Chapter 48: The Good Things Left Behind by Ying Hongyan

The night of the Ghost Realm had passed.

At six o'clock in the morning, just as the sky was turning pale, the sick ghosts could not wait to leave their wards, gathering in the first-floor lobby, each of them wearing expressions of dread.

Finally, one of them summoned up the courage and took a step outside the front door.

"We're free!"

Following that, a crowd imitated his actions.

Amidst the excited torrent of ghosts, Duan Ming found an open space in the small square and stood still.

Feeling a bit fatigued, he earnestly began performing the eighth set of national radio gymnastics.

Just then, a call came from across the square.

"Duan Ming!"

It was the three members of Team 157.

Duan Ming looked around.

"Han Lingling and the others went out?"

"Yeah." Chen Feng nodded. "They headed back as soon as the night ended."

"How are you holding up? Everything went smoothly last night, right?"

"Uhhhh, how should I put it? It wasn't exactly easy to deal with, considering it was my first time facing that kind of opponent."

Chen Feng and the other two walked over one by one and patted Duan Ming on the shoulder.

"Thanks for your hard work."

"Not hard at all, not hard at all."

"Everyone, don't just stand here. Want to go inside and sit for a while? It's completely safe here now."

"Sure."

Five minutes later, the three members of Team 157 stared in stunned silence as two pretty receptionists diligently served tea and water, obeying Duan Ming's every word.

Reminded by Xu Haoran, Chen Feng finally remembered a small task he had brought back and said to Yu Fangfang and Zhou Mengyue, "Oh, Head Nurse He asked me to pass along a message to you. She said she's always felt quite guilty about keeping you trapped in the inpatient department all these years, but now you can go and live the lives you've always wanted."

"The head nurse is alright?" Yu Fangfang's eyes flickered.

Chen Feng was stunned. "She's fine. Didn't Duan Ming tell you?"

Duan Ming quickly handed over a teacup. "I told you, I told you. Here, have some tea."

This news undoubtedly brought a wave of excitement to Yu Fangfang and Zhou Mengyue.

Zhou Mengyue bounced around. "Fangfang, we can finally do what we've always wanted to do! What are you going to do?"

Yu Fangfang: "Uhhhh, probably go back to my old profession, though I'm not sure if the schools here would accept me. What about you, Yueyue?"

"I don't know. I'm not as capable or skilled as you, Fangfang. I can't think of what to do right off the bat."

Yu Fangfang: "Don't worry, there's plenty of time ahead. You'll eventually find something you love doing."

"Yeah!"

***

As the two women looked forward to their departure, Duan Ming spoke up, "Oh right, you two will have to manage yourselves here in the inpatient department for the next couple of days. I need to take a trip out, but I've already arranged all the work in advance."

Chen Feng: "Huh? You're going out?"

"Yeah, going to collect a house."

***

Spending the entire morning, Duan Ming led the big bosses from the third and fourth floors to throw their weight around on the first and second floors, establishing absolute authority for Chen Feng's Big Wolf persona. Only then did he leave the青山 (Qingshan) Hospital accompanied by the dual red-pole enforcer Qin Wei.

This was his first time leaving the instance zone.

He had originally deduced that the Ghost Realm had long formed its own social system, but he hadn't expected it to be so well-developed.

Right now, he and Qin Wei were sitting in a speeding taxi, the ghost driver constantly glancing back through the rearview mirror with greedy eyes.

Duan Ming didn't care in the least.

Along the way, most of the spirits and ghosts on the streets were wandering souls and malevolent ghosts. The occasional fierce ghost that popped up could rampage freely among the crowd of ghosts.

"What the hell are you looking at? Is my big brother someone a small fry like you can size up?"

Qin Wei suddenly slapped the back of the ghost driver's head hard, causing the driver to shrink his neck and behave much more honestly.

"Forget it, Qin Wei. Just a driver, it's not easy for them either."

Duan Ming comforted gently, then pulled out his notebook and jotted down a couple of lines.

Ten minutes later, the taxi stopped at the main gate of the Official Wealth Residential Area. The moment they stepped out, the ghost driver sped off without a second thought.

Duan Ming: "Look, you scared them."

Qin Wei muttered internally, *How come I feel like it was you who kept reading out loud how you'd retaliate against a blind driver while writing that scared the guy half to death?*

In Duan Ming's mind, it felt like he had only been away from the Official Wealth Residential Area for a single day at most. Returning now, he actually felt a hint of nostalgia.

The familiar square, the familiar residential buildings, the familiar property management cottage, and that familiar headless figure...

Chen Haolan: "!!!"

Almost instantly, he rushed right up to Duan Ming, blood bubbles gushing for a long time before he turned back to grab a pen and paper.

"Duan Ming, I @%@&#... The head you gave me was fake!"

"Damn it! Why does everything I write get turned into garbled characters?"

Duan Ming waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, you see, why are you getting so worked up? That was just a helpless measure under urgent circumstances back then. Actually, I felt quite guilty about it myself, so over the past few days, I went through untold hardships and finally lived up to expectations."

As he spoke, he produced another head.

Chen Haolan's bloody eyes welled up. "Duan... Big Brother..."

[Chen Haolan's favorability +20]

[Chen Haolan's favorability is now maxed out]

[Rewards: 1. Ghost Qi +30]

[2. Master Ghost Ball]

[3. 300 Million Ghost Coins]

[Master Ghost Ball: Used when the target spirit's state is low. Has an extremely high probability of forcibly subduing it into a slave spirit. Limited to Evil-grade and below.]

Duan Ming: "???"

***

A Master Ghost Ball?

Since when did making a Pokémon reference while summoning Chen Haolan back then result in a reward with related settings?

Wasn't the system's sense of humor a bit too much?

Naturally, this was a good thing for Duan Ming.

How could a prop capable of forcibly enslaving spirits be bad? It was just that it might be a bit embarrassing to use.

Another reward filled with a similar sense of humor was the one involving Yu Fangfang from last night.

[Favorability Rose: A must-have for scumbags. Presenting it to a female spirit forcibly increases favorability by 5 points. Can only be used once per spirit.]

There were ten roses resting quietly in the boundary stone space.

The rewards of ghost qi and ghost coins were no longer worth mentioning; these two special item rewards were the greatest harvest. Duan Ming took a satisfying, deep breath...

And then choked on the blood spatters flying off Chen Haolan.

He pulled out his notebook and crossed out the last grudge involving Chen Haolan.

You scammed me twice, I scammed you twice, we're even now.

I'll keep an eye out for you if I get the chance in the future.

Bidding farewell to the headless ghost, Duan Ming finally led Qin Wei toward Residential Building A. Passing by "Repay the Debt," the wall-mason ghost Qian Gou Sheng cordially replaced the blood-red characters with densely packed four-character auspicious blessings.

It felt just like the New Year.

With Qin Wei, the supervisor, leading the way, their ascent to the sixth floor was completely unobstructed. Duan Ming unlocked the door to Room 604.

The interior was clean, tidy, and spotless, presumably having been cleaned up by Ying Hongyan before she left.

Entering last time had been filled with trepidation; it was hard to imagine it had now become his own home.

Duan Ming casually tossed the keys onto the shoe cabinet and threw himself down on the sofa in a star-shaped sprawl.

"Ah, comfort."

"Hey Qin Wei, don't just stand there like a dummy. Grab whatever you want to eat, there's stuff in the fridge... Actually, just look for yourself. Make yourself at home, don't be polite."

"Oh, right."

The thought that this entire large apartment now belonged to him filled Duan Ming with a rush of elation as he adjusted himself into a comfortable position.

Right at that moment, he suddenly felt a foreign object beneath him, poking him painfully.

Pulling it out to inspect, it turned out to be a small wooden tablet. The tablet was very ordinary, palm-sized, with no markings or text on it.

"What is this?"

He examined it closely, when suddenly a beam of black light shot out from the wooden tablet and darted straight into his forehead.

"Whoa! What is that?!"

Hearing the commotion, Qin Wei rushed into the living room, only to spit out a mouthful of drink the next second.

"B-Building Manager?"

Check-in!