Chapter 177: Happy Ending Achieved, Title Acquired, Rescued...
Almost simultaneously with the electronic sound, Zhou Fangdong immediately activated the [Original Form Shrine].
Two crimson ghostly hands suddenly emerged from the crack suspended in mid-air. These two ghostly hands were enormous; each hand alone was enough to easily grasp half a building.
The ghostly hands gripped the two sides of the crevice, and with a forceful push, a scarlet crack, as deep as an abyss, appeared above the apartment.
Thick, ink-like black mist seeped out from the cracks, and at the same time, a surging river of blood poured out from the fissures, dyeing the entire world crimson.
Amidst the surging waves of blood, a gigantic, crimson demon, its limbs braced on the ground, gradually emerged from the river of blood. Carrying a massive shrine on its back, it slowly crawled out from the crevice of the river of blood.
Countless hideous monsters lay prostrate on the ground, their bodies forming a series of downward-facing steps for the enormous demon carrying the shrine to walk on.
The evil spirit carrying the shrine treads these steps, step by step, heavily and slowly, crawling from the crack in the sky to the human world, crawling towards... Zhou Fangdong's back.
Finally, the giant demon stopped a few feet behind Zhou Fangdong, its body turning into a blood mist that merged with the surrounding blood light.
The shrine on its back fell silently and hung in mid-air.
The moment the shrine was set in place, Zhou Fangdong felt a low buzzing in his head, and his vision suddenly went black. Countless chaotic and distorted images rushed into his mind like a flood bursting its banks.
His body swayed, and the expressions on his face switched rapidly as if out of control, but he quickly returned to calm.
The ferocity and killing intent in his eyes receded like a tide. Although the crimson in his eyes had not completely disappeared, he was no longer in the uncontrollable berserk state he had when using the [Half-Body Shrine].
Two completely opposite extreme emotions achieved a delicate balance in him, making him seem like a completely different person.
Zhou Fangdong slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the pervasive black mist and blood-red light, looking at the pale blue sphere suspended in the sky in the distance.
The supreme god realized something was wrong, but it was now unable to escape.
After the Liwan Apartment was unsealed, it sensed the world consciousness's intention to repair itself and wanted to take the opportunity to seize a portion of the world's original power.
However, things did not develop as the main god had imagined—while repairing the world, the world consciousness also frantically spread its power to imprison it. Was this reckless behavior an attempt to perish together with it?
The data flowing around the pale blue sphere froze, and the eyes on its surface opened. Those eyes, composed of only a few lines of data, revealed a hint of human-like fear.
The Supreme God does not have its own world; it has always been a "barefoot being unafraid of those wearing shoes" existence.
In the past, the worlds invaded by the Supreme God, in order to prolong their own existence, all had to grit their teeth and tolerate it parasitizing them with supernatural copies. After the Supreme God had stolen enough power and left satisfied, they would use the remaining embers to recuperate and slowly recover.
But what exactly is going on in this world?
The data processing of the main god was almost scrambling to produce gibberish, and it was also unable to comprehend why this world consciousness, which was in the process of weakening and transforming, would be so extreme.
...This is clearly a self-destructive attack with no benefit whatsoever, a desperate act driven by hot-blooded rage, and such behavior does absolutely no good for the survival of the world.
But it soon found out why—because it wasn't a fight to the death, but a meticulously planned decapitation strike.
The enormous shrine behind the world consciousness agent, who had been ignored by it and was as insignificant as dust, moved.
The huge shrine, several meters high, had its tightly closed wooden door slowly opening.
A figure emerged from the shrine, accompanied by a deep, all-consuming darkness.
It was an exceptionally tall phantom, draped in a black imperial robe. As the robe billowed, one could vaguely see scarlet demonic patterns appearing on it.
The twelve strings of jade algae hanging from his crown completely obscured his face. In the void, only his eyes were clear, carrying an indescribable sense of terrifying oppression, as if the karmic fire of the underworld and millions of evil spirits had melted into those eyes.
Touched by this gaze, all good and evil, cause and effect, become transparent... Rather than saying that he is watching, it is more like that all things in the world have completed their life in his eyes.
The moment the phantom fully materialized behind Zhou Fangdong, an invisible pressure spread rapidly from him.
Whether they were ghosts attracted by the yin energy of the apartment, mad ghosts corrupted by the power of the void, or ghosts that originally existed inside the apartment... at this moment, all the wandering spirits and evil spirits in the world trembled and uncontrollably prostrated themselves in worship in the direction of the phantom.
It was a fear that came from the depths of one's soul, a survival instinct when facing an existence that could dominate everything.
The moment the shrine appeared, the nascent night attack by a hundred demons was frozen in time.
Ruling over the Nine Netherworlds and commanding all ghosts... At this moment, the divine phantom of the Fengdu Emperor reappeared on the rooftop of the Liwan Apartments.
As the phantom of the Fengdu Emperor fully manifested, the world consciousness manipulated the system, simultaneously feeding back Zhou Fangdong the ghost coins that the system had painstakingly saved and the idle world origin power.
[Body repair progress: 100%]
As the cold electronic voice faded, the terrifying rift in the sky that had torn apart the heavens and poured out a river of blood seemed to be smoothed out by an invisible hand, rapidly contracting and closing until it finally disappeared without a trace.
As the cracks completely disappeared, the enormous phantom behind Zhou Fangdong rapidly solidified, as if a historical projection had pierced through layers of spatial barriers and stepped into reality.
All these changes were completed in an instant the moment the main god noticed Zhou Fangdong's existence.
Zhou Fangdong looked at the main god expressionlessly and raised his hand.
Behind him, the figure of the Fengdu Emperor, who resembled the heavens and the earth, simultaneously raised his hand and grabbed at the pale blue orb of the main god in the sky that was trying to escape.
With just one movement, the space in the distance seemed to be compressed.
The pale blue sphere, resembling a planet, began to shrink rapidly and uncontrollably, pulled by an irresistible suction force, quickly moving towards Zhou Fangdong, or rather, towards the palm of the tall figure behind him.
The main god unleashed a silent shriek, and the azure data stream surrounding it began to spin wildly and uncontrollably... It tried to mobilize all its power to resist this terrifying attraction.
Its resistance was effective, and it temporarily broke free from the terrible pull.
Just as the main god was preparing to break through the confinement by sacrificing most of his power, Zhou Fangdong manipulated the system and detonated the lightning that had been planted in the main god's space long ago.
—He directly transferred all the players carrying the power of the God's origin within the God's Space.
In an instant, the vast, ocean-like data stream of the main god suddenly stopped, and the light around the sphere began to dim rapidly, resulting in a fatal freeze.
In that instant, the hand of the figure behind Zhou Fangdong closed.
A faint burst, like a balloon exploding, was heard, and the pale blue orb of divine light, along with its remnants of unwilling consciousness and chaotic data, was completely grasped into the palm of the Netherworld Emperor.
When the giant hand opened again, its palm was empty.
Among the twelve strings of beads hanging from the crown above, a bead seemed to have a faint blue light flashing across its surface.
—The main god has been completely reduced to an insignificant decoration, and the authority that belongs to it has been taken over by Zhou Fangdong.
Zhou Fangdong closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, in addition to the blood-red color, there was also a light blue data glow in his eyes.
He gained full authority and power as the supreme god, and took over all the remaining player contracts.
Without the slightest hesitation, the first thing Zhou Fangdong did after gaining new authority was to deal with all the players with excessively high evil values in the God's Space, and to liberate all the players who had been forcibly taken away by the God, sending them back to their original world.
Those who lost their homeland were temporarily stored in the Leopard Print Building of the Supervision Bureau by Zhou Fangdong and the more than 600 players who had been transferred out earlier.
Following that, Zhou Fangdong, using the plunder records in the main god's database, precisely returned all the original power of other worlds that it had stolen to their rightful place.
In the void, countless subtle sighs of relief echoed from various worlds.
The blessing from another world returned to Zhou Fangdong. The tall figure behind him no longer transformed into a shrine, but slowly shrank until it became a normal human height. It took a step forward, like all rivers flowing into the sea, and completely merged with Zhou Fangdong.
The blood-red and pale blue light in Zhou Fangdong's eyes faded completely, turning into a bottomless blackness.
He clearly sensed that he had completely taken control of the rift that had once torn the world apart.
The ever-flowing, towering river of blood, and the evil spirits within it, all became extensions of him, becoming part of his power.
The nighttime attack by a hundred demons was frozen the moment Zhou Fangdong used the [True Form Shrine].
Zhou Fangdong looked down at the apartment building.
With a single thought, the raging river of blood suddenly reversed course.
The scarlet river no longer flowed erratically, but transformed into millions of crimson chains, precisely surging into every floor and every corner of the apartment building.
Those twisted, monstrous ghosts, utterly corrupted by the power of the void and beyond redemption, were instantly assimilated by the river of blood, becoming nothing more than docile lambs. The projections of the Outer Gods lurking in the shadows melted away like snow under the blazing sun under the river of blood.
After cleansing the apartment, the continuously surging river of blood continued to spread to the surrounding area, instantly sweeping across the entire suburbs and collecting the vengeful ghosts that had been attracted by the apartment's yin energy.
After the cleansing was completed, Zhou Fangdong used his authority as the ruler of the underworld to awaken the sleeping ghost messengers on the top floor of the apartment.
One after another, ghostly figures dressed in black suits appeared on the top floor.
"The gates of the underworld open, and reincarnation begins anew." Zhou Fangdong's voice was soft, yet it resonated clearly in the ears of every ghost messenger.
The invisible passage between the underworld and the mortal world reappeared, and the aimless river of blood seemed to have found its home, rushing into the netherworld along the passage and returning to its original location, under the Bridge of Helplessness.
Once awakened, the ghost messengers immediately began their duties. They hurriedly floated to the elevator in the back building of the apartment building, arrived at the Yin-Yang gap where the souls of the dead were stored, and brought the sleeping souls back to the underworld.
The underworld reincarnation system is back on track.
Finally, Zhou Fangdong turned his attention back to the original location of the crack on the top floor of the apartment building.
That place has become the protective core of this world, the place most closely connected to him.
The cracks on the top floor of the apartment building had completely merged with him, becoming a part of this world.
His divine status was successfully elevated, and he became a new ancient god born in this world amidst its peril, who governs the netherworld, guards yin and yang, and resists the erosion of the void.
At the same time, the apartment building beneath his feet underwent its final transformation, giving birth to a massive barrier that spans between reality and illusion.
It anchors firmly to reality like a stabilizing force, while harmonizing the yin and yang energies, becoming an indispensable pillar for maintaining the yin-yang balance of the world.
At that very moment, it seemed as if a new ancient god had been born, the world had successfully transformed, and the five calamities of decay that bound the gods of the world were rapidly receding.
Suddenly, countless dazzling streaks of light, like shooting stars, lit up the night sky.
One after another, divine rays of light, some majestic, some compassionate, some chilling, and some peaceful, shone anew from the heavens or the depths of the underworld.
In the city, the statues inside the dusty temples and shrines suddenly radiate a warm glow... Those long-dormant beings open their eyes anew, and the silent incense smoke begins to circulate once more.
After the supernatural resurgence, ghosts and monsters will still appear in the world, but all the gods have returned to their places, and humanity is no longer powerless to resist.
Zhou Fangdong stood on the rooftop of the apartment building, looking into the distance.
As dawn broke in the distance, the darkness of night dissipated, and a few rays of light pierced through the clouds, outlining the undulating silhouettes of the city with a golden edge.
Before us lies a world beginning to recover, where the light of faith is shining brightly again.
Zhou Fangdong leaned on the rooftop railing, watching the dawn break and the sun rise, feeling the warmth of the sunlight on his skin, and asked, "Are you still there?"
[Yes! Thank you for your efforts, we succeeded! It's finally over!]
"Yes...it's finally over."
[I'm going to fall asleep now. This is the last time I'll speak to you through the system. System privileges have been fully returned to you. From now on, the maintenance of Liwan Apartments is in your care.]
The electronic voice paused, then added:
[Liwan Apartments is, after all, the face of this world, so please exercise a little restraint. If your decorating urges kick in, you can use the inspection bureau or the facilities around the apartment to unleash your artistic talents.]
Zhou Fangdong gave a helpless smile.
This is probably a case of "better to sacrifice your friends than yourself," which explains why the cost of the exterior renovation of the Supervision Bureau building was set so low in the first place.
"I have now regained my memory and I am not as obsessed with sticking to my own aesthetic as before, so don't worry."
"What I was just saying was, we've come this far, shouldn't we have some kind of ceremony?"
Okay!
[Host has successfully completed the Night Raid by a Hundred Ghosts event! The main god is dead, all collapsed areas of the apartment have been repaired, the underworld has been unsealed, and reincarnation has restarted—Main Quest 6 and Main Quest 7 have both been completed!]
[The Haunted House Landlord Management Game has achieved a happy ending!]
[Congratulations, host, on achieving a happy ending and obtaining the achievement title: [The Haunted Landlord Who Saved the World]!]
As the electronic voice faded, more than a dozen virtual fireworks exploded simultaneously in front of Zhou Fangdong.
Looking at the data fireworks, Zhou Fangdong felt a pang of melancholy. "Sigh, it's time to say goodbye."
Actually, it's better not to see each other again. The awakening of world consciousness means that another catastrophe of world-destroying scale is about to occur.
Goodnight, my partner.
Goodnight, comrade. It was a pleasure working with you.
[End of text]
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Author's Note: The main story is finished! The rest are all side stories, about six or seven chapters in total. They are about the end of the business, side stories from the perspective of ordinary citizens, side stories from the perspective of the supervisory bureau investigators, side stories from the perspective of the tenants, and Zhou Fangdong's childhood experiences.
I'll take a day off tomorrow and then update the extra chapters. The extra chapters will still be updated daily, but the update time will be different. I want to relax a bit.
Thank you to every one of my little angels who subscribed! Thank you for your support!!! Because of you, I was able to pay off my debts, cover medical expenses, and rent a whole house to have my own private space! Love you all!!! Hugs and kisses!!! Mwah m ...
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The following is related to the author's current life; it contains some dark and unpleasant elements that may affect your mood, so you can skip it.
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During the serialization, I generally avoided asking for leave or discussing my personal situation in writing, because I didn't want to put pressure on the readers. Everyone comes to read and relax; saying too much about my feelings would negatively impact the reading experience.
But now that the main story is finished, I feel I should write an author's note to explain my situation and sincerely thank the readers who have subscribed until now.
I am truly grateful to all of you who have followed the series all the way to this point. Thank you to every single reader who has subscribed; you are my true benefactors.
Before I started writing this, I was going through the most painful and darkest time of my life. I had quit my job due to mental health issues and stayed in the hospital for more than a year. After being discharged, I couldn't find a job, my savings were almost gone, and my health couldn't support me to do manual labor. I had been relying on friends for help.
My family can't help me financially. My parents have both passed away, and my stepfather took everything my mother left behind. I don't have a good relationship with my stepfather and my half-brother; we're completely cut off from each other.
Later, I remembered that I had an author account on Jinjiang Literature City, so I started trying to write full-time, thinking that at least I could pay back my friend's money.
When I first started writing this article, I thought I would use the royalties to pay off my friends and then end everything. After all, living in my current state is not very meaningful... I can't find a job, my health is not good, I can't do anything right, and I have mental problems. I'm just a complete waste.
Unexpectedly, the data for this book was very good, giving me the illusion that I could make a living by writing.
Then came even greater pressure... Good grades brought even more pressure; I felt extremely anxious and fearful, as if I had stolen something that didn't belong to me.
I rarely reply to comments during the serialization period because of the immense mental pressure. I'm also quite sensitive, and seeing negative reviews can upset me for days. In the early stages, when I had a stockpile of chapters, I could take a break for a few days to recover from negative comments. Later, when I ran out of chapters, I simply blocked the comments section. And sometimes, I wasn't able to thank readers for their votes in time, which I truly apologize for.
After receiving my first payment for the manuscript, I paid off the money I borrowed from my friends, and my mindset gradually improved. I was planning to move out of my shared apartment, but then I developed a thyroid problem. Readers who have been following the serialization should know that I had minor surgery in September; that's when I went to the hospital to have my thyroid removed.
Because half of my royalties from the serialization period were tied up in Jinjiang Literature City, and with the expenses for hospitalization and surgery, my savings were almost gone, so I gave up on moving. Later, because my upstairs neighbor's renovation caused a burst pipe that flooded my bedroom, I borrowed money to move out of the shared apartment.
October was an incredibly painful month. The neighbor who flooded my bedroom was really difficult to deal with. Because I was a tenant, he didn't want to compensate me for the damage. I had just had surgery, and with moving and arguing with that person about compensation, I was extremely exhausted, both mentally and physically. I moved my update time to around 11 PM, but I still lost my perfect attendance bonus because I missed one day.
Anyway, I've persevered until now, and the painful serialization period is almost over! Everything is getting better!! After I finish writing the side stories and officially complete the series, I can withdraw the remaining royalties! I'll have some savings and my own private space, so I can relax for a while!! I'm not materialistic, and apart from rent and medicine, I don't have any other expenses each month. The money I get after finishing the series will allow me to rest well for a few months, sob sob sob.
I feel so lucky to have met you all. Thank you for your subscriptions and support. You are the light in my darkness.
Because of you, a rat waiting to die in the sewer came back to life and became a happy rat rolling around in the sun.
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