Chapter 107 Ghost Letter and Ghost Disc: Encountering an Acquaintance, Asking for Sharing Rental Experiences...
Just as Zhou Fangdong was about to use the kerosene lamp to dispel the ghostly aura, the ghost in room 302 suddenly looked over.
Although it had just been robbed of 800 ghost coins, it did not show anger like other ghosts. It simply lowered its head as usual and covered its face with its long hair.
"Are you the landlord of Liwan Apartments? Yesterday, when the ghostly aura spread into the corridor, I noticed that a tenant moved into room 301 next door."
As soon as he finished speaking, the ghost actually withdrew his ghostly domain. "Now it's my turn to clean this room, isn't it? I'm so sorry, I'm the one who's been bothering you while you were cleaning."
Its head drooped lower and lower, while its body swelled up like an inflated balloon, its skin becoming almost transparent, making the purplish-blue bruises on its skin look even more terrifying.
It shrank its mountain-like body, its voice full of apology: "I haven't paid a single penny of rent, yet I've lived here for so many years. I'm truly sorry."
[Received 4000 ghost coins as an offering from the ghost in room 302]
Zhou Fangdong was stunned when he saw the system pop-up.
...He hasn't said a word since entering the room, yet he's already received 4800 ghost coins from this ghost.
This was the first time he had ever encountered a ghost in the room voluntarily paying rent; he hadn't even found it a human tenant yet.
The ghost in room 302 went through so much suffering in life, and even after death it became a vengeful spirit, so how come its personality is still so gentle?
It's quite unbelievable that someone with such a personality could fight his way out of the ghosts and monsters in the building and occupy a room.
Zhou Fangdong sighed heavily, put away the kerosene lamp, took out six more incense sticks from his inventory, and handed over all nine sticks.
The 302 demon's still-expanding body trembled violently. It looked at the nine incense sticks, its voice filled with disbelief: "This...this is for me? Can I really accept it?"
"Okay, take it." Zhou Fangdong directly stuffed the incense into its hand.
The 302 ghost accepted the offering incense and thanked them earnestly.
It was only then that Zhou Fangdong noticed that the ghost's face in room 302 had changed, hidden beneath the long hair.
In the Ghost Realm, it was just an ordinary human woman with a bloated figure, but after the Ghost Realm was dispelled, its inhuman side was revealed.
Like its body, which had swelled into a moving mountain of flesh, its entire head had also become enormous due to congestion and swelling.
The skin on his face was stretched thin and translucent, with bluish-purple and dark red bruises intermingling on his face, forming an eerie purplish-brown color, as if the black blood inside would spurt out at the slightest touch.
His nose was crooked to one side, and his eyes were squeezed into two thin slits by the swollen flesh around them, with the whites of his eyes stained a horrifying reddish-black by blood.
...Every inch of its skin tells the story of the pain it endured in its lifetime.
Zhou Fangdong sighed again and asked, "What are your requirements for human cohabitants?"
The ghost in room 302 seems more rational and can be communicated with directly.
If possible, Zhou Fangdong would like to prioritize meeting the needs of human tenants when selecting them and developing tenant guidelines.
"...Are any requests acceptable?" the ghost asked cautiously.
Zhou Fangdong was about to say "anything is fine," but then realized that the person in front of him was a vengeful ghost with deep resentment, so he swallowed his words and added, "Anything that a human can do is fine."
The ghost seemed uncomfortable making requests of others. It rubbed its swollen fingers, remained silent for a moment, and then said in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "I hope my future human roommate can help out at the nursing home every day... to a nursing home in the city center called 'Peace of Mind'."
It explained, “Because I died so suddenly, I was unable to resign from the director or hand over my work. I hope that the future human tenants can complete the work I didn’t finish in my lifetime and continue to work as caregivers in that nursing home.”
“But it seems I’ve been dead for over ten years…” Although its face was swollen and deformed, you could still see that it looked very sad. “If Anxin Nursing Home is no longer there, I can find a nursing home or welfare institution to work in, working at least 28 hours a week.”
Zhou Fangdong never expected that this ghost would make such a request.
The vengeful ghosts occupying the rooms in Liwan Apartments are basically filled with resentment, obsessed with something, and unable to break free from their obsession.
But the ghost in room 302's obsession was actually the work it hadn't finished in its previous life.
"Is this the only requirement?" Zhou Fangdong asked.
“Only this,” the ghost confirmed. “I can tolerate anything else as long as it’s not too excessive.”
"Is it okay if the tenant is male?"
The ghost nodded. "Yes, I don't hate men. I only hate those who hurt me. My enemies are all in my ghost realm. I have no interest in harming the innocent."
This is the most talkative ghost Zhou Fangdong has ever encountered since becoming a landlord.
It seems we can successfully get Xiao Lei into this room, and also find a job for this retired player of the Infinite Flow game.
Before that, he needs to find a way to test whether Xiao Lei has the same buff as Xiao Xiaoyu.
If he has the same constitution as Xiao Xiaoyu, and going out would easily trigger the arrival of the main god instance, then he still cannot stay in room 302.
The 302 ghost has only one request: he wants the roommate to work at the nursing home, and then when Xiao Lei is working there, the dungeon will be triggered... That would be the end of it all.
Even with Zhou Fangdong's help to corrupt the instance, the elderly people in the nursing home with mobility issues probably won't even be able to finish the ghost's casting time. If something happens to the nursing home, Xiao Lei will probably die in the room's ghost's wrath.
Zhou Fangdong bought an intermediate-level fully automatic cleaning tool to use on room 302, then teleported to the second floor and began searching the hidden room there.
This pile of props includes supernatural items made by the avatar of an evil god and retrieved from an underground cave processing plant, as well as props that Zhou Fangdong smuggled back from the Xinxing Resort yesterday.
The items I retrieved from the Mirror World are still inside the slime's belly, and because there's no room in the hidden room on the second floor, I haven't cleaned them up yet.
He remembered seeing a few divination tools among the pile of supernatural items he had packed up yesterday, and he planned to use them to test Xiao Lei's constitution.
Xiao Xiaoyu's ability to attract the main god's instance was something Zhou Fangdong only learned after she became a tenant and he looked at her profile.
Apartment tenants cannot change rooms at will. Once Xiao Lei signed the lease for room 302, he cannot change it. If he is unable to go out to work, it will cause a lot of trouble.
Since we couldn't get Xiaolei to become a tenant, we had to try other methods.
Zhou Fangdong found [the pen of the Ouija board], [the strange spirit board], [the sand tray for spirit writing], and [a bowl of rice grains used for divination].
Oh, and he also has a [Ghost Mirror] in his inventory. He can use this Ghost Mirror to perform the Mirror Spirit Ritual and see the future.
Let's use all of these on Xiao Lei together, and see which one works best.
After all, Xiao Lei was a player chosen by the main god, and Zhou Fangdong was unsure whether these ordinary supernatural items would work on him, so it was always better to have more than necessary.
Oh right, I still need to go to the basement to make the [God Decoy] later.
Zhou Fangdong took another supernatural item made by the evil god's clone and put it into his inventory, then went to the last cell.
Today, his slime body produced three small slimes.
Zhou Fangdong intended to add the three little slimes to his inventory, but the system's electronic voice suddenly sounded:
[The host can put these directly into the by-product creation page; there's no need to carry these items with them.]
His inventory only exists because of the [landlord's clothes] he's wearing; stuffing the little slime into his inventory is indeed like putting something dirty in his pocket.
Zhou Fangdong opened the by-product production page, stepped on the two small slimes, and put them into the raw materials of the [God's Trap].
Then the last bit of slime was used to repair the kerosene lamp.
He's currently 80% complete in repairing his kerosene lamp.
Just then, the favorability rating pop-up window suddenly appeared again:
[Detected: Room 301 tenant Lu Mingbian's favorability rating has reached 80. Please claim your favorability reward promptly.]
It must be because of the group of human traffickers he just delivered to room 301...
Zhou Fangdong decided to wait until he had time to look at the favorability reward, since the rewards for intermediate tenants were basically just filler items anyway.
Back then, the system stole the half-written self-criticism letters from those B-level investigators in Room 201 to make the reward seem more generous, in order to make the reward seem more substantial. It was simply unbearable to look at.
Zhou Fangdong went to the cell where the Ghost Market teleportation portal was located, went into the paper offering shop to collect some of yesterday's revenue, and then took back the money given to him by the funeral clothes shop owner.
Yesterday, the paper craft shop sold 2,100 ghost coins worth of paper craft items. Zhou Fangdong took 1,000 ghost coins, and left the rest for Hou San to continue maintaining the paper craft shop's operation.
Zhou Fangdong will not touch the previous turnover of the paper craft shop. Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs by emptying the paper craft shop to fill the black hole of Liwan Apartment that cannot be filled in the short term is too unwise.
Furthermore, the paper craft shop also has a separate page for decoration and operation, and it may need to be renovated in the future.
Yesterday, after the little paper figures from the shop delivered furniture to room 301, they also took the corpses of cult members from the second floor to the ghost market.
The funeral shop owner buys the skins of these cultists for 300 ghost coins each, and the payment he makes alone amounts to 2,700 ghost coins.
Zhou Fangdong threw the other scattered corpses of cult members to the apartment's garbage station yesterday.
With that in mind, after returning to his apartment from the paper shop, Zhou Fangdong teleported directly to the apartment garden and retrieved the ghost coins produced that day from the garbage station.
Today, the garbage dump produced 1300 ghost coins.
These five thousand ghost coins, plus the four thousand eight given by the vengeful ghost in room 302, round up to nearly ten thousand ghost coins... I earned enough to renovate the third-floor corridor floor this morning.
In just one day, Zhou Fangdong's Ghost Coin balance skyrocketed to 36,290 Ghost Coins. Sure enough, robbing the Heirs' Bone Society was still the fastest way to make money.
I can't even imagine how much money I'd make if the peddler sold all the supernatural items in the hidden room on the second floor.
Zhou Fangdong patted his dust-free palms.
I've collected all the Ghost Coins I was supposed to get; it's time to go to 104 Convenience Store and have Xiao Lei test my physique.
*
Xiao Xiaoyu came out of room 105.
Today, the Liwan Apartment Express Station officially opened for business, and she, as an express sorting worker, is starting her job.
When she passed by the 104 convenience store, she paused for a moment, went in and took out a bottle of milk and a bag of bread for breakfast.
Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard a familiar voice: "God of Gamblers! Is that you, God of Gamblers? Help, boss!"
The voice sounded very tired, with a sense of weakness, as if the person had been up all night.
Xiao Xiaoyu looked in the direction of the sound and saw a 'white steamed bun' huddled in the corner of the convenience store.
The boy was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with a round face and puffy eyes; his face was a little swollen from staying up all night. He was slightly chubby, with very fair skin, and was wearing light-colored clothes. Next to him was a life-sized dark brown teddy bear... which made him look even fairer.
Xiao Xiaoyu pondered for a moment, and under Xiao Lei's expectant gaze, she hesitated and said, "Your voice sounds familiar... Are you Xiong Lei?"
She and Xiong Lei had met once before. The two had cleared a dungeon together. It was in that dungeon that the ghost played dice with Xiao Xiaoyu until she became depressed, which led to Xiao Xiaoyu obtaining the title of 'God of Gamblers'.
"Thank God you still remember me." Xiao Lei was almost in tears. He huddled in the corner all night, not daring to move, for fear of triggering the murder conditions of the two vengeful ghosts in the convenience store.
He originally planned to leave quietly under the cover of daylight, but he didn't expect that the convenience store was open 24 hours a day and wouldn't let the ghosts rest even after daylight—damn unscrupulous capitalists who exploit ghost employees, leaving him no chance to escape.
The only saving grace was that after dawn, the zombie Taoist priest who had been lingering outside the door left, which relieved Xiong Lei.
The zombie Taoist priest was the scariest to him, even more terrifying than the long-tongued ghost and the wedding dress ghost combined.
Not long after dawn, he saw Xiao Xiaoyu coming to the convenience store to buy breakfast, which gave him new hope.
There have been rumors circulating in the God's Space lately that a player has successfully broken free from the God's control and no longer needs to complete dungeons. Xiong Lei has always dismissed this as unrealistic gossip.
Even now, after seeing Xiao Xiaoyu, he felt that the rumor might be true...
Xiao Xiaoyu seems to be the player who broke away from the main god. She looks like she has lived in this apartment for a long time, and she can even see!
The moment Xiong Lei saw Xiao Xiaoyu, he realized that this apartment might only appear dangerous on the surface, but was actually much safer than he had imagined—this should be the real safe house he had been searching for!
This made Xiong Lei begin to doubt whether what the strange landlord had said last night was true.
—Maybe becoming a tenant in this apartment will really allow me to escape the Lord God?
Xiong Lei has no relatives, so he doesn't care whether this is his original world or not. As long as he can break free from the control of the main god and no longer have to work like a slave year-round to clear supernatural dungeons, living in a haunted house doesn't seem so bad.
Moreover, since Xiao Xiaoyu can live normally in this eerie apartment, he and she are at a similar level, so he should be able to live smoothly as well.
Xiong Lei immediately slid to his knees and hugged Xiao Xiaoyu's leg, "God of Gamblers! Please protect me! Please share your renting experience!" As he spoke, he lowered his voice, "What price do I have to pay to become a tenant in this apartment?"
Xiao Xiaoyu recalled her lost storage space and the props she had accumulated over the years, and patted Xiong Lei on the shoulder with a deep expression: "Let me ask you first, how many props did you take out of your storage space?"
Thinking she wanted payment, Xiong Lei said somewhat embarrassedly, "The points system can't be used here, and all the items are in the storage space, so I can't take them out."
Xiao Xiaoyu patted his shoulder heavily again: "My condolences, young man. Your props will probably never be able to be taken out again."
Xiong Lei was stunned.
Xiao Xiaoyu looked at him with pity: "Becoming a tenant doesn't cost anything, and the landlord will even protect you from ghost attacks. But because the points system on you will disappear after you become a tenant, your storage space will also explode... So, the only cost is that the items in your storage space will disappear."
Seeing Xiong Lei's despairing look, Xiao Xiaoyu comforted him, "But the skills won't disappear. After becoming a tenant, you can help the landlord with more tasks and try to increase his favorability. Maybe the landlord will help you find the items."
A glimmer of hope rekindled in Xiong Lei's eyes.
In order to escape the main god instance, he has decided to stay here.
So starting today, he's going to work hard to improve his relationship with that landlord!
After his worries and fears subsided, a wave of hunger washed over him, and Xiong Lei humbly sought advice from his experienced mentor:
"Hey bro, which flavor of bread at the convenience store is the best?"
*
Zhou Fangdong, who had just been teleported to the lobby on the first floor of the apartment building, was about to head towards the convenience store in room 104 when he suddenly received a system notification:
The tenant in room 204 received a [Ghost Letter] in their mailbox and has been drawn into the God's Dungeon.
Room 204 tenant?
Zhou Fangdong frowned slightly.
Room 204...who's staying there?
Zhou Fangdong opened his tenant profile.
Oh right, it's Tang Huili, the cartoonist with a lot of inspiration who moved from Penghu Homestead to an apartment and told him that something bad was going to happen to Penghu Homestead.
Because this cartoonist was socially awkward and didn't like going out, Zhou Fangdong only saw her once, the day she entered the apartment, and never saw her again after that. Her presence was so minimal that he almost forgot she even existed.
...But wasn't Tang Huili supposed to have strong inspiration according to the system? Why would she actively contact [Ghost Letter]?
Moreover, the tenant's mailbox was stuffed with flyers as soon as it was unlocked, which is outrageous. He said that mailboxes in modern communities are useless.
Zhou Fangdong opened the erosion page and was about to check Tang Huili's status when another system pop-up appeared:
[While helping the tenant in room 103 repair their VCR, the tenant in room 107 accidentally touched a [ghost disc] and has been drawn into the main god's instance.]
The tenant of room 107 is Zhang Qingyang... Did he accidentally touch the [ghost disc] while helping Mu Yuechan fix her VCR?
Zhou Fangdong was even more puzzled.
Are those DVDs that Mu Yuechan brought back last night after capturing the human traffickers?
He checked all those discs last night, and both he and Mu Yuechan were fine. How come the young Taoist priest had an accident when he touched them...?
And where do all these weird things come from? Is the main god no longer directly descending into the dungeon to recruit people, but instead sending out flyers?
The quality has dropped considerably; it seems their wealth has truly been plundered by those cultists.
...Even though the main god has become like this, he still insists on sending him money, which is really touching.
Zhou Fangdong closed the system pop-up and continued watching the live video feed of the dungeon erosion interface.
Fortunately, Zhang Qingyang and Tang Huili were caught up in the same instance.
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