorded the ritual of summoning an evil god, Zhou Fangdong suspected that this mahjong room was very likely also a place where the Bone Descendants Society performed sacrificial rituals.
These cultists are like rats digging holes everywhere. If the paranormal events at Liwan Apartments hadn't happened, it feels like the apartments would have been transformed into their property sooner or later.
After checking all the closed doors in the activity room and finding no trapped cleaner, Zhou Fangdong returned to the mahjong room.
After all, destroying the cult was one of his main missions. Thinking that he might find some clues related to the cult here, Zhou Fangdong began to search the mahjong room carefully.
Apart from the dried bloodstains, the room was clean, with no remains of a body, and unlike the reading area, it wasn't littered with papers and photographs.
Zhou Fangdong pulled out all the drawers in those cabinets and looked inside; they were all empty.
Just as Zhou Fangdong closed the last drawer, he suddenly noticed what looked like a scrap of paper in the gap between the cabinet and the floor.
Thanks to his [Dark Vision] talent, Zhou Fangdong has excellent eyesight and can see things hidden in the dark even when the room is dark.
He crouched down and pulled the paper out from the gap.
It looks like a piece of paper torn in two, with messy handwriting, as if it was written in a hurry.
From these hasty handwritings, it can be roughly discerned that the content on the paper seems to be related to a medicine pot, such as believers praying for blessings from the medicine pot, asking gods to grant medicine, and bringing their wives back from the dead, etc...
When Zhou Fangdong saw the mention of medicine jars on the paper, his heart skipped a beat.
He remembered that in the memories of the sick man in Room 201 before his death, the one who gave him the medicine jar was the bald cult member from Room 103.
Moreover, the death of the sick ghost was also very strange - why did the medicine pot suddenly produce the ingredients for five bowls of medicine that day?
Could the Bone Inheritance Society possibly control the medicine pot to treat illnesses or kill people?
The issue of this medicine container is related to the safety of the tenant in room 201, and it must be clarified.
"Where did the other half of this paper go? I wonder if it's still in this gap..." Zhou Fangdong said as he bent down, almost lying on the ground, to look into the gap in the cabinet.
Then he met the gaze of a pale, ghostly face emerging from the crack.
Zhou Fangdong stared silently at the ghostly face for a long time. The crevices seemed a little embarrassed by the stare and shrank further into the crevices before finally speaking, "I...I know...the other half of this paper..."
Zhou Fangdong sighed inwardly.
He was halfway through investigating the clues when he was suddenly startled like this, and he almost forgot what he was supposed to do.
...Damn it, this gap ghost is too unpredictable. Using such a low-level jump scare tactic in a horror game will definitely get you criticized by players.
Although he was silently complaining about the Gap Ghost in his mind, Zhou Fangdong still took out a stick of incense from his inventory and handed it to it.
After receiving the incense, the Crevice Ghost disappeared for a moment, and when it reappeared, it had half a piece of paper in its hand.
Zhou Fangdong took the paper and found that it could be pieced together with the one he had in his hand.
After reading the contents of the paper, Zhou Fangdong frowned.
The above describes the fact that the Bone Society possesses a magical medicine pot that can bring the dead back to life, and only believers with high contributions can be given this medicine.
There are two medicine jars in total; one can cure diseases, and the other can bring the dead back to life.
The medicine pot that brought the dead back to life is the original body, while the one that cures the disease is a derivative of the original body.
Once the cauldron detects the presence of a disease, it will bestow a cure, but the person who drinks the medicine will become bound to the cauldron.
When the main medicine jar bestows the medicine that brings the dead back to life, the subsidiary medicine jar must devour the life of the person bound to it.
The cause of death of the sick ghost in Room 201 is very likely because someone was praying for a drug that could bring the dead back to life.
After the sick ghost died, it was very likely that his soul was bound to the medicine pot, and the people of the Bone Inheritance Society could not take away the offspring medicine pot, so they left it in room 201.
It's also possible that shortly after the sick ghost died, the bald man in room 103 also died. Because the bald man's death was so sudden, the other cult members didn't know the whereabouts of the cadaver, so it wasn't retrieved...
In any case, the other main medicine jar that is currently out of reach is in the hands of someone else, and it is highly likely that it is in the hands of the Bone Inheritance Society. The tenant of his room 201 could lose his life at any time if he drank the medicine.
Now it's not a matter of finding a cleaner; he needs to find the original medicine jar, otherwise he must get rid of the ghost in room 201. He can't leave such a dangerous presence in his apartment.
Zhou Fangdong returned to room 201. When he pushed the door open, he happened to see the sick ghost in the room eating the outside ghost that had broken into the room.
It wasn't until he saw the sick ghost devour other ghosts that Zhou Fangdong realized that the plague on the sick ghost could not only infect people, but also ghosts.
Ghosts cannot drink the medicine from the medicine pot; if they contract the plague from the sick ghosts, they will surely die.
Noticing Zhou Fangdong's sudden appearance, the sick ghost, who was merging with the outsider ghost, paused, tore off a ghost arm that was not fully fused, and handed it to Zhou Fangdong.
Zhou Fangdong waved his hand: "Thank you, you can continue, I'm not eating."
The sick ghost nodded melancholically and continued to devour the remaining body of the foreign ghost.
Zhou Fangdong stood in front of the kitchen stove, staring blankly at the medicine pot in front of him.
How can we find the main body through this medicine jar?
I wonder if the system shop has any similar items that allow you to trace back to your origin through your offspring...
If he can't find it, he'll have to get rid of the medicine pot and the sick ghost. He can't risk his tenants' lives.
The sick ghost that had just eaten the ghost suddenly shivered. It cautiously glanced at Zhou Fangdong, who was blocking its way home, and silently moved away a little.
*
"Captain Hong, I found a strange medicine jar here, and it's emitting unusual supernatural energy!" Zhou Wu suddenly shouted while searching the bedroom.
"Don't touch it with your hands, bring it over with instruments." Hong Zhong walked over quickly.
Hong Zhong is currently leading a team to search a villa area called Taohuayuan in Jinxi District.
After successfully finding the missing children at Jinxi Square around 1 a.m., he didn't sleep and immediately led his men to this villa area.
Li Zhe woke up in the hospital shortly after rescuing the missing child.
Upon regaining consciousness, Li Zhe immediately contacted Hong Zhong, informing him that his investigation of the peddler had led him to the Peach Blossom Spring Villa area.
When Li Zhe sneaked into the villa, he vaguely heard people inside mentioning ghost markets and peddlers. Hearing this information, his bad premonition grew stronger, so he decided to send this information back to the Special Investigations Department first.
But to Li Zhe's surprise, as soon as he finished typing the words "ghost market," he suddenly felt his vision go black. Before his consciousness completely disappeared, he managed to send the words "ghost market" back.
He knew nothing after that... Li Zhe had no idea how he ended up in the southern suburbs.
Having obtained crucial clues from Li Zhe, Hong Zhong immediately led his team to search the villa area.
As it turned out, the cultists were very shrewd; when they arrived, the villa was already empty.
Hong Zhong and his group did not find the cultist who was manipulating the peddler to abduct children; they only found some supernatural items in the room that they had not yet taken with them.
Upon entering the bedroom, Hong Zhong saw the earthenware medicine jar.
Zhou Wu was manipulating a mechanical arm to put the medicine jar into a box that could isolate supernatural forces.
Without using detection tools, you wouldn't really see anything wrong with this medicine jar just by looking at it, because it's just too ordinary.
Let's hand it over to the testing department at the supervisory bureau for further investigation.
Hong Zhong instructed, "Seal that medicine jar and search the other rooms carefully. Make sure to bring back all the supernatural items in the villa."
"yes!"
Just as Hong Zhong was about to leave the bedroom, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Having spent years teetering on the edge of life and death, Hong Zhong trusted his intuition implicitly. Without hesitation, he lunged forward and quickly left the spot he had just been standing in.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a dark shadow appearing out of nowhere on the floor by the bedroom door.
The shadow completely defied the laws of light, as if an unseen person was standing at the doorway, casting a shadow there.
At the same time, Hong Zhong noticed that the light in the bedroom was starting to dim—large shadows, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, appeared on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the room, like a huge black bag that was rapidly closing in.
Hong Zhong immediately pressed the Level 1 paranormal alarm button on his body, then pulled Zhou Wu towards the bedroom window—the only place that hadn't been affected by the shadowy figure yet!
It's unclear what the consequences of being trapped by this shadowy figure will be. We can't afford to fight this unknown monster inside the room. The most urgent thing is to leave this space as soon as possible.
But to Hong Zhong's surprise, the only window without any shadows seemed to be a trap deliberately set.
When Hong Zhong and Zhou Wu's shadows were reflected on the glass, the reflections on the glass slowly turned black, eventually becoming a completely black shadow.
There was no way to retreat... Hong Zhong decisively raised his gun and fired.
What happened next was something he never expected: the bullets that could dispel supernatural power had no effect whatsoever on this dark figure!
The shadows multiplied, engulfing everything in the room with an overwhelming force. Hong Zhong and Zhou Wu were like two drops of clear water falling into ink, about to merge with these shadows.
Just at this critical moment, the key to room 106 that Hong Zhong was wearing on his chest suddenly flashed, and a shrill, ear-piercing meow rang out in the bedroom.
The shrinking shadow paused and slowly came to a stop.
There was another meow, and Hong Zhong felt the key on his chest getting even hotter.
The large dark shadow seemed to be afraid of something, and retreated back to the doorway, transforming back into a human-shaped shadow.
Hong Zhong snapped out of his daze and looked at the room key on his chest with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.
The key had somehow emerged from my clothes and was still faintly glowing.
...The key to the Liwan Apartment.
His identity as a tenant at Liwan Apartments allowed him to escape a paranormal event so easily!
Hong Zhong looked somewhat dazed.
It was only then that he realized the importance of being a tenant at Liwan Apartments.
Seeing the dark figure wriggling out, Hong Zhong gritted his teeth and gave chase: "Zhou Wu, you leave this room through the window first, I'll go after that dark figure!"
Without any questioning, Zhou Wu smashed the window and jumped out the moment Hong Zhong gave the order.
With the apartment key as a safety net, Hong Zhong began to act bolder, completely unafraid that chasing the shadowy figure might lead him into even more dangerous places.
This dark figure must be a trap left in the room by those cultists. Following this figure will definitely lead us to the cultists who control peddlers to traffic children!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com