The President's Weapon

It wasn't someone else. It was Shata's voice.

Gao Tian turned around and called toward the door:

"I'm here."

Shata's voice sounded again:

"I have something to discuss with you. Is it convenient for you to open the door?"

Gao Tian got out of bed. As a precaution, he still checked through the peephole. He confirmed that Shata, dressed to the nines, was standing outside. Oddly, Yusheng and Jiangyang weren't with her. Beside her stood a potbellied middle-aged man in a white shirt, wiping sweat with a handkerchief and waiting impatiently.

Gao Tian opened the door with a click. His gaze passed over Shata and settled on the middle-aged man behind her.

"Who's this?"

Shata and the middle-aged man entered Gao Tian's room. The latter didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down as if he owned the place, picked up the kettle on the table, and poured himself a cup.

Shata's delicate little face was almost always expressionless, but now the corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly.

"Money God."

Knowing Gao Tian wouldn't understand, she explained further:

"Money can buy many things. Even in the Living Person Apartment, that's true.

"Some newcomers who have just arrived at the apartment can pay older residents like us to guide them through a Green Text Mission.

"The Living Person Apartment doesn't care how you survive a Green Text Mission.

"This is Boss Jin. His second Green Text Mission starts tomorrow. He paid a lot of money to hire Jiangyang and me to protect him during it."

Boss Jin kept muttering to himself. Clearly, after agreeing on a price with Shata, he hadn't wanted to stay another second. He just wanted to get out of this damned apartment as soon as possible. In fact, residents of the Living Person Apartment only had to come stay once a month, and his behavior was entirely allowed.

Gao Tian asked, "So what does his second mission have to do with me?"

Shata replied, "His Green Text Mission tomorrow is at a place called Sapphire Mall. I wanted to invite you along to see how a Green Text Mission works.

"You don't have to take part. Just watch from the side and see how we old hands handle the unexpected events and situations that might come up during a mission. It's a rare opportunity to gain experience. You could hear a hundred lectures, but they wouldn't be as useful as seeing it for yourself once.

"Of course, the final decision is yours. If you think there's no need to come, then I'm sorry to have bothered you. We'll take our leave."

Gao Tian could more or less tell that Shata's real intention was to deliberately nurture the next generation of administrators for the apartment, so that someone would be there to guide newcomers if something happened to her.

What he hadn't expected was that the location of Boss Jin's second Green Text Mission, Sapphire Mall, was the same place where Xu Yuan of the Jialan Society had hidden his corpse.

Was it just a coincidence... or was there some connection between the two?

Their gazes met. Gao Tian seemed to make up his mind.

"All right. I'll go."

Agreeing to go to Sapphire Mall also meant that he would be taking on Xu Yuan's mission in the Chat Group.

If he didn't accept the mission in the group and another Vengeful Ghost took it, then happened to run into the apartment residents doing their mission at Sapphire Mall...

Shata and the others might well be wiped out.

He could take this mission himself, and he had to.

Shata didn't say anything else. She just nodded.

"I'll add you on WeChat in a bit. I'll send you the requirements for Boss Jin's Green Text Mission as a file.

"Tomorrow at nine in the morning, we'll meet on the first floor of the Living Person Apartment. See you then."

Boss Jin glanced at Gao Tian and tried to smile, showing off a mouthful of gold teeth.

"Young man, I know you're only coming to observe, but if you can give me a hand at some crucial moment tomorrow, I, Big Elephant Jin, won't be the sort to forget a kindness. I'll make it worth your while, too."

To show off his wealth, he struggled to pull five bright red bills from his pants pocket and pressed them beneath the cup he'd just drunk from.

"My mouth's a little dry. I drank five cups of your water.

"One hundred yuan for each cup."

Gao Tian looked at the money without reacting.

If you'd ended up in the Living Person Apartment, would you still care about money? Money was the most useless thing in the world.

On the other hand, Boss Jin wasn't as foolish as he looked. He knew how to buy people's goodwill. That approach would certainly work in the outside world.

The two of them left one after the other. Before Shata stepped out, she stopped in the doorway as if she'd remembered something, then turned her profile toward him and spoke again.

"By the way.

"The Living Person Apartment's welcome party is at eight thirty tonight. Besides you, a few interesting newcomers arrived this month.

"You could come down and chat, maybe have a little fun. There's a good chance you newcomers will be doing your first Green Text Mission together."

Gao Tian said, "I think I'll pass. I'm already exhausted today.

"There's plenty of time. We can get to know each other gradually."

Shata didn't press him.

"Then get some rest."

After the two left, Gao Tian was alone in the room again. He opened his phone and switched to the Chat Group. The Black Packet sent by Living Person Apartment (Xu Yuan) was still there, unclaimed by any Ghost.

Gao Tian thought for a while, first changing his ID to [Memory Ghost]. Then he typed a line into the chat box and hit send.

[Memory Ghost]

I'm going to Sapphire Mall tomorrow. I can help you look into it.

[Living Person Apartment]:

Thanks.

Once it's taken care of, tag me in the group. Keep the weapon from the Black Packet as payment.

[Memory Ghost]:

Where did you hide your corpse?

Burning Death Ghost had asked similar questions before. They were things a Ghost could ask; they wouldn't expose his identity.

Of course, when Burning Death Ghost had asked, Living Person Apartment and the others hadn't even bothered to respond. They'd seemed utterly disgusted with him.

Living Person Apartment fell silent in the Chat Group for a moment. Gao Tian watched his phone, his heart in his throat, afraid he might have said the wrong thing.

After a while, Living Person Apartment's avatar popped up again. He began to reply.

[Living Person Apartment]:

This is a little test for you.

I'm leaving you alone to deal with my corpse. If the other Ghosts in this group find out, it might cause a little trouble.

If you can't even find my corpse, then there's no need to take on this mission.

Xu Yuan was probably worried that a Ghost User might follow the clues from his corpse and find the pot at his Old Home.

He had no idea that his request had already fallen into the hands of a living person.

Are you sure you want to claim the Black Packet [Ghost Transformation Spear]?

Claiming this Black Packet will cost 0 years of lifespan.

(Gao Tian's fingertip selected Confirm.)

It turned out that the weapon Xu Yuan had favored in life was called the Ghost Transformation Spear.

Less than 0.1 seconds after Gao Tian pressed confirm, an unfamiliar number called him.

As the number vibrated on the screen, before he'd even chosen to answer, his phone picked up the call on its own.

Then an indistinct voice, impossible to tell as male or female, crackled from the other end.

"Your... package... has been left at the apartment entrance...

"Please come... down... and pick it up..."

Before Gao Tian could react, the caller hung up.

The rules of the Living Person Apartment were absolute. Even Ghost Couriers couldn't enter; they could only leave his things at the entrance.

When the rules of the Living Person Apartment and the Ghost Courier clashed, it seemed the apartment was stronger.

Gao Tian put on his clothes, got out of bed, and took the elevator down to the first floor. Sure enough, he saw a black cardboard box on the steps outside the lobby. It was wrapped in tape.

He carried the package sent by the Ghost back to the Third Floor Room, found a pair of scissors, and easily cut through the tape. Among the pile of scrap paper stuffed inside the box, he soon found a broken, silver-gray spear. Its snapped-off head lay at an angle inside, shining with a cool, moonlit gleam.

The instant he touched the spearhead, streams of information flooded into Gao Tian's mind, revealing the Ghost Transformation Spear's effect.

The Jialan Society group owner, the only person to have cleared ten Green Text Missions in the Living Person Apartment, Xu Yuan's primary weapon in life. The effect had to be pretty good, right—

"Anyone killed by this spear will 100 percent turn into a Ghost."

That was it.

That was the effect of the primary weapon used by Xu Yuan, the Jialan Society group owner, in life.

Gao Tian could hardly believe his eyes.

What kind of effect was that?

Weren't Supernatural Items supposed to restrict a Ghost's rules? This thing made sure everyone it killed became a Ghost.

Was it afraid its victims would die with regrets and be unable to take revenge, so it had to give them a chance to come back after death?

Gao Tian felt like he'd been scammed. Suddenly, he understood why so many Ghosts in the group had made excuses and put off Xu Yuan's Black Packet. Apart from Burning Death Ghost, not a single user had been willing to help him with it.

Everyone knew what weapon the group owner had used in life. Who'd want to take this crazy weapon? Whoever did would be a sucker.

Gao Tian had even tried to convince himself it might be useful in some extreme situation...

For instance, during a Green Text Mission, a teammate was cursed by a Vengeful Ghost and was doomed to die. Gao Tian could quickly finish him off, turning his teammate into a Ghost so he could escape the curse...

Forget it. He couldn't keep making this up.

At that moment, his anger at Xu Yuan for taking him for a sucker even outweighed his fear of the Ghosts in the Chat Group.

[Memory Ghost]:

Come on, man.

Is that the weapon's only function?

[Living Person Apartment]:

Yeah.

Just the one effect.

Any living person killed by it definitely turns into a Ghost right after death. I tested it several times. The longest it took was five seconds. It's definitely fast enough.

[Ghost Infant]:

(covering-mouth-and-smiling sticker)

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. The first time I found out this was the President's primary weapon, I was just as shocked. I thought that with the President's strength, the Supernatural Item he controlled would be insanely powerful. Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

[Memory Ghost]:

Are you sure there aren't any other hidden functions?

For example, people turn into Ghosts when it kills them. Could you reverse that and turn a Ghost into a living person if it killed one...

[Living Person Apartment]:

You wish...

Turn a Ghost into a living person?

Even your dreams don't work like that. Why not try turning a fried chicken leg back into a hen?

[Memory Ghost]:

Then why, exactly, did you choose this thing as your primary weapon?

You could pick any decent Supernatural Item. As long as it had some positive effect, it'd be better than this.

[Living Person Apartment]:

My Teacher gave this weapon to me.

According to the stories passed down through the generations of their elders, this weapon was one of the most powerful Supernatural Items. It contained a secret capable of overturning the entire era.

But the secret of this weapon had been lost. My Teacher's grandfather and great-grandfather had spent a combined fifty years speculating about it, and still hadn't figured out the right way to use the Ghost Transformation Spear.

Gao Tian stifled the urge to complain.

This really was the most useless Supernatural Item he'd ever gotten his hands on. It wasn't even worth a hair from the urn.

Xu Yuan had scammed him too. Now that he'd accepted the Black Packet, he had no choice but to carry out Xu Yuan's mission.

Gao Tian didn't dare go back on his word to Xu Yuan. The other man was a Ghost—a bona fide Vengeful Ghost. No one knew what would happen if he angered him.

[Living Person Apartment]:

All right, that's about all the time I have. I need to log off, too.

Good luck. Let me know when you find my corpse. It'll put my mind at ease.

After saying his final words in the Chat Group, Xu Yuan logged off.

Just then, Gao Tian's WeChat lit up again.