It was unmistakably Xia Ta's voice.
Gao Tian turned and called toward the door. "I'm here."
Xia Ta spoke again. "I have something to discuss with you. Is it convenient to open the door right now?"
Gao Tian got out of bed. Out of caution, he checked the peephole to confirm it really was Xia Ta standing in the hall, dressed in her usual elaborate attire. Strangely, Yusheng and Jiang Yang weren't with her. Instead, a potbellied middle-aged man in a tight white shirt stood by her side, impatiently wiping away sweat with a handkerchief.
With a click, Gao Tian opened the door. His gaze bypassed Xia Ta and landed on the middle-aged man beside her. "Who is this?"
Xia Ta and the older man stepped into Gao Tian's room. The man made himself right at home; he sat down without a word, grabbed the kettle from the table, and poured himself a cup of water.
The corners of Xia Ta's perpetually expressionless, delicate face curled into a rare, faint smile. "A god of wealth."
Knowing Gao Tian wouldn't understand, she elaborated. "Money can buy many things, even here in the Living Apartment.
"Some of the fresh newcomers can spend money to hire veteran residents like us to guide them through a Green Text Mission.
"The Living Apartment doesn't care how you manage to survive a Green Text Mission."This is Boss Jin. His second Green Text Mission begins tomorrow. He paid—a lot of money—to hire Jiang Yang and me to protect him during the run."
Boss Jin muttered under his breath. Evidently, after negotiating the price with Xia Ta, he didn't want to stick around a second longer; he just wanted to leave this godforsaken apartment immediately. In truth, residents of the Living Apartment only needed to stay one night a month, so his behavior was completely permitted.
Gao Tian asked, "So what does his second mission have to do with me?"
"His Green Text Mission tomorrow takes place at a location called the Sapphire Mall," Xia Ta said. "I wanted to invite you along to observe the process.
"You won't need to participate in the mission itself. You just need to watch from the sidelines to see what unexpected situations might arise and how we veteran residents handle them. It's a very rare learning opportunity. Being told a hundred times can't compare to witnessing it once in person.
"Of course, the final decision is yours. If you feel there's no need to attend, then I apologize for disturbing you and we'll take our leave."
Gao Tian had a pretty good idea of her true intentions. Xia Ta was deliberately trying to groom the next generation of administrators for the apartment, just in case something happened to her and there was no one left to guide the newcomers.
What surprised him, however, was the location of Boss Jin's second Green Text Mission. The Sapphire Mall was the exact same place where Xu Yuan from the Galan Society had hidden his corpse.
Was this just a coincidence... or was there some connection between the two?
Their eyes met, and Gao Tian silently made his decision. "Alright, I'll go."
By agreeing to go to the Sapphire Mall, he was simultaneously accepting Xu Yuan's mission from the Chat Group.
If he didn't accept the task in the group and another Fierce Ghost took it instead, and that ghost happened to bump into the apartment residents doing their mission at the mall...
Then Xia Ta and the others would likely be wiped out.
He had the opportunity to take this mission himself, and he absolutely had to.
Xia Ta didn't say anything more, simply nodding. "I'll add you on WeChat in a moment. I'll send Boss Jin's Green Text Mission requirements to you as a file.
"We'll gather on the first floor of the Living Apartment tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. See you then."
Boss Jin glanced at Gao Tian and attempted a smile, revealing a mouthful of gold teeth. "Young man, even if you're just observing, if you can give me a hand at a critical moment tomorrow, I, Jin Daxiang, am by no means an ungrateful person. You'll certainly get your share of money."
To show off his wealth, he painstakingly fished five crisp red bills out of his pants pocket and pressed them under the cup he had just drunk from. "I was a little thirsty and drank five cups of your water.
"I'll give you a hundred bucks for each cup."
Gao Tian looked at the money, completely unmoved.
Would anyone who had sunk so low as to enter the Living Apartment still care about money? In this place, money was the most useless thing in the world.
On the other hand, this Boss Jin wasn't actually as foolish as he looked. He knew exactly how to buy goodwill. That kind of tactic definitely worked wonders out in normal society.
The two walked out one after the other. Before leaving, Xia Ta's silhouette paused at the door. As if remembering something, she turned her head and spoke again. "By the way.
"There's a welcome party for the Living Apartment at eight thirty tonight. Besides you, a few other interesting newcomers have arrived this month.
"You should consider coming down to chat and hang out. Your batch of newcomers will most likely execute your first Green Text Mission together."
"There's no need," Gao Tian replied. "I'm already exhausted today.
"The days ahead are long. There will be time to slowly get to know each other."
Xia Ta didn't try to persuade him further. "Then get some good rest."
After the two left, Gao Tian was once again alone in his room. He took out his mobile phone and switched over to the Chat Group interface. The Black Envelope sent by Living Apartment (Xu Yuan) was still hanging there, unclaimed by any ghost.
Gao Tian pondered for a moment. He first changed his ID to [Memory Ghost], then typed a line of text into the chat box and hit send.
[Memory Ghost]
I'm heading to the Sapphire Mall tomorrow. I can take a look for you.
[Living Apartment]:
Thanks.
Once you've handled it, @ me in the group. You can keep the weapon in the Black Envelope as your reward.
[Memory Ghost]:
Where is your corpse hidden?
...
The Burned Ghost had asked these same questions before. It was something a ghost would logically ask, so it wouldn't expose his true identity.
Of course, when the Burned Ghost had asked, Living Apartment had completely ignored him, making his disgust obvious.
...
In the Chat Group, Living Apartment fell silent for a moment. Staring at the mobile phone, Gao Tian's heart leaped into his throat, terrified that he had said something wrong.
A moment later, Living Apartment's avatar bounced again as he began to reply.
[Living Apartment]:
Consider this a small test for you.
I'm entrusting my corpse to you and you alone. If the other ghosts in this group found out, it might cause some trouble.
If you can't even find my corpse, then there's no need for you to take this mission anyway.
...
Xu Yuan was likely worried that a ghost user might follow the clues left on his corpse all the way back to that Pot in his hometown.
Little did he know, his commission had fallen into the hands of a living person.
...
Are you sure you want to claim the Black Envelope [Ghost Transformation Spear]?
Claiming this Black Envelope will cost 0 years of lifespan.
(Gao Tian's fingertip tapped Confirm.)
...
So the weapon Xu Yuan had favored while he was alive was called the Ghost Transformation Spear.
Less than a tenth of a second after Gao Tian tapped confirm, an unknown number called him.
Staring at the vibrating number on the screen, the call actually connected on its own before he even had a chance to answer.
Immediately following, an ambiguous, androgynous voice crackled with static through the receiver.
"Your... package... has been placed at the entrance of the apartment...
"Please come down... and pick it up... yourself..."
Before Gao Tian could react to those words, the person on the other end hung up.
The rules of the Living Apartment were absolute. Even the ghost courier couldn't enter and could only leave his item at the entrance.
In the clash between the rules of the Living Apartment and the ghost courier, it seemed the Apartment was slightly stronger.
Gao Tian threw on his clothes, got out of bed, and took the elevator to the first floor. On the steps right outside the lobby, he spotted a black cardboard box. It was heavily wrapped in tape.
He carried the ghost's package back to his room on the Third Floor, found a pair of scissors, and easily sliced through the tape. Amidst a pile of scrap paper inside the box, he quickly uncovered a broken, silver-gray spear. The fractured spearhead lay slanted among the packing material, emanating a cold glow like moonlight.
The moment he touched the spearhead, a flood of information poured into his brain. The effects of the Ghost Transformation Spear revealed themselves to him.
The main weapon used by Xu Yuan during his life—the Galan Society Group Admin and the only person to ever survive ten Green Text Missions in the Living Apartment—surely had to boast some incredible effects, right?
"After using this spear to kill a living person, the deceased will undergo ghost transformation with one hundred percent certainty."
That was it.
This was the effect of the primary weapon used by Xu Yuan, the Galan Society Group Admin, during his lifetime.
Gao Tian simply couldn't believe his eyes.
What kind of effect was this?
Weren't the effects of a Supernatural Item supposed to restrict the laws of ghosts? But this thing guaranteed that everyone it killed would turn into one?
Was he afraid his enemies wouldn't die with lingering grievances and couldn't seek revenge, so he went out of his way to give them a chance to mount a post-mortem comeback?
Gao Tian felt like he had been scammed. He suddenly understood why so many ghosts had made every excuse to avoid the Black Envelope Xu Yuan sent, and why no user aside from the Burned Ghost had been willing to help him with this task.
Everyone knew what the Group Admin's main weapon had been when he was alive. Whoever accepted this psychotic weapon was a colossal sucker.
Gao Tian even tried to gaslight himself, imagining a myriad of extreme scenarios where the Ghost Transformation Spear might actually be useful...
For example, if a teammate was firmly targeted and cursed by a Fierce Ghost during a Green Text Mission and was doomed to die, Gao Tian could quickly finish them off, allowing them to undergo ghost transformation to evade the curse...
Forget it. He couldn't keep making up excuses.
At that moment, the anger of being played for a sucker by Xu Yuan eclipsed even his fear of the ghosts in the Chat Group.
[Memory Ghost]:
No, bro.
Does your weapon only have this one function?
[Living Apartment]:
Yeah.
Just the one effect.
Any living person killed by it will absolutely turn into a ghost immediately after death. I've tested it several times. The longest ghost transformation took less than five seconds. It's incredibly fast.
[Ghost Infant]:
(Covering mouth and smiling emoji)
Hahahahahahahahaha! The first time I found out the effect of the president's main weapon, I was just as surprised! Given the president's strength, I thought the Supernatural Item he controlled would be completely game-breaking! Hahahahahahahahaha!
[Memory Ghost]:
Are there really no other hidden features?
Like, if a person killed by it turns into a ghost; working backwards, if a ghost is killed by it, will they turn back into a person...
[Living Apartment]:
In your fucking dreams...
Turn a ghost into a living person?
Even dreams don't work like that. Do you want to try turning a piece of fried chicken back into a hen while you're at it?
[Memory Ghost]:
So, why in the world did you choose this thing as your main weapon?
Finding literally any half-decent Supernatural Item with even a slight positive effect would be better than this.
[Living Apartment]:
This weapon was given to me by my teacher.
According to the legends passed down through their elders, this weapon is one of the strongest Supernatural Items, holding a secret capable of upending an entire era.
But the secret of this weapon has been lost. My teacher's grandfather and great-grandfather spent over fifty years studying it together, yet they still couldn't find the correct way to use the Ghost Transformation Spear.
...
Gao Tian forcefully suppressed his urge to complain.
To this day, it was the most useless Supernatural Item he had ever held. It wasn't even worth a single hair on the Urn.
He had definitely been played by Xu Yuan. By accepting his Black Envelope, he was forced to carry out the assigned mission whether he wanted to or not.
Gao Tian wouldn't dare try to renege on a deal with Xu Yuan. The other party was a ghost—a genuine Fierce Ghost. Nobody knew what kind of fate awaited someone who pissed him off.
[Living Apartment]:
Alright, my time is almost up. I need to log off.
Good luck. Once you find my corpse, let me know. Give me some peace of mind.
...
Having delivered his final message, Xu Yuan went offline in the Chat Group.
Just then, Gao Tian's WeChat began to flash again.