Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The President’s Weapon
It was Xia Ta’s voice.
Gao Tian turned his head and called toward the door.
"I’m here."
Xia Ta’s voice rang out again.
"I need to talk to you about something. Can you open the door?"
Gao Tian got off the bed. Wary, he peeked through the peephole. Standing at the door was indeed Xia Ta, dressed to the nines. Strangely, Yu Sheng and Jiang Yang weren’t with her. Instead, a pot-bellied, middle-aged man in a white shirt stood beside her, impatiently wiping sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.
Gao Tian opened the door with a CLICK. His gaze passed over Xia Ta and landed on the middle-aged man behind her.
"And this is...?"
Xia Ta and the middle-aged man walked into Gao Tian’s room. The man made himself right at home, sitting down uninvited, grabbing the kettle from the table, and pouring himself a cup.
A rare, slight curve touched the corners of Xia Ta’s eternally expressionless, delicate face.
"Our money god."
Seeing that Gao Tian didn’t understand, she elaborated.
"Money can buy many things. That holds true even in the Living Human Apartment.
"Some newcomers can pay veteran residents like us to guide them through a green-text mission.
"The Living Human Apartment doesn’t care how you survive a green-text mission.
"This Boss Jin’s second green-text mission starts tomorrow. He paid a lot of money to hire me and Jiang Yang to act as his escorts for it."
Boss Jin was muttering under his breath. Clearly, having settled the price with Xia Ta, he didn’t want to stick around for a second longer. He just wanted to leave this godforsaken apartment immediately. In truth, residents of the Living Human Apartment only needed to show up once every six months, so his desire to leave was perfectly permissible.
Gao Tian asked,
"So what does his second mission have to do with me?"
Xia Ta replied,
"His green-text mission tomorrow is at a place called Sapphire Mall. I want to invite you to come along and observe the process.
"You don’t have to participate in the mission. Just watch from the sidelines. You’ll see what kinds of accidents and situations can arise, and how we veteran residents handle them. This is an incredibly valuable experience. Seeing it for yourself once is better than being lectured a hundred times.
"Of course, the final decision is yours. If you don’t think it’s necessary, then we apologize for bothering you and will take our leave."
Gao Tian had a pretty good idea of what she was doing. ’Her real intention is to consciously cultivate the next manager of the apartment, just in case something happens to her and there’s no one left to guide the newcomers.’
What took Gao Tian by surprise was the location for Boss Jin’s second green-text mission. Sapphire Mall was the same place where Xu Yuan of the Jialan Society’s body was hidden.
’Is this just a coincidence... or is there some kind of connection between the two?’
Their gazes met, and Gao Tian seemed to make a decision.
"Alright, I’ll go."
Agreeing to go to Sapphire Square meant he was also accepting Xu Yuan’s task from the chat group.
If he didn’t accept this task in the group and another powerful ghost did, they could run right into the apartment residents doing their mission at Sapphire Mall...
If that happened, Xia Ta and her group would likely be wiped out.
’He could take this task. In fact, he *had* to be the one to take it.’
Xia Ta didn’t say much, just nodded.
"I’ll add you on WeChat in a bit. I’ll send you the details of Boss Jin’s green-text mission as a file.
"We’ll meet on the first floor of the Living Human Apartment at nine tomorrow morning. Don’t be late."
Boss Jin glanced at Gao Tian and tried to flash a smile, revealing a mouthful of gold teeth.
"Young man, I know you’re just here to observe, but if you can lend me a hand at a critical moment tomorrow, I, Jin Daxiang, am not an ungrateful man. I’ll make sure you’re well compensated."
To show off his wealth, he painstakingly pulled five crisp, red notes from his pocket and tucked them under the cup he had been drinking from.
"I was a bit thirsty. Let’s say I drank five cups of your water.
"Here’s a hundred for each."
Gao Tian looked at the money, unmoved.
’Someone who’s ended up in the Living Human Apartment, and he still cares about money? In this world, money is the most useless thing there is.’
Then again, this Boss Jin wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He was skilled at winning people over with money, a method that was surely effective in the outside world.
The two left, one after the other. Just before she walked out, Xia Ta paused in the doorway. As if remembering something, she glanced back over her shoulder.
"By the way," she said.
"The welcoming party for new residents is at 8:30 tonight. Besides you, a few other... interesting newcomers have arrived this month.
"You should consider coming down to chat and hang out. It’s highly likely your batch of newcomers will be doing your first green-text mission together."
Gao Tian said,
"I’ll pass. I’m exhausted today.
"There’s plenty of time to get to know everyone later."
Xia Ta didn’t press the issue.
"Then get some rest."
After they left, Gao Tian was once again alone in his room. He opened his phone and pulled up the chat group. The black packet sent by "Living Human Apartment" (Xu Yuan) was still there, unclaimed by any ghost.
Gao Tian thought for a moment, changed his ID to [Memory Ghost], then typed a message into the chat and hit send.
[Memory Ghost]
I’m going to Sapphire Mall tomorrow. I can take a look for you.
[Living Human Apartment]:
Thanks.
Once it’s done, @ me in the group. Consider the weapon in the black packet your payment. You can keep it.
[Memory Ghost]:
Where did you put your body?
...
The Immolation Ghost had asked these same questions before. They were questions a ghost could ask without revealing its identity.
Of course, when the Immolation Ghost had asked, "Living Human Apartment" had completely ignored him, clearly showing his disdain.
...
In the chat group, "Living Human Apartment" went silent for a moment. Staring at his phone, Gao Tian’s heart leaped into his throat, terrified he’d said the wrong thing.
A moment later, the avatar for "Living Human Apartment" popped up again. He was replying.
[Living Human Apartment]:
This is a little test for you.
I’m entrusting my body to you and you alone. If the other ghosts in this group find out, it might cause some trouble.
If you can’t even find my body, then you don’t need to take this task.
...
’Xu Yuan must be worried that another ghost will use his body to follow the trail back to that urn at his old home.’
’Little does he know, his task has fallen into the hands of a living person.’
...
Confirm claim of black packet [Ghost Transformation Spear]?
Claiming this black packet requires a payment of 0 years of life.
Gao Tian’s fingertip tapped ’Confirm’.
...
’So, Xu Yuan’s weapon of choice when he was alive was called the Ghost Transformation Spear.’
Less than 0.1 seconds after Gao Tian pressed ’Confirm’, a call came in from an unknown number.
He stared at the vibrating screen, but before he could even decide to answer, the call connected on its own.
An androgynous, muffled voice crackled from the other end of the line.
"Your... package... has been left... at the entrance to the apartment building...
"Please... come down... and pick it up..."
With that, before Gao Tian could even react, the caller hung up.
The rules of the Living Human Apartment were absolute. Even a ghost courier couldn’t get inside; they could only leave the package at the main entrance.
’In a clash between the rules of the Living Human Apartment and a ghost courier, it seems the apartment is stronger.’
Gao Tian threw on some clothes, got out of bed, and took the elevator down to the first floor. Sure enough, on the steps outside the main entrance, he found a black cardboard box wrapped in tape.
He carried the ghost’s delivery back to his room on the third floor, found a pair of scissors, and easily cut through the tape. Amidst a pile of wastepaper packed inside the box, he quickly found a broken, silver-gray spear. The fractured spearhead lay nestled within, emitting a cold, moonlight-like glow.
The instant his fingers touched the spearhead, a flood of information rushed into his mind, revealing the effects of the Ghost Transformation Spear.
’The main weapon used by Xu Yuan, leader of the Jialan Society and the only person to have passed ten green-text missions... it must have an amazing effect, right?’
"When a living person is killed by this spear, the deceased will, with 100% certainty, become a ghost."
That was it.
That was the effect of the main weapon used by Xu Yuan, leader of the Jialan Society.
Gao Tian couldn’t believe his eyes.
’What kind of effect is this?’
’Aren’t supernatural items supposed to restrict ghosts? This thing does the opposite, guaranteeing that anyone killed by it becomes a ghost?’
’Is this for when you’re worried your enemy won’t be able to rest in peace and will be unable to get revenge, so you have to give them a special opportunity to make a comeback after death?’
Gao Tian felt like he’d been scammed. He suddenly understood why so many ghosts had made excuses and refused to take the black packet Xu Yuan had posted. Aside from the Immolation Ghost, not a single user had been willing to help him.
’Everyone knew what the society leader’s main weapon was. It’s a lunatic’s weapon! Anyone who takes it is a complete sucker.’
Gao Tian even tried to gaslight himself into believing it was useful, imagining extreme scenarios where the Ghost Transformation Spear might have a purpose...
’For example, during a green-text mission, a teammate is targeted and cursed by a powerful ghost, and his death is certain. I could quickly finish him off with the spear, turning him into a ghost to escape the curse...’
’Ugh, forget it. I can’t even make this up anymore.’
In that moment, his anger at being played for a fool by Xu Yuan surpassed even his fear of the ghosts in the chat group.
[Memory Ghost]:
Dude, seriously.
This weapon... is that all it does?
[Living Human Apartment]:
Yep.
Just that one effect.
Anyone killed by it is guaranteed to become a ghost immediately after death. I’ve tested it several times. The longest it’s ever taken is five seconds. It’s definitely fast enough.
[Ghost Infant]:
(Hand-over-mouth smiling emoji)
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I was just as shocked the first time I found out this was the effect of the Society Leader’s main weapon. I thought with his power, the supernatural item he controlled would be completely overpowered, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
[Memory Ghost]:
Are you sure there aren’t any hidden functions?
Like, if a person killed by it becomes a ghost, then could it work in reverse? If a ghost is killed by it, do they turn back into a person...?
[Living Human Apartment]:
In your fucking dreams...
Turning a ghost back into a person?
That’s not how you dream. Why don’t you try turning a fried chicken leg back into a live chicken?
[Memory Ghost]:
So... why... exactly... did you choose this as your main weapon?
Almost any other decent supernatural item, as long as it had some kind of positive effect, would be stronger than this.
[Living Human Apartment]:
This weapon was given to me by my master.
According to the legends passed down through their family for generations, this weapon is one of the most powerful supernatural items in existence, containing a secret that could overturn an entire era.
But the weapon’s secret has been lost to time. My master’s grandfather, and his great-grandfather before him, spent more than fifty years combined trying to figure it out, but they never discovered the proper way to use the Ghost Transformation Spear.
...
Gao Tian fought back the urge to make a sarcastic comment.
This was, without a doubt, the most useless supernatural item he’d ever acquired. It wasn’t worth a single splinter of his Cinerary Casket.
’So he’d really been screwed over by Xu Yuan. Now that he’d accepted the black packet, he had to complete the task, whether he liked it or not.’
Gao Tian didn’t dare try to back out of his deal with Xu Yuan. The guy was a ghost, a genuine, powerful ghost. There was no telling what would happen if he pissed him off.
[Living Human Apartment]:
Alright, my time’s about up. I have to go.
Good luck. Let me know when you find my body. It’ll put my mind at ease.
...
After sending that last message, Xu Yuan went offline.
Just then, Gao Tian’s WeChat lit up with a notification.
