Chapter 38 A Good Show: Cleaning Up the Facilities Around the New Apartment (106...)
Zhu Di felt as if she were dreaming, a bizarre and somewhat eerie dream.
During the day, Zhu Di had a date with her best friend and their two boyfriends.
Then, when she got home that night, she dreamed that the four of them came out together again and arrived at a strange, abandoned, ancient-style town.
In the dream, the four of them walked along the stone-paved road of the town as if sleepwalking, until they reached the stone bridge and walked to the other side of the river.
Then they came to a strange stage and sat down, watching six bald men perform on stage.
That's so strange, so incredibly strange. Why would she have such a dream?
Zhu Di only remembered that during the day, when the four of them were on a date, they encountered a person dressed as a bear mascot handing out flyers.
Thinking about how the people inside were working in such hot weather wearing such thick clothes, Zhu Di couldn't bear to refuse and accepted four flyers for the ancient-style tourist town from Xiao Xiong.
Then that night she dreamed about this tourist town.
But compared to the tourist town on the flyer, the town in my dream was too dilapidated and eerie.
Putting aside the ancient-style houses that resemble haunted houses, and the terrifying paper figures carrying lanterns that slowly move along the streets, what is most despairing is that she cannot control her own body in this town.
The four of them were manipulated like puppets to walk to the audience seats on the stage. Then, as if they were experiencing sleep paralysis, they sat in their chairs completely unable to move, not even a finger. They could only watch helplessly as the six bald men performed ridiculous acts on the stage.
Actually, the six bald men on stage were initially sitting in the audience, just like them. But after a gong sounded, these six men stiffly walked onto the stage step by step.
After they stepped onto the stage, the white curtains that had been hung on both sides of the stage suddenly fell down.
When the curtain automatically rose again, Zhu Di almost burst out laughing after seeing the person standing on the stage. Although he was terrified by the bizarre situation, he was still quite frightened.
It was hilarious. The six bald men on stage were wearing costumes, but the costumes were clearly ill-fitting and looked like they had been forced onto them.
These bald men were all tall and strong. When they wore the costumes, their bodies were bulged out with rings of fat, making them look just like the white mascot of Michelin tires.
Although the costumes didn't fit, the distinctive features of the theatrical costumes, along with the unique makeup on the bald man's face, allowed even someone like Zhu Di, who wasn't very familiar with theater, to immediately recognize the roles they were playing.
The four people are dressed as an elderly woman, a young woman, a young man who knows martial arts, and a clown with a large patch of white paint painted on the middle of his face.
Of the remaining two, one was dressed in the costume of a military general, but he was not wearing makeup.
The other person wasn't wearing a theatrical costume, but a gray long gown, like the attire of an accountant from the Republican era. He didn't seem to be planning to perform; he looked more like a member of the opera troupe.
When the curtain was drawn back, the six people on stage, dressed in costumes, were free to move around.
The first thing they did after gaining their freedom was to run off the stage.
As a result, the fastest runner, a bald man dressed as an accountant, had just stepped down the stairs when an invisible blade instantly severed his leg.
Blood splattered, staining the wooden steps red.
The two bald women running behind him quickly grabbed his hands, stopping him from rushing forward, and dragged him back onto the stage.
Although they were brought back in time, the accountant still died from excessive blood loss because there were no tools to stop the bleeding, leaving a large pool of blood on the stage.
The remaining five remained silent for a moment, then moved the body to a corner and began to work on the stage.
Unable to hear their voices, Zhu Di could only tell from their expressions that the five men were extremely anxious, as if a death countdown had been hanging over their heads ever since the accountant died.
Finally, they found a large box under a raised section of the stage floor. The group worked together to drag it out and place it on the stage.
The five bald men breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged glances, and then began playing rock-paper-scissors.
In the end, the bald general with no makeup on his face lost and was pushed in front of the box.
He looked at the box, took a deep breath, suddenly lifted the lid, and then quickly lay down on the stage and rolled on the ground.
The imagined hidden weapons or ghosts did not appear. When the box was opened, there was nothing unusual. Inside, there were many face paints and other miscellaneous items. There was also a mirror on the lid—it seemed to be just an ordinary portable dressing table.
Another bald martial arts performer with makeup on his face seemed to have thought of something. He pointed to his own face and then to the face of the bald martial arts general who had no makeup on his face.
The bald man dressed as a military general understood immediately. He walked to the box, took out some paint, and was about to apply it to his face in front of the mirror when he suddenly died on the spot.
Zhu Di looked at the bald man who had crashed into the stage. Although blood splattered everywhere, his upright, headfirst-fallen-into-the-stage pose was so hilarious that she didn't know whether to be scared or laugh out loud.
It felt like an invisible hand grabbed his feet, lifted him up, and then shoved him headfirst into the stage.
This is absurd, what is all this?
Just as Zhu Di was thinking this, he suddenly heard a very pleasant voice coming from beside him:
"Because he is playing Guan Yu. Before playing Guan Yu, one needs to wash one's hands, burn incense, and bow three times in front of a mirror before makeup can be applied, otherwise it would be disrespectful to Guan Yu."
Although her tone was devoid of any emotional fluctuation and was frighteningly cold, the melodious timbre completely masked this insignificant flaw.
Zhu Di suddenly understood what her best friend, who loved listening to radio dramas, meant when she said, "My ears are pregnant."
Because she couldn't turn her head, she tried to move her eyes and use her peripheral vision to see the person sitting next to her.
I could only vaguely make out what looked like an actor dressed in a white costume. I couldn't see his face clearly, but he gave the impression of being a beautiful woman.
Feeling a bit tired, Zhu Di finally gave up and refocused her gaze on the stage.
The absurd drama on stage was still going on, and after two people died, the remaining four people were clearly becoming hesitant and restrained.
Besides oil paints, the box also contained torches, two palm-sized paper packets, and several bundles of incense.
After a moment of silence, the four bald men started playing rock-paper-scissors again, and this time the bald man dressed as a young woman lost.
He seemed to sigh, carefully walked to the box, hesitated for a moment, and finally reached out his trembling hand to one of the paper packages.
Fortunately, he was unharmed after receiving the paper package.
The man visibly relaxed and opened the paper package, which contained only ordinary rice.
Seeing that the bald man dressed as a young woman was unharmed, the woman dressed as an old woman seemed to realize something and took the paper package just like him.
Sure enough, neither of them got into trouble.
Just then, Zhu Di heard the white-clad actor beside him start speaking again.
"Female roles cannot offer incense, so these two made the right choice."
Now, Zhu Di has gradually relaxed and is not as scared as she was at the beginning.
Anyway, it's just a dream, and there's someone next to me explaining it, so let's just treat it as a funny silent play. I guess this strange dream will end after the play is over.
Next, the bald man dressed as a martial arts performer chose the torch, while the clown with a white face chose incense.
Neither of them got into trouble.
But the white-clad actor sitting next to Zhu Di chuckled softly. This time, his tone wasn't as cold as before; instead, it carried a tender quality, as if a different person were speaking, and his voice became even more melodious.
"But even if we chose correctly, it's useless. If the opening ceremony to ward off evil spirits fails, the play can't go on, and they're destined to die... In a little while, my body will be ready to go on stage~"
Not long ago, after Zhou Fangdong finalized the rules for the game, he sat down in the audience and watched the show with the four young men.
However, after watching only the beginning, he felt that Mu Yuechan would probably want to see what would happen to the members of the cult who had harmed her.
Therefore, after confirming with the system that even if the ghost tenant's consciousness awakened while using the substitute function, he could not seize control of the body, and that the two consciousnesses would not be connected, Zhou Fangdong had the system awaken Mu Yuechan.
The "opening the platform to break the evil spirits" mentioned by Mu Yuechan was the first obstacle that Zhou Fangdong set up for these cultists.
When a new stage is first used for a performance, it is necessary to "open the stage and ward off evil spirits" to prevent the opera troupe from being tainted by anything unclean.
To open the stage and ward off evil spirits, Guan Gong or a martial arts actor would carry a torch and circle the stage, while the female lead would sprinkle salt and rice on the stage. Finally, the troupe leader would burn incense and worship in all four directions.
Of the six people on stage, the 'troupe leader' had already broken his leg and died from excessive blood loss.
The person who painted Guan Yu's face did not wash his hands or burn incense before he was already dead.
Even if the martial arts actor replaces Guan Yu and carries the torch around the stage, if the troupe leader does not perform the final worship of the four directions, the opening ceremony to ward off evil spirits is still not considered a success.
Moreover, even if they successfully set off the stage to ward off evil spirits, they still wouldn't be able to perform the ghost plays that followed.
Unable to move, Zhu Di and the other three sitting in the audience did not notice that the audience behind them was already full of 'people'.
The figures carried white paper lanterns that emitted a ghostly blue light, and their faces were painted with identical, stiff features. The round red blush that was originally applied for celebration looked particularly sinister and eerie under the glow of the ghostly blue candlelight—the audience below the stage were all paper figures.
The boundary between humans and ghosts is blurred; ghost plays are watched from the shadows.
If the people on stage don't tie incense sticks to both sides of the stage before the ghost play starts, then they're doomed... These paper figures will come on stage to help them perform, and then they'll be turned into paper figures and thrown into the audience.
However, the four people on stage couldn't wait for the ghost play to start.
Since the opening ceremony to ward off evil spirits was not completed, it was impossible to resist the invasion of evil spirits. Zhou Fangdong could directly use Mu Yuechan's body to walk onto the stage and deal with these bald men.
Although you can create your own rules after entering the eroded instance, you still need to leave some way out and not create rules that guarantee certain death.
Zhou Fangdong had already given these six cult members many hints and ways to survive, but unfortunately none of them understood the taboos related to the stage, and they didn't know what 'lighting incense to worship ghosts and gods' meant.
The absurd comedy on stage is still going on.
After seeing the person with the white face light incense, Zhu Di suddenly heard the white-clad actor beside him humming a line from a traditional opera:
“A wisp of fragrant soul is being tormented by fire...only fireflies remain to illuminate the corpse, a single phosphorescent flame…” (*Note 1)
The actor in white seemed to be in a particularly good mood, and stood up while singing.
Zhu Di felt the scene before her eyes gradually blurring. Before her consciousness faded, she saw the graceful actress in white walk step by step onto the stage and come to the bald corpses on the stage.
In my ears, the lyrics hummed by the actor became clearer and clearer:
“My beloved Pei, I have suffered fear and heartbreak for you, I have endured endless sorrow and slept with regret for you… Do you know that my green tomb flickers with phosphorescent light at dusk? Do you know that my cuckoo cries blood and breaks the sky?” (*Note 2)
It seemed to be a female ghost singing to a heartless lover, but it didn't sound mournful at all. The lyrics were clearly full of accusation and resentment, but the white-clad actress's performance even gave off a sense of joy at revenge...
What a strange dream.
Zhu Di completely lost consciousness.
The four living people below the stage all disappeared in an instant, and the stage was shrouded in a large, surging mist of blood.
The four bald men's expressions all changed.
If being trapped on the stage at the beginning was just a feeling of fear and terror, now all that remains is utter despair.
They knew all too well how terrifying a ghost with that level of resentment could be.
Without Zhou Fangdong lifting a finger, the four cultists on the stage, enveloped in such resentment, began to suffer from festering flesh, as if a pot of boiling water had been poured over them, or as if they were wax figures engulfed in flames. The four of them wailed and turned into a pool of blood amidst the thick, bloody resentment.
After watching this absurd comedy performed by six cultists, Mu Yuechan was particularly happy, humming the opera lyrics that Zhou Fangdong couldn't quite understand.
"Thank you, Mr. Landlord. I really enjoyed tonight's performance. You're so kind."
[Detected increase in favorability towards ghost tenant Mu Yuechan, current favorability level 90]
[Congratulations, host! First successful invasion of the instance!]
[Erosion Dungeon Rewards: Apartment surrounding facility [Yin Yang Town] that can improve tenants' mood, 1000 Ghost Coins, [Liwan Apartment Activity Room Key]]
After confirming that all the cultists were dead, Zhou Fangdong returned to the Liwan Apartment and deactivated his body double ability.
He sat in his room and turned on the beautification feature for the apartment's surroundings.
Then he discovered that [Yin Yang Town] was in an unlockable state after the option to improve tenants' mood.
"System, why can't I classify this Yin-Yang Town as part of the apartment's surrounding facilities?"
[The host has not assigned any ghost tenants; Yin Yang Town does not currently meet the unlocking requirements.]
[The assigned ghost tenant needs to have a correlation of over 60% with the surrounding facilities. Currently, the detected ghost tenant [Republic of China Era Actress Mu Yuechan] meets the requirements. The host can assign her to work in the town.]
Zhou Fangdong frowned slightly.
He dared not let Mu Yuechan out so easily...
"What would happen if Yin-Yang Town wasn't included in the facilities surrounding the apartment complex?"
[The town will no longer be in a sheltered apartment state. Although the host can teleport there, the tenants cannot go. The rules set by the host in the town will apply indiscriminately to everyone who enters the town.]
Zhou Fangdong thought for a moment and concluded that the only people who could come to the town were those cultists. If they hadn't been dragged into the main god's involvement, ordinary people would never have set foot in such a remote and godlike place.
"System, let me confirm, this town is no longer under the control of the Main God System, right?"
Yes, the instance has been successfully corrupted, and the main god no longer has the authority to teleport players here.
In that case, we can leave this place alone for now, since he simply doesn't have any extra ghost tenants to take over.
Moreover, those cultists are unaware that the main god instance here has been corrupted, nor do they know that the instance's scope has been altered... It's estimated that every cultist who comes here will be drawn in, and this town can perfectly serve as a sticky trap for cultists.
Zhou Fangdong checked the beautification features around his apartment and began to view the remaining rewards.
Hmm... 1000 Ghost Coins, and a [Liwan Apartment Activity Room Key]?
Zhou Fangdong took the key out, but to his surprise, it automatically merged with his prop [Landlord's Key] as soon as he got it.
"System, where is the activity room at Liwan Apartment?"
[On the first floor, in the stairwell corridor. The host can use this key to unlock the hidden activity room in the Liwan Apartments.]
Zhou Fangdong remembered that the corridor had no doors or windows, it was just an ordinary stairwell. He never expected that there was a hidden space there that hadn't been unlocked yet.
I'll go check on room 106 tomorrow when they're cleaning it.
The night passed quickly, and the next day arrived.
As soon as it was light, the system pop-up for the "[Night Attack of a Hundred Demons Event (Countdown: 14 days)]" appeared precisely on time, just like an alarm clock.
Zhou Fangdong first glanced at the tenant interface as usual to check the status of his tenants.
Zhao Dawei in room 101 is feeling better and has already gotten up. The chubby pixelated figure is washing up in the bathroom; his vacation is over today, and he's probably getting ready to go back to work at the furniture store.
Duan Wenyu from room 102 went out to work and hasn't returned yet.
Perhaps unsure of when he would return, Duan Wenyu had filled the storage room with food before leaving yesterday... in a physically sense. Although it's unknown what's under the bed, judging from this preview, there's practically no place to step on the floor of the storage room in room 102.
The ghost child in room 102 poked half of his body out from under the bed, struggling to pull out snacks from under the bed and throw them outside, trying to clear space for himself. Sweat was constantly dripping from the top of his round, black pixelated head.
In room 103, Mu Yuechan was practicing her singing. The notes representing volume, coming from the pixelated human-shaped character, were getting louder and louder, and the shaky pixelated notes occupied most of the room.
The 104 Convenience Store is open 24 hours a day. The Long-Tongued Ghost and the Wedding Dress Ghost are still the same as before, one lying on the checkout counter and the other standing in the corner furthest from the checkout counter.
In rooms 107 and 108, since it was only 6 a.m. and the Taoist temple hadn't started its opening hours yet, Zhang Qingyang and Zhang Zhiwu were both in their rooms. Their pixelated figures were in the exact same pose, sitting cross-legged on the bed meditating.
In room 109, Miao Zheng also got up and was checking their luggage with the dismembered ghost.
Miao Zheng received her visitor pass to the Delicious Slaughterhouse yesterday, but instead of leaving the apartment immediately, she went back to her room to pack her luggage, seemingly planning to go there today.
After confirming that all his tenants were safe, Zhou Fangdong closed the rental interface with peace of mind and walked out of the room.
Today he is going to clean room 106 for Hong Zhong.
Room 106 was probably the dirtiest room on the first floor. Zhou Fangdong couldn't understand why a non-commercial residential building could produce so much oil stains.
This situation is almost like the previous tenant of this house opened a restaurant here and cooked for many years.
The grease in the room was a solidified yellow-black grease from a range hood that hadn't been cleaned for years, covering almost the entire 106 room and even the furniture.
Before it was cleaned, Zhou Fangdong was hesitant to go inside.
Just looking at that floor, you can already imagine the sticky feeling of your shoes stepping on it—solidified grease clinging to the soles, stretching out with every step, creating glistening, sticky threads between the sole and the floor…
Fortunately, you can trigger a side quest even by standing at the door of room 106.
Side Quest 7: Clean and rent out Room 106
[① Clean the grease stains in the room]
[②Paint the walls and purchase new furniture]
[③Find 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 7 Rewards: 300 Ghost Coins, 1000 Experience Points, 1 Random Skill Point
After quickly scanning through the quests and confirming that they were no different from the previous side quests, Zhou Fangdong closed the quest pop-up.
Although room 106 looked dirty, it didn't have that greasy smell; there was only a faint fishy odor.
Zhou Fangdong bought a fully automatic cleaning tool in the mall, but when he tried to use it, the system once again informed him that it could not clean the stains left by the ghost.
Looking at the grease stains all over the room, Zhou Fangdong sighed, stood at the door for a while to prepare himself mentally, and finally mustered up the courage to go in.
He forced himself to endure the unpleasant stickiness under his feet and circled the room, but he didn't see a single ghost.
Where's the ghost? Where did the ghost in room 106 go?
Zhou Fangdong lowered his gaze. Could the ghost in Room 106 be this grease?
Is the ghost in this room similar to the Blood Shadow Sac in Room 107?
Thinking of this, he tried touching the oil stain on the windowsill with his finger while using his mind-reading skill.
As a result, apart from getting oil all over his hands, the oil stains didn't react at all, and the mind-reading technique didn't work either.
Zhou Fangdong shook his hand and took out his phone to start searching for files related to room 106.
They hope to get clues about the ghost in Room 106 from the tenants who died in the room before.
When Zhou Fangdong opened the folder labeled Room 106, he stared at the long, seemingly endless string of files inside and suddenly fell silent.
...So many people died in room 106.
After reviewing several cases, Zhou Fangdong discovered that most of the tenants in room 106 died suddenly and inexplicably just a few days after renting the room.
The shortest stay was three days, and the longest was no more than a month.
Because the tenants consumed the money quickly, and the rent was cheap, some people didn't believe in superstitions, so the death toll in room 106 seemed a bit high.
Moreover, among these files recording tenant deaths, there were no vendettas, no murders, and no suicides; it seemed that the tenants simply died suddenly due to problems with the house.
Zhou Fangdong also saw in these files the tenant of room 106 who was the first to discover the deaths of the four college students in room 107.
After discovering the death in the next room, he also unfortunately passed away the next day. Because the investigators from the Paranormal Investigation Department suspected that the ghost in room 107 next door had killed him, they mentioned this incident in his file.
After reviewing the files of several tenants who died suddenly and inexplicably, Zhou Fangdong simply scrolled to the top and looked at the first murder case that occurred in room 106.
This time it was different from the others; this tenant died in childbirth in room 106.
Died in childbirth... Is the ghost in this room an infant spirit? Or a ghost of childbirth?
But neither of these ghosts are the type to hide, and they probably wouldn't produce these strange oil stains.
What Zhou Fangdong had just looked at were case summaries, essentially a preview. Following the index, Zhou Fangdong opened the detailed case file corresponding to the tenant who died in childbirth.
As soon as he opened it, the bloody photos at the top of the file startled him... No wonder a difficult childbirth was recorded in the murder case file of the Liwan Apartment.
This wasn't a difficult birth at all; it was a premeditated murder!
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Author's Note: (*Note 1) (*Note 2) are excerpted from the lyrics sung by Li Huiniang in the Cantonese opera "The Reincarnation of the Red Plum Blossom," adapted by Hong Kong playwright Tang Disheng.
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