Chapter 147 The Ghost of Room 306 Forgot a Small Thing
As soon as I pushed open the door to room 306, the system task panel popped up.
Side Quest 19: Clean and rent out Room 306
① Find the ghost hidden in the room
② Eliminate the ghostly aura in the room and help the ghosts break free from their cycle of obsession.
③ Clean the room and tidy up the house.
④ Discard the damaged furniture and buy new furniture.
⑤ Figure out the patterns of ghosts and monsters killing people, draft a rental agreement, and find tenants to move in.
[Side Quest Rewards: 800 Ghost Coins, 2000 Experience Points, 1 Random Skill Point]
The text was no different from the previous side quests... Zhou Fangdong casually closed the pop-up window that was obstructing his view and prepared to walk into the room.
The moment Zhou Fangdong saw the interior, he paused, almost unable to believe his eyes.
—This uncleaned room is actually occupied by someone!
Having cleaned so many rooms, Zhou Fangdong had developed the habit of activating his [Heavenly Eye] skill before entering a room.
With this skill that allows him to see through all changes, Zhou Fangdong is certain that the person in room 306 is a living human being.
The Liwan Apartments have been locked down for so many years, with no water, no electricity, and no food. It's incredible that a grown person could survive until now.
...And he survived even though the Ghost Realm existed.
Room 306, like the other rooms on the third floor, has always maintained a ghostly atmosphere.
Room 306, the ghost realm, had no scenery, only a wooden bench and a vast expanse of white mist that stretched as far as the eye could see.
The living person sat on the bench, staring blankly at the fog in front of him.
As the mist drifted by, a small, hunched human figure would occasionally appear in the empty seat beside him, sitting shoulder to shoulder with him on the bench, gazing together at the distant void.
Zhou Fangdong walked to the center of the room, came to the bench, and carefully examined the man's physical condition.
This was a man in his forties, with his hair parted in a 3/7 style, wearing glasses, and possessing a dignified and refined appearance, exuding an air of scholarly elegance. Although he was wearing a polo shirt, a style often favored by middle-aged men, he didn't appear greasy due to his excellent physique.
...After such a long period of not eating or drinking, this uncle's physique and appearance showed no signs of illness; in fact, he looked healthier than He Yansheng.
The man showed no reaction to the approach of strangers, remaining expressionless and staring blankly ahead.
Zhou Fangdong didn't dare to use the kerosene lamp to dispel the ghostly aura in the room as he would with other rooms. After all, he didn't know how this person had survived, and it would be bad if dispelling the ghostly aura disrupted the balance in the room and caused the person's death.
His [Judgment] skill, which reads memories, only works on ghosts and cannot be used on living people. It cannot reveal what happened in the room through a person's memories.
Zhou Fangdong pondered for a moment, then shifted his gaze to the empty seat next to the middle-aged man.
A small, thin silhouette kept appearing there from time to time, even after Zhou Fangdong came in.
Ghost realms are formed by the obsessions of ghosts and monsters in a room, and the ghosts and monsters in a room may very well be a person or an object in the ghost realm.
And the things in this empty ghost realm were very clear... mist, living people, benches, human-shaped outlines.
Even without solving the mystery, you can find this little thing by exhaustive search.
After a moment's thought, Zhou Fangdong decided on the next steps.
After the humanoid silhouette reappeared, he immediately used [Shadow Soul Contract].
The shadow beneath Zhou Fangdong's feet began to spread rapidly, instantly covering the entire ghost realm. The surging white mist was instantly eroded by the boundless darkness, turning the entire room into a deep void where one could not see their own hand in front of their face.
...First, use control skills to keep the room environment unchanged, then look for ghosts and read their memories.
After taking control of everything in the room, he directly used [Judgment] on the humanoid silhouette that had stopped changing.
Zhou Fangdong originally thought he would have to search for a while longer, but unexpectedly he hit the mark on the first try—the humanoid silhouette that appeared from time to time was the vengeful ghost in the room.
It's rare to see a ghost appear so openly and without any attempt to hide itself.
After obtaining 800 ghost coins, Zhou Fangdong finally understood what was going on with the living people and the ghost realm in this room.
The ghost in room 306 is an old man suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Although this ghost possesses reason, due to an illness he suffered in life, his memories, like those of a irrational vengeful ghost, are fragmented and disjointed, with only the memories from before his death being relatively clear.
Although the elderly man had children, the saying "no filial piety at the bedside of a chronically ill parent" applies. The memory loss and cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer's disease meant that when he had an attack, he would either get lost or become emotionally volatile and noisy, which was very distressing. His sons quickly lost patience and were unwilling to take care of him anymore.
At that time, various murders had occurred at the Liwan Apartments. Since the rent for the apartments was much cheaper than that for nursing homes, his sons simply rented a room in the apartments and hired a caregiver to take care of him.
At first, the caregiver was quite dedicated, but after discovering that the elderly person's children didn't care about them and had never even visited, the caregiver started taking the money but not doing the work.
Most of the time, the caregiver tied the elderly woman's hands and feet and locked her in the room, occasionally feeding her liquid food. The frequency of cleaning the elderly woman's body also decreased, causing her condition to deteriorate severely, her muscles to atrophy, and she to be unable to stand up anymore, and she also developed many bedsores.
In the end, it was a tenant living in room 305 who noticed the caregiver's inaction and took the initiative to take on the responsibility of caring for the elderly.
The tenant, surnamed Sun, is a professor working at a university in Linjiang City. His mother recently passed away in a car accident, and his father also fell seriously ill after his mother's death. He spent all his savings but was unable to save his father. As a university professor, he moved to Liwan Apartment because after paying for his parents' medical treatment and funerals, he had only enough money left to live in the apartment.
The son wished to care for his parents, but they were no longer there. Already grieving the loss of both his parents, he could not bear to see the elderly man living next door being persecuted in this way.
The caregiver was happy to have some free time, and eventually stopped coming to this mixed-race apartment, leaving the job of taking care of the elderly entirely to Professor Sun.
The old man could no longer recognize people and completely regarded Professor Sun as his own child. He would often cry and hold Professor Sun's hand, not wanting him to leave.
Professor Sun couldn't bear to see the old man's tears, so he simply moved into room 306 and lived with him.
The old man's health had deteriorated significantly, and despite Professor Sun's meticulous care, his condition did not improve. Before his death, the old man regained some of his senses, but he still mistook Professor Sun for his own child, holding his hand and speaking incoherently.
Although Professor Sun did not understand what the old man was saying, in order not to let the old man leave with regrets, he responded to whatever the old man said.
After the old man passed away, Professor Sun helped him clean his body and change him into his burial clothes in room 306. However, before they could arrange the funeral and find a burial site, an accident occurred.
He can't leave room 306.
After the old man passed away, a faint white mist appeared in room 306. Upon sensing that Professor Sun intended to leave the room, the mist instantly thickened, obscuring the entire room.
Because Zhou Fangdong directly examined the old man's memories, although Professor Sun did not hear the old man's incoherent words before his death, he understood them.
The elderly man was worried that Professor Sun might be in danger, and kept telling him not to leave room 306.
In a sense, the old man in room 306 had actually died long ago, but he kept clinging to Professor Sun's body because he wanted to stay with him for a while longer.
Later, the yin energy in the apartment became increasingly chaotic, and the old man's soul was occasionally affected by the yin energy, often forgetting to return to his body, which led to his body's activity level decreasing and his internal organs starting to rot, making it impossible for him to contain his soul anymore.
The elderly man in room 306 was fixated on Professor Sun, worried that he would be harmed if he left the room.
At that time, cult members in the Liwan Apartments became increasingly active, and various murders and harmful ghosts emerged one after another.
Driven by his obsession with protecting his 'son,' the old man created a ghost realm, hiding Room 306 and Professor Sun's presence.
This ghost's characteristic is [forgetfulness].
Under the shadow of his ghostly aura, all the people and ghosts living in the apartment building forgot that there was a room 306 on the third floor.
Professor Sun, who was hidden in room 306 by the old man, was immersed in the illusion woven by the old man.
In the realm of ghosts, his body forgot hunger, forgot thirst, forgot the need to continue growing... Time in his body was completely frozen, fixed at the moment the old man died.
Room 306 became the only safe haven in this terrifying apartment filled with ghosts and monsters.
In real life, Professor Sun always sat on the bench in the room, but his mind was on traveling around with the recovered elderly man.
Before his death, due to being confined for too long, the old man's body could no longer support him to walk. During the time Professor Sun was taking care of him, he was never able to go out.
The old man wanted to wait until he recovered so he could go out for a walk with his "son" and see the scenery... What he couldn't do in his lifetime, he finally accomplished after his death.
The two, one human and one ghost, remained in the room until Zhou Fangdong appeared.
Zhou Fangdong withdrew from the ghost's memories and released the control of the [Shadow Soul Contract].
It's great, a room that's easy to clean, and they even give you a free guest while cleaning the room.
Once Professor Sun signs the rental contract and becomes the tenant of room 306, the old man can protect him at any time, and the ghostly aura that appeared in the room due to his obsession with protecting him will naturally dissipate.
Zhou Fangdong planned to write out the tenant contract first, and then wake up Professor Sun later.
However, as soon as he stepped out of room 306, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.
Because he needed to keep a close eye on his mental state, Zhou Fangdong had the system create a mini attribute panel last night, which was placed in the upper left corner of his field of vision.
Just as he left room 306, he noticed a white mark next to his avatar on his miniature attribute panel.
He clicked to check out the mark with some confusion and discovered that it actually had a negative effect.
[Forgotten something small, countdown: 1 hour]
[This debuff will automatically disappear once you recall what you forgot.]
How could the Ghost in Room 306's forgetfulness ability affect him?
...Come to think of it, this seems to be the first time he's been affected by the ghost's abilities in the room. It's probably because his mental state is currently unstable, and this ghost is specifically designed to attack mental states, which is why he was affected.
But he forgot something small. What did he forget?
Zhou Fangdong summarized his schedule for the morning.
In the morning, he checked the mature paranormal props in the planting area and went to the back building to find the ghost tenant. While searching for the ghost tenant in the back building of the apartment, the cult invaded the apartment garden and was devoured by the garden decorations.
Afterwards, he brought eight ghost tenants back from the back building and created a dungeon sweep interface. Before he could even check the sweep interface, a system pop-up reminded him that Li Ou was cursed. Then, from the curse on Li Ou, he learned the true intention of the cultists invading the garden.
Zhou Fangdong remembered the conversation with the ghost bus driver very clearly, without missing a single detail.
Now that the vengeful spirit that cursed Li Ou has been dealt with, the apartment is fine, the tenants are fine, and he himself is fine... Zhou Fangdong hesitated for a moment, and finally gave up on buying [low-level curse removal potion] in the system shop.
Anyway, it's only a one-hour forgetting; if I can't remember, I'll remember everything after the countdown ends.
Although he currently has a balance of over 180,000 Ghost Coins, he should save where he can and spend where he can. There's no need to waste 200 Ghost Coins on medicine for such a minor curse.
With that in mind, Zhou Fangdong teleported back to his room and began writing the rental contract for room 306.
Activity room at Liwan Apartment.
The junior investigator, who had been forgotten in the activity room, was now numb. He felt that he probably wouldn't be able to leave the Liwan Apartments alive today.
...How did something as simple as delivering packages and running errands escalate into this situation?
The investigator sat solemnly on the rocking horse in the activity room. To his left sat a headless imp that was shaking wildly, and to his right sat an imp with a red chair on its head and a body broken into jigsaw puzzle pieces.
The two little devils seemed to be having a horse-riding race. The headless devil shook its neck until blood spurted everywhere, while the furniture devil shook its internal organs until they flew off.
The investigator, splattered with blood and entrails, had a numb expression and empty eyes.
Although the monster's internal organs and blood were not physical, he still subconsciously wiped his face.
He desperately wanted to escape, but he couldn't.
Because there weren't just these two little devils in the activity room, but a whole bunch of them... These little devils ran around having fun in the more than 200-square-meter activity room.
If you ignored the children's terrifying appearance, he would almost think he had accidentally wandered into some kind of kindergarten.
And it's not just little ghosts; occasionally, adult ghosts will sprout out from the corners of the activity room like freely growing mushrooms.
A male ghost, carrying a shovel and claiming to be the apartment cleaner, stood beside him. The cleaner kept staring at him, and he suspected that if he showed even the slightest thought of trying to escape, the cleaner would eliminate him.
The investigator felt helpless and longed to return to the supervisory bureau.
Just at this moment of despair, the door to the activity room was suddenly pushed open.
The investigator was startled and quickly turned to look.
—In the activity room, these ghosts always pass through the walls; only people can push open the door.
The person who entered was indeed a human. Although he didn't recognize him, the person was wearing the uniform of an investigator from the Paranormal Investigation Division—it was the Bureau of Surveillance who had come to rescue him!
"Ah, found him." Duan Wenyu said to the person on the other end of the phone after seeing the investigator playing happily with the kids in the activity room. "He's slacking off in the apartment's activity room. Captain Hong, I'll send him back right away."
After hanging up the phone, Duan Wenyu looked at the investigator and said, "Captain Hong couldn't reach you earlier and thought something had happened to you. By the way, are you going back to the supervisory bureau's canteen for lunch?"
The investigator abruptly stood up from the rocking horse, looking at Duan Wenyu with teary eyes: "I... I can still go back?"
Because he suddenly stood up, he once again attracted the attention of many little devils.
Now he has a little devil on his head, another one hanging in his arms, and several other little devils are using him as a climbing rock, climbing all over him.
Duan Wenyu looked at him with suspicion, about to ask, "Why can't we go back?" But after observing the investigator's expression and demeanor, he thought carefully for a moment and finally came to a conclusion.
—This investigator must have had a blast playing with the kids and fallen in love with the apartment's living environment, so he's reluctant to leave.
Duan Wenyu said with a smile, "So you also want to rent an apartment in an apartment building. You should have said so earlier! The landlord is very easy to talk to. I'll contact him for you right away!"
Having been saved by his landlord several times, Duan Wenyu, who sees the apartment landlord as his savior, is usually just an ordinary intern who switched majors from agricultural college to work at the supervisory bureau. But when it comes to the apartment and the landlord, a fervent desire to share ignites within him—the kind of enthusiasm that comes from discovering something good and wanting to share it with others, to get people involved in the hobby together.
Watching Duan Wenyu leave the activity room without looking back, the investigator, surrounded by ghosts, weakly reached out.
No, I didn't, please let me finish speaking—
*
After completing the rental agreement for room 306, Zhou Fangdong placed an order with Guijia Furniture Store.
After the 'order failed' message appeared, he realized that although the furniture could pack itself, it couldn't accept orders on its own when the store manager wasn't at the store.
According to Zhao Dawei, the store manager went to the coffin shop in the ghost market for further training.
Zhou Fangdong didn't want to waste time; he wanted to tidy up a room today. So he took out some yellow paper and contacted Hou San, asking him to help find a set of furniture.
Hou San needs more time to find furniture than he does at Guijia Furniture Store, since he has a purchasing process.
While waiting for Hou San to deliver the goods, Zhou Fangdong teleported to the fourth floor to prepare to add some renovations to the apartment and used the two renovation discount coupons.
It was at this moment that he received a message from Duan Wenyu.
...Ah, so he forgot about the investigator who delivered the sculpture materials to Li Ou.
As soon as he realized this, the [Forgot a small thing] debuff on his attribute panel disappeared.
Zhou Fangdong was somewhat surprised after reading Duan Wenyu's information.
Unexpectedly, this young investigator fell in love with the apartment's living environment so quickly... Perhaps he's the kind of tenant who particularly loves children, and was captivated by the headless imp and the furniture imps, which is why he couldn't wait to move into the apartment.
Room 201 is full. Room 106 is occupied by Hong Zhong's "Cat Ghost" and Room 207 by Hu Feng's "Debt Collector." The rental arrangements for these two rooms are inconvenient for roommates...
Zhou Fangdong decided to prepare a room for the enthusiastic investigator after the renovation was completed.
The room cleaning went quite smoothly today, and I was able to rent out two rooms without any unexpected issues.
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