Chapter 23: How to Use the Memorial Tablet - Kerosene Lamp Clue - Details Unknown...
I never expected that the apartment building's staircase would have a control key, and what's more, the key was a memorial tablet.
Zhou Fangdong wiped the dust off the memorial tablet and turned it around.
Then he discovered that the sandalwood memorial tablet had his own name written on it.
This is a bit unlucky. He's not dead yet, so why is a memorial tablet already set up for him?
Oh, right, the system just mentioned that this memorial tablet has some hidden function; Miao Zheng discovered an important clue last night…
Zhou Fangdong looked at Miao Zheng.
Miao Zheng is in very bad condition. Due to excessive blood loss, his lips are pale and cracked, but his cheeks have a sickly flush, which seems to be caused by inflammation of the wound leading to a fever.
Now is not the time to examine the memorial tablet; we need to get Miao Zheng back to his room for treatment as soon as possible.
Although he has bandages in his inventory for Duan Wenyu, he doesn't have painkillers with him.
If Zhou Fangdong applied a bandage directly to Miao Zheng's hand wound, he feared the key would become permanently attached to her hand. If he chose to pull the key out... pulling it out without painkillers would be modern-day torture.
Zhou Fangdong casually tossed the sandalwood pendant into his inventory and led Miao Zheng downstairs.
After Zhou Fangdong received the memorial tablet, the eerie white mist around him completely dissipated, and the staircase turned into an ordinary staircase. From their position, they could even see directly into the first-floor corridor.
Perhaps because his body had been stuck on the stairs for too long, Miao Zheng's steps were very stiff and weak, as if he would fall down the stairs at any moment.
Even in this state, she stubbornly insisted on walking by herself, supporting herself against the wall, unwilling to trouble Zhou Fangdong or let him help her.
Fortunately, Miao Zheng's 80% favorability with her resulted in a first-aid kit; otherwise, given the distance between Liwan Apartment and the city center, she definitely wouldn't have been able to make it to the hospital in her current condition.
Actually, if Miao Zheng were left in the corridor, and Zhou Fangdong teleported back to his room to get the medicine and then came back, Miao Zheng would receive treatment much faster.
But Zhou Fangdong was afraid that Miao Zheng would suddenly disappear again without his company... He no longer dared to leave Miao Zheng alone on the stairs or in the corridor.
Only by sending Miao Zheng back to room 109, with that dismembered ghost watching over her, could Zhou Fangdong feel completely at ease.
When Zhou Fangdong led Miao Zheng into the first-floor corridor, the long-tongued ghost that had been crawling beside him suddenly turned a corner, twisted its deformed body, and blocked his way at an eerie angle.
And the wedding dress ghost appeared out of nowhere, as if it had grown out of the shadows, standing next to the long-tongued ghost.
This time, the two ghosts didn't fight, but instead reached out their hands to Zhou Fangdong in perfect unison.
Seeing their blocking the road, Zhou Fangdong knew that the two ghosts were demanding the remaining payment for the three incense sticks from him.
Zhou Fangdong stared speechlessly at the suddenly appearing ghost in a wedding dress.
It's normal for the gossipy ghost to ask him for the final payment, after all, he actually did the job and led him to Miao Zheng.
But why is this "wedding dress ghost" getting involved? He didn't do anything and already has three sticks of incense for offerings, and now he wants the remaining payment? He's really pushing his luck. Was he being too agreeable?
Zhou Fangdong took out three sticks of incense and handed them to the long-tongued ghost. When facing the wedding dress ghost, he expressionlessly took out a kerosene lamp.
Although it wasn't lit up, it already showed his attitude.
The crimson lips that had been turned up under the wedding dress and veil suddenly drooped, and the withered hands clenched the human face sewn onto the wedding dress, making the face wrinkled and even looking a little aggrieved.
After a moment of silence, the wide hem of the wedding dress ghost gradually merged with the shadows, appearing as if it had turned into a pool of dark red blood. The tall figure of the wedding dress ghost, like a snowflake melting into water, quickly sank into the pool of blood and disappeared into the corridor.
Seeing the wedding dress ghost humiliated, the long-tongued ghost seemed particularly pleased, its mouth opening even wider. Holding the incense offered by Zhou Fangdong, it chose a direction opposite to where the wedding dress ghost had disappeared and crawled away along the wall.
Seeing that the two ghosts had left, Zhou Fangdong breathed a slight sigh of relief, put away the kerosene lamp, and continued to lead Miao Zheng toward room 109.
However, as soon as the two of them stepped out of the building and into the apartment entrance, Miao Zheng suddenly stumbled and fell face-first to the ground.
Just then, countless pale, ghostly hands suddenly rose from the ground. These hands, with their bluish-white skin, were covered with purplish-red lividity on the backs, and their fingertips were stained with purplish-red blood clots, resembling white vines that had long since rotted and turned black.
With the appearance of the ghostly hand, a dense, dark aura of resentment suddenly surged forth like a flood, instantly engulfing all the light in the entryway.
Within this thick, dark fog, countless pale, ghostly hands swiftly intertwined to form a large white net, carrying a chilling aura of death as they enveloped Miao Zheng, who was about to fall, and sank her directly into the ground.
In the blink of an eye, both Ghost Hand Black Mist and Miao Zheng disappeared, vanishing as quickly as bubbles being popped.
Zhou Fangdong's hand was still in the position of trying to support Miao Zheng; he hadn't even realized what had just happened.
How dare the ghost in the apartment snatch someone right in front of him? Could it be that Miao Zheng's actions last night caused some kind of anomaly?
The moment this idea popped up, a pop-up window appeared in the system's special tenant watchlist:
Miao Zheng, the tenant of room 109, has entered room 109.
Upon seeing the pop-up window, Zhou Fangdong belatedly realized something.
Could those ghostly hands that just grabbed Miao Zheng be the dismembering ghost from room 109?
He never expected that the ghost in the apartment room could actually come out.
However, I have a feeling that the dismembered ghost's behavior after leaving the room was a bit off...
Its power seems to have increased considerably, and it's no longer confined to the plastic bag; it's as if it's been unsealed and then given a new layer of berserk buff.
Although he was a little curious about why this had happened, Zhou Fangdong didn't dwell on it any longer. In any case, as long as his tenants were alright, that was all that mattered.
After confirming that Miao Zheng had indeed returned to room 109, Zhou Fangdong opened the rental interface and teleported back to his own room.
After finding the first-aid kit on the table and taking out painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, and fever reducers, he immediately teleported to room 109.
Miao Zheng was already lying in bed. Although he looked very weak, he remained conscious.
As soon as she saw Zhou Fangdong approaching, she was about to sit up when a ghostly hand that emerged from a black plastic bag pressed her back onto the bed.
Seeing this, Zhou Fangdong quickly said, "No need to get up, let me apply the medicine for you first."
He gave Miao Zheng painkillers, and then pulled the key to room 109 directly from her palm.
All the medicines in the basic first-aid kit are effective immediately for the tenants and can be used three times.
After pulling out the key, Zhou Fangdong took out the bandage he had prepared for Duan Wenyu from his inventory and wrapped it around her hand.
The bandage took effect immediately, and the wound on Miao Zheng's hand disappeared instantly.
Miao Zheng stared in shock at his right hand, repeatedly opening and closing it—there were no wounds, no pain whatsoever, and his finger dexterity was exactly the same as before.
She looked at Zhou Fangdong with bright eyes, about to say something, but Zhou Fangdong interrupted her directly: "No need for words of gratitude, just don't leave the room at night from now on."
Miao Zheng nodded firmly, his gaze unwavering. "I'll do whatever you say, landlord. I promise I'll never take any more risks."
[Beep—Tenant's favorability rating has reached 100; tenant's personality traits have changed]
[Traits: Optimistic and adventurous, but will unconditionally obey the landlord's requests and won't easily do anything reckless. Highly resilient and not easily startled. She will never terminate her lease unless evicted.]
Seeing this changed trait, Zhou Fangdong breathed a sigh of relief.
I never expected that reaching a 100% favorability rating would also change the tenant's traits. That's great! Otherwise, if he had to clean up the messes left by troublemakers every day, he would rather lose money than not terminate the tenant's contract.
After administering the fever reducer and anti-inflammatory medication to Miao Zheng, and seeing that her condition had improved somewhat, Zhou Fangdong asked, "Tell me everything that happened last night, and try not to miss anything."
Miao Zheng's expression turned serious. She leaned against the headboard and began to recount her experiences from the previous night.
After listening to her story, Zhou Fangdong fell into deep thought.
...The apartment, brightly lit at night, the vanished door, the corridor that seemed impossible to escape from no matter how hard you ran, and the inexplicably appearing stairs—it all felt like there were no clues related to the memorial tablet.
"Is that all?" Zhou Fangdong asked to confirm.
Miao Zheng nodded emphatically: "That's all, I'm very sure."
Since we can't deduce any important clues just from Miao Zheng's account, let's go to the scene ourselves.
Zhou Fangdong planned to go out and investigate personally that evening.
The kerosene lamp's item description states that it allows you to walk around the apartment at night. With a kerosene lamp, you shouldn't encounter any danger. And even if you do encounter danger, you have a teleportation skill; you can simply teleport back to your room.
After making his decision, Zhou Fangdong took out a low-level exorcism talisman from his inventory and handed it to Miao Zheng, explaining its effects and telling her to use it to save her life if she encountered danger again.
Just as Zhou Fangdong was about to leave room 109, the pop-up window for the special tenant watchlist appeared again:
[Zhao Dawei, tenant of room 101, enters the apartment]
It's almost 5 p.m. now, Zhao Dawei should be home from get off work by now.
Since you're back, I'll just hand over the exorcism talisman and the peace talisman to him.
Zhou Fangdong reopened the rental interface and selected to be teleported to room 101.
When Zhao Dawei opened his front door, he saw Zhou Fangdong standing in the darkness, his face pale and looking like a ghost.
Even after spending a day being "trained" by those ghostly creatures in the furniture store, Zhao Dawei was still almost scared into screaming.
"Landlord...?" After recognizing the 'male ghost' as Zhou Fangdong, Zhao Dawei finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Is there something you need in my room?"
Zhou Fangdong nodded and handed over the rechargeable items [Low-level Talisman - Peace Talisman] and the exorcism talisman to Zhao Dawei.
After taking the amulet out of the inventory, it is a yellow talisman paper folded into a triangle shape and strung with a red string.
Zhou Fangdong explained the effects of the peace charm and the exorcism charm to Zhao Dawei.
After hearing this, Zhao Dawei was moved to tears: "Thank you, Mr. Landlord. I will cherish these talismans you gave me."
Where else can you find a landlord who cares so much about his tenants? Becoming a tenant at Liwan Apartments is truly the greatest luck of his life.
After Zhao Dawei finished his business, Zhou Fangdong opened the rental page again and took a look at room 102.
In Room 102, the pixelated figure representing Duan Wenyu was still lying on the bed, with the symbol 'Z…Z…Z…' appearing above its head.
He's still sleeping, probably exhausted. I'll give him that exorcism talisman tomorrow.
Zhou Fangdong felt he was extremely worried about the safety of the tenants in the apartment.
He doesn't know what to do when there are more tenants in the future; he only has three tenants now and he already feels overwhelmed.
Sigh... In the future, when renting out rooms, I should try to choose honest and easy-to-manage tenants. I don't expect them to have the ability to fight ghosts and monsters, but at least they should be obedient and not be troublemakers.
After returning to his room, Zhou Fangdong opened the favorability interface to check the items unlocked when Miao Zheng's favorability reached 100.
[Low-grade paranormal prop: a worn-out camera]
[Item Description: When capturing a ghost, this item can briefly trap it within the camera. The stronger the ghost, the shorter the trapping time. It is ineffective against ghosts of rank A or higher.]
It's another prop that's useless to him but very useful to the tenants.
Zhou Fangdong put the camera into his inventory, intending to give it to Miao Zheng the next day.
Time flew by, and night fell.
This was the first time Zhou Fangdong had left his room at night, and to prevent any accidents from happening, he lit the kerosene lamp again.
Before opening the door, he thought for a moment and took the sandalwood memorial tablet out of his inventory.
Since the system says that this memorial tablet has other functions and is related to Miao Zheng's experience last night, he will copy Miao Zheng's movements and see what changes occur to the memorial tablet.
With that thought in mind, Zhou Fangdong stepped out of the room.
Then he was stunned by the scene before him.
Although Miao Zheng had told him in the afternoon how luxurious and magnificent the Liwan Apartments were at night, Zhou Fangdong was still shocked when he actually saw it with his own eyes.
This is no longer that dilapidated and abandoned apartment; it's clearly a five-star hotel!
If he had inherited an apartment like this, he probably wouldn't have had any trouble renting it out.
Zhou Fangdong carried a kerosene lamp in one hand and a memorial tablet in the other, walking on the red carpet in the middle of the corridor.
With each step, your feet sink into the fluffy carpet, feeling as comfortable as if you were strolling among the clouds.
Zhou Fangdong walked from the end of the corridor to Room 101, but he did not encounter the long corridor that Miao Zheng had mentioned, the one where he could not escape no matter how he ran.
Was it because he was using a kerosene lamp?
Looking at the brand-new door to room 101, Zhou Fangdong suddenly felt an urge to push the door open and go inside.
If he were to push open this door now, would he still be able to see Zhao Dawei, who lives in this room?
Thinking of this, Zhou Fangdong tried to open the tenant interface to see what Zhao Dawei's pixelated figure was doing.
However, the system did not respond.
The system interface is there, but it doesn't respond no matter what he does.
This lack of response felt exactly like when he was performing a role.
Zhou Fangdong, who had been confident, suddenly panicked.
Just then, perhaps because he was too close to the door of room 101, the flower bud-shaped wall lamps on both sides of the door suddenly flickered.
As the wall lamp flickered, the sandalwood memorial tablet that Zhou Fangdong was holding also began to vibrate in accordance with the frequency of the flickering light.
He looked down and discovered that the patterns on the memorial tablet had changed.
—Below his name, a small, ancient oil lamp pattern appeared.
The pattern on the oil lamp didn't resemble a kerosene lamp; it looked more like an ancient type of oil lamp—one where a small dish was filled with lamp oil, a cotton wick was placed on top, and the wick was lit with fire.
Zhou Fangdong frowned slightly, looking at the memorial tablet in his hand and then at the flickering wall lamp.
...Does the memorial tablet mean that there's something wrong with this wall lamp?
Because he always had the kerosene lamp in his hand, Zhou Fangdong became very bold in his actions.
He simply reached out and turned on a wall lamp.
After removing the bud-shaped cover, Zhou Fangdong was surprised to find that inside was not a light bulb, but an oil lamp with an antique design—the oil lamp inside the bud-shaped wall lamp had the same pattern as the oil lamp on the sandalwood tablet.
I never imagined that such a modern light bulb could contain such an ancient design.
As he looked at it, Zhou Fangdong seemed to have thought of something, and directly took down the old oil lamp from the lamp holder.
The lamp oil in the lamp dish was a cloudy, yellowish-brown color, filled with fluffy particles.
A huge surprise came crashing down on him, and Zhou Fangdong's hands, holding the oil lamp, were trembling.
—The oil in this old lamp dish is exactly the same as the oil used in his kerosene lamp!
Just as he realized this, the oil in the lamp saucer began to move on its own.
The dark yellow, murky grease in the dish floated up like iron filings attracted by a magnet, piercing through the glass shade of the kerosene lamp and going straight into the oil.
The oil in the kerosene lamp visibly increased significantly.
Zhou Fangdong was overjoyed.
Good heavens, this sandalwood memorial tablet isn't some unlucky one at all; it's actually a wooden radar for detecting lamp oil, bearing his name.
After all the oil was poured into the kerosene lamp, the old oil lamp in Zhou Fangdong's hand went out.
He put the extinguished oil lamp back on the lamp base and put the bud-shaped lampshade back on.
Because of Zhou Fangdong's action of replenishing the lamp oil, one of the wall lamps on both sides of room 101 is now off.
Just as the wall lamp went out, an ominous shadow fell over room 101. Even though the ceiling light in the hallway was still on, a strange shadow appeared on the door of room 101.
This eerie shadow neatly and vertically divided the door to room 101, one side bright and the other dark, as if an axe had cleaved the door in two.
Looking at the door, Zhou Fangdong had a strange, bad feeling.
To prevent any accidents, he didn't dare touch the wall lamp that was still lit on the other side of room 101.
Zhou Fangdong had some guesses in his mind. With a serious expression, he took the memorial tablet and walked to the door of room 102.
Just as he had guessed, as he approached the door of room 102, the wall lamps on both sides of the door began to flicker, and at the same time, the sandalwood memorial tablet began to vibrate at the same frequency.
Zhou Fangdong's expression grew increasingly solemn as he walked to the door of room 103.
But this time, neither the wall lamp nor the memorial tablet responded.
We kept walking back until we reached the door of room 109, at which point the wall lamp and the memorial tablet started to respond again.
Just as he guessed, the flower bud wall lamps that could be refilled with lamp oil only existed on either side of the door of the rooms where tenants lived.
Zhou Fangdong currently doesn't know whether the old oil lamp will light up again after the oil is removed.
To prevent the depletion of resources and to avoid any accidents to his tenants after the lamp oil was removed, Zhou Fangdong did not touch the wall lamps again.
After all, kerosene lamps weren't a necessity for him anymore, and he had plenty of lamp oil. Finding a way to replenish the lamp oil meant he'd already made a significant contribution tonight.
Although he had found an important clue, Zhou Fangdong was not in a hurry to return to his room.
He carried the kerosene lamp and walked all the way to the entrance of the apartment.
The luxurious décor in the entryway makes the apartment look more like a high-end hotel. Especially striking is the dazzling crystal chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. Every rhinestone on the chandelier reflects a dazzling light, transforming the entire entryway into a fairytale-like space.
The elevator doors have also changed; they are no longer the dilapidated, dented metal doors that were in use during the day.
The elevator doors are now covered with gold leaf printed with intricate patterns. The patterns are symmetrical on both sides with the gap between the elevator doors as the center line, making the elevator doors look like a giant yellow talisman at first glance.
Zhou Fangdong wanted to go to the staircase to the left of the elevator that leads to the second floor of the apartment building. He wanted to try controlling that staircase with the memorial tablet.
Therefore, he did not linger in front of the elevator, but instead walked towards the corridor where the apartment building's staircase was located.
However, to Zhou Fangdong's surprise, the elevator floor display suddenly changed as soon as he reached the elevator door.
The numbers on the screen flashed very quickly, almost instantly changing from 18 to 1.
Immediately afterwards, the indicator light above the elevator door suddenly emitted a crisp 'ding' sound, and the golden elevator door slowly opened to both sides.
As the indicator light beeped, the kerosene lamp in Zhou Fangdong's hand suddenly emitted a bright light, and the explosion instantly burned away all the lamp oil that had just been replenished.
Even so, it only made the elevator door pause for a moment, but it still couldn't stop the elevator door from opening.
The elevator doors were magnificent and luxurious on the outside, but the inside was completely dark, without any lights. Even Zhou Fangdong, who had a dark vision buff, couldn't see what was going on inside.
As the elevator doors opened, Zhou Fangdong felt a chilling sensation, like an electric current, instantly spread throughout his body from the depths of his soul.
...It felt just like that time on the highway, watching a large truck get closer and closer to me, and I was powerless to do anything about it.
In fact, Zhou Fangdong already sensed something was wrong when he realized he couldn't see clearly in the darkness of the elevator.
The system explained it very clearly: the [Dark Vision] talent allows him to see easily in the dark.
Since he couldn't see inside the elevator, it could only mean that what was inside wasn't darkness, but some kind of entity—a gigantic, terrifying monster that occupied the entire elevator and was impossible to see in its entirety at a glance.
Almost reflexively, after the kerosene lamp exploded, Zhou Fangdong immediately used the [Return] skill, attempting to teleport directly back to his room.
However, something even more despairing happened...
The teleportation skill failed, and Zhou Fangdong remained standing in the same spot.
The elevator doors opened wider and wider, and the thing inside seemed about to be squeezed out of the doors.
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Author's Note: [Update tomorrow night at 11 PM]
Thank you for the nutrient solution, my little angels. Because I have to submit this article tomorrow, too many updates will have an impact. So I will add an extra chapter starting on the 7th for every 1,000 nutrient solutions. This article has a backlog of chapters, so you can submit it with confidence.
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